What Are Characteristics?
Characteristics are numbers that describe your character’s ability as compared to everything else in the universe. All people and creatures can be described (or written up) using Characteristics; this lets you compare one person to another, which is often important in the game. Characteristics are generally rated from 1 to 10, where 1 is the least and 10 is the best.

Characteristics are purchased from a pool of points given to you by the GM at the start of the game, based on the style of adventures the GM is planning. Typically, a Dawn of Legends game will have 10 Primary Characteristics, arranged into four groups. These Characteristics are described in detail in the Shards of the Stone: Core™ rulebook.

In a Dawn of Legends game, Players can spend 45 Primary Points for Characteristics.

Suggested Dawn of Legends Setting: 45 Primary Points.

Mental Group

Intelligence (INT)
Willpower (WIL)
Presence (PRE)

Note that a typical Dawn of Legends game does not include the Spirit Characteristic.

Combat Group

Technique (TEC)
Reflexes (REF)
Dexterity (DEX)

Physical Group

Constitution (CON)
Strength (STR)
Body (BOD)

Movement Group

Movement (MOV)

Buying Characteristics.
The power to buy Primary Characteristics comes form a pool of points called Primary Points (PP) and are given to you by the GM when you make your character. Primary Characteristics are purchased at a ratio of 1 PP for one level of ability. For example, if you want a Strength of 5, then you would spend 5 PPs for it. You must have at least one point in every Characteristic (no Characteristics of zero!). In a Dawn of Legends game, the most you can place in any single Characteristic is 8 points. Certain races and packages you can take may boost the final value of the Characteristic even higher. However, if the GM wants to run a higher-powered game, she may allow for higher Characteristics.

Stats in Dawn of Legends
Stats are created by performing some sort of simple mathematical operations on the Primary Characteristics you’ve created using Primary Points (PPs). The following Derived Characteristics are common to most Fuzion games, including Dawn of Legends. Dawn of Legends has twelve basic Stats. Most of these are well described in other Fuzion products.

Stun [Body x 5]

Hits [Body x 5]

Defense [CON x 2]

Recovery (REC) [STR + CON]

Threshold (THRESH) [BODY + CON + WILL]

Run (aka Combat Move) [MOVE x 2m]

Sprint (aka Non-Combat Move) [Move x 3m]

Swim [MOVE x 1m]

Leap [MOVE x 1m]

Resistance (RES) [WILL x 3]: Your ability to resist mental or psychological attack or stress; basically your mental “Hits”. This is calculated slightly different and is used more often as a Difficulty Value to overcome than a type of Defense in the Dawn of Legends campaign.

Luck [INT + REF]

Endurance (END) [CON x 10]: Endurance is often an optional Stat, but it is required for Dawn of Legends games. This Stat represents how long the character can expend energy, whether in physical endurance or in the use of a special ability (like a power or talent). It is spent in the same way as Hits or Stun points. When it runs out, you are exhausted and can not do anything more except rest and recover. In Combat, Characters spend END at a rate of 1 point per 2 STR used, or 2 MOVE used. In addition, Spells have END costs which must often be paid in order for the spells to work. Finally, wearing heavy armor is tiring. The armor’s Fatigue rating is equal to how much END the warrior must spend per Round in addition to his normal action. Endurance in Dawn of Legends can only be recovered by resting for 10 minutes. This means doing nothing else but sitting down and recuperating! Every 10 minutes spent resting will allow a character to regain an amount of Endurace equal to their Recovery .

Optional Stats
Optional Derived Characteristics are Characteristics that may not be present in every Fuzion campaign. Here is a sample Optional Stat:

Humanity (HUM) [WILL x 10]: This is your character’s basic morality and humanity. This is used often in settings where the character faces dehumanization, extreme horror or the unearthly. Thus, this Characteristic is sometimes useful in Dawn of Legends campaigns. Certain types of horrific deeds, magic or gaining unearthly powers that separate the character from the rest of humanity can cause the loss of HUM points. For every 10 points lost, the character takes a -1 Action Value penalty for any social interaction skill (usually PRE-based). When this modifier equals or exceeds the character’s PRE Characteristic, the character becomes technically insane and his actions are taken over by the GM to reflect this.