Evil Dead
D6

Table of 
Contents

Introduction

Basics

Characters

Attributes
& Skills

Magic

Actions &
Combat

Equipment

Deadite Scum

Gamemaster's
Section

Links

Email

Guestbook
 

III.  CHARACTERS

In this chapter:

Templates
Attributes
Details
Choosing Skills
Mojo
Character Advancement


TEMPLATES

In order to play Evil Dead D6, you'll need a character.  The list below is really only illustrative.  There's no limit to the different types of folks that will find themselves face-to-face with absolute Evil.  Click on the name of each to see its Template, or visit the Templates page.

Copy the structure from one of the Character Templates above onto a piece of paper to create your very own character sheet.  I will try to make and post one when I get time, but don't hold your breath!

ATTRIBUTES
Unlike most other D6 games, Evil Dead D6 only uses three Attributes:  Body, Brains and Senses.  All characters receive 9 dice to separate among the 3 attributes.  No single Attribute may be lower than 1D nor higher than 4D.  Dice may be broken up into 3 "pips", or "+1's", per die (See example below).  The Attributes are:

Body: a measure of the character's physical development:  strength, dexterity and stamina. 
Brains: indicates mental capacities, such as raw intelligence, educational development, and memory.
Senses:  represents one's instincts and perception, as well as one's "gut feelings."
Example:  Alyssa is making a character named Vern, a Clueless Hero. She decides to create her own template rather than use the one provided.  He comes up with the following Attributes:
    Body:  3D
    Brains:  2D+2
    Senses:  3D+1

Note:  Once an Attribute is raised beyond XD+2, it moves to the next dice level (If Alyssa had assigned the "pip" in Senses to his Brains instead, it would be 3D, not 2D+3).


DETAILS
This is your opportunity to round out the character and provide a description, background, personality quirks, goals, etc.

Speed
Normal characters can move 10 meters per round while walking.  With successful Athletics rolls, they can increase this value.

Description
    Describe your character:  How tall is he?  What kind of clothes does he wear?  Does he have any noticeable marks such as tattoos or scars?  Is he missing an vital body parts?  Blue hair?  Bad teeth?  Just what kind of freak are you creating, man?

Background
    Every individual has some kind of history, be it mundane, romantic or criminal.  What brought the character up to the point where the game's campaign begins?  Are there ghosts that may haunt his future?  Old rivals, lost loved ones, foregone opportunities?

Personality
    Is your character a grouch?  Is she impulsive, always itching for a fight, or is she more thoughtful and cautious?

Objectives
    Everyone has a goal in life, even if is only to banish the Evil back to its hell-dimension.  Why does your character act, and what does she hope to achieve?  How far will she go to get it?

Connection to other Characters
    Most of the characters will just be meeting one another as the game campaign starts.  They may work together at the S-Mart or just be neighbors.  Some may have known others for longer periods.  They may be related, or lovers, or even enemies.
 

CHOOSING SKILLS

Starting skills
Each character starts with 7D to divide among Skills at Character Creation.  Furthermore, each character can list 3 additional skills that they take a "0D" under each Attribute.  The character may still perform any other skills under that attribute, but at a -1D difficulty.  There are two exceptions to this rule:

  • GM's may (and should) exercise discretion in assigning higher difficulty levels to "unlearned" skills.  Certain characters may not have the background necessary to attempt certain skills.  For example, a Medieval character will have absolute no idea how to fix a car ("Um, ok, I walk around it a couple of times, I tap it with a hammer, then I pray for divine intervention.  Did that work?") 
  • Advanced skills represent much more complex areas of study.  As such, a character cannot attempt an Advanced skill without having assigned at least 1 die to it.
Specializations:
    Many skills have specializations which allow the character to focus on a certain aspect of the skill.  If a specialization is taken, a character may advance in that specialized aspect of the skill at half the normal cost of advancement.  However, uses of the skill not covered in the Specialization remain at the base skill level.
Example: Vern has Shooting Stuff at 4D.  He decides to take the specialization Shooting Stuff:  Shotguns to advance to 5D at a cost of 6 CP rather than 12 CP.  Anytime he fires a shotgun, he gets to roll 5D, but all other firearms are used at 4D.
    Specializations may be selected at Character Creation.  If so, the character receives 2 dice for every 1 spent.  Thus, if a  player decides to Specialize in Shotguns, he can gets +2D to all rolls with that kind of weapon.  Alternately, the player may put 1 die into Shotguns and put another in some other Specialization (such as Burnin' Rubber:  Motorcycle, etc.).  Note:  Characters may not start with general skills greater than 6D or Specializations greater than 7D!

    Specializations are independent of the skill from which they are derived.  If the player later increases the skill, the Specialization does not increase.  If the Specialization increases, there is no change in the base skill.

Advanced skills:
    Some particularly complicated skills require two times the normal amount of Character Points to allow for Advancement.  They also typically require some other prerequisite skill.

