Personality and Backgrounds

Characters are defined by much more than their species and class. They're individuals with their own stories, interests, connections, and capabilities beyond those that class and species define. This section expounds on the details that distinguish characters from one another, including the basics of name and physical description, the rules of backgrounds and languages, and the finer points of personality and alignment.

Your character's name and physical description might be the first things that the other players at the table learn about you. It's worth thinking about how these characteristics reflect the character you have in mind.

Name#

Your character's species description includes sample names for members of that species. Put some thought into your name even if you're just picking one from a list.

Sex#

You can play a male or female character without gaining any special benefits or hindrances. Think about how your character does or does not conform to the broader culture's expectations of sex, gender, and sexual behavior.

You don't need to be confined to binary notions of sex and gender. Some species believe in companionship that doesn't take into account gender. You could also play a female character who presents herself as a man or a man who feels trapped in a female body. Likewise, your character's sexual orientation is for you to decide.

Height and Weight#

You can decide your character's height and weight, using the information provided in your species description. Think about what your character's ability scores might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character might be thin. A strong and Durable character might be tall or heavy.

You can also roll randomly for your character's height and weight using that species's Physical Characteristics table, as shown above. The first dice roll given in the second column determines the character's extra height (in inches) beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the second dice roll or quantity given in the second column determines the character's extra weight (in pounds) beyond the base weight.

For example, as a human, Obi-Wan has a height of 4 feet 8 inches plus 2d10 inches. We roll 2d10 and gets a total of 12, so Obi-Wan stands 5 feet 8 inches tall. Then we use that same roll of 12 and multiplies it by 2d4 pounds. His 2d4 roll is 3, so Obi-Wan weighs an extra 36 pounds (12x3) on top of his base 110 pounds, for a total of 146 pounds.

Human

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Physical Characteristics

Height		4'8"	+2d10"
Weight		110 lb.	x(2d4) lb.

Other Physical Characteristics#

You choose your character's age and the color of his or her hair, eyes, and skin. To add a touch of distinctiveness, you might want to give your character an unusual or memorable physical characteristic, such as a scar, a limp, or a tattoo.

Alignment#

A typical creature in the galaxy has an alignment, which broadly describes its moral and personal attitudes. Alignment is a combination of two factors: one identifies morality, and is typically defined in terms of the Force: (light, dark, or balanced), and the other describes attitudes toward society and order (lawful, chaotic, or neutral). Thus, nine distinct alignments define the possible combinations.

These brief summaries describe the typical behavior of a creature with that alignment. Individuals might vary significantly from that typical behavior, and few people are perfectly and consistently faithful to the precepts of their alignment.

You can pick your alignment or roll to determine it randomly. Roll separately for Morality and Society.

|5-6|Balanced: Usually circumstances dictate whose needs are more important, (...)

Alignment in the Galaxy#

For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans and ugnaughts can choose whether to follow the paths of darkness or light, of law or chaos. Lanniks tend to follow the light side, while sith purebloods tend toward the dark. Chiss are lawful, while aqualish are often chaotic.

Languages#

Your species indicates the languages your character can speak by default, and your background might give you access to one or more additional languages of your choice. Note these languages on your character sheet.

Choose your languages based on the species you commonly interact with. If you have a wookiee sidekick, you might understand-if not speak-Shyriiwook. Alternatively, if you commonly trade with Jawas, you might speak Jawaese.

A list of the most commonly spoken languages of Star Wars can be found below in the Common Languages table.

Common Languages#

Personal Characteristics#

Fleshing out your character's personality—the array of traits, mannerisms, habits, beliefs, and flaws that give a person a unique identity—will help you bring him or her to life as you play the game. Four categories of characteristics are presented here: personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. Beyond those categories, think about your character's favorite words or phrases, tics and habitual gestures, vices and pet peeves, and whatever else you can imagine.

Each background presented later in this chapter includes suggested characteristics that you can use to spark your imagination. You're not bound to those options, but they're a good starting point.

Personality Traits#

Give your character two personality traits. Personality traits are small, simple ways to help you set your character apart from every other character. Your personality traits should tell you something interesting and fun about your character. They should be self-descriptions that are specific about what makes your character stand out. "I'm smart" is not a good trait, because it describes a lot of characters. "I've read every book I can get my hands on" tells you something specific about your character's interests and disposition.

