I am looking through the races and the starting XP range seems to go from 90-110 and I’m not sure I’m following the logic, as all species still seem to have a stat total of 12. The only thing I can think of is some races start with a 3 in something and have lower XO but it doesn’t seem to follow.

beyond RP reasons, doesn’t playing (say) a Dug put you at a disadvantage to (say) a Gank and if so, why play one (again. Beyond RP reasons)

Aside from differences in their base starting Ability scores, various species also have other special features and abilities which have an “XP value”, Depending upon whether these special features are beneficial or detrimental, this can either cost the species in starting XP or grant them extra starting XP.

Look at the starting xp cost to raise the 1 to a 2 and a 2 to the 3.

It's for balance. A species with 3 in one ability and 1 in another isn't the same as a species with 2's across the board. You can't just drop a characteristic to 1 and then raise another to 3 and get the same value—it makes it inherently easier to get to a 4, which is a very strong characteristic. Getting to a 4 with a human is a dedicated choice, while getting to a 4 with most alien species is a very natural choice.

Plus like Tramp said, there's certain species with unique abilities that can really lend themselves to certain archetypes or roles. Xexto's two free maneuvers are an example, as is the Trandoshan's limb regeneration.

Imagine a Besalisk with 1`00 starting XP.

19 minutes ago, awayputurwpn said:

It's for balance. A species with 3 in one ability and 1 in another isn't the same as a species with 2's across the board. You can't just drop a characteristic to 1 and then raise another to 3 and get the same value—it makes it inherently easier to get to a 4, which is a very strong characteristic. Getting to a 4 with a human is a dedicated choice, while getting to a 4 with most alien species is a very natural choice.

Plus like Tramp said, there's certain species with unique abilities that can really lend themselves to certain archetypes or roles. Xexto's two free maneuvers are an example, as is the Trandoshan's limb regeneration.

And some species, such as Gand with lungs, have special needs (such as a special atmosphere or respirator) which grant them bonus starting XP.

Okay! Let's dive into this with a couple of concrete examples, why don't we ?

I'm gonna review two of the most classic Star Wars species, Twi'leks and Wookiees, to show why they have the starting XP they do.

First, though, we need to establish a baseline. So, the "average" species has a 2 in all six Characteristics, 10+ Wounds and 10+ Strain, a special ability that is equivalent to (or just is ) a single rank of a basic talent, a single, specific skill (or one of two) at 1 rank, and 110 starting xp. 110 is the baseline for a standard species like this.

So, with that baseline in mind, let's take a look at Twi'leks:

They start with Brawn 1 (a disadvantage) and Presence 3 (an advantage). As we learn in the character creation chapter, buying a new rank in a Characteristic costs 10 times the rank. So buying our Twi'lek's Presence up to 3 would cost us 30 of our starting 110 xp, putting us at 80. However, we lost our Rank 2 in Brawn, so that gives us a credit of 20 xp (10 * 2) back, putting us at 100 xp.

Let's slide past our thresholds for a moment and look at skills and special abilities. The Twi'lek gets a single rank in either Charm or Deception. That's a single rank in a specific skill, so that doesn't modify our amount at all. Now, their special ability: they remove a Setback die due to hot or arid environments from checks. That's basically equivalent to a single rank of basic talent, so we're done, right?

Not quite. Brawn and Willpower are the two Characteristics that have a higher weighting, due to being the basis for wound and strain thresholds. We dropped Brawn and didn't raise Willpower, so that gives our Twi'lek maybe an extra point or two. That, combined with the fact that their special ability doesn't synergize with a raised Presence, and is slightly less powerful than a basic talent, gives us a couple more spare points, enough to buy up the starting strain threshold by 1, giving us an 11+.

There we go! The Twi'lek: Brawn 1, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 2, Presence 3; Wounds 10+, Strain 11+; Environmental adaptation, +1 rank in Charm or Deception; 100 starting xp.

Okay, now for the Wookiee!

We do the same Characteristic math as before: we start at 110, subtract 30 to get our base Brawn to 3, and get 20 back for dropping our Willpower, ending up at 100. We get a single rank in Brawl, which is perfectly fine. Notice we don't get a choice of skills here, so that might be worth some extra points later, if needed.

Our thresholds are...interesting. Generally, each point of starting threshold is worth 5 xp. So the +4 to Wounds costs us 20, the -2 to Strain gets us 10 back, for a net of -10, taking us to 90.

