The world of Venleitche has no elves, dwarves, or other nonhuman species. All characters are human. Following is the structure used to quantify a player character, with explanations of the qualities. Non-player characters (NPCs) use a simpler structure, which is described in the GM’s section.

Character:

• Form: Male / Female / Both / Neither

• Nature: Inward / Outward / Dual / Balanced

• Season: Spring / Summer / Fall / Winter / Aseasonal

• Element: Air / Fire / Water / Earth / None

• Background: Where the character came from

• Profession: what the character’s career path is

• Balances:

  • Focus

    • Internal 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 External

  • Sensuality

    • Internal 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 External

  • Empathy

    • Internal 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 External

  • Mystic

    • Internal 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 External

• Connections:

  • Self:

    • Body

      • -3 | -2 | -1 | –

      • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

      • tick boxes for points lost in combat, that can be regained

    • Mind

      • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    • Spirit

      • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

  • Social

    • Family

      • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    • Community

      • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    • Tribe

      • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

  • Nature

    • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

  • Magic

    • 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

• Skills: List of Skills known by the character, with Ratings

• Keys: Personality and Presentation. What sort of person is this? Calm, moody, quick to anger? Are they short or tall, fat or thin? This section should be written as a brief descriptive passage. See the sample characters.

Form, Nature, Season

These statistics are chosen by the player. There’s no point cost or other constraint. It’s recommended that the player discuss their choices with the other players in the group, and with the GM, to make sure that their choices will work with the intended story. These three attributes are static; that is, they do not change during the course of play without some form of serious intervention, such as divine-level magic.

• Form is physical, and can be male, female, both, or neither. (Descriptive terms and pronouns are in the Game World chapter.) This is chosen by the player, and will have roleplaying effects. Society neither approves nor disapproves of Form, which is determined by the Divine, and is not to be questioned. Those whose self-image does not match their Form tend to find the situation correcting itself, normally in early adolescence. The priesthood holds that there is a lesson to be learned from the experience, but what that is depends on the person and is again not to be questioned by others. See Hawthorne in the Sample Characters. Note that Form has nothing to do with presentation, how an individual dresses and what pronouns they use. Relationships are based on emotional connection, with Form only considered if the people involved want or do not want to conceive their own children.

• Nature is spiritual, and may be Inward, Outward, Dual (in both directions at once), or Balanced, forever poised between the two ends of the spectrum. The character's role in society is largely determined by their Nature. Outward-Natured individuals, regardless of Form, tend to be warriors, defenders, hunters, builders. Inward-Natured individuals, again regardless of Form, tend to be farmers, nurturers, healers, counselors. Those individuals of Dual Nature are restless, drawn one way and then another. Sometimes they hold multiple roles; other times they become wanderers, explorers, or bards. Those of Balanced spiritual Nature are drawn to be sages, researchers, historians, and keepers of the perilous secrets. Dual Nature tends to align with a Form of Both, while Balanced Nature tends to align with a Form of Neither, but this is a tendency, not a rule.

• Season is the alignment of the character’s soul with the natural cycle. It determines what magic the character is best at, and what part of the year their magic is strongest. See the Magic chapter for more on how this works.

Background

The character’s Background describes their origins, serves as foundation for their Backstory, and gives them their initial Skills. For instance, an Urban: Criminal character would have Fighting Melee, Sneaking, and Streetwise, while a Transient: Caravan Born character would have Animal Training, Navigating, and Negotiating. The player picks a Background for their character that supports their Backstory, and takes Ratings in the Skills for that Background as appropriate. See the Backgrounds section further along, after the Skill definitions.

Profession

The character’s Profession determines the Skills they’re trained in, and the degree and type of magic they will routinely use. Warriors generally have Fighting (Melee) and Riding Skills, where Farmers have Livestock and Farming, and maybe Fighting (Unarmed). Scouts use lesser magic, to walk lightly on the earth with quiet footsteps, and to find their target without being themselves observed, while Thaumaturges use greater magic, rerouting streams to shift irrigation patterns, and calling down fire to burn out the UnNatural. This will be explained in more detail once we've discussed Balances, Connections, and Skills.

