Character Creation

You can discuss character creation here.

Alrighty, hey all. I suppose Ace is the obvious choice here, but I'm not gonna call dibs on it or anything. Plus, there are enough relevant trees in Ace to justify having multiples if it comes to that anyways. I'm not dead set on anything career-wise, but I'm currently eyeing Ace - Rigger (to cover the mechanics end of things and maybe eventually make use of those upcoming ship crafting rules), Commander - Squadron Leader (for any Leadership/general Presence needs that may arise), or maybe Warrior - Starfighter Ace (I realize that Force stuff isn't the focus here, so I'm just throwing it out there as an idea). Not laying claim to any of these by any means, just what I'm considering atm. Haven't thought too deeply in terms of actual character, but that would probably change depending on the spec. Don't have a strong preference for a ship, they're all really cool!

Well there's noting stopping all of us starting as Aces if we wanted, knight level gives us enough flexibility that even all starting as the same career we'd all end up with radically different characters....I was tempted to go with a force sensitive but have them not know that they are to start with (so not starting with a lightsaber or anything daft), they'll just be able to do stuff from time to time that's a bit odd and extremely lucky.

I'm tempted to go with a bomber/heavy weapons specialist so probably looking towards flying a B or Y Wing....probably a B to be honest :)

I always liked the Rogue Squadron books and so, in homage to Wedge Antilles and Corran Horn, I'll be building a Corellian pilot.

I'm thinking I'll go down the Smuggler-Pilot route. The talent tree is exactly the same as the Ace-Pilot one, so it's only the difference between Smuggler and Ace. I would need to dip into something else to pick up some ground combat skills, but I think that Deception, Skullduggery and the like could be useful.

I'm probably going to go with an A-wing, I picture this guy wanting to get in and out fast. I'd probably operate as a scout and an escort for heavier craft, taking on the lighter and faster enemies.

By the way, DarthWash, do you have plans for astromechs? Just wondering because the x-wings and y-wings would have droid sockets to be filled.

I hadn't thought about it, but we'll give each person an astromech. So they'll either be in the drop socket if you have one on your ship, or waiting back at the hangar to help with repairs.

I'll have to dig into the books more, but right now the concept tickling my brain is Force-powered piloting. I may abandon it if it doesn't fit or doesn't work out mechanically, but it sounds so cool. Maybe 'Sentinel-Shadow' for those covert abilities?

Also, I'm totally shooting in the dark here. It sounds like at least some of you are much better versed in Star Wars (I never read the books, but I've gotten into the Campaign podcast and their sister, Never Tell me the Pods)

And I think I gotta go with the x-wing...

Alright, I've settled on two concepts for now. I'm thinking either:

A Duros Ace - Rigger with (probably) a heavily personalized Y-Wing. Eccentric, but friendly and well-meaning. Talented mechanic and pilot, and next in a lineage of renowned ship designers. Specializes in heavy attack and bombing runs, and has demonstrated an interest in explosives in general.

If someone wanted to split a ship with me, it could be interesting to go with a two-person Y-Wing and split piloting and gunnery duties, in which case I'd probably change this guy to an Engineer - Mechanic. Just a thought.

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A Pantoran (or Twi'lek) Commander - Squadron Leader flying an X-Wing. Calm, jovial, and cares deeply about his comrades. As the son of Rebel pilot, he had a transient childhood and developed strong ideals at an early age. Strong teamwork and leadership skills, and a talented pilot in his own right.

I'm not sure what Wash has in mind in terms of military structure, or if we're going to have an NPC "____ Leader" or something, so I'd put an asterisk on this one. There are a few other concerns that might go along with a PC leader in terms of party dynamics as well, so who knows. I'm probably overthinking it.


Anyways, that's what I got. I'm good with whatever fits best in the party. Liking everyone's ideas so far :)

I was thinking of going a Engineer-Saboteur as of now. Not sure exactly as to everything else but will decide probably tomorrow when i sit down and make the character

Wooville: I'm absolutely down to spilt a ship with you if you're still into that idea... I'm liking the Ace - Gunner tree quite a lot.

And I'm still thinking of going subtle Force user, likely unknown to them. I'll whip up a first pass tomorrow.

Rayf Sera - Corellian Human Smuggler Pilot

"Y’know, where I come from, we don’t worry about the odds. We make a play and we stick with it. Well, unless somethin’ better comes up in the mean time. What I mean is, there’s no use worrying. Just dive in, do what you gotta do, and then get the hell outta there before the other guy can respond."

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Rayf grew up in Coronet, the capital city of Corellia. Corellians are renowned to be reckless, to "have rhydonium for blood", and Rayf took this to heart. On a planet of daredevil pilots he dared more than most.

