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Note, this character is made for the D&D 3.5 System Rules, in conjunction with the supplemental rule books of “Eclipse: The Codex Persona” which provides the d20 Classless Point Buy system & ‘The Practical Enchanter’ for additional rules of Spells and Wealth Levels, both are published by Distant Horizons Games, authored by Paul Melroy and Patrick “Stanley” Bryant.

When coming up with a character concept, an idea of what function they will serve is important. In the case of Mel, the purpose was quite a laundry list. The character had to be a capable bodyguard, but able to function in high society, which meant being educated. The campaign set the characters to start at level 4. A rather reasonable level where you are competent in a few area and have staying power.

We have a few world laws the GM has established:

• Half-Cost for Self Development
• Automatic Self Development gained every even level
• Blood of the Dragon – Allows a character to permanently decrease a stat (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, or Cha) up to -5 to reduce a spell effective level by the same. (This is important as the world does not allow any spells over 3rd level)

Race: Everyone starts as a Human, but where they are born actually grants a “birthright” an imbued set of powers based upon the land itself – Atheria is a quilt work of domains, which embody some aspect of the cosmos. Order, Shadow, Blood, Purity/Solar, Elemental, Totem, Dimension, Life, Death, Ice/Cold, Illusion, etc.

That said, let’s build out this character:

Base CP for Level 4 is 120, Duties to the house grants +8 (+2 x Level), Feats are granted at Level 1, 2, 4 (and every even level thereafter) for 6 CP apiece, (+18 CP), and 3 Disadvantages for a net of +10 CP. This gives us 156 CP to work with, 36 CP are bonus and outside the Adventurer Framework.

We selected Order, which has been established for 6,000 years, giving a very established old world feel, and rather stagnant, but that is the nature of the Alarian Imperium. Melinda has the Order Birthright which grants her:

• Assistant (Their “Aid Another” actions provide a +4 bonus rather than +2, 6 CP)
• Privilege/Imperial Patron (6 CP. Exiles may substitute a bonus feat)
• Innate Enchantment. Specialized: only works with a high-ranking in-empire patron to channel the magic of Order to the user, double effect (6 CP/10,000 GP)
  • Enhance Charms and Talismans (L2 spell effect, increasing the effects of Charms to L1 and those of Talismans to L2. Personal charms only, 8400 GP)
  • Inspiring Word (personal only, +1 Morale bonus to Saves, Attacks, Checks, and Weapon Damage, 1400 GP)
• Fast Learner (may be specialized, 6 CP). The player opted to focus this for Skills, which neatly grants the Adventurer Framework requirement for 2 Skill Points per level. And as a bonus, since this is part of the race, the character gets x4 by 1st level, netting 14 CP worth of skill points to spend at level 4.
• A bonus feat worth 6 CP. The player opted to put this towards Fast Learner specialized and corrupted for triple effect, BAB for weapons with a Martial Art.

It should be noted that there are no standard magic items in Atheria, which leaves the PCs with wealth levels for charms and talismans. This power of Order effectively boosts those up by one whole level. Charms grant Level 1 effects (Spell equivalents) and Talismans are Level 2 effects!

Another interesting perk unique to Order, they can sponsor anyone not of Order and bestow the Innate Enchantments of their birthright.

Attributes were gained via standard 3.5e 28 point buy rules:

• Strength: 10
• Dexterity: 14
• Constitution: 14
• Intelligence: 15 (20)
• Wisdom: 14
• Charisma: 08
  • Self-Development was spent towards Intelligence for Level 2 and 4, and purchased +1
  • Wealth +2 Bonus applied to Intelligence

Purchases:

