Character Generation - Part 2

Step 2: Abilities

The next step in character creation is to choose abilities, including Attributes and Skills.

Point Pools and Skill Limits

Skill Points by School Year

Year 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Graduate
Point Pool 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Max Skill Rank 3 3 3 4 5 6 12 12
Exceed Skills 1 2 3 3 3 3 3 at 7+ at chargen
Bonus XP 10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 25 XP 25 XP 30 XP

Young characters simply don't have as many points to spend on Skills and Attributes, and have lower limits on how high their Skills can go. They are inexperienced, and need time to grow and mature. The table to the right illustrates the point pools and Skill rating caps for characters, by school year. See below for clarification on what the rows of the table mean.

Year: The character's current school year (grade) at Hogwarts. A character is considered to be the same Year until the school year ends on the last Saturday of June, after which time they advance to the next Year. Note that even if a character does not attend Hogwarts — such as a young person that left the school after Fifth Year — still figures their statistics according to this method. The "Graduate" column refers to a character that has completed their Seventh Year at Hogwarts; basically a normal non-student character.

Point Pool: This number represents the initial pool of points granted to a character during character generation. These points are spent on Attributes and Skills. Note that these differ from Experience Points (XP).

Max Skill Rank: This number is the maximum rank that the character's Skills are allowed to have. Some skills may exceed this cap (see Exceed Skills, below).

Exceed Skills: This refers to the number of Skills that may exceed the Maximum Skill Rank, by up to 2 points. Note that Seventh Years and adults do not have this limitation, but rather can have up to three skills exceeding 7 by any amount at character generation.

Bonus XP: This is the extra XP granted to a character when they graduate from their current year. Note bonus XP is only granted to characters that finish out the school year IC. Bonus XP is not granted retroactively. This means that a character that plays from First Year all the way to Seventh Year will have 150 XP more than an adult character that started at the same time.

Attributes

Attribute Ratings

Rating Level Description
1 Poor Sub-par, deficient by human standards.
2 Average The common human level of competency.
3 Good Above average, excels in this area.
4 Exceptional A prime example of human ability.

Attributes reflect a character’s natural talents. Attributes influence related skills, giving an advantage (or disadvantage) compared to someone with equivalent training. They also come into play when no particular skill applies to a given situation. Barring extreme events, Attributes never change; they are set in stone when you are born.

The attributes are deliberately broad, and include:

  • Mind - Mental fitness - Intelligence and Creativity
  • Body - Physical fitness - Strength, Constitution and Agility
  • Reaction - Reflexes - Dexterity, Hand-Eye Coordination and Wits
  • Presence - Personality - Charisma and Will

Attributes are rated on a 1-4 scale. Refer to the Attribute Ratings table for a general idea of what each rating means. Characters may distribute up to 11 points between the four Attributes. It is strongly recommended that no less than 11 points are assigned to Attributes, as they cannot change after character creation.

Wandwork and the Young Wizard

By law, underage wizards may not practice magic outside of Hogwarts. This means that new characters that are too young to have attended school yet should not be taking skills that require a wand during character creation. These skills are: Charms, Glamers, Transfiguration, Conjuration, Dark Defense, and Potions. Similarly, students are not taught Apparition until the middle of their Fifth Year.

Though Broomflying is officially taught at Hogwarts in the First Year, many young wizards learn a bit of flying skill on practice brooms at home, in family Quidditch games and the like.

When advancing skills, keep in mind that students have a maximum of 3 for the first three years. Leave yourself room to grow and improve over that time, and don't be in a hurry to max out your Wizarding Skills, especially in the First Year.

Skills

Skills reflect a character’s knowledge and training. Skills are fluid, changing over time. You choose an initial set of Skills during character creation, and may improve them or learn new Skills during the course of the game.

Skills are further broken down into three categories:

  • Action Skills are the most relevant core skills that reflect purely non-magical abilities. While some are learned by Wizards and others by Muggles, no magical ability is strictly a prerequisite for the skill.
    • The Action Skills are: Awareness, Driving, Fighting, Marksmanship, Medicine, Muggle Lore, Piloting, Stealth, Wizard Lore
  • Wizarding Skills are generally unique to wizards (and potentially other magical creatures).
    • The Wizarding Skills are: Ancient Runes, Apparition, Arithmancy, Beater, Broomflying, Charms, Chaser, Conjuration, Creature Lore, Dark Defense, Divination, Glamers, Herbology, Keeper, Potions, Seeker, and Transfiguration.
      • Beater, Chaser, Keeper, and Seeker are the skills used in Quidditch.
  • Background Skills flesh out your hobbies, interests, and various fields of study not covered by Action and Wizarding Skills.
  • Languages allow you to read and write languages. Languages do not have Skill Ratings.

See the Skills page for more detailed descriptions.

Skill Ratings

Rating Level Description
0 Untrained No training.
1-3 Novice A student, hobbyist or trainee.
4-6 Proficient Thoroughly competent. A typical professional level.
7-9 Veteran A lot of experience or talent. Few reach this level, even fewer exceed it.
10-12 Master An expert or master. One of the best in the world.

Some professions require a minimum Rating in certain Skills, such as Obliviators, Aurors, Hit Wizards, Healers, and Curse-Breakers

Action, Wizarding, and Background Skills are rated on a 0-12 scale. Characters only have ratings in Skills they have taken the time to learn and practice. All other Skills are considered to be at rating 0. Refer to the Skill Ratings table at the right for a general idea of what each rating means.

Language Skills don’t have a rating. Each Language Skill costs 2 points to purchase. If you have a Language Skill, it is assumed you are proficient in speaking, reading, and writing it. Illiteracy can be played if you so desire.

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