First Time Character Creation Walkthrough

[Pyske]

Having just gotten the book, I'm trying to work through character creation to make sure I'm not inadvertently creating any "house rules", or mis-understanding anything. If you'd be so kind as to point out any errors below, it would be much appreciated.

Concept: I'm looking to build a risk-taker who is focused on hazardous environments and materials. The type of guy who salvages the uranium out of undetonated nuclear missiles while in freefall in tainted atmosphere.

Stats: Rolled 4d6 drop lowest x 8. [14 13 17 13 9 11 16 12]

S 13 - D 13 - C 17 - I 14 - W 9 - Ch 12

Race: Vilani, for no partcular reason, but I start considering if his family is former (disgraced) nobility.

Homeworld: High Tech 2 [roll 5], Tech 11 [2 on D3], Port A (4), Na Va [7]

Homeworld Skills: T/Comp 0, T/Mechanical 2, Pilot 0 [Saw no reason to buy others at 0 since I assume I can put class skill points in them later. Pilot 0 from Vessel feat.]

Homeworld Feats: Armor (Vac Suit), Zero-G Adaptation, Vessel (Grav)

Initial Class: Belter [Chosen because Demolitions and T/Medical are class skills]

Racial Feat: Nerves of Steel

Lvl 1 Skills: Appraise 1, Bluff 2, Demo 4, Forward Observer 1, Gambling 4, Gunnery 4, K/Mining 1, K/Geology 3, T/Astrogation 1, Pilot 4, P/Prospecting 2, Search 4, T/Medical 4, T/Sensors 1 [Not so good at mining, mostly prep for Hazmat duties. (6 (class) + 2 (int) + 1 (vilani)) x 4]

Lvl 1 Feats: Armor (Light), Weapon (Marksman), Imp. Zero-G Adaptation, Dumb Luck

Prior Hist 1: Belter (Rush Region [12], Fail Survival [roll 3 + terms 0], Robbed [2], Re-enlist OK [9]) [No XP b/c of failed survival . Ending age = 18]

Muster Out (Belter): Cash 100,000 [4 + 1] [Failed survival, but not dishonorable. I still get benefits, yes? Went for cash since it had the gambling bonus.]

Prior Hist 2: Marines (Raid [20], Extra Risk +5, Survived [roll 15 + edu 3], Commision [10 + 3 vs DC 3], Promotion [8 + 3 vs DC 6], SEH Decoration [16 v DC 1], XP Bonus 4000 [13 vs DC 1, 4 on D4], Re-enlist OK [12]) [Can promotion and comission happen at once? Ending rank = O2, age = 22, XP = 19,000! Good god, that was a lot of XP for one term!]

[Five new levels. Taking Belter x 1, Marine x 4. Can I take levels in Belter during Marine Prior History?]

Level 2 Skills: Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Search 1, T/Medical 1, T/Comm 1, T/Comp 1, T/Elec 1, T/Grav 1 [promote core skills, make sure T/ skills are trained]

Level 2 Feat: Vessel (Starship) [noticed this was not on the Marine list]

Level 3 Skills: Combat Eng 1, Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1 [new class has 2/lvl]

Level 3 Feats: Zero-G Combat, Medical Specialty (pathogens), Weapon (Sword), Weapon (Combat Rifle), Focus (Cutlass), Armor (Medium) [includes feat for char lvl 3 and starting feats for Marine]

Level 4 Skills: Combat Eng 1, Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1

Level 4 Feats: Weapon (Ship Weapons)

Level 4 Attribute: +1 Con

Level 5 Skills: Combat Eng 1, Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1

Level 6 Skills: Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1, T/Medical 1

Level 6 Feat: Great Fortitude

Prior Hist 3: Marines (Raid [20 again! Freakishly lucky die rolls only happen when preparing a practice char. I hate you, Murphy!], Risk +3, Survived, Promoted, MCUF Decoration [1 vs DC 1... is 1 an auto-fail here?], XP Bonus 1000, No Re-enlist) [Ending rank = O3, age = 26, XP = 27,000]

Level 7 (Marine) Skills: Demo 1, Gambling 1, Survival 1, T/Medical 2

Level 7 (Marine) Feat: Second Wind

Muster Out (Marines): Low Passage, Weapon x2, TAS Membership [Went for the material goods, since I already have good cash and it has nice attrib bonuses]

Prior Hist 4: Mercenary (Recruiting, Survived, No Comm, Promotion, No XP, No Cash, Required Re-Enlist) [Do I start here as O3, or as E1? Can I take addl risk when there is no survive DC? If so, does that also give a commision chance? Total rank = E2, age = 30, XP = 32,000]

I'll stop here since I've mostly covered my questions.

