CS Guide: Character Sheet FAQ

Confusion over the Core Skills - and how they interact with various Force Powers - has been a common theme since the CS redesign several years ago. In order to further the goals of CS 2.0 and combat the misinformation that has developed regarding these skills, the following explanations and examples have been created.

Core Skills

Often referred to as “Core Skills”, the four skills that most directly relate to someone’s physical and mental attributes are the source of a great deal of confusion. Hopefully, the following explanations and examples can serve to clarify their use and their interaction with other Skills and Force Powers.

Might

Might is the most easily understood of the core attributes as it governs raw physical strength. It is important to keep in mind that Might has a close relationship with Endurance. A character can only maintain their peak physical strength so long as their Endurance allows. It is also important to pay close attention to how Might scales at higher levels. Absent modification from a feat or power such as Amplification or Let the Wookiee Win, a character will generally not have superhuman levels of strength. The same holds true for the relative power of an unmodified melee attack.

Athletics

Athletics is the relative speed, dexterity and coordination of a character when compared against another. While this is largely accurate, there are some very important distinctions in CS 2.0 to keep in mind. First, Athletics has a close relationship with Endurance. Athletics measures a character’s control of their own body to pull off feats of balance or movement. Endurance governs how long a character can maintain peak speed or agility.

Endurance

Endurance is commonly viewed as the relative toughness or resistance to injury of a character. In CS 2.0, however, Endurance is focused on physical stamina. A character with relatively high Might or Athletics will only be able to maintain the maximum use of those attributes relative to their level of Endurance. Endurance is also affected by the current circumstances. How long has a character been fighting? Did they just sprint 300 meters through the jungle to get to the fight? Are they well-rested prior to an arranged duel?

Resolve

The manner in which Resolve interacts with mental Powers such as Illusion and Mind Trick is often wrongly assumed to be a straight comparison with a clear winner and loser. Instead, there are a variety of ways that Resolve can interact with offensive Force Powers and none of them translate to a binary pass or fail check. For instance, a skill may work for a while but fade sooner than expected. It may take longer to work. It may have reduced effectiveness in terms of the desired "outcome" (e.g. someone isn't paralyzed in fear but merely shaken). The writer could choose to make the attack totally ineffective if they want, but it is not a requirement (and judges have docked realism for people writing their own powers too dismissively). Ultimately the situation and circumstance dictates The efficacy and overall effect of the ability.

Bringing it All Together

What does high X, low X look like? Some combinations of these have relatively easy real-world analogues. Others do not.

High Athletics, Low Endurance

A character with high Athletics and low Endurance could dodge or traverse obstacles well, but wouldn’t be able to do so for very long before becoming fatigued.

High Athletics, Low Endurance & Might

A character with these attributes would be capable of jumping far, throwing accurately or otherwise performing skilled actions for short periods of time. Dancers and figure skaters would fit into this category.

High Athletics & Endurance, Low Might

Characters with high levels of Athletics and Endurance but low Might would make good track athletes, excelling in areas like hurdles and decathlons.

High Might, Low Athletics & Endurance

Possessing high Might with low Athletics and Endurance would lead to a very strong character that tires easily. Common examples might be a professional power-lifter or a lineman from American football.

High Endurance, Low Athletics and Might

Characters with a high rank in Endurance coupled with a low rank in Athletics and Might would make excellent cross-country runners.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the deal with Handedness now?

With the release of CS 2.0, Ambidextrousness is no longer determined by your character’s handedness as selected on their Character Sheet. Rather, going forwards Ambidextrousness requires selecting the applicable Feat. There are two Feats: one for Journeymen and one for Equites. The Journeyman Feat Ambidexterity allows the character to wield a weapon (or use some other instrument or utensil) with relative skill in either hand, though they still suffer some lack of coordination in their off-hand. I Am Not Left Handed, a Feat available at Equite 2, allows for complete ambidexterity - a character with this skill effectively has no dominant hand.

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How can I suggest changes / venues / species / feats?

New Venues can be submitted to the ACC Staff. New Species should be submitted to the Voice Staff. While no new Feats are planned at this time, suggestions for them can be submitted to the Voice Staff and will be retained for later review.

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Do I need to list "Droid" under Languages if I take the Droid Whisperer feat?

Taking Droid Whisperer is treated the same as adding an additional point in Linguistics. If you don't list Droid under your languages, you can't speak it, even with the Feat.

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How come certain feats grant +1 to skills and others just say that they boost the skill?

One of the goals of CS2.0 was to remove any feats that give you a flat +/-n to skill levels. In the interest of doing so while maintaining clarity, it was determined that feats could add or subtract ranks from a particular skill only if they were doing so in specific situations. Any feats, however, that have a permanent (or relatively common) affect on a skill do not specifically raise or lower skill levels.

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