So we were playing Edge of the Empire with a really good DM but she isn't as comfortable with the lore, so instead she switched it to a Mass Effect game. So question is using the Edge system can you guys help make some base stats following for character generation. I have some ideas on what to do, but aren't sure if they are balanced. Any Mass Effect race would be helpful, but the ones we'd really like are the characters from the game.

1) Turian

2) Krogan

3) Geth

4) Asari

5) Salarian

6) Quarian

7) Human? (any changes?)

We are not worried about biotics or anything like that at the moment. If there is a better place to put this please let me know.

Thank you for your help

Someone already did most of the work for that.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100528-my-mass-effect-mod/?hl=%2Bmass+%2Beffect

Thanks for replying but I looked over the different races and all of them seem over powered or at least not balanced. I mean only two have less starting XP then humans, but get other perks that are way better than humans. I mean Turuains are listed as B 3 A 2 I 2 C 2 W 2 P 2 wound 12+ Strain 12 + and get discipline and 90 XP. That's 30xp for the brawn AND +2 strain +2 wound. Does anyone else think these are a little overpowered?

I was thinking of having Brawn or Agility 3 but Presence of 1. They get leadership and discipline and have the 12 wound and 9 strain with 90 Xp to start.

Mass Effect was never about being balanced. Star Wars as an RPG was. =)

I've spent quite some time thinking about how Mass Effect would work as a tabletop game.

I think it's problematic to find balance by looking at species first. I would suggest the breakdown be classes, or Fields of Discipline, first. You can then probably look at that and how the races fit into the classes a la Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, which should be a little more balanced. Besides which, Edge of the Empire seems to be built this way, as well.

So, the classes:

Soldier (Combat)

Engineer (Tech)

Adept (Biotic)

Infiltrator (Tech Combat)

Sentinel (Tech Biotic)

Vanguard (Biotic Combat)

If you go through the player options in Mass Effect 3 especially, you can see they assigned certain racial affinities for certain classes. Asari are natural biotics. Turians are natural soldiers. Quarians are master engineers, etc. Once you determine concretely what species go with what classes, then you can balance their stats to match their class affinities. And I don't think the game can be balanced without all the classes.

Mass Effect was never about being balanced. Star Wars as an RPG was. =)

This.

If you want to make things balanced, borrow from pre-existing species that are pretty close to what you want.

Wookies or Trandoshans can cover the Krogan, Droids can be Geth, Twi'lek's with natural Force Rating (Biotics)/required to have a Force career to cover Asari, Weequay (with a twist) could cover elements of Turians, and Quarians can simply be a human offshoot if you REALLY need it. . .or you can wait until we see what they do with the Ganks in Lords of Nal Hutta.

Really, I'd just take a species close to what I'd want and apply it with the necessary guidelines (as Turians may have better Willpower than Weequay, for example). We should have enough on hand now to properly stat the races.

Biotics are a whole different kettle of fish that everyone has a theory about.

I've been scribbling notes for a Phantasy Star/Phantasy Star Online/Phantasy Star Universe hack for a while, but my approach to species has been what you see above.

Respectfully, I disagree with Phil,

Species do not have to be linked to classes, nor do the classes necessary have to be rewritten to match the multiplayer. I think you should be able to convert without to much issue. Essentially depending on how much work you want to do. If you are looking for balanced races, moving around from human is a good starting point. As I believe has come up in other threads, it's 10xp to start with a 3&1 instead of all 2s. Free out-of class skill can be replaced with a fixed skill or low-end talent. If you give more, reduce xp accordingly. Don't worry about making it perfect - if you run along these lines you'll be at most 5-10xp off, less than one session's worth.

Example:

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

Skills: +1 rank Computers

Bonus: Quarians gain 1 advantage when making a Mechanics check.

Weakness: Quarians must buy an environmental suit at character creation. If the seals on their suit are breached, they immediately take 1 strain per round. This must be healed as a (average) critical.

Experience: 110 (we gave them 10 back for the weakness)

Respectfully, I disagree with Phil,

Species do not have to be linked to classes, nor do the classes necessary have to be rewritten to match the multiplayer. I think you should be able to convert without to much issue. Essentially depending on how much work you want to do. If you are looking for balanced races, moving around from human is a good starting point. As I believe has come up in other threads, it's 10xp to start with a 3&1 instead of all 2s. Free out-of class skill can be replaced with a fixed skill or low-end talent. If you give more, reduce xp accordingly. Don't worry about making it perfect - if you run along these lines you'll be at most 5-10xp off, less than one session's worth.

Example:

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

Skills: +1 rank Computers

Bonus: Quarians gain 1 advantage when making a Mechanics check.

