Core Rules

Core Rules (updated tabs)


The core of any role-playing game is its characters. This chapter will shed some light on
the character creation process, and how to build your counterpart in the ZODIAC world
from the ground up.

STEP 1: CHARACTER CONCEPT
It’s always helpful to know what kind of character you want before you start. Take a
minute to think about your playing style and the type of abilities you want to have. If you
do this first, the rest of the creation process will be easier.

STEP 2: BASE STATS
There are five different stats that define your character’s strengths and weaknesses.
· Strength measures your character’s physical power, and affects the damage you deal
with weapons. Abbreviated STR.
· Magic measures your character’s magical ability, and affects the strength of magical
effects as well as the number of special abilities you can learn. Abbreviated MAG.
· Vitality measures your character’s toughness and resistance to physical trauma, and
affects the amount of damage you can withstand. Abbreviated VIT.
· Spirit measures your character’s force of will and inner store of magical energy, and
affects your capacity for using magic and other special powers. Abbreviated SPR.
· Agility measures your character’s speed and quickness, and affects several factors,
including accuracy, evasion, and speed in combat. Abbreviated AGI.
All stats have a starting value of 3. In addition, you have 25 points to allocate any way
you choose among the five stats, but no starting score may be greater than 15.

STEP 3: ARMOR USE
· Armor is the character’s primary defense against monsters and other hostile forces.
Some armor is enchanted, and improves the wearer’s spellcasting ability. Defense Armor
provides a large bonus to your Hit Points, while Enhance Armor has a low HP bonus but
a sizeable Magic Point bonus. Balanced Armor falls somewhere between the two.
Choose only one type of Armor for your character to wear.
· Guards is a catch-all term for the shields, bracers, and other defensive items typically
worn on a character’s arm. Unlike Armor, a Guard does not increase your Hit Points, but
instead helps you to avoid damage.
You may only wear Armor of the type that you choose at character creation. If you
choose Balanced Armor, you may not wear Defense or Enhance Armor. However, any
character may use a Guard. See Chapter V: Equipment for more information about armor
creation.

STEP 4: WEAPON USE
Each character can equip only ONE weapon at a time. All characters must choose one
class of weapon at creation. The character may only wield weapons of that type.
Different weapons will provide different bonuses to your AP and MAP. See Chapter V:
Equipment for more information on weapon creation.

STEP 5: DERIVED STATS
Derived Stats are sub-stats that are affected by your Base Stats. A description of each
Derived Stat is given here, followed by a table that shows the base value of each, along
with how quickly they increase. Starting values for Derived Stats are simply the base
value plus any bonuses for high Base Stats. For example, a character with 10 Agility
begins the game with 7 Accuracy. Henceforth, for every 5 points of Agility he gains, his
Accuracy will increase by 1.
· Hit Points (HP) represent the amount of damage you can withstand. Influenced by
Vitality, experience level, and the armor you wear.
· Magic Points (MP) represent the amount of energy you have available for using spells
and special abilities. Influenced by Spirit, experience level, and the armor you wear.
· Attack Power (AP) is added to the damage dealt with weapons. Influenced by Strength
and the power of your weapon.
· Magic Attack Power (MAP) is added to the damage dealt with magic. Influenced by
Magic and the power of your weapon.
· Strength Dice is the base number of dice you roll when attacking with a weapon.
Influenced by Strength. ALL die rolls based on Strength Dice are multiplied by 10.
· Magic Dice is the base number of dice you roll when casting a magical attack spell.
Influenced by Magic. ALL die rolls based on Magic Dice are multiplied by 10.
· Accuracy affects your chance to score a hit in combat. Influenced by Agility.
· Magic Accuracy affects the chance of success of many special effects, such as turning
an enemy to stone. Influenced by Magic.
· Evade is your ability to dodge physical attacks. Influenced by Agility and the armor
you wear.
· Resist is your ability to resist harmful effects, such as poison or paralysis. Influenced
by Vitality and Spirit.
· Critical affects your chance to score a double-damage critical hit in combat. Influenced
by Agility.
· Max Tech Levels is the maximum number of Tech Levels you can learn. In other words,
the combined levels of all the Techs you know cannot be greater than this value.
Influenced by Magic.

