So my gaming group has been in an excited frenzy since our GM bought all the necessary items for gameplay, and I have been trying to make some decisions in regards to spending XP during character creation.
In your opinon, would it be best to spend XP for skill ranks, or for talents? Or does saving up XP make any sense?
So my gaming group has been in an excited frenzy since our GM bought all the necessary items for gameplay, and I have been trying to make some decisions in regards to spending XP during character creation.
In your opinon, would it be best to spend XP for skill ranks, or for talents? Or does saving up XP make any sense?
I can't see any virtue in saving up XP. It doesn't necessarily do harm so if there's something particular you want like buying into another specialization then sure, save the points so that you can build in the direction you want. But there's so much useful stuff I can't see much likelihood of not spending everything you can at Chargen.
Skills vs. Talents? I'm seeing about a 70/30 break down at chargen so far. Just feels about right. You want enough skills so that you feel like your character is capable and few of the low-level talents are a match. I guess that's why they're cheaper. 
You have a recent and long topic that pretty much covers that, it's from a guy asking about th power level of PCs in EotE.
Basically, you have three ways to build your character.
You can either build it on the talents of your spec, that means you won't do much but you'll be very good at what you do to a certain extent, but you'll be able to do it under many circumstances. I don't recommend this approach to be honest.
You can build your character on skills, so your character will be able to do well in many domains without the help of anyone else, but you'll be limited on the long term. You will be able to focus on your talents in trees and even get to raise some characteristics later one with Dedication. (The minimum to get to Dedication is 65 PX and a max of ~120ish).
That's when the third way comes into play, you can use nearly your whole XP on your characterestics. You won't do much in the beginning, but with that, you'll be able to focus on skills. On the long run, it's the best bet, you'll gain the talents a bit later, but you'll be one of the best at what you do.
Hope it helps 
Btw : (Don't) Listen to Order 66 podcast. They have huge debats about these kind of things.
You're better off spending as much of your starting XP as possible on your characteristics, and only spending the leftovers on skills and talents. At that point there is no "better", it's all about how you want to shape your character. If your GM hands out XP normally, you should be able to scoop up at least one skill rank in all your career skills, along with some of the cheaper talents, in short order. After that you'll have a much better idea where you want to focus your XP, and how much you have to save to do it.
I'm generally much more of a 'story' guy than a 'numbers' guy. If your concept of your character means you've got a low Brawn or an average Intellect, then I believe you should build your character by those numbers rather than what's going to give you the best advantage in combat or the like.
That said, definitely spend starting XP on characteristics. It's really the main time you can do it, and you'll get a lot of benefit out of it over the course of the game.
Generally your Career/Specialization's going to have a main characteristic. You don't HAVE to bump this up to 4, but if it's not already 3 or more, bumping it up from 2 to 3 would be a great idea. And if you want your character to be really good at it, take it up to 4. It's worth it in the long run.
So my gaming group has been in an excited frenzy since our GM bought all the necessary items for gameplay, and I have been trying to make some decisions in regards to spending XP during character creation.
In your opinon, would it be best to spend XP for skill ranks, or for talents? Or does saving up XP make any sense?
I advocate spending xp on characteristics as much as possible at creation, however, F&D does throw a slight wrench into that. Given the ability to base a Lightsaber skill on any characteristic and depending on the style of character, there is something to be said for reserving more xp for Skills, and particularly Talents, or even a Force power at creation.
Thanks all! Really helpful. Still not 100% of what I'm doing with this (new system for me) but thats the fun part about it all! It's already so much more intriguing than Star Wars d20 character building.
So my gaming group has been in an excited frenzy since our GM bought all the necessary items for gameplay, and I have been trying to make some decisions in regards to spending XP during character creation.
In your opinon, would it be best to spend XP for skill ranks, or for talents? Or does saving up XP make any sense?
I advocate spending xp on characteristics as much as possible at creation, however, F&D does throw a slight wrench into that. Given the ability to base a Lightsaber skill on any characteristic and depending on the style of character, there is something to be said for reserving more xp for Skills, and particularly Talents, or even a Force power at creation.
When i created my character i spent 75% of xp on characteristsc getting three if them at 3, then spent the other xp on talents and a force power, levaing the skills at 1. If i had given up on a talent i could have raised a skill or more at 2.
