Hey guys,

So I'm just about to start up a campaign and it'll be my first time GMing and also the group's first time playing EotE. My question is in relation to one of the characters in my group already seeming VERY powerful before we've even started.

The player creeated a Twi'lek bounty hunter Assassin, and used two of his training points in Ranged (Heavy) from the start so that they wouldn't cost him any XP. He then went on to increase his agility to 5, using 70 of his starting XP in the process but seriously beefing up his characters stats. I believe he currently gets two proficiency and three green die on a Ranged (Heavy) roll, and this seems pretty beastly for just starting out.

I guess my question is: is this normal, or is something wrong here?

It's not OP, but it is a heavy investment in one area. I would note that Agility 5 should cost that character 120 XP at start (impossible without heavy sipping from added Obligation). Agility 4 would cost him a more reasonable 70 XP.

But doesn't a Twi'lek start at Agility 3? It still would cost him 90 XP, I did miscalculate, but is that correct?

no, they start with a 2. 3 is in presence

But doesn't a Twi'lek start at Agility 3? It still would cost him 90 XP, I did miscalculate, but is that correct?

Nope, HappyDaze is right. A Twi'lek starts with Brawn 1 and Presence 3, everything else is 2. Buying an Agility of 5 would cost 10 times each new rank for 30 + 40 + 50 = 120 XP. Since he has 100 XP to start, he can't get there unless it's a 2-character party, and he took the maximum additional Obligation.

If I had to guess, I'd suspect that he thought he needed to spend 10 times the *current* rank to get the next rank for 20+30+40 = 90 XP.

Mind you, he'll still be a *heck* of a shot at 2Y2G, but that's what you can expect from a fully focused character build.

There's really no such thing as "overpowered" in this game system, because there's no challenge levels. Another great point for this system. Encounters can be crafted specifically for your play group's strengths and weaknesses, without having to worry about what level your NPCs should be and how much XP everything's worth and dividing-by-3-and-subtracting-1-for-each-player and whatnot.

What investing that much XP into one characteristic does is actually makes the character REALLY good at a few things, but mediocre at everything else. So therein lies the balance. They can still die, just like any other character, but if they wanna be a heavy hitter, then let them! No worries there.

But yeah, a Twi getting to Agility 5 is pretty much out of the question unless the GM is being heavy-handed with starting obligation A Rodian, that's a different story.

Yes, a Rodian with Agility 5 is doable, but it's still a heavier investment into a single characteristic than I usually favor. Normally, my group sees moderately focused starting characters with a 4 in their highest characteristic. Getting a starting character to a 5 in a characteristic usually leaves the character too inflexible for our tastes, especially as our group size only allows for 5 extra Obligation to be purchased (and, in our group, that always goes into extra credits).

I don't have any players with more than 4 in a stat. If they had wanted to do that it would be fine but it would definitely be a big focus. Most either went with 4 in the main stat they were wanting to use or bumped up the main stats to 3 if they were spreading it out.

I encouraged them to spend most of their beginning xp on stats just because the advantage to having higher skills is short lived and it takes longer to raise stats. They tended to raise 2 to 3 stats first and then use the leftover xp to buy skills or talents. So far they have all worked out well.

There's really no such thing as "overpowered" in this game system, because there's no challenge levels. Another great point for this system. Encounters can be crafted specifically for your play group's strengths and weaknesses, without having to worry about what level your NPCs should be and how much XP everything's worth and dividing-by-3-and-subtracting-1-for-each-player and whatnot.

Exactly. By building a Level 5 Assassinator, you're telling the GM that you want to murder a whole lot of people that are typically very resistant to murdering. You will thus face entirely different set of opponents than the crew that rolled the down-and-out floonorp player.

I'm playing an Agility 4, Brawn 3, all others at 2 Human Hired Gun(Mercenary) and i got hold of Laminate Armour by taking extra obligation. In game i have gotten hold of a tasty Geonosian blaster carbine and am now wrecking stuff in combat. It takes 20 damage from a single hit to down me (15 wounds, soak of 5), and i regularly dish out 12 or 13 damage as well as good crits.
However outside of combat i have a few green dice in some useful things like Piloting(Ground) but not much else so i'm a very focused character. This doesn't impact the other players however, indeed it allows them to focus on their specialties - splicing, piloting, socializing etc.

So no, it's in no way OP.

Hey guys,

So I'm just about to start up a campaign and it'll be my first time GMing and also the group's first time playing EotE. My question is in relation to one of the characters in my group already seeming VERY powerful before we've even started.

