Race and House

The first choice in creating a character is to choose your race. Sil is unusual among roleplaying games in that the races are intentionally not balanced against one another. Instead, they act like a difficulty level. Playing one of the Noldor will produce the easiest game, and is recommended for first time players. Playing as one of the Naugrim or Sindar is a little harder but can lead to interesting variations in playing style, and playing as one of the Edain is noticeably more difficult, and should be considered a challenge mode. On the other hand, within each race, the Houses are considered as approximately equal in power level.

Each race and house gives you various modifiers to your statistics (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Grace), which are added as a bonus or penalty to the numbers you choose for your character. You can see these in the character creation screen. You will also have an affinity or penalty for one or more skills, and may have a proficiency for some types of weapon.

Affinities

• If you have an affinity with a skill, you get:

  • a bonus of 1 to your skill total

  • all abilities linked to that skill are 500 experience points cheaper

  • in particular your first ability is free!

Skill mastery or penalty

• Mastery is like a double affinity for a single skill

  • you get a bonus of 2 to your skill total

  • all abilities linked to that skill are 1000 experience points cheaper

    • (except your first one, which is free rather than giving you experience!)

• Penalty is the opposite of an affinity

  • You get a penalty of 1 to your skill total

  • All abilities linked to that skill are 500 experience points more expensive.

Weapon proficiency

• All elves (Noldor and Sindar) have a blade proficiency

  • This gives them a bonus of 1 to their melee so long as they are using a blade (sword or dagger).

• Dwarves (Naugrim) have an axe proficiency

  • This gives them a bonus of 1 to their melee so long as they are using an axe.