Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is one of the 2020’s greatest RPG hits. With the ability to play a bender (or non-bender!) in the world of Avatar, tons of would-be Aangs and Korras have been jumping aboard the roleplay train, looking to take their personal business to Firelord Ozai and to ride air bison over the Earth Kingdom.
Creating a character for Avatar Legends isn’t as simple as just choosing an element to bend and hopping in. Avatar Legends is a story-first game, built by Magpie Games on the same system as its critically acclaimed Root RPG and Masks: A New Generation games. When you’re creating a character for Avatar Legends, you first need to decide what part your character will play in the broader story of the game.
Let’s take a dive into what exactly you need to consider, and some resources you can use to build a character you can feel comfortable traipsing with through the world of Avatar.
Sheets & Resources
The first thing you’ll need, of course, is a character sheet to write this all down on. If you ask your Game Master very nicely, they can probably send you the digital versions of the sheets they received upon purchasing the game. Or, if you’re that dedicated of a bender, you can purchase the game yourself from Magpie Games!
If you’re looking for a bit more than just pen & paper, or using Adobe’s form-filling features, there are a few websites that offer fully automated character sheets. Roll20 can offer basic, community-run sheets for free in its games. Websites like Demiplane and Role VTT also offer more comprehensive sheets, which you can access by joining and purchasing the Avatar Legends corebook.
Alternatively, if you join a game here at StartPlaying, your professional Game Master is sure to offer access to all the information and sheets you’ll need to build your character. Regardless, you’ll need to also have access to the information in the corebook to know how your sheet works and what to choose. If you’re interested in any of the expanded content from books like Wan-Shi-Tong’s Adventure Guide, you’ll need those too.
Now, you’ve got your sheet and your books. Let’s go through creation step-by-step:
Find Out The Era And Focus From The Game Master
Because Avatar Legends is so focused on the specifics of the game story, you won’t even be able to conceptualize your character until you know in what era the game is taking place. The group also picks a focus, such as defeating the Fire Lord, or protecting their home, which defines most of the narrative. You’ll need to find out if you’re in the age of sailboats or steamships before you can pick a lot of character options, so make sure you’re all on the same page!
Pick A Playbook
The concept of playbooks is often the most difficult for players of more traditional TTRPGs, like Dungeons & Dragons, to wrap their head around. Unlike traditional classes, like bard or barbarian, playbooks give you moves and methods of advancement that give your character thematic meaning within the game’s story.
The Pillar, for instance, is a character built to lead the team tactically, and offer guidance and support in roleplay. They are constantly torn between supporting the team and leading it — something with real, mechanical consequences in the game! So choosing a playbook that matches your vision for your character is very important.
Once you have your Playbook in front of you, making a character becomes as simple as filling in all the blanks as the sheet prompts you.
Pick A Name
Picking a name can be as simple as choosing some fun sounds to put together. But the world of Avatar is built deeply, and names can tell a lot about a character: their nation, their gender, the values of their culture. Avatar legends offers a comprehensive list of names taken from various cultures that inspired its setting. Take a gander, and pick one that fits.
Pick Training And Fighting Style
And here’s where you can choose what bender you’d like to be… or not! Aside from the four elements, you can also choose to be proficient in weapons, or technology, instead, giving lots of space for non-benders to ply their own craft in this setting. Indeed, you may find that the moves available to non-benders are as strong or stronger than those of benders.
And no, you can’t choose multiple bending trainings, although certain playbooks let you borrow moves from other trainings. You aren’t the Avatar, you’re just in their world!
As for fighting style, this is a much more subjective and flavorful choice. There’s no specific list, so the only limit is your imagination. If you’re an earthbender, you may choose to do “Brute Boulder Tossing” or a “Swift Pebble Spinning." A weapons specialist might specialize in “Meteor Hammer Flinging” or a “Paper Fan Slicing.” No matter how ridiculous the idea, you can work with your Game Master to make something that makes sense.
Pick Your Background, Hometown, Demeanor, And Looks
This is mostly basic character information that should inform your character’s relationship to the world of Avatar Legends. Most of these come with specific lists to pick from, the details of which should be straightforward. Don’t slouch on your choices here— many Playbooks make use of Background in particular to inform some of their moves.
For Hometown, work with your Game Master to find a place that seems right on the map. Avatar Legends offers multiple locations within each nation, but the game also encourages you to come up with one yourself, if you feel so inclined. Time to break out all those fanfictions you wrote- er, read as a kid.
History Questions
These are a series of questions that answer the most pertinent things we need to know about your character: why are they here, what do they care about, and where are they headed? These questions should be answered with the entire group, so if you’re building ahead of time make sure to save them for Session 0!
Stats and Balance
Your Stats and Balance are pre-set by your Playbook, but you get to make one small change. You can add +1 to a stat of your choice (to a maximum of +2), and you can shift your Balance once in either direction. Not sure which to pick, or if you should shift your Balance? Take a look at the game’s basic moves to get a good idea of which you think your characters will use the most, and if being off-Balance suits them better.
Playbook Moves
These are the moves unique to your character, that will define how they interact with the game’s conflicts, usually outside of combat. Make sure to read them carefully, then pick the two moves that would be the most fitting, or fun, for you. The nice thing about Avatar Legends is that most moves affect the fiction of the game, so what each move does should be pretty straight-forward.
Combat Techniques
This will probably be the biggest source of your deliberations: what special bending techniques do you know? You start off with one mastered technique (a technique your character can use every round of combat), and one learned technique (a technique your character will have to practice). A huge list of all available techniques is at the back of the corebook and the adventure books, so choose wisely!
If you want to use a technique, but it’s in another Training’s list, don’t fret. Ask your Game Master nicely, and they can probably convert it to your Training. A common one is turning Fire Knives into Ice Knives.
Connections
This section can only be filled in once everybody knows each other’s characters. Don’t underestimate the importance of connections, some playbooks require them to function properly. And, in any case, they’re fun and set the story nicely.
But I Don’t Have A Game Master?
If you’re reading all of these mentions of the Game Master and wondering where you can find one, you’re in luck! StartPlaying has many professional Game Masters offering Avatar Legends: the RPG games in different time slots, for players of all experience. With StartPlaying, you’ll find the right match to help facilitate the game you want to play.
No matter who ends up being your Game Master, the most important thing to remember when playing Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is that you’re all working together to tell a story, and find out what happens next. So prepare your cabbages and get on your air bison, because it’s time for a mind-bending adventure!
Salman Corbette is StartPlaying's resident improv expert, offering weekly games and workshops to true roleplay connoisseurs.
