BattleTech 3025 - Recruitment - A Time of War and Total Warfare

[TFcommando]

Optimizing is a more important step than I thought, getting better results now.

[Voidknight]

Arright so I am on only an hour or two sleep for the past.... 48 hours so there may be some pretty stupid mistakes here, still cleaned up a bit. Will add a description and possibly the kink info later. Decided I wasn't happy with what I had made up in a character creator too- so edits there coming later.

For the interest the lifepath went-
Major Periphery House
War Orphan
Mercenary Brat
Tour of Duty

Name: Noele Tata
Age: 19
Sex: Female
Height: 5'3
Physical Description: (Will be coming with some messing with a character editor)
Personality Description: Noele is that rare oxymoron, a loyal mercenary, the company took her from a meagre existance and gave her a life that many could only dream of and she darn well knows it. She is revolted at the idea of collatoral damage, taking the view that war should be as clean and military as possible, she'll be the boring one to bring up the Ares Conventions at the drop of a hat. That said, outside of military enguagements she's a happy and friendly face always keen to get to know people and perpetually shy around anything more than that after flirting with mecenaries who had little time for a growing girl.

Background: Noele has not had the easiest life in the world her parents taken from her at an early age and years spent trying to survive on the streets before a mercenary looked at the pitiable child and decided to take her under their wing, her family name lost to the ruins of her hometown, she was given the surname for unidentified bodies Tata. Growing into puberty among the mercenaries she grew to think of them as a family (Though her crushes on different adult members of this family were highly awkward for all involved.) Expressing enthusiasm for aeronautics and helping around the dropship for repairs a bargain was struck with the growing girl, she would learn to pilot the craft that captured the imaginations of so many in the outworlds alliance in exchange, she would work damnably hard and they would have her services with only the minimum of actual pay till the debt was cleared. Realising a lack of oppertunity should she reject the offer, she accepted and threw herself into her learning.  She began running actual operations at the somewhat tender age of 15 and has been flying her beloved <foo> ever since. Her debt now clear as a new contract begins, the now young woman is downright thirsty for a real payday.
Sexual Tendencies and Preferences: (Sexuality, Fetishes, whatever you want)
Player Ons and Offs:

Attributes:
STR: 3 (-1)
DEX: 4 (0)
BOD: 4 (0)
RFL: 5 (0)
INT: 4 (0)
WIL: 3 (-1)
CHA: 3 (-1)
EDG: 4 (0)

Traits:
Connections (1) - Mercenary Community
Tech Empath (3)
G-tolerance (1)
Toughness (3)
Sixth Sense (4)
Enemy (-1)
Equipped (-1)
Wealth (-1)
Compulsion/Traumatic Memories (-1)
Reputation (-1)
Illiterate (-1) Countered by Language 4
Introvert Countered by Gregarious

Noele has struggled to overcome what her early life made her as a war orphan, struggling to socialise with the other mercenaries and open up with the guidance of the merc that brought her in. Despite her struggles to fit in and do her best there are those who feel she does not belong here leading to a generally negative opinion of her. The girl is disturbed by the destruction of civilian buildings and it notably distracts her during combat when they are targetted or even victims of collatoral damage. Her testifying against those who would perpetrate such actions has created enemies amongst rival mercenary groups.

Skills:
Career Soldier (4)
Driving Ground Vee (0)
Interest Holo-games (3)
Streetwise/Outworlds (2)
Survival/Urban (1)
Language/ French (4)
Language/ English (1)
Leadership (0)
Martial Arts (2)
Medtech (2)
Navigation space (2)
Negotiation (3)
Perception (2)
Protocol Mercenary (2)
Tactics Space (1)
Technician Areonautics (2)
Pilot/Aerospace (5)
Gunner/Aerospace (4)
Sensor Ops (2)     

Equipment:
Heh, yeah not from this background

C-Bills:100

[JFD99]

Original : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/l90Na by Hyungwoo Kim

Name: Caelus Maecilius Horatius
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Height: 6'1"
Physical Description:

Of average height and built, Caelus looks like a well-kept and educated young man, at most in his mid-twenties. His hair are dark and neatly trimmed and styled, his beard usually clean shaven, though he occasionally lets it grow for a few days, always for style and never out of neglect. His green eyes are deep and piercing, and even a scar just above his left eyebrow isn't enough to cancel his youthful and pleasing appearance.

He typically wears clean and stylish but unassuming clothes, comprising of a pair of pants made of a sturdy material, a white shirt and a jacket. His usual footwear are clean combat boots, which he wears under his pants legs.

His demeanor is confident, his strides swift and purposeful, though it's difficult to tell from his smiling eyes if his purpose is business or pleasure.

