I was wondering how other GM's handle this in there games.

1. let the player start at the xp of their last character

2. start a new starter level character

3.etc.

I just let them start at the same level. The whole point is to have fun - and its tough to have fun when you have three talents and everyone else is dropping their signature moves left right and center.

A sort of hybrid solution we use is to have the player create a new character at starter level, but then double the character's XP rewards until he is caught up to everyone else. Nothing wrong with just allowing the player start the new character at the same level either. Do what works best for you and your group at the time.

I fall somewhere between Sarge and Desslok on this: I have them start with half the earned XP of the party average, then double their XP gain until they catch up.

I have them start about even with the lowest-XP character in the group.

I was wondering how other GM's handle this in there games.

1. let the player start at the xp of their last character

2. start a new starter level character

3.etc.

Death that was not a suicide to just start another PC or through sheer dumbassery, then they just start at where everyone else is.

A choice to retire a PC or being the aforementioned 'dummass' and they get half of what has been awarded for free, and then we roll Force dice with each light pip representing 25 or 50 xp, whatever is needed to make up the other half of the awarded xp, and we let the Force decide where they start at....

I keep track of how much XP I offer each session. Depending on how often we meet, I usually do about 15 XP with the occasional +5 XP bonus for good roleplaying or significantly reducing Obligation, and sometimes a sizable bonus (+10 XP or more) when we finish an Episode or other major story arc. So I track two separate numbers: the "base" XP gain of the group, which is 15 XP per session plus Episode completion bonuses, and the "total" XP gain of the group, which is the base plus the bonus XP. This comes in handy for just such a situation that you're describing.

Generally, if a PC dies in combat, dies in a meaningful way, or the player decides to write him or her out in a narratively appropriate and thematically satisfying way, that player's next character comes back with total XP amount. No penalties, no playing catch-up. That player's been there already and knows the game and the table; I don't see any reason not to give her all the XP her previous character had. Plus, if the group's at more than 150 earned XP, then the Knight level rules are in play and she can come in with a lightsaber or 9,000 credits or some other meaningful thing.

However, if a PC dies for doing something nonsensical that the player insisted on despite all reasonable objections, or the player just decides to bring in a new character without trying to tie up loose ends relating to the last one, they come back at the base XP amount. In such a case, I don't award the difference. The PC simply starts at a slightly lower XP level, and if that player wants to get the difference in XP back, she has to do something to earn it.

The group I am in starts at knight level, no exceptions. Largely to enforce two ideals, that super heroic characters are difficult to come across in this era, and to ensure that any fresh characters made are manageable then a completely unknown entity.

This creates some gaps between the party and alts (each player runs a knight level alt to encourage main party spilting/explore new concepts). The oldest PCs, Tobin (mine ) and Gandhi the great (a nameless Gand that uses explosives) are both 800/900 exp characters, with the former being a powerful force emergent and the later a demo expert. On the other hand there are various merc, force users and agent PCs that either range from 400-500 or are quite fresh. It's clear that there's a huge difference in experience in some PCs, but specialists are quite notable in their trades, the issue is a lot of characters tend to have a focus so that they are quite notable.

I track XP awards - and detail what each award was given for - at the end of each Chapter. If a PC died, I would get them to make a new character, and then give them an equal amount of XP to the others.

In my game I have them start with a new character with a 100 xp starting bonus. Then when I award xp at the end of a session I give them a +10 bonus. They continue to gain this bonus xp until they reach the lowest xp benchmark -15.

I do this for a number of reasons:

I want players to actually learn what their new character does gradually. So their is organic growth to the character, albeit at faster progression.

I want death to be meaningful. I know that sounds backwards but If there is no consequence for dying than I find it is often abused and has little meaning.

I initially doubled their xp gains but found this was too fast.

depends on how far along we are. if the pcs are still low, say under 150xp, then you start over, over 150 xp then start at 150 xp or close to it depending on their background.

I guess for me it would depend on how they died. For me as a GM, I rarely if ever see PC death, so maybe I'm biased.

If the PC went out in a blaze of glory, sacrificing himself to save others, then cool, they died the Hero's death. I would let them start a PC at the XP they died at.

If the player went out their way to find trouble and just picked a fight with the wrongs dudes because they as players were "bored" and decided to create their own combat encounter, and happen to die, then I would start them per RAW for a new character.

For me, if the players are "riding my train" and I happen to make a combat encounter too difficult for them, then I will help them out. If they leave my train ride and decide to make their own combat encounters, then the safety switch is turned off. I don't believe in punishing players for my own mistakes in encounter design though. In my years of GMing this system, I have never seen an accidental death, and it really seems to me that the GM would really want a character to perish for them to actually die.

In my group they start from scratch. We have tried doing same XP as the group, but honestly both myself and the other guy in our group that runs games don't feel like the xp difference is a game breaker. Just throw in challenges suited for each player. We also incorporate many side story and back ground one off sessions which makes it so the group may have uneven experience earned. On any given night two players may not be able to make it and so the plan for the night gets scrapped and a side mission breaks out. It's like a guess what happened while you were shopping type freestyle adventure.