This character sucks? Opinions please!

[hippie_mama]

I spent the better part of two days making a Star Wars character that would fit a police drama type campaign, and i was pretty proud of the results, but my gaming pals? Not so impressed. I asked them to look over my math and be sure i wasn't overlapping the skills and abilities of other PCs too much, because they have more experience with the system and the gaming group itself, but instead, i got a lot of 'well that's not what i would have done with it...' and advice about how to make it 'better.' One guy even said 'at least you picked all the stuff yourself' (implying i don't usually!?). :mad:

So yeah. I'm well aware that it could be 'more badass' and i would like to think i'm intelligent enough to come up with a better 'build' on my own, but i don't want to change it any; this is what i envisioned for the type of character i want to play. The thing is, i do want to know honestly if i made something that will suck to play. Should i come up with something else? Is this poor guy hopeless as-is? I want opinions, not help--thanks!
__________________________________________________ _____________________________

Human
Soldier (level 5)

age: 30ish
gender: male
height: 6'2”
weight: 190
eyes: brown
hair: black
skin: light

Str: 16 (+3)
Dex: 16 (+3)
Con: 13 (+1)
Int: 10
Wis: 11
Cha: 10

Hit Points: 59
Defenses
Ref: 10 + heroic level or armor bonus + dex mod + class bonus (1) + natural armor bonus + size mod
Fort: 10 + heroic level + con mod + class bonus (2) + equipment bonus
Will: 10 + heroic level + wis mod + class bonus
Damage Threshold = Fort Def
Attack Bonuses
Base Attack: +5
Melee: base attack + str mod
Ranged: base attack + dex mod
Speed: 6 squares
Force Points: 5+1/2 level

Skills
Initiative
Mechanics
Perception
Knowledge (tactics)

Starting Feats
Armor (light)
Armor (medium)
Weapons: Pistols
Weapons: Rifles
Weapons: Simple

Feats (not in chronological order)
1. Careful Shot (+1 on attack when aimed)
2. Point Blank Shot (+1 attack and damage on point blank foes)
3. Precise shot (no -5 for melee)
4. Improved Defenses (+1 on all defenses)
5. Martial Arts I (increase unarmed attacks by one dice step; +1 dodge bonus to ref def)

Talents
1. Battle Analysis (make tactics check DC 15 to know who's reduced to ½ HP)
2. Cover Fire (when making ranged pistol/rifle attack, allies within 6 squares gain +1 Ref Def until start of next turn)
3. Harm's Way (once per round spend swift action to shield adjacent ally from attacks, taking damage etc. instead)

Starting Credits: 2250 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2590699/)

Standard Gear (GM-granted)
1 Light Armor
1 Constable Uniform
1 Blaster Pistol
1 Set of handcuffs
1 Commlink
1 Binoculars
1 Stun Baton
1 Datapad with secure police connection

[canadiansatan]

It's a very standard cop character. Frankly, nothing really stands out as unique. If ths is the starting point of the game, that could be fine. You'll be pretty good with a blaster pistol, but something like rapid fire might help you stand out more as a pistol user. I always like to pick something to be my character's 'thing.' If your guy's thing is to be a well rounded support character, then you've got it.

[hippie_mama]

I was hoping his 'thing' would be protecting his teammates and innocent bystanders with Cover Fire and Harm's Way. A morally heroic cop does sound pretty standard for the genre, but no one else in the group took those talents! They're too busy being flashy.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

I think your character looks fine and that the other players are being overly critical.

Maybe talk to the GM and see what kind of campaign he is intending to run, if it is going to be flashy super action movie all the time campaign, then you might just want to go balls-to-the-wall and min/max like crazy. But if there is going to be any significant roleplaying and what not then I wouldn't worry about it.

It is one thing to have a badass min/maxed character on paper, it is a WHOLE other thing to play that character in an actual game!

I would tell the other players to shove off and this is the character you want to play. Looks fine to me!

[hippie_mama]

I sat in on last week's session, and it was about 70% RP, 30% combat, so i do think it'll be ok on the whole. I can't seem to get any comment out of the GM on the subject though (is it even approved for his game? can't tell for sure...), which raises a whole lot of other concerns, but i guess that's beside the point for now. For now i'll assume no news is good news.

It's a small group; maybe if this character doesn't work out, i can make a ridiculously combative one, and play both. :P

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

[QUOTE=hippie_mama;144601]I sat in on last week's session, and it was about 70% RP, 30% combat, so i do think it'll be ok on the whole.[quote]

Why?

I fail to see how this is a poorly create or rule breaking character.

[hippie_mama]

I don't think it is either, but GMs generally let you know if it's approved or not; he hasn't.

Guess i won't see for another week; he rescheduled this week's session for a day i can't make it.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

So what happened?

[hippie_mama]

It seems to be going pretty well; i'm still playing. Combat is still on the low side, so i haven't really used cover fire or anything, but he bad guys tend to attack my character anyway, which is cool with me. This week the RP ended up being really heavy--delved into the good ol backstory a lot, so at least i got the personality established. So far, so good.

[Slipstream]

This week the RP ended up being really heavy--delved into the good ol backstory a lot, so at least i got the personality established. So far, so good.
My group has three campaigns that go in cycles and we're generally pretty heavy RP. Sounds similar to your group. As for the gripers, they can screw off. Your character sounds good. As long as everyone is having fun, you are good to go. If they play video games a lot, they may have the elite mentality of power gaming. I've recently met a lot of jerk players in WoW who have passive-aggressively ridiculed the build of one my characters. Apparently you are in the wrong if you are not them.