3d6 down the lifepath

the system presented here builds on this statline

rule

A background is something you could be raised to, while a career is a way to seek your fortune. Backgrounds have longer skill lists and careers have short ones. There is also a skill list for unfortunate wretches. All adventurers start with some basic adventuring skills (2 body, 2 verbal).

1. Roll two distinct d6 three times. 
2. One die increases your Condition and the other increases your Presence.
3. Take verbal skills based on the CO die and body skills based on the PR one.
   

   Roll	1	2,3	4,5	6
   Skills	4	3	2	1

4. Until you roll doubles, take skills from the first background you rolled. After that, take skills from either the career matching that roll or from the wretched list.

Your Training is equal to your total number of body skills (2 + those you chose) and your Learning is equal to your total number of verbal skills (2 + those you chose).

build

To support this character creation system, one obviously has to provide setting-appropriate backgrounds and careers. How exactly a roll of two dice indicates one or the other is not specified. Here are some possibilities, given that indicate the fact that only non-doubles can be keyed to backgrounds.:

• Difference: 5 backgrounds of descending probability or 6 careers of varying probabilities (0: 1/6, 1: 5/18, 2: 2/9, 3: 1/6, 4: 1/9, 5: 1/18).
• Sum: 9 backgrounds or 11 careers with a curve:
  2. 1/36 career
  3. 1/15 background, 1/18 career
  4. 1/15 background, 1/12 career
  5. 2/15 background, 1/9 career
  6. 2/15 background, 5/36 career
  7. 1/5 background, 1/6 career
  8. 2/15 background, 5/36 career
  9. 2/15 background, 1/9 career
  10. 1/15 background, 1/12 career
  11. 1/15 background, 1/12 career
  12. 1/36 career
• Combination: 15 equiprobable backgrounds, or 15 careers of 1/18 probability and 6 of 1/36.
• Ordered pair: 30 equiprobable backgrounds or 36 equiprobable careers.

Regardless of how one orders the transitions, be aware that there's a 125/216 ~ 57.87% chance that a character will come through with no career. Of those that have a career, all of them will have rolled doubles for their first career, so doubles should be assigned to the sorts of careers that are commonly "open to all comers."

why?

I wanted something that was somewhat close to both 3d6 down the line and a lifepath system. This deviates from 3d6 down the line by having much more centrally-normalized TR and LE in the 5-14 range, but CO and PR are pure 3d6. The main thing I don't like about it is that it is fixed length. Ideally, I'd want a lifepath system that's purely random except for your choice to stay on for another round or get off. Well, one must compromise I suppose.