Character Creation

Here's where you can discuss your ideas for characters.

I'm thinking of playing either a Kel Dor healer, or a Mirialan Ataru Striker. Probably someone a bit late to the padawan role, so he would be a bit of a rebel against the Jedi order's traditions.

What kind of a group are we looking to play? Warriors? Diplomats? Sneaky grey jedi fighting the low war against the separatists?

From what I see in the game description, we'll all be padawans who have passed our first trial during the Clone Wars. So we'll probably start as acquaintances/friends before trouble comes our way. (Don't it always?) But I do get your drift: what do we want our group to become? I think we're probably going to wind up as some kind of gray Jedi fighting a shadow war against either the separatists or the early Empire. All depends on how things pan out.

Well sure, that's the obvious way to take the campaign. But if everybody wants to be a sage/healer/consular then we might be more suited to negotiating with neutral worlds for the rights to pass troops through or get supplies. Or maybe everybody wants to be a healer type, maybe we're the Clone Wars equivalent of a MASH unit.

War is a huge, complicated machine with lots of moving parts. There's room in one for every kind of character.

I was going to go with a martial artist who specialized in the Enhance power, but a counselor who uses negotiation first sounds like fun!

What do you have in mind, Sandchigger? You make some good points, but I don't have much of a vision for what our party would do down the line. I'm still trying to decide what I want to play, but if someone is going to play good cop I'll play bad cop. It might be fun to play an aggressor to counter the negotiator's aboveboard methods. Especially if the aggressor is a genuinely nice person, but is just one of those downright scary/intimidating people you sometimes meet.

Please, call me Chigg. And I see several ways we could do this. We're one of a very small (perhaps only two) number of groups of jedi who have somehow survived Order 66. Further, we're recent graduates of the jedi academy. So.

1. We were a combat unit being sent to one of the contested planets. We survived by being tipped off somehow when our clone troops turned on us in the shuttle. We managed to subdue or kill them and now we're on the run.

2. We were literally just graduating when the Order went out. We were in the jedi temple when Anakin and the 501st began killing everybody. Seeing that all hope was lost, we fled into the underworld of Coruscan't and now have to get off planet before we're found.

3. We were on a diplomatic mission to a neutral planet. Our contingent of clones received the Order but because of local custom were unarmed. Thankfully the royal guards were able to keep them from killing us and the queen helped us escape.

4. We were part of Explore Corp, our talents better suited to long range exploration and first contact situations. We didn't have any clones trying to kill us but the last several communication attempts with the jedi temple have not gone through for some reason, ever since we all felt that great disturbance in the force...

5. We were in a huge battle before Order 66 was sent out. All of our clones were dead or wounded and we're currently MIA, wanted for crimes we didn't commit. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find us, maybe you can hire the J-Team.

So where this is actually going to start is your group has been sent to Illum to retrieve your lightsaber crystals. The actual start of the game is you guys coming out of the caves, each having passed whatever test the force decided to give you.

HI was leaning towards Human Engineer/Scientist from the Age of Rebellion source book. Been a while since I played a character like that and it sounds like a lot of fun mixing it with force powers.

Well Chigg, those are some good ideas. Obviously we'll start on Illum as DarthWash said, but I have to admit some partiality to the J-Team and explore core ideas. And I'd still like to play bad cop to someone's good cop. ;)

Bearkat, I don't have AoR but I'm guessing that's a mechanic-like specialization?

Ooh! Can wookiees be jedi?

As far as I know, Wookies are force-sensitive, so yeah. I think the rules state that only droids cannot be Jedi. You want to play Mr W?

J-team would be a fun one. Jedi mercenaries helping out where ever they can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyz_2DEah4o

I'm thinking a wookiee Pathfinder. Very in tune with nature and the Force,not a big combat guy. Almost a jedi druid.

If EldritchFire still wants to play a good cop Face role, I'll take the bad cop bruiser. Probably start as Trandoshan Shii-Cho Knight, then take Aggressor down the line. Otherwise I do have an idea for a Face too. (My problem isn't coming up with characters, it's picking and sticking with one.)

Rust, yeah it is the mechanic specialization. Was shooting for a techie thats has a natural affinity with machines. I am still deciding what force sensitive class I am going to use. I was working with the Emergent out of the AoR book, but I just aquired the Force and Destiny PDf so I am going to read into that when I am at work today.