Coronet doesn't really have slums, but, if it did, Antar would have been one. The shops sold only the essentials, the speeders were old, and droidwork was often done by people. The gangs, small and disorganised as they were, strutted around like they owned the place. But one thing you would notice if you compared Antar to a more downtrodden district in another major Core World city was this; even though the speeders were old, they were fanatically well-kept. Garages did a brisk trade in tune-ups, after-market modifications and bodywork. It was a rare speeder which was stock; most had custom paint jobs, engine upgrades or just tricked-out sound systems. People took pride in their speeders. And at night the streets would come alive. Cruisers and racers and onlookers everywhere, engines buzzing, smells of food and ozone.

Growing up in Antar, the days were just barriers to get past to the next night. As the sun went down Rayf's adrenaline would climb and soon he'd be doing something that most folks would call foolish. When he was little that might involve some petty shoplifting, making fake emergency calls then heckling the CorSec officers who came to investigate, or ambushing bigger kids and pelting them with stones so that they would chase him. As he grew he started to hang around the fringes of a street gang called the Aldadas. At the time these guys seemed like the pinnacle of humanity; they did what they wanted, didn’t take any shit and just seemed to have life all figured out. But they, on the other hand, thought little Reyf was all talk. They kept him around, for entertainment, but never took him seriously. Not until the day when he stole Arryn Trike’s speeder.

Arryn was a gruff, quiet offworlder who had risen to the top of the Krayt Kodan gang, one of the Aldadas’ biggest rivals. He was known to be brutal in a fight and not at all gracious in defeat. His speeder had been in the shop getting a final polish after some serious upgrades, and sixteen year old Reyf had just chanced upon it. He never later admitted it, but he had no idea who it belonged to. To him it just screamed FUN, so he grabbed it. After a twelve hour joyride where he buzzed Treasure Ship Row and led some CorSec patrols right through Axial Park, scattering pedestrians all around. The speeder ended up being ditched off the end of a pier, and young Rayf became a local legend.

His time in the Aldadas started in glory but ended in bitter disillusionment. He soon realised that the gang were just street kids, and that their lives were lived in fear of CorSec raids or even of seeing member of other gangs. Rayf gained a reputation for never backing down, and for being able to beat almost anyone in a street race, but none of it was enough. As soon as he was able, he found himself an old freighter and got off that rock.

Never having the patience for honest trading, Rayf quickly ended up falling into the smuggler’s ways. His knack of being able to outfly the customs patrol boats gained him a good rep, and cargos started to come his way. He found that the riskier the job was, the better he liked it. Soon his ship ID was being monitored by Imperial patrols and, after one too many close scrapes, he came to realise his freighter wasn’t really up to the job of fighting TIEs. Even with the engine souped up, those things flew rings around him, it was only his shields which prevented him becoming space dust.

He needed something faster. That’s when he heard the Rebels were looking for pilots for their A-wings…

Rayf Sera - Character Mechanics:

Duty:
Space Superiority: As the Combat Victory-driven PC feels about troop conflicts, so this Player Character feels about ship-to-ship combat and naval engagements. To him, the war will ultimately be decided in the stars, and what the Alliance lacks in sheer numbers, it more than makes up for in the quality and tenacity of its pilots. Every single space battle is an opportunity to show the rest of the galaxy that the Alliance not only can win the war, but is destined to do so.

Species:
Corellian Human
Brawn 2
Agility 2
Intellect 2
Cunning 2
Willpower 2
Presence 2
Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn
Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
Starting XP: 110
Special Abilities: Corellians begin the game with one rank in Piloting (Planetary) or Piloting (Space). Because Corellians are naturally exceptional pilots and grow up handling swoops, airspeeders, and spacecraft from a young age, they may train Piloting up to rank 3 during character creation.

Smuggler:
Can choose one free rank in four of;
Coordination
Deception
Knowledge (Underworld) X
Perception
Piloting (Space) X
Skullduggery
Streetwise X
Vigilance X

Pilot:
Can choose one free rank in two of;
Astrogation
Gunnery X
Piloting (Planetary)
Piloting (Space) X

XP Spend:
Budget: 110 from species, 10 from Duty, 150 from Knight Level. Total; 270

Specialization: Gunslinger - Career Skills; Coercion, Cool, Knowledge (Outer Rim), Ranged (Light) (20XP)

Characteristics:
Agility 2->3 (30XP)
Agility 3->4 (40XP)
Cunning 2->3 (30XP)
Running total: 120XP

