Building a character in YAGI1 is fairly easy but involves weighing choices.
You start with 150 points to spend, mostly as you wish.
The first thing you must do is choose your character class from the list available. This will give you a Lens, which you should consider before moving on.
Then, it's time to allocate your points! The first thing you'll want to consider is the four stats, Body, Combat, Mastery, and Competence. Each of these normally has a cap of 50, so keep that in mind. Also, you must put at LEAST one point into each stat... no scores of zero here.
Aside from stats there are a number of special Talents which cost points and will give you various powerful special perks. It is strongly suggested you take at least one rank each in Nerve and Stomach.
As a final step, develop your Shadow, then come up with a name and personality and rough backstory, and that's that!
The following are your class options...
Antiquarian
The mysteries of ages past are varied and numerous, and some devote themselves to studying them. An Antiquarian can be an explorer who excavates lost tombs, a professor at Epheph College who pens scholarly works, a curator at the Frisian Museum, an aristocrat with a passion for ancient vases, or any number of things.
Secrets of the Past: The Antiquarian is familiar with every ancient culture known to modern man, and a few that aren’t. When presented with ruins or relics they will always have something to say about it, even if it’s largely a ruling out of what it can’t be. More commonly, though, they will be able to give a great deal of information to the party.
The Antiquarian’s player may also invent an ancient culture (details subject to GM veto as always) which they are an expert in, and which the GM will attempt, in some fashion, to make relevant during the campaign.
Boxer
Fisticuffs are one of the few things that cross social classes and guarantee prestige. If you can fight and exhibit great physical prowess, you can make your way in the world, whether you’re a regimental champion, a bored aristocrat trained by a retired pro, a whip-fast former ironmonger, or a dancer who’s turned their gaze to bloodier performances. Whether your fight’s in a ring, atop a moving train, or across a tightrope over an abyss of books, you have the skills to prevail.
Physical Conditioning: The cap on Body is raised from 50 to 75, and you get a free 10 points in it.
Detective
For nearly as long as there have been crimes, there have been people to catch the criminals. A Detective can be a private investigator in the mold of Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade, or they can be a Special Constable abroad on official business. Or perhaps they’re a mystery writer, or even just an ordinary person with a knack for putting two and two together…
Detective’s Eye: Upon entering a new scene or place, you may ask the GM for a clue or other telling piece of information that you notice. This may not yield much if there is nothing in the room or area of any import or connection to the adventure, but it will always get something.
Doctor
Most doctors are physicians of some sort, whether they have a diploma or not. A few are anatomists or researchers rather than treaters of the living, and others gained their medical knowledge through military or naval service as a medic or ship’s surgeon. Others are simply content to be academics. Many of them dabble in the less scientific end of medicine…
Doctor of Medicine: You may treat and heal the wounds of others using the supplies in your black bag, or other supplies if you have them, resulting in greatly enhanced healing. Once per session, if you rush to another character’s side to provide treatment as soon as they suffer a grievous wound, you may choose to make a narrative decision that the wound is in fact not so bad as the GM had stated. You may choose to take either a free lens expansion (Antiquarian, Gentleman, Scientist, or Soldier) or 5 points of Competence.
Priest
Characters in this class may be ordained clergy, faithful shepherds of the See of Lune, or they may belong to an order of monks or nuns. This class also includes the various divinity students, sub-priestly vicars, and schismatics. While the power of the Redeemer is widely known and celebrated, his clergy rarely demonstrate it in public. Many believe them capable of dark arts as well as light, when they go astray…
Divine Intervention: Your faith in the Redeemer is not hollow, nor is it without power. You may wield it as a shield against ‘supernatural’ dangers, and against true evil, you may use it as a sword. But be prudent, for faith is a thing which cannot be seen or touched or measured in this world, and while it can always be relied upon, the instant you take it for granted it will turn in your hand.
Gentleman
Not all Gentlemen (or Gentlewomen) are nobly born, although many are. Rather, the Gentleman is one who displays the social graces, appearance, diction, and deportment of the upper stratum of society. This can include lords and wealthy scions, it’s true, but it can also comprise well-to-do professional men and even valets, butlers, and chambermaids who have learned the ways of their social superiors. Some may privately think of them as parasites, but they can be charming and cunning, qualities often good at getting their way.
