Every character should begin with at least one personal goal.
Possible goals include:
Recover a lost relic
Find a missing comrade
Clear a family name
Protect a settlement
Earn faction rank
Escape an inherited debt
Understand recurring visions
Discover forbidden technology
Take revenge on an enemy
Find a place of belonging
Abandon or reform a former faction
Decide whether the Imperium deserves loyalty
A goal should provide direction without requiring one fixed ending.
Players may revise goals as the character changes.
A short-term goal can be pursued during current missions.
Examples include:
Obtain better armor
Locate a contact
Pay a debt
Repair a damaged weapon
Earn passage off-world
Gain a patron’s trust
A long-term goal shapes the character’s wider journey.
Examples include:
Become an Inquisitor
Recover an STC
Destroy a rival warband
Save Cadia
Restore a fallen regiment
Become free of Chaos influence
Establish a new Kroot kindred
Discover the truth of a forgotten past
Franz can connect quests to these goals without forcing their conclusions.
A motivation explains why the character keeps acting.
Common motivations include:
Duty
Survival
Faith
Revenge
Curiosity
Wealth
Honor
Freedom
Recognition
Protection of others
Search for truth
Desire for power
Values become most interesting when they conflict.
A character may value loyalty but distrust their commander. They may seek knowledge while fearing heresy. They may protect the party while serving a faction that considers some members expendable.
Every character should have at least one meaningful complication.
Examples include:
A dangerous enemy
A debt
A wanted identity
Damaged augmetics
Religious doubt
Psychic instability
Loyalty to vulnerable relatives
Dependence upon rare medicine
A disputed relic
Fear of failure
A former faction demanding service
Knowledge others want suppressed
A complication should create decisions rather than repeatedly disable the character.
Franz may use a character’s history to introduce:
Former allies
Rivals
Family members
Old commanders
Unfinished contracts
Lost equipment
Previous crimes
Abandoned settlements
Hidden records
Political obligations
The player should retain control over how the character feels and responds.
Franz may reveal new information about the past, but should not rewrite the character’s central identity without player approval.
Exposure to Chaos, the Warp, forbidden technology, daemons, or certain psychic powers may cause corruption.
Possible signs include:
Nightmares
Obsession
Strange voices
Physical mutation
Emotional instability
False memories
Unnatural luck
Psychic phenomena
Attraction to forbidden objects
Changes in faith or behavior
Corruption should usually develop through warnings and visible consequences.
It should not instantly transform a character because of one minor mistake.
Corruption may tempt, pressure, or alter a character, but Franz should not decide the character’s beliefs or actions for the player.
The player should normally choose whether the character:
Resists
Hides the corruption
Seeks treatment
Uses it for power
Confesses
Abandons the dangerous item
Accepts gradual transformation
Turns against former allies
Temporary loss of control may occur through a clearly defined spell, condition, possession, or game effect, but should remain limited and understandable.
Characters may resist corruption through:
Saving throws
Faith
Discipline
Psychic training
Medical treatment
Mechanicus intervention
Exorcism
Destroying a corrupted item
Help from companions
Completing a cleansing quest
Success may stop, reduce, or delay the effects.
Failure should create complications while leaving meaningful choices whenever possible.
Mutation may result from Warp exposure, unstable genetics, disease, experiments, or Chaos influence.
A mutation may be:
Cosmetic
Harmful
Useful
Socially dangerous
Difficult to conceal
Evidence of corruption
Unrelated to Chaos
Not every mutant is a cultist or enemy.
Permanent mutations should be discussed with the player when they significantly change the character’s appearance or abilities.
Serious injuries may continue beyond ordinary hit-point loss.
Examples include:
Burns
Broken limbs
Scarring
Sensory damage
Radiation sickness
Psychic trauma
Organ damage
Lost limbs
Damaged augmetics
Chronic pain
Injuries should create recovery stories without making the character unusable.
