TEXT: CHARACTER CREATION
  WITH OLIVER & ODIE
  JOSH WASTA
  
  JOSH WASTA
  1
  CHARACTER CREATION 
  GUIDE
   
  All too often, as players, we lack a connec-
  tion to our player characters (PCs) because we are 
  not yet familiar with their emotions, habits and 
  quirks. One of the best aspects of Pugmire, and 
  a common motivation for picking up the book if 
  you know nothing else about it, is the thought of 
  playing not just A Good Dog but Your Good Dog. 
  In this guide, we’ll show you how you can use your 
  real-life pet as a roadmap to creating your charac-
  ter.
   
  For these examples, we are going to use 
  two real-life Good Dogs, Oliver and Odie. Both 
  are Yorkshire Terriers, though Odie is a mix be-
  tween a teacup Yorkie and a regular sized Yorkie 
  which gives him some quirks which we will get 
  into later. Both are rescue dogs: Oliver was res-
  cued from a life as a stud dog in a puppy mill 
  when he was 3 and Odie was rescued from an an-
  imal hoarder when he was 5. 
  Meet Oliver
  Oliver is now 10 and tends to be the older, 
  more relaxed of the two. He loves finding a sun-
  beam and falling asleep but he is also suspicious 
  of new people and can be very protective of his 
  owners. However, he is a great judge of character 
  and he can usually tell when someone is kind and 
  safe. Oliver is a very good jumper and can clear 
  baby gates with ease, though he prefers to use that 
  particular ability to get onto warm, soft beds.
  Meet Odie
  Odie, on the flipside, is a bit younger. He is 8 
  and due to his lineage, he is very high energy. He 
  loves to play and loves to run. This was an issue in 
  the early days of his adoption because if he sees a 
  door, he will run out of it and up the block. When 
  
  CHARACTER CREATION
  2
  he was living with the animal hoarder, he would 
  go unnoticed for weeks at a time so he has gotten 
  to know the dangers of the outside and how to 
  survive in it. This has also given him an indepen-
  dent streak.
  Calling
  So, as we start with the “Making Your Dog” 
  section on page 41 of the Pugmire Core Rulebook, 
  we see the first choice we have to make is a  
  Calling. We can find the descriptions for the vari-
  ous Callings starting on page 42. 
  Given Oliver’s protective nature, he is a 
  strong fit for Guardian. Guardians are not only 
  warriors but they are defenders as well. Since  
  Oliver’s personality is both suspicious and protec-
  tive, this Calling fits him well. 
  Odie, on the other hand, has a high spirited 
  and adventurous personality. For him, the Ratter 
  class seems apt. Ratters dodge and run. They get 
  into places they maybe shouldn’t get into and for 
  that, this Calling is a perfect fit for Odie.
  Breed
  Next, we have Breed. A description of the var-
  ious Breeds starts on page 54. This can be, but 
  does not have to be, based on the dog breed of 
  your pet. For Oliver and Odie, we decided the 
  Companion class fit best. Companions are small-
  er breeds and tend to be more loving and social. 
  That said, Oliver could also fit into Herder 
  due to his desire to protect and guide while Odie 
  could also be a Runner due to his high energy and 
  his love for freedom. These Breeds should not be 
  something to limit your choices, but rather more 
  options to best fit your dog’s personality and spir-
  it.
  Backgrounds
  This brings us to Backgrounds. The descrip-
  tions for the various Backgrounds starts on page 
  62 and defines your character’s life up until the 
  moment you began to play them. 
  For Oliver, this decision is a little more dif-
  ficult. There is no easy analogy to being a stud 
  dog in a puppy mill that would fit the world of  
  Pugmire. However, it would be close to say he was 
  a Soldier who was captured during a battle and 
  kept by the enemy for a period of three years. This 
  not only helps choose a Background, but fills in 
  a little more of the character’s story. Establishing 
  this clarity helps us to understand our character 
  better. Additionally, this background gives him 
  the Skills “Intimidate” to represent his bark at 
  those he is protecting his owners from and “Tra-
  verse” to reflect his jumping and climbing ability. 
  Odie is a little easier – the Free Dog Back-
  ground suits him to a tee. He lives on no one’s 
  leash (in fact, he attacks it when it is put on him) 
  and he wants to be free to have his own adven-
  tures. 
  Ability Scores
   
