Chapter the Third

Building
A Character

Four steps, the numbers they produce, and the traps that catch first-time players. Page numbers refer to the Vagabond core rulebook.

01The shape of it

Hero creation is four steps: Ancestry, Class, Stats, Gear.p. 19 Every one of them can be rolled randomly if you'd rather not choose — the book gives a die for each — and for a first character that's a perfectly good way to skip an hour of agonising.

Everything else on your sheet is derived. You won't allocate hit points or pick a defence value; those fall out of your Stats automatically. Do the arithmetic once, write it down, and never think about it again.

Do it in this order

Class first, actually. Your Class tells you which Stat matters, which Training you get, and which Starting Pack fits — so choosing it before you assign Stats saves you rearranging everything twice.

02Step one — Ancestry

Ancestry sets your Being Type and Size and grants Traits.p. 23 The core book has seven; the GM decides which exist in the world. There is no Stat penalty anywhere, and no Ancestry is a bad fit for any Class. If you'd rather not choose, the book offers a d8: 1–5 Human, 6 Dwarf, 7 Elf, 8 Halfling — Draken, Goblin and Orc aren't on that die, so take them by choice.

Ancestry	Type	What it gives you
Human	Humanlike	Knack: an extra Perk and an extra Training. Strong Potential: +1 to a Stat (max 7)
Dwarf	Humanlike	Darksight; Favor on Saves vs Frightened, Sickened and Shoved; bonus Max HP equal to your Level
Elf	Fae	Training in Arcana, Mysticism, Influence or Ranged; Favor on sight-based Detect; knows one Spell, cast with a Skill of your choice
Halfling	Humanlike	+5' Speed and ignores Hinder on Reflex Saves; moves through others' space; +1 Luck when Resting
Draken	Cryptid	A 15' cone breath attack for 2d6! (once per Rest, or take Fatigue); +1 Armor Rating; half damage from one chosen source
Goblin	Cryptid	Darksight; +5' Speed and ignores Hinder on Reflex Saves; Favor on Endure vs Sickened
Orc	Cryptid	Darksight; Favor on Grapple and Shove, and on Saves against them; +2 Item Slots

Human is the strongest mechanical pick and it isn't close — an extra Perk at 1st Level is worth a great deal, and the +1 Stat can push a key Stat to 7. Dwarf is the best pick for a fragile character who wants to survive, since the bonus HP scales with Level. Note that the lore attached to each Ancestry is explicitly optional; the game has no canon setting.

03Step two — Class

Eighteen Classes, each granting Training and a Feature at every Level to 10th.p. 27 There are no subclasses and no multiclassing. The "Complexity" rating below is the book's own; for a first character, one or two hammers is the honest recommendation.

Class	Key Stat	Cplx	Role	Weapon Training
Fighter	MIT or AWR	1	Mid-defence striker, flexible range	Melee, Ranged
Barbarian	MIT	2	Frontline bruiser, hits very hard	Melee
Bard	PRS	2	Support — improves the party's d20 rolls	—
Dancer	DEX	2	Support, hands out Actions	—
Hunter	AWR	2	High-crit striker, melee or ranged	Melee, Ranged
Pugilist	MIT	2	Frontline brawler, unarmed	—
Rogue	DEX or AWR, LUK	2	Midline harasser, one deadly shot	Ranged
Druid	AWR	3	Caster — support, control, shapechanging	—
Gunslinger	AWR	3	Backline high-crit striker	Ranged
Luminary	AWR	3	Caster — the healer	—
Merchant	RSN or PRS	3	Support via inventory and resources	—
Revelator	MIT, PRS	3	High-defence frontline half-caster	Melee
Sorcerer	PRS	3	Caster — burst damage	—
Vanguard	MIT	3	High-defence tank, control by shoving	Melee
Witch	AWR	3	Caster — debuffs and Statuses	—
Wizard	RSN	3	Caster — blaster, widest spell list	—
Alchemist	RSN	4	Backline blaster via crafted items	—
Magus	RSN	4	Half-caster, highly build-dependent	Melee

Putting a party together

There are no required roles. What a party actually needs is coverage of four things: someone with Detect so you aren't surprised, someone who can take a hit, someone who can deal with a locked or trapped obstacle, and — ideally — some way to restore hit points.

Players	What to think about
2	Both Heroes need to be self-sufficient. Take the Plot Armor Luck variant if neither of you heals: at 0 HP, spend 1 Luck to regain d6.p. 22 Ask the GM about starting at 2nd Level or taking a Hireling each
3–4	The comfortable range. One frontliner, one caster, one flexible. Everything is covered without anyone feeling redundant
5–6	Specialise hard — Training is binary, so overlap is wasted. This is where the odd Classes shine: Merchant, Bard, Dancer, Alchemist all scale with the number of allies they have to work with
7+	Expect the GM to split you into two Groups with separate Turns. Pick a Class with a clear job so you know what you're doing when your Turn comes

Some pairings and trios that work

Fighter + Luminary — the simplest possible pair. One holds the line, one keeps them upright.
Fighter + Wizard — the classic. No healer, so use Plot Armor and be careful.
Vanguard + Sorcerer + Rogue — a wall, a cannon, and someone to open doors.
Revelator + Hunter — both self-sufficient; a little healing and a lot of armour.
Barbarian + Bard + Witch + Merchant — a four that leans entirely on stacking Favor and Statuses rather than raw damage.