Weakness: Quarians must buy an environmental suit at character creation. If the seals on their suit are breached, they immediately take 1 strain per round. This must be healed as a (average) critical.

Experience: 110 (we gave them 10 back for the weakness)

This is all solid advice.

Personally, I would change the weakness to enforcing Resilience checks in non-sterilized environments for X time, but that's just me.

Still, this is pretty sound!

Well, considering I wrote it in 10 minutes with no review...

Yeah, the Resilience checks could work to, but that's a lot of extra rolling. Maybe 1 check, with wounds for failure, strain for disadvantage, and a critical on a dispair?

Respectfully, I disagree with Phil,

Species do not have to be linked to classes, nor do the classes necessary have to be rewritten to match the multiplayer. I think you should be able to convert without to much issue. Essentially depending on how much work you want to do. If you are looking for balanced races, moving around from human is a good starting point. As I believe has come up in other threads, it's 10xp to start with a 3&1 instead of all 2s. Free out-of class skill can be replaced with a fixed skill or low-end talent. If you give more, reduce xp accordingly. Don't worry about making it perfect - if you run along these lines you'll be at most 5-10xp off, less than one session's worth.

Example:

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

Skills: +1 rank Computers

Bonus: Quarians gain 1 advantage when making a Mechanics check.

Weakness: Quarians must buy an environmental suit at character creation. If the seals on their suit are breached, they immediately take 1 strain per round. This must be healed as a (average) critical.

Experience: 110 (we gave them 10 back for the weakness)

No no, you're right.

Mostly I mean to start with the classes and race-class affinities so there's something concrete to base the starting stats on beyond "Krogans are strong and dumb" and "Asari are smart and sexy." I certainly don't mean that any race should be strictly tied to a class. On the contrary, Mass Effect characters break beyond their most likely racial stereotypes often in the series. Krogan scientists and tough Quarian soldiers, and so forth. Still, I'll defer to more experienced players for the numbers.

All that aside, I think that biotics are pretty crucial to Mass Effect lore. It's built into the life and identity of Asari, for example, as much as rough and tumble soldier-ness is for Krogans.

Well, considering I wrote it in 10 minutes with no review...

Yeah, the Resilience checks could work to, but that's a lot of extra rolling. Maybe 1 check, with wounds for failure, strain for disadvantage, and a critical on a dispair?

I get it; my starship threads are proof of that, so no worries! Not trying to be nitpicky, just trying to help show that there are many approaches that can work!

As for the thought: I'm thinking maybe once per scene (GM caveat, of course)?

Respectfully, I disagree with Phil,

Species do not have to be linked to classes, nor do the classes necessary have to be rewritten to match the multiplayer. I think you should be able to convert without to much issue. Essentially depending on how much work you want to do. If you are looking for balanced races, moving around from human is a good starting point. As I believe has come up in other threads, it's 10xp to start with a 3&1 instead of all 2s. Free out-of class skill can be replaced with a fixed skill or low-end talent. If you give more, reduce xp accordingly. Don't worry about making it perfect - if you run along these lines you'll be at most 5-10xp off, less than one session's worth.

Example:

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

Skills: +1 rank Computers

Bonus: Quarians gain 1 advantage when making a Mechanics check.

Weakness: Quarians must buy an environmental suit at character creation. If the seals on their suit are breached, they immediately take 1 strain per round. This must be healed as a (average) critical.

Experience: 110 (we gave them 10 back for the weakness)

We (My GM and I) really like this idea, and were discussing if not to add either the Gearhead or Utinni! talents since Quarians basically grow up around machines using whatever parts they have on hand. We were also discussing the idea of adding a resilience check each time a critical hit is taken (suit breach) or suffer penalties (setback die?) due to infection the difficulty being upgraded for each critical. However we are worried about this bogging down the character too much.

Like LibrariaNPC and Quicksilver said starting with existing races and modifying them is what we were trying to do. However we could not agree which is why I posted here.

Example is we couldn't decide if the Turians are closer to Chiss or Klatooinian. We both agree that they should have less Presence, since they aren't known for either diplomacy or trade (hence why they partner with the Volus), but most serve in the military. Hence the first debate, should Turians get a bonus to Brawn or Agility? Should they get to pick one combat skill and get Discipline skill, or get Cool and a Wound + Strain threshold bonus?

And again I want to thank people for helping out.

Even in a tabletop homebrew, Mass Effect won't let me play an Elcor or Hanar!

BOO

For turian, I would go with brawn. Then give them a rank of a combat skill, and Confidence. A strain bonus could also go well.