Having described your character’s obsession, you will now pick their first identity:
- Describe a brief headline for the identity (such as Many-sided Soil and Plant Scientist).
- Outline some examples of when it comes into play (usage conditions for supernatural identities or Of course I can examples for mundane identities).
- Choose the supernatural effect category, or an ability it substitutes for.
Other identities are added later on in the character phase, once relationships and passions have been defined.
Choosing an Identity
Identities capture a character’s personality and role in the world. Unlike the generic abilities derived from shock meters, they are uniquely defined by players to reflect the broad skills and exceptional talents that an individual character has.
You first identity should be really useful for both:
- indulging their particular obsession and
- pursuing the cabal’s collective objective
It doesn’t have to be your obsession identity (which confers further in-play advantages), but you don’t need to decide that yet.
Types of Identity
There are four flavours of identity – mundane, avatar, adept and supernatural – with distinct mechanical and conceptual differences.
Most identities are mundane, and can relate to a range of character traits, such as
- occupational expertise (eg, Undertaker, Karate Instructor, Weather Forecaster)
- notable physical attributes (eg, Unsually Old, Hot, Works Out),
- social status and connections (eg, Priest, Freemason, Scout Leader, Pony)
- personality traits (eg, Addict, Caring, Irritable)
- backstory influences (eg, Cult Survivor, Muslim, Steals, Disgraced)
If you’re interested in having explicitly unnatural powers, you could choose one of
- an adept to give you access to a school of magick and the charges that fuel spells and rituals,
- an avatar that can channel archetypal power, or
- a supernatural identity that gives you paranormal powers.
The quickstart character concepts generator gives more identity suggestions. Unknown Armies lists some suggested mundane identities in Book 1: Play (pp50-53 | pp49-52 pdf) and Book 4: Expose (pp 36-45 pdf). Some supernatural identities are listed in Book 4: Expose (pp 46-48). None of these are definitive or final – players should create different identities as suits their character concept.
Defining Identities
Each headline identity is defined by a series of properties, all of which are decided by the player:
- Of course I can …: mundane identities are described with example use cases for the identity.
- Substitutes for ability: mundane identities can be used in place of a generic ability for some checks.
- Percentile value: allocated from a pool of 120 points, with a minimum 15% and a maximum 90% for each identity.
- Features: 2 -3 benefits, taken from a fixed list, that provide game mechanics support for the identity.
The points you choose to allocate may depend on how many other identities you take and what they are. This starting value and the features ascribed to each identity will be decided later.
Defining unnatural identities
The usage conditions and mechanical effect of a supernatural identity should be sketched out at this stage. The details and narrative effect can be fleshed out later.
Unknown Armies ships with a handful of avatars and adepts. The channels, spells, charging rituals and taboos are defined for those. However, if a player chooses a different one, then these will need to be worked out. This should be done later in the character phase so it doesn’t disrupt the flow of the collaborative cabal creation process.
Adept, avatar and supernatural identities will only ever have the Casts Rituals and Use Gutter Magick features (and only if appropriate for supernatural identities).
Defining mundane identities
It is a good idea to flesh out mundane abilities now and agreed with the GM before moving on:
- Describe some Of course I can examples for mundane abilities now. These should be consistent with the character concept . It isn’t expected to be a definitive list, but should help to qualify and give context to when the identity might kick in during play.
- Decide which ability the identity substitutes for when making general checks.
Substitute for ability
Every mundane identity can substitute for shock gauge ability for normal skill checks.
- Which ability an identity substitutes for is decided when the identity is allocated, and is then fixed for that character and that identity.
- The substitute ability is the player’s choice, but should make sense in the context of how the ability is described (Of course I can use cases) and the character concept.
- Supernatural, avatar and adept identities do not substitute for abilities and cannot take the Substitute for feature.
Choose the ability you want each identity to replace. Different identities can substitute for the same ability.
When you can substitute with an identity
The identity can be used for all normal checks that the ability would have been rolled against, if it is appropriate to the nature of the identity. The Of course I can examples will help clarify the contexts that it can apply.
The identity cannot be used to substitute for that ability when it is used for a shock check. These are always made against the relevant defending ability. The only exception is if the identity has separately got the feature Resists Shock to a Meter, in which case it may be used to defend shock checks to the specified shock meter instead of the default ability.
Substituting for multiple abilities
Usually a mundane identity can only substitute for one ability. You can take the Substitutes for ability feature to let it stand in for another ability. The feature may be taken multiple times to substitute your identity for 2, 3 or 4 abilities.
Upbeat and downbeat abilities
An identity that substitutes for an upbeat ability, gives you some protection against the effect of hardened notches diminishing the ability. The opposite is true for downbeat abilities.
Reference: UA3 Run, p27 | p26 pdf, UA3 Play p42 | p41 pdf, UA3 Play p10 | p9 pdf.