Step 1 - Character Concept
���� The first and most important part of character creation is to develop a character concept.� What career does your character pursue?� What does he (or she) look like?� Are they fast or slow?� Are they strong or weak?� Dumb or smart?� Once you have a basic idea of what you want your character to be, you can begin.� However, before you do, write down some basic info, like a physical description, for future use.

Step 2 - Ability Scores
���� Generate you character's six basic ability scores first off, using the basic system found in the PHB.� Remember that each ability affects a different part of your character.� Strength increases his melee combat ability.� Dexterity makes him more accurate with a gun, and faster in reaction.� It also increases his Defense score.� Constitution gives him more Vitality points, and determines his Wound Points.� Intellgence gives him more skills.� Wisdom gives him greater willpower, and grants him ability in many skills.� And Charisma aids him in interacting with others.� Remember your character concept at this step.� If your character is fast, give him high Dexterity.� If he is strong, give him high Strength.

Step 3 - Background Skills
���� In Call of Duty, all characters start at '0th level', i.e. before taking any classes, with a number of limited skills.� They receive a number of skill points equal to 6 plus their Int modifier.� These may be spent on the following skills, and none other: Climb, Computer Use, Craft(any one), Diplomacy, Electronics, Entertain(any one), Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge(any one), Language(any one), Mechanics, Pilot, Profession(any one), and Swim.� These represent skills learned during childhood and adolescence, be they skills learned in high school, or mere hobbies.

Step 4 - Classes
���� Once you've determined your character's ability scores, you can choose his classes.� Remember what career you wanted your character to have during this step.� The classes in Call of Duty are as follows:
�� Academic- a free-form class, Academics are intellectuals or students who have a large number of skill points to spend.� Many characters take a few levels in Academic to indicate a period of higher education, where they learned a number of valuable skills.
�� Civilian- usually an NPC class, Civilians are a free-form class that details all the non-combatants of the world.� Some characters take levels in this class to improve their skills.
�� Criminal- sometimes a character, but usually an NPC, class, Criminals are those sneaky individuals who defy the law for their own gain.� They are skilled, and have a number of career opportunities.
�� Investigator- dedicated and intelligent, the Investigator works in law enforcement agencies or with spy agencies to investigate and solve mysteries.� They have a wide variety of skills, and a number of contacts.
�� Operative- the sneaky and intelligent spy, these characters work for nations, terrorist groups, or other interests to procure information.� They have a variety of skills and possess a number of contacts and resources other characters don't.
�� Protector- the brave men and women who serve others in police forces, Protectors are those who put others well-being in front of their own.� Competent fighters, Protectors also have a number of skills available to them.
�� Soldier- trained and proficient warriors in modern armies, these characters are handy with weapons and can handle themselves in combat.� They are masters of special training, and have a long list of career opportunities.
�� Tough- generally an NPC class, the Tough is a self-trained soldier.� They are enforcers or mercenaries, without any formal training, but formidable in combat none the less.� They make poor characters, but good henchmen for enemies.
���� Unlike in other d20 RPGs, characters in Call of Duty are not expected to start at 1st level.� Novice agents are rarely sent out into the field, at least not on the type of missions that make good RPG fodder.� That's why it is recommended characters start at at least 3rd level.� This can make character creation a little more complicated, as you keep track of every level's new skills and abilities.� It's generally best to proceed one level at a time.� For each level in each class, follow steps 5-7 below.
���� Note that the rules for multi-classing have changed from those in D&D.� Having balanced levels no longer matters.� Every character may multi-class once without suffering any penalty.� Every other time beyond the second that a character multi-classes, they suffer a 10% penalty to XP.� Some STOs allow a character to multi-class, and have their new class not count against their multi-class total.

