The Heart of Labyrinths & Liontaurs
The fundamental design goal in L&L is choice. The foundation of any roleplay game, and by intent, this one, is to give you meaningful choices that allow you to create a unique character. In this game, all fighters are not identical. Nor are you limited to just a few fighter subclasses. Instead, because you make meaningful choices at just about every level, your L&L fighter is different from every other fighter.
And L&L is intended to make it easy to multiclass and hard to make poor choices doing so. Thus, your "class" can be a custom creation that fits your intention, not a cookie-cutter archetype. The same goes, of course, for your skill choices, racial powers, traits that reflect your life experiences, and more. In the end, you make your character what you want them to be.
Character Concept
A character concept is simply how you imagine your character to be. A concept can be short and simple or intricate and complicated. Your character concept helps you make choices that are true to your vision. As you gain levels, reread your concept as you make decisions about powers your character is selecting. Your game master, in the persona of the Universal System, can offer ideas and suggestions, but the choices are up to you.
Appearance, Personality, and Background
A key part of your concept is your character's appearance, personality, and background history. Unlike a video game, L&L is played in your imagination, so creating these details helps you visualize and explain your character. Putting some thought into a personality will help get you under their skin, so you can be a better roleplayer. And your background places you into the campaign world, as well as informing your trait selections.
The rules for height, weight, and age, and for alignment can help you develop these characteristics.
Character Concept Examples
Some players find it easy to create a character concept by combining an adjective, a noun, and a verb (or phrases that serve the same purpose). The first examples below follow that format. More complex character concepts may require more words. Here are a number of sample character concepts:
- Zander — This heroic war-priest seeks fame and fortune.
- John Shark — I'm an impulsive jack-of-all-trades who always has the right spell or item at hand.
- Murtha the Bold — Weakling warrior specializes in darts, daggers, dashing good looks, and derring-do.
- Zeoll, Scion of Clan Aene — A nature-loving singer, Zeoll follows liontaur traditions in service to his friends.
- Mums and Rone — Polymorphed via curse into the shape of a little bird, Mums wanders the world perched on the shoulder of his divine companion, Rone. Together, they fight for the downtrodden and offer help to those in need.
- Claude the Clouded — Claude is a master of weather. He commands the winds, the storms, the lightning, and the clouds. His mastery gives him magical power to drench or shock his foes, to walk on air, to listen to secrets on the wind, to speak to birds, and more. Here, the goal is to create the ultimate weather-oriented character.
The next step is to put some thought into how you plan to execute your concept. This leads to mechanics: class choice, class ability choice, race, traits, feats, skills, and more.
Single Class Character Development Examples
Encourage you to explore the many options available, for use in creating characters that you will love, includes optimization in the service of character concept (not in the service of munchkinry). Here are two examples — two character builds that are intended to demonstrate optimization that does not lead to characters that are overpowered.
Multiclass Character Development Examples
Encourage you to explore the many options available, for use in creating characters that you will love, includes optimization in the service of character concept (not in the service of munchkinry). Here are two examples — two character builds that are intended to demonstrate optimization that does not lead to characters that are overpowered.
The Weathermaster
Character Concept: Claude the Clouded is a master of weather. He commands the winds, the storms, the lightning, and the clouds. His mastery gives him magical power to drench or shock his foes, to walk on air, to listen to secrets on the wind, to speak to birds, and more. Here, the goal is to create the ultimate weather-oriented character. Looking over all the classes for weather-related options, Claude has chosen the weather domain of the cleric, a number of monk powers that relate to nature and weather, and druid powers that fit the theme. Those are all pretty obvious in the progression table below. Note that a character concept like this one is only the beginning of making your character real. From this foundation, you can figure out how your character looks, acts, thinks -- and how he was raised.
