Character Creation in Ix

Character sheet Adventurer Record

A starting character in Ix is a competent person with a history and a trade, well short of mastery. Higher skill ranks, higher talent tiers, and characteristic growth are earned in play.

This chapter walks through all nine steps of character creation in order. Do not skip ahead. Several steps depend on decisions made in earlier ones.

The Nine Steps

1. Choose Species, Chapter Four
2. Set Starting Characteristics: this chapter
3. Choose Background and Career, Chapter Five
4. Spend Starting XP: this chapter
5. Claim Starting Talent, Chapter Seven
6. Choose Patron Deity (if Divine), Chapter Ten
7. Calculate Derived Values: this chapter
8. Choose Starting Gear, Chapter Eight
9. Name and Personal Details: this chapter

Step 1 — Choose Species

Your species is who you are before the game begins: a biological and cultural identity that shapes how others read you, what histories you carry, and how the world was built around (or against) bodies and minds like yours.

The core species detailed in Chapter Four are the most widely distributed peoples in Dort's central regions: Human, Smaling, Gnome, Dwarf (two lineages), Elf (four lineages), Orc, Drakin (seven elemental lineages), Goliath, Vaelhari, Serren (two lineages), and Zerren (two lineages).

Each species package sets your starting characteristic values, Wound Points, Strain Points, any free skill ranks, and any species abilities.

Default is human. If you have not read Chapter Four yet, or if your concept does not fit any specific species, human is the place to start: all six characteristics at 2, 10 + Might Wound Points, 10 + Willpower Strain Points, 110 starting XP, and two free skill ranks you can place anywhere.

Step 2 — Set Starting Characteristics

All six characteristics begin at 2. Before spending any XP, you may apply one free characteristic swap: raise one characteristic by +1 and lower a different characteristic by −1. This swap is free, costs no XP, and represents natural variation within a species rather than training. A human who swaps Might up and Charisma down is not stronger because they studied; they just came out that way.

No characteristic may begin below 1 or above 4, including after the swap.

If your species package modifies starting characteristics, apply those modifications first, then apply the free swap.

After applying the free swap, characteristics may be raised further with XP during Step 4, creation only.

Step 3 — Choose Background and Career

Both choices come from Chapter Five.

Your Background is where you came from: the social world you were raised in, the early experiences that shaped your instincts. Your Career is what you do now, or what you did immediately before becoming an adventurer.

Together, they determine your profession skills. Any skill that appears on your Background list or your Career list is a profession skill, and profession skills are cheaper to advance. Most characters end up with six to ten profession skills depending on overlap.

Neither Background nor Career grants free skill ranks. They determine which skills are cheaper, not how good you already are. Skills are purchased in Step 4.

Backgrounds and Careers do not need to match in domain. A character raised in a criminal household who became a Temple Guard is more interesting than a min-maxed pairing. Play what fits the character.

Step 4 — Spend Starting XP

Starting characters have XP equal to their species starting XP (see Chapter Four for each species). Human characters have 110 XP. Non-human species have 70–90 XP depending on the power of their species package: a Drakin starts with 70–75 XP; a Surface Dwarf starts with 90 XP. Check your species entry before spending.

This budget must cover everything: characteristic increases, skill ranks, and talents purchased at creation.

What XP Can Buy at Creation

Characteristic increases, creation only. After play begins, characteristics can only be raised through the Growth (Tier 3) and Greater Growth (Tier 4) talents. At creation, you pay the cost to reach each new rating. Each step must be purchased individually, you cannot skip from 1 directly to 3.

Example: Raising a characteristic from 1 to 3 costs 50 XP: 20 XP to reach 2, then 30 XP to reach 3. Raising from 2 to 3 costs only 30 XP, you pay only the steps you are actually taking.

Since all characteristics start at 2 (before species adjustment and the free swap), the most common creation purchase is paying 30 XP to raise one characteristic from 2 to 3.

Skill ranks. Profession skills are cheaper to advance at every rank. Costs are paid one rank at a time.

In Ix, no starting character may begin with any skill above rank 2.

Talents. You may purchase Tier 1 talents (5 XP each) and Tier 2 talents (10 XP each) at creation. A Tier 2 talent requires 2 Tier 1 talents already owned (not counting the free talent from Step 5). You may not purchase Tier 3 or higher talents at creation.

Step 5 — Claim Starting Talent

Every starting character receives one free Tier 1 talent at no XP cost.

This talent must meet any normal prerequisites. It may be any Tier 1 universal talent from Chapter Seven, or rank 1 of any Adventurer tree or Planar tree whose skill prerequisite you meet, since a tree's first rank counts as a Tier 1 talent. It may also be a deity-specific faith talent, but only if you have Divine 1+ from Step 4 and you intend to choose a patron deity in Step 6.

