Character Selection, Creation, and Discussion

[masonstone]

thanks for the heads up, I'll change the post appropriately.

age is 32 and a character quote: "Yeah! This is way better than football!"

[Mr. Handy]

I realized that your character is 10 years older than the minimum age for his EDU, which gives him a +1 EDU bonus. If you've already factored this in, then there's no adjustment required. If you haven't, his EDU goes up to 17, his Know and Own Language both go to 85, and you now have 20 more points to spend on your occupational skills.

[Laraqua]

Wow. I got an awesome roll: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2620194/ but it has a 4 in it! I'm gonna have to think carefully about where to put that four. I'm thinking Appearance. Be a hideous, hideous person. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2620195/ Also high rolls! As for the last one: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2620196/ I forgot to only roll once so I'm figuring I take the first one. Hmm...

Intelligence: 17 (surprisingly quick on the uptake)
Size: 14 (relatively large person - muscled, I'm thinking)
Education: 8 (no university graduate this one)
Appearance: 4 (I'm thinking widespread burn scar across part of the face and scalp - largely healed, but made her butt ugly; probably was once out in the field - perhaps as a helicopter pilot who got covered in trace amounts of burning fuel - but is now a desk jockey)
POW: 17 (where there's a will there's a way - probably why she crawled out of the helicopter and kept going despite being burned, perhaps a lot of awards and other such medals for bravery, hence getting a cushy desk job when physical disfiguration kept her from the front line)
DEX: 14 (still quite fast and her high intelligence helps her react fast)
STR: 12 (a well-exercised woman but her desk job has atrophied her muscles a little. Strength has dropped considerably due to hospital stay several months ago)
CON: 10 (the injury hasn't reduced her to a terribly low CON as it was mostly superficial but the desk job at the very least has reduced her endurance levels).

So, what do you think? Have I justified the stats well enough? I'm thinking a well-decorated war veteran, perhaps a helicopter pilot (I believe American female soldiers don't do front line fighting but they could transport troops, maybe?), who suffered horribly from burning fuel on the face and shoulders but survived the incident well enough. Not very well-educated despite her intellect. Probably doesn't have the patience for it. She's a pen pusher now and itching to be back on the force. I'm thinking she's in her early to mid forties. Name of Jacqueline Jones (more often called Jackie by her friends). What do you think?

[Mr. Handy]

Sounds very good to me! With the kind of war we're fighting these days, there aren't really any "lines" as such, so she could easily have seen combat. Don't forget that you get increased EDU for making your character older than the minimum, which in her case is 14. If you make her 44 or more, that ups her EDU to 11. If she's 34-43, then she still gets 10 EDU.

A helicopter pilot can work well, and there will be plenty for her to do. There's actually another female USAF pilot in Gold (co-pilot, really, but the pilot died in a crash), but she's grounded for now. If you look at the next-to-last post in Rules and Guidelines, you'll see instructions for creating a character at Warren AFB. Your character will probably have the rank of captain, but will definitely need to be an officer. You'll use the Pilot occupational skill list, as described for aircraft crew in Rules and Guidelines. Take your time to build her, and post her here when you're done. She won't be in Triage, but she'll be in her own thread, and I might need to wait until Chapter 6 starts to bring her in.

[Laraqua]

I'll make her 45. That way she isn't AS uneducated.

Intelligence: 17
Size: 14
Education: 10
Appearance: 4
POW: 17
DEX: 14
STR: 12
CON: 10

Idea: 85%
POW: 85%
Know: 50%
Damage Bonus: +1d4
Max Hit Points: 12
Max Magic Points: 17
Sanity: 85%

From Education:
Astronomy: 1%
Climb: 60%
Dodge: 69%
First Aid: 50%
Navigate: 45%
Operate Heavy Machinery: 35%
Persuade: 35%
Physics: 1%
Pilot: 70%
Listen: 55%
Spot: 55%
Rifle: 65%
Throw: 45%

Ideal Equipment: Body Armor, Helmet with built-in radio, snickers bar, rifle with a scope, first aid kit (either in the office drawer, helicopter cockpit, or wherever), flashlight, well-fitting combat boots, sharp knife (for cutting through seat belts, etc.).

Quote: "Man, this was so much more fun in videogames..."

[Mr. Handy]

This is coming together nicely. A few more corrections and she'll be ready.

You get 11 EDU for being 45 years old, not 10. This raises your Know and Own Language to 55, and it also gives you a total of 220 occupational skill points. You'll need to readjust your skills and redistribute points. I'm also not sure which skills you're using your occupational points for. Pilots have the following occupational skills: Astronomy, Electrical Repair, Mechanical Repair, Navigate, Operate Heavy Machine, Physics, Pilot, and any one other skill of your choice (that makes sense). Pilot also requires a specialization (in your case, Pilot(Helicopter)). Note that you can take Pilot multiple times for different types of aircraft if you choose, but with your low EDU you might want to concentrate on helicopters. I can see that you've spent at least 137 points on skills that belong to your occupation, but some of the rest must have been spent on hobby skills. I'm not sure which one you've chosen as your eighth occupational skill, but none of them have enough points invested to account for all of your occupational skill points.

Regarding equipment, most of that will be no problem, but I'm not sure about the scoped rifle. A regular rifle (M16 or M4) is possible, given that you can use one well, though most pilots don't carry them. You will be given a Beretta 9mm handgun in addition to your other stuff, as that's standard issue.

I'll also need a brief description of your character, as you'll see on the other character sheets.

Finally, your Sanity will start out slightly lower, as you've seen a lot of nasty things throughout the day. No free pass for missing the first five chapters. Fortunately, your high starting Sanity insulates you from the worst of it, so your current Sanity will only be reduced to 80 when you start.

