Building Character - Velik

By: Dozer

Building Character is a series of posts where we build a character in a table top role-playing game. This post I will be building a character in the newly released Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius. Ontos was a backer and is starting a new campaign, being on the road for the next couple of months I decided to build a character for the campaign that could be played from a distance or at least be a good NPC when I can't come in a play.

Before I start to mechanically build a character I like to come up with a concept. In Star Trek, I have three favorite races; Vulcan, Trill, and Cardassian so I know I'd like to be one of those three. Since the last Star Trek RPG, I always wanted to play a Vulcan who had emotions. Outside of being a radical I wanted the shift from the Vulcan norm to make sense.

In the case of my character concept Velik passed his Kahs-wan without giving in to the precepts of logic. The Kahs-wan is a coming of age ceremoni where a young Vulcan goes into the desert. The ordeal is so harrowing that participants must turn to pure logic in order to survive. Velik would have passed his ordeal through luck and emotion from happening onto a source of water, using fear to stay alert, and anger to scare off a predator.

Image used without permission

Velik needs to be a Vulcan but he needs to show some moxy because when he tested his logic it was his moxy (and some luck) that helped him survive. I always picture Velik's career in Starfleet to be short and something forces him to return to duty. I also like the idea of him as the counselor, someone to advise the command crew and provide logical and emotional insight.

So with my idea lets start the process and see where the Lifepath character creation system takes me and what changes will happen to Velik...

Step One: Species

This is an easy step for me to follow... or so I thought. I pick Vulcan as my species but after speaking with Ontos he recommended counting him as a mixed species where one can draw on traits from a secondary species due to having parents of two races. In Velik's case this will be a cultural division so I need to pick my secondary species carefully and make sure it fits the mold of a emotional Vulcan.   

I looked at Trill, and Bajoran as my next two options but turned them down. The trait of the Trill is physical in nature. The Bajoran trait is religious in nature. In both cases it does not fit my character concept. Wanting to not give up on the concept I looked at two other species. Betazoid but their telepathic trait is does not fit with Velik, and Human whos trait is a cultural liberating trait and fits better then anything else that I can find. So Velik after coming of age enlists in Starfleet and his experience with humans deeply shapes him. 

Lastly I pick Dauntless as Velik initial Trait. Velik seems to be someone who forges his own path ignoring social pressures. I add the extra attribute points and move on.

Step Two: Environment

Velik is raised on the homeworld. His parents kept him on Vulcan in hope that he would finally turn towards logic. Velik's picks the value of "Accepting others and their differences". His experience on the homeworld made him feel welcome and more ostracized and so he values the acceptance of differences. I pick fitness since it seems the least traditional Vulcan of the three attributes when compared to Reason and Control. I also pick his discipline in Security since he would feel more guarded in social situations while growing up on the homeworld as Vulcan with emotions. 

Step Three: Upbringing

Looking at the six options Diplomacy and Politics seemed to be the perfect fit. I feel that his mother was a successful Diplomat and his father a local politician on Vulcan. Staying on Homeworld would cost them in their careers but they did so out of affection for Velik. Velik may have found it strange to see his parents be welcoming to other races and visitors and not him but he still learned a great deal from them. He learned to debate and argue with his peers and teachers without be overtly aggressive or disrespectful. He would focus on preserving the relationship instead of winning the argument and that would shape his later life when he joins Starfleet.

I pick Command for my increase in disciplines. Diplomacy as my Focus and my talent would be Studious as Velik would try to prove himself in his studies when not with his parents welcoming off world visitors. 

Step Four: Starfleet Academy

Velik experience in Starfleet is where everything changes for him. He learns how to make friends and work with others. As a bit of a rebel he takes to the command stream but I make sure to mark down his new value; "Teamwork is the key to success".

Attribute wise Velik's opens up and as such I increase his Insight twice and Presence once. He learns how to not just great and interact with other species but also how to live and work with them. His major is Command and it now sits at the max for this stage of character creation while Velik takes to the medicines and learns about psychology. His focuses are easy to pick; Team Dynamics, Inspiration, and Persuasion. Lastly I pick Defuse the Tension as his next Talent being able to keep folks talking rather than solving their problems with violence. 

