Talk:EotI Character Creation
| Edge of the Imperium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| GM | |
| Adam | |
| Basic Module | |
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Character Creation • Skills and Talents Equipment • Powers | |
| New Systems | |
| Void Ships • Wealth and Renown | |
| House Rules | |
| Alternate Archatypes |
Archetype
This section was originally "Background" and included everything that is now under the House Rules. However, after the first Genysis test game with an Inquisitorial Team, I decided to revert back to my original core intent to change as little as possible. While the backgrounds were thematic, they are not really a necessary change to make the system function in 40k/Rogue Trader
Career
Careers essentially went the same way as Archetypes. For a while, I was all set to change them around, create new ones, and/or throw them out entirely, but in the end, I decided that the simplest solution was best and just continue using the system as built. That said, Careers are a harder fit than Archetype, and using one of the alternate career options is likely how I would play it.
Spending Exeriance
This is the biggest change of all the character creation areas - and in many ways from the base system itself. These are split into two separate changes:
Attrabutes This was one of the major changes that came out of the theory-crafting and test cases. As we have seen in Star Wars in regards to vehicles and monsters, the Genesys system struggles with things that are significantly stronger/better than humans. However, there are a lot of those in 40k - from abhumans (like ogryn) to transhuman (Space Marine) to the myriad of xenos; most things in the galaxy are beyond what an unaugmented human can reach. Unfortunately, the general system strongly supports people getting 3's or even 4's at character creation and can reach 5 with dedication. That doesn't leave much room for superior beings.
Rather than having to go the way Dark Heresy did with it's "Unnatural Attribute" (which would have been a whole new complicated system), it made more sense to me to limit the extent of humanity. By preventing the purchase of Attribute increases, all 'normal humans' have at most a "3" to start. This means that a "3" really defines someone who is peak human. And gives the full stretch of 4, 5 & 6 for superhuman beings.
Some tests and experience with Star Wars, as well, shows that limiting attributes is not so departmental to activities as it might appear. With skills and Talents, there is still a lot of ways to be good at what you do.
Birthright The 40k universe is well known for the extensive number of things related to genetics, birth, or secret cults. I did not, however, want to end up tieing every such group (like techpriests, navigators, psychers, etc.) to a particular set of stats or background characteristics. The easiest solution seems to be to create a new set of "talents' that could only be purchased at character creation, but by decoupling them from Talents, they don't affect talent progression, and I can set them to whatever XP cost makes sense to balance them against each other. This also let me decouple them from careers, so I did not have to make custom careers and prevents all Navigators, Psychers, and Techpriests from having all the same skills. It also keeps them from being very limited in-class skills.
It is worth noting that all the "magic" is locked behind these birthrights, this is intentional. Powers in 40k are major definitions of character and gaining access to them in-game should be a rules-busting GM call regardless.