“There are countless definitions and interpretations of a life well spent, and of the opposite. There are often widely divergent biographies of a particular person. The same individual can be either demon or saint, and even shades of both.”

 —from “The Wisdom of Muad’Dib”, by the Princess Irulan

Now that you know something about the House your character serves, we can move on to creating the character. In this chapter we will walk you through the steps for you and your group to create the agents of your House: your player characters. This can be done in a couple of ways: following a number of steps in order to produce a character, or only partially creating a character before play and allowing their nature to be revealed in play.

Characters in Dune: Adventures in the Imperium are divided into a two main types: player characters and non-player characters:

Player Characters

This chapter deals primarily with player characters and how to create and advance them. A player character is any character directly controlled by one of the players, rather than by the gamemaster. Player characters are split into main characters and supporting characters.

Main characters are each player’s first and most important character. Each player has a single main character, and these characters are collectively the focus of the adventures you’ll play and the stories you’ll tell in the Known Universe of Dune. They’re the protagonists of the story and will normally be prominent members or agents of a noble House (though not the leaders of the House… yet). This chapter provides two different methods for creating main characters, but whichever method is chosen, it is recommended that the players all use the same method.

Supporting characters are player characters too, but they’re less-developed than main characters and are intended to be created quickly during the game as-and-when needed to fulfil a particular role needed by the group. These supporting characters represent other officials and agents of the House and its allies, as well as servants, vassals, and other subordinates such as soldiers and spies. Supporting characters can be either notable or minor:

• A notable supporting character is likely to be a significant recurring character, and they will be capable specialists in their own right.
• Minor supporting characters are the ordinary rank and file subordinates and servants of the House; quick to create and disposable for brief scenes where their skills are necessary.

Non-player Characters

Non-player characters, also called NPCs, are characters controlled by the gamemaster, rather than by one of the players. While many non-player characters will be friendly or neutral to the players, the ones which will get the most attention in play are enemies or rivals of the player characters. Non-player characters are major, notable, or minor.

• Major NPCs are important, powerful people, equivalent or superior to the player characters.
• Notable NPCs are significant experts and agents of rival Houses or other factions, similar to notable supporting characters.
• Minor NPCs are the incidental enemies: servants, criminals, soldiers, and other persons unlikely to be identified by name.

Non-player characters are similar to player characters in a number of ways, but they are addressed in Chapter 8: Gamemastering and Chapter 9: Allies and Adversaries.

Who Are You?

When creating any character, the first step is to devise a concept for the character: who are they, what do they do? You may want to look through the archetypes described later in this chapter, take an idea from one of the concepts below, or select something else inspired by the universe of Dune. It’s helpful to keep this concept relatively vague when you start creating a character, as it gives you room to change and adapt.

Some sample concepts include:

• Scion of the House: You are kin to the House’s rulers and may even be a potential heir to the House and its fortunes. You may be seeking your place in the Known Universe or looking to prove yourself to earn an inheritance.
• Mentat Advisor: A graduate of the Mentat school, your ability to recall and reason are a vital resource for anyone seeking to hold or gain power, and you serve your House to the best of that ability.
• Bene Gesserit Agent: You’re a Sister of the Bene Gesserit, and may serve as a consort or concubine, a diplomat, a spy, or any other role the Sisterhood has commanded you to perform.
• Swordmaster: You’re a warrior first and foremost, a master—or aspiring master—of the blade, brought to the House to fight for them or to teach your art to the House’s scions and soldiers.
• Physician: For the powerful, there is nothing so vital as health and longevity, so doctors are valuable… and dangerous. Those of the Suk school are prized for their conditioning that prevents them from betraying their patients, but their services are highly sought-after and not every House can afford them.
• Smuggler: The dominance of CHOAM and the Spacing Guild still allow for goods and people to be moved in the gaps between the great powers of the universe. You’re one of those people who work in those gaps, skilled in the illicit-but-vital movement away from the gaze of the powerful.
• Fremen Warrior: You’re a hardened survivor, well-versed in water discipline and the other necessary skills for living on Arrakis. You have little reason to trust off-worlders, but circumstances may lead you to stand beside them for a time.
• House Officer: You serve the House, conveying orders to the soldiers who fight the House’s battles and leading them by your example.

This basic concept will be refined and changed throughout character creation, whichever method you select, but it provides inspiration for the choices you’ll make later.

Basic Rules Overview

Before you begin creating a character you should know a little about the rules system, so that you know what all the numbers mean. We’ll go into all the details later in the book, but all those complications basically boil down to the following.

For the most part, when you want your character to do or say something, you can just describe what they are doing. However, when their actions might prove a test of their skill or abilities, or conflict with someone else, you need to make a test to determine the outcome. The game would get pretty boring if you always succeeded at everything you did.

Making a test involves rolling twenty-sided dice (or d20s). When you make a test, roll several of these (from 2 to 5) and gain 1 success for each one that rolls equal to or less than the target number. This target number is calculated by adding up the skill you are using (rated 4-8) and the drive that is driving the character’s actions (also rated 4-8).

If any of your d20s rolls a 1 it counts as 2 successes. The same applies if the result is equal to or under your skill, provided you have an applicable focus (a type of specialty) you can apply to the test. This result is called a critical. Unfortunately, if any die rolls a ‘20’ your character will suffer a problem (such as a wound) called a complication that will make further rolls harder.

The gamemaster will set a Difficulty rating from 0 to 5, and if you roll as many successes as the Difficulty your test is a success.

Several factors can help you achieve more successes. Momentum points can be spent to roll more d20s, and can be replenished by doing especially well on skill tests. Your character’s traits might help reduce the Difficulty, and you can use the limited Determination points you have to re-roll dice or automatically gain successes. However, the gamemaster has a pool of Threat points they can use to enhance their non-player characters and make the situation more dangerous for the player characters.

Two Methods

We provide two methods for creating a main character, discussed in their own sections later in this chapter. These methods are as follows:

Planned Creation

This method involves going through several steps, making decisions at each step. You’ll choose an archetype for your character, assign points to your skills, choose focuses and talents, select your drives and create your drive statements, and end up with a fully-formed character at the end of the process.

This method allows a player to start with the kind of character they want to play from the outset, and the process allows for a considerable amount of customization of characters.

Creation in Play

Creation in play is like planned creation, but you make fewer decisions. You make only a few key choices, such as an archetype, a couple of your skills, one of your drives and one drive statement, and leave the rest blank on your character sheet. The rest of the details will be defined once play has begun—at particular points during the game, you may choose to define one of those elements, choosing a skill rating, a drive, a drive statement, a focus, or a talent to add to your character.

This allows play to begin more quickly, and characters to be developed during the game as they face challenges and overcome obstacles. This is often handy for groups who are less familiar with the system, as it allows them to make choices as they become accustomed to the way the game works rather than having to create a complete character before they start playing.

The Measure of a Character
Planned Character Creation
    Concept
    Archetype
    Skills
    Focuses
    Talents
    Drives
    Assets
    Finishing Touches
Talents