Unicorn no Seishi

Character Creation Page

• The Five Rules of Amber
• Character Creation
• Special Auctions
• Special Backgrounds and Training
• Notable Skills and Signatures
• Contribution Points
• Powers
• Allies
• Items
• Shadows
• Constructs
• Parentage
• Example Characters/Examples of Play
• Useful Links

The Five Rules of Amber:
 

1. If the GM tells you something is a bad idea, unless someone is controlling your mind to make you believe that, it usually is the GM's desperate effort to keep you away from suicide.
2. Rule #2 is knowing when to take the risk anyway.
3. Trust no one.
4. You have to trust some people, because going it alone is usually suicide.
5. If you're even slightly unsure about if you can do something or what's going on, ask me, as incorrect assumptions are a quick road to annihilation.

Character Creation

All players will recieve 125 character points.   This link jumps to the Contribution rules, which can get you extra points.  You can sell down attributes, if you're feeling suicidal.

All players must be Amberites, although you can buy Chaos connections or Chaos blood if you really want it. Everyone gets Pattern for free, or if they pay for Shapeshifting, can get 50 points worth of Logrusy Goodness

If you haven't played Amber before, I suggest you check out my auction page before continuing.

Amber uses four basic attributes, which are discussed in detail on my Attributes Page.
Each attribute has two sub-attributes.  After the auction is over, you double your points you bid on the attribute and split them between the two sub-attributes.

The Attributes

• Endurance: This attribute determines how much damage you can take and how long you keep doing stuff before you pass out. In Unicorn no Seishi Amber, either Corrine or Saionji is the Endurance grand master.
• Mental Endurance:  This measures how much of a mental beating you can take and how long you can keep using your brain before it gives out, and how fast you heal mental damage.  Corrine's strong point, thanks to lots of fun with Finndy...
• Physical Endurance:  This determines how long you can take a physical beating, how long you can keep using your body, and how fast you heal physical damage.  Saionji's department.
• Psyche: This determines your force of will, charisma, and magical aptitude. Many powers' effectiveness is determined by your Psyche. Derith and Fuyutsuki rule here.
• Psychic Finesse:  This measures your psychic agility and fine-control.  This is used to do things like juggle using the Logrus or do psychic surgery.  Derith had Psychic Finesse out the wazoo.
• Psychic Strength:  This determines how much psychic whoopass you can unleash.  It is the raw power of your brain.  Fuyutsuki has goatloads of this.
• Strength: This combines your ability at unarmed combat and your physical strength. It also measures athletic prowness. And it measures your ability to do funky stuff like dance up a wall as you fight someone.  Corrine and Saionji are the experts here.
• Martial Arts:  This measures your ability to fight unarmed.  Saionji can probably outfight Corrine.
• Physical Strength:  This is your pure physical power and your ability to take a punch and not notice (if you do notice, Endurance is at work).  It also measures a lot of your athletic ability.  You run faster, jump further, hammertoss your relatives further, dance up walls, etc.  Corrine is probably stronger than Saionji.
• Warfare: Fighting with weapons, games of strategy, leading and organizing armies. Drake or Utena  is the master.
• Tactics:  This measures your skill at leading armies and other situations of strategy and tactics.  This ranges from playing chess to economic warfare to spotting ambushes.  It also measures your reaction time.  Drake knows more about leading armies than you.  Trust me.
• Weapon Skills:  This determines how well you chop people into giblets with hand weapons or shoot them to death with ranged weapons.  Utena will whoop you.

• Human (-25)--The ability of a completely average real world human
• Chaos (-10)--The ability of exceptional real world humans, average Chaosians, and below average Amberites
• Amber (0)--The best real world human who ever was, an above average Chaosian, or an an average Amberite
• Ranked (1 or more points)--Better than any real human.  Entering levels of skill found only in anime, comics, books, and movies.

