Player characters are members of the Wulin, the loose society of kung fu practitioners that includes the aforementioned wandering heroes. (Confession: I am not particularly familiar with the source material here.) These can be courtiers or peasants, warriors or scholars, drawn from any part of society so long as they travel the path of kung fu.
Legends of the Wulin is one of those games where it's a very good idea to peruse the available options before even starting to make a character. I only skimmed them, and it created some avoidable challenges down the line. Character creation is mostly point-buy, using a currency called Destiny Points (which are also one of the forms in which experience is rewarded). In addition to the step-by-step choices you make to give your character a profession, a skill set, styles of martial arts, etc., you'll also get 20 Destiny points to spend on whatever goodies you want to give your character. It's valuable to keep those resources in mind as you go through the earlier steps of character-building so that a) you don't overcommit your point budget and b) you can take advantage of synergies among your various character assets for extra competence as well as enhanced coherence.
That said, the first step in character creation is a concept. What sort of hero do you want to play? When I first selected this game for the Challenge, I had thought I would make a rakish scholar-detective in the mold of Barry Hughart's Master Li. But by the time it came to pull out the book and get to work on this one, I decided that I hadn't created enough bricks yet. What I wanted was a big, strong, amiable, not-too-bright guy with a heart as big as his muscles.* So, that's my concept: Amiable Lunkhead with a Heart as Big as His Muscles. And his name is Big Lu.
Now, how do we get there? The second step is to choose an Archetype, which is for our purposes basically a character class. Most of these--courtiers, doctors, scholars, priests--are known for wit or wisdom. That leaves the Warrior, and that's fine by me. A Warrior gets access to a particular set of Secret Arts (which will come into play later in the process), and uses the skill Hardiness to replenish their Chi (which will also come into play later in the process).
Next we get 20 Destiny points to spend on Skills. Skills cost 2 points for every +5 increment, and you can buy specialties within skills for 1 point each. As a starting character, you may not raise a skill beyond +10. Now, my vision for Big Lu includes a modest background and no formal military experience, so certain skills are probably going to be too technical or too highfalutin for him. I know I'll want Hardiness for Chi, and Might is exactly the center of his wheelhouse, so those each get the full +10. Craft seems like something he ought to have, as does Survival; I'll bring each of those to +5. Awareness is also a good one, though maybe not a great fit for "lunkhead." Still, I'll give it a +5. Tactics is important for warriors, but I'm not sure it fits him all that well so for now I'll bypass it.
That's 14 points, leaving 6 for specialties. I'll go back to Hardiness and Might, where I want to invest the most. I emphasize Focus Breath (again for the chi) and Recover from Wounds in Hardiness, and choose three more from Might: Breaking, Lifting, and Throwing. Then I pick a Craft specialty (Carpentry) and that takes care of my skill budget.
The next step is to determine which Virtues matter most to Lu. There are five Chivalrous and five Selfish Virtues, each beginning at a score of 1. You have 15 further points to divide among them (with a maximum rating of 5), and most heroes will have a mix of Chivalrous and Selfish to help generate drama when their motivations clash. The Chivalrous Virtues are Benevolence, Force (which here includes self-control), Honor, Loyalty, and Righteousness. The Selfish ones are Ferocity, Individualism, Obsession, Revenge, and Ruthlessness. I foresee a heavy investment in Chivalrous.
Lu's main personality trait is his big heart, so Benevolence is going to get the 4 points that max it out to 5. I'll do the same for Righteousness, since he really doesn't like bullies or unfairness. After that it gets more complicated. Honor and Loyalty are tough, because in this game they both depend on unequal power relations. But Honor favors speaking truth even when it's disadvantageous as well as sticking to social proprieties, so that gets an edge. I'll raise it to 3 and Loyalty to 2. Force is about one's power and skills, including self-mastery; that can also get a 3 while still making sense.
The only Selfish virtue I can see making any sense for Lu is Individualism--in his case following his own heart or sense of rightness even when everyone else thinks he's wrong. We'll raise it to 3, thereby using the last of our 15 points.
Next I have the opportunity to choose some Disadvantages, which will earn Lu Destiny points if they hinder him in the course of his adventures. I thought about taking one for his relative lack of perspicacity, but the book strongly prefers physical and social disadvantages over psychological ones, so I decided to leave it out.
