Hey everyone! Welcome to Round 1 of You Build the Character (YBtC), FFG Edition.* This is the start of a monthly competition in which FFG community members can compete to build their versions of famous characters from the Star Wars universe. The winner is decided by popular vote, and will receive all the honor and glory that comes with peer approval Plus, there will be a thread dedicated to the winners of the competitions, where their builds will be eternally enshrined.

This month's challenge to all of you is to build us a Player-Character version of the mighty Chewbacca .

The following rules apply to your submissions:

1. All builds must adhere to the RAW for Player Character generation and advancement.
2. All FFG-published material for the Star Wars RPG is fair game: Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, and the Force and Destiny Beta, including any supplements or other officially published material from these lines.
3. You may use as much XP as you like to build Chewbacca, but attempts to be thematic and reasonable are suggested. Since Chewbacca is a Wookiee, his starting XP is 90 (plus any amount of additional XP that Duty or Obligation might allow) and you can grant him any amount of additional XP as "earned XP."
4. Your build may represent Chewbacca at any point in his life, complete with any gear. The Legends universe is open (pre-2014 books, comics, video games), as is anything from the Star Wars canon (the 6 films, Rebels, and The Clone Wars). Including a picture with your build is encouraged!
5. For ease of reading, stat blocks should be presented in a fashion roughly similar to the stat blocks found in official material:
   

Character Name/Title

[introduction text]

[Characteristics] (Brawn, Agility, etc)

Soak Value, Wound Threshold, Strain Threshold, Melee/Ranged Defense

Skills:

Talents:

Abilities:

Equipment:

You have until 11:59pm PST on November 23rd (7:59am November 24th GMT) to enter/edit your builds, after which entries are closed. Any entries edited after the deadline will be disqualified.

Voting will commence as soon as entries close! The voting period is exactly one week, and the winner will be determined by popular vote at 12:00am (PST) December 1st.

...and go!

*Special thanks to Josh Cheesman/Jedi Comedian for the inspiration and the oversight of the many Saga Edition competitions back in the WotC days.

Chewbacca circa 1977

Catch phrase: “Grawl! ”

We are in 1977 and George (the GM) asks Peter to build the character of Chewbacca; a large ape-like alien who is the first mate of Han Solo (played by Harrison) a smuggler captaining the Millennium Falcon. He is supposed to help Han maneuvering and repairing the Falcon.

So Peter chooses a Technician – Mechanic which seems the best way to fix things. He chooses to be extra-strong by spending 40 xp to increase his Brawn to 4 and then he spends 30 xp to increase his Agility (he needs to use his energetic cross bow, fire blasters and steer the Falcon ). Okay, he may need a higher Intellect, but he will have plenty of skills to do his job of greasy monkey (ape?).

90 xp minus 40 xp for the Brawn and 30 xp for the Agility, this leaves 20 xp for talents and skills.

Since he is a Wookiee, he gets 1 free rank in Brawl. Then he chooses 1 rank in Astrogation, Computers, Mechanics and Perception for the Career skills and 1 rank in Mechanics (another one) and Piloting – Space (he wants to fly the big bird) for the Specialty skills.

With 20 xp he chooses Toughness and Solid repairs (5 xp each) and he increases his Brawl to ranks 2 to smash bucket heads with bare hands.

Br 4 • Agi 3 • Int 2 • Cun 2 • Wil 1 • Pre 2

Soak : 4 (yes, he is naked !) • Defenses : None.

Thresholds : Wounds : 20 • Strain : 9

Skills : Astrogation 1, Brawl 2, Computers 1, Mechanics 2, Perception 1, Piloting (Space) 1.

Talents : Toughened.

• Solid repairs : The character repairs 1 additional hull trauma per rank of Solid Repairs whenever he repairs a starship or vehicle.

Abilities : Wookiee rage (when a wookiee has suffered any wounds, he deals +1 damage to Brawl and Melee attacks. When a Wookiee is critically injured, he instead deals +2 damage to Brawl and Melee attacks).

Equipment : ammo bandoleer.

• Bowcaster (Ranged [Heavy]; Damage 10; Critical 3; Range [Medium]; Cumbersome 3, Knockdown).

