Character Creation and Development
Savage Worlds is Copyright 2003, Great White Games. This work is not an officially licensed product and has no affiliation with Great White Games.
Beginning characters can take up to 4 points of Hindrances in any combination of Major and Minor (two Major, one Major and two Minor, or four Minor). For one Hindrance point you can:
Toughness equals 1/2 a character's Vigor die type, not 1/2 Vigor + 2.
A character's Run equals his standard Pace + 1/2 his Agility die type. This replaces die rolls for running. See Movement below for more information.
When calculating derived stats for attributes over d12, halve only the die type, not the bonus. So a dragon with Vigor d12+5 has a Toughness of 11 (1/2 d12 = 6 + 5 = 11). A Mystic Cat Warrior with Fighting d12+1 has a Parry of 9 (1/2 d12 = 6 + 2 + 1 = 9).
Skills can be raised over d12 if their related attributes are higher than d12. However, unless you have the Professional or Expert Edges, a d12+ skill can be raised only as high as its related attribute. So a Mystic Cat Warrior with Agility d12+1 could raise his Fighting to d12+1 but not d12+2.
Your character isn't very experienced. She hasn't seen the harsh, horrible side of life and isn't prepared for it. She suffers -2 on all Guts rolls when faced with grotesque or horrific scenes (but not terrifying triggers; see Fear p.93) and on Smarts and Spirit rolls to resist Intimidation, Persuasion, and Taunt.
The quality of mercy might not be strained, but it can sure be a pain in the ass sometimes. Your character can't bring himself to harm a helpless opponent even if he knows the creep is going to stab him in the back the second he turns around. He won't attack an opponent who's Incapacitated or otherwise unable to defend himself, he won't attack someone who surrenders or asks for mercy, and he won't leave severely wounded opponents to die. He'll rarely if ever use a Finishing Move (Game Master's discretion).
Your character is obsessed with something--acquiring occult knowledge, protecting abused children, collecting rare weapons, getting a date with the cute girl who works at the library. Whatever it is, it's just about the most important thing in his life. He'll neglect his friends and responsibilities, expend vast amounts of energy and resources, even put himself and his companions in danger to pursue his obsession.
This can actually be useful sometimes: an obsession can drive a character into an adventure or keep him going against impossible odds. Usually though, his obsession will just cause problems.
Morality, ethics, mercy, honesty, nobility ... screw 'em. Your character believes that the end justifies the means. Lying, cheating, backstabbing, even killing--anything is permissible if it gets the job done. In addition to the practical problems this can cause (with police, for example), most people find this trait rather unpleasant. When interacting with people who've seen his Ruthless side, your character's Charisma drops by -2 (the Game Master might decide this doesn't apply when the character is dealing with other Ruthless, Bloodthirsty, or Mean characters).
Requirements: Novice, Connections
A character who has Connections knows people. A character who has Influence is respected--or at least feared--by those people. Influence can represent your high standing in an organization, people who owe you favors, or any situation that gives you a little weight to throw around. When you use your Connections Edge, Influence gives you a +1 to +4 bonus on your Persuasion roll. The exact bonus is up to the Game Master and depends on just how much Influence you have in the situation.
Influence doesn't do anything for your Streetwise roll--if your contact isn't available, she isn't available.
So let's say your character, an Assistant Director at the FBI, is digging into a forty year old murder. He gets a +4 bonus when he calls down to records and tries to persuade the hostile, overworked clerk to find and pull the files for him. But when he calls Sheriff Redneck in Lower Podunk to get the old lady's body exhumed, he gets only a +1 bonus--his influence is still worth something, but law enforcement officers are notoriously territorial.
Requirements: Novice, Brawny, Strength d8+
Either naturally or through intense training, your character is really, really, really strong. He can carry 15 x Strength pounds without penalty and gets +1 on melee damage and rolls to break things.
Requirements: Novice, Shooting d10+, Stealth d8+
Snipers are marksmen specially trained at attacking from concealed positions. A sniper establishes himself in a hidden firing position by making a Stealth roll at +2. To spot the sniper--even after he opens fire--opponents must make opposed Notice rolls against his Stealth roll. If the targets can't spot the sniper, they can't return fire. However, characters with automatic weapons can use Supressive Fire on an area, and if the sniper happens to be in the area, he can be Shaken or hit as usual. If a sniper uses double tap or three-round burst, his opponents get +2 on their Notice rolls. If he uses automatic or suppressive fire, they get +4. Characters with the Sniper Edge get +2 to Notice enemy snipers.
It's kind of scary being shot at by someone you can't see. Every round characters are under fire from a hidden sniper, they must roll Spirit (adding cover modifiers as with Suppressive Fire). Failure indicates the characters are Shaken. Once the sniper is spotted, his targets no longer have to make Spirit rolls and can return fire normally.
A scope negates the range penalty for a specific range--medium or long--if the character doesn't move in the turn that he shoots. Fixed power scopes are calibrated for one range and can't be changed. Variable power scopes can be recalibrated to a new range with a single action.