Personality Description:

Caelus has had it relatively easy most of his life, and this is reflected in his tendency to seek pleasure above most of everything else. Even his military education and career hasn't sufficed to make him a more serious person. Prone to making light of any situation, he is a welcome presence when tension is high, but not always so when a situation needs to be handled with gravity.

Usually friendly, Caelus comes from a state heavy with politics and backdoor deals and he has grown to distrust most forms of authority, occasionally going as far as lending credence to rather outrageous conspirary theories. In a smaller group, however, his loyalty to his friends and companions is unwavering.

His pastimes include partying, drawing, watching starts and studying astronomy in the process, and spending quality time with attractive women.

Background:

The firstborn of a family of bureaucrats and military officers of Marian Hegemony, Caelus lived his youth with little to no worries. Never lacking anything, be it food or toys, he was spoiled by parents who would offer him anything he wanted before he even asked for it. Even as his brother and sister came about, his parents made sure he didn't feel like his siblings took all of their attention.

Later in his youth, wishing to honor his family tradition, his father enrolled him in a military school, which he hated. Gone were the days of  laziness and comfort. Instead, he had rules, orders, homework, and chores - a stark constrast with his life so far. Still, not wishing to disappoint his father and quite obviously not having any say in the matter, Caelus battle through and passed all of his classes with decent marks, despite not earning any merit.

Still intending for his first son to become a proud military man, Caelus's father enrolled him in their homeworld's Military Academy. During his time at the academy, Caelus grew even more lazy, frequently skipping on chores and duties, breaking curfew to hang out in the girls dorm and coming close to being expelled on more than one occasion, drawing the ire of his father and the Academy's commanders.

Things changed in the last days of his basic training when his class visited a nearby military base and they were taken through the Mechs hangar. Caelus, who until then could not care less about military life, was deeply inspired and in awe over these giant machines and he knew at this moment what he wanted to do: he was going to be a MechWarrior. Following this epiphany, his entire behavior changed. Although still a party animal and a hedonist, he delved into his studies and training with an energy and decidation unprecedented for him, graduating in his chosen field the next year.

Following graduation, Caelus celebrated his achievement all summer, spending most of it with fellow graduates in bars, private parties and orgies. His father, proud that his son had finally found his motivation to serve his State, turned a blind eye on most of his excesses, until it was time to put his training to use.

Called to service along with a few of his classmates, Caelus joined a unit under Cmdr Julianus Dossenius Martinus that was deployed to the border of the Hegemony where pirates and pockets of rebels frequently harassed locals and merchants. As one of the skilled MechWarriors of his unit, Caelus fought tirelessly alone or in small groups to hunt down insurgents and catch fugitive pirates, destroying several bases and convoys that were identified as belonging to the enemy or protecting them.

During the campaign, Caelus found himself romantically involved with a fellow soldier, Vorenia Scato, who served as his Mech's mechanic. He had little but the shadow of a doubt that there could be anything more than what he was told to the campaign until near the end of his tour of duty he and his lance were sent to destroy a convoy reported to bring arms and supplies to a secret pirate hideout on a world that was otherwise known as a civilian colony. Executing his given orders to a tee, Caelus and his unit destroyed the convoy but found neither weapons nor any kind of military supplies. Instead, they found the smoldering remains of a merchant convoy of food, medication and various other supplies bound to a remote outpost.

Caelus pressed his commander for explanations, who blamed the situation on bad intel, but Caelus wasn't convinced. He confided his doubts to Vorenia, who reassured him that bad intel does happen and he simply needed to deal with it. Still unconvinced, Caelus decided to investigate further and found that the convoy belonged to a rival to Cmdr Martinus. Certain that he had been sent to do a hitman's job, he confided again in Vorenia, seeking support and counsel. Instead, Vorenia notified the commander of Caelus's findings, securing in the process a promotion for herself, while Caelus was discharged.

Rather than return home and face his father following his dismissal, Caelus left to roam the Galaxy, working odd jobs - usually in electronics - when he needed money, but not before he sent his findings to his father, who forwarded them to some of his contacts, resulting in Cmdr Martinus's dismissal from the Military.