Step 5 - Personal Feats, Special Training Oppotunities and Ability Increases
���� The system of feats present in most d20 RPGs has been replaced by two similar systems in Call of Duty.� Personal Feats are most like the old feats.� They represent special skills and attributes that come naturally to a character, or that are a part of his background.� Special Training Opportunities are different.� They indicate unique skills and specialties that characters develop in their given careers.� An example of a Personal Feat would be Alert, meaning that your character is particularly perceptive, and picks up on things in his surroundings.� Meanwhile, a Special Training Opportunity, or STO, would be Sharpshooter, which indicates the character has received training in how to be remarkably accurate with a rifle.
���� The occasional Personal Feat and most STOs have requirements to take them.� Some are ability score requirements, such as Dex 14+.� This would mean that they would need a Dexterity score of 14 or more.� Others have skill requirements.� If there were a requirement of, say, Bluff 3, this would mean that they would need at least 3 ranks of Bluff.� However, if it said Bluff +3, than they would need a net Bluff score of 3 or more, including ability score modifiers and modifiers for other feats/STOs.� Some STOs and Feats have proficiency requirements as well, which mean the character merely needs to have that proficiency to take it.� Finally, some STOs and Feats have combat requirements.� Treat these as skills in terms of with or without the '+'.� With the '+', the character should count his ability score adjustments, either Strength for melee or Dexterity for ranged.� Without it they should just take the base score.
���� Note that all STOs and Feats gained in a single level are assumed to be taken at the same time.� Therefore, no STO's adjustments can be used to meet the requirements for another STO or Feat in the same level.� Also, note that many Feats and STOs add skills to a class's class skill list.� If acquired through an STO, these only apply to the class which the character has just gained a level in, and is adding new STOs for.� If acquired through a Personal Feat, they apply to all classes the character possesses.
���� Personal Feats can be found here on this list.� As said above, they represent personal traits and characteristics of the character, or skills acquired by the character on his own time, not related to his career.� All characters acquire personal feats at the normal rate for feats, as perscribed in the PHB, at 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels.� Note that these refer to character level, i.e. including all of the different classes which the character might possess.� So a 3rd/4th level Soldier/Operative would have received Personal Feats when he was a 1st level Soldier (2 at this level, actually, since humans get an extra Personal Feat at 1st level), a 3rd level Soldier, and a 3rd/3rd level Soldier/Operative.� As well as Personal Feats, these Personal Feat Slots can also be spent to buy from a limited list of Special Training Opportunities.� These STOs represent skills available to civilians from the private sector, such as helicopter piloting lessons or a background with the Boy Scouts.� Class skills and adjustments for these STOs apply to all classes.
���� The following is the list of STOs that may be bought with Personal Feats .� Note that the words in brackets after each feat is an example place where such a skill may be learned in the civilian sector: Airborne Operations [parachute lessons], Aquatic Operations [SCUBA certification], Martial Artist [tae kwon do lessons], Medical Training [first aid classes], Pilot(civilian helicopter, light aircraft) [pilot lessons], Proficiency(knives, rifles, sidearms, motorcycles, trucks, hang-gliders, jet-skis, snowmobiles, boats and sailboats) [NRA membership; frivilous purchases], Unarmed Combat [karate lessons], Unarmed Strike [kung fu lessons], Vehicle Focus [too many pilot lessons], Weapon Focus [life-long NRA membership], Wilderness Survival [Boy Scouts].
���� All of the STOs can be found here on this list.� As stated above, STOs are fields of special skills or specialties characters acquire as part of their career.� Most, but not all, classes provide class STOs, i.e. special fields of training for those in that career.� Academics, Civilians, and Toughs have no class STOs.� These are merely members of the civilian sector, and receive no access to STOs (besides those acquired with Personal Feat Slots), and no additional STO slots.� Other classes, namely the Criminal, Investigator and Protector, acquire STOs at the normal rate of at 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels.� Note, however, that these refer to class levels.� For each class the character has, the count is separate.� Therefore, a 3rd/2nd level Protector/Investigator would have received a Protector STO as a 1st level Protector and a 3rd level Protector, and would have received an Investigator STO as a 3rd/1st level Protector/Investigator.� These are in addition to the Personal Feats they normally receive.� Finally, some classes, namely the Operative and Soldier, receive extra STOs at given levels, described in the Special Benefits section of the class description.
���� Finally, skill increases come at the normal rate, and affect the character normally.� Skill decreases, such as from aging, also affect the character normally, but they cannot result in the loss of a Feat, STO, or class.

Step 6 - Skills
��� After choosing STOs and Feats, it is generally best to next proceed on to Skill selection.� Each class description described the number of skill points that the character receives at each level.� Also note that since all characters in Call of Duty are human, they receive an extra skill point every level.� As opposed to in normal d20 where every character receives 4x their normal skill points at 1st level, in Call of Duty they only receive 2x.� However, they receive this at 1st level in every class, so that when they multi-class, they once again gain 2x their normal skill points to spend in that class.� Skill points buy a rank in class skills just as in the PHB.� Characters can buy non-class skills, but at 3x the normal cost, as opposed to 2x the normal cost in the normal d20 rules.� No character may have a rank in a skill higher than his character level +4.
���� The list of skills for CoD can be found here.� Many are the same from other d20 games, while some have changed.

