Eclipse - Character Construction Cribsheet

. I’ve been asked to put up a specialized index to some of the articles and examples for building classless d20 characters in Eclipse beyond what comes in the book itself – so here it is. If you’re building a character, the usual sequence will be Race – Template (if any) – Basic Build, so that’s how this is organized. If you’re looking for “how-to” information, next up is the level-by-level class breakdowns and the general power-package information and examples. After that, for inspiration, swiping power packages from, and use in other games, comes the sample higher-level characters.

Character Creation and System Primer

Sample Races:

• +0 ECL Player’s Handbook Races; Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, and Halflings.
• +0 ECL Human Variants: Revised Human (how humans are different from other species), Spirit-Touched Humans (natural shaman), Elan (psychicly augmented humans, scroll down), God-Touched Humans (spirit channels).
• +0 ECL Human Variants/10-point Package Deals: Star Wars, Polluted Future, and Technical Expert Humans and Men of Faith (humans who draw strength form their religion).
• Elven Variants: High Eves (+0 ECL), Aquatic Elves (+0 ECL), Drow Elves (+2 ECL), Classical Drow Elves (+2 ECL), Gray Elves (+0 ECL), Noble Elves (+1 ECL), Wood Elves (+0 ECL), Wildwood Elves (+1 ECL), Xin Elves (+0 ECL), and 100 types of Affinity Elves (+1 ECL,  10 choices each of Terrain and Arcane affinities).
• The Blink Dog (+2 ECL), Bugbear (+2 ECL), Gnoll (+1 ECL), Goblin (+0 ECL), Hobgoblin (+0 ECL), Janni (multiple possible), Lizardfolk (+1 ECL), and Ogre (+2 ECL).
• +1 ECL Ri’aal: Non-humanoid cats with innate magic in lieu of tool use.
• +1 ECL Werewolf. As a species of their own, rather than as an infection, with assorted variants.
• +1 ECL Sentient Office Device for Battling Business World. This uses the half-price attribute rule, but the ECL would remain the same if it didn’t.
• +1 ECL Half-Giant.
• +1 ECL : Gargoyles and Bat-Winged Electric Cat Mutates. Yes, from the Gargoyles cartoon.
• +1 ECL Transhuman – for characters in post-cyberpunk settings.
• The Lesser (+1 ECL), Greater (+2 ECL), and High (+3 ECL) Fey.
• +2 ECL Satyrs and Centaurs (scroll down, note that the Centaurs are easily tweaked to +1 ECL).
• +2 ECL World Tree Races: Cani (Dog-Folk), Gormorror (Bear Folk), Herethroy (Insect Folk), Khtsoyis (Flying Octopi), Orren (Otter-Folk), Rassimel, Sleeth (Big Cats), and Zi Ri (Minature Dragons), all with innate spellcasting abilities.
• +2 ECL Dark Reaper, responsible for capturing evil spirits which have escaped into the mortal world.
• +4 ECL Darkweird Dragon.
• +4 ECL Dream Entity. A creature born of popular belief.
  • Genegrafting, Genetic Engineering, and Anthropomorphics in d20: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.
  • Building Sapient Animal Characters in Eclipse:
• High-Powered Races. Those marked with an “*” use the half-price attribute rule; if this rule is not in use, their attribute modifiers should be reduced appropriately. Others are simply built for extreme efficiency.
  • +0 ECL Basic Dragon: A minimalist dragon.
  • +0 ECL Fedyra: Dragon-Fey hybrids.
  • +0 ECL Tolkien’s Istari and Corrupted Maiar (scroll down to the racial breakdowns)
  • +0 ECL Neanderthal*: Quasi-ursine cave dwellers with natural magic.
  • +0 ECL NeoDogs and NeoDolphins*: Genetically-engineered animals.
  • +0 ECL Pureblooded Humans*: Genetically enhanced humans.
  • +0 ECL Atherian Races/Magical Birthrights*: Blood, Crystal, Death, Dimensional, Elemental, Forest/Plant, Ice, Illusion, Life, Light, Lunar, Order, Shadow, Solar, Totemism, and Dragon, Absolute Command, Divination, Venom, and Warding.
  • +0 ECL Twilight Isles Races: Ikam (Culture and Racial Traits), Shadow Elves (Culture and Racial Traits), and Thunder Dwarves (Culture and Racial Traits). Since the Shadow Elves have numerous bloodlines, here are some samples - Part I, Part II, Part III,
  • +1 ECL Twilight Isles Veltine (Culture and Racial Traits) – with an explanation of the races of the Twilight Isles. Also, the Veltine in Depth: More details on the culture of the Veltine
  • +1 ECL Cartoon Pureblooded Human. For when you just need to get animated.
  • +1 ECL Cinematic Hero*: +1 ECL movie-style action hero.
  • +1 ECL: Childe of the Starborn Fire*. The offspring of a dimension-walking draconic power.
  • +1 ECL Demonically Infused Pureblooded Human*. This is your character on demonic power.
  • +1 ECL Loup-Garou: Another variant on the werewolf, this time as a very powerful nature spirit.
  • +1 ECL Number Lord Template:  For when a crazed mathematical spirit who cannot even exist in sane universes seems appropriate.
  • +2 ECL Generic Evil Outsider. For mighty demons and the like.
  • +2 ECL races/templates from Monte Cook’s World of Darkness White Wolf adaption: Vampires,  Werewolves, Demons, Awakened and Mages (with sphere-based magic and notes on the innate specialization of the various White Wolf games).
  • +3 ECL Krell Psychic Adept*. Malevolent natural psychics, +4 ECL without the half-price attribute rule.
  • +4 ECL Light Military Cruiser An example of stretching things for people who want to play a warship.
  • +5 ECL Praetorian*: +7 ECL without the half-price attribute rule. An atrocity of raw physical power.

