T5 Chargen Example
- Thread starter Jazzlvraz
- Start date
Chivalrybean
SOC-9
This certainly cleared up a lot. I'm still not sure this wont be better suited for a real tabletop, not the roll20 game I'm going to try tonight.
Might be a disaster {:0p
Then no one will want to play it with me ever again, but ... such is life.
Or it might go over just fine, who knows.
Might be a disaster {:0p
Then no one will want to play it with me ever again, but ... such is life.
Or it might go over just fine, who knows.
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
Hasn't this been said about literally *every* version of Traveller?
Yes. Yes it has.
This was bothering me, but I forgot to look it up. Finally did. Fighter does works just like Engineering (p. 144). Thus, if you get Fighter 3 times, on the third time you get Fighter-1, Knowledge-2. Let's say you take Slug Throwers. Fighter-1, Slug Throwers-2 effectively translates into Unarmed-1, Blades-1 and Battle Dress-1 - all things completely unrelated to point and shooting (and poor Rogues can't get Fighting at all - Is that errata worthy?). I can't say I approve. I was mistakenly treating Fighter as an old Cluster skill.
Thoom
SOC-11
I don't know if everyone can see the whole hidden forum now, but if you can, here are the characters from my playtest:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=26841
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=26841
Thoom
SOC-11
No I can't access that link.
Ok, sorry, I will work on something, maybe a cut and paste.
Original_Carl
SOC-12
ken at sunrise
SOC-12
Sorry but I'm new...
On home world you started with star generation but that's F on the list. How would I know to start there?
On home world you started with star generation but that's F on the list. How would I know to start there?
Ok, this is a cut and paste from a text file of Ricki Tagnir by PhilB:
[looking at 04a]
Name: Ricki Tagnir, male
Homeworld: rolled 5,4 => R
=> Regina, hex 1910, Ph Pa Ri Cs
Homeworld skills:
?? Ph isn't listed at end of p.13, isn't dashed out in main table above, just blank
Pa => Trader-1
Ri => One Art, choosing Musician-0, Guitar-1
Cs => Bureaucracy-1
??p.12, "homestar" and "worlds and orbits" tables
flux is -5 .. 5, but the tables are -6 .. 6
Initial UPP rolls
Str 9 Dex 8 End 6 Int 7 Edu 5 Soc 6 => UPP 986756
Now age 18
?? p.5, Example Education table, presumably the player chooses the
best of Int/Edu (or whichever characteristics are given.
Applies to college (Edu = 5 which is min permitted)
Apply, roll vs. Int/Edu, Int = 7, rolled 7, just admitted to
<Province> College of <Skill> [rolled 2] rank 12
Major = Physics, minor = Archeology
Roll 3 => passes year 1, Physics-1
Roll 7 => passes year 2, Physics-2, Archeology-1
Roll 12 => flunks year 3, rolls 3 (vs Soc=6) for waiver, proceeds to year 4
Roll 6 => passes year 4, Physics-3
Graduates as a Bachelor in Physics with minor in Archeology, Edu now 8
(Rolled 12 => not honours graduate)
Now age 22.
??p.6 Are educational waiver DMs cumulative across multiple institutions?
Applies to trade school, major = medical, minor = computer
Rolled -3, Institute of <Skill>
Edu = 8, which is > 5, the minimum for trade school (ok).
Roll vs Dex (C2) = 8 to apply, rolled 8, admitted.
Roll vs Int to pass yr 1, rolled 7, passed => Medical-1
Now 23.
Tries to do the same again:
Rolled 10, > Dex(=8), not admitted again.
?? If he did the same major/minor at trade school again, would he get
Medical-2 and Computer-1?
Now 24.
??Bit harsh to spend a year on a trade school which would have only consumed a year, isn't it?) (bottom of p.5, Each failed application consumes a year)
??P.5, does it really make sense for a soldier to substitute a term for education?