Stil think that riaising charcteristics is better in the long run, cuase yo ucan use more abilites untrained.
Stil think that riaising charcteristics is better in the long run, cuase yo ucan use more abilites untrained.
That, and once you're trained to, say, skill level 5, it's more rewarding to be rolling YYYGG than YYGGG or YGGGG
I'd also, if the GM lets you, take on more Obligation to purchase more XP. A human can have four characteristics at 3 and two at 2, which is a great base for a broadly capable character.
I'm a big fan or spending most on characteristics. The only way to improve upon characteristics is at character creation and dedication talent. So you might as well do it while you can and it's cheep.
Honestly, you can only start with skills up to 2 at start. With all of the free starting skill ranks you get, you're fine with the free ones for the first few sessions. Also, beyond the first tier of talents, they start adding up pretty quick as well. So, unless there is a skill or talent you REALLY need/want, dump everything into characteristics at start.
However, I do differ with most people on here in one way. If you want something to be part of your character concept, then spend the starting XP to acquire it. For example, the Force User I played picked up Force Exile with starting XP. My Big Game Hunter/Sharpshooter started with both specs as well. Sure I could've had upped one of my stats with that XP, but for me it was important to have the roleplaying basics for how I envision my character. Most of my characters I bump a couple characteristics. My human started with two 3s while my Rodian had a 3 and a 4. For the right character, if it's really needed such as the party social character, I'd use a race with a free 3 and bump two more to 3 and start with 3/3/3/2/2/1.
General rule of thumb is that it's worth it to up your Obligation or lower your Duty for the extra XP. The extra XP could give you an edge or an extra characteristic bump or the last character defining trait needed to create your character.
Bump the characteristics at start for the most bang for your buck, early on and for the long run. "Saving XP" for skill ranks won't really do you any good.
For your first character I'd suggest thinking about how your character looks, talks, walks and then put most into those characteristics (really, as much as you can basically).
The only exception being if the campaign is going to be rather short, then you could consider specializing more and purchasing more skills.
Do you wanna play a big fellow? Or a REALLY Big fellow? (Brawn 3 or 4)
Is he/she smart? a Genius? (Intellect)
Agile? A Gunslinger or Pilot? (Agility)
The one who talks and never stops? Is it Groot?
Basically the choice is for most species, do you want one characteristic at 4 or several at 3. Specialized or well rounded, your pick.
Also it helps to think of 2 ranks in a skill as being roughly equivalent to a college education in such a field. So 2 ranks is specialized for a starting character; don't feel like you need more ranks in a skill to be proficient right away. The game is designed for your characteristics (as in, your natural ability) to take center stage for now, with your skills (your training) coming into play here and there. As you advance in skill, you become amazing...but for the beginning, take pleasure in being able to roll 3-4 Ability dice in a wide number of skills.
I've played a character with 2's in every characteristic. It was not fun. Perhaps I might try it again to be quirky, but it was frustrating having a nearly 50% chance to fail the Average skill check.
I've got to join the characteristics bandwagon. The only way to increase them in the future is with the dedication talent, which is way expensive to get to.
I'm normally a story/roleplaying guy. I almost never worry about min/maxing a character, but dumping it all into characteristics is a huge boost. It's then cheap and easy to pick up the first levels of skills and some low hanging talents within a couple sessions.
Characteristics.
I look at "First level" newbie characters as "normal" people stepping into a larger world made up of Heroes.
I always love the back stories that are 5 pages typed out, how they were part of all this epic action, know all the other Heroes of the Realms, and have already saved the universe...But still first level... 
I look at building up the Characteristics first as the ground work of the Character. They spent their time learning, not a few things but a ton of things. The Characters "early" life was spent developing their natural abilities. Now that they are starting to walk the path of the Hero, that is where the upgraded skills and Talents come in at.
Consider this rule of thumb also: If you've got a 1 in a characteristic, it's a good idea to have a 4 in another. Meaning that if you're an alien starting out with a 3-2-2-2-1-2 spread, spend the 40 XP to turn that 3 into a 4 if you're gonna leave the 1 alone. Play to your strengths if you're going to leave your weaknesses undeveloped
Characteristics.
I look at "First level" newbie characters as "normal" people stepping into a larger world made up of Heroes.
