BW PDF - Midnight Campaign

Races, Talents, Abilities & MagicsStep Five: Before spending all of their points in skills, a player may want to look through some of the other characteroptions to see what is available in terms of talents, races, and abilities. Spend are remaining skill points inpurchasing whatever other abilities that they want to use.player’s vital statistics, so it may be necessary to reviewthe affected attributes and make the change.A character who does not wish to use any of theseoptions is instead a human with no obvious supernaturaltalents. They gain 20 bonus skill points that they canspend on other abilities. These points do not counttoward their skill total or their skill cap.It is also possible for a character to pick up a secondarytalent or curse as they progress. These are purchasedjust like abilities, with a listed cost and other possiblerestrictions. A character can only have one race,for example, which must be taken as a startingcharacter, but a character could have a race and a talent,or even a race, talent and curse, provided the they are allcompatible. The specifics of this compatibility are listedin each entry in Chapter 5.“Hawk’s favorite chapter for abilities is the weapontechniques, but he has learned through hardexperience that sometimes just a touch of magicmakes all the difference in the world.”Applying A Race, curse or TalentFirst, each player has the opportunity to choose one race,curse or talent to start off with, at no cost. Choose fromthe options in chapter 5, and write down the abilitiesand the attribute score adjustments that come witheach of these options. These adjustments can affect theBuying other AbilitiesLike skills, abilities are purchased with skill points.Each ability has a specific cost, which will be listed inthat ability’s entry. The abilities in this book cover awide variety of attribute abilities, combat techniques,and magics that are available to the player. Some abilitiesalso have specific prerequisites, also listed in that ability.The game allows great freedom in acquiring abilities,but this does have limits. If a character is acquiringan ability very different from their current set, theymay need to justify it by seeking out training for theircharacter in-game.skills versus abilitiesIt’s easy to go overboard with abilities, creating acharacter with hundreds of options in spells or abilities,but very few skills. Characters who neglect their skillsmay have some spectacular abilities, but will likely belimited in what they can do.It’s also easy to get hung up on one or two favoriteabilities and to use those in every game and with everycharacter. Exploring different ideas and trying newconcepts will keep the game fresh and interesting,and make the favorite characters more fun whenthey come back.14