Character Creation

The Shape of Character Creation

Creating a character in Wrath & Glory is like constructing a skyscraper - you need a solid foundation before you can build upward. In the revised core rules that foundation is a budget: the campaign's Tier sets how much XP you have, and everything on your sheet - your Archetype, Attributes, Skills and Talents - is bought with it.

The book's own step order differs slightly in places, but every step above happens before your first session.

Tier and XP: Setting the Budget

The revised core rulebook has four Tiers. The whole group plays at the same Tier, and every character starts with 100 XP × Tier:

Tier 1:  100 XP   - local heroes facing trouble on one world
Tier 2:  200 XP   - veterans and specialists
Tier 3:  300 XP   - elite agents of the Imperium and its enemies
Tier 4:  400 XP   - legends facing system-wide threats
Every character starts at Rank 1, whatever the Tier.

• Archetype cost: your Archetype has an XP cost that already includes your Species. Pay it first; the rest buys Attributes, Skills and Talents.
• Archetype Tier: you can pick any Archetype whose Tier is equal to or lower than the campaign's Tier.
• Advanced Character Creation: an optional method in the revised book. Under the errata it grants bonus XP equal to Tier × 10 and, with the GM's agreement, lets you buy Archetype Abilities for XP.
• Ascension: starting below the campaign's Tier and Ascending is another route to a high-Tier character; the revised book offers several Ascension packages. Your Rank does not change when you Ascend.

Species: Who You Are

Your Archetype decides your Species. The core rulebook has five:

• Human - the vast majority of the Imperium (Speed 6)
• Aeldari - an ancient, dwindling race of psychically gifted aliens (Speed 8)
• Ork - brutal, hardy, and always looking for a good fight (Speed 6)
• Adeptus Astartes - the Space Marines, genetically engineered super-soldiers (Speed 7)
• Primaris Astartes - the newer, larger Space Marines; Tier 4 only (Speed 7)

Speed is in metres per Movement. The Forsaken System Player's Guide adds Ogryn, Ratling and Kroot.

Archetypes by Tier

Your Archetype is your role in the setting, and it gives you an Archetype Ability, starting wargear, suggested Attributes and Skills, and your Keywords. Here are the core rulebook's Archetypes, grouped by faction, with the Tier you need to play each:

The Inquisitor's Tier follows the July 2020 errata. The Chaos Archetypes sit in a sidebar for groups that want to play heretics; ask your GM first. Supplements such as the Forsaken System Player's Guide add many more.

Attributes and Skills

Everything you roll is Attribute + Skill, so these two lists are the heart of your sheet.

Attributes (7): Strength, Toughness, Agility, Initiative,
                Willpower, Intellect, Fellowship
  - an average human has 2 in each; the human maximum is 8

Skills (18):    Athletics, Awareness, Ballistic Skill, Cunning,
                Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation,
                Leadership, Medicae, Persuasion, Pilot,
                Psychic Mastery, Scholar, Stealth, Survival,
                Tech, Weapon Skill

Each Skill is tied to an Attribute. A few worth knowing early: Weapon Skill uses Initiative, Ballistic Skill uses Agility, Athletics uses Strength, and Psychic Mastery uses Willpower. Your Archetype suggests where to spend, but you're free to go your own way. Note that Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill are Skills here, not Attributes as in some other 40k games.

Keywords: Who You Answer To

Keywords are tags that say which parts of the setting you belong to - think of them as the badges and seals on your uniform. Your Archetype gives you a set such as IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS MINISTORUM and ADEPTA SORORITAS. Keywords in square brackets are blanks you fill in yourself:

How Keywords Work Mechanically

[CHAPTER]     - a Space Marine's Chapter
[ORDER]       - a Sister's Order
[REGIMENT]    - a Guardsman's regiment
[ORDO]        - an Inquisitor's Ordo
[FORGE WORLD] - a Mechanicus character's forge world
[CLAN]        - an Ork's clan

Keywords matter for:
- Requisition: you can only requisition gear that shares a
  Keyword with you, and more shared Keywords make it easier
- Abilities and Talents that affect characters or gear
  with a particular Keyword

The July 2020 errata added a full list of Keywords to the book.

