Making a character

1. Roll 3d6 in order for STRength, INTelligence, WISdom, DEXterity, CONstitution, and CHArisma. Swap two scores if you like.
2. Invent a trait; for example, a race, occupation, background, or faction.
3. Record your hit die: d6. You will roll it for hit points, and it also limits martial prowess (p.7).
4. Choose two below (or the same entry twice):

• Add d6 to a stat that is 10 or less.
• Write down another trait.
• Gain a hit die of the type you already have.
• Martial training: step up your hit die or dice (p.7).
• Specialistic training: come up with a daily ability (p.7).
• Magic training: come up with two spells (pp.7, 30-31).

5. Roll your hit die or dice for your current hit points total. You can decide to permanently spend 1 point of CON to roll again (add 1 to your HP if you don’t roll better).
6. Roll for your known languages (p.7), and ask the Referee about alignment in their world.
7. Roll for your equipment, weapons, armour, and such (p.8). Talk to the Referee and decide what your gear says about your character.

You can always let players who have no idea for their character roll equipment first. If you want them to play level zero characters, skip step 4 and only roll d4, d6, and d8 on the equipment tables.

Your Stats and the Hand of Fate

Random stats are a staple of many old school RPGs. In Macchiato Monsters, you don't dream up the perfect hero, or work out the best combo of feats, abilities, perks, etc. You take what Fate gives you, and come up with a character who has a long way to go in order to become a hero... if they survive.

The six 'historic' stats are the core components of a character. They tell you what they are good at, and often what they look like. Your rolls should help you with your character concept, and guide you when choosing traits and training.

STRength is raw physical power and combat prowess, Someone with low STR is maybe small and weak, or just afraid of violence. High STR is the mark of a competent fighter, or someone with a lot of muscle. Barbarians, mercenaries, thugs, half-ogres and the like should have a good STR score.

INTelligence is brains and education. Someone with low INT is probably a bit dim, or maybe uneducated. A person with high INT knows how to use their head to solve problems, look for hidden clues, and maybe even cast spells. Wizards, gamblers, psionicists, and assassins generally have high INT.

WISdom is a mix of intuition, awareness, and willpower. A low WIS score means the character isn't paying much attention to the world around them, is near sighted, or just aloof. A high WIS character is iron willed and perceptive. Priests, clerics, shamans, and scouts have good WIS.

DEXterity measures speed, precision, and nimbleness. If your character has low DEX, they are probably clumsy, slow, and a terrible shot. If they have high DEX on the other hand, they are sure footed, quick to react and good at sneaky stuff. Thieves, archers, acrobats, and elves have high DEX.

CONstitution is physical resistance and stamina. A person with low CON is sickly or unused to the hardships of adventuring. Someone with high CON has excellent health, strong ancestry, or grew in the wilderness. Dwarves, rangers, desert raiders are among characters with high CON scores.

CHArisma represents attractiveness, charm, and ease of contact. Low CHA is the mark of an ugly, shy, or awkward character. Someone with high CHA would be easily trusted, or a natural entertainer. For some Referees, CHA is also a measure of a character’s luck. Nobles, merchants, con artists, bards, and practitioners of charm magic have high CHA.

Hit points

Hit points are the primary resource of a character. Losing them means being in danger of dying (see Wounds and Death, p.28.) Your hit points represent your character's health, endurance, and ability to avoid getting seriously hurt. The Referee describes the consequences of HP loss, but they should know that not every hit means an open wound.

Traits and your Character

Traits form the concept your character: origins, factions, occupations, and so on. The traits you choose tell us:

• what your character is: dwarf, green Thark, or dandelion pixie.
• what your character does: trader, witch, duke, but maybe also fighter, cleric, thief, or magic-user.
• what your character belongs to: organisations providing support and help.
• where your character comes from: a city, a forest, a forgotten Hellworld.

The Referee will have questions about your traits to make sure everyone is on the same page. It's okay if you don’t have all the answers now. The important details will emerge through play.

Whenever you make a check where one of your traits is relevant, you get advantage (p. 3). A trait can also allow you to roll for actions that another character wouldn’t be able to attempt, such as climbing vertical walls, or taming an astral slug-dragon.

Note that traits are almost never useful in combat: they won't give you advantage to hit someone on the head. Killing monsters with a pointy stick is a dangerous thing to do, and these rules aren't going to make it easy for anyone.

