Player Characters


With regard to player characters, Tortured Earth has opted to side on diversity. All together, our first edition had 30 playable races. The new release should have closer to 60 races. The hardest part of character creation should be deciding what species to play. 

Each of our races is built to be an encounter and has the normal stat block typical of our encounter creatures. The real difference between the two occurs in the PC Build section. Characters are allocated 11 attribute points and pre-assigned to the proficiencies associated with that race. The 12th attribute point is a floating point which will be assigned by the player to begin the customization process. This enables the player to begin creating an atypical archetype should they desire. Further enabling the customization process is the acquisition of a new attribute point for every 25 skill points earned through story advancement.

New attribute points earned fall strictly in the domain of the player and can be allocated as they see fit. The basic premise is a character may grow to fit the roles created by either the GM or the story they are developing within. Within the system, it is quite possible to create an orc cyborg with psychic abilities. It is important to note: the species pre-build does not begin with proficiencies in that arena. However, with careful point placement and attribute assignments, the character is free to develop along that path.

Unlike creatures, which have only a set number of natural attacks, player races are constructed with weapons and abilities. The nice thing about the creature guides will be reproducible templates which can be held next to the creature block to create a quick build combination for GMs. Pre-builds will include Archer, Sniper, Melee Fighter, etc. When laid next to any race, the quick build will allow GMs to have Human Archers, Human Snipers, Human Melee Fighters simply by placing the card next to the block.

When coupled with non-weapon, weapon, magical, and psychic skills, the diversity of character builds is staggering. The goal of the game is to create both game mechanics and story elements which are modular and diverse enough to cover a wide range of genre to enable homebrewers to create the diversity required to keep players engaged.

Thanks again, guys! 

K. B. Kidder


If you are checking out this post for the first time, you may access our website by clicking here: Tortured Earth

Character species released for review: Allorn, Dwarf, Elf, Eoceph, and Goblin.

If you are interested in the creature development process, you may submit your own creatures by filling out the following form. We will review the forms before publishing the creatures to the website. Creature Creation Form

If you would like to see what Tortured Earth looks like, the GM portion of the rule book is available as a free download on the Tortured Earth Home Page. Tortured Earth Beta GM Guide  

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