In Age of Magic, there are several aspects to a character:
All the aspects of a character (with the exception of a character's current situation) have an associated character point (cp) value. Aspects that are positive have a positive cp value; whereas aspects that are negative have a negative cp value. A rough assessment of the power of a character can be made by looking at the total value of his/her cp values (adding all the positive values and taking away all the negative values).
At the start of the game, a player will generate a character. The referee will allow the player to generate a character up to a specified starting cp value. This value is known as the character's starting cp value. Based on the starting cp value, there will be a limit on the total amount of cps that a player can spend on his/her character's characteristic scores.
During character generation, a character's background and past experience is fleshed out. To encourage players to ensure their characters have appropriate skills, the referee will award background bonuses to characters whose skills match their background.
During later play, the referee will award the character experience points (eps). The player can then spend these eps to improve the character. A fundamental concept is that every character's character points should always balance; in other words, the total value of his/her cp values plus any unspent eps should equal the total value of his/her starting cp value plus total eps awarded since generation.