If I hadn't gotten required re-enlist, could I have gone back to Marines Prior History afterward? Can I do so after the second Merc term, even though I'm older than 34? If so, do I resume at my previous rank?

Thanks for everyone's help, and apologies for the length.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[far-trader]

Hi Pyske, welcome aboard

Looks pretty good, couple notes...

Race Skills: don't forget...

Speak Language (Vilani) - 0
Speak Language (Galanglic) - 0
Read/Write Language (Vilani) - 0
Read/Write Language (Galanglic) - 0


Homeworld Skills: and of course...

K/Homeworld - 0 (pg.32 ed.1 World Skills)

Originally posted by Pyske:


Muster Out (Belter): Cash 100,000 [4 + 1] [Failed survival, but not dishonorable. I still get benefits, yes? Went for cash since it had the gambling bonus.]

Hmm, interesting, must have been blind before, just always figured it was no muster benefit for failed survival but you are right.

Originally posted by Pyske:


Prior Hist 2: Marines (Raid [20], Extra Risk +5, Survived [roll 15 + edu 3], Commision [10 + 3 vs DC 3], Promotion [8 + 3 vs DC 6], SEH Decoration [16 v DC 1], XP Bonus 4000 [13 vs DC 1, 4 on D4], Re-enlist OK [12]) [Can promotion and comission happen at once? Ending rank = O2, age = 22, XP = 19,000! Good god, that was a lot of XP for one term!]

Close. As first term you have to attend Basic Training and then complete an abbreviated term (pg.124 ed.1). So your XPs are 1,000 more for basic training but 4,000 less because you do not get to check for bonus XPs. Also your Commission check is at a penalty of -2 (but you still make it) so total XPs is still a healthy 16,000

Yep you can rise quickly playing the hero (with a little luck). Yes, you check for promotion in the same term you earn a Commission, and after not before, as you did.

Originally posted by Pyske:

[Five new levels. Taking Belter x 1, Marine x 4. Can I take levels in Belter during Marine Prior History?]

So even with the slightly reduced XPs you're still a 6th level character (five new levels to assign).

Correct, no impediment to taking Belter class level(s), the idea being to make a good story to rationalize it.

Originally posted by Pyske:


Level 2 Skills: Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Search 1, T/Medical 1, T/Comm 1, T/Comp 1, T/Elec 1, T/Grav 1 [promote core skills, make sure T/ skills are trained]

Level 2 Feat: Vessel (Starship) [noticed this was not on the Marine list]

Yeah, but they do have Vessel (Ship's Boat) (Marine space/interface fighters and landers) but I guess the Navy just doesn't trust most Marines with the big ships

Originally posted by Pyske:
Level 3 Skills: Combat Eng 1, Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1 [new class has 2/lvl]

Level 3 Feats: Zero-G Combat, Medical Specialty (pathogens), Weapon (Sword), Weapon (Combat Rifle), Focus (Cutlass), Armor (Medium) [includes feat for char lvl 3 and starting feats for Marine]

Would this be a good time to ask if you have found the errata list? It includes the addition of PMOS as a specialized class Feat for Marines.

Originally posted by Pyske:

Level 4 Skills: Combat Eng 1, Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1

Level 4 Feats: Weapon (Ship Weapons)

Level 4 Attribute: +1 Con

Level 5 Skills: Combat Eng 1, Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1

Level 6 Skills: Demo 1, Gambling 1, Gunnery 1, Survival 1, T/Medical 1

Level 6 Feat: Great Fortitude

Prior Hist 3: Marines (Raid [20 again! Freakishly lucky die rolls only happen when preparing a practice char. I hate you, Murphy!], Risk +3, Survived, Promoted, MCUF Decoration [1 vs DC 1... is 1 an auto-fail here?], XP Bonus 1000, No Re-enlist) [Ending rank = O3, age = 26, XP = 27,000]

Nope, as I understand it T20 does not auto fail on roll of 1 or auto success on roll of 20, so you make the roll.

