For an upcoming Star Wars campaign (long running) I need to decide on a character. As I have never played EotE I could need some help to guide my decision.

First idea – the heavy Wookie melee combantant soaking up damage.

I would start out as Marauder, popping all xp to bring Brawn to 4, Agility to 3 and Willpower to 2. Get a vibro axe, and further on pick up gadgeteer. For ranged – I would have only access to light weapons skills, or would it be worth to put something into heavy ranged and pick up a bowcaster at one point?

Other idea – Rhodian, using heavy ranged weapon, increase Brawn to 3, Agility to 4 and Willpower to 2 (or just get Agility to 5?) and go down the Assassin line, and maybe then gadgeteer or mercenary soldier.

As I would like to be force sensitive, force sensitive exile might come in as well, or would that be three careers specialization too much?

Thanks for any help and input!

It really comes down to what you want to play.

Why not consider who your character is, before you think about stats? Come up with a background and character concept that you would enjoy playing. Then the stats will fill in easily enough.

Same as above. I would need at least a paragraph about there backstory before I could chose.

You're thinking like an mmo toon, not an RPG character.

You're thinking like an mmo toon, not an RPG character.

He did say he was new to all of this. Give the guy a break.

I've found that maxing out brawn isn't all that necessary. 3-4 brawn max at start then sure up your weaknesses. You'll end up with 8+ soak without even trying.

Thanks FangGrip. I am totally new to EotE, played PFS - which is what I posted for a PC above, a number crunching exercise. Played some role-playing last week, instead of moving on a battle grit. First time that combat was not overshadowing everything for a loooong time. So need to adjust my brain back how to approach a PC.

I have played in games, where you only survive with maxed out PCs, or my maxed out PC carried the whole load. And this happened far too often. So please, don't judge me so harshly.

Maybe put it another way, is melee worth it in EotE? And build a backstory on such kind of PC? Or is it mainly ranged (heavy or light doesn't matter) and spend my creativity (whcih needs to resurface) on such a kind of PC? Or does it not really matter, as you will get everything, melee and ranged combat. And on top, how important is piloting and technical skills? Usually you could neglect all kind of skills, but might be different in EtoE.

PeteZero. Hi and welcome to this awesome game.

I do agree with what others are saying that you should consider your character's concept too. Like FangGrip said in the above post, I don't think it's fair to say that you are "playing the game wrong"

There are 2 types of character creation approaches.

(Someone correct me if I got these backwards).

Top-Down, which is developing the statistical portion of your character first and then coming up with a background, and bottom-up. Bottom-up is developing the character concept first and extrapolating the statistics from the concept.

Others are recommending the Bottom-Up approach, but it seems like you want to do Top-Down. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I tend to go for a Top-Down approach myself most of the time.

To answer your questions. For the Rodian, I wouldn't spring for the 5 in agility right off the bat. From my experience, a 4 as your primary stat will suit your needs most of the time, and you can always spend your first dedication talent to boost your Agi since it sounds like you'll be playing that character for a long while.

For the Wookiee concept. At first I wouldn't worry too much about ranged, just make sure you have some form of ranged weapon on hand just in case you can't quite get in Vibro-Ax swinging range. Even my non-combat oriented characters keep a holdout blaster on hand. As you play, if you find that you are using your ranged weapon more than you expected, you can always gather ranks in the ranged category of your choice.

Don't worry about acquiring too many specializations, just be careful about picking them all up in a short amount of time. One of my players picked up a lot of specs early on and he is finding himself unsure on where to put his experience points. His character isn't very specialized nor is he very well rounded either, so that's something to consider. I recommend focusing on one tree at a time and moving on when you are ready or when it feels appropriator to the plot.

For Force Sensitivity, I want to step away from the mechanical side and talk about the roleplaying side of things, because to me, being force sensitive always tickles my roleplaying fancy. Being force sensitive is a double-edged sword depending on how your GM runs things. You get to have cool powers and toy with the dark side and all that, but during the time that EotE is assuming you are playing during time of the original trilogy, which is a very bad time for force sensitives. Throw a rock in front of people and you run the chance of having inquisitors hunting you down to either turn you over to the dark side or kill you. After all, it was a Jedi that was the undoing of the Emperor. He had a right to fear them.

