[F&D] What character concepts have you come up with?

By Desslok, in General Discussion

Following Maelora's idea of making this a separate thread. . . .


Going too far again anyway any of you care to discuss what characters you've come up with?

especially those who do have the new Beta?

So - lets have at it! What have you considered playing for F&D? (Answers on a 3x4 card only, please)

When our group gets around to playing the next campaign, we're probably setting it during the Republic/Sith cold war, I'll probably come up with an analog version of my Sith Warrior from KotOR. Obviously the back story would be completely changed from what's in the game, but concept-wise, he'd be a hard hitting brute with little finesse and lots of raw power.

The concept - he'll be an apprentice to a Sith who is working on a unnatural unholy experiment of some sort. When the experiment turns out wrong and creates a zombie making virus - the Sith Master goes "This is great! Lets weaponize it!" - which is too much across the line for my guy. He kills his Master, destroys all his Master's work and notes and then runs.

So, the Republic wants him dead as an enemy of the state, the Sith want him dead as a traitor (or wants him to capture him and force him to recreate his master's work), the Jedi want him imprisoned because he's a Sith. And hopefully, I can keep the other players in the dark about his whole back story - at least up to the dramatic reveal after the campaign's start.

I'm thinking I might start with Marauder and then add in Shii-cho Knight. Why Hired Gun first? Because I'm thinking end game - the Last Man Standing or Unmatched Protection seem just right with this guy. That means, however, if I want to actually use the Force, I'll have to have Force Sensitive Exile or Emergent in there first, per the paragraph on P194.

So, a fallen Marauder -> Emergent -> Shii-cho. Sounds like a blast!

Edited by Desslok

Copy/Pasted from my Force-sensitive pugilist thread:

With F&D now out (in beta) I was wondering how y'all would build a pugilist. The idea being that the character is a melee specialist that does not use a lightsaber (who wants the attention it attracts, am I right?). I'm thinking like a teras kasi master.

I'd like to use as little as possible from other books, relying on F&D for as much as possible. I know the Marauder spec from Edge would do the job, but that's out of the scope of F&D.

For Race, humans are always a good, well-rounded choice. The Nautolans seem passable with a starting 3 Brawn, but the 1 Willpower isn't that great for a Force-sensative.

From what I'm reading, starting spec of Guardian: Soresu Defender. Just ignore reflect, defensive circle, and strategic form (since they all require a lightsaber). Everything else but the required Soresu Form can be used without a glowstick. Guardian: Protector is a nice in-career spec to branch off into with access to Force protection and a variety of +Strain/+Wound talents. Seeker: Ataru Striker has a nice left-hand column that gives dodge and parry. Warrior: Shii-Cho Knight also has a good assortment of non-lightsaber talents, too.

Gear would be a combat knife (cheap and the parry talent requires a Melee weapon) and a pair of Refined Cortosis Gauntlets for the pugilist theme (even though the description makes it sound like it should be considered a Melee weapon for purposes of the parry talent). Throw on the weighted head from Edge (the only non-F&D aspect of this character) to improve the damage.

Force powers: Enhance seems like the best bet—only 20XP to add Force dice to Brawl checks! Misdirects and sense both have great commit effects for passive bonus. The Protect/Unleash power, emphasis on Protect, will help against ranged attacks until you get in close to beat them up with your gauntlets.

-EF

A Kilian Ranger. Always liked the idea of the shield gauntlet and siang lance. Probably combine guardian/peacekeeper with gadgeteer and marshal. Or a jensaari or imerial knight type. Going to a better idea once I have the beta. Not that I get much chance to play.

(copied from the monster thread, some of the players have finished the character generation though we're all now exhausted....)

Anyway, first concepts, most of which need ironing out, but five of the players have made characters (bearing in mind our game has a different set-up where the Jedi are the antagonists):

- Former Jedi Consular, disgusted by the genocide of the Vong and the willingness to enlighten the galaxy at the point of a lightsaber. Wishes to teach a new order that's more in keeping with the Jedi of old.

