Page numbers in this outline refer to the Persona Creation volume of Aria Roleplaying, unless othewise noted. Wherever possible, the relevant charts from the book have been reproduced here.
Receive 7 Interaction Points (IP) per year of the Persona's age.
The player should decide on a Heritage Template for the persona. A Heritage Template may be selected in one of three ways. First a Window of Opportunity may be used. Second, the player can spend IPs. The cost for each Heritage Template in IP is given on the Heritage Template sheet. Lastly, the Mythguide may simply allow the players to choose.
The player should choose a Cultural Orientation for the persona. Six Cultural Orientations are possible: Embrace, Refuse, Select, Suppress, Consider, and Abstain.
Next the player should record any requirements, restrictions or recommendations associated with the persona's Heritage Template. Some Heritage Templates might have Attribute requirements (see Step 4) or have Inherent Aspects that must be purchased (see Step 6).
The player chooses a Status Archetype for the head of the family. Family Status does not have to be purchased. Family Status determines the IP costs of most other kinship elements. This will often be determined by the family's position in the society's Hierarchy of Social Estates (see MC Chapter 6).
Decide if the persona is a Legitimate child. The IP costs/awards are detailed below (p. 56).
Legitimacy Ruling Privileged Professional Labor Marginal Legitimate 0 0 0 0 0 Illegitimate (Acknowledged) -1/0 -1/0 -1/0 -1/0 -1/0 Illegitimate (Unacknowledged) -3 -3 -3 -3 -3
Next determine the persona's Family Orientation. Family Orientation is the how the persona feels about the families views and beliefs. The possible values are: Embrace, Refuse, Select, Suppress, Consider, and Abstain. There is no IP costs involved for Family Orientation, the player simply chooses the best for his persona (p. 56-57).
The player should next purchase his persona's Sibling Rank, which shows where in the birth order the persona falls (p. 57-59). See table.
Sibling Rank Ruling Privileged Professional Labor Marginal Inheritor 10 8 5 3 1 Penultimate 5 4 2 1 0 Non-Inheritor 3 2 0 0 0
Next, the player purchases his persona's Estrangement according to the table below. Where Family Orientation describes the persona's view of the family, Estrangement describes the family's view of the persona (p. 59-61).
Estrangement Ruling Privileged Professional Labor Marginal Favorite 5 4 3 2 1 Good 3 2 1 1 0 Average 0 0 0 0 0 Poor -1 -2 -1 -1 -1 Black Sheep -3 -4 -3 -2 -2
If a persona is an eligible Inheritor, the player must spend either a Window of Opportunity or 5 IPs to activate an inheritance during Development There are several Background Aspects which can alter the nature of the inheritance (see Step 6).
The player next chooses the Family Renown and accompanying Renown Aspects for his persona's Family. A value between 1 and 10 is chosen for Family Renown and cost the player nothing (p 61-66).
Next, Reaction Orientation is purchased. Reaction Orientation defines the esteem in which the family is held be its peers (p 62-63).
Reaction Orientation Ruling Privileged Professional Labor Marginal Favorable 5 4 3 2 1 Average 3 2 0 0 0 Unfavorable 0 0 -1 -2 -3
[For more information on Status, see MC p. 244-247.]
A persona's initial Status Archetype is the same as his family's Family Status. Even if a persona has no family, he will still have a Family Situation. Such personas often develop within the Marginal Archetype.
Refer to the Hierarchy of Social Estates for your development environment to determine you Status Level. Initial Status Level depends on the active Status Foundations in the environment, on the persona's initial Vocational Path, and on any relevant Family elements.
After the initial Status Level is determined, it may be improved by the expenditure of IP as detailed in the chart below. The cost of a new Status depends on the Rigidity of Status in the environment. When spending IP to raise Status Level, Status Level can never be raised higher than the highest Level within the same Status Archetype. To move to the next higher Archetype requires the expenditure of a Window of Opportunity.
Rigidity Value IP Cost
1 - 2 1
3 - 4 2
5 - 6 3
7 - 8 4
9 - 10 5
Choose six Attributes that best represent the persona from among the following sixteen possibilities: Agility, Appearance, Communication, Empathy, Endurance, Hardiness, Intelligence, Intuition, Logic, Manual Dexterity, Perception, Presence, Quickness, Strength, Willpower, Wisdom (p. 70-75).
For the Attributes not chosen, assign a value of 5. For the chosen Attributes, determine the starting value for each Attribute by spending IP as shown on the chart below. Each persona may have up to two Hindering Attributes that may have a value less that 5 for which IP are gained.
