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The Starfarer* Player's Guide*Formerly SAGE, Space Adventure Gaming Engine |
Chapter 1: Character Generation
1.1 Basics
Starfarer is a set of gaming
mechanics made for use with science fiction settings based in a universe
in a fictional future of the Earth. Characters in Starfarer are described
in terms of several statistics, falling into smaller categories of attributes,
skills, abilities, perks, and drawbacks.
Attributes are traits
that every living, sapient being has to some extent; they describe the
physical and mental makeup of the character. For example, strength, charisma,
and willpower are all attributes.
Skills are abilities
of a character that reflect some knowlege or training the character has
received, such as piloting, martial arts, or nuclear physics.
Attributes and skills
are collectively known as traits, and are generally described by
numbers. These numbers are on an approximate scale of 1 to 10, with 5 being
considered average. For more on how attributes and skills work, see chapter
2.
Advantages describe
special characteristics or aptitudes the individual may have that are not
shared by all beings, and may not be easily learned or attainable. Advantages
are divides into 3 major categories: Abilities, Perks, and
Psionics.
Abilities are special
enhancements or gifts the character may have that sets apart from other
members of their species. If the PC is a non-human race, abilities may
further encompass traits characteristic of the race that lend them some
advantage over humankind; such abilities are further called xeno-abilities.
Other abilities might be granted a member of a race via genetic engineering;
these are called geno-abilities. A given ability might fall into
any or all of these categories. Examples of abilities are acute hearing,
large frame, and absolute direction.
Perks are a consequence
of the character's financial, social, or political position, and could
include cyberware, physical possessions (such as, perhaps, a starship),
military rank, noble title, social connections and acquaintances, or simply
cash in the bank.
Psionics are a special
sort of skill that only certain characters have. They allow a character
to perform uncanny feats that defy conventional science, such as communicating
telepathically, predicting the future, viewing objects at a distance, or
manipulating matter.
Finally, a character may
have flaws. Flaws are negative characteristics that provide
additional challenges to the character during the course of the game. Typical
flaws include enemies, physical handicaps, unusual behaviors, or reputations.
1.2 Character points
A basic mechanic required
for character creation is Character Points, or CPs. These are the
"cash" with which players "buy" the attributes, skills, and abilities that
their character has. More character points may be acquired to the beginning
character by assigning them Flaws.
The GM must first make a
determination about what general caliber of character he wants the characters
to begin with. This is done by selecting a "proficiency level" (PL) of
character, from 5 for wet-behind-the-ears youngsters, to 15 for seasoned
veterans of their trade. The recommended (and assumed) starting proficiency
level is 10, which is adequate for characters who are fairly young, but
have some experience and training.
Once a level is determined,
character points are assigned to 3 different categories, termed primary,
secondary, and tertiary areas. The primary area receives ten (10) times
the PL; the secondary area receives eight (8) times the PL; tertiary receives
six (6) times the PL. The following table enumerates the CP for all PLs
from 5 to 20. Note that the "Tertiary Area" points are also the maximum
amount of points that can be derived from flaws.
The "Age modifier" is used
when determining the characters' starting age.
Prof. Level (PL) |
|
|
|
|
5
6 7 |
50
60 70 |
40
48 56 |
30
36 42 |
2d5
2d5 3d5 |
8
9 10 |
80
90 100 |
64
72 80 |
48
54 60 |
3d5
4d5 4d5 |
11
12 13 |
110
120 130 |
88
96 104 |
66
72 78 |
5d5
5d5 6d5 |
14
15 16 |
140
150 160 |
112
120 128 |
84
90 96 |
6d5
7d5 7d5 |
17
18 19 |
170
180 190 |
136
144 152 |
102
108 114 |
8d5
8d5 9d5 |
20 | 200 | 160 | 120 | 9d5 |
After the character points are determined, the player must assign one point total (primary, secondary, or tertiary) to attributes, one to skills, and one to advantages. The GM may require or restrict certain assignment scheme.
