Envision Your Character
Consider the kind of character you want to play—a war-hardened soldier, an adventurous archaeologist, a brutish thug, a cunning sorcerer, or whatever’s appropriate for the GM’s setting. For flavour, start on your character’s background with his Social Station.
Social Station
This aspect of a character’s background suggests which side of the tracks he comes from: was he a rich kid raised in the hills, a guttersnipe, or somewhere in between?
Social station impacts starting cash and will probably colour a character’s interactions with people who put stock in appearance, come from old money, distrust outsiders, or wear a monocle.
Those of low station will have had fewer opportunities to excel–perhaps as a result of poor education, lack of adequate health care, difficult living conditions, or societal prejudice–but they will have strong survival instincts, iron will, and (as adventurers) plenty of drive.
Those occupying the upper social tiers will have had better opportunities–through money, connections, and authority–but no guarantee of actually having exploited them to maximum benefit (e.g., an ivy league student who relies more on connections than grades to get into law school).
Roll 1d8 to determine Social Station:
| 1d8 | Social Station | Description | % of starting cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fringe | Not only poor, but a social outlier, pariah, or other untouchable | 5% |
| 2 | Low | Destitute and relies on alms, welfare, or other benefits | 10% |
| 3 | Low | Destitute and struggling to make ends meet through unstable sources | 20% |
| 4 | Middle | Barely comfortable, but with stable work | 40% |
| 5 | Middle | Moderately comfortable with stable work | 80% |
| 6 | Middle | Comfortable with stable work and middling influence | 100% |
| 7 | Upper | Well-off with lucrative work and notable influence | 150% |
| 8 | Upper | Lavish lifestyle with independent wealth and significant influence | 200% |