Now, we could just leave this here, because that's the amount of xp Wookiees start with, but we want to be thorough! Their Wookiee Rage ability is rather potent: +1 melee damage if wounded, +2 instead if Critically Injured. That's probably equivalent to a rank in Feral Strength, a rarer talent that's more expensive, not to mention the fact that this synergizes well with a boosted Brawn and a starting rank in Brawl. So that special ability probably costs us 5 xp, putting us at 85.

But, we got maybe 1 or 2 points back from the lack of choice for our bonus skill rank, so can we find any other little things? Well, we exchanged Willpower for Brawn, so since those are the two weighted Characteristics we unfortunately don't get anything back there. But we do have a negative synergy: dropped Willpower combined with a -2 to starting Strain is a fairly glaring Achilles' Heel. Probably enough to get us a couple spare points to get back up to 90 starting xp.

And lo, the Wookiee has been built! Brawn 3, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 1, Presence 2; Wounds 14+, Strain 8+; Wookiee Rage, +1 rank in Brawl; 90 starting xp.

Hopefully that helps explain it. The biggest thing in determining starting xp is baseline Characteristics: starting from a base of all 2s and 110 xp, every 3 a species gets is -30, and every 1 gives +20 back. Then there are tiny adjustments for their thresholds and other abilities.

As has been thoroughly explained by Absol, there is a logic to this, to me it does however not appear to be completely sound. The developers seem to have viewed the game from a certain perspective, a definite way to set up a character, when they set this up. This view however, does not hold up to what I have perceive as practical truth, while analysing the mechanics, setting up characters, playing the game and observing others play the game. That is ofcourse unless they wanted most species below 100 starting xp at a loss.

It is my impression, that there is little that holds up to a raise of characteristics. Since those are difficult to develop later on (and rightly so), the most effective thing to do at creation, seems to be raising as many characteristics as possible. As soon as you go below 100xp (and be it just 95), you are losing out on options and the advantages given rarely compensate for that.

I can see your point, Arkas, but the devs do assume that the best way to spend starting xp is on Characteristics. However, most species that start under 100 xp are able to get two Characterstics at 4, which is something that no species that gets 100 or above can do, save droids (who end up with 441111).

Chadra-Fan, Verpine, Toydarians, Hutts, Drall, Selonians, Shistavanens, all these species are capable of getting double 4s, which is a major advantage.

Then of course, there are the four-armed species, who get a MAJOR, permanent advantage in the double free maneuver, which is worth the cost: Besalisks, Xextos, Quermians. And as for Dugs...

...huh. Actually, I'm not at all sure what's going on with Dugs. Defensive Driving is a rarer, more expensive talent, sure, but they seem to have priced it at a whopping 20-25. ...Yeah, poor Dugs. They just suck. Were they maybe supposed to get Agility 3 as well? That might make sense.

It's really not a concern imo. By the time PCs have their first 100ish xp, the differences between various starting xp levels and racial abilities are more or less forgotten and/or irrelevant.

On 2/3/2018 at 6:30 AM, Absol197 said:

I can see your point, Arkas, but the devs do assume that the best way to spend starting xp is on Characteristics. However, most species that start under 100 xp are able to get two Characterstics at 4, which is something that no species that gets 100 or above can do, save droids (who end up with 441111).

It may be nice if you infact want to overspecialize, in the long run though starting with an even spread is the better starting position. Even after 100 xp it is nothing to scoff at. Like I said, the abilities you get in exchange rarely are able to compensate for that green die you are short on what is more or less half a dozen of skills. Now one can have an issue with that or not, it is not sound.

27 minutes ago, [Arkas] said:

It may be nice if you infact want to overspecialize, in the long run though starting with an even spread is the better starting position. Even after 100 xp it is nothing to scoff at. Like I said, the abilities you get in exchange rarely are able to compensate for that green die you are short on what is more or less half a dozen of skills. Now one can have an issue with that or not, it is not sound.

It's always better to specialize. No, you don't want to dump every point into brawn just to get it to 5, but pretty much every game (and real life) reward the guy who's good at his job. There are a lot of roles to cover in the game, and one character isn't going to cover them all. You can shore up a weak area with a few skill points, sure, but it's still a good idea to be very strong in your niche. With that in mind, most aliens are naturally inclined to cover one or more roles. Wookiees and Trandoshans make excellent melee combatants, so it's probably best to stick near that role. You can, of course, play a Wookiee diplomat. It will be a challenge, but if you know what you're doing, you can overcome that challenge. I don't see any problem with the idea that the game doesn't reward you mechanically for playing against type.

