Character points are abstract units used in some role-playing games during character generation. This article is about the concept of abstraction in general. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. ... A character generator (CG for short) is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as crawls and rolls) for keying into a video stream. ...

Early role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons assigned random values to a player character's attributes, while allowing each character a fixed number of skills. As a result, characters were at the same time wildly unbalanced in terms of attributes and heavily constrained in terms of skills. Later games such as GURPS introduced a points-based system of purchasing attributes and skills as a means of improving game balance and flexibility. These points are known as character points. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) published by Wizards of the Coast. ... A player character or playable character (PC for short) is a fictional character in a game, that is controlled by the player. ... An Attribute (also called a statistic, characteristic or ability) is an abstract number (or, in some cases, a set of dice) which represents a single aspect of a fictional character in a role-playing games. ... GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), created by Steve Jackson Games in 1986, is designed specifically to be a role-playing game that adapts to any imaginary gaming environment. ...

Usually, a player is allotted a number of points for character generation. A character's attributes (such as high intelligence), skills (such as fixing a car or mechanics), or powers (such as flying) can then be "bought" for a certain number of points. More powerful abilities or a greater degree of power will require more "spending" of character points. Later, character points can be earnt and spent to improve attibutes or skills, or to buy new skills or powers. In some games, such as GURPS, these points are experience points; in others, such as Ars Magica, there is a more complicated relationship between experience points and character points. A character generator (CG for short) is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as crawls and rolls) for keying into a video stream. ... Experience points (often abbreviated as exp or xp) are a representation of a characters advancement and improvement in skills in role-playing games. ... Ars Magica is a role-playing game set in Mythic Europe, an idealized (or quasi-historical) version of Europe around 1200 AD. The game revolves around magic-using wizards and their allies. ...

Examples

For example, a simple fantasy role playing game might use three traits to describe a character: Combat powers, magical aptitude and thievery skills. You have nine points to distribute, each trait has a minimum of one point and a maximum of five points.

• For an allrounder you could chose three points in fighting, three points in thievery and three points in magic.
• To create a warrior you could choose five points in fighting, one point in thievery and three points in magic. While he is a superb fighter, his thievery skill is poor, this may cause problems when a stealthy approach is necessary.

There also might be the possibility to use some of the points for special properties, like being related to an influential family or to start with better equipment.