Backgrounds

Backgrounds encapsulate your character's training and life experience.

Each background is an entire profession with which your character has some familiarity. In a sci-fi action RPG like Valence, typical backgrounds include Soldier, Pilot, Hacker, Gunner, Engineer, Spy, Diplomat, Merchant, and more. Backgrounds are very broad.

Choose three facets for each background. These are the particular experiences or skills in which your character specializes. For instance, someone with a Pilot background might choose Starfighters, Small Aircraft, and Dogfighting. A different pilot might choose Capital Starships, Freighters, and Tesseract Jumps. Facets are much more narrow than Backgrounds.

Backgrounds are numerically rated - for instance, Soldier (10). These numbers add into both Skill Ratings and Action Ratings. You'll always be told to choose an "appropriate" background. Usually this will be obvious - if you're sneaking into a building, having been a Corporate Spy (15) will be useful. If you're uncertain, look at the facets of your background. If none of them apply, you can still use your background, but you take a -5 penalty.

Some backgrounds also include perks, which give your character unusual abilities or expensive equipment. (will add more here later)

At character creation, you can choose from the following options:

  • One backgrounds at 5, two at 10, two at 15, and Charisma 1
  • One background at 5, two at 10, one at 15, Charisma 1, and one perk
  • One backgrounds at 5, one at 10, one at 15, Charisma 1, and two perks

You can trade a 5-point background for a +3 to Charisma, drop a 10-point background to 5 for a +4 bonus, or drop a 15 to a 10 for a +5 bonus.

Perks

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