MOJO
Mojo symbolizes the inner strength and resources of a character.  It is usually a manifestation of their heroic qualities.  Usually, characters may only gain additional Mojo points by spending the ones they have.  This is a bit of a gamble, since they will not always regain spent points.  At the end of each game session, the GM decides whether the characters regain spent points and if their Mojo will get stronger.

Generally, you may follow the guidelines below:

  • If the character spends the Mojo point to perform a heroic act, usually to save someone's life, stop a bad guy, or attempt an action that risk his own life, then he should receive the point back and gain another.
  • If the character uses the Mojo point to perform a difficult task, but that is either not very dramatic or heroic, then he should get the point back but not gain another.
  • If the character spends the Mojo point to accomplish a relatively normal feat or to just save his own sorry hide, he does not get the point back.
A character may only spend 1 Mojo point per round, doubling all dice pools used in that round (with some exceptions, see Using Mojo). 

Finally, if a character has no Mojo points, the GM may decide to grant one after a particularly heroic or risky act (or an act that furthers the character's strong motivation).

Bad Mojo
When a character acts in a particularly villainous manner or is otherwise infected with the Evil, he may accrue Bad Mojo.  Bad Mojo has both frightening and tempting aspects.  It may be spent, just like a Mojo point, to double all actions in a given ground.  But when it is, the character automatically gains another Bad Mojo point.

For each Bad Mojo point after the first that the character accrues, he must roll 1D6.  If the die result is less than the current Bad Mojo rating, the character becomes Possessed by the Evil.  The player loses control of the character and it becomes a deadite.  At that point, it will take on a horrifying aspect, usually with white eyeballs, creepy, dead-looking skin and an overwhelming desire to kill, kill, kill (especially its former friends).

There is a slight chance that the new deadite may be Exorcised and freed of the possessing Evil.  But the Exorcism is difficult and dangerous, and only rarely successful.

ADVANCEMENT
At the end of each adventure, players will usually be rewarded Character Points at the end of an adventure by the Gamemaster.  They may keep these CP's for later use or spend them on learning skills.

Increasing skill levels
     For normal skills, it costs a number of Character Points equal to the current dice value of the Skill  to increase by one pip.  Thus to advance from 4D to 4D+1, the player must spend 4 CP's.  Specializations cost the current dice value divided in half , rounding up (i.e., moving from 4D to 4D+1 would cost 2 CP's).  Advanced skills cost the current dice value x 2.  If the character has the skill at "0D," meaning equal to his controlling attribute, he is considered to "know" the skill and advances in this manner.

Example: Vern has Shooting Stuff at 6D and wants to increase it to 7D.  To do so, he must spend 18 CP (6 for 6D+1, 6 more for 6D+2, and 6 more to go from 6D+2 to 7D).  He decides that's too expensive, so he Specializes in Handguns and takes Shooting Stuff:  Handguns at 7D, costing him a total of 12 CP instead.
Learning new skills
    To learn a new skill, the character must spend a number of CP's equal to the controlling attribute. If the character does not "know" the skill (i.e., he suffers a penalty when using the skill because he did not choose it at "0D"), the skill starts at a level equal to the controlling attribute.
Example:  Vern wants to learn the Flying Anything skill.  He has a Body of 3D.  Thus, he spends 3 CP's and  and gets Flying Anything at 3D.  To increase to 4D, he would have to spend another 9 CP's (see above).
Learning Advanced Skills
     Some skills represent very complex sets of abilities.  These skills, referred to as "Advanced Skills" usually have prerequisite skills that the character must first gain proficiency in before the Advanced skill may be chosen.
Example:  Amanda decides she wants to be physician.  She must first meet the prerequisites for Medicine, which are Stopping the Bleeding at 5D, Science 101 at 4D, and Schoolin' at 4D.  Assume that she taken those skills at "0D."  She has a Brains attribute of 3D, so she must pay 3x3=9CPs to get First Aid at 4D, then another 12 to get it to 5D.  Next, she'll have to spend 9CP's get Science 101 at 4D, and another 9 to get School' at 4D.  Finally, she'll be able to start learning Medicine.  She must then pay 3x4=12CP's to get Medicine at 3D.  That's 51CP's!  She'd better start saving those CP's now... 


A Note on Eggheads:  A Proposed Scholarship Program
I've often noticed that players avoid having a "scholarly" character in many games. Many systems make it easier to be a battle-ready thug than a learned physician.  This is probably somewhat close to reality, but it makes for unbalanced games--and punishes those who want to do more than hack and slash.  Often specialists, such as physicians, end up helping other characters more than they themselves gain from their own skills.

So I recommend that GM's consider a "scholarship" program for players who want to start out as physicians or some other expensive specialist.  Perhaps give them some extra dice at character creation to put into these specialized skills.  If it seems that you are imbalancing the game, you can saddle them with deep debts or other problems as a result of their "higher" education.

Improving attributes
   To improve an attribute, a character must spend 10x their current skill value to increase by 1 pip.

RETURN TO MAIN PAGE.