- Togruta Sentinel, who left the Jedi when they started 're-educating' tribal Traditions to teach them their 'One True Way'

- Zabrak Seeker - a force-sensitive explorer, in love with the party mentor and who cares more about the man than his message

- Human Mystic, a wise woman from one of the tribes the Jedi 're-educated'

- Mirialan Guardian, a former police officer when her powers manifested and narrowly escaped the Jedi Inquisitors. Rescued and trained as a jedi by Lucas Lars, as he had himself once been trained in the career by Ben.

The adventures I've had in mind are mostly quite subtle, undercover ones: finding force-sensitive artifacts and temples before the Jedi can, supporting independent force Traditions before they get wiped out by the Empire or 're-educated' by the Jedi Confederacy, trying to aid the Alliance without getting hopelessly caught up its military traditions. And an over-arching goal in support of their mentor - 'bang everyone's heads together until they are working for a saner, war-free galaxy'.

A Wookie Warrior, Marshal and Marauder, with a cortosis-inlaid rykk blade

I was thinking an Ithorian Counsulor Niman Disciple. I think the whole idea fits nicely. Other than that, I'm running a campaign as of yesterday where the PCs are Jedi Initiates that disapeared at the end of the Clone Wars (right after Order 66) and have lived up until now in a strange place where the Force is strong (working a bit off of my Dreamscape idea). Now, having lived in Dreamscape for twenty years (and having not grown physically due to the state of Dreamscape), they are going to run around the galaxy, following the wishes of the Sentinels of Dreamscape and also trying to find their own meaning... Or somethin' like that. It's still getting worked on.

I haven't gotten mine yet. (My group sends a single member to Gencon each year) but I'll probably just be playing around with seeing if I could reasonably make a couple of older concepts of mine work in the system out of curiosity, plus howmany xp they would take

One was a D6 FS Alliance naval officer who was still in the Padawan stage of his Jedi training when the campaign ended suddenly due to the GM's pregnancy, and the baby being born premature The group eventually continued the campaign but I moved away from the area before they did so. I figure he would have been mainly Commander: Commodore with some Force Sensitive: Emergent, some piloting abilities and maybe a little Exile with some more Force abilities near the end.

The other was a Saga character that I played through 5 campaigns. (Well technically I played two versions of him one in a series of NJO and post NJO campaign who wasn't Force Sensitive or at least never discovered it if he was and one that I played in a series of 5 late Dark Times, Age of Rebellion, and early New Republic campaigns as a Pre-Alliance anti-Imperial Pirate, Alliance Privateer, Alliance Naval Officer, and Jedi (In this setting The Jedi Order reformed with training of new Jedi beginning within weeks of Endor thanks to an ancient hidden Jedi library with a number of holocrons the party discovered shortly before the Battle of Hoth.) He was also a fully qualified Starship Engineer and designer in both forms so I'm thinking Commander :Commodore, some piracy related talents, the Force talents, and of course some technician and Engineer talents. I know he would take a ton of XP to recreate obviously I'm just curious about how much.

Thinking up an idea for a campaign.

Set during the rebellion, so the other core books can be used but...

Yoda has instructed Luke to seek out others and bring them to Dagobah to train in the ways of the Jedi.

Yoda knows that he has only so long to pass on what he has learned and the F&D players would be his new apprentices - tasked with rebuilding the Jedi Order and helping to defeat the Sith under the tutelage of a humbled Yoda.

First, I'm going to convert my existing character over to F&D. Currently, he's a Caamasi Politico/Jedi Initiate (Ways of the Force), focused on social skills, Influence, Sense, and a little bit of Move, and tries to avoid physical conflict and death as much as possible. I had wanted to build him up to a well-rounded Jedi, using Force powers and a lightsaber, though right now he mostly just uses blast pistols (with Sense and Intense Focus making him fairly good at ranged combat without any skill investment).

My plan is to change him to a Consular -- Sage/Niman Disciple, but keeping as much as of the original character as possible. I'll gain a little more of a focus on Knowledge (which works well with Caamasi), move into some more interesting lightsaber abilities, and will get that 3rd Force die sooner, but will lose Intense Focus, which is going to hurt, and will delay hitting a Dedication for a while, which also isn't thrilling. I'd say that I'm basically trading current and short-term effectiveness and power in most areas, for more consistency with my Force powers, and a more interesting long-game.

Moving on...I've spent several hours working up character concepts...

