We've played about a half-dozen sessions and think the game is fantastic. We may be adding a new PC before long (as someone else wants to GM)

Should I introduce this PC as a true 'beginning character'? Or should I award some amount of XP to help 'catch up' with the group. If so - how much?

I would just start them out as a beginning character. This system isn't like D20 based systems where being behind in XP penalizes said character when it comes to their performance. So, no reason to "catchup" the new character/player.

I'm guesitmating the other players are around 90 XP?

Kall is right, you won't have the power gap like you will in d20. Though if you want if he gets some bonus starting xp or his initial xp rewards are higher than average the first few sessions he plays I'm sure he won't mind...

As the others have stated, there really isn't that big of a power gap like in d20 systems, however, giving him say half of the XP that the others have earned may make the player feel all warm and fuzzy and not upset the other players.

Just a thought.

I agree that it's not the no brainer like in saga (that's why I asked)

Thanks very much for the feedback.

It depends on how much EXP the rest of the group has, if their way ahead (70+ EXP) I'd be inclined to give the new PCs half the difference. It's not that they'll really need it because the system doesn't penalize starting PCs but more because the new player seems to be the GM from your group and they've been playing along with you this whole time and deserves a little love. In any case I'd not give the new player extra to start with (there is a slight advantage to building a new PC with extra EXP) but rather tack on an extra 5-10 each time you dole it out to the group until they catch up.

I'd say it depends on the play style of your group, the concept of the character and the niche, if any, the character is supposed to fill.

(As the others already stated, the system doesn't really demand the characters to be on the same "level", as there are no such things as insanely increasing hit points, etc. And thanks to the brilliant rules to support others, almost all characters can contribute at any time.)

You need to judge what kind of players you are playing with. If group tends to focus more on playing along and doesn't care too much if someone who is not the best at doing something goes for it, because it at that point it just feels right (even if the chances might be better if someone else did try this) - then it's only the character design that matters.

Other groups like their characters more specialized with more emphasis on the role a single character plays in the crew. In that case, you have to consider what role is left for your character to fill and compare him to the other characters. If need be you would need to add some XP to make him more experienced in his area of expertise, as other characters may have already developed some skill in that area, to fill the empty spot. (e.g. the mechanic has learned medicine rank 2, but you want to play an experienced doctor)

Lastly you have to consider your character design. You might intentionally want to play someone very inexperienced (some teenage moisture-farmboy, for example). Or maybe the concept you have for your character involves some talents, which he wouldn't be able to get, if you just use the starting XP, but which are perfectly within reach if you had as many points as the other characters have and which would make sense for the charcter to possess right from the start. (Say you want to play a Dug Pilot, which started out as a lowly thug - he'd be a marauder, but just now has bought access to the Pilot Talent Tree - I personally would prefer to have such character development happen while playing, but due to time constraints this might not be an option)

I think half of what the group has earned already is probably a decent compromise.

Only the starting character creation EXP can be used on characteristics, THEN allow the half exp to upgrade skills & talents with the limitation of rank2 as highest they can train in any skill.

I'm not sure I see any compelling reason not to just place the new character at the same xp total as the other characters.

I'm not sure I see any compelling reason not to just place the new character at the same xp total as the other characters.

I completely agree with this. You don't have d20-type power curve decreases, but you do have some power curve decrease that will never be made up. This may not seem significant, but a mere 15 XP is anywhere from 1-3 Talents, or possibly 1-2 ranks of Career skills, which amounts to potentially losing out on Upgrades. 90 XP might not mean as much as in some systems, but the player will probably notice the difference even (or especially) if he plays a super-specialized character.

I've never seen the logic in not starting a new player off at the same level as everyone else, to me it seems like you're punishing them for not being a part of the story from the beginning. Or if you want to start them lower as a n00b, I think you should give them more XP each session til they catch up with the "established" people.

It's no fun to be the guy who's objectively weaker just because he joined the game after everyone else. If you think he won't notice...yeah, he will.

I would start them neat but give them some extra XP at the end of each session to slowly catch them up, that way you can fine tune and adjust to having an extra player and they can fine tune and adjust for being that extra player.