  Now comes a very different section of 
  character creation – the math part. Some people 
  get daunted by this but we’re going to make it easy 
  and relatable to your dog. Don’t look at any of the 
  numbers. Instead, think about your dog and rank 
  the following categories based on them: Strong, 
  Quick, Solid, Smart, Clever and Cute. Once you 
  have ranked those words, high to low, in relation 
  to your dog, you can fill in your Ability Scores with 
  the numbers 15, 14, 13, 12 and 10 – the 15 goes 
  in your highest ranked ability and so on. Strong 
  is Strength, Quick is Dexterity, Solid is Constitu-
  tion, Smart is Intelligence, Clever is Wisdom and 
  Cute is Charisma.
   
  For Oliver, I ranked him as Clever, Cute, 
  Intelligent, Solid, Quick and Strong so he has a 
  15 in Wisdom, a 14 in Charisma, a 13 in Intelli-
  gence, a 12 in Constitution, a 10 in Dexterity and 
  an 8 in Strength. 
   
  For Odie, he was ranked Quick, Cute, 
  Solid, Smart, Clever and Strong so he has a 15 in 
  Dexterity, a 14 in Charisma, a 13 in Constitution, 
  a 12 in Intelligence, a 10 in Wisdom and an 8 in 
  Strength. 
   
  We aren’t done yet, though, because each 
  Breed gives an Ability Score Bonus of two points. 
  For Companions, this bonus is applied to Charis-
  ma so both dogs now have a Charisma of 16. Now 
  that we have our final numbers, we can record 
  
  JOSH WASTA
  3
  them on our sheet in the yellow circles under each 
  Ability. 
   
  Now we need to record the modifiers 
  above each of those circles. The modifiers will de-
  termine how much you add or subtract to your 
  rolls during gameplay, but your Guide can help 
  with that when you get to playing the adventure. 
  For now, use the chart on the lower left-hand cor-
  ner of page 64 to fill out your modifiers.
   
  Finally, we need to determine which abil-
  ities are our character’s Primary Abilities. This is 
  really simple – find your Calling on the chart in 
  the lower right-hand corner of page 64 and fill in 
  the bubbles next to those abilities in the Saving 
  Throws section of your sheet. Oliver has Charis-
  ma and Strength for Guardian. Odie has Con-
  stitution and Dexterity for Ratter. More on this 
  later.
  Stamina Points
   
   Stamina points represent the amount of 
  hurt a dog can take before they fall unconscious. 
  This is determined by their calling plus their Con-
  stitution modifier. Since Oliver is a Guardian, 
  he gets 10 points plus his Constitution modifier, 
  which is 1. Therefore, he has 11 Stamina Points. 
  Odie is a Ratter so he gets 8 Stamina points plus 
  his Constitution modifier which is 3, so he has 11 
  points as well. 
   
  Both dogs also get Stamina Dice. These 
  dice primarily will be used to gain back lost Stami-
  na in the game. They are based on the dog’s call-
  ing, so Oliver’s Stamina Dice is a d10 per level (so 
  just one right now!) and Odie would have a d8.
  Proficiency Bonus
   
  The Proficiency Bonus depends on the 
  dog’s level. In this case, both dogs are Level 1 so 
  will start with +2 Proficiency bonus that can be 
  used in the ways stated on page 65 of the Pugmire 
  Core Rulebook.
  Skills
   
  In this section, we are really going to tie 
  what is on the character sheet with your existing 
  dog. Skills represent the things your dog does well, 
  usually through practice. You get the Skills listed 
  in your dog’s Background and you can choose two 
  of the Skills in your dog’s Calling. These chosen 
  skills should reflect your dog’s personality or any 
  quirks they may have.
   
  For example, Oliver gets both Intimidate 
  and Traverse from his Soldier Background. These 
  fit him perfectly since Intimidate is used to scare 
  people off, which he tries to do in real life every 
  time someone comes to the door. And Traverse 
  is a skill for running and jumping, which Oliver 
  does very well as we discussed above. So now I am 
  just left with choices in his Calling, Guardian. 
  The list on page 67 of the Pugmire Core Rulebook 
  gives me eight to choose from: Balance, Handle 
  Animal, Intimidate, Notice, Search, Sense Mo-
  tive, Sneak, Survive and Traverse. Two of those 
  are Skills he already has and since Pugmire works 
  off of having a Skill or not having a Skill, doubling 
  up would not make much sense. 
   
