Hey, I posted this in another thread but realized it was an old thread and might not get many eyeballs. If someone could help me out and steer me toward the correct supplemental books to buy, it'd be appreciated.

Hey everybody, I'm starting up a game in this system and porting over an existing game from the West End platform.

I'm having some issues with the character species and some of you with all the expansions may be able to help me out.

Two of my players from the West End platform are missing species. The players are open to changing species but want the new species to mimic their old species, at least somewhat. I don't expect a perfect fit and don't want to just "make it up" because if FF releases these species later, I don't want to deal with over- or under-powered issues from the character templates I created.

I need:

Veknoid - Master piloting skills, highly proficient in all forms of craft, both space- and planet-based. Really, pretty much a one-dimensional character. Veknoids are small and not very capable in combat most of the time so, if possible, I'm looking for something that limits this character physically but gives him enormous capability in the operation of vehicles.

Tinnell - A junk collector, basically. He's a bit of a silly character, always cobbling together things from spare parts. Incredibly skilled at jerry-rigging devices, droids, and weapons but it's not always pretty nor does it work consistently. Also, the Tinnell are physically gifted and humanoid-sized so something along the lines of a Toydarian won't really fly for this particular player.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

well based on what you've described, I would say that species isn't really the defining feature of your characters. Your veknoid could be any species as long as you took piloting skills. Either as an Ace or a Pilot.

The Tinnell could be an outlaw tech or engineer and again, species doesn't seem to matter.

In lieu of trying to stat the races in EotE, I would have your players look through the books (or use Oggdude's character creator as it puts all the races in one place) and see if anything strikes their fancy and just rebuild the character around the specialization and their role rather than their race.

In lieu of trying to stat the races in EotE, I would have your players look through the books (or use Oggdude's character creator as it puts all the races in one place) and see if anything strikes their fancy and just rebuild the character around the specialization and their role rather than their race.

Then, when that process is complete, you could follow that up with:

“Abra-cadabra!” You are now an [iNSERT SPECIES NAME HERE]!

And then, for all intents and purposes, they are precisely the species they should be, with whatever game mechanics they should have for that character.

Hint: This is called “re-skinning”.

It happens a lot in this game, where you don’t have the species, or ship, or weapon, or whatever you want of the appropriate type.

Just pick something that does already exist that is close enough, change the name, and you’re done!

well based on what you've described, I would say that species isn't really the defining feature of your characters. Your veknoid could be any species as long as you took piloting skills. Either as an Ace or a Pilot.

The Tinnell could be an outlaw tech or engineer and again, species doesn't seem to matter.

In lieu of trying to stat the races in EotE, I would have your players look through the books (or use Oggdude's character creator as it puts all the races in one place) and see if anything strikes their fancy and just rebuild the character around the specialization and their role rather than their race.

Well, I'm looking for species that reflect these skillsets because the characters chose those races specifically for the bonuses they received in their respective skills. In particular, the Veknoid race in WE gets an obnoxious piloting bonus. I let the player have it in this case because he agreed the character would be one-dimensional in that manner.

And where can I find the character creator? I'm very interested in taking a look at that. Thanks!

I just realized I may be looking at this wrong... I'm only beginning to port over the game and i'm still reading the rules of the FF game. Do species not receive bonuses for certain skills? For example, are Wookiees not natural brawlers with bonuses? This could be where I'm getting mixed up.

There's also the Unofficial Species Menagerie...

(do a forum search - you'll find it)

well based on what you've described, I would say that species isn't really the defining feature of your characters. Your veknoid could be any species as long as you took piloting skills. Either as an Ace or a Pilot.

The Tinnell could be an outlaw tech or engineer and again, species doesn't seem to matter.

In lieu of trying to stat the races in EotE, I would have your players look through the books (or use Oggdude's character creator as it puts all the races in one place) and see if anything strikes their fancy and just rebuild the character around the specialization and their role rather than their race.

Well, I'm looking for species that reflect these skillsets because the characters chose those races specifically for the bonuses they received in their respective skills. In particular, the Veknoid race in WE gets an obnoxious piloting bonus. I let the player have it in this case because he agreed the character would be one-dimensional in that manner.

And where can I find the character creator? I'm very interested in taking a look at that. Thanks!

I just realized I may be looking at this wrong... I'm only beginning to port over the game and i'm still reading the rules of the FF game. Do species not receive bonuses for certain skills? For example, are Wookiees not natural brawlers with bonuses? This could be where I'm getting mixed up.

There isnt really a direct one to one on converting things.

Think of race creation like this:

Species gets 100xp to spend after character creation

All stats are at 2, one stat gets increased to 3, one gets decreased to 1 (based on what the species is naturally better/worse at).

