Templates
The quick-start system for character creation — character templates that define occupational roles, racial templates that encode nonhuman species, meta-traits that bundle common conditions, and lenses that layer onto any build.
What Is a Template?
GURPS does not require templates. Every character built across Chapters 1–6 was constructed point by point without them — templates are a convenience tool, not a rule. If you and your players are comfortable buying traits individually, you can skip this chapter entirely and lose nothing. Come back when you want to speed up character creation, generate NPCs quickly, or introduce nonhuman races with defined stat packages. The GURPS Basic Set itself frames this chapter as an optional toolkit, not a prerequisite.
GURPS character creation is intentionally open-ended — you can spend points on virtually anything, in almost any combination. That freedom is one of the system's great strengths, but it can paralyse a new player who sits down with a blank sheet and 150 points. A template solves this problem.
A template is a partially completed character sheet. It lists a specific set of traits — attributes, advantages, disadvantages, and skills — along with their individual point costs and a total template cost. When you buy a template, you pay that cost out of your starting points and receive everything the template specifies. You then spend your remaining points to personalise the result.
Think of a template as a job description written in game mechanics. It captures what a character needs to be competent at a specific role — not famous, not legendary, just competent. A Soldier of Fortune template gives you the combat skills and physical stats a working warrior needs. A Mage template gives you the IQ, Magery, and spells a functional wizard needs. What templates do not give you is the personality, the backstory, the strange quirks, or the specialisations that make your character distinct — those come from you.
There are two main varieties of template in GURPS. A character template defines an occupational or dramatic role for a PC or NPC: detective, soldier, mage, scholar. A racial template defines membership in a nonhuman species or supernatural category: dwarf, vampire, elemental. Both work on the same underlying logic — pay a cost, receive a bundle of traits — but they differ significantly in how flexible they are.
D&D players may recognise templates as resembling character classes, but the comparison is misleading. In D&D, your class determines what you can do as you level up. In GURPS, a template is just a starting purchase — you are not locked into it. You can modify any trait after buying the template, combine templates freely (with some constraints), or ignore templates entirely and build from scratch. Two characters using the same template will diverge quickly once players make their own choices.
Templates are particularly useful in three situations. First, for new players who want guidance without drowning in options. Second, for experienced players short on time who need a functional character quickly. Third, for GMs creating NPCs — a template gives a recurring NPC type a consistent baseline without requiring full custom construction for every minor character. The sample templates on pp. 259–260 of the Basic Set cover exactly these use cases.
Templates exist to reduce decision paralysis, not to restrict choice. A new player using the Mage template still has 50+ points of personalisation to spend after paying the 100-point cost.
Experienced players often skip templates entirely — and that is explicitly supported. Template characters and hand-built characters are fully compatible in the same campaign.
Character Templates
A character template is a blueprint for a PC who can fill a specific dramatic role or occupation competently. By pre-specifying the core traits for that role, the template reduces the work needed at character creation and guarantees the character can actually perform the job the player has in mind.
How to Use a Character Template
The process has four steps:
- Buy the template — spend points equal to the template's cost instead of buying individual traits one at a time.
- Select template options — most templates offer choices: pick X advantages from a list, or choose Y skills from a group. Make these selections now.
- Spend remaining points — use whatever points are left over after paying the template cost to buy whatever you want. The template does not restrict these purchases.
- Choose disadvantages and quirks — if the template's disadvantage total is below the campaign limit, you may take additional disadvantages up to that limit, giving you more free points to spend.
Templates list skills in the format: Skill Name (Difficulty) Relative Level [Point Cost]–Actual Level. For example, First Aid (E) IQ [1]–11 means First Aid is an Easy skill, bought at IQ level (costing 1 point), resulting in a skill of 11 if IQ is 11.
Mandatory vs. Optional Traits
Every character template distinguishes between mandatory traits and optional traits. Mandatory traits are listed directly — you take them as written. Optional traits appear in choice groups: "select two from the following list," or "15 points chosen from among the following advantages." You must spend the stated number of points in each optional group, but you choose which traits within that group to take.
