I'm creating a character who is the leader of one of the Singhara prides and it has chucked a few questions at me:

How would you handle a character needing to lead its peoples (tribe, in this case the pride) and needing to go off on adventures as well (this is more a gameplay question but it came out of the character build)?

Is there a way you could set it up that the character has a representative back home and a means of keeping in touch while away? Options for communication could be limited- maybe a carrier roc/other bird? Or something equally creative, although the communications may not always make it!

There are some overlaps that are making some of my choices tricky- I feel the various things could benefit by being some sort of combo (but without giving extra advantage) I see my character's career as being a sort of combo of leader (CRB) and Envoy (ROT), their archetype and species overlapping catfolk/ Singhara (which we only have adversary info for)(ROT) and a bit of aristocrat (CRB) - is there any way you could combine careers and archetype/species info- that way if the specific ones aren't the perfect fit and you're specifically setting up your character as a whole that best represents what it is and its role within society and so on you're effectively creating a specific custom form of species influenced by its archetype (you normally go with either or, but there are times the two can be linked- I realised this with my character- it is a Singhara leader but its lionlike qualities and catfolk connection mean its catfolk nature is worth considering, and its leadership role and skills fit the aristocrat arhetype- so I'm thinking the best character set up would combine some of the elements of the three. The CRB does have a section on creating a species or archetype so any thoughts on this and limiting what this merging leads to (so it's not giving it more than a character would normally get or giving too much advantage- thus keeping the balance similar to that of any other character creation. Page 192-193 of the CRB have some good tips but you may have some other thoughts.

I had two ideas for skills that came from creating my character- what do people think?

1. Unranked skills - This idea is that for no XP cost you can build your character with some (a small number that fit the character's description, background and motivation) unranked skills, the character then does not yet have this skill / these skills and gains no benefit from the zero ranked skill(s). But why have skills at rank zero (0)? It's an idea that it would be useful to both player and GM to have a reminder that the character wishes to gain these skills (you could perhaps list desired and desirable talents in a similar way) - a bit like we might think it would help our career if we gained skill a or skill b. This doesn't mean the player has to obtain these in the course of the game - it just fleshes out their description and is a sort of additional motivation that the GM and player could make use of in the narrative, a GM could even decide that not following this path is a sign of neglecting ones dreams and ambitions, maybe not realising ones potential or objectives, and throw in something that presents a challenge because they didn't pursue this path (a bit like the real world example, you don't gain those new skills so stay stuck in the same old job), or it could lead to interesting outcomes if they decide to change direction and so on.

The example for my character is that facing the dangers of the legacy of Tarakhe the Plague God, which has killed my character's mate and sees some of the pride ill or infected, again some have died from such affliction, so I was thinking of giving the character a zero rank in medicine - they have a strong desire to find those with the knowledge or to learn the knowledge needed to heal such ailments. This zero skill acts as a reminder of that development ambition, it could be satisfied in other ways- another hero who can do what is required, an ally who can or something such as an instructional item, elixir or whatever, but it's there as part of who they are as a reminder of who they might want to be and how they might most want to improve themselves.

Perhaps there could be a cost benefit to these 'most desired' skills- they're slightly easier to develop because they can imply the character's already doing some or has done some groundwork on them? What do people think on this? Is there a way you could implement this? And could it work for talents? Like I say the player doesn't have to go for these in play- they could choose other skills / talents and they are just a guide but it's an idea I quite liked the thought of playing with.

2. Challenging skills - similarly I realised- and this may work with the above- perhaps for each 'desired' zero rank skill you choose one of these to balance things out and it has a higher cost- harder to develop. The concept of challenging skills - ones which it will be harder for the character to develop beyond what they start with (again could perhaps also apply to talents). This is where your knowledge of the character you are creating informs you that while it can pursue any desired path by learning and development, it is likely to have a few areas where it would have a massive learning curve and gaining those skills (again perhaps also talents) would be harder for this character. Again, any thoughts and how you could implement it?

The example for my character is magic- I was going to give my character one base rank in magic- primal which suits their natural world connections (it sat nicely with some of the other character build complementing other aspects well) but I had a strong awareness building the character and thus getting to know what makes them - whilst the likes of a sorcerer may find magics easy, it's not really something that comes naturally to my character- I actually see it as very difficult for them to progress in and very much one of their significantly lesser capabilities- they would be naturally and by virtue of their leadership role much stronger in other areas. I felt it may bring an interesting dynamic to have skill (possibly talent) areas that aren't so easy to develop and improve, the character may do better relying on others for such needs should they arise.Any thoughts on this and how you could make progression in these challenging skills (and maybe talents) harder? If you want another, this time real world, example it's a bit like computing and robotics skills would potentially really help me in my job but if I were to go down that route it would take a lot to climb such a steep learning curve as it's way outside my current key skillset, which is how I see where my character is with magic.

