Character Overview

Character Overview

Facets

T13 characters are defined by their Facets. Each Facet has a Boon (which usually starts at 13 see the Character Creation Method page or the Character generator (if I’ve built it) but is limited to between 1 and 26. Normally a character’s Anti-Facet has a starting Boon equal to 26 – the Facet Boon. E.g. Desi had an initial Liberty of 16 and therefore a Wyrd of 10.

Scale

So you should have a Boon for each Facet, we next have to consider Scale. Scale directly effects every Boon of the character, and many starting characters begin the game at a negative Scale. To learn more about Scale read this.

This means that a normal human child of age 5 would have Scale -3. Every Boon of the character would be effectively at a -3. Scale does go up during play, like levelling in some games. When you Scale up your Boons effectively increase by one step. Scale generally affects positive things like Nimbeds in Annexes, but generally does not affect Negative things (Umbrals in Annexes, Handicap upper Boons, etc). Scale is limited by the number of Handicaps in the Personality Annex…

Character Name

In T13 the Character’s name is important, it gives the Character a Numerological “Geometry” that grants the Character Chi, Yin and Yang when they act like that Geometry dictates. Its normal to use the name that the Character is known by, so it can change if the Character changes their name and often is different for different Alternates. Geometry grants Chi, Yin or Yang like a Personality Annex grants Chi.

Alternates

In T13 characters are not always single personalities. Sometimes, for some reason, there is more than one person in a character’s head. T13 allows these “Alternates” to quite happily exist on the same character sheet. There are several differing types of Alternate. See the Alternates page for more details.

Personality Annex

Characters (or rather each Alternate – even if you only have one) in T13 are defined by their Personality Annex. Personality annex consists of at least one Core Facet, at least one Personality Facet and at least one Handicap Facet. So take a look at the Facet Folio to see what Facets there are… To calculate the value of the Personality Annex add the Values (of the Scale modified Boon) of the Cores, Personalities and Handicaps. This value is then looked up to find the Boon. You can find the Boon by finding the first Value listed that is greater than your Value, look left a column and there you go. This Boon also gives a dice roll and the average dice roll known as the Reduced Boon.

I-Ching

Characters in T13 also have an I-Ching that defines other ways of gaining Chi, Yin and Yang. Normally the I-Ching is chosen randomly and consists of two Hexagrams, each Hexagram grants Chi, Yin or Yang and the lines that change between the two Hexagrams also grant additional Yin or Yang. If a Character’s I-Ching consists of the same Hexagram twice then the Character gains the normal amount of Chi, Yin or Yang (not double), but also gains access to a special * ability of that Hexagram. Normally a Character will only have a single I-Ching between all their Alternates, although there are some ways Characters can get additional I-Ching.

Types of Character

In T13 there are a number of different types of Character and each type has a different number of Handicaps that it may have.

• Grunts are the name given to ordinary people, muggles if you like. Grunts have no special abilities to manipulate reality or access alternate versions of themselves generally. They can spend Yin and Yang to improve actions, but Chi can only be spent to buy Descendants and alter the Character.
• Goblins are Grunts that have gained access to Twists, usually though a Dæmonic Handicap. Most Undead are actually a Goblin, they are also sometimes called a Lesser Demon, or described as members of the ‘Horde’.
• Mercari (or Wyrdchilde) have the ability to trade futures, not in a stock market sense but literally swapping their future with another. They may gain access to Doom-Weaving (Wyrd Tarot Cards) and can spend Chi on their rolls and cards in play, as well as special effects like Monolith, Real Estate and Chronolith creation. Mercari are the heroes and villians of T13, whether a cyborg banker, shape-shifting sapient yoghurt, or meglomaniacal mechanism. Paradox Warriors,  and most of the cast of Ironmaster & Other Tales are Mercari.
• Demons are Mercari that have gained access to Twists, usually through a Dæmonic Handicap. Greater Undead and most Lesser Dæmons are actually Demon type.
• Solo (or Grand Mercari/ Fae) are almost God-like in their ability to manipulate reality, Solos are unique across the Omniverse, there is only one of them, hence the Solo. Grand Mercari are not unique, but they have very similar abilities to Solos. Both can spend Chi as Yarn and can create Artefacts, Provinces and Chronoclysms. Most Faeries operate as Grand Mercari.
• Greater Demons or Demonlords are Solos or Grand Mercari that have gained access to Twists, usually though at least one Dæmonic Handicap. Most actual Dæmons are actually Demonlord type in power level.
• Increated are very varied in power and ability, since they don’t really exist in the same way as other characters they are not limited by the same factors as other Character types, but do have their own hierarchy that means many of the Dæmons are considered equivalent to one of the other types. The most powerful of the Increated are called Dæmon Princes and are the closest the model comes to gods.

Personality Facet & Gaining Chi

The personality facet generates Chi when the Character does whatever is required by that Facet to gain Chi. Each time the Personality (or Core) is meant to gain Chi the character gains a number of Chi. For Solo level characters they gain a number of points equal to their Personality Annex Boon. Mercari characters gain a number of points equal to that Boon Reduced, or may roll their Boon dice and gain that many Chi. Grunts may gain their Personality Boon double reduced (reduce the reduced Boon again).

Annexes and Proficiencies

Annexes are the abilities of the character that go beyond their base statistics, the Facets. They are things the character is particularly gifted at. Read the Annexes file for more details. Each Personality Annex grants you a number of Proficiencies equal to the Personality Boon reduced and a similar number of Annex slots.

Unused Annex Slots

Any Annex slots that do not contain Annexes become extra proficiency slots. See the Proficiencies Primer.

Formation Facet, Incarna and Wounds

The Formation facet is used to determine the Incarna of the Character. For example a Character with a Nature Formation Facet is made of Flesh, Blood and Bone – like most animals are. Most Handicaps and Proficiencies are a little Nature-Incarna-centric as our world is. The Incarna Facet Boon Reduced determines how many wounds of a given level may be accumulated before the wounds merge to become the next largest wound level. E.g. If you have a Nature Boon of 15 and you have a Flesh Incarna then you can hold 4 Distraction Wounds, the next Distraction you take is converted up to a Flesh wound. Where possible wounds should stack by Facet. So Duck wounds should affect an Annex that contains Awe. When this is not possible Wounds should affect Powers, Talents and Skills in that order.

Wounds and Annexes

All Wounds a character has taken are associated with an Annex. You can only have a total number of Wounds equal to the number of Annexes. When you take a new Wound on a Wound slot that is already holding a Wound slot the larger wound is kept, but may be increased by a level as the damage stacks together, possibly by more by Flesh Wounds and distract wounds. The combination of Total Number of wounds and number of wounds of any level combines to make characters more injured than you might assume. You can literally Distract an enemy to death, but only by applying enormous numbers of Distractions. The equivalent of confusing them into making a fatal mistake.

Wound Types

See the T13 Card Ordeal rules for a description of Wound Types and Effects.