• Endurance:  13
• Psyche:        47
• Strength:     15
• Warfare:      30

• Endurance: 13.
• Mental Endurance:  16
• Physical Endurance:  10
• Roderick's body gets tired a little faster than his brain does.
• Psyche: 47
• Psychic Finesse:  60
• Psychic Strength:  34
• Roderick learned how to use finesse to overcome a lack of raw power from his father, Bleys. He is adept at the use of powers, but won't do so well in direct psychic combat.
• Strength: 15
• Martial Arts:  20
• Physical Strength:  10
• Roderick is no physical powerhouse, but he's trained in martial arts to help exploit the combat potential of his shapeshifting.  .
• Warfare: 30
• Tactics:  20
• Weapon Skills:  40
• The one time we see Bleys lead an army, he gets his ass kicked, but Bleys could fight his way up a staircase for over an hour by himself.  Like father, like son.

The Special Auctions:
Each of these gives some special benefit.

• Annadil's Legacy:  You have studied Annadil's legacy, and derived some benefit from it...Only the Winner knows the benefits.  This is a Secret Auction.
• Construct's Favor:  You can only have ONE of these.  (Gaby and Morgy don't exactly get along, and Kafuin has different tastes than either.).  I will allow purchase of manifestations for points by characters with appropriate backgrounds, but this means they LIKE YOU A LOT.  And you get a manifestation free.
• Gabrielle's Favorite:  Gabrielle likes you a lot.  She's given you one of her manifestations for free, and will try to help you out.  Of course, some people don't call her 'Lina II' for nothing...
• Kafuin's Favorite:  He spends most of his time making sure the Outsiders stay outside in the cold, but he knows a thing or two about Elemental powers, and he'll give you a manifestation for free.
• Morgenstern's Favorite:  Morgenstern likes you.  You get a manifestation for free, and you may be able to get him to do things for you.  Whether it's wise to ask for Morgy's help is another question...
• Secret Agent of Amber:  You've spent time as part of Amber's spy network. This is, for obvious reasons, a Secret Auction.  Only the Winner knows the benefits.
• Sexiest Man or Woman Alive:  You are, simply put, the Sexiest Man or Woman Alive, at least of your generation. If you want to Mack like a madman, this is the way to go.
• Student of Leng:  You have travelled to the Plateau of Leng and studied there.  Only the Winner knows the benefits.  This is a Secret Auction.
• Yig:  You have hung from the Tree of Wisdom.  Only the Winner knows the benefits.
• What's in the Box?:  What's in the box?  No one knows, but it's something good.  And not Elvis.   Only the Winner knows the benefits.  This is a Secret Auction.

Background Packages and Special Training:

Background Packages cost 5 points each.  You have to commit to buying them before I'll reveal what exact benefits they confer.  It's perfectly acceptable to take a background like this for free as part of your character design; it simply won't convey the special benefits that point investment will get you.  Buying a Background Package does give you a reputation for having it.

Far-Traveller:  You have travelled extensively in shadow.

Foreign Service Brat:  You grew up being hauled all over creation on diplomatic missions.  You've seen just about everywhere in the Golden Circle up close and personal and some strange places beyond it.

Honored Veteran of the Army of Amber:  You've done a term of service in the Army of Amber, during which you did some great deed.

Ohtori Academy Graduate: You have a degree from Ohtori Academy, a very fine finishing school.

Specially Trained by:
Some important Amberite trained you.  This gives you a closer relationship to that Amberite, and some special abilities, secrets, extra attributes, or some other goodie.  It's quite possible to be the child of one Amberite, but specially trained by another.

