Character Concepts

[Nol Drek]

Jim Borala is a military man from the Rigunmor Star Consortium. He
moved up through the ranks of the Rigunmor Military and is now an
independent contractor working for a wealthy Trading Enterprise which
is looking to the Verge as a source of generating new wealth. Like any
Rigunmor, he is a ruthless capitalist looking for new business
opportunities and a way to make a buck. He knows that the Verge is a
dangerous place, and that the Executive Board considers him
expendable, but the profit potential is irresistable.

Profession: Combat Spec
Career: Corporate Contractor

********

For a Career, I'm trying to pick a combination of Corporate Security
Specialist and Mercenary. I'm not using either default package, but
blending the two, picking skills such as:

Security
Protection Protocols
Security Devices
Armor Operation
Combat Armor

The signature equipment for a Mercenary is listed as: Attack Armor,
9mm charge SMG
The signature equipment for a CSS is listed as: 11mm charge Pistol, CF
Long Coat

So I guess my question for the GM is:

Will I be able to walk around in most situations wearing Attack Armor
and carrying a Sub Machine Gun?

I know that in Firefly this would draw lots of unneeded attention to
the group. If a fully armed combat mercenary as part of the group is
too "over the top" for this campaign, then I could use the signature
equipment for a CSS instead. CF Long Coat doesn't require the Armor
Operation skill, which would free up some skill points, but Attack
Armor provides much better defence.

I'd also like to know whether my character is hired directly by DB's
Xenologist character, or if the Trading Group hired me to keep watch
on him and make sure his mission doesn't lose sight of the Profit
Imperative. Both options have some possibilities for me.

Nol

[Jeffrey Hermes]

I like the idea of sharing our character concepts in advance, so here's my
revised thinking about my character.

Here's what I'd propose for my character, taking into account Nol's
character description.

Fredric Optio is an employee and extremely minority shareholder (through the
employee stock option program) of the Pan-Cloud Trading Enterprise, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Pan-Cloud Holdings, Inc., which in turn is a
shell corporation operated by the TriSystem Milk & Freem Bottling Co., a
subsidiary of one of the key corporate members of the Rigunmor Star
Consortium.

His job is to seek out new life and new civilizations, determine their
profit potential, and either (in the case of new species) establish
contractual relations with new cultures or (in the case of extinct species)
stake a claim to archaeological salvage rights. To this end, he has been
given command of a small trading vessel owned by PCTE (with explicit orders
to return it in one piece).

Fredric is genuinely (perhaps obsessively) interested in alien cultures, but
is intellectually aware that his first duty is to make money for PCTE.
Raised with the values of the Consortium, he has never had a problem with
that mandate. Nevertheless, he is uncertain about whether the "independent
contractor" that PCTE put under his command is really there to protect him
in the Verge, or to protect PCTE's assets from him.

Profession: Diplomat (Tech Op sub-specialty)
Career: Xenologist

**********

I'm not using a default package; instead, I've raised my INT beyond what is
typical for a Diplomat, and have chosen skills tailored to a xenologist,
including:

Life Sciences - Xenology
Medicine - Xenomedicine
Technical Science - Artifact Knowledge
Technical Science - Xenoengineering
Culture - First Encounter
Culture - First Contact
Culture - Diplomacy
Interaction - Bargain
Knowledge - Archaeology
Knowledge - Various alien languages
Lore - Fringe Science

He is NOT taking Leadership as a skill, so we'll see how he deals with being
placed in nominal "command" of others. He also does not have any piloting
or astrogation skills; rather, the PCTE assumes that he (or the PCTE) will
contract a pilot to provide those skills.

As for Perks & Flaws, he has Well-Traveled as a Perk, and Obsession
(moderate) and Alien Artifact as Flaws. FW, we'll need to discuss exactly
how that last one plays out in game terms. We'll also need to discuss what
"signature equipment" I should have, since I'm not using a standard package.

