Derived Attributes
S
ome character attributes are based on other
choices made during character creation or over the
course of a campaign. Some of these attributes may
change frequently over the course of play, or be modi-
fied by talents, equipment, or other special abilities.
WOUND THRESHOLD
A character's wound threshold represents how much
physical damage he can withstand before he is
knocked out. Wounds can be serious and lead to criti-
cal injury. Wounds can be treated with Medicine but
may take time to recover (droids use Mechanics to
repair wounds instead).
A character's starting wound threshold is deter-
mined based on his species and his Brawn rating. After
determining this initial value, increases to a character's
Brawn rating do not increase his wound threshold;
wound threshold improvements are acquired by pur-
chasing the appropriate talent, such as Toughened.
STRAIN THRESHOLD
A character's strain threshold represents how much
duress a character can withstand before he is stunned,
dazed, or otherwise incapacitated. Strain represents
psychological or mental "damage" to the character.
Strain is more easily suffered than wounds, and can
even be used as a resource by players to trigger cer-
tain character abilities. Thankfully, characters recover
from strain more quickly than from wounds.A character's starting strain threshold is determined
based on his race and his Willpower rating. After de-
termining this initial value, increases to a character's
Willpower rating do not increase his strain threshold-
strain threshold improvements are acquired by ^
purchasing appropriate talents, such as Grit.DEFENSE
Defense determines how difficult a character is to hit
in combat situations. Characters have both a ranged
defense and a melee defense. A character's default
value in both ranged defense and melee defense is
zero. If a character's defense value is listed simply as
"Defense" and not specifically defined by separate
ranged and melee values, then the same value is ap-
plied to both his ranged and melee defense.
Defense is most commonly gained by wearing ar-
mor, or by adopting a defensive position in combat,
such as gaining cover. Some special talents may also
increase one of the character's defense ratings.SOAK VALUE
A character's soak value determines how much in-
coming damage he can shrug off before taking real
damage. The soak value is subtracted from any in-
coming damage to the character. Any remaining dam-
age after subtracting the soak value becomes wounds
applied against the character's wound threshold.
A character's default soak value is equal to his
Brawn rating. After determining this initial value, in-
creases to a character's Brawn rating do increase his
soak value. Additional soak value bonuses are most
often gained by wearing armor. Some talents may
also increase a character's innate soak value.