• Fuyutsuki:  He created the Universe.  He's your great-grandfather.  And he has a Pattern Fez.  But he's not the most stable of teachers at times.  Still, just imagine what you could learn from the man who's seen everything.
• First Generation Elders
• Anthy:  Last of Gendo's Queens and Guardian of Tir'na'nog.  She has unlocked many of its secrets.  Studying with her is the best way to learn them...
• Second Generation Elders
• King Tylor:  He's the King of Amber.  AND he knows how to party.  Need I say more?
• Queen Yuriko:  Before she was Queen, she was a crack admiral of the Rebman Navy, the finest fleet in existence.  If you want to know everything there is to know about naval warfare, you won't find a finer teacher.
• Touga:  Perhaps the smoothest manipulator there is.  What's he been doing out in Shadow all this time anyway?  If you want to use your cousins as pawns to dance for you, this is the man to train with.  Just don't tell anyone.
• Saionji:  Saionji and Corrine have long disputed which of them is the strongest and toughest of their generation.  It remains unsettled, but if you wish to learn the fine arts of Kendo and unarmed combat, Saionji is your man.  Especially if you're female, but that's another story...
• Corrine:  The Queen of Ember is pretty busy these days, but if you want to learn the arts of trump, some of the lore of Arden, or how to be a Queen, she's got sage words of advice on all three.  Just don't mention 'Finndy', whoever she is...
• Makoto:  Makoto remains Castellan, the master of management.  Those who would learn the secrets of Castle Amber or the arts of stewardship should seek him out.
• Nanami:  It often takes an iron will to stick close enough to Nanami to learn from her, but she has much to offer, for she knows the City of Amber like the back of her hand, has mastered much magic, and moves among the circles of the nobility as well.
• Miki:  Miki is noted for his skills with music and trump. Those who would learn of either should study with him.
• Kozue:  Sharp of tongue and quick of wit, Kozue is also a cunning fighter and skillful in the arts of mental magics.  She can teach either of those to any who seek her out.
• Utena:  Athlete, bodyguard, warrior supreme.  If you want to master sports, bodyguarding, or whacking people in half, she's the person to go to.
• Wakaba:  Socialite and sorceress, she flits comfortably between parties and the laboratory.  Wakaba is especially noted for her alchemical skills and her mastery of the power of lightning.
• Vash:  He's a goober, but he knows how to shoot.  He's also a pretty good bodyguard, and he's done a fair amount of wandering mindlessly around Shadow and Calendar World.  He can share his lore with you...if you can put up with him long enough.  Did I mention he's a goober?
• Third Generation Elders
• Hiko:  Child of Fire.  Lover of the Green Knight.  Weilder of the Heart of Flame.  One of the three greatest minds of her generation, and a sorceress of surpassing skill.  If you want to be the best sorceress of your generation or to learn the ways of Arden, you can't go wrong studying with her.
• Michelle:  Michelle combines music and sorcery to produce interesting effects.  She's also done some exploration of shadow.  And she once slapped Nanami and got away with it.
• Mikage:  Child of Air.  Master of Nemuro Hall.  Weilder of the Bag of Winds.  One of the three greatest minds of his generation and a noted artificer. Who knows what secrets he may possess?  If you want to make things and probe eldritch lore, he's the way to go.
• Nagisa:  Child of Water.  Student of the Unicorn's Lore.  Weilder of the Cup of Life.   One of the three greatest minds of his generation and a noted scholar.  He has much to teach of the secrets of the Unicorn and the history of Amber.
• Ramon:  No one takes a beating and keeps going like Ramon does.  If you want to be last man standing, then grab some painkillers and train with him.  He's also a pretty good martial arts instructor.
• Shaft:  Child of Metal.  Asskicker Supreme.  Weilder of Justice.  It is debatable as to whether he or Shizumaru is a better fighter, but no one can question who's stomped more people and romanced more women of the two of them.  He was probably the sexiest of his generation, at least until he drew a Pattern and his mojo moved to Tahiti without him...If you want to leave a trail of destruction, hunt people to the ends of Shadow, or be the best lover in Amber, you can't wrong with Shaft training you.  He also knows the City of Amber itself pretty well.
• Shinobu:  The Terror of Therin and Lipun.  Hated by Amber's enemies, loved by Amber's friends.  She's the best at leading armies of the Third Generation, and she's seen quite a bit of the Golden Circle, even if it was burning at the time...
• Shizumaru:  Child of Wood.  Master of the Keep of the Five Elements.  Weilder of the Seed of Hope.   It is debatable as to whether he or Shaft is a better fighter, but no one can question Shizumaru has delved far deeper into the lore of his element than Shaft ever will.  Married to one who has power over ice, Shizumaru's keep is an ideal place to delve into the mysteries of the Elemental powers.
• Servants of the Crown and Amberites Around Town (and even a Chaosian or two...):
• Davros the Chaos Stylite:  Davros sees quite a bit from up on his Pillar. And you'd be surprised how many people come to see people who sit on top of pillars for years at a time.  If you want to learn some of the arts most easily learned in Chaos (like Logrus or Shapeshifting), he's your man.
• Lord Falme the God Tosser:  Falme is Mikage's chief retainer, noted for his flaming head, his shapechanging, and his grabbing very big things with the Logrus and tossing them. :)  If you want to learn the arts of Logrus (especially how to get ice cream with it), he makes a good tutor.
• Keiko:  Keiko didn't head the sorcery division of the City Watch for nothing.  Now she's the Court Mage.   If you have an interest in investigative sorcery, she's the person to seek out.  Or if you need to kill Makoto the Mad again.
• Travis:   Keeper of the Royal Library, scholar, tinker, gentleman.  And he's got a cute cat that sometimes talks.  Just ask Hiko and Nagisa how many times he's helped them prevent Amber being destroyed.  There are many answers to be found in the library, and he either already has them or knows where they are.
• Yumi:  Sorceress and Sexiest Woman in Amber.  If you wish to learn the arts of love and magic, especially magics of water and love, she's your woman.

