Character Creation Guide
For New Players of Survival Skool RPG
Welcome, Survivor
This guide will walk you through building your first character step-by-step. By the end, you'll have a unique survivor ready to face whatever horrors await.
What Makes a Character?
Your character is defined by four key elements:
- Attributes — Your natural abilities (strength, reflexes, intelligence, etc.)
- Skills — What you're trained to do (combat, stealth, medicine, etc.)
- Traits — Special abilities that make you unique
- Derived Stats — Numbers calculated from your attributes (Tolerance, Speed, Movement)
1 Character Concept
Before diving into numbers, think about who your character is. A clear concept will guide all your choices.
Ask Yourself:
- What does my character do? (Soldier? Doctor? Thief? Investigator?)
- What's their personality? (Tough and intimidating? Smart and cautious? Charming and deceptive?)
- What are they good at? (Fighting? Healing? Sneaking? Talking their way out?)
- What's a weakness or flaw? (Cowardly? Arrogant? Bad knee? Haunted past?)
- "A streetwise enforcer who's not too bright but can take a punch"
- "A brilliant field medic who freezes up in direct combat"
- "A charming con artist who's too clever for their own good"
- "A priest who investigates supernatural mysteries despite his fear"
2 Distribute Attribute Points
Each attribute must be between 15 and 45.
The Five Attributes
Distribution Strategies
Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Good for first-time players who want flexibility.
A streetwise enforcer who's not too bright but can take a punch.
A brilliant field medic who freezes up in direct combat.
3 Calculate Skills
Skills determine what your character can do. Each skill combines two attributes:
Dr. Chen's Medicine Skill:
- Primary: Brains 45
- Secondary: Heart 35 → tens digit = 3
- Medicine = 45 + 3 = 48
The 18 Skills
| Skill | Formula | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Athletics | Brawn + Guts÷10 | Running, jumping, climbing, swimming, feats of strength |
| Combat | Brawn + Nerve÷10 | Attacking with weapons (melee and ranged) |
| Coercion | Brawn + Heart÷10 | Threats, intimidation, instilling fear |
| Sneak | Nerve + Guts÷10 | Moving unseen, hiding, covering tracks |
| Gymnastics | Nerve + Brawn÷10 | Balance, tumbling, dodging, grace under pressure |
| Spot/Listen | Nerve + Guts÷10 | Noticing details, sensing danger |
| Legerdemain | Nerve + Brains÷10 | Sleight of hand, pickpocketing, lockpicking |
| Examine | Brains + Guts÷10 | Searching for clues, analyzing evidence |
| Knowledge | Brains + Brains÷10 | Education, memory recall, academic learning |
| Mechanics | Brains + Brawn÷10 | Building, repairing, understanding machines |
| Medicine | Brains + Heart÷10 | Treating wounds, diagnosing illness, surgery |
| Cajolery | Heart + Brains÷10 | Persuasion, negotiation, inspiring others |
| Deceit | Heart + Nerve÷10 | Lying, disguise, misdirection |
| Empathy | Heart + Heart÷10 | Reading emotions, understanding motivations |
| Insight | Heart + Guts÷10 | Reading people, detecting lies |
| Reflex | Guts + Nerve÷10 | Quick reactions, dodging, initiative |
| Survival | Guts + Brawn÷10 | Wilderness navigation, enduring harsh conditions |
| Theology | Guts + Brains÷10 | Religions, spiritual practices and belief systems; rituals, the supernatural, forbidden lore |
4 Choose Traits
Traits are special abilities that make your character unique. You get a number of traits from each attribute equal to that attribute's tens digit.
Attribute of 28 = 2 traits from that category
- Brawn 42 → 4 Brawn traits
- Nerve 28 → 2 Nerve traits
- Brains 18 → 1 Brains trait
- Heart 22 → 2 Heart traits
- Guts 40 → 4 Guts traits
Total: 13 traits
Sample Traits by Category
You can take up to 3 negative traits. Each one gives you +2 Fortune at the start of every session. Fortune lets you turn failures into successes (see During Play)!
