Paths

In the Talislanta Fantasy Roleplaying Game, beginning characters have had lives prior to the start of the game. They all had childhoods, likely spirited and confused adolescent years and possibly even some form of career, job or profession prior to taking up the life of an adventurer.

All characters, no matter their age and race, have some measure of skill and talent to fall back on and use in day-to-day life. In the game, this is represented by Paths; the collections of skills, talents and traits unique to your character.

Paths are not simply careers that a character is bound within. The Paths your character has is the sum total of your character’s life experience to date, and based on several factors such as region of birth, family background, careers and the character’s own personality.

In selecting one or more Paths for your character, in effect, you build a unique character class that applies to your character, constructed from the game mechanics most suited to his past, rather than simply selecting a single Archetype or template that is applied to all characters of the same Race.

How many Paths?

The number of Paths a player may select for her character is limited by the GM. Normal campaigns typically find characters having two or three Paths. Grim and gritty campaigns might find characters restricted to only one Path or perhaps receiving only half the normal Build Points per Path selected. More heroic games could find characters with four or even more paths under their belt.

It should be noted that players are under no obligation to select more than one Path. It is a perfectly valid option to select a Path you like and stick with it. In such situations, the character receives the normal Attribute Adjustments and Skill Ranks each time the Path is selected but rather than receiving the same starting equipment multiple time, they instead receive a +80 g.l. bonus in assorted currency for each time the Path is followed.

For example, Alison is building a new character and her GM has informed her that the campaign is limited to three Paths. She selects her background Path (Nomadic) which takes up one spot and has two Paths left. She finds she really likes the idea of her character (a Danelek) remaining true to his primitive roots and selects the Hunter Path as her second choice. After allocating her skill ranks among the Hunter preferred skill list, Alison decides she likes this Path and elects to select it for a second time meaning she receives another allotment of skill ranks that she is free to spend on the Hunter Path preferred skills.

Note: Some Paths may only be selected once while others have pre-requisites for entry. Players should familiarize themselves with the Path requirements of any Paths they believe relevant for their character.

What Constitutes a Path?

Paths are essentially a collection of skills, special abilities, quirks and attribute adjustments available to the character. Each Path has a set number of skill ranks available. Players are free to allocate these ranks among the skills available to their Path.

Attribute Adjustments

Many Paths will alter a character’s base racial Attribute ratings in some manner. This could be a bonus or penalty to a primary or secondary Attribute. The first time a Path is followed, the character receives the first Attribute Adjustment listed. The second time the Path is followed the character receives the second adjustment listed and so on. If a single Path is selected more than 3 times, Attribute adjustments for the fourth and subsequent selections are ignored.

Assigning Skill Ranks

Each Path comes complete with a list of Preferred Skills available to characters of the Path along with a set number of skill ranks that the player may spread among any and all Skills on that Path’s preferred list. Players may not allocate more than 4 ranks to any single preferred skill per Path followed. If the character has one Path, that means no single skill can be increased above Rank +4. Characters with two Paths cannot have a single skill above rank +8 and so on.

In addition, players may purchase ranks in skills not found on their Path’s preferred list but at a much increased cost. Players may allocate 3 of their allotted skill ranks to purchase a +1 rank in a skill not found on their Path’s preferred list.

Special Features

Some Paths grant characters free Quirks and other special abilities. These are clearly listed under each Path where appropriate.

Quirks

Each Path also has a list of Quirks commonly encountered in characters from the chosen Path. Players may select a Quirk for their characters from this list by forfeiting 2 skill ranks from those gained from the Path. In other words, if the Path has 12 skill ranks available, a player may opt to take only 10 skill ranks but also gain a Quirk. This cost can be reduced to only 1 skill rank if the player also selects a negative Quirk. When selecting a negative Quirk, the player may opt for any negative Quirk for which they meet all pre-requisites (i.e. appropriate race, etc.).

Starting Gear

Finally, each Path has a list of gear, equipment, magical trinkets, wealth and other property. The character starts with all relevant equipment as listed on each Path he possesses. This should be recorded on the players character sheet. Equipment is only received the first time a Path is followed while any currency received from Path selection can be multiplied by the number of times the Path is followed.