Species gets a free rank in 1 skill

Species get a free minor bonus thats (pick one): equivalent to a low rank talent, gives a free boost dice, gets rid of a black dice, is a very narrow application and gives a free advantage

If you decide to go a second skill or the minor boost is better than those or better than a low level talent then you reduce the amount of xp to spend after character creation.

A Species gets 10+Brawn in wounds threshold, and 10+Willpower in strain threshold, if you raise either by 2 points, reduce xp to spend after character creation by 5 (the exception to this is its generally okay to give the species more wounds if they only have 1 brawn because otherwise the species is insanely fragile)

If you reduce either of the above by 2 then they get 5xp back (only ever do this if you are raising one and lowering the other).

To use Wookies as the example:

Wookie stats are: 3 Brawn, 2 Agility, 2 Intellect, 2 Cunning, 1 Willpower, 2 Presence

Wookies get a free rank in Brawl

Wookies get +1 damage if they are wounded, +2 damage if they are suffering from a Critical Injury for melee and brawl combat (this is essentially worth 2 talents and the talent its similar too is very good but the ability has limited scope due to needing damage and carrying a crit - a big liability)

Wookies get 14+brawn wounds and 8+willpower strain

XP to spend at character creation = 90xp

The reduced xp mostly comes from a very useful Wookie Rage talent they get (the bonus damage) and having +2 wounds over the top of what the reduce strain is.

This formula is pretty good to create a new species but currently there are about a million races out so you're probably going to save time just finding one thats close and using them. Humans are obviously the exception to this formula as they get bonus xp for having specifically bad stats (all 2) which makes it difficult for them to get the sweet stat spreads all other races can get. The upside is they get some bonus xp and come with the very nice hidden bonus that they can blend in with the Empire a lot easier.

Well, I'm looking for species that reflect these skillsets because the characters chose those races specifically for the bonuses they received in their respective skills. In particular, the Veknoid race in WE gets an obnoxious piloting bonus. I let the player have it in this case because he agreed the character would be one-dimensional in that manner.

There are multiple races that can do really well as pilots.

Corellian Humans can have three ranks of Piloting skill after initial character generation (CHARGEN), whereas all other races can have a maximum of only two ranks. They are found in the book “Suns of Fortune” (abbreviated “SoF”), on page 93.

Xexto are a four-armed race with a high Agility, and make good pilots (“Stay on Target”, page 24).

Dugs also make good pilots and podracers (“Special Modifications”, page 22).

Sullustans are also good pilots (AoR CRB, page 60).

Any of those races would be a good place to start looking.

And where can I find the character creator? I'm very interested in taking a look at that. Thanks!

That thread starts at https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/89135-another-character-generator/

However, keep in mind that it is now up to 353 pages long. I would suggest reviewing at least the last ten or twenty pages or so, before deciding whether or not to try reading any more.

OggDude does keep the URLs in the first post on that thread up-to-date, so that’s always a good place to start.

I just realized I may be looking at this wrong... I'm only beginning to port over the game and i'm still reading the rules of the FF game. Do species not receive bonuses for certain skills? For example, are Wookiees not natural brawlers with bonuses? This could be where I'm getting mixed up.

Wookiees start off with a higher Brawn than usual (three instead of two), and I think they may get a free rank of the Brawl skill, but that’s about it.

If you want to build a Wookiee Marauder that really does rip the arms off his opponents, you can certainly do that. But not all Wookiees are built that way. Some might have more Intellect, and be more of the Engineer or Mechanic type than the face-to-face Melee combat monster.

One of the best ways I've found to learn how a game works is to make a bunch of characters myself. You get the Lego blocks and figure out how they go together.... and if nothing else, you just designed some NPCs for the players to interact with.

One of the best ways I've found to learn how a game works is to make a bunch of characters myself. You get the Lego blocks and figure out how they go together.... and if nothing else, you just designed some NPCs for the players to interact with.

I planned on rolling up a few test characters to familiarize myself with the rule set before I introduced it to the players but never considered rolling them as NPCs. That's a good idea, thanks. I'll need a few free-floating NPCs in the coming game sessions anyway.

I would like to add Verpine (SotR) to the list of great species for pilots. Agi and Int 3 helps a lot, and in built coms is always nice to keep the communication with the team up independent from their own gear. Aces/Pilots are usually often separated from the team as they can achieve a lot on their own in a vehicle.

I would like to add Verpine (SotR) to the list of great species for pilots. Agi and Int 3 helps a lot, and in built coms is always nice to keep the communication with the team up independent from their own gear. Aces/Pilots are usually often separated from the team as they can achieve a lot on their own in a vehicle.

Ooh, Verpine. I didn't realize they were part of the new canon. I'll definitely give them a look. Thanks.