Keywords in Play

Frameworks: Why You're Together

A Framework is a party concept agreed before anyone builds a character: the crew of a Rogue Trader's ship, an Inquisitor's warband, a squad of the Astra Militarum, a mixed band of survivors. It tells the group which Archetypes and Keywords fit, so a squad of pious Sisters isn't inexplicably sharing a bunker with an Ork. Pick the Framework first, then build characters who belong in it.

Traits: The Numbers You Work Out

Once your Attributes and Skills are set, you calculate your Traits. These use the revised core rules with the July 2020 errata:

Defence           = Initiative - 1
Resilience        = Toughness + 1 + armour rating
Max Wounds        = (Tier x 2) + Toughness
Max Shock         = Willpower + Tier
Resolve           = Willpower - 1
Conviction        = Willpower
Influence         = Fellowship - 1
Passive Awareness = half your Awareness, rounded up
Starting Wealth   = Tier
Speed             = by Species (Human 6, Aeldari 8, Ork 6,
                    Astartes and Primaris 7)

The Max Wounds formula is the errata's version, which raised Wounds slightly so that higher-Tier characters can survive heavier weapons.

Background: Your Story Before the Story

Each faction has a Background table offering an Origin, an Accomplishment and a Goal. They are mostly about story - where you came from, what made you stand out, what you want - so check your faction's entry for the exact options and any bonus they give. The homeworld you imagine for your character is a good place to start, so here are three common kinds of world, all of which exist in the Gilead System.

Death Worlds: Where Only the Strong Survive

Death Worlds are like Australia's deadliest creatures, but covering an entire planet. Everything wants to kill you, and if it doesn't want to kill you, it's probably because you're already dead.

• Hostile Environment: Acid rain, carnivorous plants, gravity that crushes bones
• Deadly Wildlife: Every animal is a predator, every plant is poisonous
• Survival Culture: Only the strong, smart, or lucky live to adulthood

Hive Worlds: Billions in the Shadows

Imagine New York City, but the buildings stretch into the clouds and burrow deep underground, housing billions of people in a space never meant for them. That's a Hive World - urban sprawl taken to its logical and horrifying extreme. Gilead Primus, the capital of the Gilead System, is one.

Most hive-born characters come from the Underhive - think of it as the basement of civilization, where society's rules break down and only the clever, tough, or connected survive. The Scum faction's Gangers, Scavvies and Desperadoes are born here.

Forge Worlds: Flesh is Weak

Forge Worlds are where the Adeptus Mechanicus - the tech-priests of the Imperium - conduct their sacred work. Imagine a planet-sized factory where technology is worshipped as divine, and replacing your limbs with mechanical augmentations is considered a step toward perfection. In Gilead, that world is Avachrus.

Ideas for Goals

Your Goal is like the North Star of your character - it guides every major decision and provides motivation when things get dark. In the grim darkness of the far future, having something to fight for is what separates heroes from corpses. Whatever your faction's table offers, these four shapes cover most of them:

Putting It All Together: A Worked Example

Let's build one character from start to finish for a Tier 2 campaign whose Framework is a band of survivors defending the shrine world of Enoch.

Tier: 2, so she has 200 XP
Framework: Imperial survivors defending Enoch

Choice: Sister Hospitaller (a Tier 1 Archetype - allowed in a Tier 2 game)
Species: Human (included in the Archetype's cost)
Reason: A healer who still carries a weapon fits the Framework

With the XP left after the Archetype, she raises:
Attributes: Toughness 3, Initiative 3, Willpower 4, Intellect 3, Fellowship 3
Skills: Medicae, Insight, Persuasion, Scholar, Awareness

Any XP left over buys a Talent - a faith-themed one suits her

IMPERIUM, ADEPTUS MINISTORUM, ADEPTA SORORITAS, [ORDER]
[ORDER]: the Order of the Sanctified Shield, based on Enoch