Great build

Chewbacca as seen in A New Hope

Chewbacca in my build is a mechanic, who also went into the enforcer tree in order to add to his street smarts as well as the menacing qualities he brings to the table.

Talk the Talk as well as Loom seem to be natural choices for him.

The character here is based upon a mechanic that has been around the block a few times already (as Chewie seems to be when we first meet him) but is not an expert in any way, shape or form. He is well versed in what happens in the Outer Rim as well as the underworld.

While making this character I thought of some iconic Chewbaca moments from the movies but also wanted to incorporate some of the stuff we could easily forget:

• It is Chewie that is Obi-Wan’s contact in Mos Eisly
• Chewie has been used as a threatening presence in negotiations
• Chewie is a mechanic but he is not a prodigy. He fails to repair the Falcon on two occasions without outside help

Br 3 • Agi 3 • Int 2 • Cun 2 • Wil 2 • Pre 2

Soak Value 3 • Wound Threshold 17 • Strain Threshold 9 • Defense 0

Obligation: Life debt to Han Solo

Skills: Brawl 2, Astrogation, Mechanics 2, Knowledge Outer Rim, Coordination, Piloting Space, Athletics, Ranged Light 2

Talents: Solid repairs 2, Gearhead, Toughened 2, Enduring, Grit, Street smarts, Talk the Talk, Loom

Abilities: Wookie Rage

Equipment: Bowcaster, Bandolier, Toolkit

Br a bit low, the rest pretty good.

I kept his brawn intentionally low, I don't think I have seen him do anything (in A New Hope) that would justify a 4 Brawn score to be honest.

Nice Obligation, and a very nice Mechanic/Enforcer build.

Next time around, I'll make sure to specify that Career & Specializations need to be included in the builds...lol.

Chewbacca circa Star Wars , 1977

Name: Chewbacca

Species: Wookiee

Career: Technician

Specialization: Mechanic

Characteristics: Brawn 3, Agility 2, Intellect 3, Cunning 2, Willpower 1, Presence 3

Skills: Astrogation, Brawl 2, Coordination, Mechanics 2, Perception, Piloting (Space), Ranged (Heavy)

Talents: Fine Tuning, Gearhead, Solid Repairs, Toughened

Special: Wookiee Rage

Soak: 3

Wound Threshold: 17

Strain Threshold: 9

Defenses: 0

Obligation: Oath (10) + Bounty (5)

Motivation: Comrades

Equipment: Bowcaster, Bandolier, Toolkit

Explanation on Characteristics :

I chose to keep his physical traits the same. As a Wookiee, Chewie is stronger than an average human, but throughout the movies we rarely see him do anything really superhumanly powerful other than picking up and throwing occasional Stormtroopers or AT-ST drivers. Likewise, we never see Chewie pilot or shoot better than Han Solo or Luke Skywalker, so I didn't feel a need to bump up his Agility score. As arboreal creatures, I think Wookiees ought to have greater agility than humans, but if if that's the way Fantasy Flight built the Wookiee stats, that's how we'll do.

I wanted to bump his Willpower score up to 2 but decided against it. Chewbacca is animal-like in certain ways; in Star Wars , he freaks out when Luke tries to put binders on his wrists. He also reacts negatively--even cowardly--to the garbage masher and the lurking dianoga in the water.

The traits I did bump up were Chewbacca's Intellect and Presence. As a mechanic and copilot of the Millennium Falcon , Chewie's most important skills are Mechanics and Astrogation, so he needs a higher-than-average Intellect. As for Presence, well, it doesn't manifest so much in his skill set, but it is pretty apparent in the film that Chewbacca commands attention ( "Where are you taking this... thing ?" ). He might not be social in the way Lando Calrissian is, but Chewie is up at the bar when Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker enter the cantina. He talks with BoShek and Ben before introducing the heroes to Han Solo. His size and demeanor are impressive enough to frighten droids--like making C-3PO and R2-D2 forfeit their game, and sending that poor little mouse droid racing down the Death Star corridor in terror.