I think it depends mostly on group composition. The second-most important consideration is that all spots are filled by specialists. The most important consideration is that all spots are filled. If you have a group with only two or three players, I'd prefer well-rounded profiles with a few 3s over specialists that leave one or several directions glaringly open to the point where the party stands in front of the hutt and noone's got a Presence score over 2 to butter her up.

This is where FnD characters are interesting- for example I’m wielding a glowbat using my presence ability - allowing me to Face really well too

I’d like someone to explain Pantorans. They’re pretty much the definition of 100 XP species, get they get 110.

8 hours ago, Yaccarus said:

I’d like someone to explain Pantorans. They’re pretty much the definition of 100 XP species, get they get 110.

It’s because they are a social species with their high presence but have a Willpower of 1. Willpower is a very important characteristic for social characters both in the Strain Threshold and in opposing other social checks... at least that’s the explanation Sam Stewart gave

Actually, Willpower is one of the least valuable characteristics. Also note that other Willpower 1 species don’t gain benefits and Willpower 3 species don’t get penalties.

I've always thought Pantorans were done badly. Because of that extra bit of XP it's pretty easy to cheese them and get an extra stat point. That said, it's not a huge deal.

As far as starting xp in general, stats aside, some of the racial abilities are WAY more useful then others. Even amongst the 100xp pointers there's some real disparities. For example, a Togruta's ability to add to boost dice to an assist is much more useful then a Twi'Leks one black be gone due to the heat. When you get into the ones that actually reduce XP you get some very powerful abilities. A Falleen can upgrade ALL social checks, or a Shistavaran who can use Survival for all initiative checks. Both are very powerful and deserving of a lower starting XP.

7 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

Actually, Willpower is one of the least valuable characteristics. Also note that other Willpower 1 species don’t gain benefits and Willpower 3 species don’t get penalties.

I generally disagree with the reason but the effect is the same, what I would say is that Willpower is under used. Most people just think of it as “the other Initiative characteristic” which is unfortunate. Vigilance is useful beyond Initiative, it’s great for seeing things you’re not looking for. Discipline is useful beyond opposing Fear, it opposes Coercion, Deception and Leadership.

If you’re a character with at least Presence 3 then you will be spending a lot of time in the hot seat of social encounters. Chances are you will be targeted by one of those three social checks.

Now is that worth 10xp? I don’t think so, it’s probably only worth 5. I think they should have had 85xp and a 2 in Willpower

On 2/2/2018 at 9:17 PM, [Arkas] said:

As soon as you go below 100xp (and be it just 95), you are losing out on options and the advantages given rarely compensate for that.

The thing is - having different levels of experience doesn't really break the game. You could have a table with the maximum points spread and probably not notice much. Perhaps at starting for the first couple of games, but once you get to 100+, that 20 points isn't going to be that big of a deal.

5 minutes ago, Desslok said:

The thing is - having different levels of experience doesn't really break the game. You could have a table with the maximum points spread and probably not notice much. Perhaps at starting for the first couple of games, but once you get to 100+, that 20 points isn't going to be that big of a deal.

Very true, so long as everyone has a 3 somewhere that isn’t overshadowed by the alpha gamer of the group then it’s fine. If you have a 3 in Agility because you’re the pilot but the Alpha always Pilots because they have a 4 so they can shoot then the gm needs to lift their game.

5 hours ago, Desslok said:

The thing is - having different levels of experience doesn't really break the game. You could have a table with the maximum points spread and probably not notice much. Perhaps at starting for the first couple of games, but once you get to 100+, that 20 points isn't going to be that big of a deal.

Pretty much this. Once the game really starts in full, I never seem to notice any XP disparity.

I'm far more likely to notice someone who had invested their XP poorly than anything else.

13 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

It’s because they are a social species with their high presence but have a Willpower of 1. Willpower is a very important characteristic for social characters both in the Strain Threshold and in opposing other social checks... at least that’s the explanation Sam Stewart gave

Which is ironic, because it suggested basic math does not check out for Sam. Which means, he is so overworked that the has no time to actually take a breath and think about it first, before making such a nonsense claim.

Pantorans are one of the species who can start with a 4 in willpower and 3s in presence and cunning. Indeed social characters