Attribute Rank IP Cost 1 -10 2 -6 3 -3 4 -1 5 0 6 1 7 5 8 10 9 15 10 25
NOTE: A Situational or Developmental Window of Opportunity may be spent to purchase any Rank for a single Attribute (See the section of Windows of Opportunity).
Attributes may be further defined by giving them descriptive Aspects. (i.e. Intelligence (logic problems) or Intelligence (quick thinking)). If an Attribute Trail is required that test the precise ability or capacity defined by a specific Attribute Aspect, the Trial's Difficulty is reduced by one.
Each of the primary Attributes (and also any below average) has a Potential Rank associated with it. This is the maximum Rank that may ever be gained in the Attribute. Below average Attributes are always treated as Rank 4 when determining Potential. The maximum Potential for each Attribute is found in the chart below. No Attribute may exceed Rank 10 regardless of the Initial Rank or maximum Potential.
Attribute Max Potential Agility Initial Rank + 2 Appearance Initial Rank + 2 Communication Initial Rank + 3 Empathy Initial Rank + 2 Endurance Initial Rank + 4 Hardiness Initial Rank + 2 Intelligence Initial Rank + 2 Intuition Initial Rank + 2 Logic Initial Rank + 2 Manual Dexterity Initial Rank + 2 Perception Initial Rank + 2 Presence Initial Rank + 2 Quickness Initial Rank + 2 Strength Initial Rank + 3 Willpower Initial Rank + 2 Wisdom Initial Rank + 4
All Heritage Templates list average Frame, Height and Physique values. If a player desires to increase or decrease these values, they must spend IP based on this average as detailed in the charts below (p. 78-79).
Frame IP Average Frame Value Average Frame Value Description Cost Human Male Human Female Extremely Light -5 2 1 Very Light -3 3 2 Light -2 4 3 Light Medium -1 5 4 Medium 0 6 5 Heavy Medium 2 7 6 Heavy 4 8 7 Very Heavy 6 9 8 Extremely Heavy 8 10 9 Massive 10 11 10
Average Frame values for Heritage Templates always correspond to a Medium Frame (IP = 0). Low Variation indicates that IP costs are doubled (not applied to -IP costs). High Variation indicated that IP costs are halved (not applied to -IP costs).
Every Heritage group posses an Average Height Value which corresponds to feet and inches on the chart below. It costs 0 IP for a persona to be Average Height or shorter. Increasing Height costs 2 IP per Height Value. Low Variation allows persona Height to vary 1 level in either direction. Average Variation allows Height to increase or diminish up to 3 levels. High Variation allows unlimited divergence (p. 80-81).
Height Value Description
1 up to 3' 5"
2 3' 6" to 3' 10"
3 3' 11" to 4' 3"
4 4' 4" to 4' 8"
5 4' 9" to 5' 1"
6 5' 2" to 5' 6"
7 5' 7" to 5' 11"
8 6' 0" to 6' 4"
9 6' 5" to 6' 9"
10 6' 10" to 7' 2"
11+ 7' 3" +
Unless stated otherwise, a persona's Physique is always considered to be Ideal. If a player desires another Physique, he simply chooses it. There is no cost (p. 80-81).
Physique Value Physique Description Weight Multiplier Possible Effects
1 Gaunt 7 or less -2
2 Frail 9 -1
3 Thin 11 None
4 Ideal 12.5 None
5 Average 13 None
6 Burly 15 None
7 Stout 17 -1
8 Large 20 -2
9 Cumbrous 23 -3
10 Obese 25 or more -4
The persona's Weight Value is determined by adding the Frame Value to the Height Value (Weight Value = Frame Value + Height Value). To determine the persona's weight (in lbs.) multiply the Weight Value by the appropriate Weight Multiplier.
Extreme Physique Values will reduce persona Attributes which deal with movement or encumbrance. Agility, Quickness, and Endurance will suffer from high Physique Values. Strength, Endurance, and Hardiness will suffer from low Physique Values.
A persona's Carrying Capacity is found by adding the persona's Frame Value to twice his Strength and multiplying the result by five:
Carrying Capacity = (Frame Value + (2 x Strength)) x 5 (p. 82-83)
Lifting Capacity = 3 x Carrying Capacity (p. 83)
A persona's Trauma Resistance is determined from the chart below:
Body Weight (lbs). Trauma Resistance
0 - 20 -1
21 - 40 0
41 - 60 1
61 - 100 2
101 - 160 3
161 - 260 4
261 - 420 5
421 - 680 6
681 - 1100 7
1101 - 1780 8
1781 - 2880 9
2881 - 4660 10
4661 - 7540 11
7541 - 12200 12
12201 - 19740 13
19741 - 31940 14
31940 - 51680 15
Persona's move through one or more Vocational Paths during their Background Development period. Personas develop expertise within each Vocational Path, and a single persona can develop along as many Paths as he wishes during the Background Development period. If a persona develops in more than one Path, the player should describe the order in which development occurs and the amount of time spent in each Setting.
