Character Creation & Advancement

Character Creation

• Number of Characters. Players may have up to 3 active characters.
• Starting Rank. Characters begin at Novice rank (0 XP), unless the player's previous character has died or been retired, in which case the new character starts with half of the XP as the original character. This means that the "Veteran o' the Weird West" edge may not be taken.
• Source Material. Only Hindrances, Edges, Arcane Backgrounds, powers and gear from Savage Worlds Adventures Edition (SWADE), Deadlands: The Weird West and The Weird West Companion may be used.
• Arcane Background and Character Type Restrictions:
  • Only Huckster, Blessed, Chi Master, Shaman and Weird Science (including Metal Mage) arcane backgrounds are allowed.
  • Voodooists are allowed on a case-by-case basis; contact a Marshal to discuss before you create your character.
  • Characters may not start as Harrowed, but may become so after death or due to Edges later on.
  • US Marshals are allowed on a case by case basis.
  • The server may only have a total of 3 Agents and 3 Territorial Rangers.
  • The Hindrance Young (Major) is not available, only the Minor version, which may optionally be used for characters 16-18 years of age. All player characters must start at 16 years of age or older.
  • When taking the Rich edge, your starting cash is $750 and you receive $500 per Advance. With Filthy Rich, your starting cash is $1250 and you receive $1000 per Advance.
  • When creating a character with half XP from a previous character that has died or retired, you gain money per advance from edges. (Ex. Rich, Filthy Rich, Ranger/Agency/US Marshal Pay).
• Gear Transfer. Gear and other belongings may not be transferred between a player's own characters unless in the event of a character dying or retiring, in which case 2 items may be "willed" to the player's next character.
• Character Approval. Characters are subject to review and approval by the Marshal before they may be used in an Adventure. Post any character creation questions in #player-help and final characters for review in #character-approval.
• Character Sheet. Please use the Google Sheets character sheet for generating your hero. After opening, click File, then Create a Copy and save it to your own Google Drive. Share the link to the #character-approval channel when you are finished.
• Savaged.us. Characters may also be made and hosted in Savaged.us for those who have the knowledge to use this online tool.

Advancement

We will be using the character advancement rules from Savage Worlds Deluxe which specify experience points (XP) for characters to gain an Advance and reach new Ranks.

• All characters gain a total of 2 XP per session of play. (The GM of the adventure also gets 2xp to apply to one of their own characters, whichever they choose.)
• For every 5 XP gained, the character receives an Advance.
• You receive income from your job/commission and must pay lifestyle costs after every Advance. See the Lifestyle & Income section below.

Experience Points	Advances	Rank
0-19	1-3	Novice
20-39	4-7	Seasoned
40-59	8-11	Veteran
60-79	12-15	Heroic
80+	16+	Legendary

Horse Special Traits

When a Player Character procures a regular horse (not an El Cheapo), there is a chance that it has a little extra personality. If desired, the player may make a Riding roll in the #dice-rolls channel and if it comes up as a raise, roll another d10 (no wild die) to determine its special trait per the table below. If the player prefers, she may pay double the price for her horse ($300) for a guaranteed roll on the table.

d10	Special Trait
1	Steady: The rider gets use of the Steady Hands edge.
2	Agile: Agility d10, Athletics d10.
3	Smart: Smarts d6 (A).
4	Spirited: Spirit d8.
5	Strong: Strength d12+1
6	Vigorous: Vigor d10, Toughness 9.
7	Fast: Pace 14.
8	Warrior: The horse's kick causes Str+d6 damage, and its Fighting is d6.
9	Biter: Bite Str+d4.
10	Player's choice.

Lifestyle & Income

Every time Brimstone characters take an Advance (every 5 XP earned), they receive their regular pay (from employment or Agency/Ranger commission) and must deduct their living expenses based on the table below, which includes food, shelter and other sundries.

Depending on your lifestyle level, food and drinks may be included when in town during adventures and downtime. During troubleshooting missions away from town, food and shelter are paid for separately.

• Characters who own a storefront in town must be either at the High or Luxury levels.
• At some levels, you may pay out a lump sum of ten times the monthly cost to own the home or building. Once owned, this decreases your monthly costs by 70%, as you only have to pay for taxes, food, sundries, and any servants’ salaries.
• To operate your own business in town, see the Running a Business section below.

Lifestyle Table

Lifestyle	Cost per Advance	Cost to Own	Description
Meager	$5	n/a	Squatting or living on the street. Barely enough to feed one person, no money left over for clothes and entertainment. All other food and expenses are paid out-of-pocket.
Poor	$15	n/a	Renting a small room in a flophouse or above a business. Likely drafty with little to no furniture. Enough for food for one person, and one night a week of food and drinks at a local saloon in Brimstone.
Moderate	$30	$300 + $9 per month	A medium-sized room or small house with decent furnishings. More than enough food for one person, and three nights a week of food, drinks and entertainment at Brimstone locations.
High	$100	$1,000 + $30 per month	A large room, medium-sized house or small business in town. Fine furnishings and good quality food. Includes one servant (valet, nanny, maid, etc.) who is an extra; food, drink and entertainment every day at any establishment in town; plus a $20 line of credit for gambling. Enough room to house one additional person at the Moderate lifestyle level, or two at Poor.
Luxury	$500	$5,000 + $150 per month	A large home or business in town. Very fine furnishings. Includes three servants. The finest food, whiskey and entertainment at any establishment in town, plus unlimited credit for gambling. Enough room to house three people at the Moderate level, or six at Poor.

Running a Business

If you would like your character to run their own business, they must have the "Trade" skill with a specialization, and the applicable skills and equipment to accomplish the job. Every Advance, you may announce that you are rolling for your profit and use the #dice-rolls channel to make the roll. For a success you make $20, and for every raise you make an additional $5. A failure means that you had a particularly tough period of time and didn't come away with any profit, and a critical failure is worse -- you've been robbed, a natural disaster occurred or you lost customers to the guy across the street. You subtract $15 this period.

Whether you want your home to be above your business or a separate building makes no mechanical difference. Want them both in the same place? Go for it. Want a home and a small business as separate buildings? Knock yourself out. You pay the same amount and only making money if you have the Trade (X) skill.

Due to the additional revenue opportunity of owning a visible storefront in town, if your character has small storefront he earns an additional x6 multiplier, and for a large business a 30x multiplier. These numbers also apply for a critical failure!

Example: Boris has a distillery and sells vodka out of his small storefront in town. He has the "Trade: Distiller" skill at D6 and "Knowledge: Distiller" at D4 as well as distilling equipment that he previously purchased. After receiving an Advance, he rolls in the #dice-rolls channel and gets a 10. He makes $20 plus an additional $5 because he got a raise, for a total of $25. Because he owns a small business he multiplies this by six and gets $150 total. He can use this money to pay for his Lifestyle, and he takes the rest as profit.