Sexual Tendencies and Preferences: Heterosexual
Player Ons and Offs: https://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=67977

Attributes:
STR: 3 (-1)
DEX: 4 (0)
BOD: 4 (0)
RFL: 5 (0)
INT: 4 (0)
WIL: 4 (0)
CHA: 5 (0)
EDG: 3 (-1)

Traits:
Attractive (1)
Citizen (1)
Equipped (1)
G-Tolerance (1)
Wealth (1)

Compulsory/Paranoid (-1)
Compulsory/Womanizer (-1)
Enemy (-1) - Cmdr Julianus Dossenius Martinus
Reputation (-1)

Skills:
Art/Drawing - 80 (3)
Career/Soldier - 120 (4)
Computers - 30 (1)
Interest/Astronomy - 50 (2)
Interest/Military History - 50 (2)
Language/Latin - 80 (3)
Language/English - 80 (3)
Leadership - 30 (1)
Martial Arts - 80 (3)
MedTech - 50 (2)
Melee Weapons - 30 (1)
Navigation/Ground - 80 (3)
Protocol/Marian - 80 (3)
Running - 30 (1)
Sensor Ops. - 120 (4)
Small Arms - 80 (3)
Swimming - 30 (1)
Tactics/Land - 50 (2)
Technician/Electronics - 120 (4)

Gunnery/Mech - 120 (4)
Pilot/Mech - 170 (5)

Equipment:
ITEM - MASS - COST
ITEM - MASS - COST
ITEM - MASS - COST

C-Bills: 2,500

[Stendarr]

Optimizing is a more important step than I thought, getting better results now.

Ya, I really don't think they should have called it an optional rule.

Arright so I am on only an hour or two sleep for the past.... 48 hours so there may be some pretty stupid mistakes here, still cleaned up a bit. Will add a description and possibly the kink info later. Decided I wasn't happy with what I had made up in a character creator too- so edits there coming later.

For the interest the lifepath went-
Major Periphery House
War Orphan
Mercenary Brat
Tour of Duty

Character Sheet

Name: Noele Tata
Age: 19
Sex: Female
Height: 5'3
Physical Description: (Will be coming with some messing with a character editor)
Personality Description: Noele is that rare oxymoron, a loyal mercenary, the company took her from a meagre existance and gave her a life that many could only dream of and she darn well knows it. She is revolted at the idea of collatoral damage, taking the view that war should be as clean and military as possible, she'll be the boring one to bring up the Ares Conventions at the drop of a hat. That said, outside of military enguagements she's a happy and friendly face always keen to get to know people and perpetually shy around anything more than that after flirting with mecenaries who had little time for a growing girl.

Background: Noele has not had the easiest life in the world her parents taken from her at an early age and years spent trying to survive on the streets before a mercenary looked at the pitiable child and decided to take her under their wing, her family name lost to the ruins of her hometown, she was given the surname for unidentified bodies Tata. Growing into puberty among the mercenaries she grew to think of them as a family (Though her crushes on different adult members of this family were highly awkward for all involved.) Expressing enthusiasm for aeronautics and helping around the dropship for repairs a bargain was struck with the growing girl, she would learn to pilot the craft that captured the imaginations of so many in the outworlds alliance in exchange, she would work damnably hard and they would have her services with only the minimum of actual pay till the debt was cleared. Realising a lack of oppertunity should she reject the offer, she accepted and threw herself into her learning.  She began running actual operations at the somewhat tender age of 15 and has been flying her beloved <foo> ever since. Her debt now clear as a new contract begins, the now young woman is downright thirsty for a real payday.
Sexual Tendencies and Preferences: (Sexuality, Fetishes, whatever you want)
Player Ons and Offs:

Attributes:
STR: 3 (-1)
DEX: 4 (0)
BOD: 4 (0)
RFL: 5 (0)
INT: 4 (0)
WIL: 3 (-1)
CHA: 3 (-1)
EDG: 4 (0)

Traits:
Connections (1) - Mercenary Community
Tech Empath (3)
G-tolerance (1)
Toughness (3)
Sixth Sense (4)
Enemy (-1)
Equipped (-1)
Wealth (-1)
Compulsion/Traumatic Memories (-1)
Reputation (-1)
Illiterate (-1) Countered by Language 4
Introvert Countered by Gregarious

Noele has struggled to overcome what her early life made her as a war orphan, struggling to socialise with the other mercenaries and open up with the guidance of the merc that brought her in. Despite her struggles to fit in and do her best there are those who feel she does not belong here leading to a generally negative opinion of her. The girl is disturbed by the destruction of civilian buildings and it notably distracts her during combat when they are targetted or even victims of collatoral damage. Her testifying against those who would perpetrate such actions has created enemies amongst rival mercenary groups.

Skills:
Career Soldier (4)
Driving Ground Vee (0)
Interest Holo-games (3)
Streetwise/Outworlds (2)
Survival/Urban (1)
Language/ French (4)
Language/ English (1)
Leadership (0)
Martial Arts (2)
Medtech (2)
Navigation space (2)
Negotiation (3)
Perception (2)
Protocol Mercenary (2)
Tactics Space (1)
Technician Areonautics (2)
Pilot/Aerospace (5)
Gunner/Aerospace (4)
Sensor Ops (2)     

Equipment:
Heh, yeah not from this background

C-Bills:100

Technically, to take "Tour of Duty" you're supposed to have at least one military skill field from a Stage 3 life module education, but, frankly, your character's life path makes sense, and you're not like exploiting anything so it's all good.