That costs 60 out of Chewie's starting 90 XP.

Explanation of Skills:

As a Wookiee, Chewbacca began with a free rank in Brawl and I picked up another free rank from his Mechanic specialization. He gets two ranks in Mechanics, one from his Technician career and one from his Mechanic spec. The other three free skills from his career are Astrogation, Coordination, and Perception.

Chewbacca uses 10 XP to purchase the non-career skill Ranged (Heavy) because he uses that to fire his traditional Bowcaster, as well as the Heavy Blaster Rifle that he takes from the Stormtrooper when the heroes rescue Princess Leia. He also purchases one rank in Piloting (Space) for 5 XP.

That costs 15 out of the available 30 XP.

Explanation of Talents and Obligation:

Not much of an explanation here: I gave Chewie the top row of the Mechanic talent tree: Fine Tuning, Gearhead, Solid Repairs, and Toughened.

That cost 20 of the available 15 XP... which means Chewbacca needs some additional XP! No problem, as he can have two different Obligations.

The obvious starting Obligation is his Wookiee Life Debt to Han Solo, an obligation that ironically I would categorize as Oath instead of Debt, but it really doesn't matter. Chewbacca gets 5 additional Obligation from Bounty. As an escaped slave, Chewie is a fugitive of the Empire and subject to arrest on a lot of Imperial-controlled worlds.

That's that.

Quite a few people are suggesting Oath as an obligation, however as Sam Stewart suggested on the Order 66 Podcast, Chewie's Life Debt is more a Motivation rather than an Obligation.

Just a thought.

Come on people, don't push and crowd! Everybody gets their turn!

Submissions for Chewbacca close this Sunday (the 23rd) at 11:59pm PST! Get 'em in while you can.

I tend to think that Chewbacca is an epic level character yet everyone is building him as a starting character.

3 builds so far, one of which is not a starting character...

As a youngling, Chewbacca always loved exploring the depths of his homeworld, Kashyyyk, where he was one of the few Wookiees brave enough to descend to the lowest depths of the forest. He also showed a knack for piloting and repairing vehicles. Unfortunately, however, these same skills made him a prime target for Imperial slavers. After being rescued from slavery by Han Solo, Chewbacca swore a Life Debt to the smuggler, taking on the role of first made on Solo’s starship, the Millennium Falcon . Having now traveled with Solo for several years, Chewbacca is an essential part of Solo’s operation. He now travels the spacelanes, a fugitive from the Empire.

Chewbacca (circa 0 BBY)

Career: Explorer: Driver

Obligation: Criminal (Imperial fugitive) (10); Bounty (Jabba the Hutt) (5)

Motivation: Life Debt to Han Solo

Brawn 3, Agility 3, Intelligence 3, Cunning 2, Willpower 1, Presence 2

Soak 3, Defenses: None

Thresholds: Wounds: 17, Strain: 10

Skills: Astrogation, Brawl, Gunnery, Knowledge (Outer Rim), Mechanics, Perception, Piloting (Space), Ranged (Heavy)

Talents: Full Throttle, Fine Tuning, Gearhead 1, Grit 1

Abilities: Wookiee Rage

Equipment: Bowcaster, bandoleer with spare ammo, satchel, tools, picture of wife, Mallatobuck, and son, Lumpawarrump

This build attempts to maximize Chewie’s potential as a first mate and copilot. To begin, we raise his Intellect and Agility by one each to help Chewie with his duties flying and repairing the Falcon. We leave his other attributes alone; we know from the six films that Chewie is kind of scrawny for a Wookiee, that he approaches problems in a straightforward manner, and that he tends to lose his head when under stress. All told, his attributes cost us 60 of his 90 starting XP.

The Explorer career and Driver specialization give a good mix of talents for both driving and repairing vehicles, while also giving Chewie access to all the skills he uses in A New Hope save Ranged (Heavy). For his free career skills, we choose Astrogation, Knowledge (Outer Rim), Perception, and Piloting (Space). From the Driver spec, we take Gunnery and Mechanics, the other two first-mate skills he needs to help Han on the ship.