Skills:
Cool 1 (5XP)
Perception 1 (5XP)
Piloting (Planetary) 1 (5XP)
Ranged (Light) 1 (5XP)
Ranged (Light) 2 (10XP)
Skullduggery 1 (5XP)
Knowledge (Outer Rim) 1 (5XP)
Running total: 160XP

Talents:
Pilot:
Full Throttle (5XP)
Skilled Jockey (10XP)
Dead To Rights (10XP)
Improved Full Throttle (15XP)
Grit (20XP)
Master Pilot (25XP)
Dedication (25XP)
Running total: 270XP


Motivation:
Thrill: There are few actions more dangerous than taking on the forces of the Empire in a head-on battle. It requires incredible speed, intelligence, and courage to climb into the cockpit of an X-wing or infiltrate an Imperial base. This Player Character seeks thrills and danger wherever he can find them, and he has joined the Rebellion to get a shot at taking on the most dangerous and well-trained fighting force in the galaxy.

Gear (9000cr):
Combat Flight Suit (Def 1, Hard Points 2) 3000
Nightshadow Coating for A-wing 3500
H-7 Equalizer Blaster Pistol 1200
Vibroknife 250
Crash Survival Kit 300
Datapad 75
Emergency Repair patch (x4) 100
Fusion Lantern 150
Military Field Manual 25
Tool Kit 350
Backpack 50

I'm happy to listen to any feedback that anyone might have. I have stuck fairly rigidly to piloting, with a smattering of other skills so he can be useful on the ground.

I really wasn't sure what to spend the money on, so I went mostly with things to help the character survive. The most important one, although also possibly the most problematic, was the Nightshadow coating for his A-wing. It's from Fly Casual and the description says:
Now my problem is the bit where it says "Modification Options". What does that mean? Do I need to pay more for that option? Or is it either reduce range band or reduce silhouette, but not both?

The modification is something you can add on to the attachment with a mechanics check and some money. I forget exactly how much because I don't have my book with me at the moment.

For the question about leadership, you guys will be given a capital ship, probably a modified corellian corvette, and that ship will have its captain, but your squadron doesn't report to him. He is just in charge of his ship. You guys will get orders from the higher up, who give you a mission and expect you to figure out how to accomplish it. If one of you wants to be the squadron leader, you're the one the higher up talk to most often but also get the blame for mistakes. Your squadron doesn't have to listen to you or follow your commands if they choose not to.

Ah, okay, I did read about that but never connected the two things. It's a Hard mechanics check and 100 credits for parts. The mod is useless if you get a despair. Maybe after our first mission I can ask our mechanic or my astromech to do it. Assuming I can get the parts, of course.

Regarding the squadron leader, I'd be happy to have one; his buffs could be very useful. My character might have a bit of a death wish, though, so he'd be happy to follow orders which send him into the jaws of the enemy, not so cool about retreating.

Vehicle mods cost 10 times as much as mods on normal equipment (so usually 1000 credits +), call out on page 285 of the AoR rulebook details it

Okay, thanks. Might be more than one mission until I can afford it then!

Yeah, mods on starship attachments can get crazy expensive!

I'll be sorting my character out tomorrow, I've got in my head the image of a heavy set Twi'lek with some sort of stupid big gun so that's probably going to dictate my character for good or ill lol

After delving into character creation and then rereading the thread here, it seems this guy might be stepping on mcniels5's toes a little bit. Happy to tweak/reimagine if that is true and a problem!

Anyway, rough character here:

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Vim Awo - Character Mechanics:

Duty - Support
Rating: 0


Species: Sullustan
Brawn 2
Agility 3
Intellect 2
Cunning 1
Willpower 2
Presence 2
Wound Threshold: 10 + Brawn
Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
Starting XP: 100
Special Abilities: Start with one rank in Astrogation and one rank in Skilled Jockey talent

Ace: Choose four of:
Astrogation X
Cool X
Gunnery X
Mechanics
Perception X
Piloting - Planetary
Piloting - Space
Ranged - Light



Gunner:
Choose two of:
Discipline
Gunnery X
Ranged - Heavy X
Resilience

XP:
Budget: 100 from species, 10 from Duty, 150 from Knight Level. Total; 260

Specialization: Force Sensitive Emergent (+1 Force Rating) - 30xp

Characteristics:
Agility 3->4 (40XP)
Cunning 1->2 (20XP)
Running total: 90xp

Skills:
Ranged (Heavy) (10xp)
Discipline (5xp)
Resilience (5xp)
Gunnery (15xp)
Running total: 125xp

Talents
Gunner:
Overwhelm Defenses (5xp)
Debilitating Shot (5xp)
Grit (5xp)
True Aim (10xp)

