Novarion Sector Character Creation

Character Creation Steps

1. Choose the origin polity of your character.
2. Roll your character's six Attributes (3d6 down the line) or assign an array (14, 12, 11, 10, 9, 7). If you roll randomly, you may change one Attribute to a 14. Note down the bonuses for each Attribute.
3. Choose your character's Inherent Focus, representing their origin and skills imparted on them in their early life. This is the only time an Origin Focus (VIs, aliens, metahumans, etc.) may be chosen. Gain any skills associated with the focus.
4. Gain any non-psychic skill. This represents the character's hobbies, nurtured talents, or personal affinities.
5. Your character is now 18. Start the first career term. Go through the "Career Term" procedure below, and when finished, add 1d4 years to their age. Repeat this process until the character exits their pre-adventuring career.
   • For careers, all dice rolls are 2d6 unless noted otherwise. All modifiers are the Attribute and skill bonuses, and are applied collectively. Lacking a skill does not incur a negative modifier.
   • The first term is the only time College or the Military Academy can be entered.
6. The character becomes an adventurer. They receive all the accumulated retirement benefits of their career. Record any permanent effects (Attribute loss, injuries, cybernetics, etc.) They roll once on the Growth table of their final career.
7. Choose a character class (Warrior, Expert, Psychic, Sunblade, Judicator, Adventurer). Certain character classes (Psychic, Sunblade, Judicator) may be restricted by Inherent Focus, Origin Polity, or prior careers.
8. If your class allows, choose one or two additional appropriate Foci and their associated skills.
9. The character rolls 2d6*100 for their starting credits and purchases starting gear, or chooses a gear package (Stars Without Number Revised Edition pp. 25.)

Career Term

1. If the character is starting a new career or it is the first term, choose a Qualified Career from their polity and roll for Entry. If successful, the character enters the career at Rank 1. If failed, the character does not enter the career and cannot attempt to ever again. The character must attempt to enter another career. Each subsequent Entry roll suffers a cumulative -1 penalty.
2. The character may roll for Commission (or equivalent term, like Election.) If successful, they become Commissioned, reset their rank to Rank 1 on the commissioned track, and gain one roll on the Growth tables. Characters are only Commissioned once.
3. The character may roll once for Promotion. If successful, their rank increases by 1 and they gain one roll on the Growth tables.
4. If it is the first, second, or fourth term, the character rolls a 1d8 on the Learning table and gains the skill indicated. If this is the character's second term, they get the Free Skill for the career. If the character has gone to College or the Military Academy, they instead get them in their second, third, and fifth terms.
5. If the character has been Commissioned or Promoted, the character rolls on the Growth tables. They may roll on the Growth table for their Origin Polity or their career. For the career Growth tables, non-commissioned characters roll a 1d10, and commissioned characters roll 1d20 on the Growth table.
6. The character accumulates their retirement benefits for the career.
7. The character makes a roll to avoid Mishaps. If a the roll fails and a Mishap occurs, they roll on the Mishap table and apply the result. If the Mishap indicates they exit the Career, they cannot re-enter this career on a later term.
8. The character applies Aging. Each term after the fourth, -1 from STR, CON, and CHA. Each term after the sixth, -1 from DEX and INT.
9. The player chooses whether to continue in the same career or start a new career in the next term. Certain careers will dictate which careers can be entered after exiting them.

Gaining Skills and Attributes

When a character "gains a skill" from their career, Foci, etc., they learn it at level-0. Note their skill as 0 on the character sheet. If the skill is already at level-0, it goes to level-1. If it is already level-1, they can instead gain any other non-psychic skill. Skills cannot go above level-1 at character creation.

If the result of a Learning roll is "Any Skill," pick any non-psychic skill to gain. If the results is "Any Combat," pick either Punch, Shoot, or Stab.

Other results of the Growth rolls may add to attributes, and Mishaps may decrease them. Whenever a roll indicates an increase to an Attribute, it is added to the attribute's score, not its modifier, unless otherwise noted. If the roll indicates "+2 Mental," you can add 2 to the score of either INT, WIS, or CHA; if "+2 Physical," you can add 2 to the score of either STR, DEX, or CON. Attributes cannot go above 18 or below 3.

Other Benefits

Characters can gain many different types of benefits from their careers. Most will be cash, attribute changes, or items. Several of these require further explanation:

• Contact: A connection the character has with an NPC ("I know a guy") in a particular field, noted in the result. These contacts can be defined at any time, but must be reasonable for the setting and the field. A contact will have information to help, and potentially a place to rest. If a type of Contact is rolled again, the player can decide the Contact owes the character a Favor.
• Far Trader Shares: Ownership shares in a Far Trading enterprise. Their principle value will be noted on the table. Far Traders shares pay out 1d20-1d10% of their face value each month in the origin polity, with negative values indicating it loses principle.
• Megacorp Shares: Ownership shares in a megacorp in the Origin Polity, entitling the character to attend shareholder meetings and go anywhere the Board is allowed to go (theoretically.) They can be sold for their principle value.
• Pension: A monthly stipend, paid out in the Origin Polity's credits.
• Reputation: You can gain reputation with a faction, such as a polity, a corporation, a criminal syndicate, etc. The party's reputation with any faction can range from -3 to +3. The faction reputation is applied to Reaction Rolls with that faction, and is subtracted from skill check difficulties involving that faction.
• Rumor: A rumor about the location of some treasure, danger, location, or other important information. The exact nature of the rumor will depend on the play area and campaign premise. Rumors may contain false, misleading, or irrelevant information, but they will always contain some core truth.
• Ship Weapon License: A license to mount an additional weapon on the starting ship. If the players do not start with a ship, count this result as a Far Trader Share (100 credits.)
• Ship Share: A fully paid-off segment of the starting ship. Each Ship Share decreases the ship's loan principle by 10% of the total. If the players do not start with a ship, count this result as a Far Trader Share (100 credits.)
• Trade Table Information: Information on one element of a Trade Table (Friction, Trouble score, Tag Modifier, or Trade Good) in the play area. If the campaign does not include Interstellar Trade, count this result as a Far Trader Share (100 credits.)

Origin Polity