Rodian force sensitives are as common as any other force sensitive race (Except humans which I suspect are the most common), but a Wookiee force sensitive is a rare and special thing indeed if EU is to be believed. I say that not to discourage you. I only bring that up as something you should consider in your roleplaying.

Ultimately, you should play something that you'll have fun playing for the long haul. Consider both the stats and the roleplaying and make a character that will be something you will truly be excited about.

As others have said... you really don't need to 'game' EoE. This isn't like 4E where you have to make a power 'build' to keep up with the curve.

Think of what you want your character to be like and grow accordingly. EoE PCs start off pretty weak compared to other games, but XP is plentiful and they grow quickly. Bear in mind that if you want to be Force Sensitive, it seems to take a lot of XP to really get the most out of it, at the expense of other abilities.

Which would rather play more? Without getting into technical specifics of the game, which just isn't necessary, play the one you like the idea of better. In regards to melee being worth it as opposed to ranged being better, I would again say play whatever you like. They're both useful. You want to be a sniper, get yourself a long gun and have at it. You've got a Riddick itch you need to scratch with a toon, go for it, a knifey guy will be fun and play well.

I would very much say don't neglect tech and social skills, depending on your GM and how they design a game you're going to kick yourself if you aren't ready for those aspects. Heck, run your Cool through the roof if you want and guarantee the group a win in initiative all the time plus score big in the casinos if you end up gambling.

There is no real best way to approach the game because you're going to end up being able to make anyone good at anything you like in time, so play the character idea you like the best.

Which would rather play more? Without getting into technical specifics of the game, which just isn't necessary, play the one you like the idea of better. In regards to melee being worth it as opposed to ranged being better, I would again say play whatever you like. They're both useful. You want to be a sniper, get yourself a long gun and have at it. You've got a Riddick itch you need to scratch with a toon, go for it, a knifey guy will be fun and play well.

I would very much say don't neglect tech and social skills, depending on your GM and how they design a game you're going to kick yourself if you aren't ready for those aspects. Heck, run your Cool through the roof if you want and guarantee the group a win in initiative all the time plus score big in the casinos if you end up gambling.

There is no real best way to approach the game because you're going to end up being able to make anyone good at anything you like in time, so play the character idea you like the best.

Every time you say toon i keep thinking back to roger rabbit and the game toon. I take it there is a slang meaning?

Both ideas talk about what the character will do in combat... And nothing else. I'd say you should give at least some consideration to what he does outside of combat. While nothing stops you from using your characteristics alone to do just about anything, it seems to be fairly important in EotE to have the idea in mind as part of the concept behind the character.

Then again, that might just be the game my GM is running... In which case, ignore me and I'll shuddup.

Toon as I know it is a reference to a character you create in an MMO.

Toon as I know it is a reference to a character you create in an MMO.

Good to know, thanks.

I haven't played an MMO in years.

I've been playing RPGs since 'Warlock of Firetop Mountain' in 1982, and I've never played an MMO, nor would I ever want to.

Even with all it's weird snarls like the soak system, EoE seems to be trying to get away from all that power-gamer, munchkin, videogame stuff. After years of stats/mini-driven games like 4E, there seems to be a recent move towards more narrative games like this one, One Ring, Numenera and 13th Age.

Then again, that might just be the game my GM is running... In which case, ignore me and I'll shuddup.

You're absolutely spot on, Haley. While I guess it's possible to make a tricked-out EoE character (we've seen some abominations in other threads) the default concept seems to be about thinking about the character before the stats.

Think not what tactic you wish to dominate but think what will be fun when you play (reads better in your best Yoda voice).

Toon was from Roger Rabbit, sort of became the default descriptor for characters in MMOs. I heard it coined in WoW first. Now after that commercial pause back to our programming....

Honestly if you wanna be fighty/shooty and have good use beyond that, look at medic in soldier in AoR. You get access to all of the combat skills, and you get to be a great healer. You can grab the Well Rounded talent and really add depth to your character at career skill costs in xp, and you can specialize in your career to get shootier and fightier as well. I think it's probably one of the most useful specializations there are myself.