However, Claude cannot find enough weather-related powers to fill all 20 levels, so he is also making choices to fill in the gaps. These choices are intended to round out his character and boost his personal power, not to be overpowered or domineering, but to be a viable team member and have some interesting non-weather capabilities. For example, Claude can replicate the Adventurer Tier Weather Domain power with a cantrip and a druid spell, so he's taking the monk signature ability at that level so he can fight as a martial artist. The animal-related powers (Wild Empathy, Spontaneous Summoning, Master of Summer) are not quite in theme, but Claude intends to use them with birds, bats, and other fliers. Spontaneous Healing is just a good power. Some of the feat choices are in this vein too. There's a balance to strike between combat effectiveness and power-mongering; I think Claude is on the safe side.
Note that the table below is a Level and Power Progression Table. It tracks a character's progress across 20 levels. If you are playing a single-class character, this is very much like the table in your class description. If you are multi-classed, a table like this is helpful to track your numeric progress. For example, At character level 7, Claude increases his BAB by +0.5, rounding down to +3; adds one to his caster level, bringing it to 6; +0.25 to his reflex save, up to +2; +0.75 to his will save, to +5; and adds +0.5 to his fortitude save, but he remains at +3. This kind of table can be a useful aid for planning and tracking a complex character.
| Lvl | Class | BAB | CL | Ref | Will | Fort | Class Ability | Non-Class Ability | Spells | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cleric 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.75 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | Domain: Storm Burst | trait: Savanna Child | Bless, Cure Light Wounds |
| 2 | Druid 1 | 0.75 | 1 | 0.75 | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.75 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | Wild Empathy | feat: Cantrip: Breeze | Endure Elements, Obscuring Mist |
| 3 | Cleric 2 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.25 | 0 | 0.75 | 2 | 0.5 | 1 | Spontaneous Healing | race: Favored Class: Druid | Heroic Fortune, Compel Confession |
| 4 | Druid 2 | 0.75 | 2 | 0.75 | 3 | 0.25 | 1 | 0.75 | 3 | 0.5 | 2 | Nature Stride | feat: Focused Strike | Frostbite, Faerie Fire |
| 5 | Druid 3 | 0.75 | 3 | 0.75 | 4 | 0.25 | 1 | 0.75 | 3 | 0.5 | 2 | Spontaneous Summoning | stat: +1 Dex | Alter Winds, Barkskin |
| 6 | Monk 1 | 0.75 | 3FIX NEEDED HERE ON DOWN | 0.75 | 5 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.5 | 3 | Martial Artist | trait: Naturalist | -- |
| 7 | Druid 4 | 0.5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0.25 | 2 | 0.75 | 5 | 0.5 | 3 | Life Balance | feat: Vital Strike | Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind |
| 8 | Druid 5 | 0.5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0.25 | 2 | 0.75 | 5 | 0.5 | 4 | Venom Immunity | race: Explorer | Call Lightning, Wind Wall |
| 9 | Monk 2 | 0.75 | 5 | 0.75 | 8 | 0.5 | 2 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.5 | 4 | Master of the East Wind | feat: Dodge | Eagle Eye, Sleet Storm |
| 10 | Monk 3 | 0.75 | 5 | 0.75 | 9 | 0.5 | 3 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.5 | 5 | Master of the West Wind | stat: +1 Wis | Water Breathing, Owl's Wisdom |
| 11 | Cleric 3 | 0.5 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 0.25 | 3 | 0.75 | 7 | 0.5 | 5 | Domain: Lightning Lord | trait: Battlemage | Delay Poison, Bull's Strength |
| 12 | Monk 4 | 0.75 | 7 | 0.75 | 11 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.5 | 8 | 0.5 | 6 | Master of Summer | feat: Improved Vital Strike | Magic Fangs, Divine Favor |
| 13 | Druid 6 | 0.5 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 0.25 | 4 | 0.75 | 8 | 0.5 | 6 | Storm Lord | race: Leader | Cloak of Winds, Heatstroke |