Examples: Phobia (+10 to rolls when confronting it), Coward (+10 in direct danger), Old Injury (+5 on specific rolls), Haunted (+5 to Theology, and disturbing visions)
| Negative Traits | Fortune/Session |
|---|---|
| 0 traits | 0 |
| 1 trait | 2 |
| 2 traits | 4 |
| 3 traits (max) | 6 |
5 Calculate Derived Stats
These values are calculated automatically from your attributes:
Brawn × 5 (max)
| Stat | Brick | Dr. Chen |
|---|---|---|
| Tolerance | (42+40)÷10 = 9 | (20+15)÷10 = 4 |
| Speed | (40+28)÷10 = 7 | (15+35)÷10 = 5 |
| Movement | 7 × 5 = 35 ft | 5 × 5 = 25 ft |
| Carry (functional) | 0-126 lbs | 0-60 lbs |
Brick can shrug off most hits and carry a lot of gear. Dr. Chen is fragile but has steady hands for surgery.
Carrying Capacity & Encumbrance
| Load | Status | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Up to Brawn × 3 lbs | Functional | No penalty |
| Brawn × 3 to × 5 lbs | Encumbered | +10 to physical rolls, half Movement, no Sprint |
| Over Brawn × 5 lbs | Over-Encumbered | Cannot move until you drop gear (dropping items is a free action) |
Dragging an ally makes you Encumbered. If you are already Encumbered by your gear, dragging an ally makes you Over-Encumbered.
Functional: 0–126 lbs • Encumbered: 126–210 lbs • Cannot move: 210+ lbs
6 Starting Equipment
Your GM will tell you what equipment you start with based on the campaign setting and your character concept.
Loadouts
The character sheet provides Loadouts — quick equipment lists based on character type and tier. Loadouts make it easy to gear up your character without selecting every item individually.
- Character Type: Select a loadout that matches your character concept (e.g., Medic, Scout, Fighter)
- Tier Level: Your GM will advise which tier loadouts can be utilized for the campaign (higher tiers = better gear)
Typical Starting Gear
If not using loadouts, typical starting equipment includes:
- One primary weapon (gun, sword, etc.)
- One backup weapon or tool
- Appropriate clothing/armor
- Basic supplies (first aid kit, flashlight, etc.)
- Some ammunition if applicable
7 Character Details
Bring your character to life with personal details:
- Name: What do they call you?
- Age: How old is your survivor?
- Occupation: What did you do before everything went wrong?
- Appearance: What do you look like? Any distinguishing features?
- Personality: How do you act? What motivates you?
- Background: Where did you come from? What's your story?
- Goals: What do you want to achieve?
Character Notes & Background
The character sheet includes a Character Notes & Background section. Use this space not only for your character's backstory, but also for personal campaign notes and reminders — important NPCs, locations, plot points, or anything you want to remember during sessions.
You're Ready!
Congratulations! You've created your first Survival Skool character. Remember:
- Roll d100 — try to roll under your skill value
- Traits give bonuses — negative numbers subtract from your roll (good!)
- Fortune saves lives — spend it to turn a failed roll into a success
- Work together — survival is a team effort
★ During Play: Fortune, Dread & Gestalt
Degrees of Success & Failure
Every 10 points you roll under your target is 1 degree of success; every 10 points over is 1 degree of failure. Degrees top out at 5 either way — anything beyond 5 doesn't count.
Target 48, roll 21 → under by 27 → 2 degrees of success.
Target 48, roll 81 → over by 33 → 3 degrees of failure.
Target 48, roll 52 → over by 4 → a failure with 0 degrees.
Critical Rolls
- Critical Success: a natural 1, or 5 degrees of success.
- Critical Failure: 5 degrees of failure. Fortune can still save it.
