Character Sheet Approval Guidelines

Character Sheet Guide

These approval guidelines are drawn from the Character Creation Guide and Voice staff discussions. The Voice staff have authority for approval of character sheets. Sheets that violate one of the primary criteria listed below will be remanded, while those that violate secondary criteria will receive a comment from the Voice Staff, but will otherwise be approved.

Important note: Items listed as Mandatory Elements are required to be followed. Failure to abide by these rules will cause your Character Sheet to be remanded. Items listed as Recommended Elements are general guidelines for a good character sheet. We will not remand a sheet exclusively for one of these reasons, but you may receive a comment on your sheet and a suggestion that you change the item

Physical Description and Species

Mandatory Elements

The Physical Description field is used to give a basic idea of what the character looks like, as if they appeared in a photograph and you were describing them to someone else.

Details included in this field must be purely cosmetic in nature. This can range from clothing style, hair styles, colors, the shape of the face, noticeable marks and tattoos.
The description should also be consistent with the species choice. Variations may be approved, but they would have no mechanical benefit.
Cybernetics and other “modifications” are allowed, but they are only cosmetic. You can describe how they look, but cannot mention how they modify or enhance your character's attributes.
Physical Descriptions cannot explain how a character behaves. Aspects are used for this purpose. Your character cannot “look intimidating”. Your character can have “sharp/piercing green eyes and is always wearing a scowl. This allows a reader to infer they are intimidating, instead of telling them about describing a character's demeanor.
Physical Descriptions cannot be used for 'extensive character history of how and why a character behaves - this must be covered with Custom Aspects and/or supported by Wikipedia article.
Physical Descriptions cannot be used to explain the properties or functions of armor or weapons (such as material resistance or augmentation). These details can be displayed through the Possessions and Loadouts interfaces, and fall under the discretion of the Regent staff.
A character's attire — often defined by their clothing style, preference, or details — belongs in the item aspects found in Possessions items that get equipped into the Armor and Back slots of a Loadout. Listing out attire in the Physical Description field will result in a remand. See the Creating Custom Item Aspects page for more details.
Weapon selection/placement should not appear in a Physical Description. These details can be displayed through the Possessions and Loadouts interfaces, and fall under the discretion of the Regent staff.

Mandatory Elements for Hybrid Species

While characters descended from two species (hereafter Hybrid species) are permitted, they will be subjected to increased scrutiny by the Voice staff. The selected species should be from similar genetic styles, meaning you cannot merge a Reptilian based species with a Mammal based one. The following items are required for these sorts of characters in addition to the above.

A hybrid Species is denoted by selecting your Primary Species and denoting the hybrid races in your Physical Description.
A hybrid Species will only get Feats from their Primary Species. They do not get Feats of the Secondary.
A hybrid Species must have only cosmetic elements of their Secondary Species worked into their Physical Description. This should be clearly defined by the writer and focus solely on the cosmetic details of what makes the Character a hybrid.
For an example of an approved character sheet featuring a hybrid species, check out the NPC known as Harry West.

Recommended Elements

Custom Aspects should be supported by the characters Skills , Feats, and Force Powers. For example, if you have an aspect that says, “Blademaster Of The First Echelon!”, it is expected that the character will have at least a +3 in bladed weapons, and perhaps a Feat to enhance it.

Character Images/Formatting

The Weapons Loadout field has been replaced with Possession Loadouts. In removing the text-based field, the option to directly embed images into character sheets has effectively been phased out. Members are still welcome to include a hyperlink to an image of their character, however, using Markdown syntax.

Example: [Character Image](https://characterimage1.jpg)

Please note: The Voice staff will inspect image hyperlinks to ensure they are appropriately linking to character art that adheres to the Brotherhood's PG-13 policy in terms of nudity and graphic content. Linking to inappropriate content is subject to discipline at the discretion of the Justicar and the Covenant.

Aspects

For tips on how to write custom aspects, check out the "How To" section of the Aspects article.

Mandatory Elements

Custom Aspects must always have the first word of their title capitalized, and have each letter of each subsequent word capitalized, except: a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor. Example: “This Is How You Title an Aspect”
Custom Aspects must be a minimum of two sentences in length and no longer than 150 words. If you're using more than 100 words, we recommend carefully considering whether the additional words aid or detract from what you're trying to get across.
Make sure your Custom Aspects are spell checked. The staff may remand a perfectly good Aspect with the single note of fixing a syntax issue. This is done to help make sure your sheet is clear and easy to read for judges and other members.
Your Custom Aspect must revolve around a single, connected theme. Avoid disjointed attempts involving multiple partial aspects merged into one or contradicting itself.
A Custom Aspect must always feature some kind of merit/drawback or a balance. This adds realistic depth to characters being created,and prevents characters from being overpowered and easier to relate to. Flaws and quirks sell more than a list of perfect traits. On a basic level, these are things like, “focuses on melee combat, which makes CHARACTER less efficient against marksman and ranged fighters.”
A Custom Aspect must pertain to how your character ACTS. These cannot be an explanation of your character's history, but how they function and interact with the world around them. You can use an element of your character's history, or a specific event, to quickly explain why your character behaves a certain way or has a quirk.