Now attempts a career:
Spacer?
Roll vs. C3=6 to start. Rolled 9, not a spacer.
Now 25.
Soldier?
Roll vs. Str to start. Rolled 6, starting as a soldier.
??p.24, what does WB mean? ("per WB", top left table. Ah, it's wound badge, on p.33); a glossary would be good
Soldier1 = Private
Auto skill: Fighting->Slugthrowers
Roll for branch, 6 => Commando, mod 3
Term 1
Skills: 4 per term, rolling twice on 3-Space column and twice on 4-Surface column. => Zero-G, Starship Skill -> Pilot -> Small craft, Driver -> Wheeled, Flyer -> Grav
??Default skills: count already? (assuming they don't count!)
Military op rolls: Insurgency (mod 1), Insurgency (again) (mod 1), Peace Keeper (mod 1), ANM School
??p.8, "Roll for Assignment four times per Term (for four annual assignments).
Each assignment provides a DM. Determine the highest value for the Term: it must be applied to Risk and Reward." Er, but Insurgency counts for medals but PeaceKeeper (same mod) doesn't.
So: using Str as the controlling characteristic
Risk/reward vs. Str(9) -2(commando) +2(cautious) -1(insurgency) = 8: risk roll 6, succeeds
Str(9) +2 -2 +1 = 10: reward roll 7, succeeds
Campaign Ribbon
MCUF (∵ Str(9)-Roll(7)=2)
?? Does a character get the skills for that term, even if they fail the risk roll?
AMN school in year 4:
Pass/fail roll vs C2=Dex=8: 5, pass.
Unarmed-2
Now 29.
Assume we apply for promotion and commission at this point.
?? not clear if both or only one can be done
Soldier promotion: vs C2=Dex=8, rolled 7, Soldier2=Corporal,
changing branch, rolled 2 => Artillery, mod 1
Additional skill on promotion, column 5-Conflict, Fighting (2nd time)->Blades
Apply for commission: vs C3=End=6, 10, failed.
Continuation roll: target 7+terms(1)=8, rolled 4, goes to a second term.
Term 2
Skills, once each on columns 1, 2, 4, 5: C4+1 (Int->8), Major (last taken was Medical), Medic, Fighting (3rd time!)
Military op rolls: Combat (mod 2), Peace Keeper (mod 1), Occupation (mod 0), Combat (mod 2)
Using Dex as the controlling characteristic this time.
Risk/reward vs. Dex(8) -1(artillery) +2(cautious) -2(combat)=7: risk roll 9, oh dear.
Dex(8)-Roll(9)=-1 damage to Dex, recovery roll 2, Dex back to 8 (assuming it's capped at value before damage!), WB
Now 33
Apply for promotion again, target Dex(8)+1(WB)=9, rolled 7, promoted to Sergeant, Heavy-Wpns->Launchers, rolling skill on 4-Surface, Driver (2nd time) -> Tracked
Apply for commission: target C3=End=6, rolled 5, commissioned as 2nd Lt, Artillery branch, rolling skill on 4-Surface, Medic
Continuation roll: target 7+terms(2)=9, rolled 6, goves to a third term.
Term 3
Skills, once each on columns 1, 2, 4, 5: C2+1(Dex->9), Major (Medic again), Soldier Skill -> Navigator, Battle Dress
Military op rolls: Insurgency, ANM school, Combat, ANM School
Using Int as the controlling characteristic this time.
Risk/reward vs. Int(8) -1(artillery) +2(cautious) -2(combat)=7: risk roll 6, success.
Int(8) +1 -2 +2=9: reward roll 2, succeeds
Campaign Ribbon <2>
MCG (∵ Int(8)-Roll(2)=6)
AMN school in year 2:
Pass/fail roll vs. C2=Dex=8: 7, good!
Slugthrowers-2
AMN school in year 4:
Pass/fail roll vs. C2=Dex=8: 10, flunked!