A trait listed directly in a template is mandatory — it is part of what makes the archetype function. A trait listed under "X points chosen from among…" is optional — you pick among the options provided. This distinction matters when combining templates: mandatory traits from one template cannot be discarded when stacking with another.
Altering Character Templates
Character templates are guidelines, not laws. After paying the template cost, you are free to modify any trait the template gave you — add, subtract, or substitute abilities as you see fit. The only caveat: removing an occupational skill or advantage may leave you less competent at the role the template was designed for, which other characters in the fiction will notice. A knight who lacks Broadsword or a mage without Magery will be seen as unusual by peers.
Combining Character Templates
You may buy more than one character template, especially if the GM designs several for the campaign. This lets you define multiple aspects of a character — occupation, organisational membership, cultural background. When combining templates:
- Take the highest level of each attribute and secondary characteristic from across all templates.
- Combine the advantage, disadvantage, and skill lists; take all mandatory traits.
- For a levelled trait required by multiple templates, meet only the most demanding requirement — do not stack levels (a Status 2 knight who is also a Status 1 merchant is Status 2, not Status 3).
- Add the point costs of all mandatory requirements and pay that sum.
- If templates have conflicting advantages and disadvantages, do not combine them — this signals incompatible archetypes.
Conflicting advantages and disadvantages are a sign the templates should not be combined. A Status −3 Beggar template and a Status 2 Knight template cannot be meaningfully stacked — the result would be a Status 2 beggar-knight, which is incoherent in most settings. When you encounter direct conflicts, the GM decides which template takes precedence or rules the combination off-limits.
The clearest way to read a template: anything listed with a flat cost and no "choose from" language is mandatory. Anything introduced with "X points chosen from among…" or "select Y skills from:" is optional.
Optional pools give you the breadth to specialise. Two players using the same Investigator template can end up with wildly different skill sets depending on which options each picks.
Sample Templates
The following three templates cover a wide range of settings, from medieval fantasy to modern day. All assume a 100- to 150-point campaign. After paying the template cost you will have 0–50 points remaining for personalisation, depending on campaign starting points.
Investigator — 100 points
Detective, investigative reporter, occult investigator, spy, or thief. This template prioritises mental acuity, observation, and a flexible secondary-skills budget that can produce very different character types depending on player choices.
| Component | Details | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Attributes | ST 10; DX 12; IQ 12; HT 11 | 90 pts |
| Secondary Chars | HP 11 [2]; Per 13 [5]; all others default | 7 pts |
| Advantages | 15 pts chosen from: Alternate Identity, Charisma, Contacts, Danger Sense, Gizmos, Languages, Legal Enforcement Powers, Luck, Rapid Healing, Security Clearance, Smooth Operator, Zeroed, +Per, Appearance | 15 pts |
| Disadvantages | −30 pts chosen from: Alcoholism, Curious, Duty, Greed, Honesty, Pacifism, Secret, Sense of Duty, Stubbornness, Wealth (Struggling), Workaholic, −1 ST | −30 pts |
| Primary Skills | 3 skills chosen from investigative pool (each costs 4 pts): Criminology, Disguise, Electronics Op., Holdout, Interrogation, Lockpicking, Observation, Research, Shadowing, Stealth, and others at IQ+1 or DX+1 | 12 pts |
| Secondary Skills | 2 skills from combat/social pool (each costs 2 pts) | 4 pts |
| Background Skills | 1 skill from general pool (costs 2 pts) | 2 pts |
| Total | 100 pts |
Mage — 100 points
Sorcerer, wizard, witch, or adept. This template invests heavily in IQ (the engine of spellcasting) and provides Magery 2 as a mandatory advantage. Spells use the choice system from Chapter 5 — select 12 spells total, observing prerequisites.
