Previously, I did a post looking at the Quickstart rules for Conan, but now that I have my hands on the full game, I can do a bit more of a dive into it, and character creation.

There are ten Origins in the book. They aren’t classes exactly, but more backgrounds that shape how you might build your character, each with a few bonuses to help out. Of the ten, five have access to magic, but that doesn’t mean they have to use magic. You can, in fact, develop them in different ways that at first may not be obvious or fit the most obvious archetypes.

I’m going to make my way through the Origins one at a time and make up a couple of starting characters for each – one sticking to the archetype, and another that is different from how you would first expect the Origin to play. Such as one of the spellcaster archetypes being a frontline tank, or a tough melee damage dealer.

The first is From the Hills, who are depicted as hardy warriors who live beyond the frontiers of civilisation, Conan and the Cimmerians being the most obvious examples. They start with high lifepoints and their bonus is that at the start of each Tale (adventure) they choose either Might, Edge or Grit and get +1 to attacks and checks with that stat. It makes them adaptable and flexible in how you play then, which is good in the system. A +1 is a fairly big bonus and you never know where you are going to end up, what you are going to do or even what equipment you might have so being able to match your bonus to the situation is handy.

So first we will go with the typical Archetype of a From the Hills character, a tough warrior, getting in close and swinging a sword.

For stats, we have 16 points to distribute between the 4, with a maximum of 6 in any stat. For this character, who we will call Cianan, I will go a 5452 build – 5 Might, 4 Edge, 5 Grit and 2 Wits. Strong and tough, but not exactly good with people or knowledge. he is there to hit things.

For defences, that gives him a Physical Defence of Edge+2 (6) and a Sorcery Defence of Wits+2 (4), but SD has a minimum of 5, resulting in an ED of 6 and an SD of 5.

Lifepoints is equal to base lifepoints from the origin plus GRITx2. In this case, Cianan has 40 lifepoints, which is quite substantial.

Stamina is equal to his GRIT stat, so he starts with 5 stamina to use.

Each charcter has 3 XP to spend on starting skills, and for a non nonsense warrior like this, Brawler (+1 melee damage) and Charge (1 Stamina, 1 action, make 2 move actions followed by a melee attack action), works well. He can get stuck in quick and hit things hard.

Gear wise you get two weapons or a weapon and a shield, and either light of medium armour. Gear isn’t too important, as this is Sword and Sorcery, and you may not always have access to the same gear you had in the last tale, or any at all. Conan used whatever was at hand, so grab whatever works best. But some Light Armour, a big Great Axe and a Short Bow to shoot at foes you can’t reach immediately are a good way to go.

So there you have it, a quick and easy build for an archetype of the From the Hills origin.

Cianan; Might: 5, Edge: 4, Grit: 5, Wits: 2
Lifepoints: 40
Stamina: 5
Flex Dice: 1d10
Physical Defence: 6
Sorcery Defence: 5
Skills: Brawler, Charge
Armour: Light (3 Armour Rating)
Great Axe: 1d12+6 damage
Short Bow: 1D6+1 damage, Range: Long

If you need to be a bit more sneaky and shooty for a Tale, boost your Edge with your origin bonus, but if you are just going to hit things, go with Might. Grits would be if you think you are going to have to survive a grueling ordeal, or lots of poison.

Now to look at how to build a character From the Hills who doesn’t follow the archetype so much. Not a frontline brawler, but what about a more sneaky, skirmisher type instead?

For stats, go with a 4543 build. Five in edge, 3 in wits and 4 in the other two. That gives a PD of 7, a SD of 5, Lifepoints of 38 and 4 stamina.

For skills, take Fleet Footed (when making 2 Move Actions in a turn, get a bonus move action), Hit and Run (1 Stamina, make a Melee Attack Action, followed by 2 Move Actions, counts as only 1 Action) and Of the Shadows (+1 to Edge checks involving stealth and to detect others).

For gear, at most you would want to wear Light Armour, but no armour works best as you don’t have a penalty to move stealthily then, and for weapons, a handful of Javelins to throw at the enemy and a War Spear for when you get into melee range. War Spear has the bonus of having longer range so you can poke enemies and they can’t strike you back straight away.

There you have it, a very mobile scout and skirmisher, who can wear down foes with javelins, is hard to get to grips with, if the foe can even find them first, and can still contribute in melee.

Eluned; Might: 4, Edge: 5, Grit: 4, Wits: 3
Lifepoints: 38
Stamina: 4
Flex Dice: 1d10
Physical Defence: 7
Sorcery Defence: 5
Skills: Fleet Footed, Hit and Run, Of the Shadows
Armour: None
War Spear: 1d10+4 damage, Range: Close
Javelins: 1D6+4, Range: Medium

If you think you might be forced into melee more often than not, going with Might as your flexible bonus would a good idea, but otherwise stick with Edge for the extra sneakiness (giving 1d6+7 for Stealth Checks) and more accurate Javelins would be the preferred option.