Character Creation¶

Unless you're the GM, the first step of Daggerheart is to create your character. In addition to choosing their class, community, and ancestry, you're also responsible for crafting their physical appearance, personality, and prior experience, as well as their relationships with the other characters. Some of these decisions are purely narrative, meaning they only appear in the game through your roleplaying, but others are mechanical choices that affect the actions you're more (or less) likely to succeed at when rolling your dice.

Getting Started¶

Before you create your character, discuss the campaign with your table and begin brainstorming ideas.

Tip: There are many mechanics mentioned in the Character Creation section that will be fully covered in chapter 2.

Have a Session Zero¶

If you're preparing to start a new campaign with your group, we recommend that you use your first session together to build characters and talk about the world you'll be playing in. This is often called a session zero (see the "Session Zero and Safety Tools" section on page 169) and is the best way to ensure that everyone is on the same page about the tone and feel of the campaign so you can create characters that work well together.

Think About Character Concepts¶

Before you begin the character-building process, it can be helpful to review the materials and formulate an idea for what type of character you want to play. Your concept can be surface-level and general—such as "a circus performer who uses magic" or "a captain who lost their ship at sea"—but having even a basic starting point will help you make choices as you move through each of the following steps.

Step 1: Choose Your Class¶

The first step of character creation is to choose the class you want to play. Each class is a role-based archetype that determines what abilities you have access to throughout the campaign. For example, you might choose to play a guardian if you want to be the "tank" of your group who runs into fights headfirst and protects others with their own life. You might choose to be a wizard if you want to cast unique spells to solve problems, heal party members, and wield cunning battle magic.

Once you've chosen a class, you'll also choose a subclass. The subclasses are subsets of each class that further define your character's archetype.

Class Options¶

The following classes and subclasses are available in the core rulebook:

You can learn more about these classes in the upcoming "Class" section.

Character Sheet, Character Guide, and Subclass Card¶

Once you've chosen your class, grab the corresponding character sheet and character guide, then decide on a subclass and take that subclass's foundation card. The character sheet is for recording your character's details, so make sure you have paper or digital copies available. If you're filling out a hard copy, use a pencil, as you'll change details on the sheet as your character levels up. You can find a completed character sheet in the upcoming "Example Character" section.

Customised character sheets and character guides are available for download at www.daggerheart.com. A general character sheet is also available in the appendix.

Record Your Level¶

Characters in Daggerheart start at level 1. Record your level in the appropriate section at the top of your character sheet, and make sure to change it every time you level up. We recommend starting your campaign at level 1, but a more experienced table can start at a higher level if the GM and players prefer.

Record Character Details¶

At any point in the character creation process, feel free to fill out your character's name and pronouns on the top line, as well as the Character Description details on the character guide. For some people, their character's name and appearance come first, and for others, it takes time to discover what's right. As long as you have a name and description by the time your table is finished with character creation, it doesn't matter what order you complete these steps in.

Class Feature¶

Every class begins with a unique class feature (or several). You don't have to write these features down—they're provided at the bottom left of each class's character sheet. These are features available only to your class. If your class feature asks you to make a selection during character creation, make it before your first session.

Step 2: Choose Your Heritage¶

Next, choose your character's heritage. This aspect of your character includes two elements—their ancestry and their community.

Choose Your Ancestry¶

A character's ancestry reflects their lineage, impacting their physicality and granting them two unique features. Take the card for one of the following ancestries, then write its name in the Heritage field of your character sheet:

You can learn more about these ancestries in the upcoming "Ancestry" section.

Choose Your Community¶

Next, you'll choose a community from the available community cards. Your character's community is influenced by its physical location, values, and goals. It informs the culture your character grew up in and might play a part in the way they look, act, or approach situations. Each community comes with a Feature that you can utilise during the game. Take the card for one of the following communities, then write its name in the Heritage field of your character sheet:

You can learn more about these communities in the upcoming "Community" section.

