The Art of Character Creation
Creating a character in Deadlands is like writing the first chapter of a legend that hasn't happened yet. You're not just rolling stats and picking skills—you're crafting a person who will face down horrors that would make grown adults hide under their beds, all while maintaining enough humanity to be worth rooting for.
Think of character creation as building a house. Attributes are your foundation, skills are your rooms, Edges are your fancy features, and Hindrances are the creaky floorboards that give the place character. Without those flaws, you'd just have a perfect, boring house that no one would want to visit.
The Character Creation Process
The process flows like a river—each step builds on the last, creating a character who feels both mechanically sound and narratively compelling. It's structured enough to ensure balance but flexible enough to let your creativity run wild.
The Numbers: Straight from the Core Rules
Deadlands: The Weird West builds heroes with the standard Savage Worlds Adventure Edition steps. Attributes, skill points, the dice chain and derived stats like Pace, Parry and Toughness all work exactly as in the core rules: see Character Creation and Traits & Skills. How Edges and Hindrances work, and what they cost, is in Edges & Hindrances.
A Note on Older Books
If you pick up Deadlands Classic, you'll meet a very different character sheet: ten attributes with names like Deftness, Nimbleness, Mien and Cognition, skills spelled the cowboy way (Shootin', Fightin', Ridin'), and attributes dealt out from a deck of playing cards. That was Classic's own system. In the current edition, those all become the familiar SWADE attributes and skills—Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength and Vigor; Shooting, Fighting, Riding and the rest.
Grit: The Weird West's Own Stat
The Grit System
Grit is Deadlands' measure of hard-won nerve. Your character advances through Ranks like any Savage Worlds hero, but along the way they also become more "gritty"—harder to rattle, because they've already seen things that would send a greenhorn screaming. It's like emotional calluses that form from surviving in the Weird West.
Grit helps your character resist Fear. A character with plenty of grit has literally seen it all and is hard to impress or intimidate. Think of it as the difference between a greenhorn who jumps at shadows and a grizzled veteran who calmly reloads while facing down a wendigo. Game Mechanics covers how Grit and Fear work at the table.
Archetypes: Your Character's Starting Template
Archetypes are character concepts that suggest which skills and equipment to pick. They're not classes in the traditional sense—more like career backgrounds that suggest what your character did before the adventure started.
Popular Archetypes
The Gunfighter
The classic Western hero. Fast on the draw, accurate with a pistol, and cool under pressure. They're like the protagonist of every Western movie, but with the very real possibility of facing supernatural enemies.
Key Skills: Shooting, Athletics, Notice (plus the Quick Draw Edge)
Starting Equipment: Trusty six-shooter, ammunition, cowboy attire
Real-world equivalent: Professional gunfighters, lawmen, or anyone whose job requires being good with firearms
The Huckster
A magical practitioner who literally gambles with demons for power. Every spell is a poker game where losing might cost your soul. They're like magicians, but their tricks actually work and come with terrifying risks.
Key Skills: Spellcasting, Gambling, Persuasion
Starting Equipment: Deck of cards, basic magical components, fancy clothes
Real-world equivalent: Stage magicians, card sharks, traveling salesmen
The Mad Scientist
Inventors who've thrown conventional physics out the window and replaced it with steam, electricity, and pure inspiration. They build impossible devices that work through sheer force of scientific will.
Key Skills: Weird Science, Repair, Science
Starting Equipment: Basic laboratory, strange invention, protective gear
Real-world equivalent: Thomas Edison meets Dr. Frankenstein
The Blessed
Holy warriors who fight supernatural evil with faith as their weapon. They're like paladins who traded in medieval armor for frontier clothing and divine magic for frontier pragmatism.
Key Skills: Faith, Healing, Persuasion
Starting Equipment: Holy symbol, religious texts, healing supplies
Real-world equivalent: Frontier preachers, missionary doctors, traveling evangelists
Skills: What Your Character Can Do
Skills use the standard SWADE skill list, so there's no need to relearn them here: see Traits & Skills. What changes is the flavor. In 1870s America, Riding is how you get anywhere, Shooting is often the difference between life and death, Survival keeps you alive between towns, and Gambling gets you into (and out of) more trouble than any other skill on the sheet. Each arcane tradition also has its own arcane skill, covered below and in Magic & the Supernatural.
Edges and Hindrances: The Weird West Twist
Edges and Hindrances work exactly as in the core rules (see Edges & Hindrances). Many core ones feel tailor-made for the frontier: Quick Draw and Trademark Weapon for gunslingers, Wanted for outlaws trying to go straight, Heroic for the ones who can't ride past trouble, Phobia for anyone who's met the wrong thing in the dark. Deadlands adds its own on top.