Custom Aspects - Recommended Elements and Other Suggestions

Custom Aspects should be supported by the characters Skills , Feats, and Force Powers. For example, if you have an aspect that says, “Blademaster of the First Echelon!”, it is expected that the character will have at least a +3 in bladed weapons, and perhaps a Feat to enhance it.
Proofreading is up to the user and is not a primary criteria for Aspect approval, but readability is. It's important that Aspects be easily read and understood.
Custom Aspects can make reference to your unique relationship to your clan or the DJB at large, please keep in mind that there is a fair bit of fiction that needs to be respected. Any Aspects relating to specific element of clan/subunit fiction must not contradict that fictional development. The same goes for the Brotherhood as a whole. It is highly recommended that if you’re going to create such an aspect that you speak to your Clan leadership or the Voice office before you submit your sheet.

Skills, Feats and Force Powers

Mandatory Elements

If a Feat is taken that modifies a given Force Power or Skill, that Power or Skill must have one or more points placed in it.
Skills and Force Powers should be consistent with one’s Aspects. For example, if a character has an Aspect stating a preference for ranged combat, they should have Powers and/or Skills that allow them to engage enemies at range.
A Martial Arts/Lightsaber form can only be selected if a rank is put in that skill. For example, you may not select a secondary form if you don’t have a rank in that skill.
For Non Force Users, a Medic does not gain any benefit from selecting Primary or Secondary Weapon in the Specialization selector. This is just for Weapons Specialist to define their respective Feats.
Dual Wielding allows your character to effectively handle two weapons at once. It does not make your character both left handed and right handed.
The ability to fight with both the left and right hands equally requires either the Journeyman Feat: “Ambidexterity” or the Equite Feat: “I, Am Not Left Handed.”

Primary / Secondary Forms

You must have at least one Skill point invested in a Primary or Secondary Martial Arts or Lightsaber Form in order to select one of the Forms from the drop-down selector under the Specialization tab on the Character Creation Wizard.
Your Primary Skill must be equal to or higher than your Secondary Form.
For additional information see the Martial Arts Forms page and Lightsaber Forms page.
Primary/Secondary Weapon Specialization only applies for the Non-Force User Weapons Specialist discipline feats. It does not provide any advantage to any other discipline or character type.

Lore and Languages

Mandatory Elements

There should be a number of [Character_Creation_Guide#Lore|Lore topics] equal to the number of points in the Lore Skill.This means : 1 Point in Lore Skill equals 1 Lore Topic. No more, no less. The site is now hard coded to help you with this endeavor, reflected by boxes on the character sheet.
All characters are expected to know broadly the history of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, of the New Republic, and the current era and time period in general. It is also implied that your character will have a working knowledge/understanding of their species-specific lore or history including culture and habitat. A Lore item is not needed to reflect this, as it is automatically applied to your Character Sheet They would also not require a lore topic to cover areas of general education available to their species.
Lore topics should show an expertise in an area of knowledge that would set them apart from others of their order, species, or unit. They are the equivalent of a degree or masters program on a subject from a university or trade school. Good examples are: “Poisons and Toxins of the Galaxy”, “Xenobiology”, or “Ancient Sith Artifacts”.

Click here for an expanded list of approved Lore topics.

Aspects may make reference of a topic that would qualify for inclusion in a Lore item, regardless of points, but the topic must be clear from said Aspect.
Alien races get their native tongue by default, as well as Galactic Basic.This is coded into the website now and is done **automatically**.
Lore topics can not merely mention a Shadow Academy course the player has taken. The Shadow Academy Courses have NO tie-in to your character's Lore or Knowledge.
Lore topics can not merely mention a Shadow Academy course the player has taken. The Shadow Academy Courses have NO tie-in to your character's Lore or Knowledge.

Recommended Elements

Aspects may make references to a specific cult, upbringing, or other factor that could be used to explain a small smattering of words from a Language such as Mando’a.

Grandfathered Character Sheets

Thanks to the archival feature of the Character Sheet system, members have the option of reactivating old character sheets to serve as their active ones.

If you had or currently have an approved character sheet on file that uses a Grandfathered species, you are able to re-activate that character sheet at any time to use as your Dark Jedi Brotherhood character.
You are not able to create a new character sheet for a character with a Grandfathered species.

An example of this would be:

Knight Kevin's character sheet was created and approved as a Hapan Force User.
Knight Kevin changes to a Bothan Non-Force User.
Knight Kevin wants to change back to a Hapan Force User. Kevin can re-activate an archived character sheet for Kevin the Hapan. Kevin cannot create a new Hapan character sheet.