Your descriptor defines your character— it flavors everything you do. The differences between a Charming Glaive and a Graceful Glaive are considerable. The descriptor changes the way those characters go about every action. Your descriptor places your character in the situation (the first adventure, which starts the campaign) and helps provide motivation.
It is the adjective of the sentence “I am an adjective noun who verbs.”
Descriptors offer a one-time package of extra abilities, skills, or modifications to your stat Pools. Not all of a descriptor’s offerings are positive character modifications. For example, some descriptors have inabilities— tasks that a character isn’t good at. You can think of inabilities as “negative skills”— instead of being one step better at that kind of task, you’re one step worse. If you become skilled at a task that you have an inability with, they cancel out. Remember that characters are defined as much by what they’re not good at as by what they are good at.
Descriptors also offer a few brief suggestions of how your character got involved with the rest of the group on their first adventure. You can use these, or not, as you wish.
You can pick any descriptor you wish regardless of your character's type.
You flex and sway with changes both physical and mental. When something bad happens to you, you feel the pain and the loss, but soon, you’re back on your feet and in the action. When you have to learn a new skill, you don’t back away, but instead, you jump in and try your best. Being adaptable means that you’re often cooperative, because you know that, by working together, a group can overcome things that might be impossible for an individual. Some seek you out because of your adaptability, but others don’t see it as a positive trait and instead see you as someone who always changes their mind—someone without a foundation. You laugh at those accusations. That’s just the sort of thing someone would say if they had never changed their mind about anything in their life—a way for that person to feel good about their lack of growth.
You gain the following benefits:
Versatile: +2 to any one Pool, which you can reassign after each ten-hour recovery roll.
Skill: You’re trained in pleasant social interactions.
Resilient: You’re trained in all actions that involve overcoming or ignoring the effects of deprivation, sorrow, or pain. This includes tasks related to ending an ongoing condition such as being dazed, blinded, stunned, and so on. (However, you are not trained in tasks to resist effects that confer those conditions in the first place.)
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
When you speak, people understand exactly what you’re saying. You’re fluent, coherent, and, some might even say, silver-tongued, though you’d beg to differ. You don’t manipulate people; you just explain things so clearly and with such imaginative examples that those who disagree with you often come around to your point of view. Your eloquence is something that many praise you for, though some hate you for it because, compared to you, they find themselves wanting.
You gain the following benefits:
Lucid: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in persuasion.
Skill: You’re trained in all actions that involve making plans, explaining plans, and convincing others to accept your plans.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Helping others is your calling. It’s why you’re here. Others delight in your outgoing and charitable nature, and you delight in their happiness. You’re at your best when you’re aiding people, either by explaining how they can best overcome a challenge or by demonstrating how to do so yourself.
You gain the following benefits:
Helpful: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Devoted: Allies who have spent the last day with you add +1 to their recovery rolls. You also gain this benefit if at least one other ally gains it.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks related to pleasant social interaction, putting other people at ease, and gaining others’ trust.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re a smooth talker and a charmer. Whether through seemingly supernatural means or just a way with words, you can convince others to do as you wish. Most likely, you’re physically attractive or at least highly charismatic, and others enjoy listening to your voice. You probably pay attention to your appearance, keeping yourself well groomed. You make friends easily. You play up the personality facet of your Intellect stat; intelligence is not your strong suit. You’re personable, not necessarily studious or strong-willed.
You gain the following benefits:
Personable: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving positive or pleasant social interaction.
Skill: You’re trained when using esoteries or special abilities that influence the minds of others.
Contact: You have an important contact who is in an influential position, such as a minor noble, the captain of the town guard, an Aeon Priest, or the head of a large gang of thieves. You and the GM should work out the details together. Inability: You were never good at studying or retaining facts. Any task involving lore, knowledge, or understanding is hindered.
Inability: Your willpower is not one of your strong points. Whenever you try to resist a mental attack, you’re hindered.
Additional Equipment: You’ve managed to talk your way into some decent discounts and bonuses in recent weeks. As a result, you have 10 extra shins jangling in your pocket.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Happy and optimistic, you rarely feel down. Usually, you wake up with anticipation for what the day will hold. Your good spirits aren’t necessarily something you try to share with others, because you know that what lies in another’s heart isn’t for you to change. But sometimes your mere presence and lighthearted nature is enough to mend sadness. Of course, sometimes bad things happen to you too, and your basic nature is suppressed for a time. But eventually, your light-heartedness always returns.
You gain the following benefits:
Bright: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in one activity that most would consider to be a hobby, such as woodworking, singing, writing, and so on.
Skill: You are trained in tasks related to making friends, ending conflicts, and making a positive first impression on strangers.
Inability: You have a hard time recognizing when others aren’t as bright and forthcoming as you. Tasks to detect falsehoods and disguises are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You put the good of the many over the needs of the few, at least in a sense. You implicitly understand that only through cooperation can groups of people remain happy and productive. Your experience has shown that cooperation generates greater benefits for everyone in the long term—including access to food, protection, and knowledge. As a result, you tend to become especially invested in whatever community you live in or, perhaps one day, found yourself.
You gain the following benefits:
Civic-Minded: You add +1 to the health of any community you are currently living in.
Cooperative: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in tasks related to finding out about both current events and secrets within the community where you live.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks related to aiding a community, including repairing infrastructure, quelling riots, defending against incursions, and so on.
Additional Equipment: You start with a numenera plan for an installation.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re quick-witted, thinking well on your feet. You understand people, so you can fool them but are rarely fooled. Because you easily see things for what they are, you get the lay of the land swiftly, size up threats and allies, and assess situations with accuracy. Perhaps you’re physically attractive, or maybe you use your wit to overcome any physical or mental imperfections.
You gain the following benefits:
Smart: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in all interactions involving lies or trickery.