Bearkat, just beware that FaD rules state that taking the specializations as non-primary doesn't grant a force rating. So you'd need to take Exile/Emergent first. Check out the Artisan spec to see what the FaD engineer is like. That'll help you make your decision.

Well appears there is an Artisan path in the Sentinel tree, so I will be taking that. The core stuff is done, only thing that is left for me is gear and weapons. Just need to know what the credit distribution will be to purchase it. Also I will be creating a thread on here to post my characters background.

EDIT: After reading the Sentinel class/ Artisan, I am considering dropping the Engineer class and picking it up later as a secondary so that I can more efficiently create a character.

You each get 500 credits plus whatever you get from your morality and you all get an Ilum crystal as well.

Woohoo money! I'm rich!

So, if I buy a lightsaber hilt can I start with a lightsaber, or at least build it early? Or would hilts be provided?

I'm about 50% through building my character.

Wow, this thread exploded while I was off watching Age of Ultron! But I'm not so sure about being a primary face. I'll have to review the classes and get back to everyone tomorrow. I'm still drowsy from the late night, but want y'all to know that I'm here and keeping up with the thread!

Rust, you all will get a chance early on to try building your lightsabers.

So...should we take the lightsaber skill?

Ok well I have bought the gear and all. Are we specifically limited by color on the crystal?

Because it's just a basic Ilum crystal, I don't see any color limitations. So I think it can be anything you desire.

Lightsaber is strangely not a class skill for Sentinel/Artisan.

Yeah, lightsaber is a class skill for specializations based on saber forms only. I will be taking one of those specializations to start, then getting another one later. I figure we might need some raw fighting skills early in our game.

Rust, yes any color you like. I believe in the new cannon, the crystal gets its color when the jedi activates it with the force so it matches them. Also you can pick whatever hilt type you'd like.

Bear, each career gets one Specialization that focuses on lightsaber combat. Those are the way you get lightsaber as a career skill and also they'll give you a talent that will change what characteristic you use for lightsaber skill.

Ah ok well, from being human I get 2 skills that are non-career skills with 1 rank each in them and I just used that.

If you're going off of the FaD PDF, I'd highly recommend that you read up and become familiar with all the errata made to it.

As for my character, I'm thinking of doing a "white mage" type. I'll be the team medic with the Heal/Harm power. Start off as a Guardian/Protector and grab Consular/Healer when I can.

Ok guys, what do you think is more necessary on the team? We have a Pathfinder force over fight character by Chigg, a techie (what spec?) by Bearkat, and a "white mage" protector/healer by EldritchFire. Which of these roles do you guys think is more essential: a strong face character who can charm/negotiate tough situations (Consular/Niman Disciple); or a warrior/bruiser capable of taking a beating and handling multiple opponents (Warrior/Shii-Cho Knight)?

I have concepts for either, but I want to know what you think is more important to the team. If it helps, I'm nearly finished building the bruiser character. Just need to settle on talents/force/gear then he's done. I was just trying to decide whether or not to start with the Enhance power, or the Toughened/Parry*2 talents. I haven't started the face character, but was thinking of a Twi'lek Niman Disciple; that'd handle Negotiation/Leadership/Charm skills but also provide a combat-capable face character.

Rust, it looks like we're building a D&D group: Chigg is the druid, I'm the cleric, and Bearkat is the artificer. We could use a rogue or fighter :p

I'm also wondering what group resource we want to take. If we have a starship, someone might want to pick up some piloting skills. Just sayin'

Starship. Jedi don't take the bus, man. Also, holocrons are booooooooooooring and Mentors are likely dead.

Well, the only specs that I see with piloting skills as career are Seeker and Warrior/Starfighter Ace. The only one with Astrogation as a career skill is Warrior/Starfighter Ace.

So maybe I should take the fighter then, and start with Shii-Cho Knight and buy Starfighter Ace ASAP. Then I could dump 10 XP to train Piloting (Space) and Astrogation for a total of 30 XP (spec + skills). Otherwise, piloting is up to you Chigg. :D

Edit: Now that I think about it, if I take human I can get a rank in each of those skills for free to start. Then if we need it later, I can buy the other spec. Choices, choices...

