Creating Your Doomed Hero: The Art of Rolling Up a Nobody

The Beauty of Random Character Generation

In most RPGs, you carefully craft your hero like a master sculptor. In WFRP, you roll dice and discover you're a cheese maker with a club foot. It's like a lottery where everyone wins a participation prize, but the prize might be "Grave Robber with a fear of confined spaces."

The Character Creation Process

graph TD A[Roll for Race] --> B[Roll for Attributes] B --> C[Roll for Career] C --> D[Calculate Secondary Attributes] D --> E[Roll for Distinguishing Features] E --> F[Determine Trappings] F --> G[Create Backstory] G --> H[Name Your Doomed Soul] H --> I[Begin Adventure] I --> J[Probably Die Horribly]

Step One: Choose Your Species (Or Let Fate Decide)

The Old World isn't just populated by humans. You might be:

Step Two: Rolling Attributes (Praying to the Dice Gods)

Your character has 10 primary attributes. Think of these as your report card for being a functional person. You roll 2d10 and add it to your species' base value. It's like genetics, but with more math and disappointment.

Weapon Skill (WS) Ballistic Skill Strength Toughness Initiative Agility Dexterity Intelligence Willpower Fellowship Example Roll Base (Human): 20 Roll (2d10): 14 Total WS: 34 34% chance to hit in melee combat!

Step Three: Your Career (AKA Your Terrible Job)

This is where WFRP shines like a rusty spoon. You don't choose to be a mighty warrior—you roll dice and discover you're a Rat Catcher. It's like a job fair where every booth is hiring for positions you'd never put on your resume.

Real Example: Rolling for Career

Player: "I hope I get something cool like Witch Hunter!"

Roll: *rolls 47*

GM: "Congratulations, you're a Cheese Monger!"

Player: "...I sell cheese?"

GM: "Yes! You start with 1d10 cheese portions and a very sharp cheese knife."

Player: "Can I at least make it artisanal cheese?"

GM: "Roll for it."

Career Examples: From Humble to... Still Pretty Humble

Secondary Attributes: The Numbers That Really Matter

These are calculated from your primary attributes and represent things like how many times you can be stabbed before dying (Wounds) or how lucky you are (Fate Points). Think of them as your video game health bar, but more depressing.

graph LR A[Primary Attributes] --> B[Wounds] A --> C[Fate Points] A --> D[Resilience] A --> E[Fortune Points] A --> F[Movement] B --> G[How much damage you can take] C --> H[Divine intervention saves] D --> I[Mental fortitude] E --> J[Daily luck points] F --> K[How fast you run away]

Distinguishing Features: Making Your Character Memorable

Roll for random features that make your character unique. You might get "Impressive Scar" (cool!) or "Pox Marks" (less cool!). It's like character customization, but you're using a slot machine instead of sliders.

Roll (d100) Distinguishing Feature 01-05 Pox Scars (You survived, but at what cost?) 23-27 Broken Nose (Adds character!) 45-49 Impressive Scar (Finally, something cool!) 71-75 Birthmark (Shaped like... roll again) 96-00 Magnificent Beard (Even if you're a woman)

Naming Your Character: The Final Touch

Old World names should sound like they were chosen by someone who really hates their children. Think Germanic meets Gothic meets "I'm definitely going to die horribly."

Name Examples by Species:

Putting It All Together: Meet Gottfried

Let's create a character together:

Your Character's First Day

Congratulations! You've created a perfectly ordinary person about to face extraordinary horrors. Your rat catcher might start by investigating missing cats and end up uncovering a Skaven conspiracy. Your grave robber might begin looking for easy coin and stumble upon a necromancer's lair.

Remember: In WFRP, every character starts at the bottom. But that's what makes their inevitable rise (or gruesome death) so memorable. Your cheese monger today could be tomorrow's legendary hero... or tomorrow's lunch for a Chaos Spawn.

"By Sigmar, I was just trying to make an honest living!"
- Last words of many WFRP characters