Sample Templates:

• In general, races may be used as templates at +1 ECL. This is especially handy with the Atherian Magical Birthrights and the Fey provided above. Here we have some note on Stacking Templates, just in case there are any questions.
• Negative ECL Races: Why they’re a bad idea, how to do them, and how to account for segments of templates which cancel each other out.
• +0 ECL Party Template and samples – the Knights of Yggdrasil, Forest Stalkers, Company of Kardeon, Angbokor Guild, and Royal Cartographic Society.
• +0 ECL Low-Level Hero Template: Using Eclipse to run low-powered, slow-advancement, d20 games.
• +1 ECL Generic Lesser Outsider: for minor angels, demons, spawn of chaos, jinn, etc.
• +1 ECL Allomancer or Talismanic Mage.
• +1 ECL Time Lord Template. For those who like Dr Who.
• +1 ECL Anime Character Template.
• +1 ECL Cyborg Super-Soldier*. The effects will vary with the available equipment.
• +1 ECL God-Favored, +1 ECL Noble-Blooded, and +2 ECL Divine Ruler – divinely-chosen nobles and rulers.
• +2 ECL Ancient One – a mortal suddenly infused with many lifetimes worth of ancient memories.
• +2 ECL Magical Girl (or Boy) Template. For  those who simply must.
• +3 ECL Wyld Magic Template. For when you’re infused with vast – but mostly uncontrollable – powers.

Sample Level One Character Builds:

