29 Jul 2016

Cortext+ BattleTech - ComStar Technician

With two MechWarriors built - Rahela and Victor - and involved in a plotline of sorts, it's time to flesh out the core cast a little.  Right now, I see two more characters needed, one a ComStar employee, the other the commander of the Word of Blake forces.  The latter, though, is the opposition, thus effectively an NPC and doesn't need to be introduced just yet.  The ComStar employee, though, does need an intro and, thus, a character sheet for future reference.

ComStar is a large company with a near-monopoly on interstellar communications.  During the period between the fall of the original Star League and the Clan invasion, ComStar had a corporate and a religious structure, taking the words of Jerome Blake, Minster of Communications at the time of the fall of the Star League, as gospel.  At the end of the Clan Invasion, an internal move to reduce the religious aspects caused a splinter group, the Word of Blake, to form.  The Blakists, behaving like most religious fanatics, have a special hate for ComStar, though, after the second Star League disbanded, that hate spread to everyone else.

That said, ComStar recruits from across the Inner Sphere and even the Periphery.  Given the vast distances of space, though, I want the character to come from a nation close to Zurich.  The good news there is that Zurich isn't far from Earth, the centre of the Inner Sphere.  The Periphery states are out, but I already have a character from one.  Taking into account Victor, from the Lyran Alliance, that still leaves four other Houses to choose from, assuming I don`t want to duplicate.  Given that I've already tossed together characters from disparate backgrounds, I don't want to give either Rahela or Victor an edge over the other.  That eliminates House Steiner, but that also eliminates House Davion's Federated Suns.  The FedCom Civil War is over, but feelings may still be raw.  By that same thinking, a Capellan is also out; Rahela is there on that nation's behalf.  That leaves the Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League, and the FWL has an interesting history with ComStar.  If I need another character, he or she can be Draconis.

I'm going to shorten the character creation process this time around.  There will be explanations, but details will be saved for the full character sheet at the bottom.

Step 0: (Not mentioned in the book) Concept.
See above.  Frankie's a tech, not a MechWarrior.

Step 1: Choose Attributes.
Instead of using d8s across the board, I'll step up Frankie' Mental and reduce her Physical.

Step 2: Choose Distinctions.
From the core Firefly rules, I'll use Technologist, Know It All, and Wet Behind the Ears.  ComStar tends to separate its employees from the rougher aspects of life in the Inner Sphere, and Frankie's no exception.

Step 3: Choose Distinction Triggers.
From Know It All, Book Learnin', and from Wet Behind the Ears, Optimist.

Step 4: Step Up Skills.
I stepped up Drive, Fix, and Treat twice each; Fly, Know, and Operate once, based on the chosen Distinctions.  After that, I spent the nine points to step Fly, Focus, Influence, Know, Move, and Operate as shown in the character sheet below.

Step 5: Choose Specialties or Signature Assets.
Frankie gets a free Know specialty, thanks to her d8 in the skill, taken as ComStar.  She also gets First Aid under Treat, Bureaucracy under Influence, a Noteputer for a d8 Signature Asset, and an Electronics Kit for a d6 Signature Asset.

Step 6: Biographical Info.
Frankie hails from a world in the Free Worlds League near the Capellan border.  She joined the organization after graduating from trade school, and has progressed as an Acolyte.  Even in the middle of the FedCom Civil War, she made sure that ComStar's equipment on Zurich kept functioning.

Name: Francesca "Frankie" Bartos
Background: ComStar Technician from the Free Worlds League

Attributes:
Mental: d10        Physical: d6        Social: d8

Skills:
 Craft d4
 Drive d8
 Fight d4
 Fix d10
 Fly d6
 Focus d6
 Influence d6        Bureaucracy
 Know d8             ComStar
 Labour d4
 Move d6
 Notice d4
 Operate d8
 Perform d4
 Shoot d4
 Sneak d4
 Survive d4
 Throw d4
 Treat d8               First Aid
 Trick d4

Distinctions:
Technologist d8
*   Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
     Early Adopter:  When encountering a new technological marvel, step back Focus for the scene and create a representative d8 Asset.
     Familiar Controls:  Step up Operate the first time you use a piece of tech similar to a Signature Asset.

Know It All d8
*    Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
*    Book Learnin':  Double Know when you have access to informational resources and the time to use them.
      Pedantic:  Gain 1PP when you correct someone at aj inappropriate juncture or tell the crew a fact about a problem that is interesting but not useful.

Wet Behind the Ears d8
*   Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
     Easy Mark:  Gain 1PP when you are tricked by more-worldly folk or whenever someone takes advantage of your naitivity.
*   Optimist:  Spend 1PP to double Treat when helping a Crewmember recover from a mental Complication.

Signature Assets:
  Noteputer d8
  Electronics Tool Kit d6
A young, optimistic technician will soon meet two MechWarriors in the middle of a vicious invasion!

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