I like what you've done with the Compulsion, Reputation, and Enemy traits. The Enemy trait should be a single person. I'm going to come up with a particular individual from her past (related to testifying against "uncareful" mercenaries), unless you'd like to detail the enemy for me.

I don't know if you noticed, but I fuckin' love accents, I'm glad you went with French as her first language. Her French name is pretty too. I don't see any problems with her once you decide what she looks like.

Character Sheet

Original : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/l90Na by Hyungwoo Kim

Name: Caelus Maecilius Horatius
Age: 23
Sex: Male
Height: 6'1"
Physical Description:

Of average height and built, Caelus looks like a well-kept and educated young man, at most in his mid-twenties. His hair are dark and neatly trimmed and styled, his beard usually clean shaven, though he occasionally lets it grow for a few days, always for style and never out of neglect. His green eyes are deep and piercing, and even a scar just above his left eyebrow isn't enough to cancel his youthful and pleasing appearance.

He typically wears clean and stylish but unassuming clothes, comprising of a pair of pants made of a sturdy material, a white shirt and a jacket. His usual footwear are clean combat boots, which he wears under his pants legs.

His demeanor is confident, his strides swift and purposeful, though it's difficult to tell from his smiling eyes if his purpose is business or pleasure.

Personality Description:

Caelus has had it relatively easy most of his life, and this is reflected in his tendency to seek pleasure above most of everything else. Even his military education and career hasn't sufficed to make him a more serious person. Prone to making light of any situation, he is a welcome presence when tension is high, but not always so when a situation needs to be handled with gravity.

Usually friendly, Caelus comes from a state heavy with politics and backdoor deals and he has grown to distrust most forms of authority, occasionally going as far as lending credence to rather outrageous conspirary theories. In a smaller group, however, his loyalty to his friends and companions is unwavering.

His pastimes include partying, drawing, watching starts and studying astronomy in the process, and spending quality time with attractive women.

Background:

The firstborn of a family of bureaucrats and military officers of Marian Hegemony, Caelus lived his youth with little to no worries. Never lacking anything, be it food or toys, he was spoiled by parents who would offer him anything he wanted before he even asked for it. Even as his brother and sister came about, his parents made sure he didn't feel like his siblings took all of their attention.

Later in his youth, wishing to honor his family tradition, his father enrolled him in a military school, which he hated. Gone were the days of  laziness and comfort. Instead, he had rules, orders, homework, and chores - a stark constrast with his life so far. Still, not wishing to disappoint his father and quite obviously not having any say in the matter, Caelus battle through and passed all of his classes with decent marks, despite not earning any merit.

Still intending for his first son to become a proud military man, Caelus's father enrolled him in their homeworld's Military Academy. During his time at the academy, Caelus grew even more lazy, frequently skipping on chores and duties, breaking curfew to hang out in the girls dorm and coming close to being expelled on more than one occasion, drawing the ire of his father and the Academy's commanders.

Things changed in the last days of his basic training when his class visited a nearby military base and they were taken through the Mechs hangar. Caelus, who until then could not care less about military life, was deeply inspired and in awe over these giant machines and he knew at this moment what he wanted to do: he was going to be a MechWarrior. Following this epiphany, his entire behavior changed. Although still a party animal and a hedonist, he delved into his studies and training with an energy and decidation unprecedented for him, graduating in his chosen field the next year.

Following graduation, Caelus celebrated his achievement all summer, spending most of it with fellow graduates in bars, private parties and orgies. His father, proud that his son had finally found his motivation to serve his State, turned a blind eye on most of his excesses, until it was time to put his training to use.

Called to service along with a few of his classmates, Caelus joined a unit under Cmdr Julianus Dossenius Martinus that was deployed to the border of the Hegemony where pirates and pockets of rebels frequently harassed locals and merchants. As one of the skilled MechWarriors of his unit, Caelus fought tirelessly alone or in small groups to hunt down insurgents and catch fugitive pirates, destroying several bases and convoys that were identified as belonging to the enemy or protecting them.

During the campaign, Caelus found himself romantically involved with a fellow soldier, Vorenia Scato, who served as his Mech's mechanic. He had little but the shadow of a doubt that there could be anything more than what he was told to the campaign until near the end of his tour of duty he and his lance were sent to destroy a convoy reported to bring arms and supplies to a secret pirate hideout on a world that was otherwise known as a civilian colony. Executing his given orders to a tee, Caelus and his unit destroyed the convoy but found neither weapons nor any kind of military supplies. Instead, they found the smoldering remains of a merchant convoy of food, medication and various other supplies bound to a remote outpost.