The player creeated a Twi'lek bounty hunter Assassin, and used two of his training points in Ranged (Heavy) from the start so that they wouldn't cost him any XP. He then went on to increase his agility to 5, using 70 of his starting XP in the process but seriously beefing up his characters stats. I believe he currently gets two proficiency and three green die on a Ranged (Heavy) roll, and this seems pretty beastly for just starting out.

I guess my question is: is this normal, or is something wrong here?

Unless you're playing in a two person party, and he leveraged max obligation to Agility, it's not possible to get a 5.

To Raise to 3 = 30

To Raise to 4 = 40

To Raise to 5 = 50

That's 120 exp. Way more then your starting Twi'Lek could do. I don't have the book in front of me, but I think a Rodian is the only race with a starting Agility of 3, which would allow them to get a 5 for 90 exp. Still a significant investment, but doable.

That said. even with a 5, it won't be as all powerful as it would seem. His Str will still only be two, and Agility doesn't let him dodge any better. He'll get plugged a few times and start feeling the pain fast. I have an assassin with a 4 Agility, and while she's definitely a better shot then the others in the party, it's not so much better that it's unbalancing, though that's helped by the terrible luck I seem to have with the dice.

To the OP's question, it's not so much overpowered as perhaps over-focused on one thing. Admittedly being a Twi'lek means the PC's got a decent default for Charm and Negotiation, possibly even Deception depending on where they spend that free skill rank that Twi'leks get.

I'm playing in a Skype game, and one of the PCs is a Chiss Hired Gun/Merc whose main thing is "shot people with her heavy blaster rifle." And the player wound up not doing a whole lot in the last session as it mostly revolved around exploring an old ruin. There was a combat encounter towards the end, but that didn't last very long, and the Wookiee Outlaw Tech stole the show (I think) by using the carcass of one of the dead animals to squash the last remaining member of an otherwise routed minion group.

Honestly, I'd suggest the PC stick with Agility 3 and spend that extra 40 points on making their character a bit more diverse; perhaps raising up their Brawn if they hadn't already, or purchasing some talents.

Thanks for the input you guys! So would you all suggest I approach the player before we start and let him know that he might be in some sticky situations outside of combat if he skews his stats towards combat?

Thanks for the input you guys! So would you all suggest I approach the player before we start and let him know that he might be in some sticky situations outside of combat if he skews his stats towards combat?

I'd remind the player that having a high combat stat isn't going to make them a combat god. Added note that, depending on the adventure, there will be PLENTY to do outside of rolling AG based skills, leaving this character poorly equipped for that.

As others have mentioned, the biggest problem with dumping everything into one stat is the lack of focus elsewhere. You get one thing to be good at, and the rest suddenly becomes crap. You may want to warn the player of this, as if they are a player that gets mad whenever they start failing rolls, you want want to nip that problem now before it can become a problem.

Thanks for the input you guys! So would you all suggest I approach the player before we start and let him know that he might be in some sticky situations outside of combat if he skews his stats towards combat?

Yes, and if you haven't approached him about the correct cost, do so. He may be disappointed that he can't afford the high agility from the start, but this is a starting level character. Even a 4 is going to make him a pretty good shot.

In some cases, I worry about min/maxing. However, the group I'm starting out is pretty experienced in balancing out the team rather than their own individual characters. This actually leads to some very good gaming. If you have this dynamic in your group, then having one player stand out as the "sharpshooter" is perfectly fine.

My GM paranoia is kicking in, and I sense that this player may be one who maxes out Ranged (Heavy) and and plans to solve every problem with a blaster rifle. "Negotiate with the gun dealer? Nah, I just shoot him and take what I want." Either that or he'll tune out or complain during every non-combat encounter in the game. So, yes, let him know that there are challenges other than shooting. I would also make frequent use of restrictions on weapons, whether it's Imperial crackdown, a local law, or a Cantina owner with a "No Blasters" sign on the bar.

If it's the stat he's interested, then Rodian may be the way to go. But perhaps he wants a Twi'lek, because Rodian bounty hunters are rather cliche. Of course, there's a reason there are more Rodians than Twi'leks in the profession, namely, the higher Agility.

