Hello all I've already had a practice session with my group to get them introduced to the rules. They love the game and its mechanics. This was two weeks ago. It seems whenever I'm free they got something they cannot miss and when I have something they have all the time in the world. We are finally getting plans finalized for Sunday, but I only know of about 3 ppl that are for sure in and there might be a fourth I'm not sure, but I want advice from you guys in the next bit.

In order to balance the group, I wanted to craft a default character or two that new players can use and swap out if others are not free or if new ppl want to try out the game (for the purpose of getting enough committed people to make this group work). My question is what kind of characters should they be? Hired Guns? Explorers? I just want a character or two premade so people can come in at any time without the commitment of making their own (at least until they want to make their own).

The committed players in the group are a Performer with skill in melee combat as well as Presence, a Pilot that can fly really well and has Cunning, and a Technician that has ranks in Ranged Heavy to be able to fix stuff and fight. There is someone who wants to be an assassin but he hasn't been getting back to me on anything.

If you have any advice in general on how to get this group more efficient, but more importantly what kind of character should I make to balance to the current players' loadout.

Any help would be appreciated, I haven't had to deal with something quite like this before.

I'd be radical and suggest you toss all ideas of "group balance" aside. It's a D&D construct that's required for that type of game, but it's simply not a necessary component of this game. Instead: first, adjust any encounters accordingly; second, help the players become "broadly capable".

Adjusting encounters doesn't mean always playing to their strengths, but if you play on their weaknesses make it a story event that can spin that weakness into narrative gold.

"Broadly capable" doesn't mean "thinly capable", but rather than having PCs that excel only in one area, encourage them to be good in two or more. An Ace:Pilot is probably going to be a decent pilot, shooter, and if Intellect is bumped, a pretty decent mechanic...that's a nice grouping. A face that takes the Recruit spec won't be caught with his pants down in a firefight. A Marshal or a Gunslinger can easily provide "face" capabilities by expanding into one of the other more social specs in their careers.

It's also worth noting that with clever use of advantages and destiny points, the players can make up for their weaknesses at critical moments. When my son's in town we play with just his one PC. He's strong in intellect, a bit sneaky, but can't hit the broad side of a barn. So when there's a firefight, he's Aiming, finding cover, and using DPs to make the best of it; it's my job to make the situation tense, but not overwhelming.

Hello all I've already had a practice session with my group to get them introduced to the rules. They love the game and its mechanics. This was two weeks ago. It seems whenever I'm free they got something they cannot miss and when I have something they have all the time in the world. We are finally getting plans finalized for Sunday, but I only know of about 3 ppl that are for sure in and there might be a fourth I'm not sure, but I want advice from you guys in the next bit.

In order to balance the group, I wanted to craft a default character or two that new players can use and swap out if others are not free or if new ppl want to try out the game (for the purpose of getting enough committed people to make this group work). My question is what kind of characters should they be? Hired Guns? Explorers? I just want a character or two premade so people can come in at any time without the commitment of making their own (at least until they want to make their own).

The committed players in the group are a Performer with skill in melee combat as well as Presence, a Pilot that can fly really well and has Cunning, and a Technician that has ranks in Ranged Heavy to be able to fix stuff and fight. There is someone who wants to be an assassin but he hasn't been getting back to me on anything.

If you have any advice in general on how to get this group more efficient, but more importantly what kind of character should I make to balance to the current players' loadout.

Any help would be appreciated, I haven't had to deal with something quite like this before.

i don't think this group needs any kind of character to balance anything or make them more efficient, the characters sound fine to me. 2 out of 3 can fight, that's enough, and you have tech, piloting and social skills covered. only wilderness skills missing and they are not that important in star wars imo. the way i see it, this group is very well balanced already.

so if you really want to cover any deficits with your default character, make him someone with wilderness talents. maybe a survivalist or scout?

my advice would be to let any new players play whatever they like though. creating a character in eote doesn't take that long (especially with oggdude's tool).

Maybe a Medical Droid that stays on the ship when not needed (When the number of players doesn't require him). Or another kind of droid, as others have said: Balance is not something the Party needs to worry about. A droid could also be damaged, so he only works part of the time (Which would explain him not being in some sessions) so it seems like the best choice for what you want.

You could make any other character you want, and just flavor him into situations. If they're in combat and no one is playing that character, just mention that he is also shooting and maybe taking out one or two minions. Have him be their silent tagalong when not being played.

A Doctor/medic seems like a nice thing to have, but any class works.

Thanks everyone, given me a lot to think about.

Use the Beginner game PC's for some inspiration (if you don't have any of the BB's there are 2 PDF PC's for each to download from the respective products pages) to make yourself some characters with more than 1 focus. Then write a short back story to tie them to the group and give them a personality for a new player to work with. Also breaking stereotypes helps inspiration and can get more interest. Some good Specialisations to do this with are:

Basic builds:

Wookiee Doctor. Higher Intelect and Brawn. Good at medical and Brawling.