  • Tekli , the Jedi Knight from the New Jedi Order (and later) books; she is a Chadra-Fan (Species Menagerie, I think) Consular -- Healer/Soldier -- Medic with a heavy investment in the Heal and Sense powers. She stops at Force Rating 2, since she isn't especially strong in the Force, but has plenty of skill in medicine with both ranks and talents, so she should be quite capable at her job.
  • Cerean Jedi Defender: Guardian -- Protector/Soresu Defender/Sentinel --Shien Expert who's very light on Force powers, and is instead focused on defensive lightsaber combat, and, in particular, protecting his allies via Body Guard (and Improved), Circle of Shelter, and Defensive Circle.
  • Kel Dor Force Wizard: Consular -- Sage/Niman Disciple who uses the Force offensively both in combination with lightsabers, and otherwise with powers like Bind (light side), Misdirect, Move, and Sense, along with talents like Force Assault and Draw Closer.
  • Mirialan Jedi Knight: Warrior -- Shii-Cho Knight/Starfighter Ace/Seeker -- Ataru Striker; basically a heavily offensively-minded lightsaber expert, focusing on movement, quick, overwhelming attacks, and being able to stand up to multiple opponents at once, as well as being a solid starfighter jockey. A little Force support mixed in from Sense and Enhance.
  • Zeltron Commander: Guardian -- Protector/Soresu Defender/Mystic -- Seer; this character is all about command, with Improved Field Commander, Force added to Leadership, Battle Meditation, Foresee, and the Forewarning talent. Soersu is in there to get access to the lightsaber skill and some defensive talents to be used while directing and supporting allies.
  • Zabrak Darkside Wizard: Mystic -- Seer/Consular -- Sage to get to a high Force Rating quickly, some investment in Discipline and Willpower, then focused heavily in Protect/Unleash and Bind, with a possible tactic being trapping one or more characters with dice Committed to maintaining Bind, and then blasting others, or the trapped foes with Force Lightning.
  • Duros Super-Pilot: Warrior -- Starfighter Ace/Ace -- Pilot/Gunner; I'd prefer starting in Ace, but with the F&D specs not granting a Force Rating, it has to go the other way. Basically, get all the goodies from Ace Pilot, then augment them with Overwhelm Defenses and Debilitating Shot from Gunner, add in Intuitive Evasion/Strike, and top of with Enhance for a fairly impressive fighter jockey (Defense 1, upgrade incoming combat checks by 2, upgrade outgoing combat checks by 2 when aiming, add Force Rating 2 to Gunnery, Piloting (Space) and Piloting (Planetary)...
Edited by yeti1069

I know he would take a ton of XP to recreate obviously I'm just curious about how much.

I'd guess about 1,000 XP...All of the characters except the Caamasi I mention above were built at 500 XP for an upcoming game, and a hefty investment into two Specializations within the same career, a minor dip into an off-career Spec, and some Force powers on the side ends up with a character with basically starting skills and characteristics, and little room for anything not on the main line on the way to destination talents (Dedication, Force Rating, or the 20 and 25 XP unique abilities in many of the trees).

You're looking at probably 3 specs, each from a different career, some significant skill investment, and some Force powers sprinkled on top. You could condense this a bit by doing something like Warrior -- Starfighter Ace/one of the engineering specs, but it's still not going to be cheap unless you skip a lot of talents.

An idea for a character I had, which I'd like to use with the F&D mechanics, was a former Imperial Navy Lieutenant who was sent along on a ground patrol "to see how they do it there". In the middle of a sandstorm he snaps when the troopers get brutal on the civilians, saves a little girl, and discovers he is force sensitive. A rescue party takes the girl away, leaves the Lieutenant for dead, and take off.

Now he has to deal with being essentially a deserter, his faith in the empire shaken, and being force sensitive. There's a lot of latitude for this character that interests me, and it's a concept I might re-start in different campaigns to take him in different directions. Morality for this character is especially enticing.

I just finished writing up my first FaD character, playing with Deslock actually, so this post can do double duty letting him know what's coming. This is for a game being set in The Old Republic, around the time of the SWTOR game, the Cold War between the Sith Empire and Republic.

Zabrak Consular Seer.