All right, now it's time to choose some Kung Fu! Lu will begin with one External style (his standard repertoire of fighting techniques) and one Internal style (which uses Chi to create extra effects, mostly in combat). For an External Kung Fu style I look for something straightforward that will let him use his bulk and strength-and possibly a big hammer--and the best match is Blossom Harvest, which has all of those things (including the big hammer). Blossom Harvest is most effective against intricate styles that have a lot of flourishes, and least effective against styles that react to an opponent's moves.
By spending more Destiny I can master extra Blossom Harvest techniques, and I pencil in three strong possibilities for when I spend my upcoming free Destiny: Nine Mountains Great Strength, which costs 5 and gives me more powerful strikes; Iron Skin, which also costs 5 and helps me resist damage; and No Vermin in the World, which costs 2 and lets me sweep minions aside in groups rather than one at a time. That's 12 points in all, so I may have to prioritize later.
Now, for my Internal style I look for something that also goes well with strength and forthrightness. The best match is Iron Body Skill, which is all about toughening your body to hit harder and withstand more punishment. Iron Body is an elemental style of the metal type; cultivating it can earn me special elemental Chi that will more effectively power the techniques of this style. The entry-level technique is called Iron Power, and for the price of one Chi point I can use it to boost the damage of an attack.
Further techniques will cost more Destiny. These are divided into Levels by cost, and I can only learn one technique of each Level (well, for now, anyway). I pencil in the Level 2 Grand Horse Tramples Rice (which has either a movement or a knockback bonus, depending on how I use it) and the Level 3 Swaying Branches Surround Willow (which enhances my ability to block attacks). So that's five more points of Destiny earmarked for later use, 17 altogether.
The next step involves settling some details that aren't covered under the above headings. I can start with a weapon that has one keyword-tag, and I can add a second for the price of 3 Destiny. Blossom Harvest style supports massive weapons (such as axes and hammers), staves, and unarmed combat. I would like a hammer with enough handle to use as a staff,** so that will cost another 3 Destiny and use up my pool of 20. Pencil it in; we'll balance it all later.
In addition to the weapon, my basic clothes count as light armor, which will help protect me against physical damage by boosting my Chi Threshold by 5. Chi Threshold is the amount of damage that marks the difference between a trivial wound and a minor one, or a minor and a major; its base number is my total number of Chi points of all types.
My Chi Pool starts at 10; however, my elemental Internal style provides another potential source of Chi, which can be used either to boost my general pool to 11 or to start an Elemental (metal) pool of 2. These are Cultivation Points, which are acquired (among other means) by learning new Kung Fu techniques. Acquiring an Internal Style earned Lu 10 Cultivation. The cost of raising your general Chi pool is the size of your current Chi pool, so going from 10 to 11 costs 10 Cultivation. Starting an Elemental pool costs 5 Cultivation points of the appropriate type, and raising it costs five times your current pool in that type, so 10 Metal Cultivation will buy an initial point of Metal Chi for 5 and a second one for 5 more. I opt for the Metal Chi, so now I have 10 General Chi and 2 Metal Chi. My threshold is the sum of all my Chi, which is 12, raised by my armor to 17 for the purposes of resisting physical attacks.
Two other Chi concepts worth mentioning here are Replenishment, which is the amount of Chi you regain when you use your Focus Breathing skill; and Chi Aura, which represents the use of Chi to defend against attacks. For a beginning character both values are 2.
Now, I've already pencilled in 20 Destiny Points worth of improvements, so I could conceivably stop here. But there are two other categories of improvements I haven't addressed yet: Lore and Secret Arts.
Lore is a big deal in this game and one of its harder concepts to grok. Investing Destiny points in Lore ties you into the setting by building connections with regions, organizations, and even individuals who will play major roles in the game. These connections can also give the character special access to information, skills, and kung fu techniques. At the entry level, however, you just know about the subject of the lore sheet either by reputation or by some direct interaction short of membership.
