Hi guys !

So, my friends are setting up a Dark side game set it the Old Republic, and got me to join them!
It's going to be my first time playing a dice RPG game (played alot of video games, but really ain't the same). It goes without saying, i'm trying to learn a lot of new things, and reading these forums a lot lately :P

I got a general idea of what i want to play :
A Zabrak (Dathomir) Mystic magus.

Still working on the backstory details (as Dathomir history seems complex in the Old Republic time). I was thinking of a character around the idea of using the force to serve my character's will. Instead of engaging in melee lightsabers combat, i would use force powers as a play style.
I was thinking of maybe a character that would syphon life, and move things around.

I was wondering if you would have nice ideas of talents i could pick up and any hints on how to build a first time character.
I also want to make sure my character would fit in a group.

The Force Power Heal / Arm is the closest for what you want. Once you get enough Force Rating you'll be able to buy the Force Power Protect / Unleash that allow to cast lightnings for darkside Force Users.

When creating your character, take the +10XP bonus for Morality and use all those initial 110 XPs to increase your stats. Zabraaks start with Presence 1, to low for the Mystic career's mains characteristic. You'll need to rise it to 3 for 50XPs spent. With the 60 XPs left you can rise 2 other characteristics from 2 to 3. Which ones depend on your character's concept. Personally for someone who isn't a melee fighter I think Brawn is useless. Agility is useful for any kind of character because of the wide range skills under it. Intellect is for bookworm and Cunning is for smartass. 😀 Look at which skills are career's skills and increase the 2 characteristics that are the most used by theses skills.

With Presence 3 and two other at 3 and since Willpower is at 3 too, you'll have 4 characteristics at 3. That means you'll throw 3 dices for most of your skill checks. Don't listen to those who'll tell you to rise a characteristic to 4. They're absolutely wrong. Character creation is the only time a characteristic could be raised with XPs. After that only the T5 talent Dedication can raise a characteristic and there is only one Dedication for each Talent Tree; Except the 3 Talent Tree, Seer, Hermit and Sage, with 2 +1FR talent and 0 Dedication.

Skills and Talent and Force Power can all be bought after character creation with the XPs earned. Not spending inital Xps on skills allow you to see which ones are the most useful for your character in game. That way you don't waste your initial XPs. For Talents read carefully the full text in the core / splatbook for each Talent, not just the abridged text in the tree. Then decide which one you want first. As a Force User aiming for the +1FR Talent is never a bad choices. You'll be more comfortable with 2 Force Dices than with only 1.

Pretty much everything WolfRider says is good, but I do have to defend starting with a 4 in a characteristic. If you want to min-max it can be helpful because you start with a high rating in whatever skill(s) you focus on. If you want to play up the roleplaying, you can pick a 4 in a characteristic just because you think it makes sense for the character. One thing that I think is fun is occasionally leaving a useful characteristic at 2, just so the character has something to get over and compensate for. Only upgrading characteristics to 3 is good if you want an all-rounder or you use a wide range of skills (like if you're an officer), but in my experience it is a little bit less interesting than excelling at one particular thing.

Thanks a lot WolfRider !

Really helpful advice !

In terms of Force powers, you're looking at Heal/Harm for the siphoning of life, and then Move for literally moving things around. Bear in mind that unless your GM is letting you start at Knight/Heroic Level, taking both of those powers at the start is going to be expensive (30XP total).

In terms of characteristics, for a Mystic you can pretty much dump Presence since the only skill it ties that you'll probably be caring about is Cool, and that's a non-career skill for you anyway; in spite of what Mystic offers for starting career skills, you're not going to be mister nice guy. Willpower is your bread and butter, and as a Zabrak you're already off to a good start. Boosting your Brawn up to a 3 isn't a bad idea since it helps both your Soak and more importantly your Wound Threshold, since using Channel Agony is going to literally hurt, and it's not a bad idea to be at least semi-capable with a melee weapon (gaffi stick from EotE corebook is a good choice since it hits pretty hard, has Disorient and a rank of Defensive and is only 100 credits); just reflavor it as a heavy combat staff if the idea of wielding an actual Tusken Raider gaffi stick feels off for any reason. Raising Intellect to 3 doesn't hurt either, since that helps your Knowledge (Lore) and Medicine checks, and it ups the damage you inflict with Harm, which is sounds like is going to be one of your bread-and-butter Force abilities.

Starting skill ranks should be Coercion, Vigilance, and Knowledge (Lore) from your career, and then Coercion and Discipline from your spec.

Those four things (Heal/Harm basic, Move basic, Brawn to 3, Intellect to 3) is going to eat up 90 of your starting 100XP. I'd suggest spending the remaining 10 on a rank of Toughened and then your choice of Confidence or Resolve; the former of the two puts you that much closer to your first rank of Channel Agony, which will help you make use of those Force powers. Or spend 5XP on a rank of Medicine so that you can do some non-Force healing in a pinch; might also help build some good will with your allies if you can more easily mend their critical injuries or help restore lost wounds after a fight. Healing Trance looks nice on paper, but in reality it's not as useful as it looks as the definition of "full encounter" can vary depending on the GM (make it a point to talk with your GM about what he considers to be a "full encounter" so that you're not taken by surprise).

As for your starting Morality bonus, I know it's awfully tempting to go for either that +10XP or +5XP/+1000 credits for a lot of builds, but as a primitive mystlc you don't need wealth, and while the extra XP is nice, I'd instead suggest going straight for having a starting Morality score of 29, so that you can make more frequent use of those dark side pips that you're more likely to roll, and do so without having to burn strain and destiny points. It'll severely hamper your usage of the Heal portion of Heal/Harm until you get a couple of Control upgrades (which themselves are pretty expensive), but you'll be a lot more adept at the life siphoning.

The above should give you a pretty solid starting foundation for a Zabrak Mystic/Magus that's not about being nice and all about POWAH! (you've got a ways to go before it's unlimited though.)

On the top characteristic to 3 or 4 question, for me it is something that is group dependent.

With 4-5 players, you probably want a four so there is an area you shine, which others don’t have in the same stat. With fewer players, or players who mostly don’t have 4 in high stats, 3 is fine.

it also can depend a bit on role or what your GM throws at you difficulty wise.