Something else to keep in mind as well some people will say they want to play a bounty hunter, but then they really don't want to just chase people with prices on their heads. That's because they like the characters Boba Fett or Cade Bane or Embo, but they aren't necessarily interested in the work they do. My point is you can be a Dr. and play them like an underworld assassin. You can be a Politico and be Joe Knife. You could play a Bounty Hunter Survivalist as a primitive stone age tribesman captured as a slave from your low tech homeworld. The career doesn't pigeonhole you into a line of work, nor does a line of work require a specific career.

In a way, I'd think of things like this: The career is one's 'past', and (stretching it here some) one's 'core', who you are / were , while the specialization(s) are what you do .

You're thinking like an mmo toon, not an RPG character.

Thinking about mechanical build first is a perfectly valid way to create a character.

Maybe put it another way, is melee worth it in EotE? And build a backstory on such kind of PC? Or is it mainly ranged (heavy or light doesn't matter) and spend my creativity (whcih needs to resurface) on such a kind of PC? Or does it not really matter, as you will get everything, melee and ranged combat. And on top, how important is piloting and technical skills? Usually you could neglect all kind of skills, but might be different in EtoE.

Melee is definitely worth it, but you don't have to really min-max to be an effective character. IOW, you don't need Brawn 5 right off the bat, you can be effective at melee even with Brawn 3, and this lets your character be a little more well-rounded in other areas.

I would quite like to hear the campiagn plan, getting a feel for the capmpiagn and how this group is set out will help.

Gazetteer is a decent play out for a fighty character that may need to do machinics and to be honest it sounds more or less understand how to fight combat in this game. Assissin,marulder and gadgeteer all do that. What is a concern is what other roles do you intend to fill outside the combat theater? Who is the party face? Who keeps the ship going? Who can pilot? Who deals with the underworld? Con men? Hackers? Those are the other questions that you should ask yourself and the rest of your party. The combat tends to be the easiest part to set up, as even the party face can get in the action with hired gun.

I would quite like to hear the campiagn plan, getting a feel for the capmpiagn and how this group is set out will help.

Gazetteer is a decent play out for a fighty character that may need to do machinics and to be honest it sounds more or less understand how to fight combat in this game. Assissin,marulder and gadgeteer all do that. What is a concern is what other roles do you intend to fill outside the combat theater? Who is the party face? Who keeps the ship going? Who can pilot? Who deals with the underworld? Con men? Hackers? Those are the other questions that you should ask yourself and the rest of your party. The combat tends to be the easiest part to set up, as even the party face can get in the action with hired gun.

Pilot, medic, mechanic, computer nerd and face are hugely important.

In my group we have 4 players and 1 GM so it's a bit easier to cover the things needed. We each try to cover at least 2 things to be decent at.

My Assassin/Gadgeteer with 500+ xp is specialized in combat with only 3 ranks of melee and 3 ranks of ranged heavy (3 brawn 4 agilty) and I don't have problems killing things. So you really don't need a 5+ ability with 5 ranks of a skill to do enough damage. In my career/bonus skills I have almost 3 ranks in everything and still had enough xp to reach the bottom of the Gadgeteer tree and dabble in assassin. The next tree I pick up will most likely be Pilot since we lost ours.

Depending on your game and GM, don't underestimate the negative consequences of having a Wookiee in the group. Much as Humans have soft bonuses in many cases within the Empire (even on the fringes), Wookiees pull a lot of negative baggage around in the default setting.

Depending on your game and GM, don't underestimate the negative consequences of having a Wookiee in the group. Much as Humans have soft bonuses in many cases within the Empire (even on the fringes), Wookiees pull a lot of negative baggage around in the default setting.

Yea....

Wookies suck....

Try explaining to the Imperials why you're walking around with a Wookie, Twilek and Droid when you're supposed to be undercover as an Imperial Officer. If it wasn't for my high Coercion and lucky roll we would have had to start blasting right from the get go.

Why can't people just play humans for once lol! Don't they know the Empire basically hates every non human!

Edit: and wookies hate Trandoshans! Trandos came to their planet in peace looking to explore a new world and got slaughtered by the wookies! Doesn't seem like a nice race to me!