Languages¶

In Daggerheart, you're not asked to pick specific languages for your character. This game assumes that everyone speaks a common language (it's up to you whether that's through mundane or magical means) and that sign language is widely understood across cultures and communities. If you'd like to have specific regional languages in your campaign, discuss options with your table.

Step 3: Assign Character Traits¶

Next, you'll assign values to the character traits on your character sheet. These values reflect your natural or trained ability in each of the core six stats: Agility, Strength, Finesse, Instinct, Presence, and Knowledge. Each trait lists verbs (such as Sprint, Leap, and Maneuver) that show the types of actions a character might perform that involve that trait. These examples are just inspiration—they shouldn't limit how each trait can be used.

Agility: Sprint, Leap, Maneuver¶

A high Agility means you're fast on your feet, nimble on difficult terrain, and quick to react to danger. You'll make an Agility Roll to scurry up a rope, sprint to cover, or bound from rooftop to rooftop.

Strength: Lift, Smash, Grapple¶

A high Strength means you're better at feats that test your physical prowess and stamina. You'll make a Strength Roll to break through a door, lift heavy objects, or hold your ground against a charging foe.

Finesse: Control, Hide, Tinker¶

A high Finesse means you're skilled at tasks that require accuracy, stealth, or the utmost control. You'll make a Finesse Roll to use fine tools, escape notice, or strike with precision.

Instinct: Perceive, Sense, Navigate¶

A high Instinct means you have a keen sense of your surroundings and a natural intuition. You'll make an Instinct Roll to sense danger, notice details in the world around you, or track an elusive foe.

Presence: Charm, Perform, Deceive¶

A high Presence means you have a strong force of personality and a facility for social situations. You'll make a Presence Roll to plead your case, intimidate a foe, or capture the attention of a crowd.

Knowledge: Recall, Analyze, Comprehend¶

A high Knowledge means you know information others don't and understand how to apply your mind through deduction and inference. You'll make a Knowledge Roll to interpret facts, see the patterns clearly, or remember important information.

Distribute Trait Modifiers¶

That modifier are the values associated with each trait. When you make an action roll using one of these traits, that trait's modifier is added to the roll to determine the final result (or subtracted from the roll for a negative modifier).

Distribute the following starting modifiers across your character's traits in any order you wish: +2, +1, +1, 0, 0, −1

When distributing these modifiers, consider what actions you want your character to be good at, what weapon you want to use for your attacks, and what kind of spellcasting you'll be doing, if any. Weapons and spells are covered in future sections, but the character guide for your class offers suggested placement for your modifiers if you want a starting point. You can also rearrange your modifiers as needed during character creation, as well as after your first few sessions of play.

If you ever need to refer to your trait modifiers as values (if a card or effect references your Agility, Presence, etc.) +4 would be considered 4, and −1 would still be considered −1. For example, if a domain card tells you to place a number of tokens equal to your character's Knowledge on that card, and their Knowledge is +3, you would place 3 tokens on the card. If they have a negative modifier in that trait, you would place no tokens on the card (unless otherwise noted).

Step 4: Record Additional Character Information¶

It's time to take a quick break from making choices and instead fill out a few sections of your character sheet.

Evasion¶

Your character's Evasion reflects how hard it is for adversaries to hit them. Your class's starting Evasion appears right beneath the Evasion field on your character sheet; copy this number into the Evasion field. When an adversary makes an attack against your character, the GM rolls against their Evasion to see if the adversary succeeds. You can choose how your character's Evasion manifests within the narrative—a wizard might avoid blows with shimmering arcane shields or bat away an adversary's spells, while a ranger nimbly dodges out of attacks and weaves between thrown spears, knocks aside swords.

Your character's Evasion starts low, but that's because it's not their only means of avoiding damage. If they're hit, you'll also have the opportunity to reduce the incoming damage using armour.

Hit Points and Stress¶

Your character's health and wellbeing are represented by Hit Points and Stress. Hit Points (sometimes called HP) are an abstract reflection of your physical fortitude and ability to take hits from both blade and magic. Each class starts with a set number of Hit Points. Stress reflects your ability to withstand the pressures of dangerous situations and mental strain. Every class starts with 6 Stress.