[John Kline]

I wanted to let players know that as I'm reading through my information on Verge governments and star systems (and there is a LOT of information - hundreds of pages - wow), I'm finding that the governments of individual planets and/or star systems in the Verge are often extremely independent of the stellar nations that you've got descriptions of.

If your characters are 'Arrivers' - newcomers to the Verge - then picking a stellar nation and rooting your character in that background makes sense.

But if you'd like, you can be a 'Verger' who was born in the Verge during the long dark time of no contact in the Second Galactic War - which means you're more likely to owe your allegiance to a local government with few ties to its nominal parent nation.

SO, it sounds like you're thinking of Jim as being an Arriver, sent from or at least coming from the Consortium to see what opportunities are out there in the Verge.  I should point out that there are plenty of star systems in the Verge where the Consortium has a significant presence - or alternatively where NON CONSORTIUM trading organizations are really quite powerful.

Everyone should think about that - Verger or not - for their characters, and let me know, since I'm the one with all the Verge info.  I can then provide you with more info on a likely star system choice in the Verge.

WHEW - now, as for Jim's equipment - it's clear to me reading through the game that heavier weapons and armor are restricted in many cases, much like Traveller.  Looking at an SMG, it's a 'military' restriction level, which is not the highest, but pretty high.  Attack armor in contrast is only a 'controlled' level of restriction.  Military is for real armies for the most part, whereas controlled is for private security and such.  Now, a CHARGE SMG, like you might have, is military, but all OTHER SMG's - regular and even laser - are only controlled.

I would suggest you take the heavier stuff - the SMG and the attack armor - but understand that you don't have a proper license for the SMG (they're rare).  Instead, you've got it painted to look like a non-charge SMG, and likely will carry only a pistol until the fighting is expected to be rough.  The armor will attract only some attention - you'll be identified as a mercenary, but there are plenty of armored mercs out there.  Sound good?  Buy a pistol first chance you get.

--
John F. Kline
jfk...@alumni.princeton.edu
609-903-3404

[John Kline]

As for Fredric, I think you've got a solid handle on how the Consortium would approach a researcher.  You'll be under serious pressure to MAKE MONEY while you're busy exploring the Verge.  In fact, you may already have suspected that a fair bit of your time will be spent as a free trader, with your more interesting explorations coming along when you can afford them (they'll tend to be high risk, high payoff ventures that you can't always pursue).

Your ship will likely be a modified free trader with a longer-range stardrive to facilitate exploration off the beaten path.  That comes at the expense of something - probably cargo space and weapons.

Signature equipment, unlike a free trader, should probably be oriented to the science side.  I think if you look at some of those sorts of careers you'll get a sense of what might make sense (gauntlets and sensors and such).  Plus the ship, which is a huge deal of course.

JENNIZA's character, I think, should get a Concord fighter ship, decommissioned when she left the service (need to figure out a reason for that).  Normally a 'pilot' career gets a ship, so this would be an alternative to that.  I need to see if a free trader can FIT a fighter onboard without losing all its cargo space.  It could compensate for a lack of weaponry, and provide an interesting firepower option for a solo exploration ship.

[Stephanie Gabai]

Would it be POSSIBLE to "externally" attach (and securely AND safely) my character's fighter ship to the cargo ship via a safe and easy to use access-way?  Ie have this all set-up before we start-up the campaign perhaps.

That would save the cargo space issue.  Besides, my character would have to wear a pressurized spacesuit whenever going flying anyway, right?

hugs,

Stephanie

PS, I'm slowly still working on my character... rumor has it Bob downloaded some of the RPTools too and maybe the Alternity rules, I have to check-in with him again about that.  My character will probably be Grey race.  I'm having trouble building my character other than that and was busy with errands last few days to do much else.  I'll try to find more time to finish my character soon.