Force Sensitive Emergent:
Uncanny Senses (5xp)
Toughened (10xp)
Uncanny Reactions (15xp)
Sense Danger (20xp)
Touch of Fate (20xp)

Enhance
Basic (10xp)
Control - Coordination (10xp)
Control - Piloting (planetary) (5xp)
Control - Piloting (space)(5xp)
Control - Commit 1, +1 AGI (10xp)
Running total: 260

Motivation:
The Republic
Family

Gear (9000cr): 175 cr remaining

Padded Armor (500cr)

Light Repeating Blaster (3000cr total)
-Weapon Harness - 2 hard points
-Forearm Grip - 1 hard point

Advanced Targeting Array (4000cr) @ Vim's typical gunnery station

Stimpack - 8 (200cr)
Medpack (400cr)
Comlink (Long Range) (200cr)
Crash Survival Kit (300cr)
Extra Reload - 4 (100cr)
Datapad (75cr)
Fusion Lantern (150cr)
Tool Kit (350cr)
Backpack (50cr)

No worries :) I've a few ideas rattling round at the moment.....no ones gone for a medic yet have they? Might have a bit of a focus on that instead.

I was split between little guy with a big gun and explosives 'expert'... I could easily redistribute if the Twi'Lek still has a hold on your imagination :-)

No it's honestly fine mate :) I'm thinking of some sort of Sharpshooter/Medic hybrid at the moment but we'll see how things shake out

Ok, I've gone completely in a different direction now and gone with a Gunslinger Thief lol Character sheet is here if anyone fancies a look, still need to work through his Duty and Motivation in addition to his equipment but the bare bones of the character is done

Skills: Race - Piloting (Space) 0-1; Career - Piloting (Space) 1-2, Perception 0-1, Skulduggery 0-1, Vigilance 0-1; Spec - Cool; 0-1, Ranged (Light) 0-1.

XP Track - Race gives 100
(30) Ag 2-3, remaining 70
(40) Ag 3-4, remaining 30
(5) Talent: Quick Strike, remaining 25
(10) Talent: Grit, remaining 15
(15) Talent: Call 'Em, remaining 0

Starting XP 150
(20) Talent: Lethal Blows, remaining 130
(25) Talent: Spitfire, remaining 105
(10) Skill: Ranged (Light) 1-2, remaining 95
(10) Skill: Gunnery 0-1, remaining 85
(15) Skill: Piloting (Space) 2-3, remaining 70
(5) Skill: Stealth 0-1, remaining 65
(10) Skill: Stealth 1-2, remaining 55
(5) Skill: Computers 0-1, remaining 50
(10) Skill: Computers 1-2, remaining 40
(5) Talent: Bypass Security, remaining 35
(10) Talent: Hidden Storage, remaining 25
(5) Talent: Quick Draw, remaining 20
(10) Talent: Improved Quick Draw, remaining 10
(5) Talent: Grit, remaining 5
(5) Talent: Indistinguishable, remaining 0

Name: Kzz'ix
Species: Verpine
Career: Technician - Outlaw Tech

Characteristics and Special Features:
Brawn: 2
Agility: 5
Intellect: 4
Cunning: 1
Willpower: 2
Presence: 1

Microvision: When looking at something up close, add one blue dice to the perception roll.

Radio-Wave Communication: Verpine can produce and hear radio waves which allows them to secretly communicate with other Verpine and specially tuned comlinks within 100 feet.


Technician:

Computers
Coordination
Mechanics
Piloting - Planetary

Outlaw Tech:

Mechanics
Streetwise

XP To Spend: 80 (Verpine) + 150 (Knight) = 230

Agility 3>4: 40 XP
Intellect 3>4: 40 XP
Tinkerer: 5 XP
Tinkerer: 5 XP
Solid Repairs: 10 XP
Utility Belt: 15 XP
Jury Rigged: 20 XP
Inventor: 25 XP
Dedication: 25 XP (Agility 4>5)
Piloting Space (NON CAREER) (0>1): 10 XP
Ranged Light (NC) (0>2): 25 XP
Stealth (NC) (0>1): 10 XP

Total: 230

Motivation: Ambition - Revenge:

After his lifes work was destroyed and taken by the Imperials for their own use Kzz'ix will do whatever he can to ensure due recompense for their actions. While Kzz'ix prefers destroying Imperial assets (and took great joy at the destruction of the death star) he will still fight Imperial soldiers and agents tooth and nail to ensure vengeance is properly served.