[Laraqua]

Oh, dear. I'll have a think on it and work on it later. Hmm...

[Mr. Handy]

Take as long as you need. Chapter 6 won't be starting until September, after all.

[TheIntiate]

Hey mrhandy can I join? If so do I have to post my dice rolls on here through a link or what?

[Mr. Handy]

Yes, you can join, and welcome to the madness that is Zombie Apocalypse! You should check out the Rules and Guidelines thread for helpful information, including how to use Invisible Castle and to post your dice rolls as links (the first post has this). You should also look at the next-to-last post for character creation information. Multiple characters are allowed and even encouraged due to the highly lethal nature of this game. You may play up to four characters, with three being the recommended number. You may create one character in the Gold section (set in Warren Air Force Base, outside Cheyenne, Wyoming) and/or one character in the Omaha section (set in Omaha, Nebraska). There are also quite a few pregenerated characters available, though you'd have to do some catching up for them. I may add a few more pregenerated characters for Chapter 6, which is due to start in September. The existing pregenerated characters are listed in the Character Sheets thread in the Chapter 5 subforum. You can't pick anyone who's marked Deceased, of course, nor can you pick someone who is already played by someone else (unless that player is one of those listed as MIA).

[Misfit]

Can I take over two MIA characters from VooDoo?:
Airman First Class Sebastian Harper (GOLD)
Dan Aldrich (SWORD)

[Mr. Handy]

You can have Dan Aldrich, but I'm afraid that you can't have Sebastian Harper due to the fact that he's kind of dead at the moment. I just forgot to remove him from that list.

I'll send you Dan's secrets when I get a chance, but you can feel free to post for him in the meantime once you've caught up on what he's done in Chapter 5. The Locations thread in the Chapter 5 subforum has a list of hyperlinks by his name that will guide you through the threads (or portions of threads) in which he's been. You'll start by reading Rangers in the Night, then Terror By Night (until you're sent to the next thread), then Damsel in Distress, and then back to Terror By Night, which is his current thread. There are also hyperlinks in the threads themselves that will take you to the new ones. Make sure you read the spoiler buttons that have Dan Aldrich's name in them, as those have information about what he knows or has observed.

Welcome to Zombie Apocalypse, and have fun! Feel free to add and/or create one or more other characters when you're ready.

[Misfit]

Thanks! I'll get that read right now.

[Misfit]

Mr. Handy, I decided to start rolling up a character for the Gold campaign but my stat roll was REALLY bad yet again. So I re-rolled and finally got decent stats. Let me know if I can keep the new rolls.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/player/Misfit/

[Mr. Handy]

I can see that your first set of 3d6 rolls starts with 12, 5, 9, 10, and 5. That's pretty bad even for me, and I've had some pretty lousy character creation rolls. It still doesn't beat the one time I got two 4s, an 8, and a total of only 75 points, though. You can use the group of 5 3d6 rolls you made (16, 12, 6, 13, and 14) along with your second EDU roll (14), but you'll need to reroll your 2 2d6+6 rolls (SIZ and INT), since you only rolled those once. You may do better rerolling them anyway. Even in the unlikely event that those are both 8, your total stat points will still be good enough to go forward, so there won't be any further rerolls for this character. Low stats don't necessarily doom you in Call of Cthulhu, as high-stat characters tend to get killed just as often - maybe more often, since they usually take more risks. Of course, low-stat characters get killed too. One of the themes of CoC is that you're pretty much doomed regardless - in the long run, anyway.

[Misfit]

SIZ & INT rolls,[url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/player/Misfit/[/url]

Just trying out the spoiler button there. Do you want me to do a backstory?

[Mr. Handy]

You can if you like, but you don't have to write one (other than a brief description of your character and a one-line in character quote). You're free to have whatever backstory you like, except I'll tell you what you've done so far on the day of the zombie outbreak and what your current situation is. I'll also tell you how much Sanity you've lost as a result of the day''s events and what equipment you've been issued. Your new character will probably be added in when Chapter 6 starts.

[Misfit]

So apparently a lot more goes into skill points than EDUx5. What else do I have calculate to figure out my skill points?

[Mr. Handy]

You get EDU x 20 occupational skill points, which can only be spent on your occupational skills. The next-to-last post in the Rules and Guidelines thread has all the information you need for character creation, including occupational skill lists for various USAF careers. Choose the one that most closely matches the sort of character you have in mind. If none of them is a close enough match, just let me know what you're thinking of and I'll give you a list.

You also get INT x 10 hobby skill points. These points can be put in any skills.

[Misfit]

Okay, I thought it was 20xEDU for Occupation and 10x EDU for hobby. Well, I went through all my skills to make sure I had it right. I hope it is.


SSG Derek Morrison
USAF Security Force
Male Age:37

INT: 9
SIZ: 16
EDU: 15
APP: 6
POW: 14
DEX: 16
STR: 13
CON: 12

Idea: 45%
Luck: 70%
Know: 75%
Damage Bonus: +1d4
Max Hit Points: 14
Max Magic Points: 14
Sanity: 65


First Aid-(30)--50%*
Hide-(10)--50%*
Listen-(25)--70%*
Dodge-(32)--72%*
Mechanical Repair-(20)--50%*
Sneak-(10)--50%*

Climb-(40)--45%
Drive Auto-(20)--35%
Fast Talk-(5)--25%
Conceal-(15)--25%
Jump-(25)--35%
Persuade-(15)--30%
Spot-(25)--35%
Throw-(25)--25%

Handgun-(20)--55%*
Machine Gun-(15)--20%
Rifle-(25)--75%*

*Occupation Skills (300)
Hobby Skills (90)

Equipment: M-16 Rifle with M68 red-dot optic, Load Bearing Vest, BDU's, Combat boots, Survival knife