I will be playing my first edge of the empire game very soon and was curious of peoples thoughts on attributes. We could only choose humans as a race and we have 120xp to start. I went with three 3's and three 2's so I could spend some xp else where. I've been considering lowering one three to two for some more to throw at skills and talents as well but was curious if that is too low?

What is 'average' in EotE?

Having a lot of 3's almost looked like I was good at too many things instead of having a defined area of occupation.

How do you guys usually stat out your humans?

... As a different species that starts with a 3 in something.

The board's traditional recommendation is 4 3s and 2 2s, with all XP spent on stats.

I recommend getting a 4 in your characters focus, but, as I said above, I prefer doing it by starting with a species 3.

Is it going to be a long term campaign? A short series? What is the character type? Are you a Force user? Do you tend towards being patient or are you expecting results in an area quickly? What is that area if so? did your GM give an idea of how much xp they will award each session? What career/spec are you looking at?

Is it going to be a long term campaign? A short series? What is the character type? Are you a Force user? Do you tend towards being patient or are you expecting results in an area quickly? What is that area if so? did your GM give an idea of how much xp they will award each session? What career/spec are you looking at?

Seriously. if you can answer moat of these we can give you very solid advice, without it its our personal preferences (which are all different) and stabs in the dark.

My personal preference is buy as many threes as I can get my hands on. It's a nice solid base for all those untrained skills, and opens the options for where I want to put my Dedication when I pick it up.

My personal preference is buy as many threes as I can get my hands on. It's a nice solid base for all those untrained skills, and opens the options for where I want to put my Dedication when I pick it up.

This^ Once you hit Dedication you'll have a broadly capable character with a strong specialization.

I will be playing my first edge of the empire game very soon and was curious of peoples thoughts on attributes. We could only choose humans as a race and we have 120xp to start. I went with three 3's and three 2's so I could spend some xp else where. I've been considering lowering one three to two for some more to throw at skills and talents as well but was curious if that is too low?

What is 'average' in EotE?

Having a lot of 3's almost looked like I was good at too many things instead of having a defined area of occupation.

How do you guys usually stat out your humans?

My first question is, if you are starting with 120xp, can you still take 10 obligation and get 10 more xp for a total of 130, or are you being forced by the GM to automatically take the 10 obligation and that is why you are starting with 120xp?

The reason I ask is, if you can still take 10 more obligation and get 130xp starting out, I'd say take a 4 in your main stat and then grab 3s in your two most important secondary stats. If not, then I would go for four 3s like others have suggested or I'd tell the GM I only want 110 starting out and would rather take the obligation to either get more credits or a combination of credits and 5xp. With the latter you'd still grab a 4 in your main stat and raise another to 3, but then you'd have like 10 to 15xp to spend on skills and talents.

With that last suggestion I made you need to understand that you will excel with that four, but you will not be a well rounded character, so make sure you put it in the most optimal characteristic.

Is it going to be a long term campaign? A short series? What is the character type? Are you a Force user? Do you tend towards being patient or are you expecting results in an area quickly? What is that area if so? did your GM give an idea of how much xp they will award each session? What career/spec are you looking at?

Long term I hope.

Human Technician

No force stuff in my future.

Patient for the cool stuff but I wanted to make sure I started well trained in my job.

I was told we'd see 15xp a session on average

the 120 xp was after all adjustments.

3 Intellect 3 Agility 3 Cunning. You could go a 3 in something else, but honestly Outlaw Tech and Mechanic have some great Talents within reach if you hold back and use 30 for the tree, especially Mechanic.

If your GM doesn't mind you could bank the 30 xp and at the end of the first session be positioned to have a 4 skill in Mechanics or Computers, whichever spec you go with. 45xp would also get you to rank 3 of a non career skill after session 1, like a combat skill other than Brawl for Mechanic.

I'm not a colossal fan of Slicer, but maybe with the new book and these slicing rules it will be more interesting an option.

The most satisfied players have taken one of two approaches:

1) Generalist: 3/3/3/3/2/2 +10 obligation (30+30+30+30 –10=110)

2) Broad Specialist: 4/3/2/2/2/2 (30+30+40=100) - spend remainder on talents

2a) Narrow Specialist: 5/2/2/2/2/2 + 10 obligation. (30+40+50-10=110)

Narrow Specialist is either for Intellect driven types or for melee specialists, or snipers.

Broad specialist is for general combat types - either Brawn 4 Agility 3, or Brawn 3 Agility 4.

Ok for a longer game where all around flexibility is useful I would advise at least 3 3's. Intelect is your core characteristic, so definitely a 3 there. if you go for a 4 your definitely the go to for every knowledge check, and most will be a Skilled Assistance check for you.

Then it comes down to personal preference, each characteristic has its theme that can build on your concept. Want to be a good combatant then Agility is a good one. Willpower if you want to be coercive and mentally tough. Presence is super helpful if your going to at all socially interact, particularly Negotiation for getting a better deal on your tech. Cunning is great for Perception stealth and streetwise.

So pick 3 to 4 of the characteristics, give them a 3 and build a story around those strengths.

If the entire party is human, having four 3s and two 2s is going to make you one of a crowd. Your pool will be roughly the same as almost any other players' pool for most checks and, until there's enough XP awarded to differentiate the players, the party will be roughly as good at everything as each other.

If you're okay with that, then more power to you. However, I -strongly- recommend a 4 in intelligence for that character. Int is a -hugely- useful attribute and it will differentiate your character from all the others as you'll be much better than the rest of the players in your area of specialty. You'll also have four 2s, so you'll have some -actual- weaknesses to overcome (which I find makes for a more interesting play experience).

Were I making that character under these circumstances, I'd go with 4 Int, 3 Agi and the rest 2s. I'd also bank the rest of the XP to buy rank 3 in Mechanics after the first session. That will give you a solid niche and differentiate you from the rest of the party.

I agree with Braendig. Not only is Intellect a useful characteristic, but depending on your spec, you might have a lot of Hard difficulty Mechanics checks that you really want to make before too long. Especially for modding attachments, which is a Hard+ check that you really don't want to fail, having a 4 Intellect goes a long way. Comparing my different characters, my droid Technician/Mechanic with 4 Intellect feels a lot more competent for being able to rock Mechanics, Computers, and Medicine checks than my more generalist builds that do fairly well at a bunch of tasks with a handful of 3s.

How many players are in your group? The more you have, the easier it is to justify specializing more. Also, paying attention to what they're doing might clue you in on a good place to drop your 3 characteristic if you go with the broad specialist build.

Okay, my Tech is only 6 or 7 weeks old so I dont have a very deep sample to work from, but I have found that a Intelect is pretty important and Strength is a solid one just to get my encumbrance threshold up (that Tool Kit is a whopping FOUR encumbrance!). I was stuck with a 3 Presence because of my Twilekness and I thought a 3 cunning for the Skullduggery would be a strong choice.

So far, I've been pretty happy with my choices. I'm split on if I would go 3 in Cunning or 3 in Agility - both could be useful, but I thought having dice to open locks and doors and stuff would be better than piloting and shooting.