(Oh, and I'm going to work a bus into my characters history just for that remark. :P )

I think I'll take fighter then. But that does leave the pilot slot mostly uncovered for a bit, till I could buy the Warrior/Fighter Ace specialization. If I rebuild my character as a Sentinal/Ataru Striker I can have the trees compliment nicely. Unless you were planning on being pilot, Chigg?

Looking at everything, I'm going to do a Duros from AoR. They get a free rank in Piloting(Space) and generate one free advantage on all Astrogation checks. So I'll have basic piloting stuff covered until one of us dips into the ace pilot spec.

I took Piloting (Space), yes. I only got the one rank in it so don't expect anything super fancy or anything.

Ok, well, the two of you hash out who gets to be the pilot. :P I'm going to go finish my brawl-based bruiser now.

Posted my (still sorta a WIP) character in his own thread. Comment away!

Posted my WIP character as well. Critique, comments, etc please!

And posted mine too. Comments/critique/suggestions/etc!

Everyone's characters are looking really good so far.

Did any of you know each other already, or was this trip your first time meeting?

I'd like to have known at least one other person to establish why someone here speaks Shyriiwook.

I have an option: I backed backstory cards on Kickstarter.

The idea is, it'll give inspiration for how we know each other and our involvement in various events. We basically come up with a list of: 3 groups/organizations, 3 noteworthy individuals, 3 places, and 3 events as our "grid". Then our cards say things like:
Are you guys interested? If so, I can randomly pick 2-3 cards per PC (so long at it's not all solo cards, so at least 1 tie w/another PC) and we can work relationships into our backstories.

I'm willing to give it a go. Though I reserve the right to say "nah".

Of course. I'd just pick another card to replace each you turn down.

Card tags:
If you want, vote one or two out.

Let me know if everyone else is interested.

I'm not a huge fan of adversarial but I can see how my naturalist guy and bearkat's techy might have differing view points on some things.

I mean, I dont think that would be an adversarial role. More like a role of differentiating views on the universe.

If you wanted to solve the womp rat problem in the temple by poisoning them all or with deadly traps it might be adversarial.

I backed that, too…and totally forgot about it! The PDF is collecting dust while I wait for the physical cards to ship out to me. Great idea!

Alright, once I get a character submitted from Chigg and Eldrich, we can get started.

I'm trying, but man is this frustrating. I have to enter each skill, save, then edit to add another. Same with talents.

I'll get mine posted this evening.

Aaaaaand done.

Candi, do you have any ideas for your character yet?

I'm getting the book on Sunday so my decisions so far are based on reviews of the book.

I'd like to create more diversity so I'm thinking of doing something that no one else has yet (either race or career). So I'm thinking Mystic and either Makashi Duelist or Seer (just based on names and vague descriptions in reviews) and based on images of the species (I've seen most of the clone wars cartoon so that helpfully gave me a sense of most of them) I like the look of Mirialan (mostly because I found this picture). Hopefully those two things go together.

Also, I should say, you guys were ready to start before I barged on in so feel free to start. By the end of day today I'll probably have a character and backstory thought out, and by mid this week I'll have the crunch done (hopefully... depends on some unknown variables coming up on Monday). So, by tonight I could contribute to the game as long as I don't do something that requires dice rolling, and by mid-week I should be fully locked and loaded.

In the worst case, my character will have been 'slow' and barely gets out of the caves in time, and 'turns up' at whatever moment I finish the character (wherever the other characters are, and the onus is on me to explain what happened to me in that time and how I caught up to them).

I'd feel rude if we started before everybody was ready.

Then help speed me up! Any advice on the propose Mirialan Mystic (and further advice on Seer vs Makashi Duelist?).

Well we already have one lightsaber fighting style adept though all the fighting styles are different. Also their fighting style is based off of Presence which isn't the Mirialan's forte. Meanwhile, I looked at the Seer as an option and I just don't get it. The talent tree looks kinda boring imo. Not a whole lot going on there flavor wise. But that's just me. Ymmv!

I'll try to get the game started this evening. Candi, so long as you've got enough of an ideapersonally for your character, you should be fine to go ahead and post in it. It shouldn't have any rolling right away.

Edit: Also sage looks better than you're giving it credit Chigg. It's all about getting the jump on people because you sensed the future and getting as much force powers out as you can.

