Season 3 episode 9, The Hunt for Ziro. SPOILER!!! She helped Ziro escape but she actually ends up killing him on Teth.

I guess this might be a cross-post from AoR, but I'd like to see some Imperial centric slanted careers. Something like an Imperial official or an Agent of the Empire.

I do like the idea of an entertainer class. Would have to bring something new to the table besides charm/deception, but I can believe FFG will deliver.

Most the careers are already "faction neutral" in terms of which power groups they can align with.

A Soldier/Sharpshooter can just as easily be an Imperial CovertOps sniper as they could be an Alliance marksman or an underworld assassin A Colonist/Politico can be an Imperial loyalist noble just as easily be a minor local bureaucrat with Rebel sympathies, or a corrupt official that works in tandem with the local crime lord.

Enter the Unknown offers several suggestions for how and why a character came by a given career/specialization combination, and quite a few of them make nods to "used work for the Empire" without having to make any mechanical changes to account for it.

I played a rat catcher way back in WHFRPG 1e. It was fun. Mynock hunter? Womprat Catcher? Nerf Herder? How many silly and trivial specs can we come up with?

In some ways Lando, at least in Empire, feels like he could be an Entertainer made good. At least if you broaden entertainer to also include cardsharp and con-man.

As for Imperial careers, save the active duty ones for the Imperial Sourcebook. However I do think that former, retired, disgruntled, disenchanted, defecting (almost said defective) Imperial characters could be a nice addition. I remember the former Imperial in WEG Star Wars fondly. I do agree this may be more AoR than EotE.

With Lando, I think he's best reflected by the Scoundrel specialization, as the bonus career skills and talent options lend themselves to a "shady dealer" just as well as they do to someone that can handle themselves in a fire-fight.

As for an actual Entertainer spec, perhaps one thing to truly set it apart are a series of "crowd control" type talents, only instead of being based on recovering/inflicting Strain, they'd function more as providing Boost or Setback dice, with Charm being my personal choice for the skill used to trigger the talents. Possibly a three-tier much like Inspiring Rhetoric and Scathing Tirade, with the first one providing the initial effect, the second either upgrading or allowing for an alternate yet similar effect, and the last one letting you use that effect as a Maneuver instead of requiring an Action. Maybe even include the Sound Investments talent from the AoR Beta to reflect money from "off-camera" performances or royalties.

If you want a con man we have the scoundrel. As to what is trivial that's highly subjective. I could say the same about politicos or slicers.

With a couple of new talents the entertainer could have amazing flavor.

All access pass add a boost die to charm checks (but a setback on disguise) for each rank - the entertainer has such celebrity that they are allowed places that most people aren't. The hutt may not allow a mercenary in, but Nakov Barish the kaminoan balet star, sure thing.

Give them some ranks of grit, the skills of resiliance, knowledge core worlds and outer rim, charm.

As to the nerf herder, that is actually a good idea. There are lots of people that want a beast master type class. Call it the colonist Herder and focus them on dealing with animals of all types, whether wild or domestic, and fits with being useful to a colony.

I hope there is something that will let me be like James Spader in The Blacklist!

What about that most powerful and impressive of career specs, RPG Designer? The For e is insignificant next to the power to create a world.

What about that most powerful and impressive of career specs, RPG Designer? The For e is insignificant next to the power to create a world.

It is a universal specialization with a unique prerequisite...

You have to design and create the RPG Designer Specialization before you can select to play it.

I like the idea of a "local lawman" type of specialization for the Colonist. Right now, it's a career that's almost totally focused on support roles (party face for Politico, party healer for Doctor, and exposition font for Scholar),

Man, my princess would have some choice words for you about her being a support roll. Oh sure, when the shooting starts, she'd be the first one to let the combat monsters take point. However, getting the party into a enemy den with charm and smooth talking so that they can sneak about and (mostly) incapacitate the enemy, taking a majority of the stronghold without a fight? That's hardly a support capacity.

To win one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy with no fight at all, that is the highest skill.

I think when people say support roles, they are thinking supportive of combat. This is a flawed premise. Though combat is my favorite part of an RPG, I'll be the first to acknowledge it's not the only part. That's why I always try to play characters with out-of-combat utility.

I currently play a support role in one of my games a Ambasador and the ability to talk your way out of problems (espeically if you are a chatty person in RPG's) you shine well. Keep in mind also that being able to shoot someone is a spec investment away or just a investment if xp in ranged light fr example.

Here's what I'm thinking the species breakfown will be.

