Roles
Heroes in True20 come in different types and from many walks of life. Your hero’s role is the part he or she plays in the game. A role is like a character’s part in a story; stories have different sorts of heroes, from brave and skilled warriors to cunning diplomats to wise wielders of the arts. The role you choose for your hero affects the other choices you make, including your hero’s skills and feats. Still, roles in True20 are broad enough to allow plenty of freedom of choice
in creating your hero.
There are three roles in True20, in addition to heroes with mixed, or multiple, roles. The roles are:
• Hacker: Someone who specializes in hacking.
• Expert: Someone experienced in a wide range of skills.
• Warrior: Someone with training in many forms of combat.
• Mixed-Role Heroes: Heroes start out with only one role at 1st level. However, as your hero advances in level, you may choose levels in other roles, creating a mixed-role hero. This mixing of roles gives a hero a wider range of abilities at the cost of slowing advancement in any one role. For example, a 1st-level warrior attaining 2nd level might choose to take
the 1st level in hacker instead of a 2nd level in warrior. The hero is now a 1st-level warrior/1st-level hacker, but still a 2nd-level character. The character’s combat abilities are less than those of a 2nd-level warrior, but the character now has the abilities of a 1st-level hacker.
The key difference for mixed-role heroes is that each role has a core ability, obtained only when a character starts out at 1st-level in that role. A mixed-role hero taking on a new role does not gain the new role’s core ability, but does gain all of its other traits.

Level-Dependent Benefits
Heroes improve in experience and hack by advancing in level. This represents the progress of a hero’s career during a long series, from novice to seasoned expert. As heroes advance in level, they gain additional bonuses and access to more skills and feats, improving and expanding their capabilities. After 1st level, heroes also get the opportunity to begin mixing roles to further expand their options and capabilities. Certain benefits are based on a hero’s overall level, regardless of role. 
The Level-Dependent Benefits table summarizes these. See each role description for the benefits specific to each.

Skill Rank
This lists the maximum rank a hero can have in any known skill, equal to the hero’s level + 3. This is also the hero’s rank in any known hacks. See Chapter 2: Skills and Chapter 4: Hacks for details.

Ability Increase
Upon gaining any level divisible by six (6th, 12th, and 18th), heroes can increase an ability score by 1. You choose which ability you want to improve, and the improvement is permanent. You can increase the same ability more than once or a different one each time. You can increase an ability score above +5 in this way.

Conviction
Heroes start out with 3 points of Conviction at 1st level and gain a point of Conviction every two levels thereafter (3rd, 5th, and so on). The number indicated at each level is a hero’s maximum Conviction points at that level. See Conviction later in this chapter for details.

Feats
Your hero gets a certain number of starting feats at 1st level (determined by role), plus an additional feat for each level beyond 1st. You choose feats from among those available to your hero’s role(s).

Role Descriptions
The following sections describe the three roles in detail. Each provides an overall view of the role, the role’s traits in game terms, and examples of different types of heroes who fit that particular role.
The role’s traits are organized as follows:

Abilities
What ability scores are most important to the role and why? While you can certainly choose your hero’s abilities as you wish, you might want to keep these important abilities in mind, if you want your hero to be effective in the chosen role.

Core Ability
Each role has a core ability, which you only gain if you take your 1st level in that role. If you add a role later on (see Mixed-Role Heroes) you don’t gain the new role’s core ability, just the ability of your first role.

Skills
This is the number of skills you choose for a hero of that role at 1st level. You apply your hero’s Intelligence modifier to this number, but it cannot be lower than 1, no matter how low a hero’s Intelligence might be. The role also gains a number of additional skill ranks (also modified by Intelligence) for each additional level.

Feats
These are the feats a hero starts with at 1st level. Each role allows you to choose some or all of these feats from lists of feats available to characters of that role. 

Each role has a table indicating the role’s other game abilities, all based on level:

Combat
A role’s base combat bonus measures skill in all forms of fighting. It is used as the basis for a hero’s attack rolls, modified by Dexterity. It is also used as the basis for a hero’s Defense score, which is the Difficulty to strike that hero in combat. It is modified by the hero’s Dexterity for dodging or evading attacks, and Strength for parrying them.

Save Bonuses
Roles have three save bonuses, measuring the ability to avoid certain kinds of harm when they make saving throws. The bonuses are improvements to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves. Toughness saving throws do not improve by level, although some feats may improve them.