[Wolfie]

i have a question, What would names for the T'sa species be like? i
would appreciate some sample names so that i can draw from that what
to name my character (because i dont want some alien species character
to run around with a human name if they have they're own nameing
system or something like that)

[Forrestwolf]

Yes, an attached external fighter is probably the way to go, and
there's a built-in airlock on the trader vessel. It's what fortress
and other large capital ships do with smaller starships to let them
benefit from their stardrives. I think we'll go that way.

You won't HAVE to wear a pressurized spacesuit (you'll have cabin
air), but it's probably a good idea.

In general, I'm imagining that the Consortium and/or Jeff's character
has removed weapons and defensive systems from a trading vessel to fit
in more power plant to get a longer range stardrive. As a result,
they're nervous about defense in a place like the Verge. Hiring a
space fighter pilot with ship would be an amazing 'ace up the sleeve'
for a trading/exploration vessel.

[Forrestwolf]

T'sa names - I'll get back to you on that. There are a FEW listed in
the Star*Drive sourcebook, mostly when there are NPC characters. They
seemed strangely 'normal' to me from what I recalled. I'll let you
know.

[Stephanie Gabai]

I'm close to balancing out the points for my human pilot.

I am hoping (but not sure) if I can afford Zero-G Tolerance from the
Player's Handbook... problem is... I can't find it in the character manager
engine. Any ideas?

hugs,
Stephanie

[Nol Drek]

Zero-G Tolerance (from the Player's Handbook) is a Perk, and you're
right that the Alternity Character Manager is missing this Perk.
However, I noticed that it instead has a DEX based Skill under
Acrobatics called Zero-G Training, which is probably the same thing,
more or less.

Nol

> strangely 'normal' to me from what I recalled.  I'll let you know.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Nol Drek]

I found a strange quirk with the Alternity Character Manager:
Broad Skills that new heros should get for free cost 3 skill points
each in the character manager. They can be removed and you will gain 3
bonus skill points, but your character will no longer be "legal".

All humans MUST HAVE the following skills:
Ahletics, Vehicle Op, Stamina, Knowledge, Awareness, Interaction

Wolfie's T'sa character MUST HAVE the following skills:
Ahletics, Manipulation, Stamina, Knowledge, Awareness, Interaction

I'm not sure why the character manager allows you to remove those
skills, but it does. I'm also not sure why it gives you 3 bonus skill
points when you remove each one, but it does.

Nol

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[cyla...@tampabay.rr.com]

Having problems with my character creation as the Alternity Character
Manager doesn't seem to allow me to add certain skills that it seems I
should be able to add as I have the points available and I'd think
they are Star*Drive skills, though without having the ruleset, I
cannot be sure.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Tony aka Cy

[Stephanie Gabai]

I had to trick the character generator by selecting Gunner/StarDrive in order to select Campaign - Human : Nationality : Verger

I could not selct Tech-Op Gunner, because it forced the campaign setting to Core...

I do not know if this changed the offerings of skills, perks etc in general; but, for me Zero-G olerance was still unavailable

Did you pick a class where the campaign setting came up as StarDrive?

On the plus side,I managed to come up with a character that was 70 points (14 Intelligence) and should balance out.  I can strike out 4 points, if I can be assured that Zero-G tolerance can be factored into my character sheet stats.  Otherwise, I'm gonna look around at a possible 3rd perk (that was my first choice actually, the other two I picked were nice two, but not as critical).

[John Kline]

Jeff's more of an expert with it than I am, but I can try to replicate the problem.  What skills specifically, if you don't mind telling the group?  I can look up the skills.  Actually, there are no Star*Drive-specific skills, by the way.

Can you post a one-paragraph char description to the group, too?

