Moving on with character concepts for Conan: The Hyborian Age, we come to From the North origin, for those hardy souls who hail from the remote, frozen northern lands.

Characters with this Origin get +1 to all melee damage, as well as a choice of Iron Hide or Charge skills. They also start with the highest base lifepoints.

The archetypical character from this origin is the big, tough barbarian bruiser wielding large weapons while plunging into the thick of battle. Not a lot of subtlety, just hitting things hard until they stop moving.

For stats, the most obvious choice of this build is 6442; 6 in Body, 2 in Wits and 4 in Edge and Grit. A very typical barbarian, all brawn, no brains.

That gives them a Physical Defence of 6, a Sorcery Defence of 5, 4 Stamina and 40 lifepoints.

For the bonus skill, take one of them, then buy the other with your starting XP so you get both. The rest of your XP goes to buying Brawler (increase damage of all melee attacks by 1). No one hits harder than you do.

Gear is simple; great axe, some throwing axes and light armour.

Haakon the Red; Might: 6, Edge: 4, Grit: 4, Wits: 2.
Lifepoints: 43
Stamina: 4
Flex: D10
Physical Defence: 6
Sorcery Defence: 5
Skills: Charge, Iron Hide, Brawler
Armour: Light (3 Armour Rating)
Throwing Axes: +4; 1D6+6, Range: Medium
Great Axe: +6; 1D12+8

And what of a character that goes against the archetype? Lets go in the complete opposite direction. Instead of big and bold and brave, what about a sneaky, smart mouthed, treacherous backstabbing weasel?

For stats, go with a 3535 build. 5 in Edge and Wits, and 3 in Body and Grit. They lack the physicality of their kin, but are quicker in body and mind than normal. That gives 7 PD, 7 SD, 3 Stamina and 38 lifepoints.

Skills are fairly easy; Of the Shadows (for increased stealth and detection) and Assassin (which allows them to use Edge instead of Body for melee attacks with one handed light or medium weapons.) Their origin bonus means they still hit as hard as most with weapons, but are much more accurate with them. For the bonus skill, go with Iron Hide for even more health.

For gear, you won’t want armour really, as it will make sneaking about that more difficult. For weapons, take a short sword for the main weapon, and some daggers for off hand and throwing purposes.

In comparison to a From the Streets character, are only slightly worse at sneaking about, but trade that out for being a fair bit more durable and doing a little more damage.

Bjoran the Sly; Might: 3, Edge: 5, Grit: 3, Wits: 5.
Lifepoints: 41
Stamina: 3
Flex: D10
Physical Defence: 7
Sorcery Defence: 7
Skills: Iron Hide, Of the Shadows, Assassin
Armour: None
Dagger, Thrown: +5; 1D4+3, Range: Medium
Short Sword: +5; 1D6+4