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Different ways to create alien characters
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Starbeard
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:46 pm    Post subject: Different ways to create alien characters Reply with quote

I see three basic ways to handle alien characters in WEG Star Wars.

1. There's the "Template" method, where each alien species is its own template. Each member of the species has 12D spread the same way across the attributes, and you get 6D to build up your character.

2. Then there's the "Second Edition Custom" method, where each alien species has a profile, with min/max attribute codes, and number of attribute dice to spread around (almost always 12D for NPCs/18D for PCs). You can divvy up the attribute dice however you like, as long as you stays within the min/max limits.

3. Then there's the First Edition, "Core Book Only Custom" method, where you simply throw your 18D wherever you like and say what you are. Want to be a wookiee? Give yourself 5D or more in Strength and call yourself a wookiee. Have only 2D Strength but still want to call yourself a wookiee? Sure, but with scores like that you must be a sickly or adolescent wookiee.


Which methods do you prefer? Have you run into pros and cons for any of them?


When I started I pretty much only used the second method, since that's basically the default for 2nd edition. Over the years though, as I cooled off on collecting and organizing massive lists of alien stats, I moved to the first method, where an Ewok is always an Ewok unless it's a PC, and now I've even started to take a liking to the idea of harkening back to the freewheeling "Hammerhead and Weird Girl" era of Star Wars aliens, and going with method 3. Ditch the templates, let players put their dice wherever they want, and then have them describe physically what their alien looks like.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For me, its a mix of 1 and 2. Keep within the racial min-maxes, but as long as you match up to the template you wish. So let's say a template has a 4d dex, 3d per, 3d str but 4d tech. And the race you were thinking of, caps at 3d+1 tech, you couldn't take that race with that template.
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Telsij
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even though I mostly post 2nd Edition formatting for Alien species, that is mostly done to provide widest reach, so that it fits with what (I assume) most do or use.

In practice though, at times I do find Min/Max attribute ranges constrictive (and def see the appeal in option #3), and when creating new species or statting new canon/legends species that don't have official WEG stats, I try to keep the range as wide as possible.

For official species, often I'll stat out a specific character of that species first and then reverse-engineer/extrapolate from there, based on ranges presented in various source material, as I'm sure a lot of folks also do, while trying not to fall into the WEG trap of "all members of species X are thus," eg: all Chiss are calcualting sods, etc.

EDIT: The first edition method is the most "fun" however, and it was only recently (and far too belatedly) that I learned/realized/remembered the static die code examples for various species in 1E were meant to be built up in the method you describe.
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Starbeard
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting points. It took us a long time to figure out Method 1, partly because for years we misinterpreted Method 2. In the Revised rulebook's alien chapter, where it says always lists 12D as the attribute dice for the species, we thought that meant that's all you get. So a human PC gets 18D, and an alien PC only gets 12D. Since the alien generic templates all have 12D anyway, we thought that was just what you get.
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Telsij
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Starbeard wrote:
Interesting points. It took us a long time to figure out Method 1, partly because for years we misinterpreted Method 2. In the Revised rulebook's alien chapter, where it says always lists 12D as the attribute dice for the species, we thought that meant that's all you get. So a human PC gets 18D, and an alien PC only gets 12D. Since the alien generic templates all have 12D anyway, we thought that was just what you get.


Oh wow, glad I didn't have that particular misinterpretation -- although I and friends definitely had our fair share of misreads back in the early days. (Our biggest gaffe, that I can recall, was not realizing at the time / initially that one could move more than one's move score.)

While I did always apply the +6D attribute boost to the base 12D for PC / major NPC level alien characters, it always struck me as limiting that in 1E, random member of alien species X would always have the same stats. Although that's of course / obviously ultimately up to the GM, and is geared well for shorthand quick resolution purposes. That and the same complaint could be made for templates overall, eg: why do Bossk and Dengar have the same attribute layout, oh right, it's bc they're just the bounty hunter template, etc.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 6:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Different ways to create alien characters Reply with quote

Starbeard wrote:
I see three basic ways to handle alien characters in WEG Star Wars.

1. There's the "Template" method, where each alien species is its own template. Each member of the species has 12D spread the same way across the attributes, and you get 6D to build up your character.

2. Then there's the "Second Edition Custom" method, where each alien species has a profile, with min/max attribute codes, and number of attribute dice to spread around (almost always 12D for NPCs/18D for PCs). You can divvy up the attribute dice however you like, as long as you stays within the min/max limits.

3. Then there's the First Edition, "Core Book Only Custom" method, where you simply throw your 18D wherever you like and say what you are. Want to be a wookiee? Give yourself 5D or more in Strength and call yourself a wookiee. Have only 2D Strength but still want to call yourself a wookiee? Sure, but with scores like that you must be a sickly or adolescent wookiee.


Which methods do you prefer? Have you run into pros and cons for any of them?


When I started I pretty much only used the second method, since that's basically the default for 2nd edition. Over the years though, as I cooled off on collecting and organizing massive lists of alien stats, I moved to the first method, where an Ewok is always an Ewok unless it's a PC, and now I've even started to take a liking to the idea of harkening back to the freewheeling "Hammerhead and Weird Girl" era of Star Wars aliens, and going with method 3. Ditch the templates, let players put their dice wherever they want, and then have them describe physically what their alien looks like.


This is an odd categorization. 1 and 3 are both 1e. 1 applied for the few aliens that had PC templates, and 3 was for any that didn't. But you could still use 3 to make another "template" for aliens that had a template, so there never really was any restriction to use only 1. Restricting yourself to one template per alien species (while having no such limitations for humans) would be an unnecessary limitation.

2 is 2e. It resolved the ridiculousness of taking the alien's standard die code (usually but not always 12D) and adding 6D to the attributes any way you want. Having attribute ranges per species (per attribute) makes sense to keep characters within the realm of the species strengths and weaknesses. Aliens have no additional limitations than humans do. And with 2e you can still have alien templates available for players who just want to play a specific species but don't want to labor over creating their own template and allocating attributes. The templates just happen to fall within the species min-max ranges.

I use the 2e method except that all PCs of any species have exactly an 18D total in attributes, regardless of the average species attribute dice value. (Of course each attribute still falls within the attribute ranges for the species.) There is no effort made to balance species to each other or NPCs to each other. Species may not evolve equally, but PCs of any species will be balanced. It works.
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Starbeard
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's true about first edition, even in the core book it has both alien templates and still allows for you to build your own alien characters. The Sourcebook sometimes provides both options within the same species description.

I do like that you still give 18D to all starting PCs, regardless of species.
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