Tips and Tactics

Character Development

By Owen K.C. Stephens

The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is easy to learn, but it can be difficult to master. With that in mind, we proudly present "Tips and Tactics," a monthly online column designed to help you get the most out of your Star Wars roleplaying! Each month, Owen K.C. Stephens (author of Starships of the Galaxy and co-author of the Rebellion Era Sourcebook and Alien Anthology) will show you how to use various rules together, suggest new ways to use old rules, and clarify complex rules.

In the second installment, Owen helps you keep your characters fresh and interesting with a few creative tips on developing them with an eye toward the future.

Developing a Character

Once you've designed a character and played a few games, you're going to start gaining levels. This means you'll have to spend skill points again, select feats, and generally continue to build your character. While it can be tempting to simply pick the first thing that looks useful, in the long run you'll be happier with your character if you give some thought to where you want your character to be two, five or even ten levels from now.

Prestige Classes
One possible way to develop a character is to see if there's a prestige class that fits your character concept. Prestige classes tend to be more focused than the core character classes, and they represent more advanced levels of training and specialization. While the core classes are very broad, prestige classes add new special abilities and direct a character toward a specific role.

This should not be taken to mean that prestige classes lack any flexibility. For example, the bounty hunter class could be used to represent an assassin, a manhunter, a lawman, or even a bodyguard, since all of these positions benefit from the ability to study a particular opponent and take advantage of a target's lowered defenses in combat.

If you pick a prestige class that you feel is appropriate for your character, be sure to check it with your Gamemaster. Prestige classes are always optional, and your GM may not allow the one you want to take. Alternatively, the GM may have created a new prestige class more appropriate for your character and suggest you take it instead.

All prestige classes have qualifications that must be met before you can gain levels in them. For example, the bounty hunter class is available only to characters who have a base attack bonus of +6, the Track feat, and five ranks in Gather Information, Intimidate and Move Silently. Therefore, if you want your character to become a bounty hunter eventually, you should look at buying ranks in those skills early, since it's likely to take several levels to buy them up to the required amounts.

Multiclassing
Another option you should keep in mind when developing a character is multiclassing. For one thing, it's a good way to qualify for prestige classes. A soldier character, for example, is likely to have a difficult time becoming a bounty hunter because he doesn't have Gather Information or Move Silently as class skills. Even when his base attack bonus reaches +6, he can't have more than 4.5 ranks in those skills, and that's only if he's spent 18 skill points to buy them up over six levels. However, if the character multiclasses into a level of scoundrel, he gains access to a large number of skill points. Also, Gather Information and Move Silently are class skills for the scoundrel, making them much cheaper to buy.

Multiclassing also allows a character to develop into a more complex concept without taking a prestige class. A fringer mechanic who's also a gambler and not above bending the law might be well suited for a few levels of scoundrel, or a noble who comes from a very military society could take a few levels of scout or soldier. You don't want to spread a character too thin, though, or you'll end up not being able to do any one thing well. Examine what you want your character to be able to do in the future, and compare that to the various character classes. If there are several appropriate abilities in another class, that's a sign that you should consider multiclassing.

New Directions
If you find that a character is getting dull, you may consider taking his or her development in a new direction. For example, if your starfighter pilot has all 10 levels of starfighter ace already and is as good a pilot as he's ever likely to be, maybe he should consider becoming more of a leader and picking up a few levels of noble. Characters may take the Force Sensitive feat and begin training as Force adepts or even Jedi, and a Jedi could even decide his true calling requires him to become a soldier or scoundrel. As a character gets to be high level, you should look out for new things to become interested in and take classes, skills and feats that help you with your new goal.

Of course, some players simply don't like high-level games. If you find you miss the excitement of hiding from Stormtroopers instead of plowing through them, or if you had more fun when you were constantly afraid that you might fail at important skill checks, it may be time to retire your high-level campaign entirely and start over. This doesn't have to mean that your older characters never show up again -- they may well make appearances as mentors or even commanders of the new characters -- but they fade much further into the background, as a younger generation of heroes takes up the focus of your campaign.

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