Character Advancement

Now it’s time to talk about Character Advancement. That’s a fancy way of saying: your character gets better at things with practice. You can’t just start off as this hotshot smuggler—you have to work hard, make plenty of dangerous contraband runs, and dodge your share of stormtroopers and bounty hunters. Just as you learn from your experiences (good ones and bad ones), your character gets better at things by using his or her skills and practicing. For a good example, think about Luke Skywalker. He’s not very good at using his lightsaber when he’s first given it by Obi-Wan Kenobi. How could he be? He’s never even seen a lightsaber until Ben hands one to him. Luke’s just starting out, and that’s why he trains with the remote aboard the Millennium Falcon. Years later, when he saves Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, he’s gotten a lot better with his lightsaber. He’s good enough that he can block blaster bolts and reflect them back at people—now that’s advancement! Characters receive Character Points after each adventure. (The better your character did during the game, the more Character Points awarded.) You can use Character Points to improve your character’s skills and other abilities between adventures.

Improving Skills

Skills

It costs as many Character Points as the number before the “D” to improve a skill’s die code by one pip. (Increasing a skill from a “+2” to the next higher die—from 3D+2 to 4D, for example—counts as a one pip improvement.) A character can only improve a skill one pip between each adventure, although the character may improve more than one skill between adventures. Example: Thannik has a search skill of 4D. It costs 4 Character Points to improve search to 4D+1. At the end of an adventure, Thannik can improve: search from 4D → 4D+1 (4 Character Points), and space transports from 4D+2 → 5D (4 Character Points)

However, Thannik can’t improve his search skill from 4D → 4D+2 in one jump because that would mean improving the skill more than one pip. Characters normally improve skills between adventures. At the gamemaster’s discretion, a character may also learn or improve a skill if there is a significant lull in the adventure, such as when Obi-Wan Kenobi taught Luke Skywalker rudimentary Force skills while on Tatooine and during the journey to Alderaan.

Specializations

For specializations, the Character Point cost is one-half the number before the “D” (rounded up). Example: Thannik wants to improve his space transports: Ghtroc freighter specialization from 5D+2 → 6D. The cost is 3 Character Points. (Five divided by two is 2.5; that rounds up to three.) Specializations are separate skills: If a character improves the basic skill, the specialization doesn’t improve.

If the character improves the specialization, the basic skill doesn’t go up.

Example: Thannik has: space transports 4D+2 space transports: Ghtroc freighter 5D+2

When Greg improves Thannik’s space transports from 4D+2 → 5D, his specialization stays 5D+2. Later, if Greg improves the specialization from 5D+2 → 6D, his basic space transports skill stays 5D.

Training Time

If the character used a skill or specialization in the last adventure, there is no training time requirement. The character can just spend the Character Points and the skill improves one pip. If the character didn’t use the skill or specialization in the last adventure, the character must spend time training: With a teacher: 1 day per Character Point spent

Training alone: 2 days per Character Point spent

When training, a character must concentrate on improving the skill. A character cannot train in more than one skill at a time, nor can a character train while off adventuring. Only through dedicated study and practice can a character improve a skill. Example: Thannik wants to increase his blaster skill from 5D → 5D+1 at a cost of 5 Character Points; he must train because he didn’t use the skill in his last adventure. With a teacher: 5 days Without a teacher: 10 days

The character’s skill does not improve until training is completed. Characters can reduce their training time by spending one additional Character Point per day cut from the training time. (The minimum training time is always one day.) Example: Thannik finds a teacher to help him improve blaster to 5D+1. After two days of training, he interrupts his mission to go track down a bounty. When he returns, he needs three more days of training before his blaster improves. Thannik decides to spend 2 Character Points to cut two days from his training time—he only needs to complete one more day of training to improve his blaster skill.

Teachers

A teacher makes it much easier for a character to improve a skill. A teacher’s skill must be at least equal to what the character’s skill will be after completing training. If a character is improving a specialization, the teacher’s skill (or the specific specialization) must be equal to what the character’s specialization will be after completing training. Many teachers will be gamemaster characters. Sometimes a student will have to search for a teacher—the gamemaster is under no obligation to provide a teacher just because the player wants his character taught something. This is especially true for rare skills, those known only on primitive worlds, very unusual specializations, or advanced skills. Teachers may demand service, special favors, missions, or payment in exchange for their instruction. Example: Thannik has blaster at 5D. His teacher is a marksman named Hist, who has blaster at 5D+1. At the end of training, Thannik’s new skill is 5D+1, matching Hist’s skill level. Thannik has learned all he can from Hist and must find a new teacher for blaster or try to train by himself. Later, Thannik wants to improve his blaster: blaster pistol specialization from 6D → 6D+1. He needs a teacher who has either: blaster 6D+1+, or blaster: blaster pistol 6D+1+