Sometimes, the Referee may give you disadvantage because of a trait. If you’re a known thief negotiating with the Brotherhood of Written Law for instance, or a half-ogre trying to disappear in a crowd.

Martial Training

Each time you take combat training, step up all your hit dice (from d6 to d8, to a maximum of d10, then reroll your hit points instead). Combat training also gives your character the ability to wield better weapons and wear more efficient armour. If the damage die of a weapon or the Risk Die of a suit of armour is higher than your hit die, you cannot use it properly. For more detail, the combat rules are on page 24-27.

When you level up, you can choose to get extra missile or mêlée attacks. An attack is an opportunity to deal damage. With extra attacks, you can damage several targets on your turn, or the same target several times.

Specialist Training

A specialist ability reflects your character’s unique skill. It works once a day at level one, but you’ll have the option to get more uses with levels. Unless it's a really impressive feat (something that mortals cannot attempt), an ability does not require a check. Talk with the Referee to establish what it does, especially if there is a mechanical advantage or if it breaks the rules in some way.

Some ideas: faithful pet, resist pain, twin weapons, silver tongue, detect lie, light sleeper, trick shots, martial arts, acrobatics, and so on. Spell-like abilities are possible, but if you want a magical character, maybe you should look at magic training below.

An ability is the only safe way to get advantage on combat checks. It has to reflect one of the character’s traits, however. For example, an assassin with Blade in the Liver can backstab a guard if undetected, or a duellist with Feint can trick a sentient adversary when crossing swords.

Lethal abilities. You can allow a character with specialist training to trade advantage in combat for double damage. This can be done on an attack-by-attack basis.

Magic Training

Spells are described in a few words, such as Control Undead, Sense Magic, Battlefire, Summon Forest Animals, Flight… You have to come up with the spells your character knows. The more precise the wording, and therefore the narrower the focus of the spell, the easier it is to use. The magic rules (pp.30-33) explain this in further detail.

Languages

Your character speaks either some form of common tongue, or the language of their native culture. At creation, roll INT, WIS, and CHA checks. Each success gives you an extra language. The Referee will say if languages need to be decided before the game starts of if you can do so during the adventure.

Random Starting Equipment

A character starts with random stuff, including armour and weapons. Roll d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, and d4 on the following nine tables. You have to decide a table and a die before you roll, but you can ignore tables, or roll several dice on the same one. The Referee might decide that the magical trinkets, heirlooms, or faith tables are not available.

Beginner adventurers often have to make do with what equipment they could gather in their former life. Making up a reason for having unlikely items adds colour to a new character. If you end up with a weapon or suit of armour your character couldn't use (i.e. with a damage or Risk Die higher than your HD type), the Referee may let you swap it for something else.

Equipment & Food

Equipment & Food
1. Bread and ham Δ4, ragged cloth bag, sock filled with pebbles.
2. Dry biscuits and nuts Δ8, backpack, blanket, rope Δ10, pilgrim hat.
3. Jar of snail soup Δ6, old ox, rolled up carpet, 2 sacks, crowbar.
4. Boiled turnips and butter Δ6, empty saddlebags, bedroll, 2 bear traps.
5. Liver and pepper sausage Δ4, torches Δ6, grave robber's tools Δ8, iron spikes Δ6.
6. Dried beans & meat Δ8, calligrapher's tools Δ8, holy symbol Δ6, lantern & oil Δ8.
7. Freshly killed rabbits Δ4, traps, sack, bedroll, candles Δ4, dice.
8. Dried apples Δ8, shepherd's dog, backpack, tent Δ10, torches Δ6.
9. Road bread and salted trout Δ8, large net, bounty letter, manacles.
10. Flour and dried mutton Δ4, old horse, rain coat, torches Δ6.
11. Boar terrine and ale Δ6, holy water Δ6, alchemist's tools Δ8, candles Δ4.
12. Confit duck and cabbage pickle Δ6, bag of charcoal, fishing pole, playing cards.
13. Fresh bread and fruit Δ6, oil lamp Δ4, local map, shovel, rope ladder.
14. Live hen in a cage Δ6, bedroll, torches Δ6, cook's tools, tarot cards.
15. Blood sausage and bad wine Δ6, locksmith's tools, backpack, lantern & oil Δ8.
16. Honey and lemon cakes Δ4, fancy travel clothes, war horse, magic reagents Δ6.
17. Spicy otter pies Δ6, courtier's tools Δ8, fine cloak, songbird in a cage.
18. Fish cakes and wine Δ6, bag of coffee Δ8, con man's tools, rope Δ10, loaded dice.
19. Sealed meals Δ8, scrollmaker's tools Δ8, wizard hat, spyglass, magic reagents Δ8.
20. Peppered cheese and cider Δ4, fine horse, cartographer's tools Δ8, torches Δ6.