Now 37.
Time to retire?
Mustering out.
Automatics:
Personal weapons (holds Fighting-1), personal side arm (slugthrower).
Benefits: gets 4 rolls (3 terms + 1 for MCG)
4 rolls on the Soldier mustering-out table, with DM+1 (Officer1)
2 on money: StarPass, Cr 25,000
2 on benefits: Secret, C5+1 (Edu->9)
?? Also a contradiction re: changing branch in the earlier bit and the Soldier bit
?? 09a skills p.3, skills containing knowledges (e.g., the skills: Animals, Driver, Engineer, Fighter, Flyer, Gunner, Heavy Weapons, Language, Pilot, Seafarer) give the character one of the included knowledges the first two times, and the skill itself at level-1 the third time.
- Can the same knowledge be selected the first two times? (I think so)
- Fourth times onward, the character would always be given the skill due to the stacking?
- How are these recorded? I'm assuming that these Knowledges are recorded alongside the Skills?
Resolving aging checks on Str, Dex, End. Three rolls (target 5): 7, 8, 10 -- no issues
Fame=(officer1)*(3 for MCG)=3 (family)
Birthdate 286-1286 (37 y/o now)
Summary:
Str 9 Dex 8 End 6 Int 8 Edu 9 Soc 6 => UPP 986896
Age 37
Archeology-1
Battle-Dress-1
Blades-1
Bureaucracy-1
Driver-0
Fighting-1
Flyer-0
Grav-1
Guitar-1
Heavy-Wpns-0
Launchers-1
Medical-5
Musician-0
Navigator-1
Physics-3
Pilot-0
Slugthrowers-3
Small-Craft-1
Tracked-1
Trader-1
Unarmed-2
Wheeled-1
Zero-G-1
Campaign Ribbon x2
MCG MCUF WB
Personal side arm (slugthrower)
StarPass
Secret -- needs fixing -- "+3 A strange surly self-aware computer."
Cr 25,000
(Still to do: Life Pursuits and Certificates)
[looking at 04a]
Name: Ricki Tagnir, male
Homeworld: rolled 5,4 => R
=> Regina, hex 1910, Ph Pa Ri Cs
Homeworld skills:
?? Ph isn't listed at end of p.13, isn't dashed out in main table above, just blank
Pa => Trader-1
Ri => One Art, choosing Musician-0, Guitar-1
Cs => Bureaucracy-1
??p.12, "homestar" and "worlds and orbits" tables
flux is -5 .. 5, but the tables are -6 .. 6
Initial UPP rolls
Str 9 Dex 8 End 6 Int 7 Edu 5 Soc 6 => UPP 986756
Now age 18
?? p.5, Example Education table, presumably the player chooses the
best of Int/Edu (or whichever characteristics are given.
Applies to college (Edu = 5 which is min permitted)
Apply, roll vs. Int/Edu, Int = 7, rolled 7, just admitted to
<Province> College of <Skill> [rolled 2] rank 12
Major = Physics, minor = Archeology
Roll 3 => passes year 1, Physics-1
Roll 7 => passes year 2, Physics-2, Archeology-1
Roll 12 => flunks year 3, rolls 3 (vs Soc=6) for waiver, proceeds to year 4
Roll 6 => passes year 4, Physics-3
Graduates as a Bachelor in Physics with minor in Archeology, Edu now 8
(Rolled 12 => not honours graduate)
Now age 22.
??p.6 Are educational waiver DMs cumulative across multiple institutions?
Applies to trade school, major = medical, minor = computer
Rolled -3, Institute of <Skill>
Edu = 8, which is > 5, the minimum for trade school (ok).
Roll vs Dex (C2) = 8 to apply, rolled 8, admitted.
Roll vs Int to pass yr 1, rolled 7, passed => Medical-1
Now 23.
Tries to do the same again:
Rolled 10, > Dex(=8), not admitted again.
