Creating a Star wars character from Fantasy flight system step one. You will need the book.  Step 2 don’t panic, part of playing the game is making new characters and creating backstories. We are going to walk you through this process step by step either through the podcast that is associated with this webpage or by reading this and what the book tells you. There is a lot to building a character and we are going to stick with some basics so as to not confuse you.  Here we are making a few assumptions:

  1. You and the GM have decided you’re going to be in the game and have decided which sub system from Fantasy flight is going to be used, in this instance we are assuming that the Force and Destiny core rulebook is being used.  Which in turn means you would like to play a Jedi.
  2. That your GM is not currently available and has asked you to check out our website or listen to our podcast to get an initial feeling for the system.

Making the Character

Choose a background, who are you similar to MacGyver, or are you more like GIbbs from NCIS, are you like Inara from Firefly or Eddie Valian from Roger Rabbit, or say a Sophie Devereaux character from Leverage.

  1. What was your first experience with the force was it a chance thing that just happened, or do you have formal training, did you learn from a master in hiding, or did you learn from some video that you found,
  2. Why are you adventuring? What is motivating you to leave home and go somewhere else? Why not just stay and eek out a meager existence without risk.

Note: for my character I am playing a Dark knight style character she is doing things for the right reasons but her means might not always be what are considered good.  She has come to justify what she does for the good of the people.  She began her training in the Jedi temple and her and the Jedi master that she is training with have been in the depths of the urban areas of the republic fighting against the dark forces that would bring about the empire.  And because of the GM that I am playing with we are starting the game out at order 66 she has just witnessed the two Clone troopers looker her in the eye as if to apologize and then shoot her master in the back, while he was securing them all lodging for the night.  She managed to get away from the party before the clones shot her but only with her personal belongings that she had on her.  She is adventuring because she is wanted by the republic/empire.

  1. Determine the Characters Morality.
    1. What is his balancing act, what tempts them to the light and dark?  Brave (light) /anger (dark), love (light)/ jealous (dark), ambition (light)/greed (dark).
    2. This cannot be something as simple as I want a character with force-healing abilities that can do force-lightning.    

Note: it should be noted here that you can add 10 xp to your character or 5 xp and 1000 credits or 2500 credits by moving your morality 21 points from the center either to the light or the dark.

For my character I am choosing to keep her balanced and not taking this advantage.

Note: A player should realize that a character that spends too much time in the evil aspects of adventuring may wind up dead, or taken over by the GM as an NPC.  This can be based on the type of evil that the player is doing, and how it is affecting the roleplaying of the other player characters.  There is a reason that the GM is typically making up NPC’s that are labeled villains as the Antithesis of the player characters.

  1. For some GM’s they may have you roll on the chart from the book; typically Brian and I like to discuss and talk out with the player which Morality a player takes on as some individuals are better capable, based on their arguments, to play through different Moralities.
  2. Select a species
    1. Look through the species list and find one that suites the character that you have in mind based on the steps that have already been done. Keep in mind that his in not yet set in stone, and may change, based on the next two steps.  Some species according to the book, are better suited to perform certain roles than others, not so say can’t; just say less likely.  For the purposes of this exercise I chosen a Torgrutan. This is in part because I wanted a species that was high in Cunning in part because of the style of roguish character I wanted to play and the fact that the skills I will be relying on the most, I think, with be under the cunning characteristic.
  3. Choosing a career.  This is the hardest part, and will take the longest, but again don’t panic. Remember don’t panic.  In the Force and Destiny core rulebook we have the following careers: Consular, Guardian, Mystic, Seeker, Sentinel, Warrior
    1. Consular:  Tries to spread peace and harmony and avoid physical conflict.  Negotiation is always a better way to resolve conflict than physical violence, but physical violence is an option.
    2. Guardian: Stalwart, and Poised ready to defend the defenseless, and aid the oppressed.
    3. Mystic: seer, monk, advisor, they feel the force, they know it, the force is a friend and know through intuition and not just training and study, sometimes new things can be just understood, to a basic level.
    4. Seeker:  as the name says someone who feels compelled to seek out those in need in parts of the galaxy other than the urban centers. Or seek out other things.  Being able to survive independently and have the force guide your direction is the way of the seeker.
    5. Sentinel:  Lives in the shadows, does what needs doing, the ends sometimes justify a not so pleasant means, a mild deception for a good cause is still a good cause. Pragmatists that use cunning, and the tactics of criminals against them.
    6. Warrior:  They are using the force to further their abilities in combat in some manner, to help them hone their skills in battle.

I have chosen a Jedi that likes to live in the shadows, to use a D &D term, a Chaotic Good Jedi, doing good on his own terms, a Sentinel. 

  1. Next you should choose a specialization that will probably differ from the one I have chosen.  And within the Sentinel there are three specializations; The Artisan, The Shadow, and The Shien Expert.
    1. The Artisan has skill through the force with tools and machines to understand them better, to know what needs to be done to improve them.
    2. The Shadow or Sith hunters went after those who had fallen to the dark side and embraced it’s corruption. Now they are the ones learning to live in the deep shadows.
    3. Shien Expert while in the shadows, these experts learn the ability to turn blaster bolts back on the force users adversaries.
    4. For this section I have chosen Shien Expert for my Torgrutan, because of how I wish to play her, Athletics, Lightsaber, Resilience, and Skulduggery in addition to the talents available in the tree will make nice compliments to the back story that I have for her.

At this point it should be noted that you should look over your species and your career/specialization and see if they seem to fit from your perspective.  Can you see your character in a movie, your character playing the role you have chosen for them?  Does it actually make it on screen?