- Natural 100: always a Critical Failure, and Fortune cannot save it.
Fortune
Earning Fortune:
- +1 Fortune for every degree of success, on every roll.
- +2 Fortune per negative trait at the start of each session.
Spending Fortune: turn a failed roll into a success by spending degrees of failure + 1. A failure you keep gives the GM 1 Dread per degree of failure (see Dread below); saving the roll with Fortune avoids that.
Opposed rolls: when two characters roll against each other (e.g. grappling), the rolls neither earn nor spend Fortune, and Dread has no effect on them. Tick Opposed on the dice roller for these rolls.
| Degrees of Failure | Fortune to Succeed |
|---|---|
| 0 (missed by 1–9) | 1 |
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 3 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 5 |
| 5 (Critical Failure) | 6 |
| Natural 100 | Cannot be saved |
Dread
The Dread Pool, tracked by the GM on the session screen, measures how dangerous things have become. The higher the Dread when an encounter begins, the tougher the encounter or situation will be.
Failure feeds the Dread: for every degree of failure on a skill check, the GM gains 1 Dread. Spending Fortune to turn the failure into a success means no Dread is added. Opposed checks never add Dread. (Prayer and Ritual have their own Dread rules, below.)
Reducing Dread: Prayer & Ritual
Survivors can push back against the Dread through faith and spiritual practice, whatever they believe in. Both methods are a Theology roll, and each survivor can attempt each one once per day (24 hours). A group can combine their efforts: four survivors performing rituals make four rolls.
| Prayer | Ritual | |
|---|---|---|
| Time | One turn (a few seconds to under a minute) | Hours, up to a full day |
| Materials | None | Depends on the ritual |
| Success: Dread removed | 1 + degrees of success | 10 + degrees of success |
| With the Pious trait | 6 + degrees of success | 15 + degrees of success |
Failure: add 1 Dread for each degree of failure to the Dread Pool.
Critical Failure: add double: 2 Dread for each degree of failure (usually 10). The survivor's faith is shaken.
Fortune: can turn a failed Prayer or Ritual into a success like any other roll (including a Critical Failure), but never a natural 100. A saved roll counts as a success with 0 degrees.
Shaken Faith: add a difficulty die to every Prayer and Ritual roll until one of them succeeds. It starts at 1d4 and grows one size with each roll: d4 → d6 → d8 → d10 → d12 → d20, staying at d20 after that. The first successful roll removes Shaken Faith.
Theology 42. Prayer, roll 19 → under by 23 → 2 degrees of success → Dread −3 (−8 with Pious).
Ritual, roll 19 → Dread −12 (−17 with Pious).
Prayer, roll 75 → over by 33 → 3 degrees of failure → Dread +3.
Ritual, roll 98 → Critical Failure (5 degrees) → Dread +10 and faith is shaken.
Gestalt
Survivors don't level up or earn experience points. Instead they gain Gestalt, which improves a character a little at a time.
What Gestalt buys: each point of Gestalt is +1 attribute point. Your attribute total goes up by 1 (3 Gestalt makes it 153), and so does the most any single attribute can reach (45 becomes 48). Put the point into whichever attribute you choose. Raising an attribute raises every skill built on it, and taking it to a new tens digit (e.g. Nerve 39 → 40) also gives it an extra trait slot.
Earning Gestalt:
- Chapter awards: Gestalt is rare. It's awarded only when the survivors complete a chapter or milestone of the campaign. In multiplayer the GM decides how much, usually 1 per player. In a single-player campaign the AI Game Master awards 3–5.
- Buying it with Fortune: spend 12 Fortune to gain 1 Gestalt.
The price of progress: Gestalt awarded at a chapter end raises the Dread Pool's minimum by the same amount, and from then on Dread can't be reduced below it. In single-player this always applies. In multiplayer it's the GM's choice. Gestalt bought with Fortune doesn't raise the minimum.