Character Creation

Character creation in Beyond follows a fast, flexible, career-based system inspired by Barbarians of Lemuria. Characters are capable from the start. They are defined by what they can do, where they have been, what sets them apart, and what trouble follows them.

There are no skill lists, prerequisite trees, shopping lists, or career qualification rolls. A character can be created in minutes.

Character Creation Summary

Develop a character concept
Assign Attributes
Assign Combat Abilities
Choose Careers
Select Edges and Drawbacks
Record Wealth
Choose a Goal
Note assumed equipment
Add final details

Step 1 — Character Concept

Start with a general idea of the science-fiction character you want to play. Examples might include: free trader captain, ship engineer, ex-soldier, corporate agent, wandering scout, roughneck salvager, smuggler, frontier doctor, disgraced officer, outlaw pilot, xenobiologist, or quiet technician with a dangerous past.

Your concept guides your later choices for Attributes, Combat Abilities, Careers, Edges, Drawbacks, and equipment.

A good Beyond character should be capable, mobile, and ready to get involved. They may be heroic, rough-edged, desperate, curious, dutiful, reckless, or all of these at once.

You can get spark some ideas for your character concept by rolling or choosing from the Character Seeds tables.

Step 2 — Attributes

Every character has four Attributes.

Attribute	Summary
Physique	Physical power, toughness, endurance, force
Agility	Reflexes, coordination, speed, precision
Intellect	Reasoning, perception, awareness, and technical ability.
Presence	Charm, authority, confidence, social force

All Attributes begin at 0. Distribute 4 points among them.

No Attribute may begin higher than 3
One Attribute may be reduced to –1 to gain one additional point
Certain Edges may increase an Attribute and raise its maximum to 6

Step 3 — Combat Abilities

Combat Abilities determine effectiveness in battle.

Combat Ability	Summary
Initiative	Awareness, reaction speed, and acting first
Melee	Skill in close combat
Ranged	Skill with firearms, energy weapons, thrown weapons, and other ranged attacks
Defense	Ability to avoid, deflect, or survive attacks

All Combat Abilities begin at 0. Distribute 4 points among them.

No Combat Ability may begin higher than 3
One Combat Ability may be reduced to –1 to gain one additional point

Optional Rule — Non-Combatant Trade

Not every character is trained for violence. Scientists, merchants, diplomats, technicians, and other non-combatants may be less capable in a fight but more gifted elsewhere.

At character creation, a player may reduce their character's Combat Abilities by 2 total points to gain 1 additional Edge.

These points may be removed from one Combat Ability or split between two. No Combat Ability may be reduced below –1. This option may only be taken once.

Step 4 — Careers

Careers represent a character’s past life, experience, training, and broad competence. Beyond does not use a detailed skill list. Instead, each Career serves as a general summary of expertise.

Choose four Careers and distribute 4 total ranks among them.

Maximum starting rank in a Career is 3
Rank 0 represents passing familiarity, natural aptitude, or limited experience
Any character may take any Career if it fits their background

When a Career applies to a roll, add its rank. Common Careers include:

Academic • Administrator • Agent • Aristocrat • Bodyguard • Colonist • Courtesan • Crafter • Diplomat • Drifter • Enforcer • Entertainer • Executive • Fixer • Gangster • Hacker • Hunter • Journalist • Marine • Medic • Mercenary • Merchant • Missionary • Officer • Operative • Pirate • Politician • Prospector • Regulator • Rogue • Roughneck • Scientist • Scout • Smuggler • Soldier • Spacer

Examples Of Starting Career Choices

Spacer 2, Merchant 1, Officer 1, Rogue 0: A free trader captain with a little questionable experience.

Scientist 3, Spacer 1, Technician 0, Academic 0: A brilliant field researcher accustomed to shipboard work.

Soldier 2, Spacer 1, Roughneck 1, Scout 0: A tough boarding trooper or frontier mercenary.

Technician 2, Roughneck 1, Spacer 1, Merchant 0: A practical starship engineer who has worked dangerous industrial jobs.

Agent 1, Rogue 1, Officer 1, Diplomat 1: An intelligence handler or covert negotiator.

Careers And Specific Roles

Careers are deliberately broad. Specific roles emerge from combinations.

A Free Trader might be Spacer + Merchant. A Free Trader Captain might be Spacer + Merchant + Officer. A Marine or boarding trooper might be Spacer + Soldier. A Ship Engineer might be Spacer + Technician. A Smuggler might be Merchant + Rogue. A Survey Scientist might be Scientist + Scout + Spacer.