Innate Nobility: Whether warranted or not, others will perceive you as respectable, honest, and trustworthy unless you do something to break this opinion. You will also be viewed as being entitled by natural right to a higher standard of service, lodgings, hospitality, etc. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll LIKE you.
Scientist
Men and women of science come in many forms, from professors of physics, to solitary inventors, to gifted industrialist or engineers. The idea that the laws of nature can be fully understood by man is new and exciting in this era, a heady drug that drives progress… or leads one to fly too near the sun. Some confine themselves to mathematics or a better steam-engine, while others veer off the path into the fringes of what might be termed ‘mad’ science.
Weird Science: You can use applied science to achieve amazing effects! Not quickly, or RELIABLY, but your genius can totally improve the brain of this hapless monkey via electro-stimulation implants to where he can operate a steam-lathe.
Spiritualist
On the edges of respectable society, some seek communion with the grave. Their motive varies; some seek to speak once more to loved ones, some seek to prove theories of their own, others wish to tap other planes of existence, find immortality beyond the death of the body, or find power in this world. Still others merely seek inspiration for their art, poetry, or romances of the macabre and haunting. Regardless, all of this can lead the Spiritualist into terrain that one might call.. unnatural.
The Other Side: You possess powers of communion with the grave, the ability to see and sense spirits, and the ability to feel the aura of a place. You know techniques and incantations to drive back hostile entities, though you have never used them fully and you pray to never have to.
Soldier
Warfare is one of the oldest trades a person can occupy, and the soldier’s life can be a hard and memorable one full of terrors and wonders. Soldiers might be regimental officers, retired military men, dashing cavalrymen, or humble line troopers; they may have served in an Imperial regiment or as mercenaries in the Koblanz wars. Perhaps they saw a lot of action, or maybe they faced the hardship of travel.
Man of War: The cap on Combat is raised from 50 to 75, and you get a free 10 points in it.
Solicitor
While many Solicitors are lawyers, others are simply men and women of letters, serious and literate people trusted to conduct business on behalf of their clients. While some operate only in a particular city, others are willing to range across the Continent if the need arises. Either way, a true Solicitor must be not only well-read and well-spoken, but also full of initiative, enterprise, and adaptability.
Our Firm Shall See To That: The cap on Competence is raised from 50 to 75, and you get a free 10 points in it.
Mason
There are certain lodges, or gentleman’s clubs, which hold within them hidden knowledge. Or so they imply, at any rate, on the occasions they show themselves. Popular with engineers, artists, and a certain type of professional man, the Invisible Colleges offer entry into a world of mysteries and power just out of grasp. But is it real or illusion, and what price does it come at?
Hidden Knowledge: You possess deep insights into the hidden truths of creation. Some of these allow you to create effects that might be termed ‘magic’ by the ignorant and the gullible. You can’t toss fireballs or magic missiles, but you can mesmerize, bewilder, beguile, and sometimes even do something SOLID if you have enough preparation and lead time and resources. Like any science, magic does not go well with haste or lack of exhaustive preparation.
Your character’s lens is, quite simply, what they know and are expert in. Rather than write every single bit down, we simply use some common sense and go by their Class primarily, adjusting as needed based on their biography and any lens extensions they may have purchased in character creation.
For example, let’s say someone is playing an Antiquarian. What does their lens consist of? Well, clearly ancient cultures and ruins. But to get to those ruins required a lot of travel, so the Antiquarian is also conversant in that. They probably had to barter and haggle a lot with the locals for supplies, so that fits the lens as well. And of course scholarly papers and academic lectures resulted, so they’re clearly conversant there too. They can ride a horse or a mule or a camel competently, and handle a pick and shovel with skill. And so on and so on.
You have much greater success chance within your lens than outside of it. Some things may in fact be impossible outside your lens if the GM decides they’re simply too arcane for someone without any knowledge or training to succeed at.
Attempts to do something outside your lens represent guesswork and unskilled mimicking of something the character has seen, heard, or imagined someone doing. The odds of success will almost entirely depend on the relative stat and how difficult what they’re trying to do is.
Body: This stat measures your physical strength, stamina, fitness, and ability to shrug off debilitating physical conditions. It determines:
While Body is not the only measure of physical attractiveness, nor is it a universal guarantee of it, high Body will increase an attractive character’s appeal. Body also frequently determines whether or not other people see you as capable of adequately defending yourself, for good or ill.