The conventions for buying attributes and skill levels are similar. Each level of skill costs the number of the new level of skill, assuming the character already has the preceding level of skill. As you don't always buy one level at a time when creating a character, the following table should be of some use when determining the costs of buying more than one skill at once:
Attributes use a similar mechanism, but a new level of attribute costs DOUBLE what a new level of skill would, i.e., 2x the number of the new level, or 2x the listed cost in table 2. Characters start with 4 in all attributes for free; this is taken into account in table 2 on trait costs.
Table 2 can also be used
when buying specializations or psionics. Specializations cost 2x the cost
listed for skills. Psionic primary skills also cost 2x the cost listed
for skills. Psionic specializations cost 3x the cost listed for skills,
plus a surcharge equal to the minimum level of the psionic skill it is
based on. See section 1.4.3 for details on specialization and section 1.5.3
for details on psionics.
Table 2: Basic Trait Cost
Trait
Level: |
Trait Cost (CPs): | |
Skills | Attributes | |
1
2 3 |
1
3 6 |
-18
-14 -8 |
4
5 6 |
10
15 21 |
0
10 22 |
7
8 9 |
28
36 45 |
36
52 70 |
10 | 55 | 90 |
New Level
Current Level: |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 45 | 55 |
1 | - | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 20 | 27 | 35 | 44 | 54 |
2 | - | - | 3 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 25 | 33 | 42 | 52 |
3 | - | - | - | 4 | 9 | 15 | 22 | 30 | 39 | 49 |
4 | - | - | - | - | 5 | 11 | 18 | 26 | 35 | 45 |
5 | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | 13 | 21 | 30 | 40 |
6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | 15 | 24 | 34 |
7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | 17 | 27 |
8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9 | 19 |
9 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 10 |
Attributes, skill specializations, and primary psionic skills are double the listed cost.
Psionic specializations are triple the listed cost, plus an initial surcharge equal to the minimum psionic skill level for the specialization.
When "selling back" attributes,
switch the "current" and "new" level columns; the result is the points
of flaws.
1.3 Attributes
Attributes are character
traits that most sapient beings share to some extent. There are 9 attributes
in Starfarer, which are:
Each of these attributes
start out at a base of 4 with no cost. Using the cost scheme described
in section 1.2, the player may raise any of these attributes, or may lower
them to get a rebate. A summary of the cost (or rebate, if negative) is
shown on the basic trait cost table (table 2).
With the GMs permission (ONLY),
characters may buy attributes above 10. However, such attribute points
cost 2x the normal cost for attributes (thus, raising the level of your
strength from 10 to 11 would cost 2 x 2 x 11 points, or 44 points. Thus,
if you wanted a starting character to start out with an 11 strength, that
would cost you a total of 144 points - which is beyond the means of all
but the most impressive starting characters.)
When a character "sells back"
attribute points for a "rebate", those points are counted against the characters
maximum flaw total.
Just as in the case of attributes,
skills are represented by a number. However, while attributes are assumed
to start out at a base of 5, the same cannot be said of skills - a 5 skill
is considered to be a very competant level of skill for a character who
would use that skill to earn their livelihood.
Note that you may choose
to "sell back" some of these skills and get extra character points, as
listed on table 2, or spend points to increase these skills, also on table
2.
Some skills are defined as
being "categorical". These are listed in bold on the skill list. When selecting
such a skill, the player must choose one of the categories (n.b.
NOT specializations, which are different, see section 1.4.3). For
example, a character buying pilot could select "wheeled", "GE", etc. Skill
using one such type of vehicle may or may not imply ability with other
categories, but usually does not - see the section on tasks.
Specializations have 2 restrictions.
First, specializations may not exceed one half (round up) of the skill
they are based on. Second, specializations cost double the amount
of CPs that standard skills cost.
However there are two advantages
to specializations. The first is that when a task being attempted falls
into the specialization, the character gets to add the specialization skill
level to the level of the skill it is based on. Although the cost of a
specialization is higher than that of a regular skill, the cost of buying
a skill level plus a specialization is usually less than buying a standard
skill of the level of the total of the two.