If for some strange reason you use your scope at the wrong range, you suffer a penalty. If your scope is calibrated for medium range, attacks at short and long range are -2. If your scope is calibrated for long range, attacks at medium range are -2 and attacks at short range are -4.
Laser sights add +2 to your Shooting roll. This is cumulative with Aiming and the Marksman Edge.
A scope can cost anywhere from $100-$800, laser sights anywhere from $75-$200.
A character who attacks twice suffers the usual multiple action penalty (-2 for the extra action) plus an additional -2 on the attack performed with his off hand or foot. One attack is always made from his off side (unless the character has Frenzy or Improved Frenzy and makes only two attacks).
Frenzy gives a character an additional attack. So an unarmed character can attack twice and an armed character can attack three times. You still suffer the standard multiple action penalty (so -4 if you make three attacks) and the -2 penalty if you use your off hand. The advantage is you can attack twice with your favored hand (and favorite weapon).
Improved Frenzy negates the penalty for the extra attack. So an unarmed character can make two attacks at no penalty, and an armed character can make two attacks with the same weapon at no penalty or three attacks with only a -2 penalty (and the -2 off-hand penalty). An armed character with Improved Frenzy, Two-Fisted, and Ambidextrous can attack three times per turn with no penalty.
Like it says in the rules, standard pace is 6". Anything faster counts as running and takes an action. A character's maximum running pace is 6" + half his Agility. So a character with d8 Agility has a running pace of 10", a character with d10 Agility has a running pace of 11", and so on.
A character can get a little more speed by pushing himself. With a successful Vigor roll, he adds +1" to his pace for one round. With a raise, he adds +2".
The Fleet-Footed edge increases a character's standard pace by +2" and his running pace by an additional +2". The Lame Hindrance reduces a character's pace by -2" and his Run by another -2" (minimum of 1"). So a character with Agility d8 and Fleet-Footed has a Pace of 8" and a Run of 14". A character with Agility d8 and the Lame Hindrance has a Pace of 4" and a Run of 6".
With a short run, a character jumps horizontally 1"+1" per success and raise on a Strength roll. Without the run, the character jumps half this distance. A character's vertical jump is one quarter his horizontal jump. So if a character runs, jumps, and gets a success on his Strength roll, he jumps 2" horizontally and 1/2" vertically. If he got a success and a raise, he'd jump 3" horizontally and 3/4" vertically.
A character's average walking speed in miles per hour is 1/2 his standard pace. Characters can usually walk eight hours a day (so 24 miles for characters with a pace of 6") without any trouble. Walking longer than this requires Vigor rolls--one roll per hour starting at nine hours, with a cumulative -1 modifier each hour after the first. Characters can also walk faster--up to their Pace in miles per hour (i.e. 6 miles per hour for characters with a Pace of 6"). This requires a Vigor roll each hour, with the usual -1 cumulative modifier each hour after the first. Failure on any of these Vigor rolls incurs a Fatigue level. For characters who become fatigued or incapacitated by walking longer than eight hours, one hour of rest recovers one Fatigue level. Characters who incur Fatigue by walking at a faster pace can recover by walking at their normal pace or resting--one Fatigue level per hour spent walking at normal pace, or one level per half hour of rest.
The +2 defensive modifier applies against ranged attacks as well. So ranged attacks made against a fully defending opponent suffer -2 to hit.
Whenever a character moves 1" or more, anyone who: (1) isn't shaken, (2) hasn't acted yet that round, and (3) has a ranged weapon in hand (and is in range), can take a pot shot at the moving character, regardless of initiative order. The shooter can't do anything else such as move, taunt, or intimidate his target, and the shot uses up his action for the round. But he can take multiple shots if he has a weapon in each hand, and he can use Double Tap, Auto-fire, or Three Round Burst. However, if he uses Automatic Fire, all his shots must be directed at the one target.
So when Moronicus The Testicular tries to charge 6" across the battlefield to pummel Norman into mush, if Norman has his bow ready, he can put an arrow in Moronicus before the barbarian gets close enough to lay a gauntlet on him.
For a grappling attack, make a standard Fighting roll. If you succeed, you've successfully restrained your opponent. If you get one or more raises, not only have you gotten a grip on him but each subsequent round you can do Strength damage or make another attack (melee or ranged) against him. So you can grab an opponent, then bear hug him, snap his neck, strangle him, head-butt him, smash your knee into his face, slice his throat with a dagger, jam your gun into his belly and open fire, or even make another grappling attack to get a better grip (i.e. get more raises). He gets his usual Parry, but each raise on your Grappling roll gives you +2 on damage, attack, and all other rolls against him (including rolls to resist his escape attempts).
A grappled character can try to escape with either a Fighting or Strength roll (finessing his way loose or just busting free). Whichever he chooses, the attacker must roll the same ability in an opposed test. So the attacker might have the advantage (if he got raises), but it's the defender who determines whether it's a contest of skill or brute force. With a success, the defender escapes but can't do anything else that round. With a raise, he escapes and can act normally that round.
Attacks against any character involved in a grapple--attacker or defender--get the Drop.
