Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 11:11:10 +0100 (MET)
From: Jens-Arthur Leirbakk <leirbakk@alkymi.unit.no>
Subject: Extra depth to Player Characters.

Well, I was considering various characters that popped up in the four
Adventurer's Journals for Star Wars. I found there some Humans with
special abilities - one had a +1D when trying to understand or speak
languages, another had a 1D in Sense, and the skill Life detection,
and a third had a +1D when fiddling with explosives, recognizing
explosives, and so on. So here's what I has thought of to emulate that
in the character creation process. 

If the player spends two pips from the attribute dice (creating the
character with 17D+1, as this is primarily intended for humans, and
other races without special abilities), the player get to choose one,
and only one ability from the following table. This cannot be bought
more than once. The GM may require a roll, but that is up to the
individual GM's discretion. 

 1: Language buff. The character is able to speak and understand any 
    languages with a +1D bonus.
 2: Mechanical aptitude (specific area). When repairing or otherwise 
    modifying equipment within the specific area, the character gets a
    +1D bonus. Areas include, but are not limited to: Blasters, Archaic
    starships (specific class, i.e. all produced by a specific
    manufacturer), starfighters (specific class), melee weapons,
    repulsorlift (speeders, skiffs, and stuff), and so on. 
 3: Demolitions aptitude - gets a +1D when fiddling with explosives or 
    detecting them.
 4: Observant - gets a +1D when searching for otherwise hidden stuff.
 5: Investigative - gets a +1D when a specific party is involved (i.e., 
    Jabba the Hutt, Ploovo Two-for-One, The Empire, The Rebellion,
    Jedi, Force Users, and so on) 
 6: Budding Force powers - the character gets 1D in Sense, and can
    choose one Force skill which uses Sense only. The character must
    be Force Sensitive. 
 7: Martial Prowess - the character has a +1D bonus when using
    Brawling, or the specialization Martial Arts. 
 8: Springy - the character has a +1D bonus when using the skill
    Jumping, or full dodging. 
 9: Fast - the character has a +1D bonus when determining initiative,
    or will automatically declare last and go first (if no Initiative
    system is used). 
10: Twisted mind - the character has a +1D bonus when dealing with
    complex bureaucratic tasks or other very intricate tasks (GM's
    discretion). 
11: Well-known - the character has a +1D bonus on reactions (cons,
    persuade attempts and so on) within a specific area (The New
    Order, The New Republic, a specific sector, and so on) 
12: Trivia buff - the character has a +1D bonus on all rolls regarding
    a specific area - info on Jedi knights, Starfighters, and so on. 

This is of course only a suggestion. Bonuses should be no more than +1D, 
and should perhaps be reduced if a particular ability proves too broad or 
useful. What do you think?
     |                   Jens-Arthur Leirbakk                    |
     |             E-mail: leirbakk@alkymi.unit.no               |
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