My GM paranoia is kicking in, and I sense that this player may be one who maxes out Ranged (Heavy) and and plans to solve every problem with a blaster rifle. "Negotiate with the gun dealer? Nah, I just shoot him and take what I want." Either that or he'll tune out or complain during every non-combat encounter in the game. So, yes, let him know that there are challenges other than shooting. I would also make frequent use of restrictions on weapons, whether it's Imperial crackdown, a local law, or a Cantina owner with a "No Blasters" sign on the bar.

Let them act the way they want to, but incur obligations as needed and warranted for their actions. Players will learn eventually when they become wanted on more and more worlds. More and more bounty hunters looking for them. Most wanted on the Imperial top 10 of criminals, just under Luke and Leia.

I'd mention the focus thing, as well as

My GM paranoia is kicking in, and I sense that this player may be one who maxes out Ranged (Heavy) and and plans to solve every problem with a blaster rifle. "Negotiate with the gun dealer? Nah, I just shoot him and take what I want." Either that or he'll tune out or complain during every non-combat encounter in the game. So, yes, let him know that there are challenges other than shooting. I would also make frequent use of restrictions on weapons, whether it's Imperial crackdown, a local law, or a Cantina owner with a "No Blasters" sign on the bar.

Let them act the way they want to, but incur obligations as needed and warranted for their actions. Players will learn eventually when they become wanted on more and more worlds. More and more bounty hunters looking for them. Most wanted on the Imperial top 10 of criminals, just under Luke and Leia.

I even opted for Bounty as my obligation. Being an ex-Stormtrooper sergeant who was dishonorably discharged after shooting a commanding officer and going AWOL... im still walking about in my piecemeal Stormtrooper armour carrying blaster rifles, grenades, vibro knives. So the bounty is welcomed and used as part of my coercion checks to get people to co-operate with our group.

Even had an Imperial Intelligence operative just assume i was being overt as a disguise for my legitimate Imperial operations!

That said i have so far only been on Tatooine, Ryloth and Genosis - so it'll be interesting what happens when we finally head core-ward and encounter more Imperial presence.

Get mischievous, OK you are buying a blaster, my vendor had 2 green and a yellow dice in negotiate so roll .... OK that 1000cr gun, now costs you 2500cr and you rolled so badly it seems like an offer too good to refuse, perhaps you should buy a second at this ridiculously low price?

And hey have it splash out and affect the party too, dude what on earth were you thinking downloading porn at the princesses birthday party, now we have 10 obligation and bounties on our heads. How the heck will our group get under 100 obligation so that we can spend our 200xp? Every session you do something stupid that backfires on us all.

OMG we all ate fish and the Bounty Hunter was the only one of us to eat the chicken, now he has to pilot the ship and land. We are all going to crash and die...

The player creeated a Twi'lek bounty hunter Assassin, and used two of his training points in Ranged (Heavy) from the start so that they wouldn't cost him any XP.

Let him know that you can't double up on free skills.

the player may choose 4 of the 8 starting career skills and gain one rank in each of the selected skills free. He may not choose the same skill more than once.

The player creeated a Twi'lek bounty hunter Assassin, and used two of his training points in Ranged (Heavy) from the start so that they wouldn't cost him any XP.

Let him know that you can't double up on free skills.

the player may choose 4 of the 8 starting career skills and gain one rank in each of the selected skills free. He may not choose the same skill more than once.

I think it was one from the Bounty Hunter Career, and one from the Assassin Specialization. That would work.

OMG we all ate fish and the Bounty Hunter was the only one of us to eat the chicken, now he has to pilot the ship and land. We are all going to crash and die...

Surely you cant be serious!

OMG we all ate fish and the Bounty Hunter was the only one of us to eat the chicken, now he has to pilot the ship and land. We are all going to crash and die...

Surely you cant be serious!

I'm always serious... and don't call me Shirley.

Better now?

I think it was one from the Bounty Hunter Career, and one from the Assassin Specialization. That would work.

It doesn't matter which tree it's from it's still the same Specialization and you can't take the same Specialization twice.

I think it was one from the Bounty Hunter Career, and one from the Assassin Specialization. That would work.

It doesn't matter which tree it's from it's still the same Specialization and you can't take the same Specialization twice.

Not specializations. I was discussing the Ranged(Heavy) skill, which can be increased to 2 during Career/Specializaion (sometimes referred to as Profession in the book) .

The ruling I'm referring to is on page 35 under Select Specializations

"During this step of character creation, the player may choose two of the four additional career skills and gain one rank in each (without spending experience). He may not choose the same skill more than once. However, he may choose to train a skill that was also trained during the career selection step, allowing the character to start with a skill trained to level two."