Step 7 - Contacts
���� An important part of any spy campaign, Contacts are people whom the character knows that he can reach out to for information, help, resources, or even a place to stay.� Instead of defining everyone a character knows, Call of Duty instead uses a unique quasi-skill system.� Contacts work just like skills, with the GM setting a DC, and the characters making Contact rolls to try and reach or beat that DC.� Success means that the character has contacts in the area, and can try and contact them.
���� There are five Contacts quasi-skills: Civilian, Criminal, Government, Military, and International.� Civilian, Criminal, Government, and Military are all self-explanatory in their function: they represent the level of contacts held in that field.� Civilian contacts might be doctors or journalists.� Criminal contacts are smugglers, thieves, and the mafia.� Government contacts include not only politicians, but also law enforcement officers and intelligence officers.� Military contacts might be mere soldiers or specialized army intelligence officers.� International is a different kind of skill, which is paired with one of the other four skills when making a Contacts check.� It represents to what range, internationally, a character's contacts reach.
���� When making a Contacts check, the GM fist decides whether or not a character is in his native area.� Generally this means the character's home country, though not always.� If he is not in his native area, a character must first make an International check, to make sure that his contacts can be reached or will be able to help him in the area where he currently is.� A character having access to unbidden help can ruin a scenario far too easily, so these rules leave the GM in charge of the DC for all Contact checks, including International checks.� If the character succeeds at the International check, he makes another check in the appropriate field, either Civilian, Criminal, Government or Military.� A separate International check is needed for each different check a character wants to take.� If the character is within his native area, than you can forego the International check.
���� So, for example, let's say an American Operative is seeking to gather information on a group of Malaysian revolutionaries who are funding their operations through illicit heroin smuggling.� He has two fields which he wants to check for contacts: first, he wants to get information from the Malaysian police service on possible farm locations; second, he wants to inquire into the criminal element for possible links between the revolutionaries and the American market.� The character has International +5, Criminal +4, and Government +6.� His GM makes him roll for the Government check first, and sets a DC of 20 for reaching a member in the Malaysian government.� The character rolls the d20 die and gets a 13 which, added to the character's +5 International score, still does not reach the needed 20.� The character cannot find anyone he knows or can reach in the local government.� However, on his second International check for the Criminal check, which the GM also gives a DC 20, the character rolls an 18, successfully passing the check.� He now has to succeed at a Criminal check.� Since he has already determined that the character's field of Criminal contacts extends to the region, the character sets a DC 15 for the Criminal check.� He rolls a 12, beating the DC.� Fortunately for the character, one of his Criminal contacts hints him off to a possible drug trafficker who is known to associate with the revolutionaries; the harbor-master in the closest port city.
���� Every character starts with a base rating in each of his Contact quasi-skills equal to his Charisma modifier.� As he increases in level, he gets higher ratings in some of the skills, as detailed in the class description.� A character also has the ability to increase any of his ratings through a number of feats and STOs.

Step 8 - Finishing Touches
���� Like any d20 character, especially those starting beyond 1st level, CoD characters have a number of little details that need to be filled out.� The process on doing this is detailed below:
���� Attack Scores- a character's attack score is detailed in his Class description, and is described either as Poor, Average, Good, or Excellent.� These mean you advance at the following rates, by level:
Poor- +0, +1, +1, +2, +2, +3, +3, +4, +4, +5
Average - +0, +1, +2, +3, +3, +4, +5, +6, +6, +7
Good- +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8, +9, +10
Excellent- +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7, +8, +9, +10, +11
Don't forget to add in modifiers for Ability Scores, Feats, and STOs.
���� Saving Throws- each Class description also gives a verbal description of a character's advancement in each of the three fields of saving throws.� The following rates are the rate at which you advance, by level:
Average- +0, +0, +1, +1, +1, +2, +2, +2, +3, +3
Good- +1, +2, +2, +2, +3, +3, +4, +4, +4, +5
Excellent- +2, +3, +3, +4, +4, +5, +5, +6, +6, +7
Do not forget to add in modifiers for Ability Scores, Classes, Feats, and STOs.
���� Vitality Points- every character gets a number of Vitality Points equal to his Constitution score plus a roll of his Hit Die at each level (plus his Constitution modifier each level).� There can be modifiers for Personal Feats.
���� Wound Points- every character also gets a number of Wound Points equal to his Constitution score.� This number can get larger due to some Personal Feats.
���� Initiative- every character's Initiative is equal to his Dexterity modifier, plus any adjustments for STOs or Personal Feats.
���� Defense- equal to character's Dexterity modifier +10, can be adjusted by armor.
���� Variant Rule: Alignment- while not generally used, GMs may include Alignment in their campaign if they so choose.� Use the same rules presented in the PHB.

Step 9 - Equipment
���� As important as any other part of a character, his tools define who he is.� In Call of Duty, there is no set amount of equipment to start at, or specific lists of equipment.� Rules for translating real-world equipment into game stats are provided elsewhere on this page.� Your GM should tell you just how much equipment you get to start with.� If you are a GM, be sure to check the Campaign Options sheet for some guidelines, depending on what kind of campaign you want to run.
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