Combat: This stat measures your reflexes, hand-eye coordination, ability to act precisely and clearly in a crisis without hesitation or ‘freezing’, tactical sense, and ability to read your opponent in a fight. It determines:
Combat is the most important determinant for victory in physical combat. It is however heavily dependant on your character’s lens to be used to its full potential. It is not used for matters of generalship or logistics.
Mastery: This stat deals with your force of presence, ‘inner power’, and strength of will to a degree. Mastery drives most of your Talents. It determines:
Mastery is the stat most heavily-dependent on your choices in Talents and Class, which can make it either deeply underwhelming or your most important stat. If you buy it high you are advised to pick a Class whose lens can make full use of it.
Competence: This stat deals with your ability and grasp of the skills and knowledges implied by your lens. It also governs how well you can ‘wing’ skills outside your lens. Competence almost always defers to the other three skills in conflicts over which is relevant. It determines:
Competence is perhaps the ultimate ‘soft’ skill and most important for characters who are focused on knowing things or performing noncombat actions. It is broadly applicable and flexible, but tends to be less useful for a Class like the Boxer, whose lens almost entirely focuses on skills which the other three stats govern, leaving little for Competence to do.
This is something in your character’s past that haunts them. Maybe it’s a lost love. Maybe it was the day their regiment was wiped out almost to a man. Maybe it’s a promise they made, and then couldn’t keep, or the memory of how they betrayed a friend who trusted them. Maybe it’s the look of cold disappointment on their father’s face as they left home for the last time. Maybe it’s a failure that doomed them to a lesser life, or a success obtained by dishonorable means. Whatever it is, the memory of it rises to torment them when all is dark.
Your Shadow will very seldom impact the campaign directly… the past is after all the past… but themes from it will rise from time to time, and the exact nature of it can have mechanical effects on resolving things that bear a relation or resemblance to them.
Keep in mind that your character probably doesn’t think about their Shadow all the time, or even MOST of the time. Your character is perfectly capable of living a largely happy life with few regrets and no time for dwelling on the past. But everyone has something they wish had gone differently, and alone in the dark such things will rear their heads.
Although your characters are capable individuals, they are not cool demigods who don’t bat an eye at terrifying things outside of their comfort zone. Their emotions can and will affect their performance unless they can steel themselves.
Fear is imminent, intense fear for one’s life. It occurs when facing a terrifying foe or situation that is either out of the character’s experience, or so overwhelming that the character knows just how dangerous and hopeless their situation is. Ironically, in some situations a Lens that reduces Fear for one encounter may increase it for another. For example, faced with a sudden attack by two machete-wielding cultists, our Soldier is largely unbothered… he’s used to combat, and a rabble like this doesn’t unnerve him. However, faced with a squad of elite Interior Guards from Czolgov, his lens might make him MORE afraid than his companions, simply because his expertise lets him know just how formidable a foe they face and how little chance they stand. Fear can slow a character’s actions or cause them to fumble due to shaking hands, freezing up, and the need to fight a desire to flee.
Horror is disgust, revulsion, and emotional distress over the existence of a thing, event, or being. A mutilated corpse, a particularly hideous creature or person, a blasphemous artwork… something that makes the soul recoil. Horror can cause physical effects such as vomiting or fainting, and can in severe cases lead to madness, temporary or permanent.
Fear and Horror can be resisted with ranks in the Talents of Nerve and Stomach, backed up by a solid Mastery rating.
Alchemy: 15 points. You are well-practiced in this ancient art, half-magic and half-science, dealing in transmutations and the compounding of drugs and elixirs. Given materials and space to work you can alter substances, concoct poisons, brew potions with various effects, and compound healing solutions. Note that any healing balms or drugs you devise still require someone with at least some medical knowledge to administer or they may do more harm than good. Only takable by Antiquarians, Detectives, Doctors, Scientists, Spiritualists, and Masons.
Architecture: 10 points. You are well-acquainted with the science and customs and practices behind laying out houses, buildings, fortifications, and bridges. You can inuit the likely floor plan of such structures and draft original ones of your own. If one needs tearing down, you know exactly how to go about doing so. Masons may take this for only 5 points.
