Character Sheet Guide

In order to create a character, you must first create both a Player Account with a Player Sheet, and a Character Account, if you have not done so already. The details on how to make these accounts can be found here.

Once you have created your Player and Character Accounts, you must provide details about your player character (PC), via the Character Sheet. Upon completion of your Character Sheet, you may begin your journey on Siliren! 

The purpose of this Character Sheet Guide is to help you build a character from start to finish.

Character Sheet

A Character Sheet (CS) compiles all relevant information to the character: name, age, skills, and personality. It is a useful tool for players as it gives them a baseline understanding of other characters they are interacting with, and can help guide the progression of a story thread.

A CS should be the first post from your Character Account, and is required before you are able to post in-character (IC) on the forum. Each CS resides in the Character Chest.

Character Sheets can range from  simple lists of the required sections or a highly detailed narrative with pictures and multiple posts depending on the player.

Currently, there are two types of Character Sheets: a Quick Start and a Full CS. The Quick Start CS defines the minimum requirements to allow new players to begin writing IC. A Full CS is required to partake in all site activities (i.e. grading and posting moderated threads).

Quick Start Character Sheet

The Quick Start Character Sheet allows you as the player to easily start the game, while still giving other players the basic information they need to roleplay with you. Below are the required sections of the Quick Start CS.

• Character Name
  • Note: Character names cannot be taken from real-life pop culture, live or dead persons, or characters from published stories and movies/shows. Names should be original.
• Player Account Username and a link to the Player Sheet 
• Character Gender Identity
• Character Race (Human, Hellbend, etc.)
• Character Age: The age of your character in years, and their birthday
  • If your character is underage, ensure that you are following the rules listed here. 
  • Note: Whichever season the character was created in is the season of their birthday. Read the Seasons Lore Article for an in depth explanation of the calendar system.
• Current Location: The in-game-universe location that your character is currently located (Lysium, Avakaron, Brickwell, etc)
• Appearance: A brief description of your character’s physical appearance (i.e. skin, eye and hair color; height; weight; etc.)

Moderator Approval

While a Quick Start Character Sheet allows you to start playing fast – the game is not completely unlocked until you have a completed and approved Character Sheet. Until then you are INELIGIBLE  to participate in the following:

Moderated Threads: Post within a moderated thread. Sometimes large events will warrant a Moderator leading a thread with other players. You will not be able to participate in any Moderated threads until your character sheet has been approved.

Thread Grading: Submit a completed thread for grading by moderators to be awarded skill points.

Earning and Spending Coins: Get a job, earn a wage, or utilize the Price List to buy items for your inventory (i.e. weapons, clothes, trinkets, etc.) Note: You can only roleplay with the items granted in the Starting Package until your character sheet has been approved.

Memory Threads: Post a memory thread.  To fill in the gaps of a Character’s history, players can write Memory Threads about stories from their past. You will not be allowed to create Memory Threads until your character sheet has been approved.

Full Character Sheet

In addition to the information required for the Quick Start Character sheet (Character Name, Player Account Username, Character Gender Identity, Character Race, Character Age, Current Location, and Basic Appearance), The Full Character Sheet expands on relevant character information.

Known Languages (Required)

At this current time, Characters are only allowed to know one language fluently. They are also allowed to know a secondary language at a Poor level. To begin learning another language In Character, please refer to the Languages Lore Article for more info.

Job (Required)

Jobs are an important aspect of Siliren. Characters can choose a Profession based on their skills and history. Check out the professions lore article to see the list of existing Professions. All players need to apply for their Profession in the Job Request Thread.

Underage characters are not allowed to take a Profession and live rent-free. However, underage Characters can take Freelance jobs. The difference between Professions and Freelance jobs is explained in the Professions lore article.

Personality & Backstory (Optional)

When crafting your character’s personality, think about what makes them unique and interesting. Consider their background, experiences, and the world they inhabit. What motivates them? What are their fears and desires? Embrace the complexities that make real people fascinating. Think about how your character interacts with others—do they approach situations with humor, skepticism, or empathy? Give them quirks and flaws that make them three-dimensional, and remember that characters, like people, can evolve over time.

Skills (Required)

There are two different types of skills a PC starts with. Basic and Learned Skills. Read about their differences in the Skills Lore Article.

For Basic skills, characters may begin with Reading & Writing at the same level or lower of their chosen spoken languages.