With 30 XP left to spend, we take some Driver talents: Full Throttle, Fine Tuning, and Gearhead. These all help Chewie pilot the ship and repair it when necessary.

With 10 of his 15 remaining XP, we take a level of Ranged (Heavy) to account for all that bowcaster shooting Chewie did while exploring the depths of Kashyyyk.

With 5 XP left to spend, we don’t see any career skills or top-row talents that look quite right for our intrepid Wookiee. Not to worry; we take on 5 more Obligation to represent the fact that Han and Chewie recently dumped a load of spice belonging to Jabba the Hutt, who has put a bounty on their heads. This nets us 5 more XP to spend (for a total of 10 remaining). With this, we take a level of Grit to help Chewie with the stress of being on the run.

With future XP, Chewie’s player is debating going into the Fringer specialization to pick up more skills and talents to make Chewie a tougher fighter and more adept at navigating the underworld.

Chewbacca, ANH,

Character Creation -

1) Background: Took part in the Clone Wars Kashyyk campaign before being sold into slavery and rescued by an Imperial dropout. Now serves as first mate on said dropout's smuggling ship.

2) Obligation: Bounty - Jabba the Hutt (10); Bounty - Escaped Imperial Slave (5)

3) Species: Wookie

Free Species Skills: Brawl

4-5) Career: Explorer; Specialization: Fringer

Free Career Skills: Cool, Knowledge (Outer Rim), Perception, Piloting (Space)

Free Spec Skills: Astrogation, Negotiation

6) Invest XP (+5 XP for +5 Obligation):

30 XP to raise Intellect to 3

30 XP to raise Agility to 3

Talents:

Galaxy Mapper (5XP)

Skilled Jockey (10XP)

Skills:

Coercion (10XP)

Ranged (Heavy) (10XP)

7) Derived Attributes:

Wound 17

Strain 10

Soak 3

Defense 0/0

8) Motivation: Life Debt to Han Solo

9) Equipment: Utility Belt (Bandolier) (25), Comlink (25), Tool Kit (350), Stimpack (25) Credits (75)

Overall Character:

Chewbacca

Br3 Ag3 Int3 Cun2 Wi1 Pr2

Wound 17 Strain 10 Soak 3 Defense 0/0

Astrogation 1, Brawl 1, Coercion 1, Cool 1, Knowledge (Outer Rim) 1, Negotiation 1, Perception 1, Piloting (Space) 1, Ranged (Heavy) 1

Galaxy Mapper; Skilled Jockey

Equipment: Utility Belt (Bandoleer), Comlink, Tool Kit, Stimpack

Justifications:

I chose not to go the mechanic route for Chewbacca because we never see him repairing the falcon in EpIV - in fact, we see both Han and R2 contributing in some way but never Chewie, who deals with navigation and piloting. We also see him opening the negotiations with Obi-Wan, suggesting some negotiation skills and knowledge of the outer rim and/or the underworld, taking initiative during both ambushes set by the heroes in the death star (cool), smelling the Diagona and noticing Han's feelings toward the other heroes when even he doesn't see it himself (perception), intimidating some droids (coercion), and beating up on stormtroopers with his hands and with a heavy gun. I chose to make Jabba's bounty obligation larger because the Empire isn't actively looking for Chewie, in particular, unlike Jabba.

I chose not to upgrade Brawn for the reason several people have noted here - he doesn't really do anything in the first movie to suggest Br 4 to me, although ripping someone vertically out of an AT-ST would qualify, I think, so he likely picks up dedication before EpVI. I also wanted to raise his willpower to reflect coercion, but then I decided a single non-career rank worked better. The Agility and the Intellect represent his role as a navigator and a pilot, but the intellect also justifies his later forays into mechanics - I figure Han is only intellect 2, so the players decide that Chewie takes that role as well and he picks up the driver spec, a gear head talent, and a mechanics skill between EpIV and Ep V for 30 XP and picks up a Bowcaster. During Episode IV, I could see him taking Rapid Recovery (5XP) and another rank of Brawl (15XP). He grabs Grit from the Driver Tree (10XP) during Episode V, saving 10, and between EpV and EpVI, he picks up a second Gearhead and Toughened (35XP - 5 Saved) to move toward dedication and get the Falcon ready for a major space battle he anticipates taking place in the final adventure. Getting ready for the final showdown, and realizing his role will be on the ground, he takes dedication and increases Brawn. Yes, Chewie dives much further into Driver than into his starting Spec, but I think it works pretty well. This assumes 30XP given in 10 XP chunks during the adventure, and 20XP bonus for completing the story arc. So at the end of RotJ, before the final 30XP (last 10 plus 20 bonus) Chewbacca looks like this:

