Okay, first off, this is a request to give me some ideas for a character build. If you don't like doing that, you might want to skip this thing, might be one of those folks who says "build your own **** characters!", or something, but if you would like to give some ideas, coolz.

So, here's all the BS. I don't know this system as well as I would like. I've looked it over since Edge beta, but I've never been proficient enough to run it, so I've never gotten to conduct it, and better learn it. Maybe building a character, and seeing what he'd take, and why, would assist me. I tried to build one in Edge, a bit after that book came out for real, but I have no idea if it was good, and I want a Force-user, obviously, which this book, even beta+errata, finally gives me the stuff to do more thoroughly. Here's some back story on the character, along with what I want him to have/do, and some fluff. Apologies, some of it is sappy, or silly, sort of Star Wars meets an anime, but this character set is a story, right now, and I'm seeing if he can be ported into rules. Hopefully, it'll help point you to some ideas, and those will help point me toward a better understanding.

Jaden Loross

So, Jaden starts out a Jedi, not so important, and then spends much of his 17 years working on the streets, doing little odd jobs, learning how the economy and populace work. Then, he spends two years being tortured, and now he's with a group of mercenary Mandalorians. He has his trial saber, as he left it with Feera. During his incarceration, he was exposed to worms, if you will, and other vicious torments, that left his back a mishmash of scars that bacta won't heal; I'm not sure if such an "injury" is easily reflected in the build. When one of the other Mandalorians fought him, he bled quite easily from them. So, he's street smart, if honest, with a bit of Jedi thrown in, if he can sort it all out in his head, and he's learning some new combat skills from a few Mandalorians. He's also rather smart, and tactical/analytical. The Mandalorian leader, Kurzen, has commented that he hopes to use the Jedi in tactics-planning, though how much will be brains, and how much possible glimpses of the future, is uncertain. Any ideas for some specific things to grab for him would be great, especially to feel more like a character, and less like a thing built to swing a lightsaber, use the Force, and just roll dice. Any of the three book lines is fine, as I have each, and would allow crossover in a game I'd run.

I'm not expecting anyone to just total-build this, but some specific ideas for things he might like, might need, and above all else why, would help a lot. He's being taught blaster skill, but Kurzen has three shooters, and only one dedicated melee fighter, so he is somewhat hoping to put the lightsaber to some use.

How much XP is he starting with? Because this sounds to me like someone with 3-5 specializations under his belt, certainly not a starting character.

Well, my current character is also a raised-in-the-streets one, I chose Artisan as his starting built (a smart boy, quickly found out being a tinkerer gives lotsa creds). The Sentinel's starting skills seem fitting if you are a little rascal, while probably Consular or Mystic could do well if you're a face. Guardian is for tough guys, and Seekers do good outdoors (just don't forget your lumberjack beard xD). This depends on what do you think he's good at, after all, and only with your starting skills.

If you're human, the extra skills can help you cover what your career/spec don't (I used them for some Cool and Streetwise, both needed if you're going to survive in the streets of Mos Shutaa). You could get some Ranged (Light) or whatever you feel like. I asume everyone who doesn't say otherwise is a human.

You mention some tactics-planning, maybe you could start as Peacekeeper or Seer.

As for Force powers, Foresee could represent this glimpses of the future you mention. I like to think that Enhance, Foresee and Sense are the first powers you would normally learn, while others like Heal, BM and the likes are more specialized.

I don't know how much starting XP you'll get, but as one possible starting build based on the ideas above, I would choose a human Peacekeeper. This would represent his knack with working with people, while when he learns to use his saber it'll make sense to be a Soresu Defender. Use the skills granted by human to cover what you think is due (I'd use Streetwise and any social skill), and buy Foresee when you can. As I said before, this is only one of the many possibilities.

Hope it was useful!

PS I assume you want to begin play with a FaD career.

PPS Please forgive my terrible English, I am non-native.

How much XP is he starting with? Because this sounds to me like someone with 3-5 specializations under his belt, certainly not a starting character.

Umm, I don't want to come off as a jerk, so I'll apologize ahead of time, but would you care to show your math there? He'd be a starting character, at the moment, so maybe Trader or Mechanic, and maybe grab Recruit, or one of the Force-user trees at a later date. His Human bonus may/can get him a rank in Lightsaber, now that it's a skill, and that means being able to leave some of those Jedi things alone, till later. Spend just a bit into Force powers, so Move and Visions, and he's a good starter. Some of the crap I tossed up there is because he's already an established character in story, and now I'm trying to see if he fits in here, and some illustrates where he will eventually go, as I rarely build a character in the moment, but rather plan out a bit of how I hope they will grow.