Wealth & Valuables

Wealth & Valuables
1. Carved tooth on a string
2. Bag of long, rusty nails
3. Furs worth copper Δ10
4. Pocketful of copper farthings Δ6
5. Length of silk worth silver Δ10
6. Funeral urns worth silver Δ6
7. Stack of coded letters, bag of silver Δ4
8. Leather pouch of silver Δ8
9. Religious books worth silver Δ12
10. Large bag of silver Δ10
11. Stolen jewellery worth silver Δ12
12. Embroidered pouch of electrum Δ6
13. Fancy clothes worth electrum Δ8
14. Electrum ingot worth Δ10
15. Velvet bag of electrum Δ10
16. Signet ring worth gold Δ8
17. Money belt with gold Δ6
18. Ingot of platinum Δ4
19. Heavy statuette worth platinum Δ6
20. Mighty magic scroll worth gold Δ10

Mêlée Weapons

Mêlée Weapons
1. Blackjack d4 or pitchfork d6
2. Dagger or poniard d4
3. Whip or scourge d4
4. Hatchet or hammer d6
5. Voulge or glaive d6*
6. Short sword or sax d6
7. Quarterstaff or shillelagh d6
8. Rapier or cutlass d6
9. Awl pike or spear d6/d6*
10. Bill-hook or corseque d8*
11. Dane axe or flail d8/d8*
12. Arming sword or scimitar d8
13. Sabre or yatagan d8
14. Pike or halberd d8*
15. Bec de corbin or mace d8*
16. Bastard sword or claymore d8/d8*
17. Lucerne hammer or maul d10*
18. Lochaber axe or halberd d10*
19. Morgenstern or triple-flail d10
20. Flamberge or zweihander d10*

*: two-handed weapon: grants the wielder advantage to damage

Armour

Armour
1. Ill-fitting helmet Δ4*
2. Buckler or leather shield
3. Hide tunic and fur hat Δ4*
4. Leather coat Δ4 and round shield
5. Gambeson or padded leather Δ4*
6. Cuir bouilli Δ6
7. Leather harness Δ6
8. Studded leather Δ6 with shield
9. Breastplate Δ6
10. Ring or splint mail Δ8
11. Scale mail or lorica Δ8
12. Breastplate Δ8, helmet and shield
13. Mail shirt Δ8
14. Mail and leather Δ8 with shield
15. Hauberk Δ8 with round shield
16. Rusty composite plate Δ10
17. Breastplate and mail with coif Δ10
18. Heavy plate Δ10, tower shield
19. Etched platemail Δ10, kite shield
20. Full plate Δ10, heater shield

*: combine with other armour to step up its Risk Die to a maximum of Δ10

Missile weapons & Magical Trinkets

Missile weapons
1. Polished rocks d4 (bag Δ10)
2. Throwing knives d4 (belt Δ4)
3. Darts d6 (quiver Δ6)
4. Sling d4 (bag of stones Δ10)
5. Hand crossbow d6 (bolts Δ8)
6. Duelling pistol Δ6 (powder & shot Δ4)
7. Bolas d4
8. Javelins d6 (quiver Δ4)
9. Long bow d8 (arrows Δ8)
10. Blunderbuss Δ8* (powder & nails Δ4)
11. Horse pistol Δ8 (powder & shot Δ4)
12. Nomad bow d6 (arrows Δ8)
13. Throwing axes d6 (belt Δ4)
14. Heavy throwing star d6
15. Repeating crossbow d8 (bolts Δ10)
16. Grenades Δ10* (belt Δ4)
17. War crossbow d10 (bolts Δ8)
18. Atlatl d8 (javelins Δ6)
19. Arquebus Δ8 (powder & shot Δ6)
20. Musket Δ10 (powder & shot Δ6)