Defence    = Initiative 3 - 1         = 2
Resilience = Toughness 3 + 1 + armour  = 4 + her armour's rating
Max Wounds = (2 x 2) + Toughness 3     = 7
Max Shock  = Willpower 4 + Tier 2      = 6
Resolve    = Willpower 4 - 1           = 3
Conviction = Willpower                 = 4
Influence  = Fellowship 3 - 1          = 2
Wealth     = Tier                      = 2
Speed      = Human                     = 6

Background: chosen from the Adepta Sororitas table -
  she survived the massacre of the pilgrims in her care,
  and her Goal is to atone for it
Wargear: the starting gear listed for her Archetype

Advanced Character Concepts

The Contrarian Character

Sometimes the most interesting characters come from unexpected combinations. Consider these "against type" concepts:

• Peaceful Death Worlder: A Guardsman who learned meditation and philosophy to survive mental trauma
• Forge World Luddite: A Skitarius uneasy with augmentation, quietly proud of what flesh remains
• Reluctant Rogue Trader: Refuses the privileges of the Warrant, fights for the crew below decks
• Hive World Agoraphobe: A Ganger terrified of open skies but forced to leave the underhive

The Team Player Approach

When the group builds characters together inside one Framework, aim for complementary roles:

Try It at the Table

1. Homeworld Deep Dive

Choose one world of the Gilead System (or one of your own) and sketch it for your character:

• What does a typical day look like for a citizen of this world?
• What are the major threats they face?
• How does their environment shape their worldview?
• Which Skills would be essential for survival?
• Create three NPCs from this world with different roles

2. Accomplishment Stories

For your character's Accomplishment, write a one-paragraph story describing:

• The specific event behind it
• Who else was involved
• What the character learned from the experience
• How it changed their perspective

3. Goal Conflict Matrix

Create a team of four characters with Goals that might conflict:

• Character A wants Power to reform the system
• Character B seeks Knowledge that might be heretical
• Character C pursues Vengeance against an Imperial official
• Character D desires Redemption through absolute loyalty

How might these Goals create party tension? How could they work together?

4. Keyword Check

For each request, which of these characters shares a Keyword with the item and could try to requisition it - a Tech-Priest of Avachrus, a Sister of Battle, or an Imperial Guardsman?

1. A replacement servo-arm (ADEPTUS MECHANICUS)
2. A crate of lasgun power packs (ASTRA MILITARUM)
3. A blessed flamer from a shrine armoury (ADEPTA SORORITAS)
4. A sealed Imperial data-slate (IMPERIUM)

5. Build Three Characters

Using the steps above, build three characters for the same Tier and Framework:

• One built for combat
• One focused on social interaction
• One specialized in problem-solving

Work out every Trait, and give each a clear motivation and an interesting flaw.

Common Character Creation Pitfalls

The "Lone Wolf" Trap

Creating a character who doesn't want to work with others might seem cool, but it makes the GM's job harder and reduces your fun. Even grimdark heroes need reasons to cooperate - that's what the Framework is for.

The "Perfect Soldier" Problem

Characters without flaws, fears, or personal struggles are boring to play and hard for GMs to create stories around. Embrace your character's weaknesses!

The "Mysterious Past" Cliché

Refusing to define your character's background doesn't make them mysterious - it makes them a blank slate that's hard to integrate into stories.

The "Grimdark Overload" Issue

Making every aspect of your character tragic and dark can be exhausting. Include some hope, humor, or positive relationships to balance the darkness.

The Forgotten Traits

Recalculate your Traits whenever an Attribute changes or you change Tier - Max Wounds and Max Shock both rise with Tier.

Homeworlds in Play

Your homeworld doesn't add rules of its own, but it gives you and the GM a reason to call for particular tests and a way to describe how you approach every situation:

Key Takeaways

Every roll of the dice should reflect who your character is and what drives them forward in the grim darkness of the far future.