Are we allowed to re-spec our characters? I mean, after 3 games for instance, we end up with 3 XP. We've spent 1XP twice to take the two 1XP upgrades.... can we trade those in and get a 3XP upgrade?

I ask because we've decided to play with 4 characters whether or not 4 Rebel players turn up. On the last 2 games, we had 3 Rebel players and one of them played with 2 characters (Jedi and Wookie). On the next game, the 4th Rebel player can join and although he is happy with the Wookie character, he might not be with the upgrade choices. Can we tell him "Ok, you can re-spec the Wookie"?? If we do, it'll seem unfair to those that have played if they cannot re-spec their characters, if we don't, it'll seem unfair to those that skip sessions if they have to live with pre-selected upgrades..... and then what if someone steps in and wants to play an all-new character (say, the smuggler)?

Thoughts?

There is no in-game rule for this, so that would be a house rule. How flexible do you want to be?

One thing I would warn against is multiple re-specs, or re-specs at will. There is a marked increase in power for many of the 3XP and 4XP abilities that really reward the player who saved up for them. While some of the 1XP and 2XP abilities give the hero the push that they need to succeed in a mission in the short term, versus the player who had to fight harder to earn the more advanced ability.

Perhaps instead of a full respec, you allow for a refund of Xp for the game they missed, or, you just dont have that person spend XP if they are not there to control their hero? Or...in the age of instant communication, just ask the player which upgrades they want to buy?

Re-spec your elders!

I would give each player their own hero and track their XP and upgrades separately, each hero would start the mission with the same XP otherwise the balance would be out. So you might have two players using the wookie but each may have different skills.

If you allow respecting there is no reason for the players to save XP for the better skills.

I see, valid points. Thanks!

Without going into much details, how much XP total do players get (more or less) on the final stages of the game?

I agree with Pwmf ..

- allow respec in an open group (for a new player)

- but if the same (old) player returns, resume it's xp/items, and let him spend the new xp how he wishes

For the max XP minimum of 10XP, maximum ..~17 or so, I didn't calculated if they win all the missions.

Well, as long as the same rules applu to both rebels and IP there should not be much of an issue, just no incentitive to save XP

We have kept the xp choices even though our player group has changed during the campaign. The visiting players have embraced the heroes what they have. The rebel players have not complained and have really made the most of the abilities/equipment they have.

Here is the thing. The lesser abilities most likely have made an impact on the early mission outcomes. Hoarding xp they would probably have a lot less to work with now, since they would have lost some missions running unexperienced heroes and the imp. player would have a lot more influence and xp.

You are of course, free to do what you want. The rules do not allow respec, but you can allow it if you want.

Edit: And yes. Allowing respec takes away any concerns of "saving for that awesome skill" and makes the leveling up trivial and uninteresting (very subjective!!!)

So I have played 4 missions as Imperial in the campaign, aftermath, the Han solo (fly solo?), a new threat (? The story mission that unlocks when rebels win aftermath), and loose cannon. the rebels won aftermath and since then I won the next 3. They refuse to no longer play citing that the game is unfair and unbalanced.

4 players are playing rebels, only 2 have bought upgrade cards, Garkhaan and Mak have both bought a 2xp card, Gideon and Diala were Saving up For the 4Xp cards. I tried to implore them against saving the xp as it'll put them at a deficit (my experience from playing descent) the Han solo mission was close. I won with a miraculous 4 miss rolls on the white defense dice and was able to kill Han solo with the nexu. I really regret that happenIng now though, becaus They basically gave up playing in round 3 of loose cannon.

I personally feel like if I house ruled in the xp situation prior to the game they could have taken some upgrade cards. Made use of them, and not felt so grossly underpowered.

They werent the only ones not having fun. I stopped using my upgrade cards and agenda cards in order to try and maintain a level playing field. Turn 2 was the last turn I reinforced anything as Well.

It seemed like every bit of advice I tried to give was met with skeptical resistance as if I was trying to cheat to win. But they were also not playing well either. Keeping characters with range adjacent to characters with brutality was poor decision making. but I don't know if that is a result of them giving up. Or just them not grasping certain concepts. Anyway, if I can get them to play again I will enact the respeccing rule personally

That's sad.

Our group only gets to play once a month so we tend to have fairly open 'tactical discussions', including the Imperial player (me) simply because we don't have all the rules nailed down and don't want someone to miss out on doing something cool just because they didn't know it was possible.

Respecing definitely seems like a reasonable mechanic in a players first campaign, especially if they are a bit delicate when it comes to winning and losing.

My group has played Aftermath 3x, as we preferred it to the tutorial mission. By the third go, we had most of the rules down. All of our games were really close. On the last go of Aftermath, we lost because of crappy rolls on the dice. I think the last console had 1-2 HP by the end of turn 6. If we had rolled slightly better, it would've been a win. The next mission was Fenn's side mission Brushfire and we won that on the last round with the Jedi disarming the last bomb and being able to do so with the help of a green die from a Focus. Fenn was dead, not wounded, dead (aka withdrawn) on his side mission!

Our next mission, Under Siege, was won by the Rebels again at the very last round by denying the Imperial player access to the last 2 capture sites. It took a lot of tactical planning and execution and the way we denied access to one of the capture sites was to block the hallway with our characters with the wounded ones in front and the healthy ones at the back. LoS rules and all that.

Our last mission was the side mission to get Luke Skywalker which we won through smart use of movement.... and the Jedi's Force Throw ability. On one round, we used it to throw Vader into a corner, on the second round, we used it to pull Luke closer to the shuttle allowing him to move into it in one action and then taking off with the other action.

Is the game unbalanced and unfair? I don't think so. But you have to work for your wins and our group definitely has. We've had the Imperial player leave the table for a few occasions as we planned out our moves. Next time, we might bring slips of paper and write notes on that and pass it around as needed. Our Imperial player is succumbing to the dark side admirably and he will be a valuable addition to their cause.

For the last two missions, the Jedi, the Wookie, and the Bothan have been saving their XP. We have accumulated 5XP total and spent two, but the initial 2XP spent have been on skills that were used over and over, such as the Soldier's Tactical Movement card and the Jedi's Force Throw. We know we are missing out on opportunities to buy and use the 2- and 3-XP skills but we have made the decision to save since we were able to win our last 3 missions and are confident we can do one or two more then get the 4XP goodies and THEN get back to kicking ass. Personally, I thought about saving the XP from the start but the 3 trial runs on Aftermath showed that the heroes were very underpowered at the "no special skills" level.

Respecing definitely seems like a reasonable mechanic in a players first campaign, especially if they are a bit delicate when it comes to winning and losing.

I think, as others have pointed out, this can be a game-breaker. If you have reasonable players and can put a bit of limitations to re-spec, then maybe it is possible. Maybe only allow re-spec every other mission, and then only re-spec one skill or half the total skill points.