True20 roleless, point-buy Skill ranks

As usual, any skills which you train at 1st level have a starting
hero creation rank of 4.
Heroes with above average Intelligence gain a number of skill
(by elf23 – version 1.0)
ranks equal to their Intelligence for free at each level increase.
This PDF describes a system which enables very flexible, Likewise, at each level increase, heroes of below average
roleless hero creation and advancement in True20. It is based on Intelligence lose 0.25 Progression Points per point of
the Progression Points from the role creation system given in Intelligence below 0.
Chapter 9 of the core rules. With each level a hero advances, his
combat ability, skill ranks and power progression are purchased
using Progression Points. Power rank
Optional rules are also given to: You can spend Progression Points to gain a power progression
(according to the normal rules for breadth and rate of power
• Allow feat, saving throw and ability progressions to
progression). Your initial power rank is determined by the rate
also be purchased with Progression points.
of progression you choose.
• Divide combat ability into 4 skills: Defense, Unarmed,
Melee and Ranged, each of which may be advanced Note that, as usual, to learn powers you must have access to the
separately. Adept feat category.
• Simplify the various types of power progressions by
giving each power a separate rank.
• Enable point-based advancement - where heroes' Core ability
abilities advance in small steps building up to a full
level increase. You may choose any core ability you wish (with the Narrator's
approval). As usual, it is not possible to change your core ability
once it has been selected.
Hero creation
Starting heroes gain the following:
Advancing in level
• 4 feats, and access to the General feat category
Upon advancing in level you gain the following benefits:
• +2 to distribute between Fortitude, Reflex and Will
• 5 Progression Points to spend • One feat
• 3 Conviction (or 2 + Charisma Conviction) • +1 to one of Fortitude, Reflex, Will
• A core ability • 5 Progression Points to spend (as above)
• A background (optional) • +1 to an ability score every 6 levels
Progression Points points can be spent, per Chapter 9 of the core • +1 Conviction every 2 levels
rule book, as follows:
• +1 combat bonus: Costs 4 Progression Points Saving throws
• 1 skill rank: Costs 0.25 Progression Points
• +1 power rank: Costs 0.25 - 4 Progression Points You can apply your saving throw increase to any save, with the
(depending on breadth and rate of power access) limitation that no save's base (excluding ability modifiers and
feats) may be more than +2 above half your experience level.
Note that the saving throw advancement of +1 per level is a
Feat access simplification, and only approximates the progressions in the
core rules, it is not identical. Using this new system, over the
By default you can only learn feats from the General category. course of 20 levels a Hero will gain a total of +20 to his saving
To gain access to the specialist feats in the Adept, Expert and throws, whereas he would gain +22 over the same period using
Warrior categories, the following three feats may be taken. At the core rules progressions.
the Narrator's option each hero may gain one of these feats for
free at 1st level. They can all be purchased at any time after hero
creation.
Combat bonus
Adept training (General) Many heroes will not want to spend 4 out of their 5 Progression
Points to advance their combat bonus each level. Thus it is
You gain access to the Adept feat category.
possible to spend a lower number of Progression Points on your
combat bonus, and accumulate them until you have spent the
Expert training (General) full 4 points required. Accumulated points should simply be
You gain access to the Expert feat category. noted on your character sheet.
An alternative system is to split the combat progression, as
Warrior training (General) discussed in the optional rules section below.
You gain access to the Warrior feat category.

1 True20 roleless, point-buy hero creation

 or his level + 5.
Skill ranks
You can spend Progression Points to increase your rank with
your skills, subject to the normal maximum skill rank Buying ability increases with feats
determined by your level.
Ability score increases may also be decoupled from level
increase by requiring the following feat to be bought:
Power rank
Ability training (General)
To increase your power rank you must pay the number of
Progression Points listed in the Chapter 9 of the core rules for Add +1 to one of your abilities. You cannot increase any of your
your power access breadth and rate of progression. ability scores by more than +5 beyond the base for your race.

Similarly to combat bonus, you may accumulate Progression The Narrator should place a limit on the number of times a hero
Points spent towards increasing your power rank. can learn this feat, perhaps at most once for every 4 experience
levels (once at 1st - 4th level, twice at 5th - 8th level, and so on).

Optional rules Individual power ranks

As an alternative to the core rules system of power access
Split combat progression breadth and progression rate, it can prove simpler to give each
power a hero knows its own rank, which is advanced by
As a means of eliminating the need for Progression Points to be spending Progression Points in the same way as skill ranks are
accumulated to increase a hero's combat bonus, the basic combat advanced. This results in more ranks to keep track of, but it
bonus can be split into four areas of martial ability, each costing greatly simplifies the power progression system, especially in
1 Progression Point to increase: the case of heroes with mixed power-types (for example a
psychic/sorcerer or a wizard/priest).
• Defense
• Unarmed attack Using this system, a power's rank can be increased by 1 at a cost
• Melee attack of 0.5 Progression Points. When a new power is learned its rank
• Ranged attack begins at 0. Any number of ranks may be added to a power at
each level increase, up to to the normal level-based rank limit.
This also increases the flexibility of character advancement,
allowing characters with a greater degree of specialisation to be This system deviates from the core rules in that adept type
created. characters are not always equally competent with all of their
powers - heroes are presented with the choice of whether to
specialise in mastery of a few powers or to become competent in
many, but master of none.
Buying feats and saving throws with
Progression Points
For Narrators and players who want even more flexibility in
Point-based advancement
character advancement, feats and saving throw improvements Instead of awarding level increases, Narrators may choose to
can also be bought using Progression Points: award Progression Points which may be spent immediately upon
earning them or saved for later use. Typically players are
• Each feat costs 2 Progression Points awarded 1 - 3 Progression Points at the end of each session or
• +1 to a saving throw costs 1 Progression Point adventure.
Heroes do not automatically gain a new feat or saving throw In this system a hero's maximum ranks are governed by the level
improvement with each level increase, but instead gain 8 he is approaching, not by his current level.
Progression Points per level. In this way heroes can improve
their saves or learn feats at a faster rate than normal, by After gaining and spending 5 Progression Points a hero
sacrificing their advancement in other areas. increases in level, and gains the normal benefits for doing so
(except of course the 5 Progression Points, which he has already
No saving throw can be raised to more than +2 above half a spent).
character's level. The Narrator should also place a limit on the
maximum number of feats a hero can learn, perhaps his level + 3

2 True20 roleless, point-buy hero creation