In URP, there are no character sheets with complicated rules. But creating a small character sheet for yourself will help you to get a character that is fun to play. Now, let’s start!
Tip: Take as much time as you want
You can decide yourself how much time you want to spend on your character sheet. In theory you can pick a name and jump in the game, but if you like to tweak your character, feel free to spend hours. We found that 15 minutes are enough to create your first character.
1) Rough concept
Who do you want to play? 3 words only! A noble knight, an honorable thief, a lady planning intrigues, a gardener with a dark secret? Just try to get a rough direction to know how your character should behave ingame. Adding a twist is usually nice, so why not try a “a corrupt knight” instead of a noble one?
Example
Promising child drifting into criminality
2) Race
We collected some short summaries to make the choice easier. <3 You can always read more about the races on the official page.
A versatile Human.
You know what a human is. Their faith in the six gods keeps them strong, while they deal with bandits and political intrigue in their capital, Divinity’s Reach.
There are different ethnicities: Krytan (~European) who are loyal to queen Jennah. Elonian (~Arabia) who populate Elona’s desert, in a constant struggle with the dictatorship of the undead king Pavala Joko and his minions. And those of Canthan descent (~East Asian) who built their bureaucratic civilization on the power of magic jade.
Divinity’s Reach is a diverse city with quarters based on the different cultures. So no matter the ethnicity of your character, their family could have lived in Divinity’s Reach since its founding 200 years ago.
Read more.
A curious Sylvari.
The tree people are (kind-of) the elves of Tyria. Much younger though, as the first sylvari was born only 28 years ago to the pale tree. Though they are almost grown up at birth, as they share the experiences of their people through “the dream” before they enter the world.
They deal with the most cruel of antagonists, the nightmare court. A group of mad sylvari that try to taint the dream by bringing pain and sorrow over the world.
Their home is also home to their mother tree, the Grove, from which they travel all over Tyria.
Read more.
A strong Norn.
Towering mountain vikings. Hearty people that pray to the four spirits: Bear, wolf, snow leopard and raven. Their enemies are the sons of Svanir, a group of men that were driven mad by the whispers of the frost dragon Jormag.
Their home is Hoelbrak, where they tell the legends of their ancestors and dream of becoming a legend themselves.
Read more.
A clever Asura.
Masters of technology and golems. Brilliant… and slightly crazy. Their thirst for science goes so far that they commonly organize themselves in krewes, groups of researchers within their colleges. While they know limits to their methods and experiments, their enemies, the Inquest, do not.
They often leave their cube capital Rata Sum for research and to help the bookahs (= idiots) with the superior asuran intellect.
Read more.
A militant Charr
Military warrior cats. Just like your house cat, charr are out for violence. They nearly extinguished humans from their old homeland Ascalon 200 years ago. Though those times are long past, racism between those races is still common. Even going so far that separatist movements on both sides try to undermine the fragile peace. They know no family, only their military group.
Some charr leave their regiment in the iron capital, the Black Citadel, to venture out into the world.
Read more.
Example
I pick a Sylvari because I like what they look like. :3
3) Skills & Advantages
A character that is good at everything is boring, but a character that cannot do anything has a hard time participating. So pick 2-3 things that your character is good at.
Tip
Fighting skills are less commonly used in RP than you’d expect. So, rather try other talents. Also, if you rarely get to use a skill while playing, just drop it and pick another one.
Example
Knife throwing: She’s really good at throwing knives.
Woodworking: She can create almost everything with wood, a sharp knife and time.
Underworld contacts: She knows criminals that she can use to access illegal wares or call on help.
4) Drawbacks & Disadvantages
RP is most interesting when things get complicated or go wrong! Every flaw of your character gives another character a chance to shine with their skills, and any tricky situation forces you to come up with creative solutions.
Tip: Nothing is final
You won’t decide every detail of your character right now, but improvise as the RP progresses. Also the things you decide here are not final. If you find out that your character’s skill to cook a very tasty seafood chowder is irrelevant in your RP, maybe your character remembers their lockpicking skills they never told anybody about.