| Component | Details | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Attributes | ST 9; DX 11; IQ 13; HT 11 | 80 pts |
| Secondary Chars | HP 10 [2]; Per 10 [−15]; FP 13 [6]; all others default | −7 pts |
| Advantages | Mandatory: Language (Accented) [4]; Magery 2 [25]. Plus one of: Eidetic Memory, Reputation +1, Single-Minded, Status 1, Versatile, or +1 Will [5 each] | 34 pts |
| Disadvantages | −30 pts chosen from: Absent-Mindedness, Bad Sight, Bad Temper, Curious, Duty, Gluttony, Obsession, Secret, Sense of Duty, Shyness | −30 pts |
| Primary Skills | 2 spells at (H) IQ+2 [4]–15† or (VH) IQ+1 [4]–14†; plus 10 more spells at (H) IQ [1]–13† or (VH) IQ−1 [1]–12† | 18 pts |
| Secondary Skills | 2 skills from scholarly pool (each costs 2 pts): Hidden Lore, Occultism, Research, Thaumatology, etc. | 4 pts |
| Background Skills | 1 skill from general pool (costs 1 pt) | 1 pt |
| Total | † Includes +2 for Magery 2 | 100 pts |
Soldier of Fortune — 100 points
Warrior, soldier, pirate, knight-errant, gunslinger, or street fighter. This template invests in physical stats and combat skills. The large optional advantage pool (20 points) allows significant customisation — Combat Reflexes and High Pain Threshold are popular picks.
| Component | Details | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Attributes | ST 11; DX 13; IQ 11; HT 11 | 100 pts |
| Secondary Chars | All default from attributes | 0 pts |
| Advantages | 20 pts chosen from: Ambidexterity, Charisma, Combat Reflexes, Fit/Very Fit, High Pain Threshold, Luck, Magic Resistance, Outdoorsman, Rank, Rapid Healing, Reputation, Status, Wealth (Comfortable), +ST or HT, +HP, +Per | 20 pts |
| Disadvantages | −35 pts chosen from: Alcoholism, Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Code of Honor, Compulsive Carousing, Duty, Fanaticism, Flashbacks, Honesty, Impulsiveness, Lecherousness, Overconfidence, Sense of Duty, Trademark | −35 pts |
| Primary Skills | 2 combat skills at +2 or +1 level (each costs 4 pts): Beam Weapons, Crossbow, Guns, Axe/Mace, Broadsword, Karate, Tactics, etc. | 8 pts |
| Secondary Skills | 2 supporting skills (2 pts each): Brawling, Knife, Shield, Riding, Driving, etc. | 4 pts |
| Background Skills | First Aid (E) IQ [1]–11 mandatory; 2 background skills (1 pt each): Camouflage, Survival, Observation, etc. | 3 pts |
| Total | 100 pts |
Not sure which template to use? Match it to your primary stat:
High IQ → Mage or Investigator. High DX + ST → Soldier of Fortune. Want both? Buy one template and use your remaining points to bridge the gap.
All three templates cost 100 points. In a 150-point campaign, your 50 remaining points are where your character becomes distinctly yours.
Racial Templates
In many game worlds, players can portray characters who are not human. GURPS handles this through racial templates. A racial template is a collection of traits that apply to every member of a particular nonhuman race, supernatural category, or variety of artificial construct. When you play such a character, you pay the racial template's cost and receive its traits as part of your character.
The rules define "race" broadly:
- A single, distinct nonhuman species (dwarf, felinoid, dragon)
- A specific type of supernatural being (vampire, ghost, demon — regardless of original species)
- A particular variety of artificial construct (a specific robot model, a type of golem)
A racial template encodes the race's physiology, psychology, supernatural powers if any, and even dominant cultural traits for sapient races. Racial templates express deviations from the human norm — this is why humans cost 0 points to play. Every other template cost reflects how much better or worse off the race is compared to a baseline human.
How to Use Racial Templates
Unlike character templates, racial templates are almost never optional. When you play a member of a nonhuman race, you must normally take all the traits in its racial template. You pay the racial cost — the sum of all trait costs in the template — to belong to the race. This cost comes out of your starting points, just like a character template cost.