Personality traits might describe the things your character likes, his or her past accomplishments, things your character dislikes or fears, your character's self-attitude or mannerisms, or the influence of his or her ability scores.

A useful place to start thinking about personality traits is to look at your highest and lowest ability scores and define one trait related to each. Either one could be positive or negative: you might work hard to overcome a low score, for example, or be cocky about your high score.

Ideals#

Describe one ideal that drives your character. Your ideals are the things that you believe in most strongly, the fundamental moral and ethical principles that compel you to act as you do. Ideals encompass everything from your life goals to your core belief system.

Ideals might answer any of these questions: What are the principles that you will never betray? What would prompt you to make sacrifices? What drives you to act and guides your goals and ambitions? What is the single most important thing you strive for?

You can choose any ideals you like, but your character's alignment is a good place to start defining them. Each background in this chapter includes six suggested ideals. Five of them are linked to aspects of alignment: dark, light, or neutral. The last one has more to do with the particular background than with moral or ethical perspectives.

Bonds#

Create one bond for your character. Bonds represent a character's connections to people, places, and events in the world. They tie you to things from your background. They might inspire you to heights of heroism, or lead you to act against your own best interests if they are threatened. They can work very much like ideals, driving a character's motivations and goals.

Bonds might answer any of these questions: Whom do you care most about? To what place do you feel a special connection? What is your most treasured possession?

Your bonds might be tied to your class, your background, your species, or some other aspect of your character's history or personality. You might also gain new bonds over the course of your adventures.

Flaws#

Finally, choose a flaw for your character. Your character's flaw represents some vice, compulsion, fear, or weakness—in particular, anything that someone else could exploit to bring you to ruin or cause you to act against your best interests. More significant than negative personality traits, a flaw might answer any of these questions: What enrages you? What's the one person, concept, or event that you are terrified of? What are your vices?

Inspiration is a rule the game master can use to reward you for playing your character in a way that's true to his or her personality traits, ideal, bond, and flaw. By using inspiration, you can draw on your personality trait of compassion for the downtrodden to give you an edge in negotiating with the Beggar Prince. Or inspiration can let you call on your bond to the defense of your home village to push past the effect of a power that has been laid on you.

Gaining Inspiration#

Your GM can choose to give you inspiration for a variety of reasons. Typically, GMs award it when you play out your personality traits, give in to the drawbacks presented by a flaw or bond, and otherwise portray your character in a compelling way. Your GM will tell you how you can earn inspiration in the game.

You either have inspiration or you don't - you can't stockpile multiple "inspirations" for later use.

Using Inspiration#

If you have inspiration, you can expend it when you make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. Spending your inspiration gives you advantage on that roll.

Additionally, if you have inspiration, you can reward another player for good roleplaying, clever thinking, or simply doing something exciting in the game. When another player character does something that really contributes to the story in a fun and interesting way, you can give up your inspiration to give that character inspiration.

Every story has a beginning. Your character's background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your fighter might have been a pit fighter or a grizzled soldier. Your consular could have been a student or an envoy. Your operative might have gotten by as a government agent or commanded audiences as an entertainer.

Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character's identity. The most important question to ask about your background is what changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and start adventuring? Where did you get the money to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don't you have more money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background?

The sample backgrounds in this chapter provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions.

Proficiencies#

Each background gives a character proficiency in two skills. Skills are described in chapter 7.

In addition, most backgrounds give a character proficiency with one or more tools. Tools and tool proficiencies are detailed in chapter 5.

If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead.

Languages#

Some backgrounds also allow characters to learn additional languages beyond those given by species. See "Languages" earlier in this chapter.

Equipment#

Each background provides a package of starting equipment. If you use the optional rule from chapter 5 to spend coin on gear, you do not receive the starting equipment from your background.

Background Feat#

Each background gives a character a starting feat. Feats are described in chapter 6.

Suggested Characteristics#

A background contains suggested personal characteristics based on your background. You can pick characteristics, roll dice to determine them randomly, or use the suggestions as inspiration for characteristics of your own creation.

Customizing a Background#

You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, a total of two tool proficiencies or languages, and a feat that lacks a level requirement. You can either use the equipment package from your background or spend coin on gear as described in chapter 5. (If you spend credits, you can't also take the equipment package suggested for your class.) Finally, choose two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw. If you can't find a feature that matches your desired background, work with your GM to create one.