Caelus pressed his commander for explanations, who blamed the situation on bad intel, but Caelus wasn't convinced. He confided his doubts to Vorenia, who reassured him that bad intel does happen and he simply needed to deal with it. Still unconvinced, Caelus decided to investigate further and found that the convoy belonged to a rival to Cmdr Martinus. Certain that he had been sent to do a hitman's job, he confided again in Vorenia, seeking support and counsel. Instead, Vorenia notified the commander of Caelus's findings, securing in the process a promotion for herself, while Caelus was discharged.

Rather than return home and face his father following his dismissal, Caelus left to roam the Galaxy, working odd jobs - usually in electronics - when he needed money, but not before he sent his findings to his father, who forwarded them to some of his contacts, resulting in Cmdr Martinus's dismissal from the Military.


Sexual Tendencies and Preferences: Heterosexual
Player Ons and Offs: https://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=67977

Attributes:
STR: 3 (-1)
DEX: 4 (0)
BOD: 4 (0)
RFL: 5 (0)
INT: 4 (0)
WIL: 4 (0)
CHA: 5 (0)
EDG: 3 (-1)

Traits:
Attractive (1)
Citizen (1)
Equipped (1)
G-Tolerance (1)
Wealth (1)

Compulsory/Paranoid (-1)
Compulsory/Womanizer (-1)
Enemy (-1) - Cmdr Julianus Dossenius Martinus
Reputation (-1)

Skills:
Art/Drawing - 80 (3)
Career/Soldier - 120 (4)
Computers - 30 (1)
Interest/Astronomy - 50 (2)
Interest/Military History - 50 (2)
Language/Latin - 80 (3)
Language/English - 80 (3)
Leadership - 30 (1)
Martial Arts - 80 (3)
MedTech - 50 (2)
Melee Weapons - 30 (1)
Navigation/Ground - 80 (3)
Protocol/Marian - 80 (3)
Running - 30 (1)
Sensor Ops. - 120 (4)
Small Arms - 80 (3)
Swimming - 30 (1)
Tactics/Land - 50 (2)
Technician/Electronics - 120 (4)

Gunnery/Mech - 120 (4)
Pilot/Mech - 170 (5)

Equipment:
ITEM - MASS - COST
ITEM - MASS - COST
ITEM - MASS - COST

C-Bills: 2,500

I find it funny you called 6'1" "average height". Maybe I wouldn't feel so tall if that were the case.

I like that he feels imperfect despite being rather perfect in a lot of ways.

Mechanically he seems pretty good. I would like to know what kind of things would trigger his compulsions.

I also have to say that I really like the art you chose.


I put up a character sheet thread. If your character is done please post them there.
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=313925.0

[TFcommando]

Getting closer with the second attempt.  Got to the late optimization stage and then bought more XP with negative traits, had about 500 to spend and thought "Why not Fast Learner?"  But the order of operations tripped me up, I'd already reduced and eliminated skills that didn't make the level and didn't record all of the changes.

One odd result was ending up with Martial Arts 4 and Melee Weapons 1 before optimizing.  It seems like the samurai-centric Kurita nobility education system would be more into studying the art of the katana than unarmed roughhousing.  Would it be OK to switch Melee Weapons and Martial Arts in the relevant modules like the military school and academy?

And I wanted to double check on her negative traits:  She started with Enemy 2 just from living in the Combine, I bought that up to 3, Blood Mark 2 and negative Reputation 2 (Draconis Combine).  Would all that apply out in the Deep Periphery though?  The bounty on her head is less than the cost of traveling to the the Combine, much less a round trip.  I also converted both Rank and her Positive Reputation to flex points, since both would have been left behind after what she did.

This is still the samurai wife concept, going to try the geisha-mechwarrior too, see which sings to me more.

[JFD99]

I find it funny you called 6'1" "average height". Maybe I wouldn't feel so tall if that were the case.

I like that he feels imperfect despite being rather perfect in a lot of ways.

Mechanically he seems pretty good. I would like to know what kind of things would trigger his compulsions.

I also have to say that I really like the art you chose.

I put up a character sheet thread. If your character is done please post them there.
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=313925.0

I guess I could make him a bit smaller Most people I know are taller than me and at least 6' tall so maybe I got my averages wrong xD

I'm not sure what you mean by him feeling imperfect :) Given his social status I thought he'd actually be a little arrogant. I hope he doesn't come off as too perfect though because that's not my intent at all 🤔

I do want him to be a pretty boi but that's as much a negative as a positive traits if he knows it xD

Regarding his compulsions, the way I see it, his womanizing ways could come into play if we need to deal with pretty women that are either enemies or untrustworthy. To put it bluntly, he tends to think with his balls.

