Custom Characters (2010)

From the Publisher's Website:

A Guide to Free-Form Character Creation and Advancement

Description: Custom Characters revolutionizes the way you create and advance your characters for all fantasy roleplaying campaigns based on the OGL System Reference Document. Experience points are used as currency to buy all character traits resulting in a "classless" system. Unlike other attempts at a point buy system, Custom Characters bases trait costs on your character's level, not the trait level. This results in experience point progressions that closely mirror those found in class-based OGL fantasy games.

Custom Characters contains:

• Rules for Character Generation and Advancement

In Custom Characters, players use XP like currency to buy their characters' traits. Starting with an initial allotment of XP, players build their starting characters to the exact specifications they desire. As players earn XP during play, new traits can be bought when desired (and, of course, when the GM allows!). Players don't have to wait for "level breaks" to see improvement in their characters' abilities. And the best thing is that the character building system in Custom Characters is much simpler than previously offered fare. All trait costs are calculated by multiplying the base cost for a trait by the character's level. Easy!

• Over 300 Special Abilities

Class special abilities for all of the basic and prestige classes found in the SRD are detailed, allowing you to pick and choose exactly what abilities you want your character to possess. Logical prerequisites are listed for each class special ability. Rules are included on how to bring new class special abilities found in other rulebooks into the Custom Characters system.

• Seven New Generic Character Classes

Expanding upon the generic classes found in the SRD, seven new character classes are built from the ground up. The combatant, the expert, the spellcaster, the specialist, the gish, the zerth, and the polymath are detailed and used to illustrate how creative gamemasters can apply the principles of Custom Characters to create unique character classes for their campaigns.

• Spontaneous, Free-Form Magic System

Many game supplements have attempted to introduce a spontaneous spellcasting system for OGL-based games, with varying success. Most systems of "spell-building" are extremely complicated and require an inordinate amount of bookkeeping. Custom Characters contains an extremely simple system for spontaneous spellcasting that can be easily dropped into any campaign that requires no bookkeeping on the part of the players or gamemaster.

• Two Alternate Experience Point Award Systems

Custom Characters offers two new ways to award experience points. The first is a simplified award system that continues to advance characters one "level equivalent" for every 13 or 14 evenly-matched encounters. The second system awards experience for characters who take long amounts of time off between adventures. This "blue-booking" system allows characters to continue to improve their abilities over time, even if adventures are separated by weeks, months, or years.

• Level-by-Level Breakdowns of the Eleven Basic Character Classes

No free-form character building system is worth its salt if can't build the normal character classes accurately. Custom Characters provides a level-by-level analysis of the experience points required to advance characters along a single class. Experience point totals falling within the proper range for each level occur 85.5% of the time and are never more than one level away in any case. In this respect, Custom Characters is the most accurate "point buy" character building system for OGL-based games on the market.

• Conclusion

Emphasizing simplicity and a minimum of bookkeeping, Custom Characters is an easy, rules-lite way to introduce a free-form, point-buy character building system into your OGL-based fantasy campaign.