[frit...@comcast.net]

Cy - Are you sure you're adding the broad skill class before attempting to add the specific skills? WAlter should allow you to add skills even if you don't have the points (it will just give you a red flag), but it won't let you add a specific skill above level 0 if you have no points in the corresponding broad skill. Hit the button to remove zero-level skills to see which broad skills you've trained in. That's my best guess. - Jeff

[Wolfie]

Well, i dont think the character manager will let me put those skills
on without makeing my character illegal and not letting me save it (i
tried) so it might help if you could put down the skills on a list so
that we can look at it when we need it? (im guessing that those
skills come automatically like racial feats in NWN so if not then i
dunno)

[frit...@comcast.net]

Interesting.  I hadn't noticed this quirk; I'll have to check it out when I get home.  If we're all entitled to another 15 skill points, maybe we can fudge it by taking extra Flaws that will have no in-game effect?

 

> > On Apr 5, 7:33 am, Nol Drek wrote:
> >
>

[John Kline]

I just tried making up a T'sa, and it looks like the proper base skills are in there.  I don't have a PHB in front of me, but doesn't the Character Manager give you the right number of skill points for your Int?  That is, the broad skills ARE 'free' - you can't sell them back for more points (without making your character illegal).  Humans and T'sa have different broad skills.

Does that make sense?  I'll look at my PHB tonight.

Also, I found Zero-G Tolerance - it's a Limited Edition Preview perk only.  That's why it's not in the Character Manager.  We can still use it if Stephanie wants.

[Stephanie Gabai]

Blue Jay & Megan - A Verger combat pilot given an honorable discharge for hardship reasons, as the only one left to take care of her 10 year old daughter, Megan. Blue Jay is obessive about protecting Megan and taking care of her. Megan in many ways sees this as a blessing and a curse. Her Mom is someone tha will always be there when she needs her; but, she will always be there when she doesn't want her to be there too.

Blue Jay has her fighter craft with her as an attached escort to the Demon, a long range unarmed cargo/explorer ship and is their main pilot.

Blue Jay is ethical, kind and helpful. She is motivated by her love for her daughter, in fact, she's obsessed with taking care of her, to the point of being dirt poor and not concerned with her own appearance.

While Megan is motivaed by her desire to one day be reunited with her Dad. She anti-authority, flippant and independent. She is good with stuff around a ship; but, getting her to cooperate is another matter entirely.

 

[Jeffrey Hermes]

I took a look at this again, and my experience was the same as FW's. When I
made my character, these were trained for free. There was no cost for them,
and they show no rank, but broad skills do not have ranks -- only specific
skills do.

You can tell that your character has these broad skills by comparing the
scores in those skills to the scores of other zero-level broad skills.
Also, you should be able to buy ranks in specific skills under those broad
skills without paying into the broad skills.

You're right that you get an extra three points each if you remove those
broad skills, but I think the skill point calculation is correct (at least
when I did it). With those skills already added, I was given 76 more points
to play with: 70 for being a human with a 14 INT, plus 6 for being from the
RSC.

[Nol Drek]

Yes, you are given your race-specific broad skills when you create a
new character. My point was, as you have noticed, that you can remove
them and get 3 extra skill points for each one. You can then save a
character who lacks broad skills such as "Awareness". I had to read
the PHB to find out that removing "Awareness" from your character is
against the rules.

Nol

[Forrestwolf]

Starting positions (I think this is getting pretty firm at this point
- let me know if you disagree):

1) Fredric and Jim are on board the Demon, having just arrived in the
Verge in Tendril.
2) Blue Jay and Megan are on Alaundril, Tendril's only reasonably
inhabitable world, in the capital of Babel. Blue Jay has her
fighter craft at the local starport, and is looking for work.
3) Kal'sa is also in Babel, looking for a good way to get out of town/
off-planet.
4) Cy's character is likely looking for work, in Babel as well.

The Demon is still in space, approaching Alaundril after undocking
from the Monitor, a fortress ship that ferries smaller craft back and
forth to the Verge using its 50 LY-range stardrive.

[Jeffrey Hermes]

This works if (a) Jim has piloting skills, or (b) our pilot leaves us at
Babel and we were planning to hire a new one on arrival.