Attribute and Secondary Characteristic Modifiers
Racial templates frequently include attribute or secondary characteristic modifiers — values like ST+2 or HP−3. These modifiers are applied after you buy your personal attributes. You buy your own ST normally, then the racial bonus is applied on top. There is no additional point cost for this — you paid for the bonus when you paid the racial template cost.
Features and Taboo Traits
Some racial properties do not fit neatly as advantages or disadvantages. A feature is a note on how the race differs from humanity when that difference carries no point value — sterility, a decorative tail, unusual colouration. Features are listed in templates and cost 0 points.
A taboo trait is a trait that is off-limits to members of the race — an attribute level, advantage, disadvantage, or skill that this race simply cannot have. Taboo traits are also worth 0 points. They prevent racial characters from buying things that would be inconsistent with the species concept.
Omitting Racial Traits
If a player has a good explanation, the GM may permit a racial trait to be omitted. Omitting a positive-value trait creates a disadvantage that exactly cancels its cost — omitting racial Combat Reflexes gives "No Combat Reflexes [−15]." This disadvantage counts against campaign disadvantage limits. Omitting a negative-value trait creates an advantage worth enough to negate it — omitting racial Paranoia [−10] results in "No Paranoia [10]."
Stacking Templates
You can purchase both a racial template and a character template if you have the points. Use the combining rules from Section 02, bearing in mind that racial traits cannot be discarded the way character template traits can. In unusual settings, two racial templates may even stack — an Elf Vampire, for example. Add compatible traits, combine levelled modifiers (Elf ST−1 + Vampire ST+6 = ST+5), and let the GM adjudicate conflicts.
The key difference: character templates are optional and flexible. You can modify or ignore them. Racial templates are mandatory and largely fixed — they represent what the species is, not just a suggested build.
A dwarf who lacks the racial Night Vision or Artificer is unusual enough to require GM permission, not just player preference.
Sample Races
The Basic Set provides four sample racial templates: Dragon (260 pts), Dwarf (35 pts), Felinoid (35 pts), and Vampire (150 pts). Below are the two most commonly used by PC-level characters.
Dwarf — 35 points
Dwarves are roughly two-thirds as tall as humans, but significantly longer-lived, with a culturally ingrained skill for craftsmanship and an innate sense for gold and precious metals. They typically live in underground halls, and their eyes are adapted to dim conditions. Many dwarves possess Greed or Miserliness, but these are individual traits, not racial ones — the racial template does not include them.
| Component | Trait | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Attribute Modifier | HT+1 | [10] |
| Secondary Modifier | SM −1; Will+1 | [5] |
| Advantage | Artificer 1 — +1 to all crafting and engineering rolls | [10] |
| Advantage | Detect Gold (Vague, −50%) — sense nearby gold by smell/instinct | [3] |
| Advantage | Extended Lifespan 1 — age at half normal rate | [2] |
| Advantage | Night Vision 5 — see clearly in near-darkness | [5] |
| Racial Cost | 35 pts |
A 150-point dwarf PC pays 35 points for the racial template, leaving 115 points for attributes, skills, advantages, and disadvantages. The racial HT+1 means a dwarf buying HT 11 effectively has HT 12 — a significant combat and survival edge. The SM −1 means dwarves are smaller targets in combat, which can matter for hit location rolls.
