Draft

During the " draft" , each players will end up with a portfolio of 6 figures. In that portfolio they will have a PC and a backup PC as well as friends and foes. Each of the two PCs (PC and backup PC) will have six suit cards. These six suit cards will determine the PC's starting stats, value of starting equipment and various bonuses.

The draft is fairly complicated this time around so I would advise reading all the pages in this section carefully. You may also want to read my tips section.

(Those who aren't familiar with my game group's draft process may want to read the note on drafts which explains a little of our group's history with drafts.)

Cards and Figures

There are 36 figures and 3 sets of 36 cards.

The figure cards correspond one-to-one to each figure. These cards describe a figure's race, ECL, stats, special abilities and alignment restrictions.
The suit cards consist of 4 suits each of 9 cards. These cards provide various benefits related to history, PC stats, wealth, etc.
The bonus cards consist of 36 cards. These cards provide a bonus if the figure paired with the card is selected as the PC.

Draft Process

The Draft consists of four steps:

Select a portfolio using the Portfolio Selection Process
Select a second portfolio using the Portfolio Selection Process
By group consensus, players select whether the group will use the Portfolio in step 1 or step 2.
Select suit cards for backup PC and determine if backup PC is firstborn.

In step 3, it is important to emphasize that all players will use the portfolio from the same step. The process does not allow one player to use a portfolio from one step and another players to use a portfolio from another step since they may have the same figure in their portfolio.

As it is likely that one or two players will not get to play their prefered portfolio, the referee may allow a charity round. In the charity round, players may gift bonus cards to other players. Gifts are always one way but you can gift cards from foes and friends (remember only bonus cards on PCs and backup PCs count.) A player cannot receive a card in return and the referee must approve all gifts. In general, a gifted card should not make a portfolio stronger than the one that was discarded in step 3. That is, if you didn't have a -1 ECL card in the portfolio you did not get to play, then you can't be gifted such a card.

At step 3, as a group, the players can decide to repeat steps 1 and/or 2. That is, a portfolio can be discarded and a new one picked if all players agree.

Step 4: Backup PC Suit cards and Firstborn Option

For the backup PC's suit cards, shuffle the cards and deal face down. Determine draft order as above. In draft order turn, players can peek at two cards and pick any card they wish (one peeked at or a completely different one). A peek reveals the card just to the player, not to all players. Peeked cards are not flipped over. After each player has picked a card, a round of trading may occur. Once each player has 6 cards (and a final round of trading), hands are scored like poker hands. Score five card hands. The 6th card is only used to resolve ties. Ties are resolved by the sixth card first by rank and if necessary then by the following suit order: Dragons beat Gems beat Swords beat Stars.

Firstborn is possible only for the backup PC, not the primary PC.

The player with the highest hand has first choice of having a Firstborn PC.

A player can decline to be Firstborn, in which case the option of Firstborn passes to the next player in hand-rank order.

If the single player with the highest ranked hand declines the Firstborn option, that player only can take a 5000 XP bonus instead. Only the player with the highest hand has this option. Subsequent players can decline the Firstborn option but they do not get the bonus XP.

After Portfolio Selection

After the Portfolio is selected, players must create the various characters. PCs and backup PCs should be described fully but friends and foes can be described with just a paragraph. Do not determine level of friends and foes and try to avoid being too specific about character class for friends and foes.

It is a good idea to work up your portfolio with the referee who can offer some suggestions and assistance in making a portfolio that wil be fully utilized in a campaign.

PCs start at effective character level 10.