  Oliver is very perceptive. He can hear 
  someone trying to get into the house or a car 
  door closing outside. I choose Notice for him to 
  best represent this ability. He is also a great judge 
  of character. He can tell fairly quickly if you are 
  someone who should be trusted or not. In this 
  way, I choose the Skill of Sense Motive to show 
  how good he is at sniffing out troubling people.
   
  For Odie, the Free Dog Background has 
  given him Know Nature and Survive. This ties 
  back to why we chose the Background in the first 
  place – Odie spent a lot of time running away and 
  getting lost so he’s very good at living in the out-
  doors and also at avoiding enemies and tracking 
  down food. Of course, in Pugmire that will be 
  more about the forests and fields than the trailer 
  parks and alleyways but the analogy works for the 
  character. So, we then have 8 choices for Ratter: 
  Balance, Bluff, Notice, Perform, Persuade, Search, 
  Sense Motive, Sneak, Steal and Traverse. Like 
  Oliver, Odie is keenly aware of things going on 
  around him so he gets Sneak, the same as Oliver. 
  One difference between the dogs is while Oliver 
  can feel people out and be cautious, Odie trusts 
  
  CHARACTER CREATION
  4
  everyone implicitly. He is, however, very good 
  at convincing people to give him things – toys, 
  treats, scritches…so we’re going to transfer that to 
  the sheet by giving him the Persuasion Skill.
  Tricks
   
  One of the last things we’re going to 
  choose for our Good Dogs is Tricks. These come 
  from your Background, Breed and Calling. Since 
  Oliver and Odie are both Companion Breeds, 
  they both get their first Trick for free: Puppy Dog 
  Eyes. Their Calling give them separate free Tricks. 
  For being a Guardian, 
  Oliver gets Simple Weapon Aptitude, Martial 
  Weapon Aptitude, Light Armor, Medium Armor, 
  Heavy Armor and Shield. He can also choose ei-
  ther Fighting Style or Inspiring Word. While he 
  is a Guardian, Oliver is a wise old man at heart, 
  so instead of the more martial Fighting Style, he’s 
  going to get Inspiring Word. Finally, since Oliver 
  has a Soldier Background, he gets Rank Has Its 
  Privileges for free.
  Odie is up next and in addition to his Pup-
  py Dog Eyes from being a Companion, he gets 
  Simple Weapon Aptitude and Light Armor Ap-
  titude for his Calling being Ratter. As a Ratter, 
  he also gets to choose between Precise Attack or 
  Second Wind. Something funny about Odie is 
  how he tires himself out. He has boundless en-
  ergy for a very limited amount of time and then 
  he is usually found napping on the couch or in a 
  dog bed. But when he does have that boundless 
  energy, he has the uncanny ability to nip the cuff 
  of someone’s jeans or paw at their foot in such 
  a way to trip them. For this reason, the Precise 
  Attack Trick will go on his sheet to represent his 
  real-life talent. Finally, for being a Free Dog, Odie 
  has Respected By Strays. He knows the other dogs 
  who run free and happy.
  Rucksack
   
  The Rucksack section begins on page 80 
  of the Pugmire Core Rulebook. We will not ex-
  plore it here since it is all equipment and those 
  aren’t things you would typically tie back to your 
  existing pet. However, if your dog has a favorite 
  toy, maybe put it on a crest on their armor or 
  their shield. Their favorite snack can be some-
  thing they have with them to eat. Anything to 
  show that this character is really your Good Dog 
  at home. 
  Oliver loves carrots – they are his favorite 
  treat. So, I am going to make sure that when I get 
  him travelling rations, they have a good supply of 
  carrots in them. Odie has a stuffed monkey that 
  he is obsessed with and he will sleep with it. My 
  character of Odie, as well, has a stuffed monkey. 
  He keeps it in his bedroll and will never let any-
  one see that he has it.
  Defense, Initiative and Speed
   
