Character Creation

Overview

Character creation happens twice in Zero Company. Hawks, the player character, is built once at the start of the campaign. Custom Operators are then created throughout it, whenever the roster has room.

Almost none of it is permanent. The choices that are permanent are made on a different screen entirely, before creation begins.

Creating Hawks

Hawks’ six species are a narrower list than custom Operators get. Completing the campaign once adds Weequay and Ovissian, taking it to eight: see New Game Plus.

Hawks is the only Operator exempt from permadeath, but not from failure: if Hawks is defeated in battle the mission ends immediately and has to be restarted, whatever the Permadeath setting.

Creating Custom Operators

Recruits are built from scratch with a wider pool than Hawks:

Clone Operators are not open from the start: they unlock after a point in the story, so the pool begins at ten origins and reaches eleven. On a campaign started after completing one, clones are available immediately.

Astromech droids are built separately, through the droid builder rather than the species list, and need the Droid Repair Bay bought at the Den’s Upgrade Facility. See Exotic Classes.

What Is Permanent and What Is Not

This is the part worth knowing before spending time on a build.

Fixed for the campaign, set on the Difficulty Settings screen before creation:

• Permadeath, on or off
• Beskar Mode, which commits the run to a single save with no manual saving

Changeable at any time, at no cost:

• Specializations, Talents, weapons, and Focus Point distribution, from the Personnel facility
• Species and appearance for Hawks and custom Operators, at the Den’s Customization Facility, not only at creation
• Difficulty level, from the menu outside combat

Fixed once chosen: Cross Trainings from the Bond System, and the Talents of authored characters.

Species and Class Do Not Change Your Stats

Bit Reactor has confirmed that no species or faction has better weapon proficiencies, so no origin is mechanically stronger than another. Outfits do not affect gameplay either. Species and appearance are presentation; Specialization and Weapon Class are the decisions that change how an Operator plays.

Any weapon can be paired with any Specialization, so a Sharpshooter is not tied to a Longarm nor a Soldier to a Repeater.

Choosing a Specialization

EA’s official Specialization and Weapon guide, published 28 August 2026, suggests pairings by playstyle. This is the publisher’s guidance, reproduced as published:

Because Specializations can be changed freely afterwards, this is a starting point rather than a commitment. Every Operator also gains a second Specialization after Cycle 18.

Related

• All 12 Classes for the full ability kits
• Squad Customisation for roster limits and re-customising companions
• Species & Races for the species in the game
• Weapons for the four Weapon Classes and their stats
• Permadeath and Difficulty for the settings fixed at creation

References

If information is missing, it has not yet been confirmed. Corrections are welcome.