A padawan in the Jedi order who is perfectly content to spend all of her time in the library and archives at the Jedi Academy. She's very intelligent and curious, but tends to believe she knows more then everybody else. She starts seeking out knowledge that's above her level, or leaning towards forbidden. Despite repeated warnings, she is confident in her own skills and ability to handle it, so keeps sneaking knowledge out. Very little experience outside of the temple or other halls of academia/knowledge.

The Council decides she needs to get out and see the world, gain some practical experience, and get steered away from the books. She accompanies a Jedi Master on a mission Rimword to help to warring planets form a peace treaty. Our heroine swipes a Holocron before heading out to the great beyond, so she can clandestinely continue her search for knowledge.

Things seem to be going well until midway through the negotiations she wakes to find the priceless irreplaceable holocron is missing, presumably stolen. It is nowhere to be found. In a panic, she spends so much time searching for the device, that she misses the negotiation session altogether, which is both good and bad. During the session A Sith strike team hits the station hosting the negotiations. Her master is killed defending the delegates, holding off the enemy until most can flee.

The young Padawan learns about these events from CNN that afternoon, and panics. She feels responsible, that if she'd been there she might have been able to keep her master from dying. (She probably wouldn't have, she would have just died too, as she's got no combat capabilities.) In a haze of fear and guilt (good Jedi emotions) she flees. She had a holocron stolen, her master killed, and the peace talks destroyed, and it's "all her fault."

She flee's the scene, catches the first shuttle to anywhere, and heads out into the galaxy with nothing but her cloths, a comlink a stimpack and a practice saber. What could go wrong.

Edited by Split Light

I've been thinking about a growth path for my current EOTE Smuggler Scoundrel/FS Exile and I think the Seeker Striker might work really nicely. He's an Outer Rim pilot who barely avoided getting trapped in the slave trade and has a real issue with slavers, and has a long-term obligation and goal to free the remnants of his Twi'lek clan from slavery. I can easily envision him taking that to a higher level after getting some training with the Force and so forth and then going on something of a crusade into the Outer Rim, seeking out slavers and righting wrongs.

Once the child of an influential core world political family, a one time princess finds herself alone in the cold harsh galaxy when the Empire killed her parents and installed a puppet government to rule her world. Having always known she has a connection with the mystical "Force", the Mystic/Adviser now works closely with the Rebel Alliance in an attempt to over throw the Empire while keeping out of their clutches.

She has no interest in rediscovering the Jedi order. From the legends and forgotten history she has uncovered she finds them as much responsible for allowing the galaxy to fall into tyranny as the Empire itself. But from any Jedi teachings she may find she does plan to use such instruction to increase her own abilities, but she will never take up the Lightsaber.

My idea is for a force wielder not of any tradition but also not wanting to be a Jedi.

Edited by zjbh7

A couple of the PCs I built earlier today:

Dera Nurano, Human Sentinel/Shadow

At her core, she's a post-RotJ Mara Jade type of character; she has Force abilities (Influence and Sense) but she's also very pragmatic and cautious, preferring to keep a low profile.

Heru Po'whell, Human Guardian/Soresu Defender

A young man (mid-20's) that received some measure of Jedi training from a yet-to-be-determined source. While he doesn't have a proper lightsaber, he does have a basic hilt; all he needs is a proper focusing crystal and he's off to the races, but in the meantime he makes due with a truncheon. He's definitely a heroic individual, but he's got a temper that's not always easy to keep in check. He's only begun to scratch the surface of what he can accomplish with the force (basic powers for Move and Enhance).

Zuy Damann, Zabrak Warrior/Starfighter Ace

Zuy's as cocky as a bush pilot can get, but he's also pretty good at fixing and maintaining any ship he's assigned to fly. His Force abilities are quite limited (basic power for Foresee), but he's come to trust the general feel of his "hunches" when they come up.

All of these are true starting characters, with no additional XP beyond that offered from the Morality system.

Also spoke with my GM, and he's willing to let me do a re-build of Valin (Smuggler/Scoundrel/Emergent) with an eye towards picking up Ataru Striker. Did the rebuild, and there's a number of minor changes to Valin, though he's just barely delved into his new specialization; mostly to get the Ataru Technique talent so that I can continue to use Dexterity for his Lightsaber attacks.