To get into such interesting situations, we have to make sure that our disadvantages actually get triggered. The easiest way is to add drawbacks to our skills. So everytime our character does something, there’s a chance that things get… interesting. 😉
I suggest at least 1 drawback per skill, but obviously you can add as many disadvantages as you want. A weaker character needs to find others for help (and thus finds more RP) and gets into more tricky situations (which are the interesting ones). Just like with skills, you can invent more drawbacks while playing.
Example
Knife throwing Drawback: She’s only trained on her special knives, which carry the sign of a criminal organization. That could make others suspicious…
Woodworking Drawback: For good results, she needs wood from a rare and expensive root. Getting it yourself could be dangerous, buying it is expensive.
Underworld contacts Drawback: She has some unsettled scores with some criminals, who are hunting her now. Everytime she uses her contacts, she has to pay back double. One way or another…
Unrelated Disadvantage: Short breath. She has a birth defect that makes her run quickly out of breath, e.g. if she’s running.
5) Create a rough background story
Maybe you already thought of a small backstory when you thought about where your character learned her skills and got her disadvantages. You can improvise the details while roleplaying. But there are three things that will help you with your RP:
- Why did your character end up in the human capital?
That’s the hotspot for RP, so if your character’s backstory should end there. Maybe their work brought them there, they’re looking for work or are living there anyway. - Why would your character talk to somebody?
Roleplay starts with a walk-up, and it’s good if your character has a reason for that. Maybe they need help with something, they look for a job, try to steal or they are just curious. - What is your character’s secret?
Is there something your character wouldn’t just tell anyone? A curse, an insecurity, a sinister background? Let it shine through from time to time, to keep the RP interesting and give your fellow players something to riddle about. - (Optional) What is your character’s quest?
Maybe they need to find a job, maybe they lost a precious memento in the city or they search for a necromancer to lift a curse. If you come up with anything that they need help with, it might give you more interesting RP than just talking in the tavern.
Example
She was training to become a ranger, but her short breath made it difficult for her and she rather spent her time with woodworking. She failed a test and filled with shame, she ran away (secret). She ended up in the human capital. She got to know smugglers that could get the rare root that she needs for her woodworking, and drifted further and further into the underworld. Now she has massive debts with criminals and is looking for a save place to stay and work (walk-up reason).
Optional Quest: She knows an alley where the smugglers stash money. Going alone is too dangerous, so she’s looking for somebody naive that helps her search but not question where the money comes from.
6) Pick a name
Just make sure it sounds like a name, e.g. “Meredith Walker” and not “xXDestroyerManXx.
Tip
Need inspiration? Just translate fitting words into obscure languages. Need a name for an angry norn? “Fury” is “Raivoa” in finnish. So, Raiva Bearsong sounds fine.
7) That’s it!
Maybe you didn’t fill out everything yet, or you are not sure about the details. That’s fine! Don’t forget, extending your character is a normal part of roleplaying.
Example
Name
Seana Summersun
Race
Sylvari
Rough Concept
Promising child drifting into criminality
Skills & Drawbacks
+ Knife throwing: She’s really good at throwing knives.
– She’s only trained on her special knives, which carry the sign of a criminal organization. That could make others suspicious…
+ Woodworking: She can create almost everything with wood, a sharp knife and time.
– For good results, she needs wood from a rare and expensive root. Getting it yourself could be dangerous, buying it is expensive.
+ Underworld contacts: She knows criminals that she can use to access illegal wares or call on help.
– She has some unsettled scores with some criminals, who are hunting her now. Everytime she uses her contacts, she has to pay back double. One way or another…
– Short breath. She has a birth defect that makes her run quickly out of breath, e.g. if she’s running.
Story & Secret
She was training to become a ranger, but her short breath made it difficult for her and she rather spent her time with woodworking. She failed a test and filled with shame, she ran away (secret 1). She ended up in the human capital. She got to know smugglers that could get the rare root that she needs for her woodworking, and drifted further and further into the underworld. Now she has massive debts with criminals and is looking for a save place to stay and work (walk-up reason).
Optional Quest: She knows an alley where the smugglers stash money. Going alone is too dangerous, so she’s looking for somebody naive that helps her search but not question where the money comes from.>
