We are about to enter the most time-consuming, and confusing aspect of the character creation process for AToW. Right now, the Attributes, Traits, and Skills are all some very large numbers, but without definition. As of right now, what is Stefan's strength? How good of a MechJock is he? What Kind of ride does he have? That is what we are about to determine.
First off, does Stefan have any Traits that cancel each other out? Stefan has Fit +15, does he have Handicap +15? No. The full list of Opposed Traits can be found on page 86 (AToW). Looking down the list, we see he has no Opposed Traits. Suppose he did. The xp costs for each would cancel each other out. For example, Stefan had Fit +15, Handicap -20. The +15 from Fit would negate 15 points from Handicap, leaving Handicap at -5.
We can now spend any leftover xp on any Attributes, Traits, or Skills, but with only 80 points remaining, and quite a few prerequisites yet to be met, we will just leave them in the pool. Now we need to Optimize. Each Attribute and Trait level is 100. For example, Stefan's Bod is 150. Level 1 is 100, level 2 is 200. If we wanted Stefan's Bod attribute to be a level 2, we would have to spend 50xp. Otherwise, it is a 1. But these points are not wasted. The remaining 50xp goes back into the xp pool. For Negative Traits, such as Stefan's Compulsion Traits, the minimum level is -100xp. Unless Stefan buy's them off, he will "buy" these levels, adding those points to his xp pool. For example, Compulsion/Hates Draconis Combine -50, is in between 0 (no Trait) and -100 (Level 1). Since this Trait will not be bought off now, Stefan adds 50xp to his pool.
After Optimizing Attributes and Traits, Stefan has these values.
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 1
Bod 1
[4]Ref 2
[4]Dex 2
[3]Int 1
[3]Wil 2
Cha 2
Edge 0
XP added to pool: 225xp
Traits:
Compulsion/Addiction/Nicotine 1 (50)
Compulsion/Hates Draconis Combine 1 (50)
Compulsion/Pro-Steiner 1 (75)
Connections 0 (90)
Enemy 1
Equipped 3 (25)
Extra Income 1
Fit 0 (15)
Glass Jaw (150)
Rank 5 (20)
Reputation 1
Vehicle 1 (50)
[3]Wealth 3
Xp added to pool: 525xp
Glass Jaw is a bit of a special case. It does not have levels, you either have it, or you don't. It has an effective level of 3, so Stefan added 150xp to his pool.
Skills are a bit different that either Attributes or Traits. Instead of levels of 100xp, Skill levels are much smaller, but steadily increase in cost the higher the level. Also, the costs for skill levels can be affected by the Traits Fast/Slow Learner, making skill levels cheaper/more expensive to gain. Stefan has neither of these Traits, so he uses the standard column in the table. Just like with Attributes and Traits, any points in between two levels are added back to the xp pool.
Skills:
Administration 0 (10)
Appraisal - (10)
Art/Painting - (10)
Career/Soldier 4 (10)
Computers 1 (5)
Gunnery/Mech 2 (5)
Interest/CCG - (10)
Interest History 1
Interest/Military History 2 (20)
Language/English 1
Language/German 1 (15)
Leadership 3 (20)
Martial Arts 3 (30)
Medtech 2 (10)
Melee Weapons 2
Navigation/Ground 2 (20)
Negotiation 1
Perception 1
Piloting/Mech 2 (5)
Protocol/FedSuns 1
Protocol/Lyran 4 (20)
Running 1
Sensor Operations 2 (5)
Small Arms 3 (15)
Stealth 1
Strategy 1 (5)
Survival/Arctic 1
Swimming 2 (15)
Tactics/Land 2 (5)
Technician/Electronics 1
Training 2 (5)
xp added to pool:255
Note, any skills that did not have at least 20xp in them are dropped (with remaining xp added back to them pool as usual).
Stefan now has 1085 xp remaining in his xp pool.
Where to spend these points? There are two priorities; the prerequisites and all Attributes must be at least 1 by the end of character creation. So we must attend to these first, which will eat up 800 xp, leaving 285 xp. Human average Attributes are 4, so we want to close in on that, so we will add 100 xp to each Str and Bod, bringing them to a 2, and leaving 85 xp. Stefan will spend 60 xp to bring his Administration skill to 3, and leaving 25 xp in the pool. Looking the character over, we are still not happy with things, but we have no points. Where are we going to get them from?
This will be answered in the next installment.
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