Character Creation Rules

Midnight Express RPG Character Creation

For the purposes of the story, characters should be students of Yasogami High School, first and foremost.  They can be of any year and class and whatnot. Interaction will be during and after school, in popular hangouts around town, visiting eachother's homes, etc. Exceptions CAN be made, but only on a case by case basis.

The sliding scale for the stats on a character will be used mostly for rolls in social situations, such as a check versus Courage for whether or not a character believes it prudent to approach an intimidating person. That said, a failed check doesn't necessarily mean the act cannot be carried through, it will just occur differently depending on what was rolled for. Mundane and Combat skill checks will happen pretty much as one would expect them to; to guage success in a performed task.

Characters will have three tiers of Personas, each one an advanced evolution of the last. The First Transmutation will be achieved by your character and/or other PCs completing the Social Link (character ineteractions) with an NPC of the corresponding Arcana. If the schedules of you and the player of the NPC you need don't mix, things can be arranged, such as other characters can complete the social link, another NPC can be drawn up or ownership of the NPC can be transferred. Basically the idea is interracting the the various people around town in a natural and enjoyable way. The Second Transmutation will be plot dependent. Upon completing a certain part of the story, any character who has their First Transmutation at that point, or reaches it after that point, will be queued by GMs to get a small event where their Persona reaches the ultimate level.

As for Persona based combat, the sliding scale for the Persona stats are used for checks versus status ailments, being knocked down, etc.  The possible status ailments are Poison (you take damage over time), Rage (you attack blindly), Confusion (you can't discern friend from foe) and Silence (your persona is locked). More may be introduced later. Unless mitigated, healed or resisted, ailments last three turns. The Elemental Affinities also come into play. If a character is struck with their weakness there is a high chance they will be knocked down and may miss their next turn.

Elemental Affinity distribution is going to be determined by a point value.

Weak vs. Element is worth -2
Strong vs. Element is worth +1
Block Element is worth +2
Absorb Element is worth +3
Repel Element is worth +3

Characters will have three tiers as said before, and each tier has a Point Total that, when you add the affinity values, should be reached.

Initial Personas should have a Point Total of 0.  For example, one weakness, and two Strong vs. (for -2 + 1 + 1 = 0)
First Transmutations Point Total will be 3.
Second Transmutation Point Total will be 6.

Personas have eight ability slots. Each tier of Persona will generally have some core skills that grow with them, while others swap in and out at the appropriate power level for the tier of Persona. The Second Transmutation, being the ultimate level, allows for one player created power as part of your eight. This power will be unique to your persona and stronger than spells or abilities off the list. Just give the ops a description of what it is and what it does and they'll let you know if it will work. While you don't necessarily need to include the descriptions for listed powerrs on your sheet, make sure to describe your custom power to make things simpler.