The second advantage of specialization
is that some types of equipment or tasks suffer a penalty if you do not
have the appropriate specialization. Having the specialization offsets
the penalty.
The skills list includes
the limiting trait for each skill. If a skill has an attribute as
a limiting trait, the character cannot have more CPs in the dependant skill
than CPs that are devoted to the attribute. If the limiting trait is a
skill, the character cannot have more than double (2x) the amount of CPs
in the dependant skill.
Purchasing abilities is usually
much easier than purchasing skills. The skill level chart is not used;
rather the character simply selects an advantage - an possibly, there may
be different levels of the same advantage - and pays the listed amount
of CPs.
However, there are some restrictions.
Standard abilities can be purchased by most characters at this point.
Xeno-abilities can usually only be bought as part of an alien race
template; Geno-abilities can usually be bought as part of a genetic
subspecies template. Many abilities in the abilities list fit more
than one of these categories; such abilities may be bought as part
of the appropriate template, or normally during the character creation
process. See section 1.9 on templates for more information
Perks are much like abilities
in that they are easy to purchase. Simply choose a perk from the list of
perks, and pay the associated cost in CPs. Cyberwear also required a negative
essence modification that must be noted as well.
There are only a few psionic
skills, being telepathy, extrasensory, psychokinesis,
psychometabolism, and antipsionics. These are called primary
psionics. These skills are bought in the same manner as normal skills,
at double the cost.
Primary psionics are
almost useless by themselves. The psionic character must also buy one or
more psionic specializations in order to utilize their psionic skills.
These psionic specializations are listed in the appendix. Unlike
normal specializations, psionic specializations cannot normally
be attempted if the character does not have the attendant specialization.
In addition, psionic specializations have a minimum level in the
related primary psionic required to take that specialization. Purchasing
a psionic specialization costs 3x the cost of a normal skill, plus
a number of CPs equal to the minimum level required in the primary psionic.
1.6 Flaws
Flaws can include such things
as physical aberrations, psychological conditions or hangups, enemies,
and poverty. Selecting flaws is somewhat similar to selecting abilities
and perks, but instead of PAYING the listed CPs, each flaw has a CP value
that the character can spend on any of their other categories.
There is only one limitation
on spending CPs from flaws--the character cannot spend more points
on their secondary area than their primary area or attributes, nor can
a character have more points in their tertiary are than their secondary
area.
1.7 Leftover points and karma
First, you may bank them
on skills. You may transfer up to 5 points from any category to your skill
category, and distribute those between any skills you have. While having
an intermediate number of CPs from those listed on table 2 will not immediately
raise a skill level, you may use experience during the game to raise a
skill, and already having invested a few points will make it easier to
advance the skill during the game.
The other option is that
you may add leftover points in your Karma pool. All characters have
a Karma Limit of 2x their modified Essence attribute. All
characters start out with Karma points equal to their Karma Limit
cross referenced on table 2. Any leftover CPs may also be added to the
Karma total, but the Karma pool may never be greater than the Karma
Limit.
1.8 Figured attributes
Can you add a few numbers
together? If so, then you're almost done! The remaining derived attributes
are just a sum of existing attributes. Where division occurs, (U) means
round any fractions up to the nearest whole number, (D) means drop any
fractions, and (N) means round normally (i.e., round up if the fraction
is .5 or greater, otherwise round down.):
1.8.2 Damage Tracks
Each character has a number
of damage tracks, one for each body region (for human, these are head,
chest, abdomen, right and left arm, and right and left leg.) Each track
is divided into different wound levels: graze, light, medium, heavy,
severe, and mortal/maim. The last category is called mortal if the
area is a vital area (i.e., head, chest, and abdomen on humans) or maimed
if not a vital area (limbs on a human).
Each damage span has a number
of points in it equal to ½ of the character's mass characteristic.
Thus, the high end of each span is figured as follows:
graze: mass / 2 (D).
There is no upper limit to
the mortal category. The lower limit to each category is the upper
level of the previous category plus one. Mortal and maimed
have the same lower limit, being that of the severe wound category
plus one.