*: hits grouped targets at the Referee's discretion

Magical Trinkets
1. Good luck charm from a loved one
2. Jar of universal antidote Δ6
3. Primitive bronze statuette (Δ4 R.)
4. Handful of goodberries (heal Δ4)
5. Relic of a demisaint (Δ6 R.)
6. Vial of paralysing poison Δ6
7. Pouch of the oracle's incense Δ4
8. Bunch of bearowl feathers (Δ8 R.)
9. Snail's flails (damage Δ6 or as R.)
10. Potion of metamorphosis (lasts Δ10)
11. Blue-black powder Δ10 (R. if snorted)
12. Elixir of the Cross (heal Δ8)
13. Cloak of armour Δ10 (or as R.)
14. Socks of cloudwalking Δ8
15. Shrunk monkey heads (Δ12 R.)
16. Fez of Empathy Δ8 (or as R.)
17. Coins from the Shadow City (Δ12 R.)
18. Infaillible darts (damage Δ10)
19. Box of Ju-ju coffee beans (Δ12 R.)
20. Wand of compulsion Δ10 (or as R.)

R: use as reagent to cast more spells, see p.32.

Heirlooms & Heritage

Heirlooms & Heritage
1. A curse! Your blood carries something bad, like lycanthropy or passive-aggressiveness.
2. A shiny button, handed down from one generation to the next.
3. Half a map to… treasure maybe? Hard to say until you find the other part.
4. Grandad’s war axe (d6). It’s worn and badly balanced, but still serviceable.
5. A box of vintage red wine that was kept for a special occasion (Silver Δ8).
6. Mom’s sword (d8). It has a name, a story, and maybe a minor magic power.
7. The deed to a mine, somewhere deep in the Borderlands.
8. A minor noble title (Knightess, Baronnet, Bey, Patrician...) and little else.
9. You ancestor made this arrow that never misses (d8). It‘s never been shot.
10. A big inheritance (gold Δ12) from a distant aunt. Comes with a condition.
11. The formula for a powerful, unique spell. Worth a lot to some people.
12. A noble title (Rais, Viscount, Duchess, Khan...) and a bodyguard (Δ10).
13. A huge, magic coffee maker. Makes a brew you can charge premium for.
14. The key to an archwizard’s tower and a command word for... something.
15. Scourge Slayer (d12), a powerful weapon destined to save the world. Maybe.
16. The true name of a demon princess, and incomplete instructions to use it.
17. A magical, talking orchid that knows the way to a garden of wonders.
18. Divine blood, no magical powers. You are very special to some cults though.
19. Shares in a planar trade company. It pays you dividends every year (platinum Δ6)
20. The throne! At least you have a good spot on the line of succession.

Faith

Faith *
1. I am a humble and worthless servant of the Provider of Rye and Milk (Δ4)
2. I bear the chains of a priest in the service of the Slaver Empress (Δ6)
3. The Dealer of Fate sometimes shows me their hand (Δ4)
4. I have copied so many sacred texts I can quote scripture all day long (Δ4)
5. As a Constable of Eternal Law, I must always enforce the rules (Δ6)
6. I swallowed a relic once, and it never came out (Δ4)
7. The Gilded Crowned Head teaches us that wealth is the true sainthood (Δ6)
8. The Everquesting Brothers make a vow to always uncover the truth (Δ6)
9. I just believe in Mother Nature, man! (Δ6)
10. As a Poor Sister of the Tearful Beard, I cannot own anything (Δ8)
11. I am an Architect of the Real, a builder of wondrous machines (Δ6)
12. The path of a Peacemonger is arduous, especially among adventurers (Δ10)
13. In believe I Chaos chaos C H A O S (Δ8) chaos soɐɥɔ chaos
14. My Church ventures into the wilderness to further Holy Civilisation (Δ8)
15. The material plane is a mere illusion. Sinners, embrace the Void Vibrant! (Δ8)
16. Everything dies, say the LØrds of EntrØpy. I accept my part in their plan. (Δ8)
17. Do you have twelve hours to talk about Our Lady and Soulcrusher? (Δ8)
18. I am an avatar of the Wanderer. I must walk ever and ever on. (Δ10)
19. I have blinded myself in exchange for blessings from the Eternal Night (Δ10)
20. Angor the Resentful speaks through me and kills by my hand. Now repent. (Δ12)

*: Rolled several times? Well, you’re serving several deities. Good luck with that.

Random availability. You can equip NPCs and stock shops with these random tables. The richer the person or area, the higher the die you roll (for hirelings, use their Risk Die – p.18). For shops, consider that all the results below your roll are available.