| 14 | Druid 7 | 0.5 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 0.25 | 4 | 0.75 | 9 | 0.5 | 7 | Mist Sight | feat: Spring Attack | Ice Storm, Grove of Respite |
| 15 | Monk 5 | 0.75 | 8 | 0.75 | 13 | 0.5 | 5 | 0.5 | 10 | 0.5 | 7 | Master of the North Wind | stat: +1 Dex | -- |
| 16 | Cleric 4 | 0.5 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 0.25 | 5 | 0.75 | 10 | 0.5 | 8 | Domain: Weapon of Thunderstorms | trait: Missionary | Weapon of Awe, Share Senses |
| 17 | Druid 8 | 0.5 | 9 | 1 | 15 | 0.25 | 5 | 0.75 | 11 | 0.5 | 8 | Elemental Friendship | feat: Greater Vital Strike | Control Water, Feather Steps |
| 18 | Druid 9 | 0.5 | 10 | 1 | 16 | 0.25 | 5 | 0.75 | 12 | 0.5 | 9 | Natural Fighter | race: Talented: Elem. Focus | Control Weather, Strong Jaw |
| 19 | Druid 10 | 0.5 | 10 | 1 | 17 | 0.25 | 6 | 0.75 | 13 | 0.5 | 9 | Natural Knowledge | feat: Improved Natural Attack | Commune w/ Nature, Elem. Aura |
| 20 | Monk 6 | 0.75 | 11 | 0.75 | 18 | 0.5 | 6 | 0.5 | 13 | 0.5 | 10 | Grand Master of Clouds | stat: +1 Wis | Call Lightning Storm, Stoneskin |
| Note: Human race includes these options: +2 Wisdom; +2 Fort and Reflex saves; +3 Know (Nature), Survival, and Spot; Bonus Feat: Cantrip (Personal Stormcloud). Also note: With a favored class of Druid, only the monk and cleric classes need to be balanced. And they mostly are, except for level 15 (Monk 5 / Cleric 3) and level 20 (Monk 6 / Cleric 4). At those two levels, there is a 10% XP penalty, and assuming the game retires at level 20, the XP penalty at level 20 is moot. |
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Enjoying the Game
Many players — perhaps most — enjoy the game for the roleplay, for the storytelling, for advancing their characters along clear paths of growth. Those are fine ways to have fun with the game. TTRPGs are sandbox games, in which you can set your own goals, wander off wherever you wish, and explore in any direction. All of these avenues are great ways to enjoy the game! In addition, some players like to explore the idea of character optimization, that is, how to fit the pieces of the game together, like a puzzle, to make a character that meets a particular goal in the best way.
Is that "particular goal" to create a unique character with an interesting twist? Or to create the most powerful character possible? The danger of character optimization is that some players enjoy it not to find ways to solve a problem or to be clever in using the rules to make a character concept come to life, but to optimize for power. That is, they seek to make a character that is as powerful as possible, especially in combat. It is not the challenge of making the character that they seek, but the end goal of owning the game and the other characters. When a player uses optimization to create the most powerful character possible, they are called a "power-gamer" or a "munchkin." The danger here is that power-gamers make the game less fun for others. And so, game masters have to be careful to curb the tendency in their rules-savvy players to optimize for game domination, including combat domination.
A more complex game is one that lends itself to optimization, because giving players complex choices makes it possible to select combinations that are optimal for one purpose or another. Per the above, L&L is meant to give more choice to players, but to allow for custom character concepts, not to encourage power-gaming. For example, the game requires a non-combat power at levels 2 and 4, 7 and 9, 12 and 14, and 17 and 19. Those are the levels that offer interaction and exploration powers, encouraging optimization but not power in combat. In this and in other ways, L&L seeks to curb power-gaming for the sake of power; that said, the game master has the duty to make sure tht the game is fun for everybody, not just for the clever optimizer. Game masters, please use the retraining rules when a munchkin player has upset the fun of your game.