I've been experimenting with taking the extra 2500cr at character creation instead of the +10XP for Obligation. The reasons for doing so vary from adding thematic style to a character, to exploring game mechanics.

Findings:

*Many combat/explorer specs really benefits from those extra credits. A Marauder can get a tricked out vibro-ax (Custom Grip, Mono-Molecular Edge and Serrated Edge) with which to rend his enemies. Or a Big Game Hunter can get a nice Model 77 Air Rifle to give him an edge against his prey.

*Depending on your GM, weapon/armour attachments in a starting character can be, well, very characterful...and powerful. If you agree on a rarity level ahead of time, (say 5 or 6), you can get some very nice upgrades before the game starts. This helps in games where specialty items are hard to come by.

*The extra credits can in some instances be more useful than the 10XP you're not getting, especially if you're not taking talents early on, or you have an odd starting XP where you cannot use the points to upgrade another ability.

Q: What does everyone else do?

There is also a third option, which I used on one new character of mine: The +5 XP and +1000 starting Credits .

Depends on the character, sometimes you want gear sometimes its less important. A cash starved edge campaign you might want it. A Gand might prefer it for starting cybernetics etc. A lot depends on whether you need it for characteristics.

I started a character once with raising only one characteristic from 2 to 3 and spent the rest of the xp doing a run to dedication, leaving me one short and getting thst chars main stat to 4 after session 1, but having a nice suite of talents on day 0. Didnt feel too setback on it, wouldnt recommend it to most though, but it worked for that character.

Depends a lot on campaign also. In a long campaign you'd want +xp for attributes, unless it doesn't get you an attribute increase. In a short one equipment may well matter more.

+10 xp is usually worth taking if you're trying to spend every last xp on characteristics at the start: 3/3/3/3/2/2 humans or 4/3/3/2/2/1 for most others.

If your goal is not to do that then the credits often provides a much more engaging character, they feel a lot more real and have a history. The credits are excellent for bringing that character to life.

I have found that unless it's a one shot or short campaign you don't need to worry much with talents and skills. You will earn plenty of xp as the game goes on to spend in those areas anyway. The only exception is a low cost thematic talent such as Scathing Tirade, getting one of those can be fun to have from the outset.

Personally, I usually play very gear light concepts, no matter what the build is. I've played in a couple different Knight Level games, and invariably, I end up with about 6-7k credits that I just really don't have anything to spend it on. I've defaulted to just buying the Superior Quality, simply to burn the cash. But mostly, I'm a "Skills before Bills" kind of player. So for me personally, I'd rather have the XP. This is mostly a personal choice kind of thing, as gear can be broken and lost, but skills stay with you, even if you are tied up and naked in a cell. A situation I've found myself in on more than one occasion while roleplaying for 20+ years.

But I can see for some concepts that the cash would be more useful. I just never really play those concepts.

On 26/07/2017 at 1:52 PM, Richardbuxton said:

+10 xp is usually worth taking if you're trying to spend every last xp on characteristics at the start: 3/3/3/3/2/2 humans or 4/3/3/2/2/1 for most others.

If your goal is not to do that then the credits often provides a much more engaging character, they feel a lot more real and have a history. The credits are excellent for bringing that character to life.

I have found that unless it's a one shot or short campaign you don't need to worry much with talents and skills. You will earn plenty of xp as the game goes on to spend in those areas anyway. The only exception is a low cost thematic talent such as Scathing Tirade, getting one of those can be fun to have from the outset.

Game Im currently in had 50 starting xp as the base so dumping 30 into willpower for 3 brawn /3 willpower and starting the game as a warden with Baleful Gaze , might not be low cost but one step from FR 2 and another from Dedication, worked nicely.

I almost always take the +10 XP, and I commonly suggest it to the players in my games unless the extra credits are absolutely essential to immediately buying something that's a must-have a character concept.

10 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

I almost always take the +10 XP, and I commonly suggest it to the players in my games unless the extra credits are absolutely essential to immediately buying something that's a must-have a character concept.

Yeah, because it's very easy to be 5-10 xp short of another Characteristic boost in generation, and since that's the only time you can do it, it's a very good option.

Plus, there are a bajillion ways for a PC to make credits in play, not so many ways to get a reward of XP though. I mean, they can't get a job and ask for XP as payment from their contact

7 hours ago, KungFuFerret said:

Yeah, because it's very easy to be 5-10 xp short of another Characteristic boost in generation, and since that's the only time you can do it, it's a very good option.

Plus, there are a bajillion ways for a PC to make credits in play, not so many ways to get a reward of XP though. I mean, they can't get a job and ask for XP as payment from their contact

I generally agree that if the XP gets a characteristic, go for it. If you want a skill or talent, save up for it later. Use credits to pick up hard to find gear. My games aren't necessarily cash poor, but if you are looking for a specific item, they can be hard to find.

38 minutes ago, Edgookin said:

I generally agree that if the XP gets a characteristic, go for it. If you want a skill or talent, save up for it later. Use credits to pick up hard to find gear. My games aren't necessarily cash poor, but if you are looking for a specific item, they can be hard to find.

This is an important point. While restricted goods are off-limits, there normally is not a rarity limit built in to starting equipment. This lets future light saber-users pick up rare ancient swords or species-centric equipment like the Verpine headband that are rare on a galactic scale but might have been accessible from being in the culture.

I usually got with either +15xp, or +10xp and +1000 credits.