You can describe your character's Hit Points and Stress any way you wish, but they generally represent your character's ability to get knocked down and keep coming back. You'll mark your character's Hit Points and Stress when these numbers are reduced—the fewer marks you have, the better.

Hope and Fear¶

Hope and Fear are currencies used by the players and the GM to represent the way fate turns for or against characters during the game. You start with 2 Hope; mark these in the Hope field of your character sheet.

Any time you roll with Hope on your Duality Dice—meaning your Hope Die rolled higher than your Fear Die—you gain a Hope (to a maximum of 6). During the game, you can spend Hope to help your character's allies, apply their life experiences to challenges, and empower their spells and abilities.

If you instead roll with Fear on your Duality Dice—meaning your Fear Die rolled higher than your Hope Die—the GM gains a Fear that they can spend on certain effects. Sometimes a Fear roll introduces other complications into a scene (even if you succeed on your roll).

Step 5: Choose Your Starting Equipment¶

Next, you'll choose starting weapons, armour, and other items for your character.

Choose Your Weapons¶

Use physical weapons to attack your foes—and if you have a Spellcast trait (such as from your subclass), you can also wield magic weapons. At character creation, you can choose either a two-handed primary weapon, or a one-handed primary weapon and a one-handed secondary weapon, then equip them.

You can find weapon suggestions at the top of your character guide, but if you'd like to choose your own, you can find all starting (Tier 1) weapons in the "Primary Weapon Tables" and "Secondary Weapon Tables" sections in chapter 2. (These are also available as a separate sheet to print on the Daggerheart website or in the appendix.)

At Level 1, your Proficiency is 1. This means you'll roll one damage die for your weapon attacks. In the Active Weapons area of your character sheet, this is recorded in the Proficiency section.

Tip: In the area of your character sheet labelled Damage Dice & Type, record your damage dice with the Proficiency value already written in (like "1d6+3" instead of "d6+3"). It's a small reminder of how many weapon dice to roll.

When you increase your Proficiency, you also increase the number of dice in the damage dice field to reflect this change. For example, when your Proficiency becomes 2, you would change it to "2d6+3" instead.

Choose Your Armour¶

Use armour to reduce the severity of incoming attacks. At character creation, you can choose one set of armour and equip it. You can find armour suggestions at the top of your character guide, but if you'd like to choose your own, you can find all (Tier 1) armour in the "Armour Tables" section in chapter 2. (These are also available as a separate sheet to print on the Daggerheart website or in the appendix.) When a character equips armour, record its details in the Active Armour fields of your character sheet.

An armour's damage thresholds (shown in the "Base Thresholds" column) indicate how much damage a character can endure before marking Hit Points. Add your character's level to both values and record the total for both numbers in the corresponding fields. In the "Hit Points and Damage Thresholds" section of chapter 2, you'll learn how many Hit Points to mark on your character sheet each time your character takes damage.

Then, in the Armour field at the top left of your character sheet, record your Armour Score. This score includes the armour's base value (shown in the "Base Score" column) plus any permanent bonuses your character has to their Armour Score from other abilities. When your character takes damage, you can mark one of the small shield symbols next to your Armour Score (called an Armour Slot); that lets you reduce the severity of the damage by one threshold: Severe to Major, Major to Minor, or Minor to nothing at all. You can only mark one Armour Slot per attack, and you have a number of slots equal to your Armour Score.

Choose Other Starting Items¶

Your inventory includes anything else your character is carrying. The top of your character guide lists all their starting inventory items, which include the following:

• Torch (useful for illuminating a dark room)
• 50 feet of rope (useful for climbing a wall or rappelling down a cliff)
• Basic supplies (tent, bedroll, tinderbox, rations, etc.)
• A handful of gold (record this in the Gold field in the left-hand column of your character sheet)
• Your choice of a Minor Health Potion (clear 1d4 Hit Points) or a Minor Stamina Potion (clear 1d4 Stress)
• The "and other" option on your character guide is specific to your class. You might also be asked to choose what you use to carry your spells.