Skill: You’re trained in defense rolls to resist mental effects.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving, identifying, or assessing danger, lies, quality, importance, function, or power.
Inability: You were never good at studying or retaining trivial knowledge. Any task involving lore, knowledge, or understanding is hindered.
Additional Equipment: You see through the schemes of others and occasionally convince them to believe you—even when, perhaps, they should not. Thanks to your clever behavior, you have 10 extra shins.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are wholeheartedly dedicated and loyal to a cause, activity, or job, shrugging off any obstacles that get in your way. When you pick this descriptor, you can work with your GM to figure out what that cause is. For instance, maybe you’re committed to tracking down someone who wronged you long ago. Alternatively, you can wait for a cause to catch your attention in the campaign. Either way, being committed is a personality trait for you, and once you decide to do something, you throw yourself into it with a vengeance.
You gain the following benefits:
Steadfast: +4 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in tasks related to enduring trials of mind and body.
Dedication Brings Rewards: You tend to practice things over and over. Once between each ten-hour recovery roll, you gain an asset to similar actions involving the same task (such as making attacks against the same foe or operating the same device). The asset doesn’t apply to similar but different tasks (such as attacking a different foe, even if of the same kind, or operating a different but very similar device).
Inability: Sometimes you come across as so single-minded that you put people off. Persuasion tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re self-assured, which helps in almost every situation—at least situations where violence is not involved. Fortunately, because you’re so self-confident and positive, you’re usually able to steer situations away from violent endings. It’s possible that your confidence makes you seem levelheaded and cool in a tough situation, or your confidence could make you eager to prove your skills when the going gets rough—it’s up to you. Either way, others eventually learn that you’re confident for a good reason.
You gain the following benefits:
Self-Reliant: +1 to each of your Pools.
Skills: There is some basis for your confidence. You are trained in three nonphysical, non-combat skills of your choice.
Confident Outlook: Sometimes confidence counts as much as or more than competence. When you set your mind to it, you are trained in one task for ten minutes, as long as that task is not an attack or a defense. You can do this once per rest (the ability is renewed each time you make a recovery roll).
Failure Has Its Consequence: Sometimes confidence leads to overconfidence and a stark realization of failure. You trigger a GM intrusion on a d20 roll of 1 or 2.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You come from the other side of the world, a place accessible to those in the Steadfast only through the Great Reach. Corao is a land of history, tradition, and complex customs. As an exemplar of this land, you are a student of history and the numenera, but you are also quick witted and light on your feet. The people of Corao sail the skies in their soarcraft and consider the sky their home as much as the land. To you, speed is more important than endurance. Movement is life. You see yourself as the latest part of a continuous line that spans all of Earth’s history. This gives you a deeper connection with the numenera, which is not the leftovers of a mysterious past, but your birthright.
You have the following characteristics:
Light: +3 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to the history of Corao and the surrounding regions.
Skill: You are trained in all tasks having to do with the numenera.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Your excellent education and privileged upbringing has lent you a refined taste. You’re able to discern degrees of difference where others see, hear, or taste the same thing. Your awareness extends to artistic endeavors and general knowledge of the area you reside in and areas far from you (to the extent this knowledge is possible). You’re an example, if you do say so yourself, of the benefits that civilization can bring to someone. Though that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate other ways of living.
You gain the following benefits:
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks related to knowledge of current events and history.
Skill: You’re discerning, trained in all tasks related to perception, detecting differences, and noticing minor flaws (or strengths) in the works of others.
Learned: Being well read and well educated, you have a wide range of talents. You can attempt one task in which you have no training as if you were trained. This ability refreshes every time you make a recovery roll, but the uses never accumulate.
Inability: People who are not Cultured may think of you as a snob. Any task involving getting people to believe or trust you is hindered.
Additional Equipment: You have a book on a topic of your choice and a set of very fine clothing.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
There once was a time when the prior worlds spoke to the stars, reshaped the creatures of the world, and mastered form and essence. Isn’t that incredible? Each day is a chance to rediscover a secret, a bit of knowledge, a story, or something you can’t even imagine yet. It’s dizzying, when you consider all there is to learn and discover. You’re drawn to explore the ruins of the prior worlds, places that are brand new and unique to the Ninth World, or civilizations that still exist among the stars high overhead. Of course, if you’re going to satisfy your curiosity, you need to be careful. Before plunging directly into the unknown, you learn as much as you can about a new area through inquiry or exploration. Otherwise, you might not live long enough to see everything you want to see and do everything you want to do.
You gain the following benefits:
Inquisitive: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You see things others miss. You are trained in perception.
Skill: You’re always investigating something new and building up your knowledge. As a result, you can always find something interesting or engaging about any situation. You’re trained in all tasks related to detecting falsehoods, piercing illusions or disguises, and seeing past facades.
Additional Equipment: You have three books on whatever subjects you choose.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You hail from the dry wastelands of Vralk or somewhere equally arid and hot. You are experienced in looking for food and water where such things are scarce. You know how to avoid the heat from the sun and from the volcanic eruptions and ashfalls that come with them. Although you are acquainted with the dangers of the arid wasteland from which you hail, you are likewise unfamiliar with places that are cold or wet. Your clothing is probably designed to protect you from the heat and sun, and you likely have myriad pockets for stashing extra food, water, and other essentials.
You have the following characteristics:
Resistant: +4 to your Might Pool.
Long-suffering: You can go twice as long without food and water as another human.
Skill: You are trained in any task involving resisting damage from heat, and you have +2 to Armor that applies only to damage from heat.
Skill: You are trained in any task involving finding food or water.
Inability: You have an inability in any task involving resisting damage from cold.
Inability: You have an inability in any task involving swimming or handling watercraft.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are a believer in a religious faith or an important, all-encompassing philosophy. These beliefs help to shape the decisions you make and how you see the world. Your outlook gives meaning to your life and the things that happen to you. On the downside, it can blind you to thoughts and ideas that run counter to the beliefs of your faith.