Edited by Donovan Morningfire

I know he would take a ton of XP to recreate obviously I'm just curious about how much.

I'd guess about 1,000 XP...All of the characters except the Caamasi I mention above were built at 500 XP for an upcoming game, and a hefty investment into two Specializations within the same career, a minor dip into an off-career Spec, and some Force powers on the side ends up with a character with basically starting skills and characteristics, and little room for anything not on the main line on the way to destination talents (Dedication, Force Rating, or the 20 and 25 XP unique abilities in many of the trees).

You're looking at probably 3 specs, each from a different career, some significant skill investment, and some Force powers sprinkled on top. You could condense this a bit by doing something like Warrior -- Starfighter Ace/one of the engineering specs, but it's still not going to be cheap unless you skip a lot of talents.

Yeah that sounds about right. Like I said I played the character in five campaigns, didn't start down the FS and Jedi route until midway through the third so around level 14 or 15 (we had house rules allowing characters to reach levels above 20 and to buy individual talents and feats with XP and he was level 24 when the last campaign ended with a number of talents and feats bought with XP.)

Also been toying around with the Inquisitor rules in the back of the Adversaries chapter. You can create some serious freaking monsters under that system, enough that you don't need additional rules for true-blue Sith Lords; these folks will work in that role just fine, giving PCs a powerful dark side to clash 'sabers with but still preserving the "Rule of Two" paradigm during the Dark Times and Rebellion Era.

My starting character in an upcoming Edge game:

Valin Drayson human Sentinel/Shadow

Padawan that escaped the purges, he's smart and cunning, good with computers and has learned not to attract attention and how to avoid being noticed. Still has a training saber he managed to build after losing his own and is looking for a proper crystal to turn it into a "real" lightsaber. Has lost some of his connection to the Force , and so is proficient in only a couple of powers (sense and Influence). He's compassionate and willing to help other people but can develop hate as well. He's quite frustated with having forgotten so much his force powers.

Oh i like the Guardian/Soresu Defender Donovan made (the truncheon thing is a really nice touch), i might steal take inspiration from it for future games

Also did a Knight-level write-up of my namesake, using Seeker/Ataru Striker and adding Force Emergent since none of the other Seeker specializations even remotely match who the character is. Truthfully, I'd stat him using Warrior as the career and Ataru Striker as his initial specialization based upon the career skills offered, but it is what it is... at least until they start rolling out Beta updates.

I came up with another character, a Shein Expert who had the Motivation "Faith in Nothing". That is what I got from the random roll. At first that sounded like a hard Motivation to play out until I came up with this description...

"After losing her master while “good people” he fought for stood back and watched him die, Trix (the character's name, no cereal rabbit jokes please :-) ) has come to the conclusion that having faith in anything other than one’s self is folly. Everyday people are too scared to stand up against injustice, clashes between the Rebellion and the Empire cause more collateral damage than it is worth, allies are out for themselves, and the Force is merely a tool, not some saving grace that will make everything right. To that end, Trix is on a one woman crusade to bring justice back to the galaxy. (her Morality is Justice/Cruelty)"

I think that is a good way to play someone who has "Faith in Nothing".

I'm thinking about putting together a Sith spirit as a villain with the Intimidating Presence and Terrifying abilities from the Inquisitor list, along with a tricked-out Heal/Harm (1 Range, 1 Magnitude, all the Controls, maybe Mastery), and probably Influence. Not sure how I'd do the incorporeal part, though.

I envision it as something of a Force vampire, using Harm to recover its own wounds and strain.

Sage/Seer

Fay.jpg

Yep. Pretty much that.

I've been toying with the notion of a dark side mini-campaign, with the PCs being Imperial agents that report directly to Lord Vader. Definitely be at Knight-level to start, and careers from AoR and EotE would be allowed. Probably something that I'd do pre-gens for.

I've been toying with the notion of a dark side mini-campaign, with the PCs being Imperial agents that report directly to Lord Vader. Definitely be at Knight-level to start, and careers from AoR and EotE would be allowed. Probably something that I'd do pre-gens for.

That sounds cool.

Sage/Seer

Fay.jpg

Yep. Pretty much that.

The Force master. Lightsaber??......Who needs a stinking Lightsaber!?............