Hero Creation

In Last Odyssey, each player plays the part of a single character known as a Hero. Heroes will travel the world, taking on quests, defeating warriors, and being a force for positive change. As they advance through the campaign, they will gain new abilities and increase their attributes and statistics. The basic measure of a character’s strength is a number called their tier, which is a number from 1 to 10 that acts as a rough indicator of how high the character’s statistics and attributes will be, as well as how many abilities they have. The following section outlines the process for making a new tier 1 Hero. For Heroes beyond tier 1, see the Hero advancement section as well as the subsection at the bottom of this page.

Create Concept

The first thing players should do before writing down any numbers is think a little bit about what kind of people their Heroes are—their beliefs, their background, any quirks of appearance, and so on. They will then write down a few sentences describing any details that immediately come to mind. Once they’ve done this, there are two more parts to their Hero concepts that they should decide on before moving forward. The first of these is a Hero’s Inspiration, which is the main factor that motivates them besides the events of the main story. This could be a concrete goal, but it could just as easily be the memory of a loved one, a knightly code of honor, or the desire to become famous, so long as it serves to explain their actions.

The second of these is their Relationships, which are the emotions they feel towards the people or groups to which they are most strongly connected. This could be anything from an ethnic or religious affiliation to a member of a Hero’s family, their best friend, or a lover. Writing down Relationships with other Heroes is also strongly encouraged. By default, a Hero starts with one to three Relationships and one Inspiration. Players will change their Heroes’ Relationships and Inspirations as the story progresses. A given Hero may only ever have one Inspiration at a time, although they can have as many Relationships as is appropriate. After the players have each written a sentence or two describing a Hero’s Inspiration and each of their Relationships, they have enough to count as a concept. They should also begin to think about their Heroes’ names and appearances.

In the event that a Hero lacks an Inspiration at first, their player may leave it blank. In this case, they will fill it in at some point during the campaign. For example, something might happen to them or a loved one that will cause them to swear revenge on the central Villain of the story. However, because Inspirations and Relationships are required for earning 🜉, a Hero must have at least one of either before the creation process is over. If a Hero begins the game without an Inspiration, they also may not spend 🜉 to summon their eidolon or save themselves from True Death until they choose one.

Set Attributes

After the players have made their concepts, the next step is to determine their Heroes’ attributes. These will also determine their starting statistics. In Last Odyssey, each Hero has three of these:

• A Hero’s Body contributes to their Health, Physical Accuracy, and Status Accuracy.
• A Hero’s Mind contributes to their Initiative, Magical Accuracy, and Physical Accuracy.
• A Hero’s Spirit contributes to their Mana, Status Accuracy, and Magical Accuracy.

At Hero creation, players may either set the value of all of a Hero’s attributes to 2, or set one of them to 3, another to 2, and the remaining attribute to 1.

Choose Archetype

Next, the party will choose their Heroes’ archetypes, which give them extra abilities and talents that they can acquire as they level up, as well as bonuses to their statistics. Each Hero has a single archetype whose abilities they can use at any time. In Last Odyssey, there are nine archetypes in total:

• Rangers are heroes of exceptional focus.
• Thieves are heroes of exceptional cunning.
• Artificers are heroes of exceptional knowledge.
• Sages are heroes of exceptional wisdom.
• Priests are heroes of exceptional compassion.
• Dancers are heroes of exceptional charm.
• Knights are heroes of exceptional discipline.
• Commanders are heroes of exceptional leadership.
• Harlequins are heroes of exceptional daring.

At Hero creation, a character’s archetype determines the following traits:

• Armor Proficiency: A Hero’s armor proficiency is what type of armor they can wear. At Hero creation, the Hero starts with a Novice piece of that type of armor equipped.
• Weapon Proficiency: A Hero’s weapon proficiency is what type of weapon they can wield. At Hero creation, the Hero starts with a Novice version of that type of weapon equipped. Make sure to note down what statistic the Hero’s weapon gives them a bonus to in addition to Physical Attack and Magical Attack.
• Charm: Archetype sets the statistic that the Hero charms when they play the Support role. Later on, they will also gain permanent bonuses to it as they advance in tier.
• Hex: This sets the statistic that the Hero hexes when they play the Saboteur role.
• Stat Bonuses: A Hero’s archetype grants them fixed bonuses to their Health, Initiative, and Mana.