Felinoid — 35 points
"Cat people" appear across science fiction, fantasy, and horror settings. The GURPS felinoid is humanoid in form but with pronounced feline features: enhanced senses, natural claws and teeth, heightened reflexes, and a tail. This template could equally represent a were-form for a human with the Alternate Form advantage.
| Component | Trait | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Attribute Modifier | ST−1; DX+1 | [10] |
| Advantage | Acute Hearing 2 | [4] |
| Advantage | Acute Taste and Smell 1 | [2] |
| Advantage | Catfall — reduce falling damage significantly | [10] |
| Advantage | Claws (Sharp) — natural 1d−1 cut attack | [5] |
| Advantage | Combat Reflexes | [15] |
| Advantage | DR 1 — thick hide | [5] |
| Advantage | Teeth (Sharp) | [1] |
| Advantage | Temperature Tolerance 1 | [1] |
| Disadvantage | Impulsiveness (12) | [−10] |
| Disadvantage | Sleepy (½ of the time) — need twice normal sleep | [−8] |
| Features | Purring Voice; Tail | [0] |
| Racial Cost | 35 pts |
The felinoid's racial Combat Reflexes alone is worth 15 points — more than the template's net cost after disadvantages. A felinoid PC buying a Soldier of Fortune character template and adding racial Combat Reflexes would be an extremely fast, reactive combatant. The DX+1 racial bonus combines with the template's DX 13 to give DX 14 before any personal purchases.
Racial cost comes straight off the top of your starting points. A 150-point dwarf pays 35 points for the racial template, leaving 115 personal points — still more than most D&D characters get to allocate at creation.
Negative-cost races (grant free points) sound tempting, but those templates include serious disadvantages. An Automaton meta-trait saves points because the character can barely think for itself.
Meta-Traits
A meta-trait is a named bundle of traits representing a common mental, physical, or supernatural state. In mechanical terms it functions like a single advantage or disadvantage — you record the meta-trait name on your character sheet rather than listing all of its components. Meta-traits can appear inside racial templates or be purchased independently by characters with exotic abilities.
With GM approval, you may modify the components of a meta-trait, altering its cost accordingly. For example, the Body of Air meta-trait normally includes No Manipulators. If you want your air elemental to be able to carry things, you could reduce the ST penalty and delete No Manipulators — the meta-trait's cost increases because you are removing a disadvantage.
Elemental Meta-Traits
The elemental meta-traits define creatures whose bodies are wholly composed of a particular substance. They are used to create elemental creatures, or as alternate racial templates for characters who can switch into elemental form via Alternate Form.
| Meta-Trait | Key Traits Included | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Body of Air | ST 0, +10 HP, Doesn't Breathe, Flight, Injury Tolerance (Diffuse), No Manipulators, Vulnerability ×2 vs wind | 36 pts |
| Body of Fire | ST 0, +10 HP, Burning Attack (aura), Doesn't Breathe, DR 10 (fire only), Injury Tolerance (Diffuse), No Manipulators, Weakness vs water | 6 pts |
| Body of Ice | Doesn't Breathe, DR 3, Injury Tolerance (Homogenous), Slippery 3, Terrain Adaptation (Ice), Fragile (Brittle), Vulnerability ×2 vs heat | 99 pts |
| Body of Metal | Doesn't Breathe, DR 9, Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Injury Tolerance (Homogenous), Pressure Support 3, Sealed, Vacuum Support | 175 pts |
| Body of Stone | Doesn't Breathe, DR 5, Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Injury Tolerance (Homogenous), Pressure Support 3, Vacuum Support, Fragile (Brittle) | 140 pts |
| Body of Water | Amphibious, Chameleon 1, Constriction, Doesn't Breathe, Injury Tolerance (Diffuse), Pressure Support 3, Slippery 5, Invertebrate, Vulnerability ×2 vs dehydration | 175 pts |
Mentality Meta-Traits
These represent common types of nonhuman intelligence. They are particularly useful for robots, constructs, animals, and hive minds.
| Meta-Trait | Represents | Key Traits | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI | Computer mind | Absolute Timing, Digital Mind, Doesn't Sleep, Photographic Memory, Reprogrammable | 32 pts |
| Automaton | Hive creature, undead, simple construct | Hidebound, Incurious, Low Empathy, No Sense of Humor, Slave Mentality | −85 pts |
| Domestic Animal | Pet, mount, trained wild animal | Cannot Speak, Hidebound, Social Stigma (Valuable Property), Taboo Trait (Fixed IQ) | −30 pts |
| Wild Animal | Ordinary animal in nature | Bestial, Cannot Speak, Hidebound, Taboo Trait (Fixed IQ) | −30 pts |
Morphology Meta-Traits
These describe common nonhumanoid body configurations found on animal and robot racial templates.
