A Guide To Building a Character in Star Wars TTRPGs: Characteristics Explained
- Jess Bardin
- Feb 9
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 11
At the heart of every character in the Star Wars TTRPGs (Age of Rebellion, Edge of the Empire, and Force & Destiny) are six Characteristics. These are your character’s raw aptitudes — the baseline physical and mental capabilities that everything else builds on. Before skills, before talents, before specialization, Characteristics define how naturally strong, agile, perceptive, disciplined, or charismatic your character is.
What Are Characteristics in the Star Wars TTRPGs?
The six Characteristics are:
Brawn
Agility
Intellect
Cunning
Willpower
Presence
Every skill in the game is tied to one of these. That means when you increase a Characteristic, you aren’t just improving a single check — you’re strengthening multiple related abilities at once. Characteristics quietly shape almost every roll you’ll make.
During character creation, your species sets your starting values for these Characteristics and provides the experience you’ll use to adjust them. That’s where your character’s natural lean begins — but how you invest that experience is what really determines how they’ll feel in play.
What Each Characteristic Means in Play
While all six Characteristics affect dice pools, they don’t all show up at the table in the same way. Understanding what each one actually feels like in play makes it much easier to decide where to invest your starting XP.
Brawn
Brawn measures physical strength and toughness. It affects melee combat, athletics, resilience, and your wound threshold. A higher Brawn means you hit harder in close combat, can carry more, and are harder to physically break.
If you imagine your character standing their ground, taking hits, or solving problems physically, Brawn matters.
Agility
Agility governs coordination, reflexes, and precision. It affects ranged combat, piloting, stealth, and many movement-based skills.
Because ranged attacks are common in Star Wars, Agility tends to come up often. If you picture your character flying under pressure, firing a blaster, or slipping through tight situations, Agility supports that style of play.
Intellect
Intellect represents knowledge, logic, and technical understanding. It ties into mechanics, medicine, computers, and academic skills.
If your character is the one fixing hyperdrives, slicing security systems, or recalling obscure historical details, Intellect will shape how effective they feel.
Cunning
Cunning measures awareness, perception, and instinct. It governs skills like deception, streetwise, and survival.
This is the stat for reading people, spotting danger, navigating criminal underworlds, and noticing what others miss. It tends to reward players who like being observant and adaptable.
Willpower
Willpower reflects discipline, emotional resilience, and internal strength. It affects strain threshold, coercion, and resisting fear or manipulation.
If you want a character who stands firm under pressure, pushes themselves past exhaustion, or doesn’t fold when confronted with intimidation, Willpower matters.
Presence
Presence governs charisma, leadership, and personal force. It ties into negotiation, charm, leadership, and social influence.
If you imagine talking your way out of problems, inspiring allies, or commanding attention in a room, Presence supports that approach.
Why Characteristics Matter More Early in a Campaign
Early on, your skill ranks are usually low. That means your dice pools rely heavily on your Characteristics. A Characteristic of 3 versus 2 is noticeable. A 4 is strong. These differences are most visible in the first few sessions.
Over time, skills and talents begin to carry more weight. But at the beginning, Characteristics are doing most of the work behind the scenes.
Another important detail: increasing Characteristics after character creation is significantly more difficult. That makes this the moment where your choices carry the most mechanical weight.
Not permanent. Not irreversible. But meaningful.
How To Spend Your Starting XP Without Freezing
There are a few common approaches to allocating Characteristic increases during creation.
Focused Build
Raise one Characteristic high and let the others sit lower.
This creates a strong identity right away. You’ll feel especially capable in your chosen lane, but less versatile overall.
Balanced Build
Raise two or three Characteristics moderately.
You’ll be competent in more areas without dominating one. This is often comfortable for new players because it keeps options open.
Concept-Driven Build
Start with the character in your head and let that guide the numbers.
If you imagine someone quick-witted and sharp-eyed, that points you in one direction. If you imagine someone steady and unshakable, that points you in another.
This approach tends to be the most satisfying long-term, because the numbers reinforce the story rather than the other way around.
Common Beginner Worries (That Usually Don’t Matter)
“What if I don’t raise the right stat?”
“What if I make myself bad at something important?”
“What if I should have optimized more?”
The Star Wars TTRPG is forgiving. Characters are meant to grow. A 2 in something isn’t incompetence. A 3 is solid. A 4 is strong. You don’t need perfection to contribute meaningfully to a scene.
In practice, most tables succeed because characters lean into what they’re good at and let others cover different areas. That’s part of the fun.
A Simple Question To Ask Yourself
Instead of asking “What’s the best Characteristic?” try this:
What kind of moments do I want to succeed in most often?
The answer to that question will usually point you toward the right investment.
Once your Characteristics are set, the next step is choosing how your character has trained and focused those natural aptitudes, which brings us to careers and specializations.
Listen to our Session Zero character creation in our podcast, Finding Atoria, where we talk about all kinds of TTRPGs, from D&D to Star Wars to Vampire: The Masquerade.
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