LATER CHEWIE BUILDS GROWING OFF OF THIS STARTING CHARACTER - These are not my entries, but supplements to my previous build showing how this version of Chewbacca grows through the movies.

Chewbacca - RotJ

Br4 Ag3 Int3 Cun2 Wi1 Pr2

Wound 19 Strain 11 Soak 3 Defense 0/0

QuickSabre, I like your RotJ builds. I would like to see a rank in Piloting (Planetary) too. He may not need it to pilot that AT-ST, but it can't hurt.

QuickSabre, I like your RotJ builds. I would like to see a rank in Piloting (Planetary) too. He may not need it to pilot that AT-ST, but it can't hurt.

Good call. Maybe instead of rapid recovery in the first build, gear head in the second? Actually for the second I might just pretend that there are 30XP to be had after the battle of Endor same as before. So:

Chewbacca - RotJ - 120XP over starting

Explorer: Fringer/Driver

Br4 Ag3 Int3 Cun2 Wi1 Pr2

Wound 19 Strain 11 Soak 3 Defense 0/0

Glad to see we both see him as an Explorer. I almost went with Fringer, but ultimately I found Driver was more "copilot-y."

Chewbacca - RotJ (2) - 180XP over Starting

Explorer: Fringer; Cross: Mechanic

Glad to see we both see him as an Explorer. I almost went with Fringer, but ultimately I found Driver was more "copilot-y."

I went with Fringer because I thought the spec skills (astrogation, negotiation, even coordination to some extent) and the mix of astrogation, piloting, and combat talents did a better job of portraying what we see of him in ANH, even if Driver, with the piloting (planetary), mechanics, and mechanics talents might do a better job of depicting him later in the trilogy. I figured Chewbacca's player was going to build on the astrogation and combat sidekick more, but the needs of the campaign (especially the need for a mechanic when the Falcon started falling apart) took him in a different direction.

I went with Fringer because I thought the spec skills (astrogation, negotiation, even coordination to some extent) and the mix of astrogation, piloting, and combat talents did a better job of portraying what we see of him in ANH, even if Driver, with the piloting (planetary), mechanics, and mechanics talents might do a better job of depicting him later in the trilogy. I figured Chewbacca's player was going to build on the astrogation and combat sidekick more, but the needs of the campaign (especially the need for a mechanic when the Falcon started falling apart) took him in a different direction.

Yeah, I took a birds-eye-view approach and got there more cheaply, but I really like your approach to take the player's POV and develop it over time.

(And I'm not knocking the Technician builds, either, mind you. This is a fun thread.)

I tend to think that Chewbacca is an epic level character yet everyone is building him as a starting character.

I agree, he should be statted a lot higher like Lando Calrissean was in The Jewel of Yavin . I didn't read the original post close enough and thought my Chewbacca build could only use the basic starting XP or I would have done it a little differently.

The request was to build Chewbacca "at any time" and let's be honest, there was absolutely nothing epic about him in a New Hope...

I tend to think that Chewbacca is an epic level character yet everyone is building him as a starting character.

I agree, he should be statted a lot higher like Lando Calrissean was in The Jewel of Yavin . I didn't read the original post close enough and thought my Chewbacca build could only use the basic starting XP or I would have done it a little differently.

You've still got a few days! You can alter your entry in any way you like, if you so desire.

If I showed up to a starting game and said "Can I be the Chewbacca" and somebody handed me one of these starting builds... I would not feel gypped.

The request was to build Chewbacca "at any time" and let's be honest, there was absolutely nothing epic about him in a New Hope...

Quoting for emphasis.