Notable Skills and Signatures

I must give thanks to Dan for these concepts, though I will use them slightly differently.

You may pick one notable skill for every ten points you've invested in Attributes (Ignoring Amber, Chaos and Human ranks).  In addition, you get one notable skill for just being alive.  Notable skills are areas where you have particular expertise. You may make them as broad or as narrow as you like; the more narrow, the higher the boost they give to appropriate attributes when you use them.  If two people with 30 points of Weapon Skills face off with Rapiers, the one with 'Fencing' will beat the one with 'Swordsmanship', and either will lose to the one with 'Rapiers' as a speciality.  These skills don't cost any points.

Example:
Roderick has

• Endurance:  13
• Psyche:        47
• Strength:     15
• Warfare:      30

You can also choose to take a Signature.  This is something you are especially noted for, the quality for which you are famed.  It might be a job you do, a personality trait, or a simple skill.  This also costs no points, but has the disadvantages which can come with Fame...

As with Notable Skills, the more narrow the Signature, the more benefit conveyed.

Example:
Roderick decides his signature will be 'Look Good At All Times'.  No matter what happens to him, he can at least look graceful and impressive, even if he's being caught in a Primal Chaos explosion at the time...
 
 
 

Contributions:

Maximum of 30 points for Contributions plus up to 10 points of Enemies (detailed in the Allies section).

Ten Point Contributions:

• Keep and edit a workable log of each session.
• Produce a trump per week of real time
• Write up an in-character diary of game events

• Stories about your past
• Writeups of frequently used locations and shadows
• A handful of individual trumps all at the start of the gam

The Powers

A brief introduction to the major powers can be found here.

