Character
4 origins · 6 tragedies · 10 callings · 6 attributes · 25 skills
Every character in The Veil & Lead is built from five primitives — where you came from, what broke you, what you do now, what your body and mind can do, and what you know how to do. This page is the reference index. For the step-by-step walkthrough of how these combine in play, see Chapter 1: The Long Road.
Origins
4 Browse all →Where you came from. Each Origin grants a starting attribute bump and a native skill.
Origin A
Consortium City-Born
The smoke never clears in Brimstead. You learn to breathe soot before you learn to walk. But at least the gas lamps keep the shadows away.
Origin B
Dust-Born
Walls make you weak. The wind teaches you which way the predator is coming. Walls just blind you.
Origin C
Veil-Touched
My mother said the stars looked wrong the night I was born. She said the Current was pooling under the floorboards.
Origin D
Rail-Rider
Home is where the train stops. I've seen the whole Frontier through a boxcar door. Keep moving, kid.
Tragedies
6 Browse all →The wound your character carries into the campaign. Each Tragedy grants an attribute bump and seeds the first of your five Core Memories.
The Betrayal
+1 SAVVY
Someone you trusted absolutely turned on you.
The Debt
+1 SWAY
Your family owed more than they could pay. The Consortium took everything.
The Duel
+1 QUICK
You killed someone. The weight of that death sits in your chest.
The Illness
+1 GRIT
Sickness nearly took you — or someone you loved.
The Miracle
+1 ECHO
You witnessed something impossible. It changed you.
The Raid
+1 IRON
Violence came to your home. You survived. Others didn't.
Callings
10 Browse all →What you do on the Frontier — your archetype, role, and starting kit. Five mundane paths and five psionic.
Mundane
The Gunhand
Mercenary / Lawman
I don't make the laws. I just enforce the ones that pay.
The Muck-Raker
Laborer / Prospector
There's wealth in the ground, if you're willing to bleed for it.
The High-Roller
Face / Gambler
Cards don't lie. People do. I speak both languages.
The Shepherd
Redeemer / Medic
I've seen what waits on the other side of death. My job is to keep people on this side.
The Rail-Jack
Saboteur / Technician
The Consortium built the lock. I built the bomb that opens it.
Psionic
The Psy-Slinger
Gun Channeler · Psy-Slinger
I don't aim with my eye. I aim with my regret.
The Mindweaver
Telepath · Mindweaver
The strongest armor is useless if the man inside it wants to die.
The Seer
Oracle · Seer
I don't guess the cards. I read the ink before it was printed.
The Flesh Shaper
Healer · Flesh Shaper
Pain is just information. Anatomy is just a suggestion.
The Bastion Soul
Anchor · Bastion Soul
I am the rock in the river. The Current breaks on me.
Attributes
6 Browse all →The six axes of capability. Every roll pairs an attribute with a skill.
Skills
25 Browse all →Training and expertise. Skills pair with attributes to form dice pools — Attribute Rank + Skill Rank.