7th Sea help

[foolishzero]

Hello everyone. I had a couple questions on making a 7th Sea character. I've only played the game one before and I'm not one hundred percent familiar with it yet. I was wanting to make a white collar criminal type of character. I was asked not to make a magic user so those are the only rules I must follow. I have 90 xp to world too.

If anyone can help me with ideas on race, schools, and skills that would be amazing!!

[18th Avenger]

Do you have a pdf of the Players' Guide, at least?

How much of a white collar criminal are you going for? A corrupt portmaster who skims off the top of docking fees? A businessman with an iron hold over a monopoly?

Four nations stand out when it comes to these sorts of concepts; the Vendel, the Vodacce, the Montaigne and the Castileans (to an extent).

Skills you might want to spend dots on would have to be Courtier, Criminal, Performer, Streetwise. Check the nationbooks, as there are lists of skills relevant to your concept. But don't be a slave to them. The same way you don't have to take a school if you don't want to, you can just sink those points into whatever you want.

A helpful trait is always Linguist. My Highlander bard has it for conversing with most of the party.

Also, what's not clear on the system?

[foolishzero]

Let me rephrase, I know the system. Just haven't played much. I've only created one character before and that was with help. I would was told that my concept works really well with the campaign the GM is running. He advised me to start of small and work my way up. I was thinking of starting him off as an at thief of some type. Stealing from people and replacing the stolen goods with cheesy knockoffs.

[18th Avenger]

Right-o. Anyway, art thief. That sort of concept's easy to do. I reiterate in taking the skills I mentioned earlier. For martial skills, get Athletics, Dirty Fighting and maybe even Knife.

For traits, I'd recommend you boost your Finesse, Panache and your Wits. Any order you wish, since you gotta deal with buyers and middlemen. The nationalities I mentioned above would give a mechanical bonus of +1 to any of the three traits.

Knacks, however... They'd be a bit trickier. Buy Keen Senses, Scoundrel and maybe some in Connection (underworld contacts). I also recommend downloading the compendium for a quick reference, as well the the appropriate nationbook.

Anything else?

[foolishzero]

Do you recommend any schools?

[18th Avenger]

Sorry this took so long.

Anyway, I don't really recommend a School for your character. I feel you'd be better off sinking the points however you want. The martial skills you favor (usually two) can be part of one you made up. A totally different school, my goodness!

But if you really want one, I recommend the Montaigne Boucher or Tout Pres schools. Off the top of my head, those seem to be the best martial schools for thieves. Maybe even Valroux or Ambrogia...

[TheOOB]

Swordsman schools are only necessary if you want fighting to be major focus of your character. If you must have a school, use a well known fencing school(Donovan, Valroux, Ambrogia, and Aldana are all good), as a white collar criminal you would want a school that a)works in high society, and b)is common enough where you won't be recognized by your style if you are say, in disguise.

7th Sea character creation is easy. Always pick a negative arcana, pick all the skills you think you'll need, and focus on raising traits. You should avoid using build points on knacks, especially advanced knacks. That's what xp is for.