As for his paranoia, that would come from his experience in the military. He now distrusts military leaders and will question orders if has the smallest reason to believe he's being used or lied to.

Does it make sense?

[Voidknight]

Technically, to take "Tour of Duty" you're supposed to have at least one military skill field from a Stage 3 life module education, but, frankly, your character's life path makes sense, and you're not like exploiting anything so it's all good.

I like what you've done with the Compulsion, Reputation, and Enemy traits. The Enemy trait should be a single person. I'm going to come up with a particular individual from her past (related to testifying against "uncareful" mercenaries), unless you'd like to detail the enemy for me.

I don't know if you noticed, but I fuckin' love accents, I'm glad you went with French as her first language. Her French name is pretty too. I don't see any problems with her once you decide what she looks like.

Agh! Missed that it had to be from Stage 3 for the Tour of Duty, I thought I could cheat things a little by using some of the flexi xp from the first couple to grab a military skill!
It made sense to me that her flaws should be tied together, apologies about being unclear, saw that one of the suggested level 1 enemies was a mercenary captain- that was roughly what I mean, I imagine her testimony was probably enough to cost them a contract, arresting mercs being somewhat difficult.

I do enjoy the french accent myself I know the Outworlds Alliance has english as the primary language but I assume that individual worlds can cleave to the secondary languages to a greater degree.

Having an annoying time finding some fitting art/something a character generator I like for the lass but shall continue the quest.

[Hawkwood]

Void - have you considered Battlestar Galactica, Space Above and Beyond, or Star Wars? They also share a similar aesthetic for pilot gear.

[Voidknight]

Space Above and Beyond- yikes that brings back memories! Good shouts though, I'll have a peek.

[Hawkwood]

... or Babylon 5, and Wing Commander! I will love you forever if you become a Kilrathi

[Voidknight]

Miiight not fit in so well with the no sentient aliens battletech. Angel might be a good shout for a reference though.

[Tavarokk]

@Stendarr, would it be possible to tweak Family Training module a little? It seems needlessly nobility-restricted. I'm planning to go into it from Stage 2 Mercenary Brat with the idea of using mercenary Connections 1 to get myself an unofficial apprenticeship, so I'd like to ditch all the noble stuff (rank, history, protocol) and be able to qualify for Military Technician field throught it in addition to Mechwarrior.

Having an annoying time finding some fitting art/something a character generator I like for the lass but shall continue the quest.

Ikr, I only just managed to find something relatively suitable earlier today. Hardest part of chargen

[Hawkwood]

The older Battletech books have fabulous art. And by fabulous I mean camper than a field full of pink tents rather than good.

See, for example: [1] [2]

Just remember - if you don't look like your ready to play beach volleyball and engage in some homoerotic butt-slapping then you're not really a mechwarrior...

[Stendarr]

@Stendarr, would it be possible to tweak Family Training module a little? It seems needlessly nobility-restricted. I'm planning to go into it from Stage 2 Mercenary Brat with the idea of using mercenary Connections 1 to get myself an unofficial apprenticeship, so I'd like to ditch all the noble stuff (rank, history, protocol) and be able to qualify for Military Technician field throught it in addition to Mechwarrior.

You can take some more flexible XP instead of Rank because I'm letting everyone do it, but the history and protocol stuff is only 35 xp among thousands, and that's only if you don't just optimize the protocol away later. So I'd rather you stick with those two.

Just remember - if you don't look like your ready to play beach volleyball and engage in some homoerotic butt-slapping then you're not really a mechwarrior...

And that's how we like it god dammit!

Agh! Missed that it had to be from Stage 3 for the Tour of Duty, I thought I could cheat things a little by using some of the flexi xp from the first couple to grab a military skill!
It made sense to me that her flaws should be tied together, apologies about being unclear, saw that one of the suggested level 1 enemies was a mercenary captain- that was roughly what I mean, I imagine her testimony was probably enough to cost them a contract, arresting mercs being somewhat difficult.

I do enjoy the french accent myself I know the Outworlds Alliance has english as the primary language but I assume that individual worlds can cleave to the secondary languages to a greater degree.

Ya, it's a little vague about some of the education stuff. Don't worry about it. Her Enemy stuff seems good too.

Trust me, as someone living in Canada, there definitely are people who don't know much English with the excuse of knowing other popular languages.