One of the quirks of Savage Worlds is that a few bad dice rolls can make a combat seem to go on forever. But no fight lasts forever. Going all out, swinging fists or swords, taking blows on a shield, or even firing guns or bows, is pretty taxing. After a few minutes, most combatants just wear out.
So I use the Interminable Combat rule. If a combat seems to be going on and on and getting nowhere--i.e. when I start getting bored with it--the combatants have to start making Vigor rolls at the beginning of each turn (group rolls for extras). Anyone who fails takes a Fatigue level. So if wounds won't resolve the fight, exhaustion just might.
Just like a fast-moving vehicle, a fast-moving character is harder to hit and does more damage when he slams into someone or something. For every 10" that a character moves (round down), subtract -1 from all attacks against him. For every 5" that he moves (again, rounded down), add +1 damage to his melee attacks. However, if he's unarmed, he takes 1d6 damage from his own attack, +1 for every 5" that he moved. Impact hurts.
Horses and other mounts put their power and weight behind their riders' attacks, so when a rider charges, add his mount's size bonus to his damage along with the movement bonus. A knight who charges 10" on his warhorse for example gets +5 damage (+2 for 10" of movement, +3 for the warhorse's Size). This supercedes the Mounted Combat Charging rule on p.91. This also applies to creatures charging without riders: a bull elephant that charges 6" gets +7 damage (+1 for 6" of movement, +6 for Size).
When a character throws an object weighing two pounds or less, short range equals half his Strength die type, medium range equals his Strength, and long range equals twice his Strength. For every two additional pounds, subtract -1 from his Strength. When his Strength reaches zero, the object is too heavy to throw. At best the character can just pick it up and toss it aside.
Throws and trips are simply Agility Tricks. The Shaken result from a raise can indicate that the target was slammed to the ground or against a tree or wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Depending on the circumstances and the GMs discretion, raises might also indicate other effects--flinging your opponent 1" per raise, for example, or maybe forcing him to use 2" of movement to get back to his feet.
To maintain a power, a character simply spends the Power Point cost each time the duration runs out (so for a power that costs 3 power points and has a duration of 5 rounds, the character would have to spend 3 power points the 1st round, 3 more points the 6th round, 3 more the 11th round, etc.). For powers that have durations in both rounds and hours, use the duration in rounds during combat and the duration in hours outside of combat (except with Detect/Conceal Arcana and Zombie).
| Power | Duration |
| Armor | 5 rounds |
| Barrier | 5 rounds |
| Blast | Instant |
| Bolt | Instant |
| Boost/Lower Trait | 5 rounds |
| Deflection | 5 rounds |
| Detect/Conceal Arcana | 5 rounds / 1 hour |
| Dispel | Instant |
| Fear | Instant |
| Fly | 5 rounds / 1 hour |
| Greater Healing | Permanent |
| Healing | Permanent |
| Invisibility | 5 rounds |
| Light | 10 minutes |
| Obscure | 5 rounds |
| Puppet | 5 rounds / 1 hour |
| Quickness | 5 rounds |
| Shape Change | 5 rounds / 1 hour |
| Smite | 5 rounds |
| Speed | 5 rounds |
| Stun | Instant |
| Telekinesis | 5 rounds |
| Wave Runner | 5 hours |
| Zombie | Success = 1 hour
Raise = 1 day 2 Raises = GM's discretion |
Rank: Seasoned
Power Points: 3 + (see below)
Range: Special
Duration: Instant
Trappings: Magic circle, magic mirror, gate, teleporter device
For the basic expenditure of 3 power points, you can teleport yourself up to one mile. If you want to teleport further, you can spend additional power points: one extra point increases your teleport distance to 5 miles, and each additional point adds another 5 miles.
A failure on your skill roll means the teleport failed. Snake eyes means you teleported but missed your target. To find where you end up, roll 1d4 for every 5 miles you tried to teleport. This tells you the distance in miles by which you missed your target location. If you tried to teleport only 1 mile, roll 1d4 and read it as quarters of a mile. To determine direction, roll 1d12 and read it like a clock face.
If your teleport would put you inside a solid object, you materialize just outside the object on the side closest to your point of origin. Make a Vigor roll at -6. If you fail, you're Shaken.
If you have a receiving gate (another circle, magic mirror, teleporter pod, or whatever) at your destination, you get +2 on your skill roll.
You can teleport up to 10 lbs x your arcane skill in extra mass--gear, objects, other people--for free. Every additional 10 lbs x your arcane skill costs an additional power point. So a wizard with Spellcasting d6 could teleport himself, a knight, and all their gear (extra weight = 300 lbs, let's say) one mile for 7 power points. Teleporting five miles would cost 8 points.
A character can also teleport people or objects without telporting himself. The costs are the same (i.e 10 lbs x arcane skill up to one mile for 3 power points, +1 point per additional 10 lbs x arcane skill, +1 point per 5 miles), but unwilling targets can resist with an opposed Spirit roll (including characters whose possessions are being teleported away; so if a wizard tries to teleport a warrior's sword out of his hand, the warrior can roll Spirit to resist).