You have the following characteristics:
Inwardly Focused: +3 to your Intellect Pool.
Steadfast: Your faith gives you the foundation to deal with stress. When something would alter the difficulty of your action to your detriment, you can negate one step of the modification. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until after your next ten-hour recovery roll.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are quite certain that your fate is leading you, inextricably, toward a terrible end. This fate might be just yours, or you might be dragging along the others closest to you.
Jumpy: +2 to Speed Pool
Skill: You are always on the lookout for danger, and so are trained in perception-related tasks.
Skill: You are defensive minded, so you are trained in Speed defense tasks.
Skill: You are cynical and expect the worst. Thus, you are resistant to mental shocks. You are trained in Intellect defense tasks having to do with losing your sanity.
Doom: Every other time the GM uses GM intrusion on your character, you cannot refuse it and do not get an XP for it (you still get an XP to award to another player). This is because you are doomed. The universe is a cold, uncaring place, and your efforts are futile at best.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: Choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You always speak from the heart, rarely remembering that dissembling can be useful to smooth over awkward interpersonal situations. You’re sincere and feel things deeply. You like to get to the meat of whatever problem prevents you from succeeding, whether it’s a person, a physical obstacle, or a puzzle of some kind.
You gain the following benefits:
Purposeful: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in persuasion.
Skill: You have a passion. You are trained in one area of lore or knowledge of your choice.
Skill: You’re trained in defense rolls to resist disease and poison.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving providing consolation and emotional support to others.
Inability: You never could detect a lie. Tasks that involve seeing through lies or trickery are hindered.
Additional Equipment: You make deep and abiding friendships. Thanks to your earnest nature, a friend has given you an additional expensive item worth up to 10 shins.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are an amphibious humanoid who hails (or whose ancestors hailed) from the Rayskel Cays. As an adult, you look slightly human, with strong legs and large webbed feet, adaptable lungs and gills, and winglike appendages, all of which make you equally suited for traversing land and water. You can breathe on land or underwater for up to 28 hours at a time, and then you must switch environments, if only for a few minutes, to clear out your delicate gill passages. Your lifespan is slightly longer than that of a typical human, and your gender is likely indiscernible to anyone other than yourself and those closest to you. You can control and change the very structure of water—specifically saltwater— using an enzyme on your skin. This allows you to turn water into a semisolid state while retaining most of its fluid properties. Your waterwear clothing, and perhaps much of your equipment, is likely something you created in this way. You probably speak the Truth, and you also sing in a short, staccato language designed to carry for long distances underwater.
You have the following characteristics:
Gregarious: Despite your unusual appearance, your social skills charm even the most standoffish of creatures. You are trained in all tasks involving positive social interactions.
Waterwielder: If sufficient water is available, you can use it to craft mundane items that typically cost no more than 5 shins, such as standard weapons, armor, and equipment. Items must be no larger than what you can carry on your person, and they last up to 28 hours or until they are not in contact with you for more than a round. As a general rule, crafting a mundane object takes one to ten minutes, depending on its size and complexity. You cannot craft complicated items such as cyphers, artifacts, or special equipment.
Inability: If you go more than 28 hours without switching between water breathing and air breathing, you gain an inability in movement-related tasks, including running, jumping, and climbing. The inability persists until you make the switch between environments for at least a few minutes.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You hail from the Black City. As is typical for those of your kind, you are quiet, subdued, and calm. You tend to avoid wearing bright colors or adopt ostentatious appearances of any kind. Some people might mistake you for sullen or distant. You value learning, history, and lore, except for knowledge of powered numenera or the science behind such things. You believe that demons dwell within stone and metal as well as in severe weather and storms. You prefer to be in high places rather than on the ground when possible, and you don’t like being out in the open.
You have the following characteristics:
Studious: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in tasks involving botany, zoology, or biology.
Skill: You are trained in climbing.
Inability: You have an inability in understanding or using powered numenera, including ray projectors, automatons, force fields, vehicles, and so on—anything requiring a nonliving power source.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You trust only what you can see with your own eyes—and sometimes not even that. You’re most comfortable when you’ve had time to complete your research, find all the facts, and figure out the truth.
You gain the following benefits:
Observer: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in all actions involved with conducting tests to find proof, discern the truth, or glean information.
Quick Study: When you take a round to study whatever is in front of you and gain the facts, you feel more confident that you’re about to do the right thing. Your next non-combat action gains an asset.
Non-Resilient: If you haven’t had time to study something, you have a hard time taking action and moving forward. Whenever you receive a GM intrusion, any action you take in response is hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You expect a lot from others. From your point of view, you are drawing out their very best. Demanding the utmost of those around you can be challenging in and of itself. Many people would rather take things easier because putting in extra effort is hard. But for you, effort is what it’s all about. You expect the most from yourself, so why wouldn’t you expect greatness from those you work with? People sometimes call you demanding, but you take it as a compliment.
You gain the following benefits:
Unyielding: +4 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in persuasion and intimidation tasks.
Skill: You’re trained in tasks to sense when someone isn’t telling the truth.
Inability: You’re sometimes accused of being unpleasant. Tasks involving positive social interaction are hindered.
Inability: Being so concerned with how those around you are performing their tasks makes you vulnerable to anything that attacks your mind. Intellect defense rolls are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You take time to think about all angles of a future project or mission, so you can prepare for any and all contingencies. You’re not necessarily bad at thinking on your feet, but you work better when you have time to prepare for a situation. Because you’re forwardthinking, people may come to you for advice. You’re not better at guessing equally weighted outcomes, but then again, you know that few events are completely random. Things usually happen for a reason, and you excel at identifying such things ahead of time.
You gain the following benefits:
Thinker: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in initiative tasks.