Arcane Backgrounds of the Weird West
Huckster: Gamblers who wring hexes out of manitous with a deck of cards. Their arcane skill is Spellcasting, and every hex is a wager with something that wants their soul.
Blessed: The faithful, whose miracles flow from their devotion. Their arcane skill is Faith, and their powers depend on staying true to it.
Mad Scientist: Inventors whose ghost-rock-powered gadgets shouldn't work but do. Their arcane skill is Weird Science, and their devices have a nasty habit of malfunctioning.
Shaman: Keepers of the old ways who bargain with nature spirits for favors.
Magic & the Supernatural covers how each tradition works and what it costs.
Setting Edges and Hindrances
Deadlands books add their own Edges and Hindrances, and their names alone tell you a lot about the setting. Check your book for the exact requirements and effects; a few you're likely to meet:
Harrowed: Your hero died and came back, a manitou riding along inside them. Powerful, but the passenger wants to take the reins.
Veteran o' the Weird West: Your hero has already seen the horrors—and has the experience (and scars) to show for it.
Agent and Texas Ranger: Your hero works for the Union's secret Agency or the Confederacy's Texas Rangers, the two governments' monster hunters.
Old Ways Oath (Hindrance): Your hero has sworn to the Old Ways, shunning modern technology.
Bad Dreams (Hindrance): The things your hero has seen come back every night.
Lyin' Eyes (Hindrance): Your hero just can't tell a convincing lie.
Sample Characters
"Quick-Draw" McGillicuddy - The Reluctant Hero
Concept: A former outlaw trying to go straight who keeps getting pulled into supernatural situations.
Key Attributes: High Agility for gunfighting, decent Spirit to keep his nerve
Skills: Shooting, Athletics, Notice, Gambling, Survival
Edges: Quick Draw, Trademark Weapon (Custom Colt .45)
Hindrances: Heroic (can't ignore people in trouble), Wanted (former gang connections)
Background: Once rode with the infamous Devil's Canyon Gang until a supernatural encounter made him question his life choices. Now he tries to help people, but his past keeps catching up with him.
Professor Cornelius Blackwood - The Gentleman Scientist
Concept: An English inventor who came West to test his theories about supernatural energy.
Key Attributes: High Smarts for invention, decent Vigor to survive his own experiments
Skills: Weird Science, Science, Repair, Research, Healing
Edges: Arcane Background (Mad Scientist), Scholar, Rich
Hindrances: Curious (must investigate mysteries), Pacifist (prefers non-violent solutions), Outsider (foreign)
Background: A Cambridge professor who theorized that supernatural energy could be harnessed scientifically. His steam-powered analytical engine can detect paranormal activity.
These two are sketches. For forty fully built heroes, with every die, Edge, Hindrance, power and point check worked out, see Sample Characters; they also come as a file you can import into the Character Sheets.
Character Creation Exercises
Exercise 1: The Attribute Web
Create a character concept, then map out which attributes would be most important for their background and goals. For example, a frontier doctor would need high Smarts for Healing and medical training, decent Agility for steady hands, and good Spirit to keep calm (and keep patients calm) when things get ugly.
Exercise 2: The Flaw That Tells a Story
Choose a Hindrance for your character, then write a brief story about how they acquired it. Was the "One Eye" Hindrance from a gunfight? A riding accident? A supernatural encounter? The story behind the flaw often defines the character more than their strengths.
Exercise 3: The Gear That Matters
Pick three pieces of equipment for your character. For each item, explain why it's important to them personally, not just mechanically. Maybe the rifle was their father's, the pocket watch is their only reminder of home, or the silver cross was blessed by a saint.
Exercise 4: The Motivation Matrix
Define what your character wants (their goal), what they need (what would actually help them), and what they fear (what drives them forward). Often these three things are in conflict, creating interesting character moments.
Real-World Character Building Takeaways
The Competency Trap
In real life, as in Deadlands, being good at everything makes you boring. People are interesting because of their limitations and how they work around them. A character who's amazing at everything has no room to grow or struggle.
The Iceberg Principle
Like icebergs, the most interesting parts of characters are hidden beneath the surface. The skills and attributes are what everyone sees; the background, motivations, and personal history are what make them memorable.
The Growth Mindset
Characters, like people, are most interesting when they're changing. Create characters with room to grow, things to learn, and ways to evolve. A perfect character has nowhere to go but down.