Gand Scout. Higher intelect and Agility. Good in wilderness, driving, shooting and even medical.

Twi'lek Mercenary Soldier. Higher presence and Agility. Good with Any gun, but also a leader, a couple ranks in charm or negotiation too to broaden the character.

Trandoshian Politico. 3 Brawn, 4 Presence. Owns Social encounters, but has an aggressive side to him.

Bothan Demolitionist. (Many Bothans dies to get these!) 3's in Int, Will & Cunning. Good general mechanic (skill used for demolitions) as well as sneaky. Couple of ranks in ranged light and a utility belt full of grenades, look out minions!

More advanced (knight level IYKWIM)

Female Human Archiologist/FS Excile. 3 in intelect, agility, cunning, willpower. Enhance Force Power. Knowledgeable, athletic, good at ranged light... Lara Croft.

Droid Gunslinger. 4 Agility, 2 cunning and Int. 2 modified blaster pistols. Cyber arms for extra Agility. This character relies on lots of skill ranks (all droids do). Deceptive & coercive, lots of ranks in Discipline, Cool and Ranged Light. A natural pilot too even without ranks... A Terminator

From a story perspective hired guns and bounty hunters tend to pop in and out of the action. So do spies and other operatives. I'd look more at what can be fun characters to play that make sense showing up randomly over filling a particular role.

Looking at your initial post, it seems like there are two things you're trying to accomplish:

1) Balance the group

2) Have a "floater" character if needed

I don't know that these are best accomplished with the same character, though, since these are typically best accomplished in different ways.

As noted, the group seems pretty well balanced, except perhaps for a healer. In general, if I'm trying to balance a group with an NPC, I want an NPC who is not especially active and who will not "steal the show" from the PCs. Depending on the group, a pilot, medic, or mechanic who stays on the ship is a good idea. If the group is short on knowledge or social skills, a character who can fill that role without jumping in front of the PCs is good.

If we look at the TV show Firefly as an RPG where the regular players are Mal, Zoe and Jayne (who are generally the most active characters), Kaylee, Wash, and Simon fill the first spot, while Book and Inara fill the second. Note that, despite their facility at their areas of expertise, these characters very rarely get in the way of the "fun" (if we look at the focus as action and running amok). Like good NPCs, these are niche characters who fill support roles.

On the other hand, if you want a floater character, it should be two things: 1) fun, and 2) simple. A shipbound medic or knowledge character is neither of these things. Instead, you'd probably want a pretty straightforward combatant, maybe someone who, as has been suggested, floats in and out.

One option that I've used is to have two different versions of the same character, one NPC and one "floater PC." The key thing here is to make sure the capabilities don't change too much, or it's like "Hey, why can't Stan do that anymore?"

My last Star Wars campaign lasted 10 years and the players gradually developed entourages over the course of 100 or so sessions. Throughout the game, we have virtually every character type I'm talking about: a you stowaway who was a mechanical prodigy, a recurring passenger on the ship who was full of interesting information, a medic who was basically as physical therapist, a master pilot who favored running to fighting... (Interestingly, most of them came with an agenda of their own that was often at odds with the PCs: the stowaway was a thief who often brought trouble back to the ship, -- and later a romantic foil for one of the PCs, the passenger was secretly a serial killer, the medic was a spy for one of their enemies -- and later the romantic interest for one of the PCs, the pilot was a true support character, but always discouraged violence... needless to say, the PCs eventually caused his death.)

We had two potential "floater" characters. One was a commando who normally was good at stealth (but not as good as the PC stealth expert) and very good with an automatic weapon. As an NPC, he was sent to do recon when the stealth PC didn't want to go, or when we judged it would be boring duty. His facility with an automatic weapon might put him at risk to upstage the PCs, but I typically used him to hold off the lackeys while the PCs got to fight the "fun" villains. As a potential PC, I upped and diversified his combat abilities so he could better take center stage himself.

Another character was a (non-Force using) "knight" who put himself in service to our Jedi Guardian as her self-proclaimed protector (needless to say, the campaign feature much awkward chivalrous romance between the two). He was competent on his own and would often be sent on "side missions" for the PCs (sometimes backed up by the commando above), but with the PCs, he served two main roles: bodyguard (often for an NPC, not the Jedi) or "duelist" who might keep busy a secondary NPC. He would also sometimes support the Jedi in fighting the Big Bad, but because he was the lesser combatant, the expectation was always that he would served as a shield or distraction, and the PC would do the
fun stuff" and heavy lifting.

I should note that these characters evolved over time, in response to clear needs of the player group. (For example, the latter two were added when the missions of the PCs were so broad that they would often need a "B team" to take care of secondary, less interesting objectives).

I know I've meandered a bit. Hope some of this helps!