Skill: You know how to leverage risk. You’re trained in tasks that involve some element of chance, such as playing games or choosing between two or three apparently equal options.
Additional Equipment: You have about 30 extra shins hidden away for emergencies.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are from the region known as the Frozen South. You are tough, able to shrug off ice and cold that would debilitate others.
You have the following characteristics:
Stalwart: +2 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You are trained in any task involving moving (walking, running, jumping, or climbing) in conditions that would otherwise be more difficult due to ice or snow.
Skill: You are trained in any task involving resisting damage from cold, and you have +2 to Armor that applies only to damage from cold.
Skill: You are trained in handling euriegs and driving a eurieg-pulled sledge.
Inability: You have an inability in any task involving resisting damage from heat.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are from Lostrei, the Spiritlands. As a believer in the animism-based faith of your people, you see a unity in all things from the spirits that flow through the world. Thus, you love and respect animals and have a rapport with them. Like most Gaians, you are egalitarian and can’t abide the idea of slavery or a heavily classist society. Individual freedom is important to you—important enough that you’ll fight for it.
You have the following characteristics:
Empathic: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Graceful: +2 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You are trained in any task having to do with interacting with, caring for, or training animals.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You have a perfect sense of balance, moving and speaking with grace and beauty. You’re quick, lithe, flexible, and dexterous. Your body is perfectly suited to dance, and you use that advantage in combat to dodge blows. You might wear garments that enhance your agile movement and sense of style.
You gain the following benefits:
Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving balance and careful movement.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving physical performing arts.
Skill: You’re trained in all Speed defense tasks.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You love people, and they generally love you. You know how to interact with large groups and work the crowd. You’re likely to be a leader, a diplomat, or a very successful businessperson. You enjoy being around people, and you’re generally interested in what they have to say and what they think about things. You ask a lot of questions, and you’re generous and kind to those who deserve it (in fact, you’re often willing to give latitude to people who others would have given up on).
You gain the following benefits:
Likable and Informed: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
People Person: When you are within immediate range of at least two allies, the difficulty of one non-combat-related task is eased. You can do this only once, but its use is restored each time you make a recovery roll.
Getting the Word: If you spend an hour amid a large group of people, you can glean general rumors, gossip, or opinions they hold.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are courageous, daring, and altruistic in equal measures. You’re not afraid to face horrors that make others quaver, especially if it means helping someone who couldn’t succeed (or survive) without you. Some say you’re made of the stuff of legends and that your exploits will one day become the stories that inspire a new generation.
You gain the following benefits:
Mighty: +2 to your Might Pool.
Heroic Guise: You hold yourself in a way that inspires others. You are trained in all social interactions.
Hero’s Complication: Although the GM can use GM intrusions on you normally (awarding XP), they can also introduce a GM intrusion on you as if you had rolled a 1 on a d20 roll (without awarding XP) based on how your heroic nature tends to attract danger. Every other time the GM uses this ability to introduce a GM intrusion without giving you XP, your heroic nature works to your advantage. Your weapon breaks, but that allows you to notice something everyone else missed. A trap catches you, but it also catches your enemies. A new foe enters the fray, but your current foe mistakes it for your ally and attacks it instead of you. You and the GM should determine the advantage together.
Skill: Things tend to go your way. You are trained in tasks involving perception and finding hidden things.
Inability: You tend to take others at their word. Tasks that involve detecting falsehoods are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You have a flair for making things up. Whenever something else isn’t occupying your attention, you’re creating an ongoing narrative or mental picture within the confines of your own mind. Sometimes, what you imagine becomes a useful idea or something you write, paint, or draw. Mainly, however, you live inside your own head, content to imagine all the things that the world around you sometimes fails to provide.
You gain the following benefits:
Brainy: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’ve got a flair for art and are trained in one of the following skills: painting, drawing, singing, poetry, writing, sculpting, playing a style of musical instrument, or something similar.
Imaginative Solution: When you apply a level of Effort to any Intellect task, you gain a free level of Effort. You can do this one time, although the ability is renewed each time you make a ten-hour recovery roll.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re rarely satisfied with the status quo. You’re always thinking about how you’d like to advance your agenda or improve a situation (whether it’s your situation or someone else’s). Whatever your goal, you come at things with an idea of how you’ll accomplish everything that needs to be done to achieve it.
You gain the following benefits:
Energetic: +4 to your Speed Pool.
Ready for What’s Next: You add +1 to your recovery rolls.
Imaginative Solution: When you apply a level of Effort to any Intellect task, you gain a free level of Effort. You can do this one time, although the ability is renewed each time you make a ten-hour recovery roll.
Inability: You’re energetic but not fast. All movement-related tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re quite smart. Your memory is sharp, and you easily grasp concepts that others might struggle with. This aptitude doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve had years of formal education, but you have learned a great deal in your life, primarily because you pick things up quickly and retain so much.
You gain the following benefits:
Smart: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in an area of knowledge of your choice.
Skill: You’re trained in all actions that involve remembering or memorizing things you experience directly. For example, instead of being good at recalling details of geography that you read about in a book, you can remember a path through a set of tunnels that you’ve explored before.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are imposing, either in manner, stature, or both. People’s eyes often grow wide as you enter a room. There’s a touch of danger around you, and most people can sense it. It’s off-putting and unnerving, but you can use it to your advantage. Perhaps your voice is gravelly and low. Perhaps it’s the hardened stare you give people or the scars that cover your face. Or maybe you’re just a looming presence with a big weapon. Whatever it is, you scare people.
You gain the following benefits:
Threatening: +2 to your Might Pool or +2 to your Intellect Pool or +1 to both Pools.
Skill: You’re trained in all intimidation tasks.
Threaten: Foes within immediate distance hesitate, which hinders their next action. You can do this once, although the ability is renewed each time you make a recovery roll.