Step Five: Career

This where things get interesting. I see Velik as a rebel and not a great student in the Command Stream. He would have been better suited for the medical or science stream to become a counselor. Instead he passes near the bottom of his class with but a few exceptional scores in diplomacy and team dynamics. 

I feel he took to post academy life with some difficulty, and due to his low standing became frustrated with his positions aboard ship. I see him earning a few notes of recognition and becoming locked in the junior ranks before he leaves the service and settles in a trade station. He record has a few exceptional notes that prove his is a fine officer but they are few and far between when it comes to his reviews and it makes him look like he is not reaching his potential.

After the battle of Wolf 359, Velik returns to the service. Starfleet took many looses and they became short for trained officers. Velik always had believed in the team and knowing that his former comrades were short handed he returned to starfleet but this time as a counselor due to his diplomatic reputation as a civilian and experience with multiple species. He quickly takes to his new role and finally become successful in Starfleet earning praises and commendations.

Here is where I feel one of the other PC's would also fit in. Having served with one of them in the past, they would have reached out for help. It could be anyone but I would need to sort that out with another of the players in the group. I figure I'd make friends with a senior member who would be able to recommend to re-enlistment and who a risen in the ranks over the years that Velik was not a member of Starfleet. Vulcan's have long life spans allowing me to really have Velik spend a long time as a civilian. 

The value I mark down is "there is a place for everyone" now that Velik has found his purpose in life and again in Starfleet. 

Step Six: Career Events

My dice in a lonely hotel room
in Yellowknife, NWT

This next step will be fun. One of the events I roll will be during his time in Starfleet while the second event will occur during his years as a civilian. Never without two sets of dice, I rolled two d20s and scored a 4 and a 2. Negotiate a Treaty and Death of a Friend respectively.

I was hoping for Dealing with a Plague or Encounter with a Truly Alien Being but I stick to my roles and I think it will really shape Velik.

Death of a Friend will be the straw that breaks the back and convince Velik to leave Starfleet. It also makes sense because this is an emotional reaction and not a logical one. The friend was a joined Trill Lasru Naid, who was the only person in Velik career to treat him well. Naid was a medical officer with quite some experience and started a friendship with the out of place Vulcan finding the emotional young officer interesting and insightful. Naid had plenty of experience with Vulcans over the years and found Velik at first to be an interesting oddity and later on as young friend. Velik would have valued the friendship and take the death badly. 

The death would be from ship's damage from a non-combat situation, some sort of malfunction or environmental damage, just bad luck. I also think this would make it opposite of his experience from his Kahs-wan. He learns from it even though he still leaves Starfleet and I pick a focus in Counselling.

Negotiate a Treaty would be part of his time at a trade station. I picture it a hub of commerce and trade like Deep Space Nine but without bridging the frontier and civilization that DS9 is known for. Velik would in this case be the mediator and works with both parties to a profitable arrangement. I pick the Klingons because they are difficult to work with, and the Betazoids because any agreement between those two races would stand out and be a memorable event. I pick Negotiation as Velik's focus due to the role he played in the agreement. 

I feel this type of event would also earn him some recognition from the Federation as an up and coming diplomat and negotiator. This reputation would serve him well when he re-enlisted into Starfleet.  

Step Seven: Finishing Touches

The last step closes off the character building process. For a final Value I write down "Second Chances are for everyone" as a final value from his second go at being a Starfleet officer. I increase his Insight to 11 and his Reason to 9. Velik still has room to grow and he is still a Vulcan so I'm happy with his attributes. Discipline wise I increase his Medicine and Security by 1 each taking into account his experience aboard the trade station. He would have to be more self sufficient with his own personal security and his knowledge of psychology would have expanded. 

Cleaning things up I find myself missing an Attribute point, and a Discipline point so I'll need to reach out to Ontos about that after I go over my creation again. I have a good grasp of Velik's personality, optimistic about people but not naive. He's older so closer to 120 years old, dark skin and grey hair. I've selected the ships counselor since it's not a critical role to play if I'm missing and it fits well with Velik's background. I pick the rank of LCdr (Lieutenant Commander).

I'll write down my equipment later once I sort out the missing points.

This was fun and look for another post on Building Character soon for another role-playing game next week when I look at the Infinity RPG.

- Dozer