In ASTOR, and especially Astoria, players start with 4, 0th-level characters. Each character follows these steps:

  1. Roll (or choose, if your DM wants a party of demihumans) for Race, and note your bonus and weakness.

  2. Roll Attributes, 3d6 down the line. Your race will give you a stat you can reroll and take the higher result.

  3. Roll your former Occupation.

  4. Gain 1d10cp, a blanket, 3 rations, and whatever items gained from your former occupation

Classes

Once reaching 1st level, each character may now choose a class, and gain template A from that class. Some classes have prerequisites that must be completed before a class can be selected.

Each class has up to 4 templates, which must be taken in order (A, then B, then C, then D). However, a character can take a different class at each level until they have a maximum of 4 templates. Multiclassing should make sense to the character and not be done for optimization, otherwise divine forces may scheme against such a character.

Leveling Up

To fail is to learn, and thus leveling up requires failure. Whenever a character fails a check (except initiative checks) they gain 1 Awakening Point (AP), then rolls 1d10 against their current AP. If they roll equal or under, that character receives an Awakening, and their AP is reset to 0, additionally, the check that triggered the awakening is considered a success.

This Awakening should be roleplayed. If a character intends to take a magical class, the awakening can be a magical intervention, like a partial spell. Or, if the character will be a non-magic class, their instincts take over and grant them the advantage they need. If a character has a number of Awakenings equal to their next level when they rest in a safe place (usually back in town,) they level up. Leveling up removes all Awakenings and Awakening Points from a character.

Whenever a PC levels up, increase their attributes accordingly. A PC can also test to improve a Primary Attribute of their choice. Declare the attribute and roll 3d6. If the result is greater than the attribute, increase it by 1.

Table 1. Character Advancement Table
Level HP (20 Max) Templates Attack

0

Con - 6

0

11

1

Con - 4

1

11

2

Con - 2

2

12

3

Con

3

12

4

Con + 2

4

13

5

Con + 4

-

13

6

Con + 6

-

14

7

Con + 7

-

14

8

Con + 8

-

15

9

Con + 9

-

15

10

Con + 10

-

15

+1

+1

-

15