• Pattern: 50 points
• --Advanced Pattern: 25 points more
• Broken Pattern: 10
• --Broken Pattern Adept: 15 points more
• Shapeshifting: 35 points
• --Advanced Shapeshifting: 30 points more
• Logrus: 45 points (Plus you need Shapeshifting)
• --Advanced Logrus: 25 points more
• Trump Artistry: 40 points
• --Advanced Trump: 20 points more
• Power Words: 10 points (Buys you five power words)
• --More Power Words: 1 each
• Sorcery: 15 points
• Conjuration: 20 points
• --High Compelling: 5 points more
• --Advanced Conjuration: 15 points more

Pattern is the fundamental power of the Royal House of Amber.  It is the heritage of King Gendo.  Anyone who buys Pattern is automatically an heir to the throne and a child of Gendo by one of his wives or mistresses.   Pattern gives you several nifty benefits:

• Walk the Pattern and teleport to anywhere in all of creation.
• Hit your enemies with Blood Curses (at the cost of ten points of Bad Stuff)
• Travel through Shadow to anything you can imagine.
• Manipulate probability
• Use the Pattern to shield yourself from other Powers

• The closer you get to Amber, the more slowly and less effectively it works, except for when used to protect against other Powers
• It's not very fast, and you need to be able to see and to move freely in order to use it.

You can upgrade your knowledge of Pattern to learn some of the more obscure arts of Pattern.  This enables you to:
 

• Move more swiftly through Shadow.
• Mold Shadows quickly to become whatever you desire.
• Walk the Pattern in your mind, then use the image of the Pattern to:
• Scry through Shadow to find things without leaving your chair.
• Teleport yourself to those locations by force of will
• Study things through the Pattern lens, to see if they are of Amber or Chaos or Shadow or whatever.

The Pattern casts reflections of itself through Shadow.  Those reflections gradually become imperfect, enabling those not of the blood of Amber to walk them...but they also don't work as well as the real thing.  Broken Pattern gives you several nifty benefits:

• Walk the Pattern and teleport to anywhere in all of creation.
• Hit your enemies with Blood Curses (at the cost of ten points of Bad Stuff)
• Travel through Shadow to anything you can imagine.

• If you walk the Pattern, it doesn't aim very well in sending you where you want to go.
• When you travel through Shadow, you hit all the worst places, and everything tends to go horribly wrong.

You can upgrade your knowledge of Broken Pattern.  This enables you to:

• Move more swiftly through Shadow.
• Mold Shadows, although they never quite work out right.
• Hang Spells on the Broken Pattern
• Evoke the Dark Veil, through which you can see Magic, Logrus, and the other Powers more clearly
• Summon Broken Pattern Tendrils, which can be used to project magic or establish Psychic contact or examine things from a distance with the Dark Veil.

Shapechanging can be learned by any PC, Amber or Chaos, although it's rare in Amber and common as rocks in Chaos.  It is a prerequisite for learning Logrus.  It enables you to:

• Assume three basic forms:
• Human form (Your natural body for Amberites)
• Demon form (Your natural body for Chaosians)
• Avatar Form (A force of nature for Chaosians, an animal for Amberites)
• Heal your wounds by shape shifting them shut.
• Alter your features to impersonate others or disguise yourself.  At this level, disguises as others tend to be not quite perfect.
• Shapeshift Persona:  Become someone else, gaining their abilities and a perfect impersonation.  This is very dangerous, however, because if their psyche exceeds yours, or you're too tired, you'll take on their persona completely and lose your identity until you change back.
• Automatic Shapeshifting:  You can set yourself to shapeshift automatically to respond to sudden changes in your environment, like it bursting into flames.  This is dangerous because you may slip into Primal Form and begin acting entirely on subconscious survival instincts.

• The more you shapeshift, the more you exhaust yourself.
• You can mess up your own mind using it.

You can upgrade your knowledge of shapeshifting as well.  This enables you to:

• Carry out perfect impersonations
• Disguise your aura so high-Psyche people can't see through your impersonation with their powers so easily.
• Turn into animals
• Create extra limbs.
• Conjure Creatures from your own blood

Shapeshift other people

Those who have the Blood of Chaos (Free at character creation if you buy Logrus at that time) can walk the Logrus.  Those who also possess Shapeshifting actually survive walking the Logrus.  The eternally shifting Logrus grants powers to those who walk it:

• Walk the Logrus and travel anywhere.
• Summon and control Logrus Tendrils.  You can call up the image of the Logrus and use it to smack people around.  This is dangerous if you hit a Pattern Weilder, who will give you a nasty shock.
• Break off Logrus tendrils and shape them into simple, not very bright servants.
• Hang spells on the Logrus.
• Use the Logrus as a lens to study things and see how they work.
• Reach through Shadow, find things with the Logrus, and pull them back to you.
• Reach through Shadow, find somewhere you want to go, and pull yourself there.
• Fill yourself with the Logrus, to defend against other Powers.