Record these items in the Inventory fields of your character sheet. This equipment is available to use during the party's adventures in any way that fits the shared story. We encourage you to use items creatively, as long as the GM agrees and it fits the rules of the world.

You can also talk to your GM about other items you'd like to have at the start of the game. There are no rules limiting the size of your inventory, so items that don't provide a mechanical benefit but make sense for your character to have are normally okay—but your GM always makes the final call.

Step 6: Create Your Background¶

Next, explore your character's background by answering the background questions in your character guide. Several prompts are provided to jumpstart inspiration, but you or the GM can modify or replace these questions to fit the character you're looking to play. The prompts are a jumping-off point if you don't know where to start, but they should never inhibit your creativity.

The decisions you make about your character's background are purely narrative, but they deeply impact the character you're playing and the story the GM is preparing for your adventures. Over the course of character creation, feel free to adjust mechanical choices you made in earlier steps to better reflect this background as you shape your character.

If you're planning to play in a campaign, you can continue developing your character after the background questions in whatever way works best for you. Just remember to give the GM your backstory so they can work any people, places, or ideas from it into the campaign. You can also choose not to do any more background work, instead finding out more about your character as you play. Lean into a process that's fun for you.

Step 7: Create Your Experiences¶

In Daggerheart, your character's Experiences are one of the core ways you express their backstory and expertise through mechanics. An Experience is a word or phrase used to encapsulate a specific set of skills your character has acquired over the course of their existing life.

Your character starts with two Experiences at character creation (each with a +2 modifier), and they'll earn more throughout your adventures. Before you create Experiences, you'll want to have a solid idea of who your character is; the background questions are especially helpful for this. When you're ready, work with your GM to create two Experiences that have shaped your character.

There's no set list of Experiences to choose from. The list offered under "Experience Examples" is not important. Instead, find a word or phrase that embodies something distinctive about your character. Each Experience should be specific. For example, Talented or Focused are too broad, as they can be applied to almost any situation; instead, you might use Swordshocker or Magic Studies. Additionally, your character's Experiences can give them specific or generic abilities. For example, Take Flight or One-Hit Kill are too mechanically oriented; you might consider Pilot or Assassin instead.

You are also encouraged to add flavour to your character's Experience to give it more varied use in play. For example, instead of just Assassin, you could choose Assassin of the Sapphire Syndicate. Details like this give your GM an exciting faction to weave into the campaign, and also make it easier to use the Experience outside combat. For example, if your character encounters an ally of the syndicate, they might be particularly adept at negotiating with that NPC based on their Experience.

Once you've decided on your character's two starting Experiences, record them in the Experience fields of your character sheet and assign +2 to both.

Tip: If you're not sure what Experiences to take, consider the style of the campaign you're playing in and the actions you'll want to perform. In a standard, battle-focused campaign, it's never a bad idea to take your character's first Experience as something that will help with combat (and the second Experience in something useful outside of combat).

Experience Examples¶

Backgrounds: Assassin, Blacksmith, Bodyguard, Bounty Hunter, Chef to the Royal Family, Circus Performer, Con Artist, Fallen Monarch, Field Medic, High Priestess, Merchant, Noble, Pirate, Politician, Runaway, Scholar, Sellsword, Soldier, Storyteller, Thief, World Traveler

Characteristics: Affable, Battle-Hardened, Bookworm, Charming, Cowardly, Friend to All, Helpful, Intimidating, Inventive, Leader, Lone Wolf, Loyal, Observant, Prankster, Silver Tongue, Sticky Fingers, Stubborn as a Fruit, Survivor, Young and Naive

Specialties: Acrobat, Gambler, Healer, Inventor, Magical Historian, Moonshiner, Master of Disguise, Navigator, Sharpshooter, Survivalist, Swashbuckler, Tactician

Skills: Animal Whisperer, Barter, Deadly Aim, Fast Learner, Incredible Strength, Liar, Light Feet, Negotiator, Photographic Memory, Quick Hands, Repair, Scavenger, Tracker

