Star Wars SAGA Edition: Characters

[OgreBattle]

Robot customization sounds entertaining. Is there a build to have lots of arms for shooting dudes

What's space fighter combat like?

[Avoraciopoctules]

You can have lots of arms, but it doesn't usually translate to extra attacks. Integrating a bunch of high-damage low-ammo weapons into a robot or armor CAN be really good for "two weapon fighting" with field artillery though.

The vehicle and fleet battle combat feels a little clunky, but it IS fun making a guy who can fight some walkers or X-wings. Optimized Saga feels a lot like playing a Marvel superhero RPG.

[Iduno]

You can have lots of arms, but it doesn't usually translate to extra attacks.

I was hoping to hear a comparison to the weird computer game Gearhead (If your engineering skill is high enough, you can bolt any part to any other part, creating mechs with an arbitrarily large number of limbs and also wings).

The vehicle and fleet battle combat feels a little clunky, but it IS fun making a guy who can fight some walkers or X-wings. Optimized Saga feels a lot like playing a Marvel superhero RPG.

This sounds promising, though.

[Dean]

I'll note that I could totally buy someone telling me that a huge dex made a generally more survivable character. You're trading damage potential for increased Reflex and, perhaps more importantly, increased Stealth. Also even if you go with the strength build nothing's saying you can't hold a lightsaber while you karate attack people. When I want a different flavor than the mechanics demand of me I am often satisfied by just describing things in a close enough way to be a happy medium. If your character is doing flips and spinning lightsabers and kicking and elbowing who's to say some lightsaber hits aren't getting in there. Mechanically it's all just 1d6+50dmg attacks but what's described at the table is more powerful than what's described on the sheet.

I was hoping to hear a comparison to the weird computer game Gearhead (If your engineering skill is high enough, you can bolt any part to any other part, creating mechs with an arbitrarily large number of limbs and also wings).

The gear system (and to some extend therefore the droid system) actually is basically exactly like that. You can modify any piece of gear and if you're good enough at modding gear you could make a large Jetpack with an integrated jetpack with an integrated miniaturized Jetpack with an integrated tiny prototype jetpack. Unlimited recursion isn't possible but you can go pretty far down the rabbit hole.

Saga made the decision that space combat would be virtually identical in all ways to ground combat, just moving in 500ft squares or whatever and shooting weapons that deal 1d6X10 or something. From a simplicity point of view it's a good decision. The 2nd edition of the Star Wars d20 game that preceded Saga had a lot more detailed rules about facing and angling your deflector shields and whatnot and it was kinda cool but it also made simple dogfights take hours so *shrug*

Avoracio has it right that the actual best part is flying around as your own personal spacesuit shooting down tie fighters and the like. That's an upside benefited from the combat rules being identical.

[Avoraciopoctules]

On the Fake Jedi end of things, I was reprogramming an A Series assassin droid for Tactical Tractor Beam specialization when I realized something interesting. If that’s a ranged grapple, could you apply Crush and Pin feats? That basically turns it into a “force choke” you can use at Heavy Weapon ranges, where most Jedi would have difficulties hitting you with magic or sabers.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Preliminary research suggests that yes, you can use grappling feats with Tactical Tractor Beams. It's a really interesting and powerful combat option, especially when you exploit falling damage on top of that.

Unfortunately, I saw a troubling clause when I was leveling up my Reaction Jackson inspired gadgeteer.

Return Fire
When someone takes a shot at you and misses, you retaliate with a shot of your own.

Prerequisites: Dexterity 15, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus (Chosen Weapon)

Effect: Select one Exotic Weapon or weapon group for which you possess the Weapon Focus Feat. Once per encounter as a Reaction, you can make a single ranged attack with the chosen weapon against an enemy that misses you with a ranged attack, provided you have line of sight to the enemy.

Special: This Feat does not apply to Vehicle Weapons or Heavy Weapons. You must have your weapon in hand to use this Feat. You can take this Feat multiple times. Each time you take this Feat, it applies to a different weapon group or Exotic Weapon.

It looks like doing counterattacks with your suit's built in rocket launcher might be specifically banned on two separate levels. Is there something I'm missing here?

EDIT: The Rakatan Weapon Template changes weapon type to Exotic for the purposes of proficiency. That MIGHT be arguable as letting you bypass the "no vehicle or heavy weapons" restriction. But the "wielded in hands" restriction is still a problem. I can't use mounted weapons outside their mounts, and my hands are full using a Riot Shield and Mastercraft Microshield for major defense bonuses.

[Dean]

First of all I love the idea of using a bunch of grappling feats or talents to make a tractor beam master. I've never thought of that build or seen it done and I think that rules. Very very clever idea. If you find any particularly cool talents or feats for the build let me know I really wanna see if that can do something cool.

Also yes the workaround for the Reaction Jackson build is that you modify the rocket launcher with the Rakatan gear template which upgrades its damage die at the "cost" of making it an exotic weapon which then makes it legal to use with Return Fire. The notion of the weapon needing to be "in hand" was pure fluff. I liked the image of the rockets firing from around my arms but between the Quick Draw feat, the "Silverplate" modification, and the Quick Draw gear template (and Integrated Equipment stating that things you integrate don't need to be drawn and count as always able to be used) you can draw as much stuff as a free action as you want. So I basically just pointed out to the DM that I can draw stuff as free actions and would prefer if my missiles were on my back or arms or wherever I liked fluff wise.

Even if your DM was a real stickler I bet you could get away with saying that you have the trigger mechanism that retracts into your arm and the actual missiles still come from your back or forearm or wherever you like.