• You go mad the first time you walk the Logrus.
• It works poorly near Amber.
• It tends to respond explosively when encountering Pattern.

You can upgrade your knowledge of Logrus as well.  This enables you to:

• Use the Logrus to scry through Shadow.
• Use the Logrus to summon, bind, and shape Creatures of Chaos
• Mold Shadows into the forms you want.
• Create Black Roads through Shadow.

Trump Artistry: 40 points

Trump Artistry is the knowledge of how to create Trumps and use them most effectively.  Trump Artists are rare but powerful.  To create Trumps which reach across Shadow, once must either have Logrus or Pattern, or must have the Blood of Amber or Chaos.

• Create Trump Sketches, which only work once but can be worked up in 30 minutes to an hour.
• Create permanent Trumps of anyone you know well, or have gotten a psychic impression of.  You can also create Trumps of places you have been.  This is easiest if you are in the place or have the person handy to model for you, and harder if you don't have your model handy.  This takes hours to days, double or triple the time if the subject isn't present for it.
• Try to create a Trump of something based on psychic impressions gained from other people.  This is very slow, and very, very unreliable, almost always connecting only to a shadow of what you were seeking.
• Learn various Trump Tricks:
• Sense Trump:  You can sense the use of Trump near you, and you can study Trumps to figure out what they do.
• Trump Defense:  You can use a Trump of yourself to 'Trump yourself', filling yourself with the Power of Trump, which will help to protect you from psychic attack or other Powers.
• Trump Caller ID:  If you have a trump deck handy, you can use it to identify who is trying to Trump you.  You can also tell who made a particular Trump card, if you know them or have seen other Trumps by the same person.

• Trumps take time and materials to make.
• They get lost easily.
• It's difficult to impossible to use them in combat.
• Anyone with Amber Psyche or above can easily defend themselves against involuntary trump contact, unless they get mobbed by a large group of Trump users.

You can upgrade your knowledge of Trump as well.  This enables you to:

• In creating a card, you can burn the image into your brain, so you can contact that person without needing to have the Trump yourself.  This only works with people, and using that image is fairly exhausting.
• Create Trumps which activate very rapidly.
• Create Trump traps which trigger when looked at or touched, and send the involuntary user somewhere they won't like.
• Create disguised Trumps whose appearance masks their true nature or destination.
• Create etched trumps which take forms like weaving, engraving, etc.
• Trump Spying:  Use a trump of a person to monitor their surface thoughts.
• Trump Blocking:  Jam someone's Trump so they can't be Trump contacted.

Power Words: 10+ points

Power Words are words of power which produce simple magical effects fueled by the user's Endurance.  They work anywhere, but using too many of them will tire you out.

• The first ten points gets you five power words.
• Additional power words cost one point each.
• Available Power Words:
• Burst Of Magic, Burst of Psyche, Burst of Strength, Burst of Speed, Chaos Negation, Defensive Luck, Induce Euphoria, Induce Fear, Light Strobe, Lifeforce, Magic Negation, Neural Disrupt, Pain Attack, Pattern Negation, Process Surge, Process Snuff, Psychic Disrupt, Resume True Form, Shade, Spark, Thunder, Trump Disrupt, Weaken Structure

• They're not very powerful
• They tire you out.

Sorcery is the art of creating and casting spells.  More details can be found on my sorcery page.
 

Conjuration: 20 points

You can create something from nothing, molding Shadow into the forms you desire.  This level of conjuration allows you to create items with any of the 1-4 point values on the Throne War Items Page.
 