Most characters in Starfarer
have between a -2 and a +4 size modifier (and thus a mass between 4 and
10.) Table 5 gives the spans for each wound level in this range, which
should be sufficient for most PCs. Note that for some aliens, the spans
will not be the same for all body parts, but for humans, they are.
Strength (STR)
Endurance (END)
Agility (AGL)
Dexterity (DEX)
Reason (RES)
Willpower (WIL)
Perception (PER)
Charm (CHM)
Essence (ESS)
1.4 Skills
Skills represent the character's
training and experience. A skill can include such diverse things as a characters
ability to pilot a space vessel, fire an energy cannon, or treat a wound.
1.4.1 Default skills
All characters are assumed
to have undergone some rudimentary form of secondary education at the least,
in addition to having picked up a number of skills that are standard for
a citizen in an interstellar society at no cost in CPs. These skills are:
Native Language: 5
Vehicle (either wheeled
or GE): 3
Area knowledge - home planet
: 3 (specialization - home region: 2)
Computer Operation: 3
1.4.2 Selecting skills
Skills may be selected from
the skill list. When doing so, the player must choose the level of skill
he would like to have for each skill selected. When doing so, the table
2 is used to determine the cost in CPs for that level of skill.
1.4.3 Specialization
If a character already has
a skill, they may select a "specialization" within that skill. What specializations
are available are listed in the skill descriptions, but the GM may create
more at his whim, or possibly at the request of a player...
Example: Dan wishes
for his PC, Desiree Leetah, to be skilled in martial arts and the MLA pistol.
Martial Arts normally falls under "unarmed combat", MLA pistol normally
falls under "Weapon - Pistol - Projectile". He decides to buy level 5 in
Unarmed Combat (costing 15 points), plus a level 2 specialization in a
martial arts style - Judo (costing 2 x 3, or 6 points). He also buys her
level 4 projectile pistol (10 CPs) and level 2 specialization in MLA pistol
(2 x 3 = 6 CPs).
When Desiree fires her MLA
pistol, it will be as if her skill level was 6 (4 basic level in projectile
pistol, plus 2 for her specialization).
When Desiree engages in
unarmed combat, it will be under her basic level of 5 unless she attempts
a judo maneuver. If attempting a judo maneuver, she will do so at level
7, and the fact that she has Judo specialization will offset any negative
modifier for non-proficiency.
1.4.4 Limiting traits
All skills have limiting
traits listed. For example any physicist is going to have to know some
math; an professional gymnast must have a good agility trait. However,
the detailed knowledge of a given skill tends to become more specialized
at higher levels, so is less applicable to other fields, so only a portion
of the limiting trait is required.
1.2.1 Spending Limitations (Optional)
The GM may find that even
with a relatively meager starting level, beginning characters can buy a
singular very high skill level. While this may be theoretically possible
in some societies, it's not too realistic in most societies. Accordingly,
the GM may wish to limit the character's expenditure on any single skill
to one-half that character's starting CPs in the skill area, not counting
any points applied from disadvantages.
1.5 Advantages
As described earlier, advantages
are characteristics that truly set the character apart from the norm, or
(in some cases) are a consequence of being a member of an alien race or
genetically engineered subspecies. Advantages are divided into the
subcategories of abilities, perks, and psionics.
1.5.1 Abilities
Abilities describe special
enhancements that the character may have that cannot be simply attributed
to training in most cases. Usually these represent inborn traits or special
talents, such as being born large, with acute hearing, or unusual toughness.
A human will usually only allocate tertiary level points to abilities,
unless they have massive genetic enhancements or psionic abilities. Other
races may find themselves needing to buy abilities associated with their
race.
1.5.2 Perks
Perks are special benefits
that the character enjoys, and includes such things as contacts, wealth,
material possessions, military rank, noble titles, and cybergear.
1.5.3 Psionics
Note: Psionic abilities
are not universally embraced by the SF community. Many SF writers and fans
(the author included) feel that psionic abilities are apocryphal at best.