The free starting talent occupies a Tier 1 slot for future advancement. If you already purchased Tier 1 talents with XP in Step 4, the free talent is in addition to those.

Step 6 — Choose Patron Deity (if Divine)

If your character casts in the Divine tradition (meaning you purchased at least 1 rank in the Divine skill in Step 4) you must choose a patron deity before play begins. A character without a patron deity cannot cast Divine spells regardless of their Divine skill rank.

The Core Pantheon and their domains are detailed in Chapter Ten. Each deity belongs to an alignment group (Positive, Neutral, or Negative) that determines which generic faith talent tree is available to you. Each deity also offers one signature talent unique to devotees of that god.

Patron deity choice is a character decision with narrative weight, not just a mechanical transaction. Expect the GM to play the deity's reactions to your choices.

Patron deities may change through in-fiction events, adjudicated by the GM. They are not permanent mechanical locks, but they are not casual either.

Step 7 — Calculate Derived Values

Fill in your character sheet using these formulas.

Wound Points, species Wound base + Might. Wound Points are your maximum physical injury capacity. You begin play at full Wounds. When damage gets through Resistance, subtract it from your current Wounds. At 0 Wounds, you are incapacitated.

Strain Points, species Strain base + Willpower. Strain Points measure mental and physical stress. When your accumulated Strain meets or exceeds your Strain Points, you are incapacitated, but differently from Wounds. Wound incapacitation typically means you are unconscious or physically unable to act. Strain incapacitation means you are mentally and physically spent: you can still speak and may attempt minimal non-strenuous actions at GM discretion, but you cannot act in structured play until you have recovered some Strain. Strain also recovers faster than Wounds (see Chapter Thirteen).

Resistance, half your Might (rounded up), plus any armor worn. Resistance reduces incoming physical damage. A character with Might 2 has Resistance 1 before armor.

Melee Defense, 0 plus any modifiers from talents or equipment.

Ranged Defense, 0 plus any modifiers from talents or equipment.

Initiative (On Watch), Savvy + your Perception skill rank. Used when you are alert and aware danger is possible.

Initiative (Surprised), Willpower + your Readiness skill rank. Used when danger arrives without warning.

Step 8 — Choose Starting Gear

Starting gear comes from Chapter Eight. Characters begin with a starting package representing profession-appropriate items, plus starting funds of 2d10 gold flargons.

"Profession-appropriate items" means the basic equipment your character would plausibly own given their Career. A Foot Soldier begins with a weapon, armor, and field kit. A Merchant begins with a ledger, a few trade goods, and a mule. A Hedge Witch begins with component pouches, a travel kit, and local reputation. When in doubt, ask what a person doing your Career for several years would already own.

Magical items, flying ship access, war-beast mounts, and other expensive or unusual gear are not starting equipment. These are things you acquire in play.

Languages

Every character in Dort communicates in at least one language, and most people from trade areas speak two.

The Languages of Dort

Dort's inhabited lands each developed their own tongue. The major regional languages are:

• Irna Common — the most widely used language of international business and diplomacy. Characters from any region who grew up near trade routes likely know Irna Common in addition to their home tongue.
• Shoing Common — widely spoken beyond Shoing because of maritime trade, navigation, and the land's commercial reach. It is tonal and contextually dense; Irna Common-speakers often find it difficult.
• Funta Common — spoken across Funta's trade routes, scholarly circles, and many coastal communities, with regional forms shaped by tribal authority and oral tradition.
• Jazirah Common — the language of Jazirah's cities, ports, religious institutions, and trade routes; rich in formal address, blessing formulas, and mercantile vocabulary.
• Antaean Common — the shared trade and civic tongue used across Antaea's confederations, compacts, and independent settlements, with strong regional variation.

Species Languages

Most of the non-human peoples of Dort maintain their own ancestral tongue alongside any regional language they speak:

• Elven (all Elf lineages), Smaling (Smaling peoples), Dwarven (both Dwarf lineages), Drakin (varies by lineage; individual Drakin clans may speak a dialect; the trade form is called Common Drakin), Orcish, Goliath, Vaelhari, Serren, Zerren, and so on for other playable peoples.

Characters automatically know their species language if they have one, unless their background indicates otherwise (a Dwarf raised entirely among humans may not know Dwarven, at GM discretion).