I guess I could make him a bit smaller Most people I know are taller than me and at least 6' tall so maybe I got my averages wrong xD

I'm not sure what you mean by him feeling imperfect :) Given his social status I thought he'd actually be a little arrogant. I hope he doesn't come off as too perfect though because that's not my intent at all 🤔

I do want him to be a pretty boi but that's as much a negative as a positive traits if he knows it xD

Regarding his compulsions, the way I see it, his womanizing ways could come into play if we need to deal with pretty women that are either enemies or untrustworthy. To put it bluntly, he tends to think with his balls.

As for his paranoia, that would come from his experience in the military. He now distrusts military leaders and will question orders if has the smallest reason to believe he's being used or lied to.

Does it make sense?

Well, I was imagining him as perfect in some ways. Like, he's super handsome; he's a bit of an ace pilot, he's upper class, he knows his ways around girls. But it's well contrasted by his arrogance. He definitely doesn't come off as too perfect. You've just done a good job of making a pretty boy.

I like the idea that he thinks 6'1" is average. He looks down on people who are actually average size like, "Dude really, I'm not even that tall and you can't keep up with me?"

His compulsions sound good.

Getting closer with the second attempt.  Got to the late optimization stage and then bought more XP with negative traits, had about 500 to spend and thought "Why not Fast Learner?"  But the order of operations tripped me up, I'd already reduced and eliminated skills that didn't make the level and didn't record all of the changes.

One odd result was ending up with Martial Arts 4 and Melee Weapons 1 before optimizing.  It seems like the samurai-centric Kurita nobility education system would be more into studying the art of the katana than unarmed roughhousing.  Would it be OK to switch Melee Weapons and Martial Arts in the relevant modules like the military school and academy?

And I wanted to double check on her negative traits:  She started with Enemy 2 just from living in the Combine, I bought that up to 3, Blood Mark 2 and negative Reputation 2 (Draconis Combine).  Would all that apply out in the Deep Periphery though?  The bounty on her head is less than the cost of traveling to the the Combine, much less a round trip.  I also converted both Rank and her Positive Reputation to flex points, since both would have been left behind after what she did.

This is still the samurai wife concept, going to try the geisha-mechwarrior too, see which sings to me more.

Ya Fast Learner and optimizing don't make a whole lot of sense. I guess if you get Fast Learner with flex xp you could have it before you optimize. I'd say it's fine if you want to pick it up with leftover xp and then optimize again.

You can totally switch Martial Arts and Melee Weapons if you'd like. I kinda feel like in a world of such tech that fisticuffs are a little less useful.

You can stick with those negative traits. I can make them feel like a suitable penalty for the xp you gained from taking them. That being said, who is her Enemy?

[Tavarokk]

You can take some more flexible XP instead of Rank because I'm letting everyone do it, but the history and protocol stuff is only 35 xp among thousands, and that's only if you don't just optimize the protocol away later. So I'd rather you stick with those two.

It's less about how much xp it is and more about having skills on the charsheet that I don't want to have there, because they don't belong. Thankfully, yeah, Protocol got optimized away, and History is palatable by itself.

You didn't comment on the most important part, though, the military technician field. The only reason it's not on the list is that it's not as prestigious as mechwarrior/pilot/tanker, which shouldn't matter whatsoever in my case.

[Stendarr]

Ahh! Sorry, yes you can go ahead and take the military tech field.

You could just remove the History skill if you were inclined. But level 0 doesn't really indicate much dedication. You just took an elective class for a semester or something, ya feel?

[Voidknight]

Thoughts?
https://imgur.com/a/TFbNMcn

[Stendarr]

Works for me.

[Tavarokk]

Name: Selena Constanza Herrero
Age: 19
Sex: Female
Height: 5’4
Physical Description:

NSFW

Personality Description: A friendly, cheerful lass with her head in the clouds, prone to getting lost in thought whenever left unattended. Unwittingly gets nitpicky and pedantic when technology or combat are involved. Has mild empathy problems; likes all kinds of high-tech, classic rock-n-roll and morbid humour; is a pervert of epic proportion.
Background: Third child of a common worker family from one of the Canopian worlds, from early childhood Selena stood out from her peers thanks to a mix of unusual intelligence, drive and lack of concern for social norms when applying those. Any sane person knew that dreams of starships and mechs and of what lies on the other side of the Sphere are just that, dreams. And even if one wanted to somehow find a high-tech occupation in their neck of the woods, the way to go was to study hard, go to the best school at the planetary capital and then hope for a scholarship for UoC or UoL. It's not dropping out of the local classes, going to the platnetary garrison base and offering the mercenaries' officer on duty a blowjob (much to the non-Canopian's horror, given the age of the applicant) in exchange for a part time job and computer access. And it's definitely not returning three times without taking 'no' for an answer, with the final one involving sneaking into the compound and getting brought before the unit commander.

