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Character Details

Player's Handbook · Personality and Backgrounds

Your character's name and physical description might be the first things that the other players at the table learn about you. It's worth thinking about how these characteristics reflect the character you have in mind.

Name

Your character's species description includes sample names for members of that species. Put some thought into your name even if you're just picking one from a list.

Sex

You can play a male or female character without gaining any special benefits or hindrances. Think about how your character does or does not conform to the broader culture's expectations of sex, gender, and sexual behavior.

You don't need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender. Some species believe in companionship that doesn't take into account gender. You could also play a female character who presents herself as a man or a man who feels trapped in a female body. Likewise, your character's sexual orientation is for you to decide.

Height and Weight

You can decide your character's height and weight, using the information provided in your species description. Think about what your character's ability scores might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character might be thin. A strong and Durable character might be tall or heavy.

You can also roll randomly for your character's height and weight using that species's Physical Characteristics table, as shown above. The first dice roll given in the second column determines the character's extra height (in inches) beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the second dice roll or quantity given in the second column determines the character's extra weight (in pounds) beyond the base weight.

For example, as a human, Obi-Wan has a height of 4 feet 8 inches plus 2d10 inches. We roll 2d10 and gets a total of 12, so Obi-Wan stands 5 feet 8 inches tall. Then we use that same roll of 12 and multiplies it by 2d4 pounds. His 2d4 roll is 3, so Obi-Wan weighs an extra 36 pounds (12x3) on top of his base 110 pounds, for a total of 146 pounds.


Human


Physical Characteristics

Height 4'8" +2d10"
Weight 110 lb. x(2d4) lb.

Other Physical Characteristics

You choose your character's age and the color of his or her hair, eyes, and skin. To add a touch of distinctiveness, you might want to give your character an unusual or memorable physical characteristic, such as a scar, a limp, or a tattoo.

Alignment

A typical creature in the galaxy has an alignment, which broadly describes its moral and personal attitudes. Alignment is a combination of two factors: one identifies morality, and is typically defined in terms of the Force: (light, dark, or balanced), and the other describes attitudes toward society and order (lawful, chaotic, or neutral). Thus, nine distinct alignments define the possible combinations.

These brief summaries describe the typical behavior of a creature with that alignment. Individuals might vary significantly from that typical behavior, and few people are perfectly and consistently faithful to the precepts of their alignment.

You can pick your alignment or roll to determine it randomly. Roll separately for Morality and Society.

d6 Morality
1-2 Light: Usually the needs of others outweigh my own, (...)
3-4 Dark: Usually my needs outweigh others', (...)
5-6 Balanced: Usually circumstances dictate whose needs are more important, (...)
d6 Society
1-2 Lawful: (...) but the means are as important as the end.
3-4 Chaotic: (...) but the ends justify the means.
5-6 Neutral: (...) but either the ends or the means may be more important, depending.

Alignment in the Galaxy

For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans and ugnaughts can choose whether to follow the paths of darkness or light, of law or chaos. Lanniks tend to follow the light side, while sith purebloods tend toward the dark. Chiss are lawful, while aqualish are often chaotic.

Languages

Your species indicates the languages your character can speak by default, and your background might give you access to one or more additional languages of your choice. Note these languages on your character sheet.

Choose your languages based on the species you commonly interact with. If you have a wookiee sidekick, you might understand-if not speak-Shyriiwook. Alternatively, if you commonly trade with Jawas, you might speak Jawaese.

A list of the most commonly spoken languages of Star Wars can be found below in the Common Languages table.

Common Languages
Binary
Bith
Bothese
Catherese
Cerean
Cheunh
Devaronese
Dosh
Durese
Ewokese
Galactic Basic
Gamorrese
Gungan
Huttese
Ithorese
Jawaese
Kel Dor
Mon Cal
Nautila
Rodese
Shyriiwook
Sith
Sriluurian
Togruti
Tusken
Twi'leki
Zabraki

Personal Characteristics

Fleshing out your character's personality—the array of traits, mannerisms, habits, beliefs, and flaws that give a person a unique identity—will help you bring him or her to life as you play the game. Four categories of characteristics are presented here: personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. Beyond those categories, think about your character's favorite words or phrases, tics and habitual gestures, vices and pet peeves, and whatever else you can imagine.

Each background presented later in this chapter includes suggested characteristics that you can use to spark your imagination. You're not bound to those options, but they're a good starting point.

Personality Traits

Give your character two personality traits. Personality traits are small, simple ways to help you set your character apart from every other character. Your personality traits should tell you something interesting and fun about your character. They should be self-descriptions that are specific about what makes your character stand out. "I'm smart" is not a good trait, because it describes a lot of characters. "I've read every book I can get my hands on" tells you something specific about your character's interests and disposition.

Personality traits might describe the things your character likes, his or her past accomplishments, things your character dislikes or fears, your character's self-attitude or mannerisms, or the influence of his or her ability scores.

A useful place to start thinking about personality traits is to look at your highest and lowest ability scores and define one trait related to each. Either one could be positive or negative: you might work hard to overcome a low score, for example, or be cocky about your high score.

Ideals

Describe one ideal that drives your character. Your ideals are the things that you believe in most strongly, the fundamental moral and ethical principles that compel you to act as you do. Ideals encompass everything from your life goals to your core belief system.

Ideals might answer any of these questions: What are the principles that you will never betray? What would prompt you to make sacrifices? What drives you to act and guides your goals and ambitions? What is the single most important thing you strive for?

You can choose any ideals you like, but your character's alignment is a good place to start defining them. Each background in this chapter includes six suggested ideals. Five of them are linked to aspects of alignment: dark, light, or neutral. The last one has more to do with the particular background than with moral or ethical perspectives.

Bonds

Create one bond for your character. Bonds represent a character's connections to people, places, and events in the world. They tie you to things from your background. They might inspire you to heights of heroism, or lead you to act against your own best interests if they are threatened. They can work very much like ideals, driving a character's motivations and goals.

Bonds might answer any of these questions: Whom do you care most about? To what place do you feel a special connection? What is your most treasured possession?

Your bonds might be tied to your class, your background, your species, or some other aspect of your character's history or personality. You might also gain new bonds over the course of your adventures.

Flaws

Finally, choose a flaw for your character. Your character's flaw represents some vice, compulsion, fear, or weakness—in particular, anything that someone else could exploit to bring you to ruin or cause you to act against your best interests. More significant than negative personality traits, a flaw might answer any of these questions: What enrages you? What's the one person, concept, or event that you are terrified of? What are your vices?