-----Original Message-----
From: Project-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:Project-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Forrestwolf
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 12:15 PM
To: Forrestwolf's Thursday Group
Subject: Re: Character Concepts

[Wolfie]

sorry to post this kind of last minute >.< Skateing Piano and NWN
keeping me busy and in my spare time ive been wasteing away on Pokemon
Diamond, anyway.

Kal'sa is a young T'sa on (insert planetname here, possibly Alaundril)
who got into the thief buissness at a young age, running away from
home and finding pretty little things that sold at high prices, this
got him a criminal record but his good luck kept him from prision. As
his life went on he got thrills from takeing things from places,
although killing someone never appealed to him so he avoids it
whenever possible.

Currently he's heisted a good load (please note FW if you think this
is far fetched then go ahead and say so and i'll change it :) a Human
2003 model Remmington sniper rifle. the rifle unfortunatly does'nt
have any ammo but will fetch a high price anywhere as an antique. but,
the person he got it from got him on tape and he is currently being
hunted. his skills in being able to skale walls (To an extent) has
kept him from being caught, but unless he gets offworld its only a
matter of time.

The only hope for him is the ship docks and its very unlikely that he
will get access on a ship with the people knowing...

He trained himself mostly but he got a "mentor" which is to say he
fell in with a gang for a while and got taught thievery. being fast
and flexible he can do some number of manuvers that might be hard if
not impossible for humans, Running up walls (a VERY short distance
probly only about 3-4 feet) to grab ledges that might be out of reach,
and same with along, (longer then up because annoying gravity is'nt
quite as in play) these two abilitys are good for getting in all kinds
of rich estates. this has gotten him a reputation among most
thieves. (please note, i was thinking of useing "climb" skill to do
these)

Stats:

Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 8
Int: 9
Wil: 9
Per: 8 (his reputation is good among thieves but his record makes it
harder for him to deal with normal people)

Perks:
Good Luck
Reflexes
Reputation (mostly on the verge)

Flaws:
Criminal Record
Oblivious
Rebellious (does'nt like always doing what other people tell him,
thinks outside the box but does'nt follow the rules)

Main Skills:
Str:
Athletics:
Jump,
Climb,

Dex:
Acrobatics:
Defenceive Martial Arts (uses a small dagger to do martial arts)
Dodge,
Fall

Stealth:
Hide,
Sneak

Int:
Security:
Protection Protocols,
Security devices,

Future skill:
Modern weapon proficiancy:
Rifle

Gear:
Clotheing (if T'sa wear it that is >.<)
Dagger,
Anything FW thinks i should have :P

I hope you all like it (the last part in the description is mostly a
ability pitch, sorry about that)

[John Kline]

Good point.  (a) Jim does not.  (b) is a possibility.  Perhaps you essentially took on a Stellar Ring pilot as a passenger bound for the Verge.  I do have an option (c) I'm considering.

In the meantime, Cy, what about you?  Could you be their third?

[cyla...@tampabay.rr.com]

I was initially going to do a pilot, but when it appeared to be the
choice some others had, I went for the Jack-of-all-trades (ship's
mechanic/general handyman/computer and security systems guru).
However, I haven't yet finished my character due to problems with the
character manager. I can log in early if anyone wants to assist me
with that issue. Because I haven't finished it, I could be a third
pilot or a Jack-O (as above) with some piloting skills (test engine
and control systems) without being a full fledged pilot.

Still thinking on a character name, but will be a Verger I think.

P.S. Would have responded quicker, but just got home from work.

[Stephanie Gabai]

Megan might get along with you then, if you aren't mean to her. She's good with things around a ship too.  Granted, she's 10 years old and a non-professional. :)

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[John Kline]

I think a Jack-O with minor pilot skills will be fine.  Verger is okay, too.

Wolfgang, having you be from Aegis makes sense.  Street kid, basically.  Odd as a T'sa, but not impossible.