Again adjust the XPs from before you now have 24,000, still another level, rock on

Originally posted by Pyske:

Level 7 (Marine) Skills: Demo 1, Gambling 1, Survival 1, T/Medical 2

Level 7 (Marine) Feat: Second Wind

Muster Out (Marines): Low Passage, Weapon x2, TAS Membership [Went for the material goods, since I already have good cash and it has nice attrib bonuses]

Prior Hist 4: Mercenary (Recruiting, Survived, No Comm, Promotion, No XP, No Cash, Required Re-Enlist) [Do I start here as O3, or as E1? Can I take addl risk when there is no survive DC? If so, does that also give a commision chance? Total rank = E2, age = 30, XP = 32,000]

I don't recall it being spelled out anywhere but I believe you start as E1 and are eligible for Commission (except in the cases where there is none). The promotion DC being in brackets is for Enlisted promotion. Officer promotion is 2 higher when listed in brackets, in case you missed it.

I don't think you can take additional risk for reward when the survival is automatic.

Originally posted by Pyske:


I'll stop here since I've mostly covered my questions.

You said you'd stop

Originally posted by Pyske:

If I hadn't gotten required re-enlist, could I have gone back to Marines Prior History afterward? Can I do so after the second Merc term, even though I'm older than 34? If so, do I resume at my previous rank?

Tough call. Can't recall any official rules. I'd say you could have re-enlisted if not for the forced re-up with the Mercs, but you would have to start all over again at E1 and go through basic training again.

I would probably allow retention of rank for transfers within Imperial Service but still require basic training if it was a new Service. For example if your Marine had gone into the Navy rather than Merc he(she?) would have had to take basic (Navy) training but would be starting as O2 and eligible for promotion. Then if transferred back to Marine you would take any rank earned and would not have to go through basic (Marine) training again. This (inter-service transfers) would be the exception to enlisting beyond age 34. That and maybe an education term where you return to the same service, otherwise you'd be starting fresh.

At least that's probably how I'd handle it. I'm sure there are different takes on it out there.

Originally posted by Pyske:
Thanks for everyone's help, and apologies for the length.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

You're quite welcome Eric

Length?! You call that length! Check some of my posts

 

[deadlock]

Greetings and salutations,

Also get a copy of the errata for the handbook. I cannot remember if it included anything about character generation.

 

[MJD]

If you leave an Imperial serive you can't go back except in very special situations (eg recalled reservist for a war), and it's not really possible to leave the Marines and go into Army etc.

The exception is Scouts, who'll take veterans of other services and regualrly recall personnel.

You can always drift in and out of merchant service and such since that might represent a period doing odd jobs on free traders etc.

 

[slyen2002]

in T20 i don't think 1 is an auto fail which it is in the base d20 rules for 3rd edition d&d (where a 20 is an auto pass).

as far as i know if you don't servive you still get benifits which is differant from CT where if you don't sevive your dead so how can you get benifits.

and as far as i can tell other person have filled in most of what you where asking and so good luck!

 

[Pyske]

Thanks for the responses, folks. Sounds like I've got the general idea, even if I'm missing some of the pieces (like Basic Training, good catch, far-trader).

My book has PMOS listed for marines, but it is spelled out ("Primary ...") in the feats section, so I had a hard time finding it at first.

As a minor tangent: why are the service re-enlistment DCs so high? Seems to make a career Navy or Army officer a rarity (DC 6 x 5 = 24% chance, DC 9 x 5 = 8% chance). I can see why survival would be hard, but why re-enlistment? Is there any way to adjust these numbers (similar to "playing it safe") that I've overlooked?

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[veltyen]

Good question.

I got arround it with my players by allowing them to go back. The failed re-enlistment was a temporary mustering out rather then a permanent one.

For example, serving in the Marines, going into the reserves working on a merchant, before rejoining the marines again.
(Term Marines - Failed re-enlistment, Term Merchant, Term Marines)

Then again it should be rare to get a full bird or rear admiral among players, having a high re-enlist solves that. The next character generation I do will be without the option of going back.