I'd probably give them at least a bit of a boost. It also depends on how long the game has been going on. If all the other players have 499 experience, that would be noticeable. If they're at 75, not such a big deal.

We've always used equal of the player with the lowest exp.

I won't talk about XP, as that horse is already glue. Have you thought about starting gear? I would be inclined to give him a static money upgrade so that he might begin with one or two pieces of equipment that is on par with the party.

That way even if he didn't get an XP bonus, he would still feel on a plane with the party in other situations.

Or her. Y'know, whatever.

Depends on how tooled the party is.

In our weekly game i'd say go nuts (They have alot of cash and gear)

In our irregular one we're closer to starting so probably a couple of minor pieces of gear would be in order.

We do 50% experience for new players or missed sessions. The gap isn't like d20, but to say there is not a gap is not true. 0 exp vs. 90 experience is a pretty good gap you are talking a couple additional high level skills, several powerful talents, etc. maybe even a second specialization.

I'm not sure I see any compelling reason not to just place the new character at the same xp total as the other characters.

I have no issue of EXP equality for new PCs, though it can be a deterrent for some players to come in at a lesser amount if they do stupid stuff and get their characters killed all the time. The only reason not to drop a large amount of EXP at once would be the advantage of being able to spend all the EXP during generation. Building a PC over time is more difficult because you have to work with what you have at the time and choose which Talent's etc to take now and which to wait for, whereas building it all at once you get skip over that part. Plus there's the potential issue of buying up Ability scores with that extra EXP. It's a small logistical advantage but it's real none the less.

To avoid this I'd at least have the new PC built first as a normal starting PC would then allow them to build with the extra EXP. Better to give them a small amount extra at the start and award the rest over time with each normal outlay of EXP.

To avoid this I'd at least have the new PC built first as a normal starting PC would then allow them to build with the extra EXP. Better to give them a small amount extra at the start and award the rest over time with each normal outlay of EXP.

Certainly agree with this

I'm not sure I see any compelling reason not to just place the new character at the same xp total as the other characters.

I'm not sure I see any compelling reason not to just place the new character at the same xp total as the other characters.

I completely agree with this. You don't have d20-type power curve decreases, but you do have some power curve decrease that will never be made up. This may not seem significant, but a mere 15 XP is anywhere from 1-3 Talents, or possibly 1-2 ranks of Career skills, which amounts to potentially losing out on Upgrades. 90 XP might not mean as much as in some systems, but the player will probably notice the difference even (or especially) if he plays a super-specialized character.

I've never seen the logic in not starting a new player off at the same level as everyone else, to me it seems like you're punishing them for not being a part of the story from the beginning. Or if you want to start them lower as a n00b, I think you should give them more XP each session til they catch up with the "established" people.

It's no fun to be the guy who's objectively weaker just because he joined the game after everyone else. If you think he won't notice...yeah, he will.

Agree with both these posts.

Unless you're in a group where people regularly miss sessions, your new player will never catch up to the group otherwise and that is a great way to make him feel welcome. I even tend to award at least partial xp for missed sessions anyways because 1) the character was doing something even if the player wasn't and 2) nobody wants to play a substandard character.

Regarding spending granted xp on characteristics: this would be considered 'earned xp' and thus you could not spend it to raise characteristics. You might need to make that clear to your new player.

Starting gear I think is a little less important, but he definitely should have more than 500 credits to play with. Talk to your players though (privately) and see how many starting credits they think he should have. If they think he should start with average party wealth then there isn't much reason for him not to.

I'm not sure I see any compelling reason not to just place the new character at the same xp total as the other characters.

The only reason not to start at the same xp is one of it being vanilla. No one has touched this toon but me. Kind of feeling. Some people are completest like that.

'I raised that toon from the ground up'

Its not a wrong point of view. I've seen it as gm more than once.

To avoid this I'd at least have the new PC built first as a normal starting PC would then allow them to build with the extra EXP. Better to give them a small amount extra at the start and award the rest over time with each normal outlay of EXP.

Certainly agree with this

I'd not even thought to assume otherwise. Base 90-110+Obligation (depending on Species) can be used on anything. Any extra that's given as "equivalent to gameplay" can't be used on Characteristics. Makes perfect sense.