Stefan von Braun- Character Creation [Optimization Continued]

Continuing with the Optimization process, I have cleaned everything up, and this is how Stefan appears.

Stefan von Braun.
Affiliation: Lyran Commonwealth (Tamar Pact)

Stage 1: White Collar
Stage 2: Military School
Stage 3: Military Academy, Officer Candidate School
Stage 4: Tour of Duty
Age: 22

Fields:
Basic Training
Mechwarrior
Officer

Attributes:
Str 5
Bod 5
[4]Ref 5
[4]Dex 4
[3]Int 5
[3]Wil 5
Cha 4 [50]
Edge 2

Traits:
Compulsion/Addiction/Nicotine 1
Compulsion/Hates Draconis Combine 1
Compulsion/Pro-Steiner 2
Connections 3
Enemy 5
Equipped 3
Extra Income 1
Glass Jaw
Rank 5
Reputation 1
Vehicle 6 [2]
[3]Wealth 3

Skills:
Administration 3
Career/Soldier 4
Computers 1
Gunnery/Mech 4
Interest History 1
Interest/Military History 3
Language/English 1
Language/German 3
Leadership 4
Martial Arts 3
Medtech 2
Melee Weapons 2
Navigation/Ground 2
Negotiation 1
Perception 1
Piloting/Mech 4
Protocol/FedSuns 1
Protocol/Lyran 4
Running 1
Sensor Operations 4
Small Arms 3
Stealth 1
Strategy 2
Survival/Arctic 1
Swimming 2
Tactics/Land 4
Technician/Electronics 4
Training 4

As you can see, Stefan at this point severely needs to increase his Attributes and some of his Skills. Also, after consulting the Vehicle Trait, he only pilots a light Mech. So there is quite a bit more we want to do for Stefan, but how?

We have two options: Aging and Buying Negative Traits. Aging is exactly what it sounds like. For every year of age past 21, you may add 100 xp to your pool. It is looking like I have decided to set a hard date of the campaign start to be 3034. Stefan was born in 3000, so we will just say he is 34, which adds 1300xp. Do note, AToW is designed for players to kind of start off a bit green, and not all GMs would allow such an age increase. Our second option is buying negative traits. These traits will add points back into the pool as well. Their is a limit though, only up to an additional 500 points. Hmm.. What to add??

Well, since the Lyran Commonwealth is rife with what is known as "Social Generals", let us make things interesting on Stefan. Let us add to the Enemy Trait. Also, Stefan is very loyal to the Lyran state, so let's add a level to his Pro-Lyran Compulsion.

At this point, the character, with the exception of purchasing equipment, is now complete. There are two other issues that need to be tended to. The first is age. As a character in AToW ages, it can affect his Attributes. Stefan is 34 years old. Looking at the Aging Table (pg 333) we see that Stefan will add enough xp to his Str, Bod, Ref, Int, and Wil to increase them by 1 each.

The second issue is what I like to call "GM Imperative". Stefan fought in the bith the Third and Fourth Succession Wars with a prestigious unit that saw very heavy fighting in the 4SW. So I decided to give him a special 500xp bonus that can only be spent on Skills. I will also allow players this bonus, if they write up their backgrounds enough to warrant it. In other words, have a good background, get rewarded.

In the next installment, we will purchase Equipment, as well as have a full background story for Stefan.