Character Creation

If you have reached this page, congratulations, and thank you for playing our game.

Character Sheet Template

Fill out this Character Sheet Template as you follow along on this page to create your level 1 character.

Think of a Character

Who are you going to play? Start with the basics:

1. Name, age, physical appearance

2. Personality, outlook on the world, attitude

3. Family, personal ties, guild / artisan affiliations (if any)

4. Aspirations, hopes, dreams, and flaws

If you know all of these things about your character, figuring out their abilities and other details becomes easy! Here are some resources to help you answer these questions.

Beginner’s Worksheet on Creating a Character: If you’re starting from scratch, this worksheet gives a great framework for designing a character — it’s a series of questions you can answer about your character, including places they’ve been, things they’ve done, etc.

Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws: Personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws form the backbone of a character’s personality. Dungeons and Dragons 5e uses these four things to help players define their characters better. Worth a read if you’re trying to flesh out who your character is. There’s a huge list of example traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws located at this link.

Alignment Questionnaire: A fun questionnaire that you can use to determine your character’s alignment. Alignments are not used and enforced in Ilisara, but after answering this questionnaire you will know more about who your character is and what they believe in.

Race

There are three primary races that live in Hellan: humans, dwarves, and sun elves. If you're just starting out, it's easiest to choose one of them. However, if you're interested in a different race, check out the Races page and work with the DM to create a unique character.

Each race provides a permanent +1 bonus to an attribute.

Human

Bonus Attribute Point — +1 Charisma. Humans are respected by all the races of Hellan. This reputation is well-earned. Diplomacy and working alongside others despite differences are the specialties of humankind.

Language — Common

Dwarf

Bonus Attribute Point — +1 Stamina. Dwarves are in tune with the earth. They are very resilient and hardy, capable of enduring extremes the other races cannot. Dwarves are known to survive and thrive through trying conditions.

Languages — Common, Dwarvish

Sun Elf

Bonus Attribute Point — +1 Knowledge. Sun elves are in tune with the sky and pursue knowledge, power, and artistic pursuits. Due to their long lifespans, they tend to be more experienced than other races.

Languages — Common, Elven

Profession

Professions are totally optional, but your character gains access to the ability to craft items and/or special background benefits from choosing a profession. As of now, the number of professions designed for Ilisara are limited. You can work with the DM to come up with your own, or choose one from the Professions page.

Attributes

Every character in Ilisara has attributes. Players assign points to these attributes to define what their character is good at, and receive one bonus attribute point from their race. Otherwise, attribute points are static. At level 1, you begin with 10 points, and you gain new points every level. The maximum amount of points you can allocate to any attribute is 10.

Ilisara’s six attributes are divided into three "physical" attributes (Strength, Stamina, and Dexterity) as well as three "mental" attributes (Knowledge, Charisma, Arcana).

To act in an RP encounter, you roll a d20 and add your applicable points. Attributes typically have little bearing on combat, with these exceptions:

• Casting spells typically requires 4+ Arcana
• Wielding weapons and wearing armor may require a certain amount of Dexterity and/or Strength
• Movement speed is determined by Dexterity

If you are creating a character from scratch, put your attribute points where you feel they’ll work best for you. You can modify them as you continue building your character and learn more about how attributes are used.

For a full description of every attribute, visit Character Attributes.

Skills

Every character is equipped with specific, trained Skills that give them a +5 bonus to attempt an action out of combat. For example, a bard might be trained in Performance, allowing them to gain a +5 bonus to attempts made to put on a show for a crowd. The Character Skills page explains what skills are available to players in more depth, and the Using Skills page explains how skills are used out of combat.

At level 1, you can choose three skills.

Classes? Nope! Casters and Non-Casters

Within the Ilisara system, you can play any "class" you want. You could be a fighter, thief, swashbuckler, ninja, sorcerer, necromancer, illusionist, druid, shaman, seer, cleric, paladin, shapeshifter, mage, warlock, wizard, druid, elementalist, rogue, warrior, ranger, hunter, knight, cavalier, etc.; the limit is your imagination. Simply choose a defining theme for your character.

Characters in Ilisara fall into one of two paths for character progression: Caster or Non-caster. Casters are people who use magic spells. Non-casters are people who use weapons. You can blend the two seamlessly, just keep in mind the attribute requirements for casting spells and using weapons — if you want a character who does both, they will need to have points placed in Arcana, Dexterity and Strength.

Here are some differences between Casters and Non-casters:

General Differences

• Casters must put points into Arcana to use spells, whereas non-casters must put points into Strength and Dexterity to use weapons.

Basic Attack: A Basic Attack can be used in combat as many times as you wish. It is an innate ability all characters have.

• Casters start with a ranged basic attack -- a spell -- that deals damage. Their basic attacks get small increased damage modifiers as they level up. In this way, casters are relatively simple to build, and have a linear path to upgrade their basic attack. They do not require any equipment to cast spells.

• Non-casters start with a weapon that determines what their basic attack is. They can upgrade their weapon using gemstones, craft a new weapon with higher-quality materials, or buy a new weapon at any time -- providing a non-linear path to upgrading their damage output.

Tier Abilities: Tier Abilities are special, strong abilities that have a limited number of uses or "charges" in combat.

• Casters use a specific damage template for their damaging / healing abilities.

• Non-casters use their weapon damage to determine how much damage their Tier abilities do.

• Casters require an increasing amount of Arcana to create stronger Tier abilities.

Now that you understand the difference between Casters and Non-casters, pick which one your character will be and visit either of these pages to determine what your Basic Attack will be:

• Caster if you are going to use any magical abilities

• Non-caster if you are going to use a weapon instead of cast spells

If you want to do both, first visit the Caster page and make sure you understand the requirements for casting spells. Then, visit the non-caster page and understand the requirements for wielding a weapon. It is perfectly doable to blend both playstyles.

The Basic Equipment page lists all of the weapons in the game your character can get ahold of at level 1.

Defense, Speed, Hit Points, and Other Stats

Your character sheet should now have your name, age, race, profession, attributes, skills, and basic attack listed.

The other stats you should be aware of are:

• Hit Points. At level 1, you have 10 hit points.
• Defense. Your Defense depends on your equipment. The Basic Equipment page describes different armor types. At level 1, you likely have 0 Defense.
• Speed. Your movement speed is determined by your Dexterity. 0 Dexterity is Low speed, 4 Dexterity is Medium speed, and 8 Dexterity is Fast speed.

Visit Character Attributes for a more detailed explanation.

Done!

You're done creating a level 1 character! As characters level up, they gain additional bonuses and benefits, such as Tier Abilities and Combat Passives. Refer to the Character Progression page to see what you will gain, and explore the rest of the rules on Official Ilisara RPG Rules to build more beyond level 1. In Ilisara, combat is turn based with action economy and consists of rolls made to attack and deal damage. Combat explains more about this system.

Ask the DM if you need help.