After a player decides on a vocation for his persona to pursue, the Vocational Setting must be developed. Each Vocational Setting will have an IP cost associated with it as detail in the chart below. Specialization indicates the maximum expertise Ranks available for development within the Setting. Prominence represents a Setting's Renown among its peers. Internal and External Potential represent the ability to develop expertises both within and outside of a particular Setting. Itinerant Settings or Setting that support Official Vocations cost additional IPs. The player should describe the setting and record the cost of the Setting.
Setting Element IP Cost Specialization (MC p. 255) None/Low -2/-1 Average 0 High 1 Very High 1 Prominence (MC p. 260) 0 0 1 - 4 1 5 - 7 2 8 - 10 4 Internal Potential (MC p. 260-61) 1 -1 2 0 3 1 4 2 5 3 External Potential (MC p. 260-61) 1 - 2 0 3 1 4 2 5 3 Itinerant Vocation 2 Official Vocation 1
NOTE: A Vocational Window of Opportunity may be spent to purchase a Vocational Setting with any Prominence or Potential Ranks. (See the section on Windows of Opportunity).
Each Vocational Path will fall into a Vocational Cluster or Clusters. Vocational Cluster is one of the elements that define expertise availability. A given Vocational Setting may have many Paths available among several Clusters.
There are three types of expertise - Talents, Aptitudes and Disciplines. All expertise cost IPs to purchase as detailed in the chart below (p. 152-58).
Rank Talent IP Cost Aptitude IP Cost Discipline IP Cost 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 7 6 6 7 9 7 7 9 11 8 8 11 14 9 9 13 17 10 10 15 20
[For descriptions of the various Expertises available, see p. 167-98.]
Expertise are purchased during the persona development process. Person development is divided into two major parts - Early Development and Background Development.
Early Development represent the initial stage of a persona's life and includes childhood and part of adolescence. Early Development ends at the age of fourteen by default (though the Mythguide may adjust this for certain Heritage Templates).
Every persona has certain Innate Expertises to a slight degree. A persona's Innate Expertises, along with their initial Ranks are:
Native Language (5), Dodge (1), Physical (1), Influence (1), and Savvy (1).
These initial Ranks are automatic and do not have to be purchased.
Inherent Expertise represent expertise that are possessed by every member of a particular culture or Heritage group. They may have minimum Ranks associated with them. Personas are required to purchase Inherent expertise.
A persona may develop other expertise during Early Development as well. The persona's situation becomes the understood Vocational Setting for Early Development. A persona can develop only two expertise per year of Early Development - one Internal and one External. Persona are also restricted to one half of the normal Interaction Point expenditure per year during Early Development; they can only spend one point on each Potential per year. Finally a persona's Status Archetype determines the maximum expertise Ranks that can be attained during Early development as detailed on the chart below.
Status Archetype Maximum Rank Ruling Class 4 Privileged Class 3 Professional Class 2 Labor Class 1 Marginal Class 3
Persona can purchase Internal Expertise based on the vocation of the head of the persona's family. Only the expertise in the appropriate Vocational Cluster are available (see chart later).
Personas purchase External expertise based on both their Status Archetype during Early Development and the Environ Class of the environment. (see chart later). Players may also buy Universal Expertise during External development.
Background Development begins when the persona enters his first Vocational Path. The process detailed below is used for each vocation the persona develops (p. 155-158).
Every vocation has an associated Vocational Expertise, which is chosen by the player. The Vocational Expertise should define the primary skill or focus of a particular vocation. A Vocational Expertise is developed as the next lower category on the IP Cost table. (i.e. Disciplines as Aptitudes, Aptitudes as Talents, Talents as Talents).
The player can now purchase his persona's Interactive Expertise based on a Setting's Internal and External Potentials. Internal development is based entirely on the expertise available within the Vocational Cluster of the persona's vocation (see chart later). External development indicates the expertise available as a result of the Setting's Environ Class, the persona's Status Archetype, or an Itinerant or Official Vocational Path. Universal expertise can always be developed Externally.
The player can develop a number of Internal expertise each year equal to the Internal Potential of the Setting, spending twice that number of IPs on Internal development. The same development model holds true for External development.
