Hi folks,

Looking to jump into RPGames and I have a question. Looking at EoE, AoR, and the upcoming FaD, my group isn't sure which --if any-- version we'd like to focus on. This begs the question, if we start a PC in one edition (like EoE), is it possible to port it over into a roughly equivalent PC in another (like FaD)?

It's okay if the transition isn't strictly equal, even if only 70% of the prior character remains. Our main concern is that, once FaD comes out, somebody will feel like they'd much rather have begun as a FaD specialization/race/whatever. Starting over would naturally penalize this person while the others retained their matured characters. So is it possible to translate one PC to another across these platforms? This is an open question because I, for one, really like the morality component in FaD (similar to Obligation and Duty in EoE and AoR) and, long term, would like to use it over obligations & duty. Can I start a PC now in either EoE or AoR and later make the jump in some form so that I'm using morality? Or am I locked in and only able to be bound to the morality mechanism if I wait for FaD to come out?

Thanks for the help!

The books are all compatible and you could start a PC in EoE and then end up buying a spec in any of the other books with xp earned. The only caveat in the rules is becoming Force Sensitive requires either starting in F&D or buying Force Sensitive Exile/Emergent prior.

Does buying a spec mean delaying choosing your career or whatever until then? Or can you basically proceed without hesitation until the time to change over?

And, force user caveat aside, you can change over from EoE's obligations or AoR's duty to FaD's morality when the time comes?

Does buying a spec mean delaying choosing your career or whatever until then? Or can you basically proceed without hesitation until the time to change over?

And, force user caveat aside, you can change over from EoE's obligations or AoR's duty to FaD's morality when the time comes?

You can buy specs from careers other then the one you started in easily it just cost a little more xp. The main limit is that you can only get signature abilities of the career you started with.

A Pilot is a career choice, it has a talent tree, sure, but then what are its specialized abilities? Talents that only a Pilot has access to? So a Soldier has specialized abilities that only it can declare but it can then purchase the general talent tree of a pilot?

Since the specialized abilities are the only thing that are locked in from your first choice should you choose to port your PC over, are all the career options and specialized abilities listed somewhere so we can look at them before choosing which RPG to go with? I've seen all the talent trees for AoR and EoE but have been unable to identify the specialized abilities (they're likely staring me in the face but I'm ignorant). Haven't found anything on the FaD PC routes.

The beta of FaD is out and purchasable. It sounds to me like you really want to play a force user of some kind. If this is the case I would suggest that you buy the beta book and run with your force using character from the start. There will be some minor changes through the beta process and a few more minor changes when FaD ships. However they should not significantly change your character.

Careers are like categories for specs (so for example the bounty hunter career has the specs assassin, gadgeteer, and survivalist). The career establishes core skills, and your core conceptal category. The spec adds a few more skills and a talent tree that more clearly define what your character does. So like the assassin tree has stealth and sniper style perks, the survivalist has perks for tracking and wilderness fighting.

So when you create a character you pick a starting career and spec. Your starting career and spec stay with you forever, but you can buy additional specs if you like. Buying a spec from the same career you started with costs xp based on the number of total specs you'll have. Buying from outside your career gets a small fee added on top of that. So if you want you can start with a bounty hunter assassin and then buy doctor down the road if you are willing to pay for it.

Some specs, like force sensitive exile, are universal, and always count as in-career.

While 100% compatible, each book is designed to work as a stand alone game. As such all the core players roles are covered in the various careers and specs in each book. So there's a pilot career/spec in every book, a shooter, a tech, a face, and so on. The one exception is light saber use. Lightsaber use is its own set of trees only in FaD.

If you are having trouble deciding what to do, ask your players what they want to play. If they want to play Jedi, you probably want to just start with FaD.

There's one catch to mention. Force sensitivity in FaD is attached to the careers, not the specs. So if you start as an EotE or AoR career you'll need something like exile or emergent to give you that force rating needed to make the most out of taking a FaD spec.

Obligation, Duty, and Morality are secondary mechanics, so migrating from one to another, or stacking them, is totally fine. Its worth pointing out though, applying morality to a non force sensitive character doesn't work very well because they can't get all the perks from it.

I'm personally interested in using the morality mechanic (I may have a Master's degree in Ethics...) but, after that, am happy to go with whatever. It's about the morality bit, not being a force user. If there was some way for me to at least eventually be on the morality mechanic then I'm happy to do something else from AoE/EoE. That's the gist of it.

Obligation, Duty, and Morality are secondary mechanics, so migrating from one to another, or stacking them, is totally fine. Its worth pointing out though, applying morality to a non force sensitive character doesn't work very well because they can't get all the perks from it.

Oh this is an important thought it seems. Can you clarify how Morality won't help non-force characters? If it does nothing for EoE/AoR PC's then I could just commit to one of other RPGs.

Obligation, Duty, and Morality are secondary mechanics, so migrating from one to another, or stacking them, is totally fine. Its worth pointing out though, applying morality to a non force sensitive character doesn't work very well because they can't get all the perks from it.

Oh this is an important thought it seems. Can you clarify how Morality won't help non-force characters? If it does nothing for EoE/AoR PC's then I could just commit to one of other RPGs.

Skipping the method of moving your morality up/down to get to the meat of your interest.