| Meta-Trait | Body Type | Key Traits | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground Vehicle | Car, tank, wheeled machine | Horizontal, No Legs (Tracked/Wheeled), No Manipulators, Numb | −100 pts |
| Ichthyoid | Fish-like (merman omits No Manipulators) | No Legs (Aquatic), No Manipulators | −50 pts |
| Quadruped | Four-legged, no arms | Extra Legs (Four Legs), Horizontal, No Fine Manipulators | −35 pts |
| Vermiform | Snake or worm shape | Double-Jointed, No Legs (Slithers), No Manipulators | −35 pts |
The Machine Meta-Trait — 25 points
The Machine meta-trait covers mostly or completely mechanical bodies — robots, vehicles, full cyborgs. It includes Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Unliving) [25], Unhealing (Total) [−30], plus 0-point features: an eight-hour energy reserve, no Fatigue Points, and a body that wears out rather than ages. The machine can only regain lost HP through repairs using Mechanic or Electronics Repair.
The Spirit Meta-Trait — 261 points
The Spirit meta-trait defines noncorporeal entities: ghosts, beings of pure thought, astral presences. Spirit characters are invisible and intangible by default — they can temporarily become visible or solid, but this is taxing. Their senses perceive the material world at all times, and magical or psionic abilities can affect the physical world normally. The core Spirit meta-trait includes Doesn't Breathe, Doesn't Eat or Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Insubstantiality (Affect Substantial; Usually On), Invisibility (Usually On), and Unaging.
When a meta-trait appears in a racial template, its cost is already factored into the racial cost. You do not pay separately for the meta-trait and the template — the template cost is the total. Record the meta-trait name on your sheet rather than all of its components to keep the sheet legible.
A Machine character could list Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Injury Tolerance (No Blood), Unhealing (Total), and half a dozen features individually — or just write Machine [25] on the sheet.
Meta-traits keep sheets readable and make it obvious at a glance what kind of entity a character is. The GM can look up the components when they matter; the player doesn't need to re-read them every session.
Lenses
A lens is a small template — typically 10 to 30 points — designed to be added on top of an existing character template or racial template. Where a full character template defines an entire archetype, a lens adds a single layer of specialisation, background, or affiliation.
The Basic Set does not present formal lenses by name, but the concept is explicitly described in Chapter 15 (Campaign Design) as part of the GM toolkit for building setting-specific templates. A GM designing a fantasy campaign might create lenses such as:
- A Guild Member lens — adds Contacts within a trade guild and a Duty to the guild hierarchy.
- A Noble Born lens — adds Status 1 and Wealth (Comfortable) with a Duty to a noble household.
- A Veteran lens — adds Combat Reflexes and a background skill from military service, with a Flashbacks disadvantage from past trauma.
Lenses are particularly useful when a campaign has many templates and the GM wants players to distinguish characters who share an occupation but differ in background. Two soldiers built on the same Soldier of Fortune template become distinct characters when one adds a Noble Born lens and the other adds a Veteran lens.
A lens follows the same combining rules as any template stack. When a lens and a base template share a required trait (e.g., both require Duty), take the more demanding version — do not double-pay for the same trait. The lens cost already accounts for this in a well-designed template suite.
Players may propose lenses for their own characters with GM approval. For instance, a player who wants their Soldier of Fortune to also be a former cultist could work with the GM to design a Cultist lens — perhaps adding Hidden Lore (specific cult) and a Secret disadvantage at appropriate values. This gives the combination a formal cost that can be combined cleanly with the base template.