Reputation
Every hero has a reputation score based on role and level. See Reputation, later in this chapter, for details.

Level-Dependent Benefits
Level	Maximum	Ability		Conviction 	Feats
	Skill Rank	Increase
1st 	4 		— 		2 		4
2nd 	5 		— 		2 		1
3rd 	6 		— 		2 		1
4th 	7 		1st 		3 		1
5th 	8 		— 		3 		1
6th 	9 		—		3 		1
7th 	10 		— 		4 		1
8th 	11 		2nd 		4 		1
9th 	12 		— 		4 		1
10th 	13 		— 		5 		1
11th 	14 		— 		5 		1
12th 	15 		3rd 		5 		1
13th 	16 		— 		6 		1
14th 	17 		— 		6 		1
15th 	18 		— 		6 		1
16th 	19 		4th 		7 		1
17th 	20 		— 		7 		1
18th 	21 		— 		7 		1
19th 	22 		— 		8 		1
20th 	23 		5th 		8 		1

Hacker
Abilities
Mental abilities are usually more important to hackers than physical ones. In particular, hackers tend to require strong Wisdom scores, since using their hacks depends on force of will to stave off fatigue. Intelligence is nearly as important, given the hacker’s emphasis on scholarship. Hackers also choose a mental ability as the key ability of their hacks. Hackers also find a healthy Constitution helpful, especially if they plan to exercise their arts in the field rather than in the comfort of a college or academy

The Talent (Core Ability)
The hacker can spend a Conviction point to make one use of a hack they do not possess. This works much like spending a Conviction point to emulate a feat. An hacker with the Talent can also spend a Conviction point to eliminate any accumulated modifiers to fatigue saving throws for using hacks. See Chapter 4 for more information on hacks and later in this chapter for more on Conviction.

Hacks
Hackers can develop and use certain hacks, described in detail in Chapter 4. A hacker can choose to acquire a hack in
place of one of the hacker’s normal feats, either starting feats or those acquired by improving in level. So a starting hacker can have up to four hacks (at the cost of taking no starting feats), one hack and three feats, two and two, or any combination
adding up to the hacker’s starting number of feats. Each time the hacker gains a level the player has a choice of taking a new
feat or a new hack.

Skills
Choose 6 + Intelligence score starting skills (minimum of 1). Hackers gain 6 + Int skill ranks per additional level (minimum of 1). Important skills for hackers include Concentration, Craft, Gather Information, Knowledge (particularly supernatural), Language, and Notice.

Feats
Choose 4 starting feats from the General and Hacker categories. An hacker can also choose a hack in place of a feat.

The Hacker
                       Fort 	Ref 	Will	
Level Combat Save	Save	Save	Reputation
1st 	+0 	+0 	+0 	+2 	+1
2nd 	+1 	+0 	+0 	+3 	+1
3rd 	+1 	+1 	+1 	+3 	+1
4th 	+2 	+1 	+1 	+4 	+2
5th 	+2 	+1 	+1 	+4 	+2
6th 	+3 	+2 	+2 	+5 	+2
7th 	+3 	+2 	+2 	+5 	+2
8th 	+4 	+2 	+2 	+6 	+3
9th 	+4 	+3 	+3 	+6 	+3
10th 	+5 	+3 	+3 	+7 	+3
11th 	+5 	+3 	+3 	+7 	+3
12th 	+6 	+4 	+4 	+8 	+4
13th 	+6 	+4 	+4 	+8 	+4
14th 	+7 	+4 	+4 	+9 	+4
15th 	+7 	+5 	+5 	+9 	+4
16th 	+8 	+5 	+5 	+10 	+5
17th 	+8 	+5 	+5 	+10 	+5
18th 	+9 	+6 	+6 	+11 	+5
19th 	+9 	+6 	+6 	+11 	+5
20th 	+10 	+6 	+6 	+12 	+6

Expert
Abilities
Agility is the name of the game for experts, both physical agility (represented by Dexterity) and social agility (represented by Charisma), with a bit of mental agility (represented by Intelligence) thrown in for good measure. Nimble experts are often trained in skills like Acrobatics and Ride, while the personable and charming ones focus on interaction skills like Bluff and Diplomacy. Wisdom is useful to experts in avoiding danger, from traps to deception, and keen Intelligence can help an expert go far (and pick up a few extra useful skills).

