In order to play this game as a Hunter, you need to create a character. This section outlines how you create the character and fill out the character sheet. The character's history and personality can and should be written into the traits and resources. The following steps ensure that happens while keeping all starting Beast Hunters balanced. If you come up with more information and neat tidbits that don't fit into the traits and resources, feel free to write them down on as many separate sheets of paper as you need.

Before you start on development, enter the following things on your character sheet: the character's name in the Name field, your name in the Hunter field, and write in an initiative rating of 1 for each domain (M1, P1, S1). You also have one damage box in every step of every domain.

When adding resources, note that in challenges, you can only use one resource of a given category at a time, but since they may be denied, you can have secondary resources as backup.

The one restriction for damage boxes is that you cannot have more damage boxes of a higher type than the ones below in the same domain (for example, if you have three light social damage boxes, you cannot have more than three medium social damage boxes).

When I refer to "you" in the following paragraphs, I am talking about you the player, as these are your resources to use, but I am also talking about the Beast Hunter character, just for ease of reference.

You'll find a running example on this side for each step in the character creation process.

I don't have a strong idea about who my character is going to be. I'll just let the steps influence me. I'll be her Hunter, obviously, and for a name I'll pick... Yaqhara. Next, I'm putting in the basic Initiative levels (M1, S1, P1) and one wound box for each step of every domain. That means I get 1/1/1/1/1 boxes each for social, mental, and physical health.

Step 1: Your Parents

Think about the way in which your character's parents influenced his or her life. Write down one trait that your character has received from his or her parents. You need to mark the trait with its domain (physical, social, or mental), but don't give it a rating yet. Any trait can fit into any category, depending on how you interpret the influence on the character. Belonging to a well-known warrior bloodline can grant your character physical abilities, social aptitude, or mental agility. Traits can be abilities, experiences, beliefs that drive your character, or anything else that empowers the Hunter to face tough challenges.

In addition, you gain one resource from your parents. Name it and note the category, such as physical offensive, but don't assign a rating yet. Examples of resources that your character's parents might have granted him or her are family weapons or armor, genetic attributes (strength, quickness, beauty, intelligence), social contacts or family reputation, willpower, or stubbornness.

Next, raise one of your initiative levels by one point. For example, raise social initiative to 2. Finally, add one light and one medium damage box to any of your damage areas to indicate the domain in which your parents influenced you the most (mental, physical, or social).

I'm thinking Yaqhara's mother is a great warrior who lost her leg in battle and is handicapped. Yaqhara's father takes care of her mother, which her mother resents. Yaqhara's mother is pushing her to gain the glory that she no longer can. I'm going to make up the physical trait "I Will Make My Mother Proud" to express this. As a resource, I'll gain the axe she used: "Mother's Old Axe" is my resource name. I'm going to raise my Physical initiative to P2 and give the light and medium damage box to Physical as well, showing that I've been training hard to take over as a great warrior in my mother's stead. That brings my physical damage boxes to 2/2/1/1/1 (or, graphically, OO/OO/O/O/O).

Step 2: Your Tribe

You gain one trait and one resource from growing up in your particular nadan. Give the tribe a name, think about what it was like growing up there, and connect your character to it. Traits from your tribe could include training that the group bestowed upon the character, experiences that the character had within the tribe, or beliefs and religious attitudes that the tribe as a whole holds and reinforces. Resources include your standing among the tribe, items you have gained from its members, and so on.

You also get to raise an initiative level by one point and add a light damage box to any of your damage areas. Again, think about how that came to be and why your tribal association made you more powerful or resilient in a physical, mental, or social way.

I'll say that my tribe, while matriarchal like all of them, is benevolent toward men. However, there is a lot of maneuvering going on between different family groups over who is in charge. In this tribe, a leader has to expect to be challenged once or twice a year by someone ambitious. I've learned to play the social game well; if I'm going to make my mother really proud, I have to avoid bringing shame on my family. I'm going to create the trait "Keen Insight" as a social trait. My resource is "Personal Connections". I'll raise my social initiative to S2 and add a light damage box to my social track, for 2/1/1/1/1. I didn't have to make all of these things social, but that's how it worked out for me.

Step 3: Your Enemies

You gain one trait and one resource from your experience with your enemies. This is a wide open field; it can include the bully you fought against as a child ("I Stand Up For Myself", the rival tribe or family that you fought with in the past (physically, mentally, or socially), or any actual nemeses you might have. We highly recommend that your trait-related enemies are still alive, so that the Challenger can include them in your adventures.

Raise one of the initiative levels by one point. You also get to add a light damage box to any damage area as a result of confronting your enemies in the past.

I've fought a lot already, to gain glory and make my mother proud. While there is a lot of social strife in our tribe, we don't usually attack each other. So my enemies were from a rival tribe. Say, the Joshek-nadan (tribes are named after their leader, with -nadan meaning "warriors of"). I had personal run-ins with Joshek's daughter, Maiqhar. I'll pick "Maiqhar Is My Nemesis" as my trait, which I'll make physical. I can use that trait in fights as motivation or due to the skills I honed trying to be better than Maiqhar. My resource, "Maiqhar's Shield", is something I took from her. I'll raise my physical initiative to P3 and add the light damage box to mental (for 2/1/1/1/1).

Step 4: Beast Hunter Training

Create one trait and one resource that you gained during your Beast Hunter training. If you haven't gained a ritual hunting spear or axe from your parents, your tribe, or your enemies yet, you should take it at this point as a resource. These traits and resources include your individual training as a Beast Hunter, your interests and personal motivations, your quirks and talents, and everything else that comes to the foreground during your teenage years.

From your personal training, you've gained a medium and a light damage box that you can now distribute among your damage areas. Again, note that you cannot have more boxes in a higher damage level than in the one below it. In addition, raise one initiative level by one point.

The elder Beast Hunter who came to my tribe had seen me in a vision. While my tribe was proud of my calling, several breathed a sigh of relief: I would have to attend to Beast Hunter duties all across the tribal lands and beyond, and therefore wouldn't be able to try and become tribe leader. I'll pick "Beast Hunter Lore" as a mental trait, raise my mental initiative to M2, and add the wound boxes to my physical ones for 3/3/1/1/1. I'll gain "Sense of Purpose" as a mental resource.

Step 5: Assign Numbers

You now have four traits. Distribute the following bonuses among them: +4, +3, +2, +2. Keep in mind that Beast Hunters must physically hunt down powerful creatures as well as serve as facilitators and eventually wise elders among their people, so all three domains are important.

You also have four resources. Distribute the following bonuses among them: +4, +3, +2, +2. Note that you can only use one resource for a specific purpose, like a physical weapon, at one time during a conflict, but if that resource is denied, you can use another one in the same category.

You start without any tattoos. However, the very first adventure you play should be a low-level Beast Hunt. That will serve as your initiation rite. After you have slain your first beast and gained your first tattoo, you can wander the Berengad as you see fit, bound only by duty to your people and the lure of the hunt.

I distribute +4, +3, +2 and +2 to my traits as follows:

I Will Make My Mother Proud P+4
Keen Insight S+3
Maiqhar Is My Nemesis P+2
Beast Hunter Lore M+2

Then I distribute the same ratings among my resources (notice that resources, unlike traits, are determined to be offensive or defensive):

Mother's Old Axe PO+4
Personal Connections SD+3
Maiqhar's Shield PD+2
Sense of Purpose MO+2