Starting points...

[Deathknight69]

... for a 30-ish Davion/Steiner FedCom Civil War vet who is starting a new unit circa 3066-67.
gang, i'm wondering what is a good amount of pts to shoot for other than the base 5k + 100 per yr model.

Any idea's?

[BirdofPrey]

That would depend on what you are trying to accomplish.

[Deathknight69]

Decent P/G skills among others, owns mech, etc.

[Durandal]

From my understanding the 5900 you would get from the rules by default should be more than enough to boost g/p skills to the (wargame equivalent) 3/4 level while still owning a 'mech.

Without even trying for optimization on the life module system my first character had a heavy and had a converted g/p of 4/5.  A few more points added on and upping the piloting skills shouldn't be too tough.  Another few hundred XP over the 5400 I had is more than enough to upgrade to owning the 'mech and upgrading the skills.  You may even be able to swing a custom design with some of the extra points.

So, truth be told, using the basic point progression will be enough to do this even if you go with a life module system.  But just picking a value out of the air 5900-6000 XP will be able to do it (maybe less if you are going straight point build).

[Cannon_Fodder]

If its Points Buy character I would just start building the character. Get the primary Attributes and skills to where you want them and see how many extra points you have for support skills and less essential Attributes.

[Deathknight69]

Thanks for the help gang.

[Akalabeth]

Oh nevermind. The answers right in the book!
Thanks

[Tempus]

... for a 30-ish Davion/Steiner FedCom Civil War vet who is starting a new unit circa 3066-67.
gang, i'm wondering what is a good amount of pts to shoot for other than the base 5k + 100 per yr model.

Any idea's?

NPC or PC?


if it's NPC then give them whatever they need to be what you want them to.  the 'book' amount forms a nice baseline, and if they are above average then give them more, if they are below average take some away.  Don't forget the aging effects in the GM section, that adds like 300 exp (to specific stats) by age 25, and some more later down the road.  If this is going to be an NPC leader of the group, then I'd give them a healthy amount of EXP,  to get to that age, and be in a position to start a company, the guy is clearly above average.  (besides he ought to intimidate the hell out of most of the PC's or he's gonna have discipline problems right from the start)


If it's a PC, then ask yourself if it's fair for some players to get more exp than others, or if everyone should start with pretty much the same amount.   In our group we chose to start all players with the same exp, regardless of the age of their characters.  we based that exp amount on a specific 'baseline age' but players can make their characters whatever age they want.  (they DO get aging effects per the rules in the GM section, which does make older (to a point) characters a little bit better.  but also means younger ones can look forward to those effects should they survive.)   


 (btw for aging effects, rather than one huge lump sum at 25, we give out one a year (rolled randomly) from 20 through 25,  and similar (adjusted for how many years there are and how many bumps) from age 26 on.  It gives the characters something to look forward to on their 'birthday'  ;-)