1 hour ago, ArtanisNeravar said:

I usually got with either +15xp, or +10xp and +1000 credits.

Those are not RAW possibilities

2 minutes ago, awayputurwpn said:

Those are not RAW possibilities

Yes they are, unless I'm missing remembering the xp and credit numbers (+5xp, +10xp, +1000 credits, and +2500 credits for 5, 10, 5 and 10 obligation respectively correct?). You can buy as many of the options as you want with two restrictions.

1. You can't buy each option more than once

2. You can't take on more additional obligation than you have starting obligation.

So with 15 starting obligation you can start with +15 xp.

The "options" here are +XP and/or +credits . There are two options with two degrees each.

The Force and Destiny Core Rulebook clarifies this in writing, page 339.

The Edge of the Empire rule book says differently. It lists the same rules I mentioned above on page 40. Providing no other limitation. The section you reference is specifically for using multiple combinations of morality, obligation, and duty. Page 338 of the Force and Destiny book under the heading "choose morality, duty, or obligation for the group" says "with this option, all PCs should use the step 2 of character creation from the appropriate correct rulebook" which would direct you back to page 40 of the EotE rulebook.

5 minutes ago, ArtanisNeravar said:

The Edge of the Empire rule book says differently. It lists the same rules I mentioned above on page 40. Providing no other limitation. The section you reference is specifically for using multiple combinations of morality, obligation, and duty. Page 338 of the Force and Destiny book under the heading "choose morality, duty, or obligation for the group" says "with this option, all PCs should use the step 2 of character creation from the appropriate correct rulebook" which would direct you back to page 40 of the EotE rulebook.

IF you're using the Morality mechanic for starting XP/credits, the options are (choose one):

• +10 starting XP
• +2500 starting credits
• +5 starting XP and +1000 starting credits
• +/- 21 Morality

Those are the only four options using Morality .

Just now, Tramp Graphics said:

IF you're using the Morality mechanic for starting XP/credits, the options are (choose one):

• +10 starting XP
• +2500 starting credits
• +5 starting XP and +1000 starting credits
• +/- 21 Morality

Those are the only four options using Morality .

The OP said obligation, not morality.

It's a small group if you're getting 15ob to start, but you are definitely correct. In games with 1-2 PC's it's even possible to have 20ob that can be increased to 40!

Most groups fall into the 10ob range and thus it is considered the norm, hence why some of the above are discussing it as such.

Personaly I prefer the FaD system, but it's fun making a 2 PC party in Edge or Age!

5 minutes ago, ArtanisNeravar said:

The OP said obligation, not morality.

That may have been a Typo on his part, given that this is the Force And Destiny area.

23 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

That may have been a Typo on his part, given that this is the Force And Destiny area.

It might have been, but I correctly answered the question that was asked.

26 minutes ago, Richardbuxton said:

It's a small group if you're getting 15ob to start, but you are definitely correct. In games with 1-2 PC's it's even possible to have 20ob that can be increased to 40!

Most groups fall into the 10ob range and thus it is considered the norm, hence why some of the above are discussing it as such.

Personaly I prefer the FaD system, but it's fun making a 2 PC party in Edge or Age!

It's difficult to get everyone together in my friend group so we usually play with 2-3 players

20 hours ago, ArtanisNeravar said:

The Edge of the Empire rule book says differently. It lists the same rules I mentioned above on page 40. Providing no other limitation. The section you reference is specifically for using multiple combinations of morality, obligation, and duty. Page 338 of the Force and Destiny book under the heading "choose morality, duty, or obligation for the group" says "with this option, all PCs should use the step 2 of character creation from the appropriate correct rulebook" which would direct you back to page 40 of the EotE rulebook.

Rules Question:
It's been my understanding that increasing Obligation can give a character a maximum of +10 XP and/or 2,500 credits, if a character starts with enough Obligation (e.g. someone with 20 Obligation can take 20 more to get a *maximum* of +10 XP and +2,500 credits). But a friend is telling me that if I start with e.g. 15 Obligation, I can increase it by 15 to get +15 XP or +3500 credits (10 + 5 XP, or 2500 + 1000 credits). This doesn't seem correct. Can I get both +5 XP and +10 XP with increased Obligation, and thereby increase my starting XP by 15? Thanks in advance.

In the case of obligation, if you start with 10 obligation you can take another 10 obligation to get 10 *starting* xp. But obligation can be taken immediately after character creation to get you credits, so you can have your 10 xp and extra money for starting gear. This isn't true for duty or morality as far as I know.

As far as whether to go with extra starting credits or extra starting XP, for most characters I've built (well into the 100+ range at this point), I've found that going for the extra starting credits is generally more beneficial for PCs from the EotE and AoR product lines. That way, you get to start with decent gear (especially good for fighty-types, as that extra thousand credits usually means a solid weapon and a set of padded armor) and aren't reliant on the GM handing out a substantial pay-day in the first adventure; some EotE campaigns have had problems with GMs sticking to closely to the "keep them hungry" suggestion in the EotE core rulebook with PCs barely seeing any payouts that aren't immediately consumed by other things, if they see actual payouts at all.

And honestly, since your first session is probably going to award you 10 or more XP, unless you're really trying to get four characteristics to a 3 at character creation or really need to squeeze in another Force power or a Force power upgrade, having the extra money for better gear up front will be more help to you in the short run, and in the long run it'll pretty much be a wash.