Career & Specialization

Choosing A Career and Specializations

At this stage, the player chooses his character's career (which remains with the PC permanently) and his starting specialization (which may be only one of many the character undertakes over the course of his story). Both are critical choices as they establish the history and the potential future of the character. It is a good idea for each player to look over all of the options before deciding. The idea is not only to look at the immediate capabilities of a character, but to look forward to that character's growth potential. If a player imagines his PC will one day fly a small freighter into certain doom in a desperate battle for the galaxy, it's a very good idea to make sure good piloting options are along the chosen development path.

What's The Difference?

The most important difference between a career and a specialization is the obvious one—specializations are areas of particular focus for an individual following a career path.

For purposes of story and roleplaying, however, it is important to more deeply consider the distinctions of these two character elements. What a player chooses as a career for his character defines the overall and ongoing commitment to a way of life for that character. A career is more than just what a character does for a living—it is his way of life, encompassing his goals, his passions, his training, and his destiny. Areas of focus may change over time, and what he does to make ends meet may alter drastically over time, but a character will never truly stop being whatever it is he chose to be at his core.

In other words, no matter how much he gets caught up in politics, military campaigns, or rescue missions, Han Solo will always be a Smuggler.

Specializations, on the other hand, represent a character's areas of interest and education, his current topic of intense focus, or the vocation he's undertaken at this stage of his life. Where a career expresses the nature of a character, a specialization indicates what a character really does in the galaxy—at least at the moment.

For example, Lando Calrissian clearly embodies the Scoundrel when encountered in The Empire Strikes Back. In Return of the Jedi, however, he proves to be an extraordinary Pilot, indicatinghe spent some time focused on that specialization as well.

Choosing A Career

It's easy enough to look at the game information and select purely on the rules material, but players will discover a richer experience if they do so with two key questions in mind: Choosing A Specialization
 * Which Role?
 * What's The Story?

Selecting an initial specialization can be easily informed by answering two questions: Careers (Specializations included):
 * How Did The Character Get Into This Line of Work?
 * What Kind of Work Does The Character Typically Do?
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Colonist
 * Explorer
 * Hired Gun
 * Smuggler
 * Technician