• Basic Conjuration:  Use magic to shape shadow to give it a bit of power.  Items are conjured instantaneously, but are extremely fragile and easily dispelled by others or by travel through Shadow.
• Conjure Shadow Shape:  Shape a shadow object into what is desired.  The enhancement takes about an hour, but it will fade away after a while (several days out in Shadow, less time near Pattern, more time near Chaos).  It also instantly vanishes if moved across Shadow.  This is also vulnerable to being dispelled.
• Empowerment:  An shadow object can be temporarily implanted with magical power.  Attunement takes a half-hour, each point of a quality adds ten minutes, and each point of power adds an hour.  While vulnerable to dispelling, it is not easily broken by Shadow Travel.
• Complex Conjuration:  A Conjured Shadow Shape can be designed to be permanent within the Shadow it was created in.  This takes one hour per point.  Any attempt to dispel the conjuration must cross the Psyche of the conjurer.

But it does have some flaws:

• Conjuration is generally too slow for use in combat.
• Conjured items can be dispelled by the use of Sorcery, Logrus, or Pattern against them.
• Conjured items only actually work in Shadows that support the principles they're based on (Your conjured magic wand won't work on Shadow Earth, your conjured gun doesn't work in Amber).

High Compelling enables you to 'conjure' geases and compulsions into beings, in order to try to control their minds.  You can also plant geases on objects, which will then compel whoever meets some set condition.  This requires a victory in a psyche battle to succeed.

Advanced Conjuration (aka Conjuration 2.0):  High Compelling + 15 points

You can upgrade your knowledge of Conjuration as well.  This enables you to:

• Conjure more quickly
• Identify Conjured items and who made them.  Especially handy for tracking down someone who tried to High Compel you.
• Conjure items with 8 point qualities.

Buying Allies and Blood Ties

Blood of Amber: 6 points

You are a child of Gendo, but you have yet to walk the Pattern.  This gives you a claim on the throne without the need to spend the full 50 points for Pattern.  You can walk the Pattern during the game if need be.  If you buy Pattern at character creation, it comes along for free.  Most players will have this for free, unless they chose to take the free Logrus with Shapeshift instead.

Blood of Chaos: 2 points

You have the heritage of Chaos in your veins.  You can learn Shapeshifting and walk the Logrus, but Pattern Blades will do bad, evil, nasty things to you.

Minor Noble or Merchant Ally: 1 point

A major merchant or a minor noble has taken a liking to you and will generally help you.

Amber City Contact Network: 3 points

Instead of one big ally, you have a network of contacts all over the City of Amber.  None of them are very important, but collectively, they add up and they know what's going down in the most real, most important city in all of creation.

Court Ally: 3 points

One of the Court Officials or major Court Servants likes you and will support your plotting.

Chaos Ties: 5 points

A House of Chaos thinks you're just cool and will tend to support your plots, but keep in mind that most Amberites react adversely to Chaosians and their friends...  This does not convey Blood of Chaos; they can like Amberites too, even if it's rare.

Golden Circle Ally: 3 points

One of the Golden Circle rulers is a friend of yours and will try to help you out.

Cousin Alliance: 4 points

One of your NPC cousins has taken a liking to you and generally is willing to support you in your plots, plans, and intrigues.
 

Amber Devotee: 6 points

One of the Elders really, really likes you and will do his or her best to protect and guide you.  Of course, the nature of Amber being what it is, this may or may not be your actual Amber father or mother, and they may act like they hate you publically, so that no one can tell they like you, but having an Elder watching out for you rarely hurts.

Enemies:

Any of the Allies can be reversed to become an enemy, which gives you points.  You can take up to ten points of enemies.

Example:
Bob is creating a character named Allistaire.  He wants nine points of enemies, so he takes:

• Hostile Elder Amberite: 6 points
• Golden Circle Enemy: 3 points

Item Purchase Costs

The system for constructing nifty widgets, magic weapons, servitors, horses and everything else has its own section.