Sel figured they were hoping to make her lose interest after that, uncomfortable with the idea of going through the official channels to dissuade her, given how farcical the situation was. One way or another, it worked, and before long the regiment's lore was enriched by tales of new recruits being lectured for improper mech maintenance by a twelve years old girl. In any case, time passed, her skills and reputation grew, and with those - the range of tasks she was allowed to try her hand at. When the unit's contract expired and they moved to the FWL, she went along, first working as a part of tech crews during minor skirmishes on the Confederation and Commonwealth borders, then, briefly, riding into battle in one of the rebuilt mechs that lost its pilot in the fighting, until the beat-up machine gave out on her.

Eventually, the regiment pulled back for another extended garrison posting to recover, and Selena quit along with a few other dispossessed pilots lacking a mech, buying a ticket to Galatea where she hoped to find a new unit to join.
Sexual Tendencies and Preferences: bisexual (favours males), exhibitionist
Player Ons and Offs: https://www.f-list.net/c/randomencounter/

Attributes:
STR: 400 (0)
DEX: 500 (0)
BOD: 400 (0)
RFL: 500 (0)
INT: 500 (0)
WIL: 400 (0)
CHA: 400 (0)
EDG: 300 (-1)

Traits:
Animal Antipathy (-1) -100
Attractive (2) +200
Compulsion/Sex (-1) -100
Connections (1)  +100
Fast Learner (3) +300
Illiteracy (-1) -100
Reputation (-2) -200
Tech Empathy (3) +300

Skills:

Skills

Appraisal - 24 (1)
Art/Dance - 24 (1)
Career/Soldier - 64 (3)
Career/Technician - 40 (2)
Computers - 24 (1)
Driving/Ground Vehicle - 24 (1)
Gunnery/Mech - 96 (4)
Interest/Lostech - 24 (1)
Interest/Sexual Entertainment - 24 (1)
Interest/Canopus History - 16 (0)
Language/English - 96 (4)
Language/Spanish - 40 (2)
Martial Arts - 40 (2)
MedTech - 40 (2)
Navigation/Ground - 40 (2)
Negotiation - 40 (2)
Perception - 40 (2)
Piloting/Mech - 96 (4)
Security/Electronic - 16 (0)
Sensor Operations - 40 (2)
Small Arms - 40 (2)
Streetwise/Commonwealth - 16 (0)
Streetwise/Magistracy - 16 (0)
Survival - 16 (0)
Tactics/Land - 24 (1)
Technician/Aeronautics - 21 (1)
Technician/Electronics - 56 (3)
Technician/Jets - 35 (2)
Technician/Mechanical - 56 (3)
Technician/Myomer - 56 (3)
Technician/Nuclear - 56 (3)
Technician/Weapons - 56 (3)

Equipment:
WIP

C-Bills: 1000

Life path

Stage 0: Magistracy of Canopus (100)
Stage 1: Blue Collar (210)
Stage 2: Mercenary Brat (600)
Stage 3: Mercenary Apprenticeship* (570 + 480)

*Modified Family Training

[Stendarr]

She looks pretty good so far. I see you took Fast Learner. There was actually an errata that said that Fast Learner and Slow Learner should be 20% more or less xp required instead of 10. So you would hit your skill levels at 16, 24, 40, 64, 96, etc.. You can just re-optimize right now to fix that if you'd like. Also, you should spend any leftover xp, even if it doesn't get you to the next level.

[Voidknight]

There is a part of me that wants to go back and jangle a Fast learner now, it's stronger.

[Hawkwood]

Fast learner is great! If you spend at least 1,500xp on skills, then it strikes me as worth getting.

With, my skills cost 1,912xp
Without, they cost 2,390xp

Meaning 178xp profit! YAY!

I also had a go at making Annastasia from purely XP point buy. Turns out that the life modules are really inefficient for certain builds / concepts. You end up having to buy off a lot of negatives.

[Voidknight]

Does fast learner kick in retroactively? If say it was bought later?

[Hawkwood]

As I understand it:

If you get it during character creation, it applies to skills in character creation.
If you get it during play, it only applies to skills you get after you buy it.

By my calculations, Void is currently:

Attr: 3000
+ve Traits: 1200
-ve Traits: -500
Skills: 1160

For a total of 4860xp

If you were to take Fast Learner now, you'd be:
+68 points
(300 points added to +ve traits, saving 232 points from skills)
= 4928 xp

[Voidknight]

Hmmm I might have to jiggle numbers to get it if that's alright?

Also amusing side note, that change to fast learner means that illiterate + language 4  actually gives you points.