Creating your Adventurer for the Grim and Perilous World of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

So intrepid adventurer, you think you’re ready to jump into the grim, perilous and delightfully dark world of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4the edition? A brave and fantastic choice, as your journey will no doubt be fraught with perils and thrilling intrigue! But before you dive in, let me walk you through the process of creating your character, step by step!

To get started, you’ll need the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4the edition core rulebook to follow along. This tome will be your guide and best friend, containing everything you need to play. Print out several of the blank character sheets within, trust me, in such a perilous world, best to have backups ready to go!

Step 1: The What and the Who

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of character creation, one thing needs to be clear: You do not start off as a paragon of heroism out to save the day as in so many other TTRPG’s, but as a mere, most likely unremarkable peasant whose misfortune has forced them into the life of an adventurer. You are a nobody, caught up in something much larger than life and are forced to follow the course, which will more than likely end in your gruesome, pointless death. This does not mean you can’t rise up from your humble origins, but it’s going to take guile and lots of luck! So don’t let it discourage you, since nothing feels quite as good as seeing your humble rat catcher evolving into a scrappy fighter saving the lives of douzaine by fighting horrific demons! 

With that disheartening bit of realism in mind, know that WFRP encourages random character creation. Not only does this provide a delightful sense of unpredictability, but it also rewards you with additional experience points (XP), which in turn increase your slim chances of survival. So, my stout-hearted companion, I highly recommend you embrace your powerlessness and let the bones tell you what to play!

Now onto the meat and potatoes! The most important part of character creation boils down to two crucial choices:

1. Your Species: You can choose to be one of five species or alternatively (and suggested above) roll for your species and gain an additional 20 XP. Important to know is that the Empire, the realm in which most WFRP games take place in, is dominated by humans, which is why you have a 90% chance of being one if you decide to roll!

Here’s an important detail to keep in mind: each species provides unique opportunities for careers. For instance, if you choose to be a dwarf, you can forget about playing a wizard’s apprentice since dwarves are entirely devoid of magical aptitude. Plus, if you decide to go with a non-human character, brace yourself, racial prejudice (and many other dark themes) runs rampant in the Warhammer world!

It would be doing the species a disservice by quickly recapping them here, so I suggest you read through this section in the WFRP rulebook and discover their beautiful intricacies for yourself!

2.  Your Class and Career: Class and career go hand in hand. Your class represents your general societal role, while your career specifies your everyday occupation, what you do when you’re not off adventuring. This foundation dictates your skills, social standing, and future prospects.

• If you randomly pick by rolling on the appropriate Random Class and Career Table (as you should), you gain an additional 50 XP.
• You can roll two more times and choose between your three randomly rolled classes and careers but only gain an additional 25 XP when doing so.
• Or you can simply choose a class and appropriate career but gain no additional XP.

If you aren’t going to be rolling randomly (Boo!), make sure to discuss your choices with the rest of the players and GM. After all, if you end up being the only elf in an all-dwarf party, things might get difficult from the start (albeit very interesting no doubt!). That being said, know that the game incentivizes you to roll randomly, but does not punish you for not doing so! Ultimately, the additional XP is nice (As it can buy you an additional talent!) but a minor boost to your character. If your character does end up being unplayable due to some really bad rolls, feel free to swap and choose as you please (You’re welcome min-maxers!). 

Step 2: The Numbers

Now we dive into the nitty-gritty!

1. Your Attributes are the innate capabilities of your character and generating them is a breeze! Just follow the instructions top to bottom on the appropriate Attributes Table (separated by species).

• Your ten characteristics, which are the equivalent of Ability Scores or Statistics, need to be rolled individually and important to know is that the first or ‘tens’ digit of each Characteristic is its bonus value.
• Your Wounds (W) which are the equivalent of Hit Points.
• Your Movement (M) dictates how fast you walk and run, important in a perilous world! (Details of which can be found on page 35)
• Your Fate represents your destiny and is directly tied to your fortune, which represents your luck. Resilience represents your determination and is directly tied to your Resolve, your grit and ability to push through the toughest situations.

• Both Fate and Resilience (and by proxy your Fortune and Resolve) are powerful meta-currencies used during the game. You receive a base of Fortune and Resilience as shown in the Attributes Table and Extra Points in that same table that you can distribute between the two.

2. Your Skills are your specific areas of expertise, what you’re good at thanks to your experiences previous to adventuring. Both your species and career dictate in what skills you may spend advances.

• Advances: Whenever you learn or improve in a skill, that is called an advance. Basic skills can be attempted by anyone, but advanced skills can only be taken by those who have at least one advance in them. Your species and career will determine what skills you can take advances in.
• Species Skills: Three skills gain five advances each and three skills gain three advances each.
• Career Skills: You distribute forty advances to your eight starting skills, but with no more than ten advances in any one skill.

Step 3: Talents and Trappings

Talents are the special abilities you have access to. You should start off with a total of eight talents, four from your species and four from your career. Some can be taken multiple times, but each talent will tell you if you can do so. If given a choice between talents, choose freely, you can always buy more with XP later!

Your trappings on the other hand, refers to all the equipment you’re going to be lugging around while travelling the road. You start off with your class trappings and those of the first level of your career path, which will also determine your status, which in turn, determines your starting wealth. Better spend as much coin as possible on additional gear, considering how dangerous the journey ahead might be! Just keep an eye on your encumbrance, you don’t want to overburden yourself.

Step 4: Your Finishing Details

Now it’s time to flesh out your character! Below is everything you need for your character to take shape, but don’t be shy about adding your own details to define them further. Just remember that character creation is ultimately a collaborative effort between you, the other players and the GM, so communicate openly and freely!

• Physical Details: Envisioning how your character looks is pretty easy, but there has to be enough detail for you to be recognisable on a wanted poster! Who knows what you might get up to in the future?  Your age, eye and hair colour, height and any distinguishing marks are a good start.
• Ten Questions: The following questions (page 42) will help shape your character’s identity and personality, but don’t be afraid to add your own to the list! Just be mindful to not overwhelm your GM. You don’t have to answer all of them (after all, adventure long enough and the answers might come to you!) but answering “Why are you adventuring?” is a must.
• Ambitions: Your adventurer needs goals to propel them forward, to answer the question of “Why am I doing this?” and that’s where your ambitions come into play. Accomplishing your ambitions are the primary way to earn XP and improve your character, so really give it a think. And no worries, you can always come up with more as the adventure progresses! After you’ve established your character’s ambitions, discuss the party’s short and long-term ambitions. Like all parts of character creation, keep the GM in the loop, as they can help or might already have some ideas in mind for all of you to pursue!
  • You should have at least one short-term ambition in mind to keep you directly engaged. Short-term ambitions can often be accomplished within a few sessions and so while having one is a start, having three will ensure you always have something to pursue!
  • Long-term ambitions are monumental projects, more of a primary motivation than a realistic goal to achieve (although you’ll try your hardest either way!) that can last entire campaigns. Accomplishing these should be the crescendo of a long adventuring journey.  

Et voila, your adventurer is ready to embark on their perilous journey! May the gods watch over you and if we’re lucky, we shall meet again, Sigmar be praised! 

‍

‍

RollingDeadly, Best Ork GM There Is!