A Hero’s archetype also provides them with a set of abilities they can use regardless of what role they currently play, as well as a set of special passive abilities called talents that they will acquire as they advance in tier. At Hero creation, they begin with the ability to use their archetype’s rank 1 ability.

Choose Accessory

A tier 1 Hero has one accessory slot that their player may choose to fill with either a Lucky type accessory or a Mystical type accessory. A Lucky accessory gives them a +1 bonus to their Evasion, while a Mystical accessory gives them a +1 bonus to their Resistance.

Choose Element

A Hero’s element determines the element of some of the abilities they gain from their roles. More specifically, they determine the element of the damage they deal with certain Striker and Caster abilities, the element of the Shells they apply and the damage they can immunize their party members from as a Support, and some of the statuses they can apply as a Saboteur. The nine elements are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Ice, Wood, Light, and Shadow.

By default, Heroes count as colorless for the purposes of calculating the damage they take from attacks regardless of their element. However, a Hero may instead have an innate element, which means that they also count as being of their element for the purpose of determining the results of attacks. This choice can only be made at Hero creation, and is permanent.

Choose Starting Role

A Hero’s role grants them abilities they can use in combat, and extra actions they can take during exploration, but only while they play it. It also grants them bonuses to three different statistics that depend on which role they currently play. As they advance in tier, Heroes will gain multiple roles that they can switch between during the Paradigm Phase of combat. Eventually, every Hero in the party will be able to use any role. However, at Hero creation all Heroes start with only one role available, and each Hero may only play one role at a time. See the Roles section for more details. In Last Odyssey, there are six roles:

• Strikers specialize in dealing physical damage to their opponents.
• Casters specialize in dealing magical damage to their opponents.
• Healers specialize in restoring their allies’ HP and negating hexes and statuses.
• Defenders specialize in drawing their opponents’ attacks and negating the damage done to themselves and their allies.
• Supports specialize in charming allies and applying special statuses called Shells, which act as a form of temporary HP.
• Saboteurs specialize in hexing and applying negative statuses to their opponents.

When a player chooses their Hero’s starting role, they automatically gain access to that role’s rank 1 ability, which they should mark down on their character sheets.

Each role grants extra bonuses to three of a Hero’s statistics equal to each of their attributes that are listed in their description in the Roles section. Whenever a Hero takes a new role, including now, note down the statistics that they give bonuses to. When calculating a Hero’s statistics, these are taken into account. Eventually, a Hero will have six separate sets of statistics, one for each role.

Calculate Statistics

At this point, the players should now have enough information to determine their Heroes’ statistics. Below, the formulae for determining each of them are given in shorthand. To see them in more detail and learn more about what each statistic does, see the Numbers section as well as the Combat Rules. The definitions and formulae for each of a Hero’s base statistics are listed below:

• Health determines a Hero’s maximum HP. It is equal to $\overline{)Body}x5+\overline{)Archetype\; Bonus}$
• Initiative determines when a Hero acts during combat. It is equal to $\overline{)Mind}x2+\overline{)Archetype\; Bonus}$
• Mana determines a Hero’s maximum MP. It is equal to $\overline{)Spirit}x5+\overline{)Archetype\; Bonus}$
• Physical Attack determines a Hero’s base physical damage bonus. It is equal to $\overline{)Weapon\; Bonus}+\overline{)Role\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}$
• Magical Attack determines a Hero’s base magical damage bonus. It is equal to $\overline{)Weapon\; Bonus}+\overline{)Role\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}$
• Physical Defense determines the base reduction to the physical damage a Hero takes. It is equal to $\overline{)Armor\; Bonus}+\overline{)Role\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}$
• Magical Defense determines the base reduction to the magical damage a Hero takes. It is equal to $\overline{)Armor\; Bonus}+\overline{)Role\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}$
• Evasion determines the base reduction to warriors’ chance to hit a Hero when they attack. It is equal to $\overline{)Accessory\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}+\overline{)Role\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}$
• Resistance determines the base reduction to warriors’ chance to inflict a status on a Hero. It is equal to $\overline{)Accessory\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}+\overline{)Role\; Bonus\; if\; applicable}$
• Physical Accuracy determines a Hero’s bonus chance to hit with strikes. It is equal to $\overline{)Mind}+\overline{)Body}$
• Magical Accuracy determines a Hero’s bonus chance to hit with spells. It is equal to $\overline{)Spirit}+\overline{)Mind}$
• Status Accuracy determines a Hero’s chance to hit with sleights. It is equal to $\overline{)Body}+\overline{)Spirit}$
• Carrying Capacity determines how many items a Hero can hold in their inventory at once. It is equal to $10+\overline{)Body}x5$

Create Eidolon

At this stage in the process, the players should now be ready to create their Heroes’ eidolons. An eidolon is a being whose appearance in the world is the most powerful manifestation of a Hero’s magic. Think of them as a combination between a patron saint and a guardian angel. Each Hero has a single eidolon that grows more powerful as they grow more powerful. In combat, Heroes can spend 🜉 to summon their eidolons.

