By Seth Glenn
In this Final chapter of our look at Character Creation, we cover the last few steps as outlined in the Core Rulebooks for Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny. These are by far the most exciting of all the steps, as they cover making your characters look awesome and giving them awesome stuff! These are by far the most personal and imaginative steps to creating your character, so while I will give a brief overview, most of the details in these steps are up to the players.
Choosing Gear and Appearance
By now players should have their character’s stats and a rough background established, possibly including obligation, duty or morality, their relationship with the Empire, etc. This step is all about customizing the physical appearance of a character and determining what gear with which they start. Each of the Core rulebooks has a chapter dedicated to gear and equipment, so refer to these chapters for the specifics of weapons, clothes, armor and other gear you might want.
Starting Gear
There are a few restrictions, unless your Game Master gives you special permission or rules. Generally, Player Characters(PCs) only start with 500 credits to spend on starting gear. Players may also elect to gain extra starting money by implementing certain Obligation, Duty or Morality as described in those sections of each Core rulebook. Players may also choose to keep any extra credits they do not wish to spend on starting gear. After a player has decided to end their spending on initial gear and weapons, each one rolls a 1d100 die to determine their starting “pocket money” and then add that to their remaining balance from their spending phase. This new cash balance cannot be spent until gameplay actually begins.
Appearance
The most important thing to remember when choosing a character’s physical appearance, should be to HAVE FUN! Seriously, create an individual as generic or unique as you desire. By this point players have already chosen what species, sex and class their character is going to be, so let that inform the decisions you make. Also remember that their appearance should line up with their personality and their backstory. If your character had a distinguishing mark, tattoo or injury in their past, be sure to make special note of how it affects their appearance. Here are a few bullet points the books give to remember as you decide your character’s appearance.
- Height, Weight and Physical Build
- Hair and Eye Color
- Other Species or Class related Physical Appearance Attributes
- Scars, Tattoos, Brands, Piercings, and Related Marks
Personality
A Character’s personality can be expanded during this time as well. Players should consider any traits, quirks, habits, likes and dislikes. For example: A player in a previous game created a Character that absolutely HATED bowcasters. If any character, whether NPC or PC had one out, they would lose focus on anything but that weapon. That same character would also scream,” For Justice!” Upon entering every battle. You can imagine the laughs and fun that was had! Be creative and chose to have fun or be unexpected with your character; or maybe develop something that only your character and the GM know about, that they can include later in the story. Draw from your chosen motivation from earlier steps. List your character’s emotional Strengths and Weaknesses. But again, most importantly, be creative and have fun!
Determining Group Resources
The last step in the Character Creation process is choosing what resources your party has available to them. Each of the Core Rulebooks has slightly different suggestions here to fit with each books theme, but any option could be used with any story as long as everyone agrees.
Edge of the Empire focuses mainly on choosing a ship for the group to travel the galaxy. Of course, one of the suggested ship is none other than a YT model freighter, resembling a certain ship piloted by Han Solo. There are of course other ships to choose from, though some may need special permission from the GM.
Age of Rebellion, as the name implies, included suggestions for a team of Rebel agents; namely either a starting ship like a freighter, some low cost fighters like a pair of Y-wings; or even instead of a ship, a base of operations. If players start with a base, they are rewarded an extra amount of credits to represent the resources available to them; generally about 1000 credits each.
Force and Destiny offers up details for choosing a ship, but also includes information about starting the adventure with Force related resources such as a Holocron or a Mentor. If the players choose to start with a Holocron, the GM can roll or just pick two skills from the Holocron Table or the list of skills provided in the book to give an initial boost to the party in those skills.
As with your character’s personal gear and appearance, be creative. Discuss this step as a group and be open to suggestions and ideas from others. Also talk to your GM about how you acquire your chosen resources. It could be a major plot point for the first session, or they may allow certain customization options. Think of a name for your ship or base. Are there any special feature? Did you acquire it in an unusual way? Where in the base or ship does each character sleep or stow their gear? All these things and more should be considered when choosing your groups starting resources.
Time to be the Hero 
That’s it! You’re done! Your character is ready for your adventure into the Star Wars galaxy! It is time to go forth and discover your own story. Be bold. Take risks. Be the character you created. Remember to make decisions and take actions that your character would take, based on their knowledge and experience, rather than your own as a Star Wars fan. Most importantly, have fun and be creative.
And may the Force be with You!