Balances

The primary statistics for the characters are points on a continuum between External (E) and Internal (I), with zero in the middle and bonus/penalty scores to either side, with a maximum value of 10 in either direction. Whether the current score counts as a bonus or penalty depends on whether what the character wants to do requires the Balance to be Internal (I) or External (E). For example, resisting magic requires Internal Focus (IF), so if the character’s Focus is currently External, they would take a penalty. Building or repairing technology requires External Focus (EF), so the same character would receive a bonus on the dice roll. These Balances will shift during play, as events influence the character, pushing their Balances toward one end or the other, and as the character decides to shift their Balances in response to events. The character sheet has tracks for the Balances, with spaces below the numbers big enough to put a physical token on. We recommend you use tokens to track your Balances during play, and mark where they are at the end of a game session with a pencil. That will save a lot of wear and tear on your character sheet.

• Focus (F) is logical awareness, the character's cognition, willpower, determination, and ability to meet challenges. It governs intellectual pursuits. Internal Focus (IF) helps with studying, learning new Skills and knowledge, resisting magical persuasion, and reasoning through personal issues. External Focus (EF) lends itself to problem solving, completing arduous or boring tasks, and figuring out the what and the why of the world.

• Sensuality (S) is physical awareness, the need for gratification and awareness of the bodily needs of others, knowledge of the physical world, and perception. Internal Sensuality grants knowledge of one’s own physical state, noticing symptoms of allergies and poisoning and disease, and understanding one’s limitations and how to push their boundaries, such as with an exercise program. External Sensuality (ES) allows diagnosing the illnesses and injuries of others, both people and animals, noticing things that are unusual or stand out for some reason, finding things being searched for, and understanding the limits of other people and objects, such as estimating the weight limit of a bridge.

• Empathy (E) is emotional awareness, governing social activity and control over the character's own emotions. People with Internal Empathy (IE) can handle emotional trauma more readily, having an understanding of their own feelings that helps with processing them. People with External Empathy (EE) can help others with emotional trauma, but may suffer in the process.

• Mystic (M) is magical awareness, the ability to sense and wield mystic energies, converse with spirits, commune with deities, and work with the magic of the Seasons and the world. Internal Mystic (IM) allows the character to heal themselves, buff their stats in combat, and go on astral quests. External Mystic (EM) allows the character to heal and assist others, and deal with supernatural entities. In defending, Internal resists, while External recognizes the attack and dodges.

Players get eight points for their initial Balance scores during character build. For every point that is allocated Internal, one must be allocated External. Thus, the characters start out Balanced, although this will change in play. No Balance may start at zero.

Consider the resonances of the Balances when assigning the initial scores. Each Balance aligns with an aspect of personality and existence, with one of the classical elements, and with a Season of the soul. The following table lays out these resonances for convenience.

Balance Resonances

Balances, Elements, and Seasons interact. Characters gain a slight bonus or penalty for the year being in the right or wrong season for the Balance, for their soul alignment being of the right or wrong Season, or for working with the aligned element. It's possible for a Spring soul to work Earth magic in the fall; it's just hard, because the character is going against Element and Season. The Aseasonal take no Season-based penalties, but also gain no Season bonus. They do gain a bonus with their own knowledge-based magic.

The results of Actions may adjust a Balance, moving it a point or more in a specific direction. This is called taking a Push. For example, conjuring a spirit requires External Mystic, but the character takes an Internal Push based on the spirit’s strength, moving the character’s Mystic Balance toward Internal. If the character tries to conjure a spirit strong enough to Push their Mystic past 0 and into the Internal range, they must burn Connection: Mystic to compensate. This is explained in further detail in the Magic section of the Play chapter.