Gear: 9000 Credits (Knight) + 500 Credits (Character Creation) + 2,500 Credits (Duty) = 12,000
Firearms
Czerka Arms C-10 "Dragoneye Reaper" Heavy Blaster Pistol : 1000 C
- Jury Rigged (Lowered Crit Threshold from 3>2) 0 C
- Banthas Eye Laser Sight (Adds one Advantage to Succesful check) 500 C
- Superior Weapon Customization (Adds Superior Quality to weapon) 5000 C

Armor
Padded Armor 500 C

Gear
Tool Kit: 350 C
Utility Belt: 25 C
Workshop Manual (B-Wing): 100 C
Stimpack: 25 C
Datapad: 75 C
Comlink (Handheld): 25 C
Extra Reload: 25 C

Ship Modifications:
Electronic Countermeasures Suite: 3000 C

Total: 11625 C

I went for a scrappy outlaw tech/mechanic whose got an appetite for serving it to the Imperials after they took his lfies work and destroyed everything else, leaving him with nothing except for a few things hidden in a secret compartment, including his modified blaster pistol. Im planning on buying the manuals for each ship we have to help assist repairs on our ships.

I'm leaning towards Squadron Leader now instead of Ace or Engineer, I think, but I'm still good with splitting a ship and being the pilot if you want to. There's only like one talent in Squadron Leader that actually has to do with personally shooting people anyways (Quick Strike), and that can be useful outside of the ship too. I think we'll both have enough to do in-ship. Otherwise, I'd probably just take an X-Wing :)

Also, for ship roll-call, it looks like we have an A-Wing for flug, an X-Wing for mcneils and a possibly a shared Y-Wing for Tookie & I? Not certain what Kzz'ix is flying or what Nox is thinking of though. And perhaps our most important question yet: what is our squadron name/callsigns?

Mynock Squadron? :-)

Although we're not really a Squadron are we? Something Force? Squad? Team? Cell?

B wing sorry I forgot to add that

Rathtarr Squad? Or, how about Blixus Squad? A Blixus has six tentacles, there are six of us...

Let's try it out... If it doesn't work I'll grab a couple ranks in Pilot and we can requisition x-wings.

Blixus Team abbreviates nicely... B Team, anyone?

Sounds like a plan. I wonder how callsigns work for multi-person ships? Would the ship collectively be referred to as "Red 5" or whatever, or would we be Reds 4 & 5 respectively, for example? And yeah, I like the sound of Blixus Squadron!

It makes more sense to me that the call sign would be assigned to the ship... But I have no idea.

Speaking of the ship... @DarthWash: can the creds that would've gone to a fighter be applied to the shared ship?

Yes you can use the credits to add attachments and/or weapons to your ships.

I might have missed this but are there any rarity limits to what we can buy?

Not at the moment. Once we start play it'll be like normal to aquire anything.

Bit late to the party sounds like we have a Smuggler Pilot, Ace Gunner, Smuggler Gunslinger, Technician Outlaw Tech, Commander Squadron leader? Shooting, flying, mechanical/computers, leadership/face seems covered. What do we need? Someone with med skills, sneakiness, and support type stuff?

If you can fit all of that into one character!

Finally finished my characters gear!

Actually looks like Skulduggery/stealth/computers are covered

So Tookie, what were you thinking in terms of ship mods? You mentioned an Advanced Targeting Array, which would fill up our remaining HP, did you have anything else in mind? We could potentially replace some of our weapons, but unless I'm overlooking something (I probably am), there isn't a ton else that we can do. If we do end up getting something, I'm happy to pitch in or just buy it completely; I'm still at 4550 creds, and I haven't bought anything for the ship yet :)

We've got a substantial sum from me not having a ship... is it possible to upgrade armor? We could improve the weapons for sure. If we need that HPor anything else the targeting array can wait... I just had some extra scratch

Edit: Or, I guess we each have half of a substantial sum ;-)

Rolled at random for race came up droid. Going medic hotshot. Thoughts? I'll have them stated and submitted today probably.

A 2-1B with a piloting upgrade?! Next you'll tell me my R2 unit can fly!

I just dug into the books a bit and I'm surprised by how limited the customization options are on ships, even including the Ace supplemental. You're totally right, Wooville.

Adding another laser cannon could work, but the only thing that seems to get our money's worth is filling all the modification options on a customization... That targeting array with all the mods filled out would be dreamy.

I'm bummed the shield generator attachment is 2 HP.

In short, I don't know.

Honestly, I'm good with leaving the ship as-is, with just the targeting array, assuming it still leaves the option of requisitioning separate ships down the line if it doesn't work out (not that I don't expect it to, of course :D). Mods require Mechanics checks, so I don't know if that's something we can buy before the game starts.