• Iron Dragon:  unarmed and unarmoured tank.
• Shamanic Adept: a speaker to spirits.
• Vedic Master: a matter transmuter and self-enhancer.
• The Bulwark : a MMORPG – or 4′th Edition D&D – style tank/controller.
• Kabalistic Ritualist: a ritual mage. Includes the Priestly Scholar, Demonologist, Expert Ritualist, and Canny Spellblade variants.
• The Street Rat: a roguish street kid. Includes the Black Marketeer, Spellthief, Street Survivor, Gang Leader, and Wiz Kid variants..
• The Wraith: a short-range teleporter.
• The Swashbuckler: an unarmored fighter. Includes the Cinematic Hero, Experienced Duelist, Agile Master, Florentine Fighter, Demon Hunter, Dilettante Noble, Golden One, Shadow Adept, Military Man, Spirit Speaker Magical Dabbler, and Ruthless Questor variants.
• The Primal Warrior: a shapeshifter-berserker.
• Animist: a non-spellcasting wizard who speaks with creatures and objects.
• Harbringer of Doom:  an optimized skirmisher, and what NOT to do.
• Alarian Legionaire Build and some Sample Legionaires (these characters use the half-price attribute rule).
• Courtly Witch: a noblie intriguer with hidden psychic powers.
• The Battlerager: a totemistic warrior with rage-based augmentations.
• The Witch: a low-powered but extremely flexible psychic.
• The Gifted Psion: a second-edition style psion build.
• The Dweomer Master: a master of particular psychic fields.
• The Starfire Adept: a stress-powered master of psychic skills
• The Revised Psion: variants on the standard Psion build. Psychic Knight, Expert Psion, Natural Psion, Tower Resident, Fatebound Psion, Spirit Warror, and Psychic Artificer.
• Transhumans: mutants and superheros with limitless use of some specific powers.
• Scholarly Priest: a master of channeling aid to his or her friends.
• The Hellguide: a revenant from the abyss
• the Werewolf: a young ECL1 shapeshifter
• The Cyber-Warrior: and how to buy Cyberware
• Runesmith: a caster who builds up spells a bit at a time
• Tollers: characters who summon essences into themselves
• Poseur or Mad Cultist: single-school spellcasters
• Mystic Adept: a design-it-yourself spontaneous spell point caster available in many different flavors.
• The Collector: a ritualist and collector of magical devices
• The Tech Wiz: a build for hackers, security breakers, and tinkerers. Includes the Technical Hero, Kit-Basher, Robot Master, Intuitive Expert, Expert Technician, Wondersmith, and Hacker variants.
• The Hotshot Pilot: a master of some type of vehicle.
• The Investigative Reporter: the truth is out there. Includes the Hard-Hitting Detective, World Traveler, Intuitive Reporter, Lucky Intern, Magical Dabbler, and Tough Reporter variants.
• The Elementalist: a specialist in a particular branch of magic
• The Fortunate Hero: a character who can provide his own lucky breaks
• The Bloodmarked: a victim of his or her own innate powers. Essentially consists entirely of variants.
• Khamsin The Wanderer, a warrior-mage designed to buy each of his spells, and their casting level, individually.
• Inaro Montban, a mystical agent of the Limbo Wheel built using a house rule I don’t recommend – but found irresistably amusing.
• The Paladin of Death, a guardian of life’s cycle.
• Ruth Gelman: A young – if very deadly – level one sharpshooter from the Federation-Apocalypse setting.
• Ishinomorel. Shadow Elf Archer-Runemaster. Level Two Upgrade.
• Tristan. Shadow Elf Pirate-Elementalist. Level Two Upgrade.
• Ysmir. Shadow Elf Scout-Firemaster. Level Two Upgrade.
• Vehn Rageclaw: Veltine Warrior-Mad Scientist.
• Rudra Mogzul, Thunder Dwarf Warrior. Level Two Upgrade (offsite link).
• Peregrine, a Veltine Bodyguard-Companion.
• Building the Level One Bladesinger
• S’stam: An Ikam Follower-Bodyguard.

Level-by-Level Class Breakdowns:

• The Merchant: A complete level 1-20 point-buy example.
• Basic Classes: Barbarian, Bard, and Cleric, Druid, Fighter, and Sorcerer, Paladin and Ranger, Rogue and Wizard, Psion and Psychic Warrior, and Monk.
• Standard “Types” broken down.
• Star Wars d20 Base Classes broken down for Eclipse.
• The Blade Dancer / Wuxia Adept.