  1. Next is to spend starting xp.
    1. For this character I spent the 100 starting xp I got because of her race as follows
      1. 20 points on level 2 in brawn
        1. I spent these points because I don’t really think that anyone should start this system with a single point in trait.  I feel that playing a character with a single point trait is an advanced level skill that should be done after playing another character some. In addition Athletics requires a brawn check and a 1 in that would not be good playing an athletic character with a low trait score.  And your initial soak value, which is important is determined based on your brawn so a one in that is not good.
      2. 30 points on level 3 in agility
        1. This is because it ups the trait that is for most of the fighting and piloting score, it’s star wars, I think piloting i required for everyone, but that is just my thing
      3. 30 points on level 3 in intelligence
        1. This is because there are a lot of skills that require intelligence and my character will need many of them if she is to survive, and i will not have the points to put them in individuals skills so i put them in the trait instead
      4. 10 points in Underworld Knowledge
        1. I spent this out of career xp because it will come in handy with the backstory of the character and makes more sense for what I will be doing with the character.
      5. 10 points in Ranged Light
        1. I think she should be able to use at least one other kind of weapon other than a lightsaber.  Also you most likely will not start with a lightsaber. And having a backup weapon type trained is a good idea even though I know that there is really not a penalty for using a skill untrained.
    2. Looking at the skills upping the traits will help me untrained in a number of them. So that I will be able to do things when not in combat keeping the following thoughts in mind.
      1. You will start with starting xp to spend it should be noted that you cannot raise your traits after character creation except with a career talent called dedication typically at the bottom of a tree, so not very often.  Invest your xp wisely, I would not, in general, take more than one or two skills outside of your career skills set to start as they can be expensive. Keeping in mind that combat skills will be needed, and that combat is not the only thing that will happen in the game.  Stick to what your character would already know in your head, branch out later.  And there is no penalty to a skill, rolling untrained, you just don’t get upgrades.
      2. Here is where you should keep in mind that there are three major sections to a game; the fighting, the talking, and the doing/Knowing.
        1. Fighting or combat where people are attacking you and you need to defend yourself
        2. The talking where your trying to get stuff, sell stuff, or keep from being in combat
        3. To doing/Knowing i.e. the fixing broken things or upgrading things or figure out where something is in the sky
      3. We would like to note that you can buy talents and force powers with xp from the initial xp but we do not recommend it.  you will typically, after buying up traits, only have a few points for skills, and you really should concentrate your last remaining points on those and spend time learning about talents and force skills while playing.
  2. Your wound Threshold, and Strain Threshold are listed in your species abilities; they should be calculated at this point; they cannot be upped by upping a trait from this point. Only by buying talents. Your defense rating is typically 0 until you add gear, unless specified otherwise by your species.  Your soak value is determined by your brawn value at this point and can be increased by your armor value.
  3. Next is your motivation.  Along with why you left home what is driving you, is it a Cause, is it Ambition, is it Faith.  This motivation will come up in game; it will be used, or should be used by the GM to bring some excitement to the game, to have you make moral decisions for the character, to motivate game play and emotional and logical thinking.
  4. Next comes an important part of the decision making process as well. The Gear and appearance. Is your character a stand out or do they fade into the crowd. What type of crowd would they fade into, a group of pilots or a group of merchants.  And what is it about the character that blends or stands out, is it the aspects of her species or is it her gear.  This is where and when you make those decisions not every aspect of a species is in the book, I would look at other resources including wookieepedia and other semi-serious fandom sites. For this character I am going to make her a bit world weary but green. Still believes in hope, and truth and justice for all, but knows there is true evil in the galaxy.  I am going to have her be above average height at about 1.82 meters or 6 feet tall. She has a lovely blue skin and purple eyes. Her montrails are of decent size and her head tails come down to mid-torso area. She is of an average build.  And now for gear.  This too can make a character stand out or fade into a crowd, yes she may have distinctive features, but has generic clothes. But gear can also be a determining factor as to what environments your character will be able to survive in. Does your character own climbing gear, do you have a gas mask, cold weather gear, hot weather gear, you can’t prepare for all environments so you prepare for the most likely.  I would hope that the GM would not put you through making a character just to kill the party on Hoth the first game because everyone had gear for Dagobah and no credits to buy more gear.  For gear I am starting my Torgruta out with the following:
    1. LIghtsabre- basic – My GM is giving us one or 10K credits
    2. Heavy clothing                   – 50 Credits
    3. Commlink                            – 25 credits ( a must have)
    4. Utility belt                           – 25 credit
    5. Light Blaster pistol           – 300 credits
    6. 2- stim packs                      – 50 credits
    7. Breath Mask Respirator -25 credits
    8. 5- ration packs                  – 25 credits
    9. At this point I will only have the credits I roll on the 1d100 at the start of the game. But this is a good starting gear. I got really lucky in that my GM is going to let us start with a Lightsaber, it is a real gamble though to go ahead and get it now as opposed to rolling it out. But on the other hand it could take a year or more of IRL time to actually pick it up and use it otherwise and in that case, why be a Jedi.
  5. This the last step can only be determined with the group as a whole through a group discussion on a text channel or actually talking.  But a holocron, starship or a mentor all have merits and flaws to them that will need to be decided on by the group, and your GM.

Congratulations at this point you have completed making a character now all you need to do i s create the novella that is the back story. In order for it to be a proper back story it must be at least 10k words right….? Just kidding, I would at least take down some notes on a card or in a word document somewhere that you have access to during game to help keep track of some basic fact about your character so that the other players don’t get confused going forward and begin roleplaying with your character thinking one thing while you have completely forgotten it and have made something up new altogether.  On that note, I would advise that when you are asked about your backstory try to write it down somewhere someone will bring it up, and it may complicate things if you’re not on the same page with what was said in the past.