I'm working with two ideas right now: a human Stormtrooper who quit out of his growing distaste for the Empire and someone who was serving in the Agricorps on the outer rim when Order 66 was executed.

I imagine the former trooper coming from a long line of military service and attending the Imperial Training Academy before becoming one of the first humans to enter service as a Stormtrooper. While he had seen the Empire slowly rotting from the inside the destruction of Alderaan was the last straw. Using the confusion after the Battle of Yavin he slips away to start a new life in the shadows. I'm thinking high combat and leadership stats with obligation going toward his guilt and the fact that he is AWOL.

The Jedi was never selected as a padawan and was placed in the Agricorps working to terraform planets in the outer rim. Due to communication errors and their location the ship went unnoticed and was spared Order 66 and the Jedi hunters for some time. While initially angry for not being selected the Jedi found peace in using the force to help plants grow. The Jedi hunters eventually become aware of the group and execute them while the individual Jedi was tending to his plants. I was thinking that the character would only have the basic force training with skills leaning toward healing and survival as well as using a staff made from force empowered wood. I was also thinking maybe some repair skills depending on what the Imperials left behind when they attacked.

Any ideas?

What questions do you have. Both of them are a bit old for the standard EotE time line. Order 66 was issued about 20 years before the battle of Yavin.

As for the Stormtrooper I like that he is going to be around 40. I kind of think old warriors are cool. Talk to your GM about whether or not it is okay that he was a Storm Trooper, since I have heard a few things about Storm Troopers that doesn't quite jive with your back ground. If I way your GM I would say go for it. I am always in favor or adapting the world a bit (especially in unimportant ways) so a cool character will fit.

You described your other character as a Jedi (or at least in terms of his force powers). One thing I really liked about the way this game approaches Force users is by saying that you can't be a Jedi as your carrier. You can be Colonist, a Hired Gun, or a Bounty Hunter etc who also happens to have force powers. If a character is force sensitive then that is going to be a big part of his/her character, but it doesn't have to be the main part. And according to how this particular game is set up being force sensitive shouldn't be the central aspect of your character.

The "ex-stormtrooper" is a pretty solid idea, and one that's got canon backing thanks to Tim Zahn's Allegiance novel (which is all about a group of stormtroopers that go rogue after certain events). I don't think there's been a hard date established as to when the Empire started accepting "freebirth" recruits, though I'd imagine it was several years after the events of Order 66, due to the Clone Troopers staring to rapidly age and thus not be as effective a fighting force as they were during the Clone Wars. So if one figures that your ex-trooper was one of the initial freebirth recruits, he could very well only be in his late 20's to mid 30's, again depending on when the GM figures the Empire started reducing it's dependency on clones. I played a similar concept, an aging Clone Trooper veteran (campaign was set about 5 years before ANH), one that had deserted after several years of serving an increasingly corrupt Empire. As he put it, when it came to who won the Clone Wars, the answer was nobody. I'd also dropped a few hints that he'd been a willing participant in Order 66, which added an interesting layer to the group dynamics as one of the PC's was the illegitimate daughter of a Jedi General Morningfire and herself a Force-sensitive.

Outside of "cannon" chronology issues, i think they are both great concepts.

the ex-stormie (or imperial Army, they do exist) would probably be a hired gun/merc soldier.

the force user?... I would think probably ... well it would depend on what he was before he didn't qualify for the Jedi, plenty of examples of people who could use a bit of the force, but couldn't become jedi. I would say either a colonist or explorer... probably fringer/scout maybe doctor? maybe a scholar who specializes in plants?

The "magic stick" , depending on you GM, could function similar to a force pike.... scholar maruader FSE.. warrior scholar.

"Middle-aged jedi" sounds like a great concept -- similar to the "failed jedi" archetype form WEG 2E, but with 50% more euphemism. It bucks the Luke trope with authority. Played by smirking Bruce Willis.

Outside of "cannon" chronology issues, i think they are both great concepts.

the ex-stormie (or imperial Army, they do exist) would probably be a hired gun/merc soldier.

the force user?... I would think probably ... well it would depend on what he was before he didn't qualify for the Jedi, plenty of examples of people who could use a bit of the force, but couldn't become jedi. I would say either a colonist or explorer... probably fringer/scout maybe doctor? maybe a scholar who specializes in plants?

The "magic stick" , depending on you GM, could function similar to a force pike.... scholar maruader FSE.. warrior scholar.

Making the timeline fit seems to be one of the more annoying parts of the meta game.

If I understand the way the order works you continue to be a Jedi even if you are never picked to be a padawan by a knight or master, so everyone in the service corps are technically Jedi whether they wield a lightsaber or not. I was thinking explorer would probably work best, I've only skimmed so I'm not sure about mixing in the basic force talents. As of right now I wasn't thinking of anything beyond sense since he only received introduction training.

The force enhanced staff is mentioned in The Jedi Path under other force weapons. It works a bit like the cortosis weave allowing it to stand up to lightsabers, vibro-weapons and I would assume it can deflect blaster fire. Though I don't know that carrying around a quarter staff that can deflect blasters is any less inconspicuous than whipping out a lightsaber.

Yea, I think the Explorer Scout or Scholar would both be good. I think you'd like that.

Both ideas are pretty legit. Defecting from the Empire would make for some good Obligation, too.

I'd probably make a quarterstaff work something like a gaffi stick. Maybe give it a few hardpoints (so you can make it Cortosis later). I have a thread discussing double-sided weapons, giving it an agility based Cumbersome and the Linked quality, if you would want to fight with it with two sides. I really like both ideas though. I love the Jedi Agricorps!

One of the main characters from the zombie horror Star Wars book Red Harvest is from the Agricorps. Was pretty interesting.

Remember though, if you are playing an ex-stormtrooper, you will always required to add two set back dice to every attack roll with a carbine blaster. Obi-Wan didn't know what he was talking about when said, "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise." From what I could tell, they couldn't hit the broadside of a Bantha.

Remember though, if you are playing an ex-stormtrooper, you will always required to add two set back dice to every attack roll with a carbine blaster. Obi-Wan didn't know what he was talking about when said, "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise." From what I could tell, they couldn't hit the broadside of a Bantha.

They shot the hell out of Jawas and Luke's family. They were also really good at killing Rebel troopers on both the Tantive IV and Hoth. Pretty much the only time they're bad at shooting is when they're forced to deal with the Main Character Aura.

Not even E-11s can penetrate +5 Plot Armor.