Starting Languages

At character creation, a character knows:

• Their regional language (based on where they grew up; typically one of the five above, or Irna Common if raised in a mixed trade city)
• Irna Common, if their career or background regularly involved trade, guild work, travel, or military service (most characters qualify)
• Their species language, if their species has one

Learning Additional Languages: The Linguist Talent

Language Limit

The total number of languages learned beyond those automatic at creation a character may hold is Intellect × 2, regardless of how they were acquired. Starting languages (your regional language, Irna Common if applicable, and your species language) do not count against this cap. A character with Intellect 2 may carry up to 4 additional languages; Intellect 3 allows up to 6.

Most characters with average Intellect will never hit this limit in play; it is primarily a constraint on high-Intellect scholars who accumulate languages aggressively. A character at their limit who wishes to learn another language must either increase their Intellect or (at GM discretion) let a rarely-used language become rusty.

Step 9 — Name and Personal Details

The mechanical character is built. This step makes the character a person.

Name. Use the naming conventions of your species and regional origin. A Shoing human uses different naming patterns than a Funta human. Chapter Four's species entries contain naming conventions for the peoples covered in this book.

Appearance. How does your character carry themselves? What marks their history; the soldier's posture, the scholar's ink-stained hands, the sailor's squint? Do not write a paragraph; pick two or three concrete details.

Motivation. Why is this character here? Not the grand destiny answer; the immediate, personal, material answer. They need money. They are looking for someone. They owe a debt. They have nowhere else to go. Ground it.

Ties to other characters. The most durable adventuring groups have history. Work with the other players to establish at least one concrete prior connection: they served in the same unit, they owe each other something, they share an enemy, they grew up in the same town. One connection per character is enough. Two is better.

Worked Example: Maret Coldhand

A step-by-step build to illustrate the full process. Maret is a human soldier turned sellsword who keeps the faith of Pollaran; a practical, unsentimental fighter with a capacity for sudden violence and an old sense of professional honor.

Step 1; Species: Human. All characteristics at 2. 110 XP. Two free skill ranks placeable anywhere.

Step 2; Characteristics: The free swap raises Might to 3 and lowers Charisma to 1. Maret hits hard and is difficult in company.

Step 3; Background and Career: Background: Military Family (profession skills: Light Melee, Fortitude, Readiness, Athletics, Leadership). Career: Mercenary (profession skills: Light Melee, Heavy Melee, Fortitude, Streetwise, Readiness).

Maret's profession skills: Light Melee, Fortitude, Readiness, Athletics, Leadership, Heavy Melee, Streetwise (7 total).

Step 4; Spend 110 XP:

Free skill ranks from Human species: Light Melee rank 1, Perception rank 1 (no XP cost; granted by species).

XP Spending:

Remaining XP: 0 XP.

Step 5; Starting Talent: Maret chooses Warrior's Clarity (Pollaran's deity-specific faith talent, Tier 1). Prerequisites: Divine 1+. Met. Once per encounter, before a combat check, Maret may take stock as a Quick Action; removing 1 Bane Die and adding 1 Boon Die to that check. It fits perfectly.

The other available option here was Balanced Bearing (Tier 1, Neutral Alignment faith tree): remove 1 Bane Die when outnumbered or outmatched. Both are Tier 1 faith talents. Maret takes the deity-specific one because Pollaran's combat-focused gift matches her build; at Tier 2 she can access both trees regardless of which she started with.

Step 6; Patron Deity: Pollaran, god of martial resolve. Neutral alignment. Access to the Neutral Alignment faith talent tree as Maret advances.

Step 7; Derived Values:

• Wound Points: 10 + 3 (Might) + 2 (Hardy) = 15
• Strain Points: 10 + 2 (Willpower) = 12
• Resistance: ⌈3/2⌉ = 2 + armor (chain hauberk in the Warrior package = +2) = 4
• Melee Defense: 0 + chain hauberk (+1) + standard shield (+2) = 3
• Ranged Defense: 0
• Initiative (On Watch): Savvy 2 + Perception 1 → 2 dice, 1 Mastery
• Initiative (Surprised): Willpower 2 + Readiness 2 → 2 Mastery Dice

Step 8; Starting Gear: Career is Mercenary. Maret takes the Warrior package from Chapter Eight and receives 11 gold flargons (2d10 roll: 11). Maret's human free skill choice placed one rank in Perception; the background gives a fighter's pragmatic kit.

Step 9, Personal Details: Maret Coldhand. Tall, economical with movement. Two old scars on the left forearm, one on the jaw. Lost a unit in the Vardan campaign, not to battle, to bad orders. Has been working for herself since. Motivation: money, and the avoidance of being owned by anyone. Connection to the group: owes one party member a debt from a contract that went wrong.

Maret is competent, dangerous at close range, harder to rattle than most, and backed by a war god's practical blessing. The Mounted Combat rank will matter once she has a horse worth riding; until then, it marks the kind of soldier she was before becoming a sellsword.