Complexity is not power

The Fighter is rated one hammer and remains genuinely strong at every Level. Nobody at a big table needs to take a four-hammer Class to keep up.

04Step three — Stats

There's no point buy. You take one of twelve fixed arrays, either chosen or rolled on a d12, and assign the six numbers to Stats in any order.p. 19

d12	Array	d12	Array
1	5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3	7	6, 6, 5, 3, 2, 2
2	5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 2	8	7, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2
3	6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3	9	7, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3
4	6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2	10	7, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2
5	6, 6, 4, 3, 3, 3	11	7, 5, 5, 2, 2, 2
6	6, 6, 4, 4, 3, 2	12	7, 6, 4, 2, 2, 2

Arrays 1 and 2 are flat and forgiving; 11 and 12 are spiky specialists with real holes. For a first character, something in the middle — 3, 4 or 6 — gives you a strong key Stat without a Save you'll dread.

What each Stat buys you

Might	Max HP (× Level), Item Slots (8 + MIT), Endure Save, Melee and Brawl Checks, minimum for wearing armour
Dexterity	Speed, half of Reflex, Finesse and Sneak Checks
Awareness	Half of Reflex, Detect, Mysticism, Survival, Ranged attacks
Reason	Half of Will, Arcana, Craft, Medicine
Presence	Half of Will, Influence, Leadership, Performance
Luck	Your pool of Luck points, refreshed on a Rest

Two of these have hidden weight. Might is never a dump stat — it's your hit points, your carrying capacity, your Endure Save and your ability to Block. And Luck is not a throwaway: it's how often you can buy Favor, and the Hero with the lowest current Luck is the one bad things randomly happen to.

05Step four — Gear

You begin with 3 gold (300 silver) to spend.p. 19 The fast route is a Starting Pack — 36 pre-built kits, each spending most of the 3g and leaving you some change.p. 75 Each Class lists the packs that suit it. Every pack also includes a backpack, bedroll, five days' rations, two torches and a waterskin, plus casual clothes and a pouch that don't count against your money.

Armour

Type	Rating	Cost	Slots	Min Might
Light (leather, hide, padded)	1	50s	2	3
Medium (chain, scale)	2	1g	2	4
Heavy (plate, splint)	3	2g	3	5

Armor Rating is subtracted from the damage of every attack that hits you. Against enemies dealing d4s and d6s, that is enormous. Wear the heaviest armour your Might allows — if your Might is below the listed minimum you're Restrained by it, which is disastrous. Heavy Armor also Hinders your Dodge, so heavy wearers Block instead.

Weapons worth knowing

Weapon	Dmg	Properties	Cost
Dagger	d4	Finesse, Keen, Thrown	10s
Shortsword	d6	Finesse, Keen	20s
Longsword	d8	Keen, Versatile (d10 in two hands)	40s
Greataxe	d10	Brutal, Cleave, two-handed	1g 40s
Longbow	d8	Keen, Ranged, two-handed	80s
Standard shield	d4	Shield — no Hinder when Blocking Ranged; can Shove	75s

Properties matter more than the die size. Keen lowers your Crit threshold by 1; Brutal adds a damage die on a Crit; Finesse lets you attack with Dexterity instead of Might; Cleave splits half damage onto a second target.p. 76

You can carry 8 + Might Slots' worth. Each point of Fatigue also fills a Slot, so an exhausted Hero starts having to drop things.

06Training, and why it matters

Training doubles a Stat before it's subtracted from 20 — so it's worth as much as the Stat itself, and it's the biggest single decision on the sheet.

Awareness 5, untrained Detect ....... Difficulty 15 ... 30% pass Awareness 5, Trained Detect ......... Difficulty 10 ... 55% pass Awareness 7, untrained Detect ....... Difficulty 13 ... 40% pass

Read that last line twice. A maxed Stat without Training is worse than a middling Stat with it. Untrained Checks are a bad bet at every Stat value in the game, which is why "can I find another way to do this?" is usually a better question than "what do I roll?".

Your Class grants your Training; Humans get one more, and Elves get one from a short list. Later, the New Training Perk buys another.

The Skill list

MIT	Melee, Brawl
DEX	Finesse, Sneak
AWR	Detect, Mysticism, Survival, Ranged
RSN	Arcana, Craft, Medicine
PRS	Influence, Leadership, Performance

Thirteen skills plus Melee and Ranged weapon training. Detect deserves special mention: it's what keeps you from being surprised, and in a two-person party somebody should have it.

07The numbers you write down

Once Stats are set, everything else is arithmetic done once.