You will find those rules here on the Items Page.

Items bought with Character Points become virtually indestructible.  Even if the Pattern and the Logrus team up and eat the item, you will eventually be able to either duplicate it or get it back.  Only your death can lead to its permanent destruction.  It is possible to have it stolen, though.

You can have lots of stuff not paid for with points, subject to GM approval.  Such items will tend to be ephemeral in one's life, however.  Still, it's easy for Amberites to get money and buy nifty toys.

Shadow Purchase Costs

You can purchase an entire universe of your own design if you so desire.  By spending points on a shadow, you gain control over it and can define it to your liking.  It can be your playground, your refuge, your fortress, or your prison for your enemies. Spending points on a shadow also makes it more Real, thus making it harder for your enemies to tinker with it, and makes it part of your legend, and thus nearly impossible to permanently destroy without killing you first.

Shadows have three aspects you can buy up. The first one is obligatory (Location), while the other two are optional.  Taking the most expensive property for Defenses and Communications Barriers properties gives you all the benefits of the cheaper options as well.

Location

• 1 point: Somewhere in Shadow. You're simply somewhere out in the great reaches of Shadow.
• 2 points: Golden Circle. You're pretty close to Amber, which makes your shadow more 'Real'. Alternately, you're in the Black Circle near Chaos.
• 4 points: Primal Plane. Your shadow is infused with Reality in some manner, such as possessing a Broken Pattern, which makes it very resistant to manipulation by anyone but you, its owner.

• 1 point: Communications Barrier. You can prevent other powers reaching into or out of it or both. (Such as one where people can use Pattern to get in, but not OUT)
• 2 point: Restricted Access. It can only be accessed at certain places or by knowing a specific 'key' of some kind.
• 4 point: Guarded. Any intruders have to get past some sort of guardian.

• 1 point: You can reshape the contents of the Shadow very quickly at will.
• 2 point: Alter time flow. You can speed up or slow down the flow of time in your shadow.
• 4 point: Control of Destiny. You can 'move' your Shadow around Shadow, placing it in the path of those moving through shadow.

Patty decides she wants to have her own Shadow.  She decides to model it after seventeenth century France as seen in the Three Musketeers.  She names it Aquitania.  After considering her choices, she decides it's a place her character mostly goes to for fun, so she doesn't want to sink a lot of points into it.  She spends a single point, making it a Personal Shadow.

Melvin is creating a prison shadow used by his Amberite, Mandrake.  He takes the following properties:
 

• Location:  Personal Shadow--1
• Defenses:  Guarded--4
• Control of Contents: Alter Time Flow--2

Constructs

I am not allowing constructs during character creation because you're all going to be pretty junior.  In some cases, I may allow you to buy a manifestation from a construct owned by a Parent.

Determining Parentage:

The GM will determine who your Amber parent was, depending on your abilities, appearance, and amount of good or bad stuff, but I'm always open to suggestions.

Example Characters and Examples of Play

For some examples of what can be done with 200 points, you can find some sample characters on my Throne War Sample Characters Page.  For some examples of how various things are played out in practice:
 

• Combat Examples
• Powers Examples
• Non-Combat Examples

Other Links on this Site

• John's Amber DRPG Front Page
• Chronicles Pages
• Rules Pages
• Throne War Front Page
• Through A Mirror Darkly Front Page
• Unicorn No Seishi Front Page
• Setting:
• Unicorn no Seishi Setting Page
• Unicorn no Seishi Places Page
• Unicorn no Seishi Cast Page
•  Unicorn no Seishi New Generation Page
• Unicorn No Seishi Amber Government Page
• Unicorn no Seishi History Page
• Fun With Trumps:
• Through A Mirror Darkly and Unicorn No Seishi  Trump Gallery
• Trump Fortunetelling Page
• My Amber External Link Page