Classes and Character Creation

*Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Web Enhancements (Saga Edition Preview)*

The *Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition* rulebook comes out in May. Are you ready for the new core rules? Maybe you've already planned your first character. (I know I have- Chalkazza, a Wookiee bounty hunter). Or maybe you're outlining your first campaign, cooking up villains and nemeses to throw at an unsuspecting band of heroes. Of course, before you can start blasting Stormtroopers and locking Lightsabers, you've got to be able to create those wonderful characters.

Fortunately, *Saga Edition* has you covered. One of the primary goals of the new edition was to make Character Creation more flexible. At the same time, we wanted to streamline the process so that new players could jump right in, and we tried to give experienced players a wealth of options when crafting their characters.

As some ravenous readers might know, we've reduced the number of Heroic Classes to five: Jedi, Noble, Scoundrel, Scout, and Soldier. We bid the Fringer farewell and send the Tech Specialist back to the assembly line, granting their heroic abilities to other classes. We also distilled the Jedi Guardian and Jedi Consular classes into a single Jedi class, which is more in line with what we see in the movies. The Force Adept has become a Prestige Class, but we reinvented the process of creating a non-Jedi Force-user. It now involves a new set of mechanics that finally lets players create Force-users of their own Force Traditions without being locked into class features that didn't necessarily fit the character's backstory.

At the same time, we worked to infuse the remaining classes with excitement and a lot of abilities. If you want to play a "Fringer," you're likely to use the Scout or Scoundrel class, and a "Tech Specialist" will use the Scoundrel class as well. The merging of these classes allows you to create heroic characters that might fit a certain theme while still being able to do exciting things. *Star Wars* is all about excitement, intrigue, and depth, and your character's abilities should convey that.

## Talent Trees

When it came time to redesign the classes, we took a hard look at what works for the d20 system and what could be improved. We asked questions such as, "Why do all Force Adepts learn to use The Force to understand other languages?" and "Why do all Nobles get resource access, regardless of their history?" Sure, certain iconic archetypes stand out in the *Star Wars* universe, but do all iconic roles demand the same class features?

*Saga Edition* features a system of Talents and Feats similar to that which was used in the d20 Modern game system. At odd-numbered levels, you select a Talent, which lets you do something unique in much the same way that class features did under the old rules. These Talents are broken down into subgroups called trees that arrange the Talents by function or theme. Some Talents can't be selected unless you've already taken another Talent from the same tree (much like a Feat prerequisite), and thus you build a set of class features that play off of one another.

The changes to the system allow you to build a character to your liking, selecting very specific features rather than being saddled with the same features as every other member of your class. Moreover, the flexible new rules let you choose the order in which you gain abilities, so you can prioritize which talents are most important to you and which ones you'll pick up at a later level. So if you envision your Rodian smuggler as a "Run and Gun" type, you can build their class features to suit those needs. By the same token, if you want them to be a fast-talking swindler and con artist, they're just as easy to create. If each class represents a classic *Star Wars* archetype, your selection of Talents lets you tailor that archetype to your personality and game play style.

You can even create two members of the same class that share almost no Talents, and with the addition of Prestige Classes, you might have absolutely no overlap with other similar characters. This not only allows multiple heroes of the same class to fulfill unique roles, but with larger groups, it ensures that each PC contributes something unique to the game.

In addition, Talent Trees expand the amount of information we can include in future *Saga Edition* releases. Rather than worrying about alternative or replacement class features, upcoming products will include new Talent Trees for existing classes, as well as new Talents for existing trees.

Talent Trees will also keep Prestige Classes from becoming overly specialized. No longer will the Naval Officer and the Officer need to be two different Prestige Classes, and the Jedi Knight Prestige Class can encompass Jedi healers, investigators, battlemasters, and so on. The individual requirements for specialization will be carried in the Talents themselves, not in totally separate classes.

## More Character Options

In addition to providing heroes with access to talent trees, we tried to make individual characters more capable overall. *Saga Edition* uses a Hit Point system to track damage, with a "Condition Track" that slides up and down over the course of the battle, imposing and removing penalties.

Also, heroes get triple their Hit Die at first level, so they're better able to survive a few blaster shots without going down for the count. We wanted a group of 1st-level heroes to be able to fight Stormtroopers in the first game session, if the GM so wished. *Star Wars* characters fight bad guys, and lots of them, and the *Saga Edition* rules let the heroes jump right into light combat. Stormtroopers are still pretty threatening at 1st level, but now heroes have enough resources and abilities that deciding whether to fight or flee is actually a tough decision.

## The Force Is With You

We've revamped Jedi and other Force-users to make them more flexible. The single Jedi class contains Talent Trees for the Jedi Consular, the Jedi Guardian, and the Jedi Sentinel, as well as a Talent Tree for Lightsaber Combat. In the *Star Wars* movies, we see that Yoda is part Jedi Consular and part Jedi Guardian, and now players can create characters that are similar hybrids. Similarly, you can create a Jedi who behaves more like Yoda from the classic trilogy- focusing more on The Force than the Lightsaber- and you can do it with a great diversity of character options.

Moreover, in *Saga Edition*, you can build a Force Adept character using a combination of Force abilities and the Talents, Feats, and Skills of other classes. For example, let's say you want to create an urban Force-user who grew up on the streets of Chandrila and who focuses more on city survival than on "Primitive" Force Traditions. You could start with a Scoundrel as your Heroic Class and add Talents and Feats that let them wield The Force while dodging speeders and firing blasters. The new edition of the rules greatly expands the possibilities for Force-users, allowing for a wider array of character options.

## Improvements All Around

High-level play is much more streamlined and efficient in *Saga Edition*, and combat runs just as smoothly at 20th level as it does at 1st level. Furthermore, the new Character Creation rules let you build a high-level NPC in 5 to 10 minutes instead of an hour. Because generating enemies and allies on the fly is fast and simple, it's easier for Gamemasters to improvise when players diverge from the planned session.

All in all, the changes to Heroic Classes, Skills, and other systems make the process of generating characters quick and flexible.

In future previews of *Saga Edition*, we'll take a closer look at individual aspects of Character Creation, such as the Skills system and building Force adepts. We'll also examine other aspects of the new rules, such as the revamped combat system, the way Droids are handled, and the unified Vehicle/Starship combat system.