Value	Formula
Max HP	Might × Level (+ Level if Dwarf)
Item Slots	8 + Might (+2 if Orc)
Speed	DEX 2–3 → 25' · DEX 4–5 → 30' · DEX 6–7 → 35'
Luck pool	= Luck Stat
Endure Save	20 − (MIT × 2)
Reflex Save	20 − (DEX + AWR)
Will Save	20 − (RSN + PRS)
Any Skill Check	20 − Stat, or 20 − (Stat × 2) if Trained
Armor Rating	from armour worn; subtracted from attack damage

Use the live sheet

The Character Sheet does all of this as you build, flags illegal choices — too much Training, armour your Might can't carry, Perks whose prerequisites you don't meet — and prints to PDF when you're done.

08Six traps

Dumping Might on a caster. Might is HP. Might 2 at 1st Level means two hit points, and a lot of things in the bestiary deal a d6.
Splitting Reflex or Will down the middle. Reflex is DEX + AWR and Will is RSN + PRS. Putting a 6 and a 2 in the same pair gives you a mediocre Save; two 4s give you the same Save with fewer holes elsewhere.
Treating Luck as the dump stat. It's your supply of Favor, and the lowest-Luck Hero is the one the game targets when something needs a victim.
Buying armour your Might can't wear. Below the minimum Might you are Restrained — Vulnerable and Speed 0. Check before you spend.
Spreading Training thin. Training is binary and there's no half measure. Cover the things your Class actually does, and accept that you're bad at the rest.
Forgetting the Human extras. Humans get a Perk and a Training and a +1 Stat at 1st Level. It's easy to build a Human and quietly never claim two of the three.

And one non-trap: the book explicitly says that if you're not enjoying a choice you made, discuss changing it with the GM.p. 5 Nothing here is permanent.

09Two worked builds

These are the Heroes from Sheet 01, built from scratch.

Brann — Dwarf Fighter

Class: Fighter. Complexity 1, key Stat Might. Training: Melee and Ranged weapons, plus Brawl or Finesse and three more from Brawl, Detect, Finesse, Leadership and Sneak. He takes Brawl, Detect, Finesse and Leadership.
Ancestry: Dwarf. Bonus HP equal to Level, Darksight, and Favor on three common nasty Saves.
Stats: array 3 — 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3 — assigned MIT 6, AWR 5, DEX 4, PRS 4, LUK 4, RSN 3. Might first, because it's HP, Endure, Block and Melee all at once.
Gear: Knight pack. Longsword, standard shield, heavy armour, 20s change. Might 6 clears heavy armour's minimum of 5.

HP 7 (6 × 1, +1 Dwarf) Slots 14 Speed 30' Luck 4 Melee Difficulty 8 Detect Difficulty 10 Endure 8 Reflex 11 Will 13 Armor 3 Longsword d8 (Keen) 1st Level: Fighting Style (grants Situational Awareness), Valor (Crit on 19+)

Note the Will Save of 13 — he passes it 40% of the time. That's the cost of RSN 3 and PRS 4, and it's a real weakness a GM will find.

Sella — Elf Wizard

Class: Wizard. Key Stat Reason. Training: Arcana plus four others — Detect, Craft, Medicine, Sneak. Mana 4 and 4 Spells known at 1st Level, and no more than 7 Mana on any one Cast (Reason 6 + half her Level, rounded up).
Ancestry: Elf. Ascendancy gives Training in Ranged; Naturally Attuned gives a fifth Spell.
Stats: array 4 — 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2 — assigned RSN 6, DEX 5, AWR 5, LUK 4, MIT 3, PRS 2. Might 3 is the compromise: it costs her HP, but DEX 5 with AWR 5 gives a Reflex Save of 10, which is what actually keeps a caster alive.
Gear: Mage pack. Two trinkets, a robe, a blank book, scribe tools, 31s change. She buys light armour with it — Might 3 exactly meets the minimum — taking her Armor to 1.

HP 3 Slots 11 Speed 30' Luck 4 Mana 4 Arcana / Cast Difficulty 8 Endure 14 Reflex 10 Will 12 Spells: Burn, Light, Ward, Kinesis (+ Guide, from Elf) 1st Level: Spellcaster, Page Master

Endure 14 means she passes an Endure Save 35% of the time, and Blocking is effectively off the table — she Dodges. Three hit points is not a mistake in the build; it's what a 1st-Level Wizard has. She survives by standing behind Brann.

10Levelling up

Levels run 1 to 10 and there's no multiclassing to think about.p. 27 Every Level:

Max HP rises, because it's Might × Level.
You gain the Features printed on your Class table for that Level — and casters gain Mana and Spells known.
Even Levels: +1 to a Stat, maximum 7. This raises HP, Saves and every Difficulty tied to it at once.
Odd Levels after 1st: a Perk. There are 104 of them, most with a Stat or Training prerequisite.p. 64

You can also start the campaign at Level 0: pick Ancestry, Stats and Gear, take no Class at all, and count as Level 1 for HP. It's a good option if you want the first session to be about who your Hero becomes rather than what they already are.

The short version

Pick your Class first — it drives everything else.
Training doubles a Stat. It's worth more than a high Stat alone.
Might is never a dump stat. Neither is Luck.
Wear the heaviest armour your Might allows.
Roll the arrays and the tables if choosing is paralysing. It's a legitimate route.
Build it on the live sheet and let it catch your mistakes.