Some lore sheets have a free entry cost, and we’ll start by hooking Lu up with all the ones that make sense for him: Jiang Hu, the demimonde in which the Wulin travel; the society of the Wulin itself; familiarity with the various factions of the Wulin; a basic knowledge of the Power Relationships of Shen Zhou; and enough about Corrupt Chi to know he wants nothing to do with it. I could definitely see him having significant ties to normie society, so Forests & Mountains goes on the list too.
The two factions that makes any sense for a guy as basic as Big Lu would be the Buddhist Little Forest Sect and the Beggar Fraternity, who are both like Lu heavily invested in Benevolence. I'm not sure I want to make him a monk, but the Little Forest is into Iron Body and he’d be able to learn all the techniques by joining. Also, there's a Disadvantage called Buddhist Heretic that lets you be a bad monk while still being a good guy. That Loresheet would cost 3 Destiny, though, so we'll need to go back and look at our Destiny budget.
And that's before we look at the Secret Arts of the Warrior. Some of this material comes without a Destiny cost (something called The Secret Art of Battle), and some of it would be free if we had a +5 in Tactics (Combat Conditions and Extraordinary Warrior Techniques). Individual Techniques cost further Destiny, but it might be nice to have the door open now before Lu starts play.
So let's go back and look at our Destiny budget:
External Kung Fu Techniques: Nine Mountain (5), Iron Skin (5), No Vermin (2) = 12
Internal Kung Fu Techniques: Grand Horse (2), Swaying Branches (3) = 5
Weapon Improvement: 3
If I forego one of the 5-point Blossom Harvest techniques I can afford the 3-point Little Forest loresheet and buy a +5 in Tactics to get my foot in the door on Combat Conditions and Extraordinary Warrior Techniques. So let's leave Iron Skin for a later day.
Note that the 7 points of Blossom Harvest techniques and the 5 points of Iron Body Skill techniques I've purchased also count as Cultivation toward future Chi increases.
Now, before I proceed to the statblock there are a couple of other concepts I should get down. The Lake is my base die pool for doing things; the River is a reserve I can divert rolls to for future use. Rank is the strength of the character's reputation among the Wulin; there are five ranks, but player characters by default begin at rank 4, one up from the bottom. Destiny and Entanglement are usually developed in the course of play and represent your involvement in various stories, organizations, or other relationships. Joss are luck points that can be used to boost yourself (Chivalrous) or hinder others (Malicious); you get 3 point to start a game session and divide them between the two.
OK, now I'm ready to show you the statblock.
Big Lu, Amiable Lunkhead with a Big Heart
Archetype: Warrior
Rank 4
Lake: 7
River: 2
Destiny 0/0
Entanglement 0
General Chi Points: 10 (7 cultivation)
Metal Chi Points: 2 (5 cultivation)
Chi Threshold: 12, with armor 17 (trivial), 24/34 (minor), 36/51 (major)
Chi Replenishment: 2
Max Chi Aura: 2
Joss: 2 Chivalrous, 1 Malicious
Chivalrous Virtues: Benevolence 5, Righteousness 5, Honor 4, Force 2, Loyalty 2
Selfish Virtues: Individualism 3
Skills:
Awareness +5, Crafting +5 (carpentry), Hardiness +10 (recovery from wounds, focus breathing), Might +10 (breaking, lifting, throwing), Survival +5, Tactics +5
External Kung Fu: Blossom Harvest
Weapon of Choice: Maul (Massive, Staff)
Techniques: Nine Mountains Great Strengths, No Vermin in the World
Combat Stats:
Speed +5, Footwork +0, Strike +10, Block +5, Damage +10, Toughness +10
Internal Kung Fu: Iron Body Skill
Techniques: Iron Power (1), Grand Horse Tramples Rice (2), Swaying Branches Surround Willow (3)
Loresheets:
Jiang Hu (0), Wulin (0), factions of tbe Wulin (0), Power Relationships of Shen Zhou (0), Forests & Mountains (0), Corrupt Chi (0), Little Forest Sect (3)
Secrets & Techniques (Warrior): Combat Conditions, Secret Art of Battle, Extraordinary Warrior Techniques (but no individual Techniques yet)
*OK, his other muscles.
**I know, weight distribution would ordinarily make the two incompatible, but kung fu bridges impossible gaps.
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