Well, my current character is also a raised-in-the-streets one, I chose Artisan as his starting built (a smart boy, quickly found out being a tinkerer gives lotsa creds). The Sentinel's starting skills seem fitting if you are a little rascal, while probably Consular or Mystic could do well if you're a face. Guardian is for tough guys, and Seekers do good outdoors (just don't forget your lumberjack beard xD). This depends on what do you think he's good at, after all, and only with your starting skills.

If you're human, the extra skills can help you cover what your career/spec don't (I used them for some Cool and Streetwise, both needed if you're going to survive in the streets of Mos Shutaa). You could get some Ranged (Light) or whatever you feel like. I asume everyone who doesn't say otherwise is a human.

You mention some tactics-planning, maybe you could start as Peacekeeper or Seer.

As for Force powers, Foresee could represent this glimpses of the future you mention. I like to think that Enhance, Foresee and Sense are the first powers you would normally learn, while others like Heal, BM and the likes are more specialized.

I don't know how much starting XP you'll get, but as one possible starting build based on the ideas above, I would choose a human Peacekeeper. This would represent his knack with working with people, while when he learns to use his saber it'll make sense to be a Soresu Defender. Use the skills granted by human to cover what you think is due (I'd use Streetwise and any social skill), and buy Foresee when you can. As I said before, this is only one of the many possibilities.

Hope it was useful!

PS I assume you want to begin play with a FaD career.

PPS Please forgive my terrible English, I am non-native.

Wasn't sure if I wanted to just stick with F&D, or get a little out of the others, right from the start, and then grow into the "Jedi" themed stuff as he would be growing into them in game/story. Was looking at regular starting XP, as a practice for building.

Well you could, as you noted, go Trader and add Force-Sensitive Exile right off. This would allow you to then go into F&D careers having that initial Force Rating of 1. I did an initial build using OggDude's char builder. Jaden Laross.xml You can load it up and look at it if you want. Spent all the xp bumping characteristics and purchasing FSEx, so no initial talents or Force powers. If you take an extra 10 xp through obligation or duty you could purchase the Sense Force power and i think that would give you a pretty good start. Or maybe not.

How much XP is he starting with? Because this sounds to me like someone with 3-5 specializations under his belt, certainly not a starting character.

Umm, I don't want to come off as a jerk, so I'll apologize ahead of time, but would you care to show your math there? He'd be a starting character, at the moment, so maybe Trader or Mechanic, and maybe grab Recruit, or one of the Force-user trees at a later date. His Human bonus may/can get him a rank in Lightsaber, now that it's a skill, and that means being able to leave some of those Jedi things alone, till later. Spend just a bit into Force powers, so Move and Visions, and he's a good starter. Some of the crap I tossed up there is because he's already an established character in story, and now I'm trying to see if he fits in here, and some illustrates where he will eventually go, as I rarely build a character in the moment, but rather plan out a bit of how I hope they will grow.

What I'm saying is that unless you plan on spending no XP at all to increase his characteristics at character generation and sinking it all into extra skills and specializations, you can't get all that with a starting character. A starting character typically has one specialization, about 6-7 ranks total in his various career skills, and maybe a single talent bought with leftover XP that he didn't use to raise his characteristics. If you're giving him 100 additional XP to buy more specializations and skills, he's no longer a "starting character"; that's what FFG named "Knight-level play" in the F&D core book. It makes a pretty big difference which approach you're taking, so that's why I wondered about your use of the term "starting character".

I guess the background story is just a guideline. Something to rely on, but the fact that he knows how to use a wrench, for example, doesn't mean he needs to have the Mechanic tree. Could be represented with a single dot in the Mechanics skill.

To me, starting with a FaD tree doesn't necessarily mean you were Jedi from the beginning, but on the other hand, it's the way you ended your pre-game life and how you start developing from now on. So you could have been a trader and then explored into your Force knacks, hence beginning play with (say) an Advisor and using extra human skills/initial XP to cover the things you think you should be proficient on given your background story.

Of course, we're not looking here for a min/max character, just something playable to start with, right?