The game can be daunting, so to start things off, it’s recommended that you follow this guide your first time through in creating a character, referencing it often to help you in the creation process.
Character creation is often much easier if you start with a concept. It doesn’t have to be thorough or deep; something as simple as a name, a chosen village, or some key personality traits can make an excellent framework to build around. If you don’t have a particular concept, that’s okay! Feel free to just make it up as you go along. You might find inspiration along the way, especially if it’s your first time making a character. And of course, don’t be afraid to ask for help!
A solid next step is to choose which of the playable Hidden Villages your character is from. This is where your character was trained, who they’re loyal to, and ultimately who they work for. Cultures vary between Villages, so you may want to read the start of each Village’s page to learn a little about them. But for the most part, it’s okay if you don’t fit the mold of your village–ninja are expected to be a little… odd.
Every village is also home to several ninja clans. Clans are largely formed by blood or by covenant, and have special techniques tied either to their bloodline, or their other closely-guarded secrets. These techniques are forbidden to outsiders, and one cannot “join” a clan; you are either born into one, or you are not. There are exceptions, but such exceptions must be discussed with a GM, just to make sure.
Choosing a clan is not mandatory, and clanless ninja have their own benefits: a 10% XP Boon, and XP/20 Skill Points. These benefits are further explained in later pages.
Uniques are, as the name implies, unique aspects of your character that give them an edge in life. A new character begins with 5 Unique Points (UP) to spend, though some clans start with one less due to the power of their techniques. UP can be spent at nearly any time, though Creation Uniques can only be gained at Character Creation. Uniques are covered in greater detail in the Uniques page.
Some uniques will state they “Upgrade Into” or “Upgrade From”. This is simply a method of paying the difference in cost between two associated uniques to change from one to another. For example, if at character creation you began with Elementally Gifted, and then gained another Unique Point later on from Experience Point progression, you could then pay the difference between Elementally Gifted (a 1-point unique) and Elementalist (a 2-point unique) of 1, lose Elementally Gifted (and all associated benefits it gave), and then gain Elementalist (as you have effectively spent 2 UP to do so). If you were to gain another Unique Point later, you could again uprade from Elementalist, into Elemental Mastery. Note that you can not “Upgrade Down” to gain UP back; Upgrades From entries are listed simply to show you at a glance what leads to that unique.
Attributes (also known as Stats) represent your character’s raw capabilities. The five attributes are: Strength (STR), Resilience (RES), Chakra (CHA), Dexterity (DEX), and Agility (AGI). More information is covered in the Attributes page.
A new character starts with 20 in all Attributes. They also begin with 25 points to distribute among their attributes as they like, with no more than ten in a single attribute.
Every Naruto World character has many dozens of stats, jutsu, abilities, and ways to customize them, so it’s necessary for a GM to glance over at any character someone makes to ensure there’s no accidental mistakes made during character creation before ‘approving’ them for play, allowing you to go IC and start interacting with others. To that end we use a single Google Sheets document that everyone utilizes as a standardized character sheet, available here. In order to be able to fill out the fields and make your character, go to the top left, click on ‘File’ and then go down to ‘Make a Copy’. Once you’ve made a copy, rename the file name to your character’s name, and you can fill out everything on the sheet to make your character! You already have some of the most important parts decided when it comes to village, uniques, and attributes.
New characters begin with 10 skill points to distribute amongst the ten skills (it’s highly advised to pick two or three to invest in at the start, and not spread them out in all ten evenly), along with an additional XP/25 Skill Points. Clanless Ninja instead gain XP/20 Skill Points. Some Uniques or other sources may further modify these amounts, as listed in their individual entries. Skills and Skill Points will be further explained in the Skills page.
With your uniques, starting attributes, and skills decided, it’s time to spend your XP! XP can be used to learn new Jutsu and abilities, and to increase your attributes! These options are further explained in their respective pages.
Novice Ninja often learn the E-Rank Ninjustsu techniques Kawarimi, Henge, and Bunshin before their graduation to Genin. These are not mandatory, but they can be very useful. A rank in the Elemental Aptitude ability (detailed in the Chakra Abilities page) can also be useful, as well as some ranks in the Money: Requisition ability (detailed in the Other Abilities page), which is required to carry most equipment.
Suggestions aside, you may spend your XP on whatever you feel makes most sense for your character.
When you feel your sheet is complete, have a Gamemaster (GM) or Storyteller (ST) look over it to make sure everything is in order. This also allows the sheet to be added to their records for bookkeeping and planning purposes.
It is optional but recommended to also include a character background for your character. It doesn’t have to be particularly long or complex, just something that gives the GMs and STs some personal character hooks they can work with regarding your character in the future. On the official sheet, this can be placed in the Character Bio tab.
Unique Points, Experience Points, and Skill Points cannot be spent during combat, or during any events that you are a part of; they may only be spent before or after.