Many GURPS supplements use lenses extensively — particularly setting books that need to represent cultural or technological background variation without creating a full template per culture. The GURPS Basic Set introduces the concept; the GM toolkit chapters of supplements like GURPS Dungeon Fantasy formalise it into a complete system of base templates + professional lenses + racial templates.
A well-designed lens answers one question: what did this character do before they became an adventurer?
Keep lenses small — 10–25 points. Include at least one disadvantage to ground it in narrative cost. A "Scholarly Past" lens might give Research and Hidden Lore for 4 pts each, with Absent-Mindedness [−15] as the trade-off: a net −7 pt lens that gives the character quirk and competence simultaneously.
Using Templates in Play
Templates are most useful at the table when they are treated as tools rather than constraints. The GM's job is to make templates available and meaningful without making them feel mandatory. The player's job is to use the template as a launch point, not a ceiling.
Templates at Character Creation
The most common use of templates is at session zero, when players are building new characters. The GM presents the available templates — either the three Basic Set samples or setting-specific ones — and players decide whether to use one, combine two, or build from scratch. All three approaches produce characters that are fully compatible at the table.
One practical GM decision: whether to present templates as "suggested options" or "required choices." In a campaign designed for beginners, requiring each player to at least start with a template (then modify it) can prevent the paralysis that kills momentum at session zero. In a campaign with experienced players, templates are entirely optional and many players will prefer the creative control of a fully custom build.
Templates for NPCs
Templates are perhaps even more valuable for NPCs than for PCs. A GM can define a dozen templates — Town Guard, Merchant, Court Wizard, Bandit Leader, City Thief — and instantly generate consistent, mechanically valid NPCs by buying the relevant template and adding one or two distinguishing traits. This saves hours of NPC construction time over a long campaign.
The key rule for NPC templates: character templates are designed for heroic PCs. A Town Guard NPC should probably be built on a reduced version of the Soldier of Fortune template (50 points rather than 100), not the full template. The full template is appropriate for the blacksmith-turned-mercenary who becomes a recurring ally, not for the gate guards the players talk past on the way into the city.
Templates and Earned Points
Templates only apply at character creation. Once the campaign begins, earned character points are spent normally — the template creates no restrictions on how a character can develop. A character who started on the Investigator template can use earned points to buy combat skills. A character who started on the Soldier of Fortune template can learn magic if the setting allows it. The template describes who you were at the start; earned points describe who you become.
In campaigns that start without templates and later introduce them (e.g., when the GM releases a supplement), players can often find that their existing characters roughly match a template. This is fine — simply note which template the character most resembles, for flavour and for NPC-comparison purposes. No mechanical adjustment is needed; the template is not purchased retroactively.
Design templates that answer the campaign's core questions. In a ship-based campaign, relevant templates include Navigator, Sailor, Pirate, and Merchant — not generic Investigator or Mage.
Make templates consistent in point cost. If the warrior template costs 80 points and the wizard template costs 95 points, the wizard player has 15 fewer personalisation points. Balance costs at campaign creation.
Keep templates at roughly 60–70% of starting points. This leaves enough room for personalisation that players feel ownership of their characters rather than picking from a menu.
Ch.7 Example Sheets
All three running example characters are 150-point builds. Chapter 7 introduces no new point expenditures — templates are a character-creation tool, not a trait purchase. This section shows how each character's existing build maps to the sample templates from Section 03.
Attributes: 93 · Advantages: 39 · Disadvantages: −30 · Skills + Spells: 48 No new spending in Ch7 — template analysis only. Build fully established since Ch5.
Attributes: 182 · Advantages: 40 · Disadvantages: −35 · Skills: −37 (net) No new spending in Ch7. Build complete since Ch4.
Attributes: 109 · Sec. Chars: 9 · Advantages: 33 · Disadvantages: −50 · Skills: 49 No new spending in Ch7. Vora is the example of why custom builds exist: templates cannot contain every concept.
Chapter Quiz
Test your understanding of GURPS templates — character templates, racial templates, meta-traits, and lenses. Questions shuffle and repeat infinitely.