Vocational Expertise Development
Internal Potential of Vocational Setting
Vocational Cluster Available Expertise (Internal Development)
Additional Expertise Development
cont. Internal and External Potentials
Special Vocations
Additional Expertise (Internal/External Development)
Persona Status Archetype
Available Expertise (External Development)
Environ Class
Available Expertise (External Development)
Universal Development
Available Expertise (External Development)
Background Aspects describe interesting and colorful social, material, physical, mental, psychological and spiritual traits. A player chooses those Background Aspects that he feels best complement his persona's Concept. Background Aspects can also be chosen as Heritage or Kinship Aspects (p. 114-49).
Background Aspect Rank costs are detailed in the chart below. Positive number for Favorable Aspects and negative numbers for Unfavorable Aspects.
Aspect Rank IP Cost
1 1/-1
2 2/-2
3 3/-3
4 4/-4
5 5/-5
6 6/-6
7 7/-7
8 8/-8
9 9/-9
10 10/-10
The following is a list of possible Background Aspects:
Traits are elements that affect a persona's ability to interact with the environment. Some Traits are possessed at the outset of play while others must be developed during play.
Charisma: A persona's Charisma is found by averaging Intuition, Willpower, and Presence. Charisma is used as the Primary Element for many social and persuasion-based expertise (p. 86).
Faith: Faith must be purchased as detailed below. Note that Faith can also rise and fall during play (p. 86).
Faith Rank IP Cost
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 5
5 7
6 9
7 11
8 14
9 17
10 20
NOTE: A Situational or Developmental Window of Opportunity may be spent to purchase Faith at any Rank. (See the section of Windows of Opportunity).
Insight: Insight must be purchased as detail below. Insight can be further developed during play (p. 87).
Insight Rank IP Cost
1 1
2 2
3 4
4 6
5 8
6 11
7 14
8 17
9 21
10 25
All personas have Innate Renown to some degree (p. 91-101). Innate Renown is calculated from the table below.
Innate Renown Renown Value Base Renown Family Renown Sibling Rank Inheritor -1 Penultimate -2 Non-Inheritor -4 Estrangement Favorite 0 Good 0 Average -1 Poor -2 Blacksheep -5 Family Background Aspects +1 per 3 Ranks
Background Renown is gained for certain Background Aspects. In these cases, one Value of Renown is awarded for every 3 Ranks of the Background Aspect.
Vocational Renown is also gained during persona development as detailed below.
Vocational Prominence Renown Value
1 - 2 0
3 - 5 1 per 3 years
7 - 9 1 per 2 years
10 1 per year
Official Vocation
Poor Performance 1 per 2 years
Impressive Performance 1 per 3 years
Exceptional Performance 1 per 2 years
Other Renown that the player wishes the persona to posses must be purchased during development using the costs outlined in the table below.
Renown Value IP Cost
1 1
2 2
3 4
4 6
5 8
6 11
7 14
8 17
9 21
10 25
Personality Trait values range from one to ten. Values from one to five simply indicate basic Personality Traits. When a Trait reaches a value of six, it becomes a Motivation. Values of six and seven indicate Motivations and values of eight and nine describe Passions. A value of then indicates an Obsession. Personality Traits are divided into three distinct categories - Apparent, Suppressed, and Concealed. Motivations, Passions, and Obsessions are always either Apparent or Concealed. They cannot be Suppressed. (p. 101-5)
A player may acquire an unlimited number of Personality Traits for his persona. Personality Traits cost nothing to acquire. Players must take at least two Personality Traits, one of which must be Apparent.
Motivations, Passions, and Obsessions represent those beliefs or ideals that actually shape persona behavior and action. Motivations find their way into almost every aspect of a persona's emotional life. Passions are even more difficult to control. Obsession are self-explanatory. (p. 105-11)
Most Motivations, Passions and Obsessions have Objects. Objects are the specific individuals, things, or concepts toward which the Trait is directed.
The following is a list of several recommended Motivations, Passions, and Obsessions. They are presented in groups of two opposing elements, although only one of the elements will normally be purchased.
The player should determine his persona's starting equipment based on Status Archetype, Inheritance, and any relevant Background Aspects. Unless unique Aspects are chosen, a persona is considered to have average equipment for his Status Archetype.
Background Aspects that can have a favorable effect on initial equipment include Collection, Extensive Resources, Favorable Inheritance, Heirloom, and Holdings. The Unfavorable Inheritance and Uniquely Equipped Aspects can have negative effects.
A persona have an average amount of beginning wealth. Such wealth is also based on Status Archetype. If a players wishes his persona to have a better or worse financial situation at the outset of play, he should purchase appropriate Background Aspects. Creditor, Savings, Holdings, and Unique Income can all give a persona extra personal wealth. Debt, Obligation, and Dependent can all create poor financial situations for a persona.
Last, but not least, the player details his persona's History. A good History draws on all othe other Steps of the Creations process and weaves the resulting values and events into a coherent and interesting background for the persona.