Character Creation

Characters in Carnage are defined through five Characteristics: Attributes, Talents, Power, Fury, and Equipment. Each of these are explained in greater detail below.

Attributes are the basic numerical description of a character. They represent his or her Strength (STR), Reflexes (REF), Stamina (STA), Perception (PER), Willpower (WIL), and Intelligence (INT).
Talents are basic fighting abilities or skills: Punch, Palm Strike, Roundhouse, Kick, Flying Kick, Spin Kick, Throw, Grab, Headlock, Pin, Club, Slash, Stab, Bite, Dodge, Block, and Parry.
Powers are super-natural abilities to grow larger, stronger, faster, etc. The effects of Powers resemble the powerful magicks of wizards! It is possible that a character may not have any powers, instead relying on superior Attributes or Talents for their secrets to success.
Fury is the inner fighting ability and the desire to survive within every character. The lower the fury of a character, the more likely he or she will give up the fight -- or be forced to give up the fight by a superior opponent. Portions of a character's Fury can also be temporarily added to Attributes, Talents, or Powers during a fight.
Equipment dictates how much money (in dollars) a character has to spend on clothing (including armor) and weapons. Anything left over becomes cash that can be spent on merchandise during the game, but at generally higher prices.

Attributes

Attributes are the basic mental and physical characteristics of a character, such as his or her intelligence or strength. An Attribute is described by a rating. Ratings are assigned based on an attribute point value determined by the cards you draw for your character.

Attributes are frequently used to compensate for lack of combat-oriented Talents, so particular care should be taken in assigning ratings!

The first step is to draw three cards from your Draw Pile. The meanings of both the suit and the value of each card are described below. Once all points and other modifiers have been noted for the three cards you drew, allocate the final number of attribute points amongst the six attributes (STR, REF, STA, PER, WIL, and INT).

All Attributes begin at 1 for free. The cost to increase an Attribute from one value to the next is a number of attribute points equal to the new rating. For example, raising an Attribute from a rating of 4 to a rating of 5 costs five attribute points, while raising it from 5 to 6 costs six points.

During character creation, the maximum value for any Attribute is 8. The absolute maximum value of any Attribute is 10. Fury modifiers may raise or lower your character's Attributes during character creation. However, you must still follow the character creation limit on Attribute ratings: no ratings greater than 8 are allowed!

If you end up with more than 210 attribute points (6 Attributes x 35 points to raise rating from 1 to 8), do not dispair! You can convert excess Attribute points to Experience Points (XP) at a ratio of one Attribute point to one XP. This means you could already have a fighting career in place when play begins!

Ace: 12 Attribute points, modified by the suit of the card.
Number (2-10): Attribute points equal to the value of the card, modified by its suit.
Jack: 11 Attribute points, modified by the suit of the card. Also, add 1 rating to both REF and STR.
Queen: 12 Attribute points, modified by the suit of the card. Also, add 1 rating to both STA and PER.
King: 18 Attribute points, modified by the suit of the card. Also, add 1 rating to each of STR, STA and INT.
Diamonds: +10 Attribute points.
Clubs: Choose one: +8 Attribute points OR +2 attribute ratings.
Hearts: Double base Attribute points for that card, and then subtract two points.
Spades: +12 Attribute points.
Joker: If a Joker is the first card drawn, the character receives +60 Attribute points, plus the other two cards per the rules described above. If the Joker is drawn after any other card(s), the character receives +48 Attribute points (plus any other cards), but only one-half of the suit modifiers from other cards.