I always love the back stories that are 5 pages typed out, how they were part of all this epic action, know all the other Heroes of the Realms, and have already saved the universe...But still first level...
I look at building up the Characteristics first as the ground work of the Character. They spent their time learning, not a few things but a ton of things. The Characters "early" life was spent developing their natural abilities. Now that they are starting to walk the path of the Hero, that is where the upgraded skills and Talents come in at.
i really like this explanation. it makes sense on what is 'best' (imo) for the charecter stat wise and helps with background as well.
Characteristics.
I look at "First level" newbie characters as "normal" people stepping into a larger world made up of Heroes.
I always love the back stories that are 5 pages typed out, how they were part of all this epic action, know all the other Heroes of the Realms, and have already saved the universe...But still first level...
I look at building up the Characteristics first as the ground work of the Character. They spent their time learning, not a few things but a ton of things. The Characters "early" life was spent developing their natural abilities. Now that they are starting to walk the path of the Hero, that is where the upgraded skills and Talents come in at.
i really like this explanation. it makes sense on what is 'best' (imo) for the charecter stat wise and helps with background as well.
I also rather like that justification. All of my characters so far (admittedly most just theoretical) start out with as much of their starting XP dumped into characteristics as possible; to raise said characteristics later on is an arduous process occurring just once at the bottom of a character tree. (nevermind F&D beta stuff.)
Really though that's with the expectation of a long-haul game. If you know it's going to be at most a dozen sessions total, starting off with some nifty abilities can go a long way to character investment and accomplishment.
Honestly it depends on the type of person you are...If you are a patient person, then go the skills w/ some moderate stats and a couple of token talents. You start as a jack of all but master of none.
If you are impatient and impulsive like me, then go for the stats & skills (Min/Max)...You will ROCK early at certain things but crappy at others in the beginning until you get xp to get talents and round out your PC.
I have seen it both ways and whatever works for you is fine.
I'll say that I'm most interested in talents, but I really wish I'd known to spend starting XP on characteristics when I first rolled my character. His stats of 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2 (Caamasi Jedi Consular-type...social skills, some Force abilities) have left me in trouble quite often with a poor Soak, poor Wound Threshold, and fairly mediocre/poor skills. Also, because I'm so talent/Force power slanted, I've not spent much in my skills, which also hurts (1-2 ranks in the core stuff).
If I could do it over, I'd probably spend 90 XP to raise Brawn to 2, Willpower to 4, and Presence to 3 (or at minimum, raise Pr to 3 to support my Charm).
Starting xp: The best way to spend it is characteristics. They provide the backdrop for all of your skills, thus giving you the largest impact. You're only going to get 3 +1 characteristic bumps (if you take the max 3 careers), ever. Cybernetics can provide an additional few bumps, but they come with a pretty steep downside.
Usually, you're going to end up with a handful of xp left, that you can't put into a characteristic due to the costs, with those I suggest to my players grabbing skills that are out of class yet they are relied on for a host of situations. Like at least get a point in them so you're not rolling as an unskilled. Things like discipline, which helps you with fear checks and resisting social attacks, yet most new(er) players don't consider them as important.
With your first few games worth of xp, concentrate on the skills you're wanting your character to be a disco star at getting them to around 3, and round them out with talents. From there the characters start to build themselves.
Is the max still a thing? I must have missed it in my reading of the core book, I thought it was pulled during the beta.
Yes it was cut in the final core rules.
You can take as many specializations as you have exp to pay for.
So as of now, I have Wookiee outlaw tech with scores as follows: 3 Brawn 2 Agility 4 Intelect 2 Cunning 1 Willpower 2 Presence
the idea of an intellectual wookiee amuses me, but I would also like him to be a better business man (im guessing presence and cunning would do that). Would I be better suited to having 3 intellect and 3 in Cunning or Presence? I wanted to have some tallents, but only the low cost ones.
Also, Brawn, Agility, and Intelect can be taken up in game without a talent. All you need are some nifty cybernetic implants!
Wookiees are pretty smart in the lore, the only reason they might not seem that way is because their physiology wont let them speak basic. Chewie was a pretty **** good mechanic.
i would keep int at 4, lets your main class skills (int based) 'hit' even harder.