If a concept can be expressed by combining existing Careers, it does not need to become a new Career.

Important Note On Fighting Careers

Fighting ability is determined by Initiative, Melee, Ranged, and Defense.

A Soldier is not automatically better in combat than anyone else unless they have strong Combat Abilities. The Soldier Career represents knowledge of weapons, tactics, military life, discipline, battlefield procedure, and survival under fire.

When a Career directly applies to the circumstances of a fight, the Referee may allow it to contribute to the roll or grant a Signal Die.

Step 5 — Edges And Drawbacks

Edges represent special advantages, talents, reputations, resources, or exceptional traits.

Drawbacks represent complications, burdens, obligations, weaknesses, or trouble.

Your character receives:

1 free Edge
Optionally, up to 2 additional Edges, but each additional Edge requires 1 Drawback

No Edge requires prerequisites. No Edge belongs to a tree. If a Edge fits the character, the character may take it.

A character may begin play with:

1 Edge and 0 Drawbacks
2 Edges and 1 Drawback
3 Edges and 2 Drawbacks

Goals Are Not Drawbacks

A Goal is something the player wants to pursue. A Drawback is something that complicates the character’s life. For example, “Find the pirate who destroyed my homeworld” is a Goal. “Enemy,” “Haunted,” “Obsessive,” or “Reckless” might be Drawbacks connected to that Goal.

Goals do not grant bonuses or impose penalties. They guide play and help the GM shape stories around the characters.

Step 6 — Wealth

Beyond does not use price lists or detailed money tracking. Characters use Wealth instead.

Wealth represents resources, credit, reputation, favors, and purchasing power.

Most characters begin with:

Wealth 1

Edges and Drawbacks may alter Wealth.

When a character attempts to acquire something expensive, rare, restricted, or unusual, roll:

2d6 + Wealth

Cost Levels:

Cost Level	Target Number
Routine	9+
Expensive	12+
Very Expensive	15+

Routine gear appropriate to a character’s Careers is assumed and does not require a roll.

Step 7 — Equipment

Characters do not track detailed inventory.

A competent character is assumed to have the tools, gear, weapons, and ordinary equipment appropriate to their Careers and current mission.

If a Technician needs a wrench, they have one. If a Soldier needs basic field gear and an ordinary weapon, they have it. If a Scientist needs ordinary instruments, they have them. If a Spacer needs a suit sealant patch, they probably packed it.

If there is disagreement over whether an item is reasonable, make an Access Roll:

2d6 + Attribute + Career

Use the normal Target Numbers: 9+ Routine, 12+ Difficult, 15+ Extreme.

Prepared For The Job

At the start of a mission, the crew is assumed to have brought what a competent team would reasonably need. Each player may name one important item they made sure to bring. If it is reasonable, they have it. Specialized, rare, restricted, expensive, or story-critical equipment may require a Wealth Roll, Access Roll, contact, favor, or job.

Step 8 — Final Details

Finish your character by choosing:

Name
Appearance
Personality
Reputation or alias
Personal Goal
Connection to the crew
One distinctive detail

The distinctive detail should be memorable: a scar, old uniform coat, antique pistol, deadpan voice, ship tattoo, artificial eye, famous family name, or strange habit.

Sample Character

Captain Mira Kade — Free Trader Captain

Attributes: Physique 0, Agility 1, Intellect 1, Presence 2

Combat:Initiative 1, Melee 0, Ranged 1, Defense 2

Careers: Spacer 2, Merchant 1, Officer 1, Rogue 0

Edges: Charismatic, Command Presence, Starship Share

Drawbacks: Debt, Enemy (Captain Yox Dalretti)

Wealth: 1

Goal: Keep her ship flying long enough to pay off the wrong people and buy true independence.

Details: Usually wearing her jacket covered with patches of the ships she's served on. Her hair is black, except for a single white lock that falls across her yellow eyes.

Mira is not the best pilot in the sector or the deadliest gunfighter in a corridor fight. She is a capable captain with a crew, a ship, debts, charm, and trouble at her heels. That is enough.

Ready For Play

Once your character has Attributes, Combat Abilities, Careers, Edges, Drawbacks, Wealth, Goal, details, and a reason to act, you are ready to play. The rest will be discovered among the stars.

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