General Build Information and Power Packages:

• Compiled Martial Arts: All the martial arts from the sample characters and site, given alphabetically.
• Specialized Martial Arts Techniques - Daiken Vior (versus Undead), Silver Forge Kung Fu (versus lycanthropes), and other highly-focused forms.
• 24 CP Archetypes and Roles:  Aristocrat, Berserker, Commander, Laborer, Magus, Messenger, Shadow, Wanderer, and Wise Companion,Broken Spirit, Brute, Elder, Great Leader, Official, Scholar, and Shaman, Centurion, El Diablo, Performer, Romantic, and Thief, Fortunate Scion, Merchant, Seducer, and Stoic, and the How-to-use-them guide
• 24 CP Sith and Jedi power packages, and translating Force Powers into Eclipse.
• (Mostly) 24 CP Star Trek Power Packages: Ensign, Infiltrator, and Engineer, Captian and Second In Command, Transporter Officer, Counselor, Mystic Counselor, and Doctor, Chief Security Officer, Cosmic Wedgie, Annoying Brat, the Mudd, and Holographic Characters.
• Eclipse Power Packages. Answers to requests on how to build particular powers with Eclipse.
• Buying Cyberware in Eclipse.
• Building Spellcasters. Various magical options in point-buy.
• Building Psychics: Power Sources and Basics, Types of Psychics.
• Advanced Companions: Templates for Companions, Familiars (Spirit Fetches, Liflings, and Shadow Guardians and the Wealth Level Templates from the Practical Enchanter), Mounts and Companion Creatures (Flying Steeds, Firehawks, Stormcrows, and other beasties), and Animal Companions.
• Literary Magic Items and Sample Relics: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII (with Index and Summary). The Tongues of Heaven: Combined enchantment-relics and quest objects.
• Political Positions: some rules for playing a politician, ambassador, general, or other influential individual.
• Martial Arts: Celestial Martial Arts, Harpist of the Weave Mystic Martial Art.
• Psychic Pilot Powers.
• Building Reserve Feats in Eclipse.
• Building Incarnum Weilders in Eclipse.
• Building Weapon Specialists in Eclipse.
• Building Narrative Powers in Eclipse.
• Thematic abilities for those who have returned from death: Deathly Feats and Spirit Riders (powers bestowed by symbiotic spirits).
• Building the Thaumaturgist in Eclipse; a more detailed look.
• Shapeshifters and Cursed Lycanthropes. Making Lycanthropy something to fear.
• Revised d20 Skills System: An option for making rarely-used skills more attractive by reducing their cost.
• Sample Thaumaturgy and Dweomer fields.
• Character Types – The Expert: General requirements and limitations of such characters, and how to build one in Eclipse.
• The Witchery and Negative Energy Domains.
• The Fellowship of the Ring d20: Converting characters from the books.
• You Have No Power Over Me!: Purchasing immunities to particular foes and types of foes.
• Companions: Notes on Companions: Appendums to the articles on Companions.
• Alchemical Magic: A spell list and spells for alchemical hedge magicians.
• Sample Package Deals: The Obsidian Order and the Crystal Seers: Two orders with opposing viewpoints on keeping secrets..
• Epic Spell Conversions: Part I; Spells and Stunts, Part II, Part III, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight.
• The Dreamspawn: The Basic Template, Timothy and Verendior, Dunangylaz and Antaeus Varin, Lerona and Queen Yintor, Oridon and Yinsloth. Mortal Children – and the Horrific Alien Monsters who love them.
• The Society Mind and Psionic Focus: Building psychic networks in Eclipse.
• Hedge Magic Heroes: Practical magic for low-level characters: Part I, Part II and Part III (level zero spells), Part IV (level one spells), Part V and Part VI (level two spells and technological hedge magic), and Part VII (summary list and sample enchantments).
• Old School Skills: How to make skills a backup check in Eclipse.
• Village Heroes: Building A Campaign (the basics of building an Eclipse campaign – and a sample setup for a low-level low-powered campaign setting), Village Hero Package Deals Part I and Part II (background package deals for low-powered local characters), Argius and Jamiel (a hedge mage and a village smith), Ethan and Kordov (an apprentice forester and a militia trainee), Tarvel and Raymund (a streetwise youngster and a scholarly initiate), Nagindeyu (a wannabee adventurer), and Maylindarin Vrilnassyr (elven archer-mystic).
• Character Optimization and Broken Builds: Ways to build overly-efficient characters – and ways to restrain those builds.
• Over-Optimized Builds – and what to look out for – in Eclipse.
• The Shonen Jump: Sudden power-ups in Eclipse.
• Teenagers from Outer Space: Making such characters in Eclipse d20.
• The Trickster Magi power package: Building mages with unlimited use of relatively minor powers.