For the actual story have you considered playing the prince instead of the lord? Be the son who has been sent on an epic quest to find the cure for the prides blights? Being prince fits being just a beginning character rather than your 800xp father.

I think the difference between Singhara and cat folk isn’t that big, The free skill could perhaps be Cool instead of Perception, to represent their ability to wait in ambush. And potentially Brawn could start at 3 instead of Cunning, but you probably want to have both be 3 anyway so it could just be a case of spending xp.

Career has a lot of options, Envoy is good, pick up the Hunter talent later to get the Ranged skill. Otherwise talk with your gm, pick the career that’s closest and ask if you can swap a skill or two, perhaps Warrior but get Leadership in there , or Disciple (they do have strong beliefs in their gods after all) even if you don’t raise Willpower.

When you spend your starting xp your probably looking to increase Presence and Brawn, perhaps you could spend your last 30xp on Agility, otherwise sink it into some talents. Otherwise don’t raise Brawn, instead bump Cunning to 4 and get the Precision talent.

As far as the idea of rank zero skills and negative skills it’s mostly unnecessary, they both exist to an extent already. There’s so many skills to choose from that you are never going to get ranks in them all, having a skill that’s more expensive is just a skill that’s not a part of your career. And zero rank skills are just the career skills you don’t have ranks in yet. If there are skills you want to add later on to your career then create a tier 2 talent with your gm that adds them.

I resolved the XP issue to keep it at base starting XP with deciding the character has only recently become pride leader- this level of responsibility is new.

I've read a lot more on character builds and it's a by the book game so a lot will be wise use of XP and planning ahead for logical uses of XP once it's gained during play as not everything that fits a lion based character well will be possible from the off, which is probably true of any well thought through character build, but certain things make sense to add at some point either at the start or once the XP has been earned later. I'm putting together a range of things that really emphasize and suit the lion/ big puddycat of my character! (it has a soft side as well as the wilder, or should that be wild cat, side). Working with felines and lions as a starting point certain character aspects readily prove themselves to be a good fit.

It's been quite a satisfying character to build for that reason.

I guess the unranked skills and difficult to build skills could also be covered by your character description so you as a player can use it to impact the narrative and as a reminder for your character's story and development- it's keen to access skill a one way or another, it may not progress much beyond its current rank in skill b, if you do want to emphasize such aspects of a character, that way you're giving yourself that prompt/reminder without resorting to pointless non-skills or changing the rules.

@Richardbuxton 's idea of your character being a prince, rather than lord, allows for a lot more flexibility in terms of your adventuring career. Greyhaven is a LONG way away from Zanaga, and if your character had just become leader of the pride, it's odd that he would leave for an extended absence immediately after. While the campaign will eventually head out of Terrinoth into other lands of Menarra, it's going to take a while.

A good point @verdantsf - maybe he's due to take over the role of leader in future (or she- might make it thus if there's a very male-biased set of heroes!) and is currently second-in-command, which might make envoy a better choice, and also fits the going off adventuring to serve the pride's current and future well-being better- the higher-ranked is still back home fulfilling the obligations of that role, they've sent their second-in-command off to meet these needs and at the same time get some good preparation for being leader, maybe part of them succeeding if they do so at the end of this is to eventually take up that leadership role (this has suddenly gone a bit Lion King )

But that certainly fits better I think- lead politicians, kings/queens and so on mostly stay home to fulfill their role and send their staff out to do business elsewhere, if they did become leader then this character's adventuring days would either have to end or be limited to a mere hobby, one they probably wouldn't have much time or energy for.

If your character is female, maybe she was first born, but not the first born son . Perhaps to prevent conflict, her father gave her an important mission that necessitated her leaving for the north.

Here's another way of thinking about the leader of a tribe/pride leaving it for awhile. The CEO or president of a company is an "outward facing" role who establishes relationships with partnering companies, other businesses to better their own, government representatives, etc. The vice president of a company is a "inward facing" role who has their board of middle management keeping the company going.

Your tribe/pride leader character is taking it upon himself/herself to represent his people to the world. He's going out to make the world a better place for them to establish relationships with other "tribes" (read that as settlements). His war-chief / general / counsel of elders will keep the morale of the tribe/pride going, the generals will keep the pride protected, etc.

Starting XP would be just fine for this character. Obviously a rank in leadership and a secondary social skill could be good too. Ask yourself, his he a more charming or fearsome (Coercion) or deceptive leader? I see leadership being used to show these other settlements that you are in command of your people, you know what you know, your are disciplined (another skill to consider) and you have a purpose for the future of your pride.

I wouldn't look at your character going out to adventure, I would look at it as going out to hone those combat, social, knowledge and other general skills and learn some talents to ultimately lead his/her pride as one of the best rulers it has ever had. ?

That's how I would do it. You don't have to be second in command ... be the leader of the pack! I mean the pride. I hear a song coming on from the 1950's I think ... hehehe

Z