  The last three numbers we need to fill 
  in on our sheet are for Defense, Initiative and 
  Speed. You dog’s Defense is equal to ten plus 
  their Dexterity modifier. For Oliver, this is 10 
  and for Odie this is 14. Initiative is equal to the 
  Dexterity modifier so Oliver would have 0 and 
  Odie would have 4. Speed is the same for all dogs 
  – 30 feet per turn, unless they drop to all fours in 
  which case it is 40 feet per turn.
  Be sure to read the paragraph describing your 
  dog’s armor, as well as any spells or aptitudes 
  when you fill out your sheet to make sure there 
  are no modifiers to these three traits.
  Personality Traits
   
  Finally, we are going to make sure that 
  we have a good understanding of our dog, both 
  in the real world and on the sheet. Personality 
  Traits are three questions that are different for 
  every dog. They reflect the dog’s fears, hopes and 
  dreams in the world of Pugmire. This is where 
  using your real-life dog will help guide your adven-
  tures moving forward.
   
  The first statement is Ideal: “What is most 
  important to me is…”.
  For this, the dogs are vastly different. Oliver 
  is the personification of a Guardian. He is the 
  dog that sleeps at my feet so he is closer to the 
  door if intruders come in. For that reason, I am 
  going to finish his Ideal sentence with “…protect-
  ing my loved ones”. 
  Odie, on the flipside, loves to run unimped-
  
  JOSH WASTA
  5
  ed more than anything. He hates being in the ken-
  nel or really even having doors closed to him. His 
  time in the house is spent exploring and when he 
  can go out in the yard, it’s hard to get him back in. 
  For this reason, his Ideal sentence ends with “…
  running free whenever I want”.
  The second statement is Bond: “I am inspired 
  by my bond to…”.
   Oliver is definitely the one of the two to pro-
  tect and nurture Odie. He cleans him, guards him 
  (even from himself) and will come to his aid im-
  mediately. In this way, Odie is one of the loved 
  ones Oliver was referring to in his Ideal statement. 
  For this reason, I finished Oliver’s Bond state-
  ment with “…my brother, Odie”. 
  Odie, however, steals Oliver’s toys and is quick 
  to get mad at him. He is unpredictable and even 
  his bond to his owner can’t be counted on 100 
  percent. The best conclusion to his Bond state-
  ment that I could think of is “…the wild”. This 
  covers a lot more than just nature.
   
  The last of the Personality Traits is the 
  Flaw statement. This starts “No matter what, I just 
  can’t…”. This gives us a unique opportunity to get 
  into our character’s heads and tie those fears back 
  to our pets. As we discussed, I changed both the 
  dogs’ real-life pasts to better fit within the world of 
  Pugmire. This is the best way to bring those things 
  into your character in the form of their flaw. For 
  Oliver, who I changed the background involving 
  life in a puppy mill with being a captured soldier. 
  To follow up with this, I chose to finish his Flaw 
  statement with “…forget those who hurt me”. 
   
  Odie has a theme – freedom. He talks 
  about running and being wild. But despite all 
  that, Odie always comes home. He gets out of 
  the house or yard and he will run, just like he did 
  when he lived with the animal hoarder. But while 
  he used to stay out for days in those conditions, he 
  always comes back within minutes to his house, 
  hid bed and his brother. To reflect this, we can 
  show Odie’s weakness for his brother by saying “…
  running from my feelings”.
   
  So now we have completed both the dogs’ 
  sheets and they are ready for the world of Pugmire! 
  Please feel free to use them both in your world – 
  they would love to play with new Good Dogs!
  
  CHARACTER CREATION
  6
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  JOSH WASTA
  7
  All too often, as players, we lack a connection to our player  
  characters (PCs) because we are not yet familiar with their emotions, habits 
  and quirks. One of the best aspects of Pugmire, and a common motivation 
  for picking up the book if you know nothing else about it, is the thought of 
  playing not just A Good Dog but Your Good Dog. 
  In this guide, we’ll show you how you can use your real-life pet as a 
  roadmap to creating your character.
  CHARACTER CREATION
  WITH OLIVER & ODIE
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/Pugmire/Character Creation with Oliver & Odie.pdf