Every player starts with 140 skill points (SXP) that can be assigned to any of the learned skills listed within the skill list. Each player may also utilize their racial bonus (RXP) skill points as well to invest in Learned Skills. Racial bonus points differ for each race so look at the race article of your choice and find what their racial bonus is there.  There are restrictions to a character’s starting skill set:

• Players can put a maximum of 40 points in a single skill
• A maximum of 2 skills can be at the Journeyman tier
• Each Core skill must have at least 1 point
• Players can know a maximum of 2 spells to start
  • Knowing a spell requires a minimum of 10 points
  • A maximum of 1 spell can start at the Journeyman tier
  • Spells known at creation must have a backstory as to who the character learned from and how learning the spell went.
• The player meets the prerequisites for the skills they are taking, especially for Spells
• All Learned Skills must have their type of XP labeled.
  • SXP= Started Package XP
  • RXP= Racial Bonus XP
  • SRXP= Seasonal Story Rewards XP
  • XP= Earned XP

Here is an example of what the skill section may look like. This is John Doe’s starting character who is a Human knight-like character starting in Lysium. This is what their skill section looks like:

Basic Skills

Core Skills

Specialization Skills

Let’s say John Doe begins roleplaying right away and finishes one of their threads. They turn it in to be graded and they receive 5 XP for One-Handed Sword. Now, in addition to the 20 SXP, they now must list the 5 XP they earned from their grade. Their updated skill set would look like this: 

Each time a player earns XP, they must list it separately in the Accumulation column, and add together all XP in the Total column. 
Check out the Creating a Character Sheet thread for premade character sheet layouts, codes for creating skill tables, and other useful CS formats. You can make your CS look however you want so long as the information is readily available to Spirits and players to view.

Spellpool (Required)

A Spellpool determines the finite amount of magic any character is able to wield in a single day. Each race has a different amount of points in their Spellpool, which you can read about here. Please record this number, even if the Character does not have any skill in Spells or Rigen.

Reputation (Required)

Characters earn and lose reputation with various groups throughout their play. Players are responsible for tracking their reputation with each group in this section. Players may also start off with some reputation in certain organizations. At start, players may spend up to a total of 20 SXP in a maximum of 2 organizations of their choosing. Spending SXP on reputation is the same for both positive and negative reputation. If you wish to start off with 10 reputation, that requires 10 SXP, and starting off with -10 reputation also costs 10 SXP.

Housing (Required)

Along with the current location of a Character, the specific housing method is required to be noted as well. If they dwell in a city, where do they reside? Do they own a home, or live with NPC families? If they live on the street or in the wilds try to describe common sleeping areas they choose or where they may keep their belongings. This section is important so Spirit Moderators know how a Character is surviving. It is also important so special living arrangements can be approved by a Spirit.

Characters have a few options when it comes to their living situation at their creation. The most common option is to rent a home, apartment, or another type of residence. This can be a single-home, where the character is the only occupant or a family-home where the character lives with family or other history-related NPCs but pays rent to them. If the player chooses this option they will have to pay rent per season. See the Housing Guide for specific costs on different types of homes. 

For single homes that a character rents, whether it be free-standing or an apartment of some fashion, the home cannot exceed 400 square feet. The home can be of any shape, but must not exceed this number. A home like this comes with the following furnishings. Any additions to this would come from the Character’s pocket. 

For a family home, where the Character is renting out a room from their family, the home itself can be any size, however, the Character’s room cannot exceed 400 square feet and comes with all the same furnishings as above. The simple table, however, can be replaced for a simple desk and the hearth does not have to be located in the personal room. For this kind of home, it is important that the player uses caution when utilizing the rest of the house. It is frowned upon to abuse other items and rooms that might be present in the house, owned by other NPCs or Players, and are not part of the housing package. 

Some characters are too poor to afford to rent a home or choose to live in the wilderness instead. In these cases, the living situations must be approved by a Spirit Moderator, and this will be done during the CS approval process. The Character must choose a living space that makes sense to the Character’s poverty level, skill set, and location. If a player chooses to live in the forest, they must have a Survival skill and Wilderness Survival skill level that accommodates this type of living. Common wilderness living essentials include a tent, lanterns, a bedroll, etc. along with items to allow for survival such as a fishing pole for food or a horse to travel with. Very poor Characters may also live on the street within a city. Their home base may change or not exist at all. This is up to the player and how they want their Character to live. In these situations a Character does not receive specific land or items to live off of like those who choose to rent are allowed. While they are stripped of these niceties, they gain the benefit of not having to pay rent every season – though some payment is still required depending on skill level.

For underage Characters: Underage Characters can choose to live like an adult and therefore have a job and pay rent. However, they also have the option of living with family (or maybe a shelter or orphanage) and paying NO rent but also not having a Profession and getting Seasonal Wages.

Inventory (Required)

While at the creation of the Character Sheet this section may be mostly empty, it is still required to exist. In most cases, Characters will have the following items: a Sacred item, starting clothing, along with anything bought pre-creation with starting gold. 

Starting clothing consists of a Shirt or Blouse, Pants or Skirt, Undergarments – all made from Linen. A Jacket, Coat or Cloak made from Wool, Leather Shoes or Boots and a Leather Backpack. 

