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Belgarion's World for Risus

Character Creation

Create characters as normal, using all Advanced Options except Double-Pumping and Funky Dice. Clichés that allow those options are noted. No one starts with Funky Dice, though. They must be earned through character advancement.

At least one die must be put into a racial or national Cliché. (Those are the lowest-level Clichés listed under "The People of Belgarion's World.") Each racial Cliché inherits the properties listed for higher levels. For example, both Thullish men and Thullish women worship Torak overtly (Angarak) and are not very bright (Mishrak ac Thull).

If a character is better at something than the racial Cliché might indicate, it can be broken out as a sort of "bonus dice Cliché." The total dice provided by both the racial and separate Clichés may not exceed four for a starting character, or six at any time. Should the sum reach six dice, advancement is only allowed for the racial Cliché, and any new dice are taken from the bonus dice Cliché.

Example 1: a starting character might have Nadrak woman(2) and Dancing(2). This character effectively has Dancing(4). She would not be a legal starting character if she had Nadrak woman(3) or Dancing(3), because that would give her Dancing(5) to start. However, she may gain dice with character advancement.

Example 2: The same character has advanced to Nadrak woman(3) and Dancing(3), giving her an effective Dancing(6)--the maximum allowed. She can gain no more dice in Dancing. If she gains a die in Nadrak woman, it will come out of Dancing. This would leave her with Nadrak woman(4) and Dancing(2). She still has an effective Dancing(6), but is now better at cooking, making Morindim curse markers . . . and using her knives. Approach with caution.

Characters worse at something than the racial Cliché would allow--such as a Karand(4) who's a lousy farmer--may note this in a Hook.

THE PEOPLE OF BELGARION'S WORLD

Aloria (Being tall and fair-skinned, wanting to protect the Orb of Aldur)

Angarak (worshipping Torak overtly)

Arendia (Being honest and brave, hating other Arendish peoples, loving tournaments, acting impulsively, showing no common sense, court intrigue)

The Godless Ones

Others

OTHER CLICHÉS

Alchemy (Mixing ingredients to form supernatural compounds, blowing stuff up by mistake)
This Cliché is taught only at the University of Melcene.

Astrology (Reading stars and planets to foretell the future)
According to Belgarath, the stars seem to say something different every fifteen minutes. Accordingly, only Dals may ever have more than Astrology(2).

Bear-Cult (Fighting, acting mysterious, distrusting outsiders, fanatical desire to reunite Aloria)
This is Cliché is available only to Alorns. It may not be used as a Team Cliché.

Berserker (Going crazy in combat until all foes are dead--or you are)
Only Alorns may take this Cliché, and must take a minimum of two dice in it. Double-Pumping is allowed. Roll this Cliché every combat round against a target number of 10 to go Berserk, whether the player wants to or not. Once it's successful, use Berserker for all further combat rolls. Berserker may not be used as a Team Cliché.

Divining/Dalasian (Understanding the whisperings of nature)
This Cliché is available only to Dals, and should be reserved for NPCs. Double-Pumping is allowed.

Divining/Ulgo (Sensing caves, walking through earth, making holes in rock)
Only Ulgos may have this Cliché. It may be taken at character creation only.

Drasnian secret language (Talking with fingers)
All Drasnians have this by default, and so don't need to take this Cliché. Non-Drasnians may learn it with GM--and Drasnian--approval.

Guide (Leading a seer, using a staff, being mute, faking sign language with telepathy, being big and strong)
This Cliché is only available to Dals.

Legionnaire (Sword, shield, marching, patrolling)
Only adult Tolnedran men may have this Cliché. If Legionnaires in a Team can form a shield wall, they gain two dice per extra Team member, not one.

Magic (Summoning and controlling demons, drawing pentagrams)
Magic may be bought Double-Pumped. Any non-Morindim or non-Karand character must explain how this Cliché was learned, to the GM's satisfaction.

Necromancy (Summoning the spirits of the dead, talking to them, wearing black robes)
Only the Dals (including Perivor) and the Melcenes study this art. Target numbers for Necromancy attempts are: 
 5	The necromancer is in arm's reach of the corpse.

10	The necromancer is in arm's reach of part of the corpse.

15	The necromancer is standing on the grave.

20	The necromancer is at the scene of death.

25	The necromancer is with someone the deceased knew well.

30+	The necromancer has no worldly access to the deceased.

A successful roll allows the necromancer to ask the deceased one question for every point the roll was made by.