?? If he did the same major/minor at trade school again, would he get
Medical-2 and Computer-1?
Now 24.
??Bit harsh to spend a year on a trade school which would have only consumed a year, isn't it?) (bottom of p.5, Each failed application consumes a year)
??P.5, does it really make sense for a soldier to substitute a term for education?
Now attempts a career:
Spacer?
Roll vs. C3=6 to start. Rolled 9, not a spacer.
Now 25.
Soldier?
Roll vs. Str to start. Rolled 6, starting as a soldier.
??p.24, what does WB mean? ("per WB", top left table. Ah, it's wound badge, on p.33); a glossary would be good
Soldier1 = Private
Auto skill: Fighting->Slugthrowers
Roll for branch, 6 => Commando, mod 3
Term 1
Skills: 4 per term, rolling twice on 3-Space column and twice on 4-Surface column. => Zero-G, Starship Skill -> Pilot -> Small craft, Driver -> Wheeled, Flyer -> Grav
??Default skills: count already? (assuming they don't count!)
Military op rolls: Insurgency (mod 1), Insurgency (again) (mod 1), Peace Keeper (mod 1), ANM School
??p.8, "Roll for Assignment four times per Term (for four annual assignments).
Each assignment provides a DM. Determine the highest value for the Term: it must be applied to Risk and Reward." Er, but Insurgency counts for medals but PeaceKeeper (same mod) doesn't.
So: using Str as the controlling characteristic
Risk/reward vs. Str(9) -2(commando) +2(cautious) -1(insurgency) = 8: risk roll 6, succeeds
Str(9) +2 -2 +1 = 10: reward roll 7, succeeds
Campaign Ribbon
MCUF (∵ Str(9)-Roll(7)=2)
?? Does a character get the skills for that term, even if they fail the risk roll?
AMN school in year 4:
Pass/fail roll vs C2=Dex=8: 5, pass.
Unarmed-2
Now 29.
Assume we apply for promotion and commission at this point.
?? not clear if both or only one can be done
Soldier promotion: vs C2=Dex=8, rolled 7, Soldier2=Corporal,
changing branch, rolled 2 => Artillery, mod 1
Additional skill on promotion, column 5-Conflict, Fighting (2nd time)->Blades
Apply for commission: vs C3=End=6, 10, failed.
Continuation roll: target 7+terms(1)=8, rolled 4, goes to a second term.
Term 2
Skills, once each on columns 1, 2, 4, 5: C4+1 (Int->8), Major (last taken was Medical), Medic, Fighting (3rd time!)
Military op rolls: Combat (mod 2), Peace Keeper (mod 1), Occupation (mod 0), Combat (mod 2)
Using Dex as the controlling characteristic this time.
Risk/reward vs. Dex(8) -1(artillery) +2(cautious) -2(combat)=7: risk roll 9, oh dear.
Dex(8)-Roll(9)=-1 damage to Dex, recovery roll 2, Dex back to 8 (assuming it's capped at value before damage!), WB
Now 33
Apply for promotion again, target Dex(8)+1(WB)=9, rolled 7, promoted to Sergeant, Heavy-Wpns->Launchers, rolling skill on 4-Surface, Driver (2nd time) -> Tracked
Apply for commission: target C3=End=6, rolled 5, commissioned as 2nd Lt, Artillery branch, rolling skill on 4-Surface, Medic
Continuation roll: target 7+terms(2)=9, rolled 6, goves to a third term.
Term 3
Skills, once each on columns 1, 2, 4, 5: C2+1(Dex->9), Major (Medic again), Soldier Skill -> Navigator, Battle Dress
Military op rolls: Insurgency, ANM school, Combat, ANM School
Using Int as the controlling characteristic this time.
Risk/reward vs. Int(8) -1(artillery) +2(cautious) -2(combat)=7: risk roll 6, success.