However, psionics play a major part in many SF settings (e.g., Frank Herbert's
DUNE) and I would be remiss in excluding them in an RPG that hopes
to emulate a variety of science fiction settings. Accordingly, the following
rules should be used (or altered) at the GM's discretion.
Psionics are special
aptitudes and skills in those aptitudes, allowing the user to perform seemingly
inexplicable feats by merely concentrating. Psionic abilities are
treated similar to skills, with a few exceptions.
Example: John wish
for his character, Drexel, to have the psionic specialization weapon
bond. This is a specialization under the primary psionic skill psychometabolics.
The minimum level in psychometabolics for the weapon bond
specialization is 4. John must buy at least 4 levels of psychometabolics;
John chooses to buy 5. It cost 15 points to buy a level 5 skill normally,
so it costs 30 points to buy the level 5 psychometabolics. Now,
he wants at least 3 levels in the weapon bond skill (the maximum he can
buy with level 5 in the skill it is based on.) The normal cost for a level
3 skill is 6 points. It costs 3 times this, plus the minimum level (4)
for the specialization, for a total of 22 points.
The total cost for these
skills is 52 points--30 points for the level 5 psychometabolics,
plus 22 points for level 3 in weapon bond.
You will frequently find
yourself wanting a few more points to bump a skill or attribute up or afford
an expensive ability or perk. The solution to this situation is to voluntarily
take one of more flaws. But points aren't the only reason to select
flaws - player frequently find it more interesting to play a character
that has a few flaws.
If you have a few points
left over, you have 2 options for how to dispose of them:
Example: Dan has
finished his character, Desiree Leehtah, and has 5 points leftover. Desiree's
Essence is a base of 5, but due to cyberware penalties, Desiree's Essence
has a -3 modifier, giving Desiree a modified essence of 2. Desiree's Karma
Limit is only 4 (2x Desiree's modified Essence). On table 2,
having a 4 Karma Limit only gives Desiree only 2 points in her Karma
pool, so Dan can only put 2 CPs into the Karma pool, for a total
of 4. The remaining 3 points must be put in skills. he devotes these CPs
to Desiree's projectile pistol skill, which already has 10 points (level
5) in it. Now it has 13 CPs in it, and as soon as he can put 2 more points
in it (for a total of 15), his skill will raise to a level of 5 - but that
will take a few adventures...
After you are done buying
everything, there are a few attributes that are used for various mechanics
during the game that must be figured.
1.8.1 The Simple Stuff
Mass: Size Mod + 6 (thus
most humans are mass 6).
Karma Limit: 2x Essence
(discussed in section 1.7).
Resilience: Mass + (Mstr+End)/3
(U).
Initiative: (Dex+Agl+Per)/2
(U).
Stun Limit: (End + Wil)/2
(U).
Shock Potential, Basic:
(Mass+MStr+Wil+End)/3 (Retain Fractions)
x2, x3, x4, x5, x6: Multiply
basic shock by the given number (N).
Move bonus: End + Agl +
Move Skill, on cost chart.
Walking: ½ Mass +
½ x Move Bonus.
Running: ½ Mass +
4 x Move Bonus.
Sprinting: ½ Mass
+ 7 x Move Bonus.
Encumbrance: 2 x Mass +
UStr
Starting Age: 13+Age modifier+age
mod from multiple templates. See table (This may be different if you take
the "Age" disadvantage or "prodigy" advantage).