Possible treatment includes medicine, rest, surgery, psychic healing, or bionic replacement.
The Imperium commonly replaces damaged flesh with augmetics.
A bionic limb or organ may be:
Crude
Reliable
Military-grade
Mechanicus-built
Master-crafted
Improvised
Difficult to maintain
A replacement may restore ordinary function or provide a new ability through a dedicated Item entry.
Receiving a bionic can become an important part of the character’s appearance and history.
A failed battle does not always require character death.
Other consequences include:
Capture
Injury
Separation
Loss of equipment
Mission failure
Debt
Forced service
Reputation damage
Enemy advancement
Rescue by an unwanted faction
These consequences allow the campaign to continue while preserving the danger of failure.
Death should remain possible during dangerous missions.
Franz should make serious risks understandable and allow players opportunities to prepare, retreat, surrender, negotiate, or seek help.
A death should result from meaningful danger rather than an arbitrary narrative decision.
The death may affect:
Party morale
Faction reputation
Personal quests
Allies and relatives
Ownership of equipment
Ongoing rivalries
The history of a location
The plans of enemies
The party may recover a fallen character’s equipment, but ownership is not always simple.
Claims may come from:
The character’s faction
Their family
Their regiment
Their Chapter
The Mechanicus
A patron
The party
The person named in a will
Relics, power armor, faction credentials, and sacred weapons may need to be returned.
Personal items may become memorials or quest objects.
A player may retire a living character.
Possible reasons include:
Completing a personal goal
Accepting command
Joining a faction permanently
Settling in a protected location
Suffering an injury
Losing faith in the mission
Choosing family over adventure
Becoming an important patron
Falling too deeply into corruption
A retired character may return later as an ally, employer, rival, or temporary companion.
A replacement character should enter through the current story.
Possible introductions include:
A reinforcement sent by a patron
A survivor rescued during the mission
A former rival
A prisoner
A local guide
A mercenary hired by the group
A member of a relief force
A comrade of the fallen character
An operative pursuing the same enemy
A stranded traveler seeking passage
The new character should have an immediate reason to cooperate with the party.
Replacement characters should normally enter at the party’s current level.
They should receive:
Complete ability scores
Appropriate hit points and features
A feat or Ability Score Improvement when applicable
Starting Items suitable for the current campaign tier
Weapons and armor appropriate to their class
Spells when applicable
A faction connection
A reason to join the group
They should not be treated as inexperienced merely because they are newly introduced.
A replacement character may connect to the previous campaign through:
A shared patron
Knowledge of the current threat
A relationship with the fallen character
Membership in the same faction
Possession of important information
A claim to recovered equipment
A personal reason to continue an unfinished quest
The replacement should also have independent goals and personality.
They are a new character, not simply a copy of the one who was lost.
Add this to the character-generation prompt:
Give this character:
One short-term goal
One long-term goal
One personal value
One fear
One weakness or obligation
One unresolved connection from their past
Make these elements useful for future quests without predetermining how the character responds or how the goals end.
Create a replacement character for The Shattered Imperium at level [party level].
The current party is located at [location] and is pursuing [current mission or enemy].
The new character is a [race and role] with a background as [background]. They will join the party because [reason].
Generate:
Complete statistics
All six ability scores
Class and level
Background
Armor Class, hit points, and speed
Skills and saving throws
Appearance
Personality
Around 500 characters of Mannerisms
Personal goals
Faction connection
Starting Items
Appropriate weapons and armor
Spells and feat when applicable
One connection to the current campaign
One independent reason to remain with the group
Do not make the character a copy of the previous party member. Do not secretly assign betrayal or remove future player choice.
A character’s story can continue after death or retirement.
Their legacy may include:
A named weapon
A memorial
A rescued community
A faction honor
A surviving enemy
An unfinished promise
A changed party member
A recorded message
A disputed relic
A place named after them
The galaxy may be vast, but people remember who stood beside them when survival was uncertain.