Menace: One foe you choose within immediate range uses their next action to move away from you. You can do this once, although the ability is renewed each time you make a recovery roll.
Inability: You’re threatening but not a quick study. Tasks related to lore and knowledge are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are often tickled by a sense of knowing what someone will say, how they will react, or how events might unfold. Maybe you have a mutant sense, maybe you can see just a few moments ahead through time, or maybe you’re just good at reading people and extrapolating a situation. Whatever the case, many who look into your eyes immediately glance away, as if afraid of what you might see in their expression.
You gain the following benefits:
Innate: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in perception tasks.
Know What to Do: You can act immediately, even if it’s not your turn. Afterward, on your next regular turn, any action you take is hindered. You can do this one time, although the ability is renewed each time you make a recovery roll.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Your enthusiasm knows few bounds. Even when things become truly dire, you aren’t deterred for long. If you’re hurt, you bounce back. If you’re insulted, you try to find common ground. In fact, that’s what people say about you—that you always make a comeback, even if it seems like you were beaten. You may change your plans based on the situation at hand, but you never really give up. You just move along toward something better and brighter.
Sturdy Spirit: +4 to your Might Pool.
Bounces Back: You add +1 to your recovery rolls.
Skill: You’re enthusiastic, trained in all tasks related to positive social interaction.
Inability: You have a hard time recognizing confidence games and similar schemes, especially when you’re the target. Intellect defense tasks to do so are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You live by a code. It might be your own set of rules or the rules of a religious, military, or other organization (perhaps one steeped in dogma) to which you belong or once belonged. The important thing is that you’re not governed by passions but by a steadfast confidence that to follow the law is to live in grace.
You gain the following benefits:
Justified: +2 to your Might Pool and +2 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You are trained in tasks related to knowing, understanding, and interpreting the laws of the land.
Inability: You can’t abide law-breaking, especially when you’re the culprit, however unjust those laws might be. While engaged in any activity that breaks the law, your Intellect based tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You have studied, either on your own or with an instructor. You know many things and are an expert on a few topics, such as history, biology, geography, the numenera, nature, or any other area of study. Learned characters typically carry a few books around with them and spend their spare time reading.
You gain the following benefits:
Smart: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in three areas of knowledge of your choice.
Inability: You have few social graces. Any task involving charm, persuasion, or etiquette is hindered.
Additional Equipment: You have two additional books on topics of your choice.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
It’s in your nature to form strong attachments. And when you attach yourself to a person, a group, or an institution, you can’t do anything else but remain true to it, even in the face of attacks that put you at risk of life and limb. It gives you pleasure to give your aid to others. In the past, some may have accused you of being blindly loyal, which is ridiculous. If someone shows you truly incontrovertible evidence that the person or institution that you’ve given yourself to is not worthy, you’d like to think that you would weigh all the evidence and come to a decision based on the facts and the facts alone.
You gain the following benefits:
Resolute: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Devoted: If an ally within immediate range descends one step on the damage track, you can act immediately but in a restricted fashion. You can use this action either to move the willing ally up to an immediate distance or to attempt a healing task on your ally.
Faithful: When you help a creature to make or avoid an attack in combat, you regain 1 point to one of your Pools (this is true whether the task you helped with succeeds or fails). You can do this one time, although the ability renews each time you make a recovery roll.
Inability: You have a hard time seeing disloyalty in others. Tasks that involve detecting falsehoods and seeing through disguises are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You have delved too deeply into subjects humans of the Ninth World were not meant to know. You are knowledgeable in things beyond the scope of most, but this knowledge has come at a terrible price. You are likely in questionable physical shape and occasionally shake with nervous tics. You sometimes mutter to yourself without realizing it.
Knowledgeable: +4 to Intellect Pool
Skill: You are trained in numenera knowledge.
Inability: Your mind is quite fragile. Whenever you try to resist a mental attack, the difficulty is increased by one step.
Fits of Insight: Whenever such knowledge is appropriate, the GM will feed you information for which there is no clear explanation as to how you could know such a thing. This is up to the GM’s discretion, but should happen as often as once each session.
Erratic Behavior: You are prone to acting erratically or irrationally. When you are in the presence of a major numenera discovery, or at times of great stress (such as a serious physical threat), the GM can use GM intrusion without awarding XP that directs your next action. You can still pay 1 XP to refuse the intrusion. The GM’s influence is the manifestation of your madness, and thus will always be something you would not likely do otherwise (but it is not directly, obviously harmful to yourself unless there are extenuating circumstances).
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: Choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Some say you’re nosy and ask too many questions. It’s true you constantly ask why, because the Ninth World is a big place full of both wonderful and terrifying things. If you don’t explore it, how will you ever know what’s going on? But even more than the mysteries of prior-world ruins, you relish uncovering the complexities and relationships that spring up inside communities. You especially like to figure out who is sweet on whom, who is lying to whom, and who is secretly on the wrong side of the law. You relish knowing the full story, and the only way to get that in difficult situations is to meddle.
You gain the following benefits:
Analytical: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You see things other people miss. You are trained in perception and detecting falsehoods.
Skill: You have a knack for getting into places others want to remain undisturbed. You are trained in stealth tasks.
Skill: You get a thrill from knowing the right answer. You’re trained in tasks to remember pertinent details on a topic you once heard or read about.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You have a special talent that can be viewed in one of two ways. You might think of yourself as “mystical,” and thus attuned with the mysterious and the paranormal, or you might think of yourself as “mechanical,” and thus adept with devices and machines. In either case, your true talents lie with the numenera. You likely have experience with ancient lore, and you can sense and wield the numenera— though whether that means “magic” or “technology” is up to you (and probably up to those around you as well). Mystical characters often wear jewelry, such as a ring or an amulet, or have tattoos or other marks that show their interests. Mechanical characters tend to carry a lot of tools and treat them almost like talismans.