During Hero creation, record every Hero’s eidolon’s name, appearance, and statistics. Its statistics are determined by the formulae listed in the Eidolons section. The exception to this is that eidolons do not have Mana because their attacks are either free or have an 🜉 cost, and do not have Initiative because they act during the same turn as their summoner. In addition, a Hero’s eidolon has an innate element which is the same as their summoner’s element. This is true whether their summoner’s element is innate or not.

Each eidolon has one of six possible classes: Striker, Caster, Healer, Defender, Support, or Saboteur. All eidolons can use the Attack and Full Restore abilities, and also gains two more abilities from its class. See the Eidolons section for more details.

• Striker eidolons gain the Cleave and Elemental Strike eidolon abilities.
• Caster eidolons gain the Magic Bolt and Elemental Bolt eidolon abilities.
• Healer eidolons gain the Heal and Cure eidolon abilities.
• Defender eidolons gain the Shield and Barrier eidolon abilities.
• Support eidolons gain the Enhance and Shell eidolon abilities.
• Saboteur eidolons gain the Reduce and Sabotage eidolon abilities.

Finishing Touches

At this point in Hero creation, players have all of the necessary information required to play their characters. Make sure all of it is recorded properly on their character sheets. In addition, be sure to write down any other relevant information, such as their height, weight, gender, eye color, backstory, real and apparent age, and other story elements. In addition, give each Hero 5 starting 🜉 out of a maximum of 10. They will earn more during Scenes over the course of the game.

Finally, all Heroes receive 10 ¤. Players may use some or all of this to purchase battle items. Whatever amount is left over after they are done purchasing items is carried with them into the beginning of the game.

It’s very rare that creature type is relevant to a Hero, but if this is the case, most created Heroes are assumed to be Human unless their player decides they should count as something else.

Before each player is finished with Hero creation, they should check—have they:

1. Given their Hero a name and appearance?
2. Chosen their Hero’s Inspiration and Relationships?
3. Set their Hero’s Body, Mind, and Spirit?
4. Chosen their Hero’s archetype, and recorded their rank 1 ability?
5. Recorded their Hero’s weapon proficiency and starting weapon?
6. Recorded their Hero’s armor proficiency and starting armor?
7. Given their Hero either a Lucky or Mystical accessory?
8. Recorded the charm and hex associated with their Hero’s archetype?
9. Chosen their Hero’s element?
10. Chosen their Hero’s starting role, and recorded its rank 1 ability?
11. Recorded the three bonuses to their Hero’s statistics that their starting role provides?
12. Calculated their Hero’s Health, Initiative, Mana, Physical Attack, Magical Attack, Physical Defense, Magical Defense, Evasion, Resistance, Physical Accuracy, Magical Accuracy, Status Accuracy, and Carrying Capacity correctly according to the provided formulae?
13. Recorded all of their eidolon’s statistics?
14. Recorded their eidolon’s element?
15. Recorded their Eidolon’s four abilities?
16. Written down their Eidolon’s name and appearance?
17. Given their Hero 10 ¤, and bought any items with it that they can afford?
18. Given their Hero 5 starting 🜉?

If you have done all of this, then congratulations, you are now ready to play Last Odyssey!

Higher Tier Heroes

To create a new Hero for a pre-existing campaign or for a campaign that will begin at a tier greater than 1, add Hero advancements per the Hero advancement section one at a time until the Hero reaches the appropriate tier. In addition, Heroes will also start with different equipment depending on their tier:

• Heroes of tier 4-7 will start with a Standard weapon and armor of the appropriate type, as well as two Lucky or Mystical accessories and 100 ¤.
• Heroes of tier 8-10 will start with an Expert weapon and armor of the appropriate type, as well as three Lucky or Mystical accessories and 1000 ¤.