I was playing a bounty hunter,but got bored.so I'm going to retire that character,and start a new one. My question is this.

If someone wants to play a character in an experienced group(the group has about 200 xp each), what do you start their xp and starting credits at?

I was thinking,half the xp of the current group, ( so I would get 100xp with my new character), and get 10x that as credits,on top of the 500 credits you start with.( so I would start with 1,500 credits to start with).

Does that seem fair,or does someone have a better idea?

For XP, I go with the average value of the group (I avoid individual XP awards, so everyone has the same XP). No reason at all to start with a handicap.

As for credits and gear, I adjust that to fit the story. A character that joins the group as a rescued prisoner is going to have less on hand than an agent of a crime lord sent along as insurance.

We go with equal to the person with lowest for exp.

Equipment is abit more iffy, in one group its pretty much hand waived (as the party has access to close to a million credits)

The other its discussed, and has varied according to character and situation.

For XP, I keep the group equal at a level of "group XP." One person or another might have a bit more from personal roleplaying opportunities or whatever, but the baseline "group XP" amount is common to everyone, even if they miss a session, and especially for a new player.

Equipment is tricky. I'd say whatever fits for the story (but always allowed to buy their basic 500 + Obligation extra amount), possibly more if the story requires it. Within reason, around the value possessed by other players. That's a tougher call for me than XP, personally.

How i fit the last guy into my group:

Now, as GM, I dole out 2 types of XP. The first type is group XP. This is for things like goals completed during the adventure, and things like that. The second XP really is "bonus XP" for things like playing to your characters motivations and/or trying to deal with Obligations that come into play. I only mention this to give some background for my advice, which, at least in part has been mentioned above by others, so I think a majority of us are in agreement. However, remember this is not our game, you and your GM decide what is going on. My advice:

1. For XP: I would offer you the group average XP (add up all the party members earned XP (without the starting amount) then divide by the number of people other than yourself and the GM). Then offer you the same Obligation options you have always had concerning extra obligations for more starting XP.
2. For Gear: I would ask you what you did for your last adventure. Using the information you provide, I would use that to give you gear based also on your career and specialization. Story to me gets you a bit more that "a gun and armor". Though, I would give you the option, inc ase you don't focus on story to just go with the starting money and buy your own stuff. With a retelling of your last job or adventure (from which i would pull story ideas) I would start you with a career appropriate weapon, armor, kit or two and an amount of credits ranging from a small fist full to eleventy billion, based on your story and the amount of credits the other have.

and yes, I said eleventy billion, like it was a real number.

How i fit the last guy into my group:

1. For XP: I would offer you the group average XP (add up all the party members earned XP (without the starting amount) then divide by the number of people other than yourself and the GM). Then offer you the same Obligation options you have always had concerning extra obligations for more starting XP.

If you're adding up everyone's XP, but dividing by everyone but the player, then a new character will keep coming in with more XP than the one that went out. For example, 4 characters of 200 XP is 800. Divide by 3 and the new character will have 266 XP.

I created a misunderstanding. As per your example, I would have added the 4 characters together (to get 800) then divided by the same number. I only meant to infer that, since my players don't all have the same amount of XP (though they are all close), and I was suggesting to get the group average and start with that amount.

I would have the replacement character start as a new character. There are many abilities and skills that allow a character to contribute to the group immediately. I wouldn't let the old character transfer equipment or money. I think the way the system is created you can take that bounty hunter and make him just about anything you want...well except another race.

Why not simply transfer the XP to the new character minus any gained from race at creation?

After all, you earned that XP during play. It will keep you at the same tier you were at before, no bonus and no penalty. Just don't make a habit of swapping characters.

...which actually brings up the more important question...why are you bored with the character? How will a new character help?

Why not simply transfer the XP to the new character minus any gained from race at creation?

After all, you earned that XP during play. It will keep you at the same tier you were at before, no bonus and no penalty. Just don't make a habit of swapping characters.

...which actually brings up the more important question...why are you bored with the character? How will a new character help?

Ok. My current gm is not gonna let me start with same xp as everyone else, nor do I want to start with a fresh character. As for equipment/credits, I'll have to see what I can get from him. As long as I'm reasonable.

As for why I chose to retire my character? Fun. I wasn't contributing to the group at all, I made a few errors when making my character,and above all else, I wasn't having fun with the character. So I'm changing.

My group is doing the beyond the rim adventure,so looking at big game hunter,with the model 38 slugthrower. Cos it's an awesome weapon.

Every few sessions -- particularly after a milestone event storyline-wise -- I adjust everyone's experience so that everyone is even with each other relative to species. This allows skilled players to enjoy extra xp for a few sessions without frustrating the players who miss a session or two or are just generally quiet people who don't often get the extra 1 or 2 here and there for jokes and clever roleplaying twists.

Personally, I start new players with the XP I expect the rest of the party to have by the end of the session in which they're introduced, explaining that for their first session they'll only get a handful of xp, but they also won't have to worry about Obligation strain. Sometimes it's hard to introduce new characters, and if the group was in the middle of the something the new player may have to wait on the sidelines for a bit.

Characters don't have to be perfect stat or ability wise. Just have your bounty hunter start on a different track. It's like a guy who enters the Army, decides he doesn't like it, so he becomes an accountant...he doesn't unlearn everything from his time in the service. Is he behind the all of the other accountants from the same class...yeah....so what, that is life. Imagine the character in like 2 years, will a couple hundred of exp make a difference? He can look back and remember the day he decided to go down another career path, heck roleplay it...take on some obligation...and go with it.

I love this conversation because I've seen it a lot, in MMO's and in rpg's I've run. Character/person xyz feels useless because some other dude tweaked their character into a human buzzsaw and he is healing him for d8 3 times a day...yay fun.

For me, I go with build character at first with normal starting xp, buying equipment and all. Once built, then allocate additional xp for skill and talent improvements, cashing in xp for extra money similar to buying more obligation.