You gain the following benefits:
Smart: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in all actions involving understanding numenera.
Sense “Magic”: You can sense whether the numenera is active in situations where its presence is not obvious. You must study an object or location closely for a minute to get a feel for whether the touch of the ancients is at work.
Esotery: You can perform the esotery known as Hedge Magic when you have a free hand and can pay the Intellect point cost.
Inability: You have a manner or an aura that others find a bit unnerving. Any task involving charm, persuasion, or deception is hindered.
Additional Equipment: You have an extra oddity, determined by the GM.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re a born caregiver. When you see someone in need, you’re there with an encouraging word, assistance, and an honest desire to see them grow and improve. Some nurturers focus only on children, who of course have the most growing to do, but your focus is wider. You nurture anyone—not only people but institutions and communities, too.
You gain the following benefits:
Caregiver: +2 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You are trained in healing tasks.
Nurturing: Allies who have spent the last day with you add +1 to their recovery rolls. You also gain this benefit if at least one other ally gains it.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Few things are as wonderful as getting lost in what you love. Time slips past, hour after hour, while you’re in the flow. Whether you are obsessed with killing bandits, climbing, or studying something like secrets, abhumans, or mutants, your ability to sink into what most interests you is what allows you to succeed. Everything else seems less important, and this allows you to focus.
You gain the following benefits:
Your Obsession: At the beginning of each day, choose one concept on which you will concentrate. For the rest of that day, you’re obsessed with that concept. This doesn’t mean you ignore anything not related to your obsession. It just means you are at your best when performing tasks related to the obsession, and you are slightly inattentive when performing tasks that are not.
Enthralled: When you attempt a non-combat task that is directly related to your current obsession, you gain an asset. The player and GM can decide whether a particular situation warrants this benefit.
Preoccupied: Any task that is not related to your current obsession is hindered. The player and GM can decide whether a particular situation warrants this disadvantage.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are an eight-armed cephalopod. While you are strong for your size, you are relatively small and weak compared to, say, a human. You move easily through the water and can use a natural camouflage to hide. Your body is surprisingly malleable, allowing you to move through very tight spaces. Your senses are sharp, particularly your sense of touch, which is so sensitive that you can detect movement around you in the water. Octopodes are often arrogant and aloof, feared and misunderstood by most other creatures.
Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool.
Intelligent: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Fragile and Weak: –2 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You are trained in swimming, climbing, and contortion.
Skill: You are trained in perception while in the water.
Ink: While underwater, you can fill an immediate radius with dark ink that blocks vision. The ink dissipates within one minute. Your ability to do this is restored after you take a 10-hour rest.
Limited Telepathy: You can speak telepathically with any other octopus within short range.
Inability: You don’t work well with nonoctopi. When dealing with such creatures, the difficulty of pleasant social interaction is increased by one step.
Inability: You have a sensitive, relatively delicate system. The difficulty of Might defense rolls is increased by one step.
Inability: Your innate telepathy makes you receptive to mental attacks. The difficulty of Intellect defense rolls is increased by one step.
Dry Land Limitations: You move only an immediate distance on dry land, and cannot jump. You have a weakness in both Might and Speed. You cannot survive longer than an hour out of the water.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re more than hopeful about what the future will bring, confident that it will be bright. Some optimistic people are bubbly and full of cheer. Others are quietly confident, their optimism revealed by the shine in their eyes and the way they’re quick to try again when they fail. Optimism sometimes means you expect the best in others, but it doesn’t mean you are blind to other’s failings. You only hope they can do better, just as you hope you yourself can.
You gain the following benefits:
Spirited: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in Intellect defense tasks.
Shrugs Off Disappointment: When you fail at a non-combat task and try that task again the very next round, you can apply a free level of Effort toward the success of that task. This benefit effectively alleviates the requirement to apply a level of Effort when retrying failed tasks.
Inability: You have a lightness of being, but you really feel it when you’re physically challenged. Might defense tasks are hindered.
Inability: You’re spirited but not fast. All movement-related tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You can’t stand a mess, whether physically or metaphorically, when it comes to plans and activities. Your explorer’s pack is neatly catalogued and perfectly packed, so you never have to dig around in it when you’re looking for something. The same is true of where you live, whether that’s in a home, a temporary lodging, or a camp site. A neatly arranged living space and a well-conceived plan both contribute to everyone’s peace of mind.
You gain the following benefits:
Ordered: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in tasks related to perception, planning, and organizing.
Benefits of Organization: You can take one additional free action while you are at a location that you have organized to your liking (which means having spent at least ten minutes there tidying and organizing) or if you are following a plan that hasn’t diverged from the original conception. You can do this only once, but its use is restored each time you make a ten-hour recovery roll.
Inability: You really can’t stand a mess. Intellect defense tasks are hindered in messy or chaotic locations.
Additional Equipment: You have an explorer’s pack with extra pockets and compartments.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
A fire burns in you. Whether that fire is for a person, a place, a people, a concept, or something else, you are driven by it. Passionate characters are sometimes champions for a cause or defenders of a faith. Or they might just be driven individuals. You might be seen as a hothead by some, temperamental and dangerous. But even if that’s true, you keep your word and take your commitments seriously, and it’s hard to find fault with that. You won’t let any challenge stand in your way. You charge right in.
You gain the following benefits:
Skill: You are trained in running, climbing, and swimming. Fever: You are a devil when angered, inflicting 1 additional point of damage with any attack.
Fire Inside: You gain one asset to an action when doing so can be justified by your passion. You can do this only once, but its use is restored each time you make a recovery roll.
Inability: Your temper is hard to control. Tasks requiring restraint or subtlety, including sneaking or lying, are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You don’t give up even in the face of calamity, danger, or personal tragedy. Luckily, calamity and tragedy are rare enough that you’re not constantly testing your resolve. Instead, you show your perseverance most often in the face of boredom, long slogs, and situations where others are tempted to give up.