Players also start with Flint and Steel and a Waterskin. 

The Sacred item must be labeled as such and follow the rules in the Sacred Item section below. As a character gains items they must be recorded here. If items are gained in a thread, and therefore awarded by a grader, then the item must be linked to the thread where it was awarded.

Sacred Item (Required)

A Sacred Item is an item that every Character is allowed to start with that does not affect their starting gold. Sacred items are usually heirlooms, gifts or useful tools that may be too expensive for a Character to buy, but are necessary right at creation.

Sacred Items only have a few limitations: 

• They cannot have magical properties, and 
• They cannot exceed a cost of 30 gold coins 

See the Price List for a large assortment of items that may help you choose your Sacred item. All items will be approved by a Spirit Moderator during the Character Sheet approval process, and some items may be declined for various reasons stated by the Moderator. If you disagree with a Moderator’s decision about the item, or anywhere else on the site, contact the World Spirit, Bigealien. A Player can choose for their Character to not have a Sacred item, so long as it’s noted in the CS. If a Character chooses this they forfeit both the item and the cost of the item, meaning they cannot add 30 gold coins to their Ledger. Also note that a Character at no time can sell their Sacred item. It can be broken, lost, stolen, etc. but a Character cannot gain coins from it.

Coins (Required)

All Characters start out with a maximum of 10 gold coins which can be spent pre-creation or used post-creation. In special cases, the player is allowed to forfeit all or part of these coins. The reasons may vary, but it is allowed. 

Characters gain coins by playing jobs throughout a season and in some cases may gain coins in a thread, which must be awarded by a grader. If players wish to transfer coins to another Character, all coin transfers must be done in thread and approved and awarded by a grader. Players also cannot transfer coins from one of their Characters to another secondary Character they own. 

Be aware that some of the cheapest renting options are 8 copper a night. As most seasons are 91 days long this would mean a total season of rent at this price would be 7 gold, 2 silver, 8 copper. Therefore even if a Character did not spend any money throughout the season except on rent, they would only be able to survive one whole season with their starting coins while renting. This is why it is highly recommended the Character gets a job, or find some other way to make money.

• Note that different cities and races have different coins they use.
  • In the Human city of Lysium the people use what are called Rounds – Gold Pieces, Silver Cuts, and Copper Bits,
  • In the Hellbend city of Avakaron they use Gold, Silver,  and Copper Skerricks. 

Upkeep (Required)

This section likely won’t apply to newly created Characters and therefore is only required once the character acquires Upkeep. Read about Upkeep and its rules here.

Ledger (Required)

A ledger is basically a receipt of a character’s purchases. At creation, the ledger is usually small. A player starts with 10 gold coins. Most character’s first deduction will be the sum of rent for the season if they choose to start within a home and pay in advance. Others may end up paying rent at the end of the season. As they develop, characters will buy things, either in-thread or OOC. If coins are spent OOC the ledger just needs to be updated with the item bought, the price of the item and the new total coins the character holds. If the item is bought IC, or in a thread, a link to that thread must also be inserted into the ledger. At the end of each season, a character may receive wages from their IC job. Additions to coin totals are counted in the ledger as well.

Threads (Required)

In this section of a Character Sheet the Player will record the date, title and link of each IC thread the Character participates in. OOC threads such as grade request threads or chat threads do not need to be listed here. 

While Players can choose to format and organize this list any way they wish, the easiest way is to order the threads by in-game date.

Pauses

After posting, a Character Sheet will be read by a Spirit. to ensure new characters are following all the rules as well as correctly building their Character Sheet. Some sheets will be approved immediately, but in a lot of instances, a Spirit will find an error and put a Pause on the sheet.

A Pause is simply a post in the Character Sheet thread that details the errors found in the Character Sheet as well as how to fix them. Once a Pause is posted the player will also receive a Private Message from the Spirit Moderator notifying them of this. Characters should take immediate action to correct all errors. While players can roleplay before their Character Sheet is approved, they must pause any roleplay once they receive a Pause on their Character Sheet. Once the errors are fixed the player should post their CS once again in the Character Sheet Approval Request thread for review from a Spirit. Assuming they find no errors, the player will receive a final PM saying that they may resume roleplaying. Please remember to link this in the appropriate section of your User Profile. A green checkmark will also appear in the title of your CS to show it is approved.

Editing a Character Sheet

Players will always be able to edit and expand their Character Sheets throughout time. Some sections cannot change after the Character is approved, like birthday or starting skills, but others will morph with time, such as history and personality traits. All required sections are allowed to be changed until the Character reaches a total of 25 posts within the forums (either out of character [OOC] or IC). If you change a required section of a CS, please message a Moderator to get your CS re-approved.