Expertise (Core Ability)
An expert can spend a point of Conviction to gain 4 temporary ranks in any skill, including skills in which the expert is not currently trained or that cannot be used untrained. These temporary skill ranks last for the duration of the scene and grant their normal benefits.

Saving Throws
Experts vary in their Fortitude, Reflex, and Will save bonuses. Choose one of these three to be the expert’s good save, with the other two as normal saves, consulting the appropriate column on the table. For example, your expert’s Fortitude save might be good, while her Reflex and Will saves are normal. At 1st level, her base Fortitude save bonus would be +2, while her base Reflex and Will saves would be +0.

Skills
Choose 8 + Intelligence score starting skills (minimum of 1). Experts gain 8 + Int skill ranks per additional level (minimum
of 1). Virtually all skills are important to one sort of expert or another. Experts tend to pick certain areas where they specialize, such as athletic or outdoor skills (Acrobatics, Climb, Jump, and Survival, for example), interaction skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Perform, and Sense Motive), or scholarly skills (such as Craft, Knowledge, and Notice).

Feats
Choose 4 starting feats from the Expert or General categories.

The Expert
		Good	Normal
Level Combat	Save 	Save 	  Reputation
1st 	+0 	+2 	+0 	+1
2nd 	+1 	+3 	+0 	+1
3rd 	+2 	+3 	+1 	+1
4th 	+3 	+4 	+1 	+2
5th 	+3 	+4 	+1 	+2
6th 	+4 	+5 	+2 	+2
7th 	+5 	+5 	+2 	+2
8th 	+6 	+6 	+2 	+3
9th 	+6 	+6 	+3 	+3
10th 	+7 	+7 	+3 	+3
11th 	+8 	+7 	+3 	+3
12th 	+9 	+8 	+4 	+4
13th 	+9 	+8 	+4 	+4
14th 	+10 	+9 	+4 	+4
15th 	+11 	+9 	+5 	+4
16th 	+12 	+10 	+5 	+5
17th 	+12 	+10 	+5 	+5
18th 	+13 	+11 	+6	+5
19th 	+14 	+11 	+6 	+5
20th 	+15 	+12 	+6 	+6

Warrior
Abilities
Warriors prize physical abilities over mental ones. Strength is important in striking a hackful blow. Dexterity allows warriors to evade incoming attacks and gives them accuracy with their own. Constitution may be a warrior’s most important quality, granting them the endurance to sustain long marches and to fight on when others fall due to injury or fatigue.

Determination (Core Ability)
A warrior can spend a point of Conviction to immediately erase all bruised and hurt damage conditions (and their associated penalties).

Skills
Choose 4 + Intelligence score starting skills (minimum of 1). Warriors gain 4 + Int skill ranks per additional level (minimum of 1). Important skills for warriors tend to be physical, such as Climb, Jump, and Swim. They often acquire some type of vehicular skill (from Ride to Drive or Pilot, depending on the transportation available). and Utility skills like Concentration, Notice, and Sense Motive are common.

Feats
All warriors have Firearms Training or Weapon Training as a starting feat. Choose 3 other starting feats from the General or Warrior categories.

The Warrior
                       Fort 	Ref 	Will	
Level Combat Save	Save	Save	Reputation
1st 	+1 	+2 	+0 	+0 	+0
2nd 	+2 	+3 	+0 	+0 	+0
3rd 	+3 	+3 	+1 	+1 	+1
4th 	+4 	+4 	+1 	+1 	+1
5th 	+5 	+4 	+1 	+1 	+1
6th 	+6 	+5 	+2 	+2 	+1
7th 	+7 	+5 	+2 	+2 	+2
8th 	+8 	+6 	+2 	+2 	+2
9th 	+9 	+6 	+3 	+3 	+2
10th 	+10 	+7 	+3 	+3 	+2
11th 	+11 	+7 	+3 	+3 	+3
12th 	+12 	+8 	+4 	+4 	+3
13th 	+13 	+8 	+4 	+4 	+3
14th 	+14 	+9 	+4 	+4 	+3
15th 	+15 	+9 	+5 	+5 	+4
16th 	+16 	+10 	+5 	+5 	+4
17th 	+17 	+10 	+5 	+5 	+4
18th 	+18 	+11 	+6 	+6 	+4
19th 	+19 	+11 	+6 	+6 	+5
20th 	+20 	+12 	+6 	+6 	+5