Dangerous covenants

Aqualish

Whiphid/yuzzem/herglic

Zabrak

Colonist

Sullustan

Bith

Aleena

Bounty Hunter (no disintigrations)

Ubese

Devaronian

Quarren

Smuggler

Arcona

Zeltron

Gotal

Technician

Verpine

Mon Calamari

Squib

I really hope, and I know a lot will disagree, that the Bounty Hunter has something in the way of Big Game Hunter. When I first envisioned my character I wanted to do just that, be a big game hunter. However, none of the Explorer Specializations had access to any weapon skills and that just wouldn't do. So, I went with the Bounty Hunter: Survivalist. Seemed the most fitting and as close as I could get with my vision.

Since we have started playing, Gand has organically grown into more of a Lawman. Guess I could go for a Lawman type specialization as well.

Here's what I'm thinking the species breakfown will be.

...

Bounty Hunter (no disintigrations)

Ubese

Devaronian

Quarren

...

You have a funny way of spelling Clawdite.

Just got to thinking about the bounty hunter book (possibly to be called 'No Disintigrations') Specifically, the specialties and thought that we might see the Repo - a character that is good at recovering ships and possibly droids.

Slaver - slavery is a constant thing in the star wars universe, so a character that is really good at bringing in people and creatures back alive.

Tracker or gunslinger - the last will either be someone who is really good at tracking eitger with tech or visual. This could step on the survivalist toes, so gunslinger might be a good choice with characters like Jango Fett and Cad Bane dual wielding blaster pistols and having a western vibe.

If the slaver was included, it would work well with adding in Zygerrian as a race.

[...] the Repo - a character that is good at recovering ships and possibly droids.

I never thought about this concept before. I like it.

I doubt we'd see a Slaver spec. So far they've avoided anything explicitly evil or bad-guyish, and there's not really a "good" way to be a slaver.

I've also got mixed feelings about Entertainer. While it would be awesome to have a game based on a traveling troupe of entertainers, I'm not sure how much fun it'd be just for one in a group. An entertainer would feel really out of place in most typical games I can think of that aren't specifically written with them in mind.

Just got to thinking about the bounty hunter book (possibly to be called 'No Disintigrations') Specifically, the specialties and thought that we might see the Repo - a character that is good at recovering ships and possibly droids.

Slaver - slavery is a constant thing in the star wars universe, so a character that is really good at bringing in people and creatures back alive.

Tracker or gunslinger - the last will either be someone who is really good at tracking eitger with tech or visual. This could step on the survivalist toes, so gunslinger might be a good choice with characters like Jango Fett and Cad Bane dual wielding blaster pistols and having a western vibe.

If the slaver was included, it would work well with adding in Zygerrian as a race.

Well, Gunslinger kinda treads on the Gadgeteer, which itself has talents lending itself to small-arms prowess; really the only thing missing is the Quick Draw talent, but that can easily be replicated for pistols via the existing Attachment/Modification system. In fact, I think Jango Fett's blasters were noted to be modified specifically to allow him to quick draw them (Filed Front Sight in action), and he'd certainly be good enough that the occasional setback die from attacking targets at Medium range wouldn't be much of a problem.

Slaver gets into a morally uncomfortable area, and FFG generally tries to portray EotE PCs as being semi-decent folks in the books and slavery is unabashedly an evil thing in Western culture, of whom much of their customer base comes from. That's not to say that a specialization that focuses more on capture/detainment of live quarry (and keeping them that way) couldn't be done, I just don't think it'll have that particular tag.

One possible idea for a BH specialization is that of the "gentleman hunter," one that instead of simply being a combat pro or tracker is one that offers a selection of social and knowledge expertise, a bit like the Big Game Hunter only again not quite so combat- or hunt-focused in terms of talents. Skills might be Charm, Coercion, Cool and Know (Xenology). There'd certainly be some combat-orientated talents (Bounty Hunter is a combat-orientated career after all). but there'd be talents of a more social and intellectual bent.

Slaver sounds dark, but (to me) so does Assassin and Marauder.

Slaver sounds dark, but (to me) so does Assassin and Marauder.

Assassin and Marauder aren't built around an entirely negative connotation either, and could be spun to have, if not an actual positive connotation, at least a somewhat more neutral one.

Slaver and thus slavery carry a lot more baggage (all of it negative), particularly in here in the U.S., and as noted for Western cultures, it's held as a despicable practice. Consider the film "Taken" aka "Liam Neeson Rampages Through Europe." The audience is rooting for Neeson's character in spite of some of the very nasty things he does because his opponents are members or in collusion with the white slave trade. Do you think the audience would have felt the same if his opponents were a bunch of white collar crooks that had done nothing more than skim a bit off the top of a major corporation's profit margin?

In Star Wars, slavery, the slave trade, and slavers are right up there with the Sith in terms of "unabashedly evil." And while not all the published adventures have done so, much of EotE's material tries to push the PCs to, if not be actual good guys, to at least be generally decent beings.