At the top end of good you become a "paragon" your stain threshold increases and you get to add a light point to the destiny pool. While these perks are nice for any character, for force users it a little bigger deal because they can be used to fuel special powers (reflecting blaster bolts with a light saber uses strain) and help make force powers more reliable (if you fail to activate a power, you can spend a dpoint and strain to have it activate anyway).

On the bottom end, a dark sider lowers their strain threshold, exchanging it for wound threshold points, and they automatically add a dark point to the destiny pool. So they become physically tougher, but they lose precious strain points needed to do the same things mentioned above, and dark dpoints are for use by the GM to do things make various checks more dangerous. Furthermore the way darksiders activate force powers inverts. Mechanically this means it becomes much easier to succeed on the dice, but it also makes the results of those force powers less likely to be powerful.

So, for nonforce users morality's effects mean slightly different things.

Strain, while important, isn't as important to a non force users because its not needed as much. They still need it sure, but they have an easier time getting by without it if they need to. You can't spend strain to ignore damage using your blaster, or to make a blaster bolt hit when it should have missed.

Dpoints are a bit more useful, but only because they can do a lot of neat things. They can activate certain powers (especially at advanced levels)They even allow limited retconning of the story when it will help keep the game moving. But like with strain, they aren't as important because a mundane can get by without them if needed. You can't use a dpoint to make your blaster hit when it should have missed.

Finally is the force thing. A dark side force user inverting how his powers activate is a nice leg up, especially at low levels. For a mundane who can't use them at all... Who cares. Aditionally certain builds would benefit greatly from the exchange of st to wt.

I would start by asking your players (or defining it for them) whether they want to play a game focused on the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe (Edge of the Empire), the Galactic Civil War (Age of Rebellion), or the Force (Force and Destiny). Go with majority rules (unless you are flush with cash, and want to spend the $$ for all three core books [the Beta for F&D]). This will determine which secondary mechanic (Obligation, Duty, Morality) will be most heavily used.

As far as moving from one to another, it is VERY simple, and does not cause much stress at all, since it is all additive, you will not need to rework any characters. Worst case, is you phase out one secondary mechanic, and phase in another, or just run them both together (more maintenance for the GM).

Kevynn

Kevynn nailed it. Not much else I can add without writing a wall of text.

You can pick up the Morality mechanic and slap it onto your character whenever you, the player/GM, get access to the rules for it. It is a plug-and-play deal, and is totally compatible with any other PC from EotE or AoR.

And Morality is totally beneficial for Force users and non-Force users...it's just a bit more appropriate for those with the Force, like Obligation is a bit more appropriate for a Smuggler than it is for a Jedi Knight. However, that's not to say a Jedi Knight can't have a very flavorful and cool Obligation. Likewise, a Smuggler could have front-and-center moral issues that he needs to address, whether that means walking the line between the dark and the light, or whatever else. Maybe he's got rage issues that he needs to overcome to win back his family or something.

And to the earlier question, about the possibility of "translating" a PC, that would fall into the realm of GM fiat but is totally doable.

For example: a player of mine has built a PC. His PC is a beast rider from Onderon. He took painstaking time and effort pouring over all his options, finally settling on the Bounty Hunter: Survivalist. However, I know that the AoR Ace career supplement, Stay on Target, is set to release any time now, and contains the Beast Rider specialization. Since he never even had the option, I would, out of fairness, allow that player to re-build his current character (trusting him to keep theme & flavor in consideration) using the Ace career and Beast Rider specialization.

One caveat: unless there was a really, really good reason for it, I would require that the PC keep the same characteristics when doing the re-spec.

A Pilot is a career choice, it has a talent tree, sure, but then what are its specialized abilities? Talents that only a Pilot has access to? So a Soldier has specialized abilities that only it can declare but it can then purchase the general talent tree of a pilot?

Since the specialized abilities are the only thing that are locked in from your first choice should you choose to port your PC over, are all the career options and specialized abilities listed somewhere so we can look at them before choosing which RPG to go with? I've seen all the talent trees for AoR and EoE but have been unable to identify the specialized abilities (they're likely staring me in the face but I'm ignorant). Haven't found anything on the FaD PC routes.

I think we've confused you with talk of specs versus Signature Abilities. So, in your example:

The Ace is a career choice. The Pilot is a specialization choice that falls under the Ace umbrella. Incidentally, it also falls under the Smuggler umbrella.

The only thing "locked in" when you create your character is his or her career. The career gives you certain Career Skills (which you can improve at a discount) and a certain Signature Ability. This Signature Ability is some sort of powerful ability you can only access once you have invested a lot of experience points in a specialization that falls under your Career. For example, the Explorer's two Signature Abilities allow the character to make a sudden discovery (a more narrative ability) or to take more maneuvers than normal in a combat situation (a more tactical ability).

So, to get back to the Pilot example: If you want to create a character with Pilot as his or her first specialization, the choice of whether to make his or her Career Ace or Smuggler depends on which Career Skills and Signature Ability you prefer. Unfortunately, the Smuggler Signature Ability has not been published yet, so it's not a fair choice at the moment. But if you started out as a Bounty Hunter: Assassin and then later decided to pick up the Pilot spec, you would not be able to access the Ace or Smuggler Signature Abilities no matter how far down the Pilot tree you went. Instead, you'd only have access to the Bounty Hunter Signature Ability (again, not published yet).

TL;DR: Don't worry about being locked into specific abilities or talents due to picking one Career or Spec over another. Signature Abilities and Career Skills are the only stuff that is locked in like this, and half the Signature Abilities haven't even been published yet.