light: mass
medium: mass x 1.5
(D)
heavy: mass x 2
severe: mass x 2.5
(D)
maimed: mass x 3
Character's Mass. | Damage span for given wound category | ||||||
Graze | Light | Medium | Heavy | Severe | Maimed | Mortal | |
4 | 1-2 | 3-4 | 5-6 | 7-8 | 9-10 | 11-12 | 11+ |
5 | 1-3 | 4-5 | 6-8 | 9-10 | 11-13 | 14-16 | 14+ |
6 (Normal) | 1-3 | 4-6 | 7-9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 | 16+ |
7 | 1-4 | 4-7 | 8-11 | 12-14 | 15-18 | 19-21 | 19+ |
8 | 1-4 | 5-8 | 9-12 | 13-16 | 17-20 | 21-24 | 21+ |
9 | 1-5 | 6-9 | 10-14 | 15-18 | 19-23 | 24-27 | 24+ |
10 | 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25 | 26-30 | 26+ |
1.9 Templates (Optional)
A player selecting a template
for their PC should write down all attributes, skills, advantages,
and flaws listed in the template down along with the cost for each
category. Then, there is a template bonus. This bonus is treated
as a flaw (basically, you get a kickback for abiding by the strictures
of the template). Note these "bonus" points DO count against your maximum
number of points from flaws.
Note that in the case of
attributes and skills, these traits are given in terms
of CPs; this is because those who take multiple templates (such
as in the case of aliens) must abide by the balooning cost scheme. For
example, if you take a template that gives you 3 CPs in energy pistol,
that would give you a skill level of 2 in energy pistol. If you take a
second template with 3 CPs in energy pistol, that gives you a total of
6 CPs (i.e. level 3) in energy pistol, NOT level 4 in energy pistol.
Templates are divided
into race (including xeno- or geno- ) templates
and archetype templates. You may normally only take one race
template (or, rarely, one xeno- and one geno-template),
but may normally accompany this with an Archetype template. You may take
more than one archetype template if the GM (and the number of points
you have) allows, but there may be an age requirement. For the first archetype
template, if the template "age modifier" is higher than the starting PL,
use the age modifier number instead of PL when determining starting age
(see section 1.8.3.)
If a second, or "supplemental"archetype
template is taken, add the bonus to your starting age. Also, note
that you don't get points for the "Age" flaw for this - that's part
of the price you pay for getting the template bonus.
1.9.1 Designing new templates
The first step is to choose
a number of attribute improvements, skills, advantages
and flaws appropriate to the kit concept. Some of the traits may
be chosen from a short list included in the template description
(usually having 5 or less items). The costs for all selected characteristics
is shown, and added up in each category - this makes it easy to apply the
template to a character.
Then, the template bonus
must be determined. Add up all categories except flaws. Cross reference
the total against the "0" row of table 3; the result is the age modifier.
If the template has no flaws, this number is also the template
bonus and at this point you are done.
If the template does have
flaws, add together all the flaw CPs (not including the template
bonus, of course.) Cross reference this number with row 0 of table 2; the
result is added to the age modifier to find the actual template
bonus.
1.10 A note on character generation
Starfarer is a role-playing
game, not a study course for budding accountants. While a fair amount of
accounting goes on during generation, most of this goes away during the
role-playing game.
What does this mean to you,
the gamer? When you receive CPs during the game, they are part of "experience
points". While you may use this to gradually improve your character, you
do not balance CPs during the game whenver some bit of information about
your character changes. For example, if you get your arm chopped off or
earn the ire of a corporate exec, you dont spontaneously get CPs for "physical
limitation" or "enemy". But on the bright side, if you finagle your way
into something good, like winning the smugging ship "Centurian Eagle" in
a game of trichip, or arange the downfall of your powerful corp exec enemy,
then you don't have to cough up the CPs at that time.
Character generation rules
are for GENERATING characters; there are some slightly different rules
for experience. 'Nuff said.
At the GM's option, characters
may be allowed to (or even required to) use number of templates
(or even make up his own, suitable to the game he is running). These offer
packages of skills, attributes, advantages and flaws
that are consistent with a given character archetype, as well as describing
special abilities unique to certain alien races. The GM may use such templates
to either enforce some guidelines on skills the characters have (for example,
if the adventure is a military expedition by the Coalition, the characters
might all be required to take the "Coalition Marine" template) or simply
to give the characters some direction.
The GM (or, at the GMs option,
a player) may design new templates. If a player is allowed to design
a template, it should not be considered a normal part of the character
generation sequence, and the template should be usable for more than just
that one character. And, of course, the GM has final say on the validity
of any template.