Assassins aren't a negative connotation? So... if I don't like someone it's fine to hire someone to murder them then? I do agree that slavery is an abhorrent practice, but just as the assassin and marauder don't have to be played as evil only, so could the 'slaver'. The class would be about the takedown of live targets. Or possibly I'm suggesting boba fett occasionally wore a ball gag under his helmet.

Slavery is a real thing in star wars, there are species that accept and ptactice it (zygerrian, trandoshan, twi'lek and gand), as well as the empire allows and benefits from it. Not to mention the hutts. It is a dark concept, but in a game with murderers for higher, the ability to make a profit from thefg or the drug trade perhaps a further trek down the dark path is not so unlikely.

As to the gentleman hunter, we already have that really with the big game hunter for the explorer. If tracking was a part it should be a focus on Personal as well as starship tracking. The ability to anticipate a targets location could be useful.

I put out the idea of a gunslinger as it is a wild west themed specialty and could be made less like the gadgeteer. Focus more on cool, discipline, intimidate and a healthy dose of quick draw and some trick shooting with blastwr pistols and we could have a pretty cool charactet idea. Maybe some skullduggery so you can shoot someone under a table before they shoot you.

Assassin is also a term that can be applied to snipers. You know, the guys that our military employs to take down hostile targets from a long distance? The folks that SWAT teams (and their equivalents) make frequent use of to take down someone that's a threat not only to their fellow police officers but to innocent civilians as well? Or even Arnold's character in the film "Erased," who uses his knowledge to fake assassinations so that a person can be placed into witness protection. After all, why waste your time looking for a snitch when it's obvious they've just been killed?

The Big Game Hunter is focused purely on tracking and taking down a target... much the same way the Bounty Hunter career in general is. So by your logic, the Big Game Hunter shouldn't exist at all, as the entire Bounty Hunter career exists to do that job.

But if you read where I posited on the "gentleman hunter" (which would need a better name), the focus there isn't on tracking and taking down a target beyond that which is included in being part of the Bounty Hunter career. The bonus career skills I suggested are useful in primarily social situations, and that some of the specialization's talents would focus on social interaction, not simply "how do I track and kill this target as quickly as possible?" that the Big Game Hunter has. Being part of the Bounty Hunter career would require at least some nod to aspects of locating and capturing a target. Heck, the "upscale hunter" could very well be the spec that focuses on "capture the target alive" aspect you mentioned as well as generally being more civilized than your typical bounty hunter would be; their idea of asking around for leads on a target is more akin to that of a police detective then the vigilante-style interrogation methods that most bounty hunters rely upon.

Gunslinger also sounds more like something for the Hired Gun anyway.

Yeah, that Repo seems almost a given doesn't it. I had on my earlier list as well.

I'll repeat it here since I like this kind of mindless speculation quite a bit!

Posted 06 January 2014 - 07:44 PM

Bount Hunters: Bail Bonds Man? Or private eye/spy? Perhaps Repo Man! Getting back spaceships that were not paid for etc. That could be very cool!

Smuggler: Gambler seems to fit nicely along with scoundrel and thief but the term smuggllng seems far fetched then (although so did Driver for the explorer career). Or perhaps 'Human' Trafficker? Customs Officer (mind like a smuggler but working from the opposite angle.)

Colonist: Developer (think Nelson Hidalgo in Treme), entrepeneur, intelligence officer (like Maya in Zero Dark Thirty)

Technician: Engineer ("heck, if it doesn't exist, I'll invent it), demolotion expert, Miner (this could be interestng as a lot of mining seems to take place in the SW universe), cloner.

Heck... I could think up plenty more stuff. Fun speculating though!

Donovan, why not use "Investigator?"

But if you read where I posited on the "gentleman hunter" (which would need a better name), the focus there isn't on tracking and taking down a target beyond that which is included in being part of the Bounty Hunter career. The bonus career skills I suggested are useful in primarily social situations, and that some of the specialization's talents would focus on social interaction, not simply "how do I track and kill this target as quickly as possible?" that the Big Game Hunter has. Being part of the Bounty Hunter career would require at least some nod to aspects of locating and capturing a target. Heck, the "upscale hunter" could very well be the spec that focuses on "capture the target alive" aspect you mentioned as well as generally being more civilized than your typical bounty hunter would be; their idea of asking around for leads on a target is more akin to that of a police detective then the vigilante-style interrogation methods that most bounty hunters rely upon.

Thaliak,

I'd suggested a Marshal/Sheriff specialization for Colonist, either earlier in this thread or in another one, providing something of a combat spec for the Colonist career in the way that Big Game Hunter does for Explorer.

Detective is a possibility, and would be a better name for a specialization that's focused more on investigating, not only of the target's location but also who the target is, what they're capable of, and maybe even if the target is actually guilty; for some bounty hunters, that kind of thing matters, as those types of hunters won't be keen to turn an innocent man over to a bloodthirsty crime lord or the not-so-tender mercy of the Imperial judicial system.