Old Angarak (Speaking and reading a dead language)
Torak outlawed this language after the Age of Prophecy ended. Angaraks get this for free as part of their racial Cliché until that time. After that, it's a capital offense in that part of the world to know it.

Seer (Knowing the future, speaking cryptically about it, wearing a blindfold)
This Cliché is available only to Dals, and should be reserved for NPCs. Double-Pumping is allowed, and Cyradis may use Funky Dice.

Sha-Dar (Talking to horses)
Only Algars may be Sha-darim. This Cliché may be taken only at character creation.

Sight (Seeing the true nature of things, limited prophecy, being physically blind but not needing a guide)
The only recorded instance of this talent was Martje.

Sorcery (Using the Will and the Word, hearing other people use it, not aging)
This Cliché may be bought Double-Pumped. Disciples of Aldur or Torak may earn Funky Dice through character advancement.

Witchcraft (Persuading nature spirits to do what you want, living a few hundred years)
This Cliché may be bought Double-Pumped.

Wizardry (Enchanting and cursing things, making sailors superstitious)
Not discussed much in any of the books. It's how the Seers kept Grolims out of Kell. Sailors sometimes blame unexpected storms on wizards.

ENCHANTED ITEMS

There are very few enchanted items mentioned in the books. Some are bonus dice gear, others add Clichés to the wielder. For practical purposes, they are impossible to obtain unless the character is part of the right group of people. The GM must approve this, of course. And if you do allow the Rivan King as a PC, don't cry about game balance.

Amulets
Worn by Ce'nedra and the disciples of Aldur. Ce'nedra's amulet gives the Clichés Worldwide Eavesdropping(6) and Talk Through Amulets(6). It's unclear what the other amulets do besides talk to Ce'nedra's, if anything.

Angarak gold
This gold calls to its own. Like all money, it can add Bonus Dice to bribery attempts. However, if the subject has some Angarak gold already, he won't want to part with it, and he'll want more. Attempts to bribe such a person with Angarak gold gain one additional Bonus Die, over and above what the GM would normally allow.

The Cave
See chapter eight of Magician's Gambit and remember that the cave itself is sentient. Things may be possible there that aren't possible anywhere else. Garion brought a stillborn foal back to life in it, though Polgara was sure he'd kill himself instead. Good luck trying to get in, though, if it can even be found.

The Hierarchs' ruby
This gives a Team of sorcerers using it two dice per additional sorcerer, not one.

Iron-grip's sword
Without the Orb of Aldur attached to the pommel, this is too heavy for all but the strongest to wield. It's too long and awkward to add any dice to a Cliché in this case. Instead, treat as an unfamiliar weapon, causing the wielder to be at half the appropriate Cliché dice.

With the Orb attached, the situation is reversed. Iron-grip's sword then adds two Bonus Dice to the appropriate Cliché. Like the Orb of Aldur, this only works for the Rivan King. Anyone else has to deal with the Orb.

Kell
Surrounding Kell is an area no Grolim can penetrate. Those who try go blind to the world. They spend the rest of their lives with peaceful, quietly joyous expressions on their faces as they contemplate their God. Given their expressions, the God they see isn't Torak.

The Orb of Aldur (Cthrag Yaska)
Adds +[6d30] to the Rivan King's Sorcery Cliché, or gives him Sorcery[6d30]. Anyone else gets to fight the Orb's innate Sorcery[6d30] Cliché.

The Sardion (Cthrag Sardius)
Acts as the Orb of Aldur, but for anyone. The problem is that it would rather stay hidden. It has the power to do just that.

STUFF THAT BUGS ME

The world is round, based on the travels described. For that matter, Urgit insults Nathel's intelligence by saying Nathel believes the world is flat. Yet no one sails from, say, Camaar to Melcena. (This despite the theory that the Melcenes came from islands to their east, before said islands were sunk by the cracking of the world.) All sailing now is more or less on the coasts of the continents and in the Sea of the East. No explanation is given. Why is this?

It appears to be an Eddings peculiarity. The same sort of thing happens in the Sparhawk books. In both cases, it's unrealistic unless the Great Western Sea is too large to navigate. Or perhaps it's subject to frequent storms, or there are sea monsters.

  1. Introduction
  2. Character Creation
  3. Drugs and Poisons
  4. Monsters

Original material © Patrick Clark 2000
Everything else is either © S. John Ross or © David & Leigh Eddings
Last updated 31 March 2000

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