Savage Worlds Characters Are All The Same: The Novice Advances

Last week, we met our team of intrepid characters, all of them at their initial character sheets. Personally, I didn't think the five of them looked that much alike at all. I mean, they have some similarities, sure, but their overall function is each very different.

This week, we're taking the five guys to the cusp of Seasoned, meaning three more Advances apiece.

DON'T HIT ME

1st: Strength d6 - And now one of his major weaknesses is compensated for. This raises his damage to d6+d4 with his rapier, which doesn't suck. But there's another reason he beefed up...
2nd: Acrobat - +2 to nimbleness based Agility rolls AND +1 to Parry, giving him an effective Parry of 9. He now only fears marksmen, large groups and lucky strikes.
3nd: First Strike - And now he gets a free attack when someone move in on him, helping him try to kill them before they can kill him.


DON'T HIT ME

Agility d8
Smarts d8
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d4

Fighting d8
Guts d6
Intimidation d6
Investigation d6
Notice d6
Taunt d6
Throwing d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6"
Parry: 6
Toughness: 3

Hindrances
Small (-1 Toughness)
Loyal
Bad Luck (1 less bennie per session)

Edges
Acrobat (+2 to nimbleness based Agility rolls, +1 to Parry)
Danger Sense (Free Notice roll at -2 to avoid attack)
First Strike (free attack when opponent gets into range)
Quick (redraw an initiatve card less than 5)
Strong Willed (+2 to Taunt/Intimidate)

Rapier (+1 Parry, for a 8), Damage d6+d4, Buckler Shield (+1 Parry, for an 9), Throwing Knife Damage d6+d4

HULK SMASH

1st: Fleet-Footed - This bumps his Pace up two and gives him a d10 running die...meaning that he can close in and inflict damage much faster.
2nd: Vigor d10 - Bringing his Vigor even with his Strength, this also gives him a base Toughness of 8, with his armor making it a 10.
3rd: Fighting d8 - Yes, it's beginning to infringe on DON'T HIT ME's schtick, but there are some combat tactics that HULK SMASH could use that do not exist at d6 Fighting. This raises his Parry to 6.

HULK SMASH
Agility d6
Smarts d4
Spirit d4
Strength d10
Vigor d10

Climbing d4
Fighting d6
Guts d8
Intimidate d8
Survival d4
Tracking d4

Charisma: -4
Pace: 8"
Parry: 6
Toughness: 8

Hindrances
Ugly
Overconfident
Mean

Edges
Berserk (Smarts roll upon being wounded, or go Berkserk, +2 Fighting/Strength rolls, -2 Parry, +2 Toughness, rolls of 1 hit random adjacent target)
Brawny (+1 Toughness)
Fleet-Footed (Pace +2, d10 Running die)

Great Axe (Armor Piercing 1, Parry -1 for 4), Damage d10+d10, Chain Hauberk (Armor +2, for Toughness 9)

SNIPER

1st: Dark Fighting - I'm swiping this from Shaintar, and tweaking it a bit. It halves penalties for Fighting or Shooting in darkness, but has a Fighting d8 requirement. That doesn't make sense to me, given the Shooting part, so I'm replacing that with a Shooting d8 requirement.
2nd: Spirit d6 - He's learning to toughen up a little bit as he adventures, getting a little less skittish. This is also building towards something.
3rd: Tracking d8 - Tracking and Sniping is becoming his primary purpose in the party, you see.

SNIPER
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6

Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Notice d6
Riding d4
Shooting d10
Stealth d8
Throwing d6
Tracking d8

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6
Parry: 4
Toughness: 5

Hindrances
Cautious
Wanted
Yellow

Edges
Alertness
Dark Fighting (Halves penalties for Shooting in the dark)
Steady Hands (removes unstable platform penalties)
Trademark Weapon (longbow, +1 to Shooting rolls)

Longbow 2d6 damage, Leather armor (+1 for Toughness 6)

MR. WIZARD

1st: Power Points - You can only take it once per rank, so be sure to take it. Especially since that once per rank is meant to apply to Legendary as well.
2nd: Wizard - This reduces the Power Points used by 1 for every raise on the Spellcasting roll.
3rd: Agility d8 - This is helping to set up his dual role as the "thief-mage" of the group, in D&D parlance.

MR. WIZARD
Agility d8
Smarts d8
Spirit d6
Strength d4
Vigor d6

Charisma: +2
Pace: 4
Parry: 4
Toughness: 5
Power Points: 15

Gambling d6
Guts d6
Knowledge (Arcana) d8
Lockpicking d4
Notice d4
Persuasion d6
Shooting: d4
Spellcasting d6
Streetwise d4

Hindrances
Bad Eyes
Lame
Poverty

Edges
Arcane Background: (Magic)
Attractive
Connections
Power Points (+5 Power Points)
Wizard (use 1 less Power Point per raise on Spellcasting roll)

Powers
Boost/Lower Trait
Deflection
Detect/Conceal Arcana

Crossbow, nice clothes (fraying around the edges), cane

FEARLESS LEADER

1st: Common Bond - And now he can share his bennies freely.
2nd: Command - And now his hirelings get +1 to become unShaken.
3rd: Smarts d8 - There's more leadership stuff he's going to need that'll require this.

FEARLESS LEADER
Agility d4
Smarts d8
Spirit d8
Strength d6
Vigor d6

Charisma: +4
Pace: 6
Parry: 4
Toughness: 5

Fighting d4
Guts d8
Intimidation d8
Knowledge (Battle) d6
Persuasion d8
Streetwise d8
Survival d4

Hindrances
Code of Honor
Doubting Thomas
Stubborn

Edges
Charismatic
Command (+1 to his troops for Shaken rolls)
Common Bond (share bennies with other Wild Cards)
Lucky
Noble

Shortsword d6+d6, Plate (+3 Armor for 8 Toughness), Hirelings

THOUGHTS

I don't think they look that much alike, even with HULK SMASH having to beef up his fighting. They all still function very differently. I did have to reach a bit, especially with HULK SMASH, as there wasn't a lot of support for his sheer brutality at Novice rank. Most of the Fantasy Companion Edges start at Seasoned, and Background Edges like Fast Healer are, well, Background Edges.

There are a couple of Edges I'm working towards with other characters that are going to be expensive due to poor planning on my part...but that happens sometimes. One thing is that Savage Worlds isn't NEARLY as crippling in that regard as d20 is, making it much easier shift character focus as you go than D&D 3rd edition.

One thing is obvious (and I knew this), in the beginning it is much better to take a d4 in several skills than to just beef up a couple, because it's much cheaper to beef up existing skills in play. Were this an actual game, I'd be more than willing to let the players make a "free swap" somewhere after a session or two, because sometimes a character just doesn't work out like you'd hope.

Look for the four Seasoned Advances sometime next week.