Once i settle on species I should be able to back-story up and be ready to contribute, so cool!

Other species I'm open to are Togruta and Nautolan.

As for Seer, can you give me a sense of some of the defining traits and abilities?

Seers get talents that give bonuses to vigilance rolls and talents that let them survive in the wilderness. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be the Yoda splat.

That does sound boring... the blurb I read mentioned precognition and I thought that would be a central, upfront, class-defining feature. Vigilance and wilderness survival sound nice, but they're not knock-my-socks-off-cool (which a lightsaber fighting style is). Guess I settled on Duelist.

How do Togruta and Nautolan match up to Duelist?

You could always take the Sense force power for yanno...sensing things. I suppose you could read an increased vigilance as being able to see the future, but more in a reactive way than an active one.

Togrutans and Nautolans are both average Presence wise, same as Mirialans. The only species in the book with an increased base Presence is twi'lek.

What are the species powers for the three I've shown interest in (like how the Wookie gets rage etc -- do note I've only played EotE from the character folio, so if I say something that doesn't match with character creation that's why - I'm half guessing)?

Mirialans get free Discipline, Nautolans are athletic and amphibious and Togrutans are perceptive and like to help.

Unrelated to anything, an Ataru Striker with the melee skill and a 25 credit combat knife would be cheap AND deadly. None of the talents in the tree specify a need for a lightsaber until the 20 point tier.

Hey Candi, welcome aboard.

Mirialans actually get free ranks in Cool and Discipline, and for characteristics get 3 agility and 1 cunning. (See the errata, which changed skill ranks.) Nautolan get a free rank in Athletics, and start with 3 brawn and 1 willpower. Togruta get a free rank in Perception, and provide 2 boost dice when assisting, and start with 3 cunning and 1 brawn.

I'm playing our main saber guy, so I'm the Shii-Cho Knight with a "big bruiser" stereotypical focus. I am focusing on Brawn/Cunning for my build.

Edit: Yeah the Ataru Striker plus Mirialan was a build idea I was toying with originally. I think it'd be pretty powerful, and give plenty benefit to force use too.

You're all selling me on the striker.

I think this ability is what made me first want to play an Ataru Striker. ;)

Saber Swarm
Perform the Saber Swarm maneuver; suffer 1 strain and next Lightsaber (Agility) combat check this turn gains Linked quality equal to Force rating during check.

Linked
When firing a Linked weapon, on a successful attack, the weapon deals one hit. The wielder may spend 2 advantage to gain an additional hit, and may do so a number of times equal to the weapon’s Linked rating. Additional hits from the Linked weapon may only be applied against the original target. Each hit deals the weapon’s base damage plus the total uncanceled success scored on the check.


So yeah, easy 2 hit combos without any other specializations, but add seer and that could become 4 hit combos!

In the interest of getting to game faster, I'll bite. Mirialan Ataru Striker. I'll have the book tomorrow and start on crunch. I'll make a backstory later today, and get up to speed posting with the rest of you :)

Posted the background story/character name. When I get the book tomorrow I'll slam through the crunch :)

Your brother had a rhyming name. Poor guy.

Are we explicitly tying our characters together? If so, I expect an easy link is for Aria and Jado to be friendly rivals', given Aria's aptitude for and love of swordplay.

I'd say yes, we're tying our characters together. I offered to use a Kickstarter I backed called backstory cards as inspiration. I don't think that went anywhere, yet, but Brent and Jado are the only characters to have ties at the moment (so far as memory serves). If everyone is still interested, we can work it out. Otherwise, lets just come up with ties to 2 - 3 other characters. That way everyone has a reason to be with each other.

Aria and Jado being friendly rivals would work, especially since their methods would be very different. Plus, Jado will probably take opinions along the lines of a grey Jedi down the line. So, plenty for them to debate and argue about.

I'm all for tying the group together

Or, at least, a reason to co-operate with and interact with each other! I'm on board for either, but I agree we should each at least have connections to 2 or 3 other characters, even if the connection is distant.

I added a section to my character sheet for connections. Rust, feel free to read the little bit I wrote over and let me know if anything there contradicts your vision of Jado.

I think that description of Jado is fine. I start with my characters as more of a draft and hone them over time, so it's good that there's plenty of room for more detail later.