Stat Base Value Modifier
Hit Points (HP) 75 +5 per 1 VIT.
+4 per Experience Level.
Magic Points (MP) 5 +1 per 1 SPR.
+1 per even Experience Level (2,4,6, etc).
Attack Power (AP) 0 +1 per 1 STR.
Modified by Weapon.
Magic Attack Power (MAP) 0 +1 per 1 Magic.
Modified by Weapon.
Strength Dice (STR D) 1 +1 per 100 STR
Magic Dice (MAG D)P 1 +1 per 100 MAG
Accuracy (ACC) 5 +1 per 5 AGI
Magic Accuracy (MACC) 5 +1 per 5 MAG
Evade (EVA) 25 +1 per 5 AGI.
Modified by Guard.
Resist (RES) 25 +1 per 10 VIT.
+1 per 10 SPR
Critical (CRIT) 98 -1 per 15 AGI.
Speed (SPD) 10 +1 per 15 AGI
+1 per 10 Experience Level
Max Tech Levels (MTL) 5 +1 per 2 MAG.

STEP 6: CLASS POWERS
Class Powers are your character’s main set of special abilities- what he does best. There
are two types of Class Powers that your character can choose from. Note that ALL
powers require MP to use!
· Tech is the ability to learn a variety of spells and powers that you create using the Tech
Creation System.
· Blue Magic, also called Enemy Skill, is the ability to use your enemies’ power against
them- learning the skills and techniques used against you in battle. Blue Magic often has
very different effects than a normal Tech does.
If you choose to use Techs, your character will gradually learn the special abilities you
choose for him using the Tech Creation System (see Chapter II). If you choose Blue
Magic, the powers you learn are drawn from your enemies (see Chapter III).

STEP 7: SECONDARY SKILLS
Secondary Skills are minor support skills, such as Cover and Health, that require no MP
to use. All characters choose one Command Skill and one Support Skill from Chapter
IV. It is a good idea to choose Secondary Skills that compliment your character’s
strengths or compensates for his weaknesses, as well as one that fit the character’s
personality.

STEP 8: STARTING EQUIPMENT
You get 200 G to buy any weapons, armor, or items you want from Chapter V:
Equipment. You keep any leftover money. You may use the Weapon Construction
System in Chapter V to create your own unique weapons, or use one of the premade
weapon lists from the Resources section of the ZODIAC home page.

STEP 9: FLESHING OUT YOUR CHARACTER
If you haven't done so already, now is the time to add a face and personality to your
character sheet. Your character might be human, dwarven, elven, or any other species
you can think of. What does he look like? What has happened to him in the past? Does
he have any hopes, dreams, or goals? What is his personality like? Is he distant and
aloof, or friendly and amiable? Be creative! If you like, you can also name your
character’s Class- is he a Dark Knight, a Paladin, a Ninja, or a Scholar?

CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT

As your character defeats powerful monsters and completes epic quests, he gains
Experience Points, or XP. As you accumulate experience, your character becomes more
powerful. Experience Level is a measurement of how strong your character is, and ranges
from Level 1 to Level 99. Your character begins the game at Level 1, and must earn 50
XP to reach level 2. A complete level advancement chart can be found in Appendix III.
When you gain a level, you gain the following benefits:
· Your Hit Points and Magic Points increase. You gain 4 HP per level, and 1 MP every
even level (2, 4, 6…).
· Your stats increase. You gain three Bonus Points at each level-up that you may use to
strengthen your character. One Bonus Point will increase any one of your Base Stats by
1 point. No more than two Bonus Points may be allocated to the same stat each level.
Beginning at level 60, you gain an additional Bonus Point at each level-up, which may be
spent on any of the five stats you choose. Note that the maximum value of any Base Stat
is 250, but certain Relics can increase a stat beyond the normal maximum.
· At every fifth experience level (5, 10, 15, etc.) you gain a bonus of +2 to all five of your
Base Stats. This bonus is in addition to the Bonus Points you receive every level. If this
+2 bonus causes a stat to increase beyond 250, the stat does not increase and the point(s)
may be re-allocated to any stat you choose.
· Your Derived Stats may improve depending on which Base Stats you increased. See
the table in Step 5.
· Tech-users gain Tech Points used to learn new special abilities. See Chapter II for
details.

4th Edition

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