Guide to Character Creation

Creating a character in Nobilis is quite simple. Each starting character is outlined by 25 Character Points which you can spend freely. Depending on the campaign or the will of your Hollyhock God, Character Points (CPs) can be gained by the end of each scene depending on how well you played your character or as a reward for performing certain tasks.

=Nobles=

The Sovereigns of the Cosmos, each Noble has some degree of control over their Estate, the purest essence of a concept of Creation, and it's their job to protect what they represent. Their sources of power are the Imperators, beings of absolute power and the incarnations of their own Estates.

Often their Imperators are embodied in Chancels, and as such, Nobles have to protect both their Estates, their Chancels and their Imperators.

Generally human or humanoid in Aspect, Nobles have also inside their physiology a fragment of their Imperator's Soul. This Shard contains most of the Noble's Power, but it takes skill for a Noble to fulfill its potential.

=Character Creation=

Below is an in-depth guide to create a character.

Purchasing Attributes
Each Power begins with zero Levels in each of his Noble Attributes. Increasing an Attribute by one level costs three CPs and a character can increase an Attribute to a maximum of five Levels, though there are rumors of Nobles that can match in power that of an Imperator.

The four Noble Attributes are as follow:


 * Aspect
 * The strength of their Body and Mind.
 * Domain
 * The control over their Estates.
 * Realm
 * The influence over their Chancels.
 * Spirit
 * The blazing flame of their Soul and Auctoritas.

Purchasing Exclusive Attributes
The three Exclusive Attributes are as follow:


 * Alchemy
 * The principles of the Emerald Art.
 * High Summoning
 * The evocations of the Creatures From Beyond Creation.
 * Patronage
 * Allows characters to bestow Imperator properties on others.

Purchasing Additional Domains
Some Nobles control additional Estates. Each Secondary Domain requires an additional CP per Level, which can be used as if it was their Primary Domain. Any Secondary Domain Level can not exceed the Primary Domain Level.

Purchasing Additional Miracle Points
Miracle Points are the essence with which a Noble can enhance his own power. With them, a Noble can cast Miracles much stronger than his Attributes permit.

Normally, each character begins with five MPs per Attribute. These are the number of MPs a character can use during a Scene. They refresh at the end of each game session.

A character can increase their Permanent MPs by spending a CP per MP gained for a designated Attribute. There are no limits of how many MPs a Noble can have on an Attribute, but since a Noble is clearly limited by the amount of CPs he can spend upon his creation, the number of MPs shouldn't be too high if you decide to build a balanced character.

Purchasing Gifts
A Gift is a step further in customization when comparing to Attributes. When a Gift is chosen it can do virtually anything, but it may be very situational, depending on its function.

Further detail on creating Gifts can be found on its own page.

Each Gift costs a minimum of 1 CP while its maximum cost may vary.

Choosing Your Handicaps
Despite the obvious, choosing a handful of Handicaps can be helpful depending on the situation. When a Handicap hinders your actions or becomes blatantly inconvenient, they give you bonuses that may come from additional MPs that you can spend on the moment or save them for a time of need, increase your maximum MPs on a given Attributes when starting a Campaign or a Scene and even give you additional CPs to spend on abilities.

Further details on choosing and creating Handicaps can be found on its own page.

Choosing Bonds and Anchors
A Bond is what your character values the most. This can be any number of things, such as his Family or Fellow Nobles, his Estates, Chancel, Anchors, his Imperator or other intangible values such as hobbies, items, vices, places or people.

Each character has 20 Bound Points which they must divide according to the importance of a given Bond. While this gives detail to your character, the Hollyhock God may give penalties for players who forget their Bonds or chose a less important Bond over a more important one in any given circumstance they might face.

Anchors on the other hand are more complicated. An Anchor is an extension of your character, and should be treated as such. Neglecting your Anchors just because they aren't as powerful or as cool is wasting an important option when in trouble. Owning many Anchors may allow a character to become virtually omnipresent and omniscient. Anchors can provide additional points of view for a character, even aliases when they need to remain hidden from the real world.

Further detail on creating and using Anchors can be found on its own page.

Choosing a Design
A design is often a Symbol, which in turn can often be a flower or a signet. Symbols should be used to represent your character's Estate or as a coat of arms. You can even sketch a portrait of your character depending on what you're willing to do to complete your character.

While this step is not an absolute necessity, further details about customizing your characters can be found in the Book of Flowers.

Write Down your Wound Levels
Wound Levels are further described on the Aspect page, but it's important to put how much damage your character can take before becoming seriously injured or worse.

Wound levels may be increased by purchasing points in a Superior Attribute, such as Superior Vitality, above a character's normal Aspect level.

=Chancel=

Create your Chancel and Imperator
Creating a Chancel and an Imperator is much like creating a character. Further information about their creation and maintenance can be found on their pages.