Advanced Skills

The Character Point cost to improve an advanced skill is two times the number before the “D.” Example: A character has (A) medicine at 2D+2. It costs 4 Character Points to go from 2D+2 → 3D. Advanced skills take much longer to improve because they are complex subjects. A character must train to improve an advanced skill. With a teacher: 1 week per Character Point spent

Without a teacher: 2 weeks per Character Point spent

Characters can reduce training time by spending 1 Character Point per day cut from the training time. (Minimum training time for an advanced skill is always one week.) Example: Improving (A) medicine from 2D+2 → 3D costs 4 Character Points. With a teacher (A) medicine 3D+: 4 weeks Without a teacher: 8 weeks

Learning New Skills

Skills and Specializations

Characters can learn a new skill or specialization by paying enough Character Points to advance it one pip above the attribute. There is no training time if the character “used the skill” in the last adventure (i.e., used the attribute when doing something that would be covered by the skill). Otherwise, use the normal rules for training time. Example: Thannik wants to learn bargain, based on his Perception (3D). He pays 3 Character Points and gets bargain at 3D+1. If Thannik bargained in the last adventure (haggled with a merchant, for example), there’s no training time and the skill improves immediately. If he didn’t bargain in the last adventure, he must train: With a teacher (bargain 3D+1+): 3 days Without a teacher: 6 days He can reduce time 1 day per extra Character Point spent.

The character must seek out an appropriate location and teacher for unusual skills. A character who wants to learn archaic starship piloting must find a willing teacher who has access to such a ship. Often, this will require going to a very primitive world, where such ships are still in common use.

Advanced Skills

A character may learn an advanced skill if he has the prerequisite skills and pays the Character Point cost to learn the skill at 1D. (It costs 2 Character Points to learn most advanced skills at 1D.) Use the normal rules for advanced skills to determine training time. Example: (A) medicine has a prerequisite of first aid 5D. If the character has first aid 5D, the character can learn (A) medicine at 1D for 2 Character Points. With a teacher: 2 weeks Without a teacher: 4 weeks

Other Game Statistics

Improving Attributes

Characters may improve an attribute one pip at a time. The Character Point cost is the number before the “D” times 10. Training time: With a teacher: 1 week per Character Point spent Without a teacher: 2 weeks per Character Point spent

A character must train to improve an attribute, but training time is reduced one day per additional Character Point spent (minimum of one week training). When a character improves an attribute one pip, all skills under that attribute (except advanced skills) also increase by one pip. Example: Thannik wants to improve Knowledge from 2D+2 → 3D. It costs 20 Character Points and takes 20 weeks of training if he has a teacher. When his Knowledge improves to 3D, all of his Knowledge skills also go up by one pip: alien species: Wookiees goes from 3D+2 → 4D. There is a limit to how high an attribute can go. At the end of the training time, the character rolls the new attribute die code. The gamemaster must roll the attribute’s maximum (as listed in the species description in “Aliens”). If the character’s roll is equal to or less than the gamemaster’s roll, the attribute goes up. If the character’s roll is higher, the attribute doesn’t go up and the character gets half of the Character Points back.

Example: A human character has Dexterity 4D and wants to improve it to 4D+1. After spending 40 Character Points and training, the player rolls 4D+1 and gets 17. The gamemaster rolls the human maximum Dexterity (4D) and gets 15. The character’s Dexterity does not improve, but the character gets 20 Character Points back. If the player had rolled less than 15, Dexterity would have increased to 4D+1.

Move

Characters may improve their Move score one meter at a time. The Character Point cost is the character’s current Move. Training time: With a teacher: 1 week per Character Point spent Without a teacher: 2 weeks per Character Point spent

A character must train to improve Move, but training time is reduced one day per additional Character Point spent (minimum of one week training). Characters may not improve their Move above their species’ maximum. Example: A player wants to improve his human character’s Move from 11 → 12. The cost is 11 Character Points; with a teacher, training time is 11 weeks. Twelve is the human Move maximum, so the character can’t increase Move again.

Force-Sensitive

A character who is not Force-sensitive may choose to become Force-sensitive for 20 Character Points. (There is no training time requirement.) The character receives one extra Force Point immediately, and must now play under the guidelines for Force-sensitive characters. See the chapter on “The Rules” for information on Force-sensitive characters. It is much easier to begin with a Force-sensitive character rather than choose to become Force-sensitive after play has begun. A Force-sensitive character is in tune with the Force’s mystic ways. If the character has closely followed the ideals of the Jedi code, the gamemaster may allow the character to become Force-sensitive at a reduced price. Once a character becomes Force-sensitive, the character cannot lose that Force-sensitivity.

Special Abilities

Characters with special abilities may be able to improve them over time. The conditions, costs, and training times will be listed with the special ability’s description.

Source: REUP:25