Well I mean we're all going out to get our crystals together so presumably we knew one another at the temple.

Of course, but tighter connections are nice. For instance, as an effort to try and soften Aria's rash attitude they made an effort to arrange for her to spend time with Howl (that's probably what she calls the wookie, being unable to say his name). I'm sure this has led to influences on both, with Aria getting Howl into mischief and he instilling in her an appreciation for nature and meditation. Not to mention a sense of intuitive understanding between them. ?

Hrowlf would definitely be up for some mischief, if only because he's wilder than the average jedi and far less disciplined.

Sounds more like natural friend than forced companion turned friend. In that case "Howel" might be more of a nickname of endearment (and Aria regards him in a brotherly way, given that I'm sure they shared their fair amount of trouble in training)

Hrowlf feels that the jedi have cut themselves off from nature and the natural flow of the Force for far too long.

Ok, just got the bulk of the work left (spending money and XP) but before I just wanted to know if it's worthwhile to spend XP on the Melee skill and money on a basic weapon or if I can count on getting a lightsaber soonish and so don't need to worry about that or if it's ok to buy an Ancient Sword so I can focus my XP on the skills I want (instead of dumping a few XP into Melee just so I am competent until I get my lightsaber)?

Question still stands (as it affects how I spend my credits) but I've taken a stab at spending XP. I welcome advice, as I've only ever played EotE once and have never built a character.

You will get a chance to make a lightsaber early on, but other weapons will be useful if you need to hide that you are a jedi.

Noted!

Spoiler alert for the Star Wars universe: we will need to house the fact that we are jedi. I mean unless you guys want to be taken by the empire. That could be fun.

That's part of why I gave Jado brawling. Makes sense with his background, and for now there's no ostensible reason he'd hide the fact that he's jedi. That'll have to be learned later.

I'm more ignorant of what the trials are, than I am about post-Order 66 Star Wars. ;)

I went for an Ancient Sword instead of an out-of-career skill. I'm certain that's going to look strange and demand some explaining. Of course, results and actions can be explanatory ;)

As for the trials, if you can check out Star Wars: The Clones Wars Season 5, Episode 6 if you want to get a sense of what they are.

So, the only bit of character creation I think I need a bit of advice on is how to use my free career skills. I noticed that we've got both modes of piloting covered, and I definitely want Vigilance and Knowledge (Xeno), the question then is do I take Survival or Ranged (Heavy). I ask because, looking at the book, heavy ranged weapons are REALLY expensive. On the other hand, I worry about the ability to survive (heh) in a blaster-infested universe when all you are able to do is get into people's faces and smack them with a stick (in a perfect world I could take Coordination, but unfortunately that's a Specialization skill and I want Athletics and Lightsaber).

Another alternative, which takes my intended progression into consideration, is to take Vigilance and *both* piloting skills. The reason is because I plan to eventually take the Force Power Enhance and work my way up to the Commit for +1 Agility power (which means getting Enhance on both piloting skills on the way). The thing is, I don't know how long before I start down that route and starting skills are more about what is needed *now* (because I can always drop a few XP into the piloting skills, they are Career skills after all).

Thoughts?

I would vote for Survival. Ranged (Heavy), as you say, is expensive gear-wise, and is also obvious. You can conceal a blaster pistol, but not a blaster rifle. When the time comes when we're needing a blaster rifle I hope that we'll have some XP to spend to get the skill.

But, really, with your Agility of 4 you're the best shot out of all of us anyway, even without the skill!

I don't know about taking survival with Aria's low cunning. That said, Jado has survival trained and 3 cunning, and Hrowlf has survival too. Maybe Ranged (Heavy) will come into play after we off someone and take their blaster rifle. Besides, hiding only works for so long, and a bonus to ranged will come in handy.

Huh, I didn't realize you two were such Survival experts! I missed that. Ranged (Heavy) sounds great, then!

Although, rolling one Proficiency Die is better than rolling a measly Ability Die :p

Taking those thoughts into consideration I've kept Ranged (Heavy), because why not. That also means I'm done with the character building and am confident locking Aria in.

Hrowlf has both Ranged (Heavy) and Survival. Yanno, for taking down space T-Rexes when he can't just cow them into submission.