• Mutants of the Eclipse: A guide to using Eclipse to run a “Mutant Superhero” game. The Basic Templates, The Element Master, The Feral, The Strongman, The Gadgeteer, The Blaster, The Speedster (and his spells), The Exokinetic, The Stealth Expert, The Healer, The Paragon, Minor Mutants, Weres, Alter-Egos, Metamorphs, Power Mimics, and Shapeshifters, The Duplicator, The Adept, The Channeler (and the basis of “Mutant Powers”), The Long-Range Teleporter, Power Duplicator, and Power Negator / Manipulator, Guardians and Monotalents, The Stuntman, The Armorsmith, The Immortal, The Combat Expert, and Adept Themes

Sample Higher-Level Characters:

. . Note that these characters were generally built for particular campaigns, and so are sometimes built using campaign-specific variants – usually a price break on especially-relevant abilities. These are covered in the Campaign Sheets for the relevant campaigns – Federation-Apocalypse Campaign, Ironwinds Campaign, Atheria Campaign, Twilight Isles Campaign, and Darkweird Campaign.

Level Two Sample Characters:

• Abigail Saunders-Tabard, Iron Homemaker. Housewife, Mystical Cook, and Martial Artist.
• Ahriman, a second level Thunder Dwarf.
• Arnold Jeremyn: a cyborg superhero.
• Benedict: a mystic swordsman of the manifold, and his Homeworld.
• Lotus Lefarge: an influential on-the-spot reporter who can influence what happens with what she says.
• Jarvian Mitchell: a wandering mechwarrior (and his mech).
• Kevin Sanwell, unseelie knight and would-be demon lord.
• Marty Tabard, a cartoon businessman from Battling Businesss World.
• Rudra, A thunder dwarf warrior from the twilight isles.
• Terin Aderath, mystic ritualist and martial-artist assassin.
• Flowing River, an Ankorath Smuggler.
• Sem the Sin-Eater, an oathbound “Paladin” from Kharidath.
• Fauve, a Chelmian Adventurous Scholar.
• Killers, Diplomats and Technomagi: Eclipse Sample Characters, Jarek Zindel (assassin), Boran Nong (half orc apologist), and Rochar Lindolfsen (dwarven technomage).
• Professor Arcane: Level two anime-themed human occultist with the Respected Academic, Psychic Mastery, and Shamanic Lore power packages plus the Arnis-Barang and Kulam-Kali Occult Martial Arts. Also, some Alternate Power Packages: Frankenstein and his Monster, Alchemic Mastery, and Magic Theorist.
• Taric the Pit Fighter: A simple warrior build for Eclipse.
• Olivia Marcanti: Level zero Ancient One, visionary, and secretary.
• The Red Knights of Iskarin in the Twilight Isles: Hilsaryn Rollyn (Ikam Thief), Temorath Marbane (Veltine Runemaster), Serrulan (Thunder Dwarf Ranger), and Obian Bloodwrath (Shadow Elf Barbarian).

Level Three Sample Characters:

• Sir Laurent Onn, a knight who channels celestial energies into magical auras.
• Kysen Nial, a nemesis for low-level characters.
• John Jack: a paranoid James Bond-style gadgeteer/secret agent.
• Kesara Galano: a delusional shadow elf who thinks she’s a dragon.
• Tarlin Malority: a death-affinity Thunder Dwarf Assassin and his History. Also, a version of him as transformed into a magma elemental; Tarlin “Magma” Malorty.

Level Four Sample Characters:

• Cadmel, Anime Sorcerer. A roguish anime-style sorcerer with unlimited use of his spells.
• Ithulsin the Outcast: a powerful mentalist with the Krell Psychic Adept template.
• Li Kao, a d20 Samurai and Shintoist mystic. Exchanges favors with spirits for his magical talents.
• Lingering Smoke, a quick conversion of a Sidereal Exalted character to Eclipse.
• Jamie Wolfe – a MLELF Cyborg Super-Soldier.
• Dr Solomon Brenner: A highly skilled, if monstrously immoral, surgeon from the Linear Realms..