Int(8) +1 -2 +2=9: reward roll 2, succeeds
Campaign Ribbon <2>
MCG (∵ Int(8)-Roll(2)=6)
AMN school in year 2:
Pass/fail roll vs. C2=Dex=8: 7, good!
Slugthrowers-2
AMN school in year 4:
Pass/fail roll vs. C2=Dex=8: 10, flunked!
Now 37.
Time to retire?
Mustering out.
Automatics:
Personal weapons (holds Fighting-1), personal side arm (slugthrower).
Benefits: gets 4 rolls (3 terms + 1 for MCG)
4 rolls on the Soldier mustering-out table, with DM+1 (Officer1)
2 on money: StarPass, Cr 25,000
2 on benefits: Secret, C5+1 (Edu->9)
?? Also a contradiction re: changing branch in the earlier bit and the Soldier bit
?? 09a skills p.3, skills containing knowledges (e.g., the skills: Animals, Driver, Engineer, Fighter, Flyer, Gunner, Heavy Weapons, Language, Pilot, Seafarer) give the character one of the included knowledges the first two times, and the skill itself at level-1 the third time.
- Can the same knowledge be selected the first two times? (I think so)
- Fourth times onward, the character would always be given the skill due to the stacking?
- How are these recorded? I'm assuming that these Knowledges are recorded alongside the Skills?
Resolving aging checks on Str, Dex, End. Three rolls (target 5): 7, 8, 10 -- no issues
Fame=(officer1)*(3 for MCG)=3 (family)
Birthdate 286-1286 (37 y/o now)
Summary:
Str 9 Dex 8 End 6 Int 8 Edu 9 Soc 6 => UPP 986896
Age 37
Archeology-1
Battle-Dress-1
Blades-1
Bureaucracy-1
Driver-0
Fighting-1
Flyer-0
Grav-1
Guitar-1
Heavy-Wpns-0
Launchers-1
Medical-5
Musician-0
Navigator-1
Physics-3
Pilot-0
Slugthrowers-3
Small-Craft-1
Tracked-1
Trader-1
Unarmed-2
Wheeled-1
Zero-G-1
Campaign Ribbon x2
MCG MCUF WB
Personal side arm (slugthrower)
StarPass
Secret -- needs fixing -- "+3 A strange surly self-aware computer."
Cr 25,000
(Still to do: Life Pursuits and Certificates)
I'm uncertain where your page numbers come from, as for me the chargen pages are pps.68-109.
Pre-high is one of the several codes on p.81 that doesn't give a starting character Skill. It's still useful for other purposes, like the value of a Land Grant.
I errata-ed this back in Beta, and it neither changed nor got a DM listing, so I assume it's lower on the priority list Don's talked about. For now I just ignore this and the several other places missing DMs won't let you reach part of a table.
I do it the same way, as it doesn't seem to make sense otherwise. The other places we're allowed to pick characteristics in chargen (C1 C2 C3 C4 and CC situations) set a useful precedent.
Now since one rolls Education before Career, I would've put p.100 up front, but that's another discussion...
I'd let this be a Referee decision, as I can see both ups and downs. I don't see any Marc-ruling on it, though.
I'm uncertain whether Trade School has Major/Minor Skills. I think it's more likely intended to be a one-year program to give you one Skill from the list.
You can avoid the Shore Duty trap if you have a Major and a Minor. Rolling a 2 or 3 on the Base table will give a Skill rather than none.
When you're awarded a Skill for the first time, that might be the best time to make your decision about assigning it. There's a good argument to be made for waiting until the end, though, and making all the decisions holistically.
Skills yes, rewards no.
I do both, because players enjoy rolling more dice. I think of it as a Promotion opportunity, followed by a Commission opportunity.
If both succeed, it explains the Commission, if the first fails while the second succeeds, perhaps the Promotion was withheld because of the pending Commission.
I don't see a reason why not.
That makes best sense to me. The two Knowledges prove a good grounding in the Skill, and the +1 to the full Skill gives flexibility.