You gain the following benefits:
Determined: +2 to your Intellect Pool or +2 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You are trained in tasks related to endurance and keeping at an undertaking in the face of difficulties.
Irrepressible Reaction: Whenever you receive a GM intrusion (either by rolling a 1 or by getting one from the GM), one action you take in response within the next minute gains an asset.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
It’s usually not for you to make the plans. Instead, you prepare for whatever the plan is. You’re happiest when you’ve got enough time before an event to assemble the best possible selection of tools, provisions, or resources that will contribute toward that event’s overall success. Often, being prepared means having the tools necessary to fix, fashion, or modify another piece of equipment, be it mundane or exotic.
You gain the following benefits:
Ready: +4 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You are trained in initiative tasks.
Tool Aficionado: If a tool enables a noncombat task but does not provide an asset, you gain an asset to that task anyway when using a tool. If a tool provides an asset to a non-combat task, you gain one additional asset when using it.
Inflexible: You’re not usually surprised, so it’s extra surprising when you are. The first action you take after being surprised or when a foe attacks you before you have acted is hindered.
Additional Equipment: A bag of light tools.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You protect what’s close to you, which is usually your friends and allies, as well as an institution or a community. To some extent, people and communities can look out for themselves, but people join together for a reason. When others find themselves in harm’s way, you’re a perfect fit for helping to avoid such outcomes. It’s deeply satisfying to know that your attention contributes to the safety and well-being of everyone around you.
You gain the following benefits:
Watchful: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skills: You are trained in tasks related to perception and healing.
Step in Front: If you successfully draw the attack so that a foe attacks you instead of the target they originally intended to attack, you have +2 Armor against that attack. You can do this one time, although the ability renews each time you make a recovery roll.
Inability: You’re watchful, not bright. Knowledge-based tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Your parents were human, but you are slightly different. No one can quite put their finger on it, but there’s something odd about you. You, of course, don’t see it at all, but you’ve encountered the stares and minor prejudices from “normal” humans all your life. On the other hand, you are healthier than others, and you’re told that proximas live much longer than is typical. You come from the lands far to the east, beyond the Great Reach. If you travel to the Steadfast, you’ll find even more surprised and strange reactions there, where people have never seen anyone like you before.
You have the following characteristics:
Healthy: +4 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You are trained in tasks related to intimidating humans.
Quick Recovery: Your ten-minute recovery takes only one action.
Inability: People find you somewhat offputting. You have an inability with positive social interactions with humans.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You feel most at home when surrounded by the smells and sounds of the ocean, when you can sense that the land doesn’t go on forever, and when you know that at any time you are never more than a few hours’ walk from the touch of the sea. Being inland, far from any connection to the sea, makes you feel ill at ease. You probably worship the moon as your main god, believing that the sky is a second, larger sea that mirrors the one you love so dearly. To that end, you are not afraid of death, and in fact have prepared for it, ensuring that someone close to you will put you under the waves for three days so that you can travel from your body to become a bioluminescent creature in the skysea. It’s likely that you speak a language known only to you and those of your hometown, as well as Ayon and whatever bits of the Truth you’ve managed to pick up in your travels. Your clothing is probably designed to absorb little and dry quickly, letting you move between two worlds with ease.
You have the following characteristics:
Agile: +4 to your Speed Pool.
Pliant: You are at home on both water and land, adept at switching between the two. At the beginning of each day, you can choose to be trained either in running and jumping, or in swimming and sailing.
Additional Equipment: You carry a unique token that you found on the shore of your home island long ago, as well as a dozen airels.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
Life has thrown a lot of trouble your way. Disasters large and small have nearly stamped you out, but you’ve emerged from each alive and moving forward. You are stronger for it, but also scarred by what you had to do to survive. People less unyielding than you are now gone. That’s not going to happen to you because you never give up.
You gain the following benefits:
Survivor: +4 to your Might Pool.
Skills: You are trained in tasks related to healing and finding food and water.
Survivor’s Intuition: You can come up with a random piece of information pertinent to the current situation when you wish. It is always an objective fact and must be something you could have logically read or seen in the past. You can do this one time, although the ability renews each time you make a ten-hour recovery roll.
Inability: You’re not a people person. Interaction tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
It’s part of your nature to question what others think can’t or shouldn’t be done. You’re not insane, of course—you wouldn’t attempt to leap across a mile-wide chasm just because you were dared. There’s impossible and then there’s the just barely possible. You like to push the latter further than others, because it gives you a rush of satisfaction and pleasure when you succeed. The more you succeed, the more you find yourself looking for that next risky challenge to try yourself against.
You gain the following benefits:
Nimble: +4 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You’re adept at leveraging risk, and you are trained in tasks that involve some element of chance, such as playing games or choosing between two or three apparently equal options.
Pressing Your Luck: You can choose to automatically succeed on one task without rolling, as long as the task’s difficulty is no higher than level 6. When you do so, however, you also trigger a GM intrusion as if you had rolled a 1. The intrusion doesn’t invalidate the success, but it probably qualifies it in some fashion. You can do this one time, although the ability renews each time you make a ten-hour recovery roll.
Inability: You may be nimble, but you’re not sneaky. Tasks related to sneaking and staying quiet are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re a nature lover accustomed to living rough, pitting your wits against the elements. Most likely, you’re a skilled hunter, gatherer, or naturalist. Years of living in the wild have left their mark with a worn countenance, wild hair, or scars. Your clothing is probably much less refined than the garments worn by city dwellers.
You gain the following benefits:
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving climbing, jumping, running, and swimming.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving training, riding, or placating natural animals.
Skill: You’re trained in all tasks involving identifying or using natural plants.
Inability: You have no social graces and prefer animals to people. Any task involving charm, persuasion, etiquette, or deception is hindered.