Level Five Sample Characters:

• Doctor Wrath, a power-armor supervillian who can fit nicely into most d20 parties.
• The Iron Raptor, a basic superstrong / flying / super-tough superhero build.
• Julius Gaius Maximus, a healer-priest of the Imperium.
• Charles Stevenson. An exceptionally deadly martial artist and master of C’hi Manipulation via Acupressure.
• Kristin Stanwell. A cyborg firearms expert.
• Matthew Carrington. An anime-styled paladin-archer and servant of the light.
• Shadow-of-Dark-Wings. A Dark Reaper, responsible for capturing evil spirits which have escaped into the human world.
• Terry Jenkins (offsite link). Battling Businesswoman, occult accountant, and Champion of the Numbers.
• Jim Corrigan, psychiatrist, road rager, and Battling Businessman.
• Aumakua Puka, the guardian of the Wolf Wood and his Companions.
• Sylthis Torr, a Sapient Leopard Warrior-Adept of the Obsidian Order.
• Baron Ectar, a supervillian and master of vocal powers.
• The Toller of the Darkness: A fifth level “Warlock” build for Eclipse.
• Variations on the Monk: The basic “Monk”, the C’hi Master, and the Exorcist at level five for Eclipse.

Level Six Sample Characters:

• A’ikana Kalil, a psychic monk, a dimension walking chi master, and agent of the Unified Church.
• Thrall, a jackal-barbarian Lesser Dark Lord.
• Amber the Dragon Sorceress. A young (ECL 6) dragon-sorceress.
• Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist.Yes, it’s the anime character. Someone wanted to know how to build him in Eclipse.
• Akio Matsuda: A sentient humanoid robot from Battling Business World and the Humanoid Sapient Device Template.
• Bernie “Coach” Thompson, Floorherd: A Battling Business World Stockbroker.
• Todd Jenkins, Battling Business World English Traditionalist-Archer.

Level Seven Sample Characters:

• Esteria, a slightly senile old woman with poor control of her magic and entirely too many dragon-cats.
• Kelsaru Ana’Nasu, a crystal dragoness, powerful telepath, and Kevin Sanwell’s girlfriend.
• Xaliotl, an obsessive fire mage.
• Marty Tabard (offsite link), Battling Businessman and dimensional wanderer.

Level Eight Sample Characters:

• Gandalf and the Balrog. Surely I don’t need to explain who these are?
• Haurgrim the Sagacious, a magus, mystical artist, and demonstration of how to build an advanced skill.
• Arith Lewauken, a tribal warrior and witch-doctor turned mecha pilot.
• Ragnar the Questionable, a prismatic warrior from the Illusion Domain.
• Fred Gelman (Offsite Link), battling businessman and friend to sentient office devices.
• Ulric Kyrie Dunholtson, a mystical guardian, wielder of the Dragon Path, and hedge mage.
• Brendalen Kathin: a mid-level Loup-Garou.

Higher Level Sample Characters:

• Level Ten: Raven, a druid/thief/dragon who’s wandered in from older editions.
• Level Eleven: One, the Number Lord of Identity.
• Level Twelve: Peter Leland (Offsite Link), a cartoon business raider and possum breeder.
• Lord Zero: The Number Lord of Eternity. A crazed godling.
• Level Thirteen: Adam, Praetorian Nightmare: a melee death-machine nightmare for entire high-level parties.
• Level Eighteen: The Atrocity Build: A grossly abusive build designed for raw sorcerous power – and his Companions.
• Epic Level: A Balor, spawn of darkness…
• Epic Level: Amilko Moonshadow: History and Character Sheet. One of the few epic-level squirrels out there.

Level Twenty Breakdowns:

• The Warlock (and variations thereof).
• The Duskblade (and variations thereof)
• The Malconvoker and the Master Summoner variations.
• The Crusader, Swordsage, and Warblade from the Book of Nine Swords.

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