• 12 CP was spent to buy Fortitude+1 (3 CP), Reflex +1 (3 CP) and Will+2 (6 CP)
• Self-Development applied to Intelligence +1 (6 CP)
• Occult Sense: Danger Sense – Senses poisons, ambushes or other threats (6 CP)
• Reflex Training 3/day variant with +4 Bonus Uses, specialized (half cost) for protective maneuvers 7/day total (6 CP)
• Luck with +4 Bonus Uses, specialized (half cost) for saves only 5/day (6 CP)
• Bought up Innate Enchantments (6 CP)
• Double Enthusiast, specialized (double effect) for relics (4 CP of Relics)
  • It should be noted relics are a power multiplier for many character. 1 CP nets a 6 CP boost. Another note is this allows for a relic to be easily swapped out or replaced if lost/stolen/destroyed. Most GMs do not do this, but CP spent on Relics are lost, unless the GM allows retraining.
• Adept (6 CP), another boost. Since skills are easily replaced by spells, allowing characters to get them cheaply is nice. This allows Melinda to select 4 relevant skills and get a price break on them
• Leadership with boosts (30 CP) Melinda can field several trusted bodyguards for her charge, have a support staff and multiple lackeys and gophers that are competent. As an added perk, any level 0 child recruited she can easily boost to 1st level after spending a week to make them her follower.
• Since the game has Innate Enchantments and Shimmer Mail, it rarely makes sense for any PC to invest in Armor or Shield proficiency (There are exceptions though). Likewise, many characters use a small number of weapons in their lifetime, so selecting a handful makes sense. In Melinda’s case she has a very narrow focus – Dagger (Ranged and close quarters) for 1 CP and a Greatsword (3 CP). Mind you, for 3 CP, you can have a small group of weapons, so that could actually be Greatsword, a bow or crossbow, and a few more weapons. (4 CP for proficiency)
• Improved Augmented Bonus: Specialized/Corrupted (Reduced Cost) – Add Dex to Int for Skill Points for the first six levels. This takes the normal cost of 18 CP and drops it to 6 CP. By level 7, the character should have sufficient CP to pay off the restriction.
• Finesse, Replace Charisma with Intelligence for the purposes of Leadership. (6 CP) This makes the leadership much more effective.
• Augmented Bonus – Adds Int to Dex for the purposes of AC (6 CP). This trick allows the player to put those brains to use.
• Improved Augmented Bonus, Specialized/Corrupted – Adds Int to Con for the purposes of HP but only till Level 6. (6 CP instead of 18 CP)
• Mana x3 for (18 CP) – Mana allows for some great effects later on (Reality Editing, Resiliency and Unskilled Magic all offer great effects if harnessed correctly!)
• Shaping (6 CP) allows for minor cosmetic or flashy effects. Effectively keeps the character clean and allows for changing eye/hair color on a whim.

An astute reader may realize we have CP left unspent. That is quite alright, if the player wants to learn something later, then that is perfectly acceptable. The beauty of Eclipse is you can save those points for later and then spend them when you need to learn something.

At this point the player has 4 CP worth of relics they can purchase, since this can be swapped out easily, I won’t bother putting those down. (Note, they’ll need to acquire relics. Either someone else creates them or they find them.)

Innate Enchantments are great little boosts. Since there aren’t any magic items, this is about the best method to get several low level spell effects in a constant state, a couple standby life saving effects, or anything that fits a concept. Normally, you need to be careful about stacking, but the lack of magic items in the campaign neatly does away with that concern.

Common effects include:

• Personal Haste (+30′ Movement and an extra attack at Full BAB) – Popular with martial warrior types
• Force Shield (+4 Shield AC, and immunity to Magic Missiles)
• Force Armor (+4 Armor AC)
• Martial Mastery (+4 Competence Bonus to BAB with a specific weapon, again popular with martial focused types)
• Immortal Vigor (12 HP + (Con Bonus x2)) – Popular with just about everyone!
• Enhance Attributes can get a +2 to any of the attributes.
• There are Skill bonuses of Circumstance, Competence and Luck
• Luck bonus to Saves
• Morale Bonus to Attack, AC and Saves
• Fast Healing or Healing (Again instant heals are good to survive much longer!)

The only thing left would be to select a Wealth Level (Found in The Practical Enchanter). Now, give a good backstory and the wealth level can start off as high or low, as you wish. The wealth level dictates number of charms and talismans available. Those are also easily exchanged, so listing them out is pointless as they can be changed for any given situation. But recall, Order have the effects of 1st and 2nd level spells for charms and talismans respectively, so their selections can mimic spells, much like innate enchantments.

For the purpose of this example, I’ll make a few assumptions on selections.

For Mel, this is the final results as written:

HP: 66 (Levels 1-4 are a d4, (4+3+2+3 = 12) + Con bonus (+7 x4 = 28) + Immortal Vigor I (12+14) 26

AC: 23 (Base 10 + Stat+7 (Dex+2 and Int+5) + Armor+6 (Order Shimmermail Talisman)

Saves:

• Fortitude +4
• Reflex +4
• Will +5

Movement: 30′ Ground, depending on selections could increase to 60′ or 90′

Greatsword +8/+8 (Stat+0, BAB+3, MM+4, Morale+1) 2d6+1

Skills, the player will need to select them, but social skills of diplomacy, bluff, intimidation, gather information. For being a reasonable bodyguard, spot and listen. I would also recommend at least one martial art. The free perks and boosts cannot be overlooked!

This character is a reasonable generalist and depending on selections will increase their effectiveness. Overall, the character has a lot of potential and options during most scenes. They can take a hit or two while getting their charge away, and have several bodyguards assist. Since this is d20, the charge shouldn’t be a helpless victim.

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