No one scheme for recording this, so choose what works for you, your Referee, and your group. I use Skill-1 (Knowledge-2), for example.
Pre-high is one of the several codes on p.81 that doesn't give a starting character Skill. It's still useful for other purposes, like the value of a Land Grant.
I errata-ed this back in Beta, and it neither changed nor got a DM listing, so I assume it's lower on the priority list Don's talked about. For now I just ignore this and the several other places missing DMs won't let you reach part of a table.
I do it the same way, as it doesn't seem to make sense otherwise
. The other places we're allowed to pick characteristics in chargen (C1 C2 C3 C4 and CC situations) set a useful precedent.Now since one rolls Education before Career, I would've put p.100 up front, but that's another discussion...
I'd let this be a Referee decision, as I can see both ups and downs. I don't see any Marc-ruling on it, though.
I'm uncertain whether Trade School has Major/Minor Skills. I think it's more likely intended to be a one-year program to give you one Skill from the list.
You can avoid the Shore Duty trap if you have a Major and a Minor. Rolling a 2 or 3 on the Base table will give a Skill rather than none.
When you're awarded a Skill for the first time, that might be the best time to make your decision about assigning it. There's a good argument to be made for waiting until the end, though, and making all the decisions holistically.
Skills yes, rewards no.
I do both, because players enjoy rolling more dice
. I think of it as a Promotion opportunity, followed by a Commission opportunity.If both succeed, it explains the Commission, if the first fails while the second succeeds, perhaps the Promotion was withheld because of the pending Commission.
I don't see a reason why not.
That makes best sense to me. The two Knowledges prove a good grounding in the Skill, and the +1 to the full Skill gives flexibility.
No one scheme for recording this, so choose what works for you, your Referee, and your group. I use Skill-1 (Knowledge-2), for example.
Yeah. Not really acceptable. Consider also that a Rogue in their career, for an NPC or an in-career campaign: no fighting skills at all. And compare it to Scholar, which can get Fighter with 1/3 of their rolls on the Conflict table, which they can roll on without restriction.
I'm confident it will be revealed to be just an oversight, just as Soldier has no ability to get the Soldier skill result (pre-errata).
This is a playtest document, posted with permission from the player (I am GM), so the page number might have been non-existant. I seem to have answered in a similar manner to your answers though, which is good for confirmation bias if nothing else.
I will say as an aside, is that one reason I'm not a good person to post a comprehensive review, is that I am a long term Traveller player/GM, so actually seeing the questions, house-ruling on the fly is pretty easy and it was the only way to go when all I had was three 48 page booklets.
Cheers,
Rob
I created a character using the pdf that we were allowed to download, and I have to say that character generation in T5 is one of the most unnecessarily complex character generation systems I have ever seen. It makes the Other Suns character generation look simple. I've played every version of Traveller there has been since the LBB set first came out, including a version that was fan done for the Hero System, and none were this unwieldy to use.
pendragonman
Absent Friends Margrave
You have never done one for "Space Opera", or the "Morrow Project", or Palladium, to mention a few.
mechascorpio
SOC-12
I have, and still do. I'll take that as a challenge when I get my copy, and report back with the stopwatch results!
I second this comment!
EDIT: Though I have to say I think the winner for Sci-Fi RPG fiddly goes to FTL: 2448 (probably messing up the name, but I am not going to dig that one out to check it).
While I admit is has been ages since I have played in those system, yeah, they are sick complex and fiddly. I have always rather liked the Traveller CharGen systems and while I might be a smidge (okay a lot) biased I love the T5 CharGen system. For me it like having Advanced CharGen for everyone, which I rather liked in T4 too. Also College and University.
EDIT: Though I have to say I think the winner for Sci-Fi RPG fiddly goes to FTL: 2448 (probably messing up the name, but I am not going to dig that one out to check it).
Oh, the memories!
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