Phrases: Catch Me If You Can, Fake It Till You Make It, First Time's the Charm, Hold the Line, I Won't Let You Down, I'll Cook You, I've Got Your Back, Knowledge Is Power, Nature's Friend, Never Again, No One Left Behind, Pick on Someone Your Own Size, The Show Must Go On, This Is Not a Negotiation, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Using Experiences¶

When one of your character's Experiences fits the situation at hand, you can use that Experience to showcase their expertise. Before you make an action or reaction roll, you can spend a Hope to add the Experience's modifier to the roll's result. Sometimes more than one of your character's Experiences is a good fit for the situation (for example, if your character is trying to sneak past a guard in the dark, your Liar in the Shadows and Stealthy Experiences would both apply). If it fits the story, you can add more than one Experience modifier to a roll, spending a Hope for each.

Changing Experiences¶

Your character has the opportunity to gain new Experiences as they gain levels. However, if you discover that your character has outgrown a previous Experience or it doesn't feel right anymore, you're not stuck with the ones you've already chosen. For example, you might find that your character's Stealthy Experience no longer matches the head-on way they've learned to solve problems. Or perhaps your group likes to try to solve things diplomatically first, so your character's Catch Them by Surprise Experience isn't a good fit for the table's collaborative story. That's totally okay! Work with your GM to find Experiences that better align with your storytelling goals, and with the actions your character would be good at.

Step 8: Choose Your Domain Cards¶

Domains are the core building blocks of Daggerheart's resources. The following domains are included in this book: Arcana, Blade, Bone, Codex, Grace, Midnight, Sage, Splendor, and Valor. Each domain has a domain deck—a deck of cards containing abilities and spells with a central theme or focus. For details on what each domain represents and how to use your domain cards, see the upcoming "Domains" section.

Each class in Daggerheart is formed by combining two of these domains—for example, the warrior class combines Blade and Bone, the druid combines Arcana and Sage, and the rogue comprises Midnight and Grace. This combination is noted at the top of the character sheet for each class, and the colours and symbols are found on the subclass foundation card.

To start, look at all the level 1 cards from your class's two domains and choose two cards, returning the rest to their respective decks. You can take one from each domain or two from a single domain, whichever you prefer. These cards grant you special spells and abilities; you'll choose another card each time you level up.

Tip: All domain card text can also be found for reference on page 328.

Shared Domains¶

Each class shares its domains with at least one other class. For example, Blade is shared by the guardian and the warrior, Sage is shared by the druid and the ranger, and Grace is shared by the bard and the rogue. If a fellow player's class has the same domain as yours, we encourage you to coordinate with them and choose different cards from that domain deck (even if your group has multiple copies). This way, each player feels distinct and shines when they bring their unique abilities to the story. However, if the GM and players agree, feel free to make an exception. Sharing cards is common when more than one player chooses the same class or when three (or more) players share the same domain. As always, it comes down to open communication between the players and the GM. If you need extra copies of a card, you can download and print them at home.

Step 9: Create Your Connections¶

You've almost finished creating your character! Now it's time to forge their connections. These represent the relationships and personal history between your character and their fellow party members.

Once your group is comfortable with their finished (or almost-finished) PCs, summarise your characters for each other. At minimum, share their name, pronouns, character description, Experiences, and the answers to the backstory questions—but feel free to include any details you'd like the other players to know.

Then work together to decide how your characters are connected and how they feel about each other. The Connections section of your character guide provides inspiration—we recommend you pick at least one question to ask another player for their character to answer—but you're welcome to create new questions. You can always turn down a question or relationship suggested by another player if it's not a good fit or not a relationship you're interested in exploring. While it's great to create connections with every character, it's perfectly okay if you're not sure about some of them yet—and you can always discover your relationships through play. These connections are a starting point to build on during the game.

After the party's connections are complete, you're ready to play! The rest of this chapter contains resources to use when building your character, such as information on domains, classes, ancestries, and communities. Chapter 2 then presents the rules you'll use to play Daggerheart.