Ambidextrous: 5 points. You can use both hands with equal faculty, making it easier to manipulate or wield two items at once.
Attractive: 10 points. You are head-turningly beautiful or handsome, or perhaps you just have a certain something. Regardless, others find you physically attractive. This quality works best with high Body and/or Mastery, but still pays dividends without them.
Bodyguard: 10 points. You may designate one person. As long as you remain within arm’s reach of them, that person will receive greatly reduced (if any) damage from all physical or aimed attacks, and will be less likely to be attacked in the first place. Only takeable by Boxers, Detectives, Gentlemen, and Soldiers.
Druidism: 15 points. This is the practice of the old, pagan faith that preceded the Redeemer’s creed; it’s sometimes known as Witchcraft. It is banned nearly everywhere on the Continent, although that prohibition is taken more seriously some places than others. Certain adherents are capable of magic of blood and weather and local spirits, an old primal power that is difficult if not impossible for a mere human to control. This power requires some leadup time to prepare and IS VERY DANGEROUS and NOT recommended for characters with less than 25 Mastery at minimum. Cannot be taken by Priests, Scientists, or Masons.
Equestrian: 5 points. You can ride a horse like a pro, guiding the reins with one hand while doing something with the other without fear of accident. You know how to calm frightened horses and care for sick, tired, wet, or wounded ones. You also know how to handle and drive horse-drawn conveyances like a buggy or wagon.
Historical Weapons: 10 points. This gives you a wide knowledge and practice at using and defending yourself from weapons which belong to the ancient days of yore; outmoded heavy swords and polearms, bows, and the like. Unlike most Talents, this runs almost purely off Combat. Antiquarians and Soldiers may purchase this for 5 points.
Leadership: 10 points. This allows a character to give up their turn in a combat round to direct the efforts of the other PCs, resulting in all other PCs performing with increased effectiveness at their tasks until the leader’s next turn.
Lens Extensions: 15 points. Pick another character class. You dabbled in this occupation in the past, picking up skills from it in an amateur sort of way. You gain a truncated version of it added to your lens. You do not gain its special power, nor does it count for prerequisites unless explicitly stated. You may only take this once.
Locksmith: 10 points. At some point in your life you had occasion to learn all about the ways to get into places or containers that are sealed shut. This obviously covers the picking of locks, but also makes you expert in forcing a door or jimmying a window or skylight.
Musician: 10 points. You can play several instruments at a high level of skill, compose original song and verse, know a great deal of current and folk music, and have an amazing singing voice.
Necromancy: 10 points. The pursuit of bringing people back from the dead, partially or mostly or entirely, via science or the supernatural or a hybrid of the two. A field of study largely banned on the Continent, it is still avidly pursued in secret. It never ends well, yet brilliant minds persist. This is NOT high fantasy necromancy, where you cast Summon Lesser Undead and are rewarded with 3d4 skeletons, but something more akin to Mary Shelley. It requires time and labor, and success is seldom what was dreamt of. Only purchasable by Doctors, Scientists, and Spiritualists.
Nerve: 5 points per rank. This is used to resist the effects of Fear. The more ranks you have in it, the less, if at all, Fear will affect you.
Reassuring Presence: 15 points per rank. This may be taken instead of Nerve and Stomach. Each rank counts as a rank of each of those, but ALSO gives an extra rank to one companion per rank you have in it. Thus someone with 3 ranks in Reassuring Presence could give 3 companions an additional rank on Fear and Horror checks, or 1 companion an additional 3 ranks, or any mix in between. This can only be taken by Detectives, Doctors, Priests, Gentlemen, and Solicitors.
Second Wind: 10 points. This allows you, once per encounter, to temporarily throw off the debilitating effects of the wounds you have received and fight, move, work, or think at a normal level of effectiveness.
Stomach: 5 points per rank. This is used to resist the effects of Horror. The more ranks you have in it, the less, if at all, Horror will affect you.
Special Technique Tree: Each ‘move’ in this tree is a special attack which augments your effective skill as long as your opponent has never seen you use it before. They are 5 points each. After purchasing 3, you may purchase an Ultimate Technique for 10 which dramatically increases your skill but cannot be used on an opponent until you have exhausted the previous 3 specials on them. This tree is only purchasable by Boxers and Soldiers.