Additional Equipment: You carry an explorer’s pack. If you already have one, you can instead take 50 extra feet (15 m) of rope, two more days’ worth of rations, and an extra ranged weapon.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You are as still as untroubled water and as smooth as glass. Even when difficulties arise, you maintain your cool, your self-control, and your serene demeanor. Part of it comes to you naturally, but serenity also requires discipline and conscious control of your emotions. Rising to the bait offered by an ally, a foe, or a chance-met lout in the street is something you would do only if it advanced your own agenda—not because you lost control.
You gain the following benefits:
Self-Possessed: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You are trained in Intellect defense tasks.
Skill: You are hard to rile, and you are trained in all actions that involve overcoming or ignoring the effects of fear, intimidation, or panic.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re sneaky, slippery, and fast. These talents help you hide, move quietly, and pull off tricks that require sleight of hand. Most likely, you’re wiry and small. However, you’re not much of a sprinter— you’re more dexterous than fleet of foot.
You gain the following benefits:
Quick: +2 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in all stealthy tasks. Skill: You’re trained in all interactions involving lies or trickery.
Skill: You’re trained in all esoteries or special abilities involving illusions or trickery.
Inability: You’re sneaky but not fast. All movement-related tasks are hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re extremely strong and physically powerful, and you use these qualities well, whether through violence or feats of prowess. You likely have a brawny build and impressive muscles.
You gain the following benefits:
Very Powerful: +4 to your Might Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in all actions involving breaking inanimate objects.
Skill: You’re trained in all jumping actions.
Additional Equipment: You have an extra medium weapon or heavy weapon.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re tough-minded, willful, and independent. No one can talk you into anything or change your mind when you don’t want it changed. This quality doesn’t necessarily make you smart, but it does make you a bastion of willpower and resolve. You likely dress and act with unique style and flair, not caring what others think.
You gain the following benefits:
Willful: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in resisting mental effects.
Skill: You’re trained in tasks requiring incredible focus or concentration.
Inability: Willful doesn’t mean brilliant. Any task that involves figuring out puzzles or problems, memorizing things, or using lore is hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You move quickly, able to sprint in short bursts and work with your hands with dexterity. You’re great at crossing distances quickly but not always smoothly. You are likely slim and muscular.
You gain the following benefits:
Fast: +4 to your Speed Pool.
Skill: You’re trained in initiative actions (to determine who goes first in combat).
Skill: You’re trained in running actions.
Inability: You’re fast but not necessarily graceful. Any task involving balance is hindered.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You’re strong and can take a lot of physical punishment. You might have a large frame and a square jaw. Tough characters frequently have visible scars.
You gain the following benefits:
Resilient: +1 to Armor.
Healthy: Add 1 to the points you regain when you make a recovery roll.
Skill: You’re trained in Might defense actions.
Additional Equipment: You have an extra light weapon.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You try to hide what’s inside, fold it into yourself when everything inside you screams to let go, make them pay, make them hurt, and make them bleed. Sometimes you succeed for your friends—smiling like they smile, laughing when they laugh, and sometimes even having other emotions of your own. But it’s always there, that feeling of frantic glee mixed with hate that sometimes leaps out of you when you confront a foe. Violence your friends can tolerate, but you sometimes worry they will also learn that you are cruel.
You gain the following benefits:
Skill: You are trained in tracking creatures. If a creature has wronged you, the tracking task is eased.
Bloodthirsty: Once you begin fighting, you see only red. You inflict 2 additional points of damage with any attack.
Berserk: Once you begin fighting, it’s hard for you to stop. In fact, it’s a difficulty 2 Intellect task to do so, even if your foe surrenders or you’ve run out of foes. If the latter occurs and you fail to stop, you attack the nearest ally within short range.
Additional Equipment: You have a book in which you’ve listed the names of those who’ve wronged you.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You hail from Vralk and fit the stereotype of the typical Vralkan—you follow the Red Gods, see violence and intimidation as the answer to most of life’s problems, and were never introduced to concepts like compassion and mercy. You value hunting and physical challenges (particularly combat), and you delight in seeing the blood of your defeated enemies spilled on the ground.
You have the following characteristics:
Steely: +4 to your Might Pool. Bloodthirsty: If you are fighting a wounded foe, you deal 1 additional point of damage.
Skill: You are trained in any task involving finding food or water.
Inability: You do not see much value in diplomacy or charm. You have an inability in all pleasant social interactions.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.
You aren’t like anyone else, and that’s fine with you. People don’t seem to understand you—they even seem put off by you—but who cares? You understand the Ninth World better than they do because you’re weird, and so is the world you live in. The concept of “the weird” is well known to you. Strange devices, ancient locales, bizarre creatures, storms that can transform you, living energy fields, and things most people can’t even name populate the world, and you thrive on it. You have a special attachment to it all, and the more you discover about the weirdness in the world, the more you might discover about yourself. Weird characters might be mutants or born with strange qualities, but sometimes they started out “normal” and adopted the weird by choice.
You gain the following abilities:
Inner Light: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
Distinctive Physical Quirk: You have a unique physical aspect that is, well, bizarre. For example, perhaps instead of hair, you have metal spikes on your head. Perhaps your hands don’t connect to your arms, although they move as if they do. Maybe a third eye stares out from the side of your head, superfluous tendrils grow from your back, or you have no nose. Whatever it is, your quirk might be a mutation, a biomechanical transformation, or a feature with no explanation.
A Sense for the Weird: Sometimes—at the GM’s discretion—weird things relating to the numenera or its effects on the world seem to call out to you. You can sense them from afar, and if you get within long range of such a thing, you can sense whether it is overtly dangerous or not.
Skill: You are trained in numenera knowledge.
Inability: People find you unnerving. The difficulty of all tasks relating to pleasant social interaction is increased by one step.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.