The only thing you have to rule as a GM is, ok, it will take you that amount of time to cut through.

This is a good point, though it's hard to figure out how Yoda took out all that equipment in TCW Season 1, E1

But Breach 2 or 3 might be all that's needed to account for it...

The way I would do it:

I liked your argumentation, but still bring me some doubts.

http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/clone-wars/the-lost-one here, Dooku slices the saber with no efforts causing a critical damage (probably) destroying the ships engines of a freighter with an armor of, at least 2 or more.

You can handle this scene simply as the narrative outcome of rolling one or more triumphs (despairs) by Dooku (Anakin).

"Do something vital, such as shooting the controls to the nearby blast doors to seal them shut."

Also, in other scenes from Clone Wars we can see the confederation tanks, and also the super confederation tank, that where nearly immune to heavy fire, sliced easily by lightsabers again. Probably those tanks armor would be 4 or more, so... http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/clone-wars/weapons-factory Here the Supertanks

The character asks the GM get into the tank by cutting through its armor. As a GM I will rule how long does it take, 1, 2, 3... rounds, and ask for a stealth or skulduggery check opposed by the crew's vigilance (with some setback dice since lightsaber cutting is not very subtle) to see if they catch them unaware. If time is not important, as in that particular scene of the episode, I will just ask for the opposed roll and let's move on.

Hi everyone again!

Did you have any problem about Stats-Skill related problems? I mean, games that link so directly Stats with Skills use to carry some problems (not always of course).

For example: Imagine a Hutt with Br 5 or 6. I'm aware that s/he have 3 Setbacks, but, is enough considering that s/he have 5 or 6 dices on Athletics? Anyone tried to separate this or do you consider that for a few "extreme" cases, there is no need to worry?

Thanks

Also, 1 thing about Lightsabers that the books I do not think covers is that it cannot cut through energy! It can either Absorb it...As Mace Windu does against Palpatine & Obi Wan does against Dooku, or it bounces off of it/reflects it (Ep 1 or ANY OTHER STAR WARS MOVIE!). And Cortosis. So that has to be in the equation w/ your Breach X scenario or any other scenario.

Yep, even without the existance of Cortosis itself also I have to say that someone mentioned that "Cortosis" appeared on a canon book, but without a clear descriptions of its properties, I would consider that protection or weapons energy based retain their propertienes against lightsaber with a "Cortosis" effect.

Did you have any problem about Stats-Skill related problems? I mean, games that link so directly Stats with Skills use to carry some problems (not always of course).

For example: Imagine a Hutt with Br 5 or 6. I'm aware that s/he have 3 Setbacks, but, is enough considering that s/he have 5 or 6 dices on Athletics? Anyone tried to separate this or do you consider that for a few "extreme" cases, there is no need to worry?

I'm not sure what the issue is you're asking about. What is it you want to "separate"?

I mean that Stats and Skills are not naturally related... I'll try to explain a bit better.

For example, in some cases, high Attributes (or not so high) can grant tons of Ability dices to skills with not so much coherence. The clearest sample is the Hutt with Athletics. I'm aware that restrictions like only 1 Movement and 3 Setbacks on all that type of skills could be enough, but, 5 green dices uses to compensate those 3 Setbacks because they use to grant Threat instead Failures.

So I was asking if this cases are enough to consider separate direct benefits to Skills without Stats unless you have Ranks on it or exceptions aren't enough to bother with a Houserule.

Imagine that, Stats only grant you Boosts, Advantages or other options, but, when you gain Ranks to the Skill, you just apply them as normal.

Did I explained properly?

Got it, thanks. I don't really see an issue. I certainly wouldn't let a Hutt climb a rope, but I'm not sure that's worth a house rule, it's too specific. However, a Hutt with Brawn 5 could still do some amazing things, using their fat to squirm up a rough cliff, or even "jump" a gap by rearing up onto their tail and lunging forward like an inch-worm. And fat is less dense than water, so I'm sure they can swim just fine. If the player can describe it well, why not?

Gold rule, common sense. Absolutely agree. Thanks

After watching SW Rebels S2 trailer, and the scene about Kanan and his shoulderpad armor, I'm reconsidering the existance of "Cortosis". Suggestions?

After watching SW Rebels S2 trailer, and the scene about Kanan and his shoulderpad armor, I'm reconsidering the existance of "Cortosis". Suggestions?

Is there something about the existing rules you don't like? Maybe we can start there and see what we can do.

Hi kaosoe!

Not problem about rules itself, in general I like almost everything about mechanics, but in our games we just change some value to fit them some more with canon elements.

Until the moment, we haven't seen any canon reference about a material that can resist lightsabers (apart of those ones energy based, dark magiks based and Zillo beast hide). But after watching the SW Rebels S2 trailer seems that there are existing materials that can resist lightsabers apart those one mentioned.

Rules seems pretty to me and my players but we try to mantain canon as much as we can. So, based on that video, personally, I believe that Kanan shoulderpad seems to "resist" a lightsaber direct hit. So "Cortosis" (or something similar) probably seems that exist.

There were no evidences of that on Clone Wars but seems that Rebels era could be a bit different.

Maybe Kanan went on a hunt for such a material shortly after him and Hera met up.

I know that there is a novel/book that is previous to Rebels that they talk about a material called "Cortosis" http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cortosis/Canon that can "deflect energy". Seems that the description isn't enough accurate, but, after watching the trailer seems that is possible that they "recovered" Cortosis for the canon, and seems that really can "resist" a lightsaber impact... don't get hit twice by the way XD

Phrik alloy appears in Ep3, the magna guards' electro staffs, this is lightsaber resistant similar to Cortosis.

I watched those scenes on the CW so many times and seems that lightsaber hits always impact on the "energized parts" and when they don't do it, those staffs are "easily" broken (Grievous vs Obi-Wan with staff scene).

This why I always add the "energy based weapons" on my descriptions, but until the moment, only Kanan, and the three previous sample I mentioned on the other post SEEMS that can resist lightsaber hits.

Hi again!

Now we are testing a houserule. Still on beta but...

We have halved the Soak that comes from Brawn (rounded down) and increased armor values to create wider ranges, this way a heavy armor wouldn't have only 1 or 2 extra points than a heavy robes.

The rest of talents and rules are just the same and the final result is the same, but the main change will make unarmored characters a bit more vulnerable to blaster fire and other weapons and we will create a bigger armor repertory with those extra values that can be easily converted.

For example, heavy clothes still Soak 1 but now Stormtrooper armor is 4.

This changes aren't canon focused... because armors in SW seems just cool clothes instead real protection XD

Hi again!

We are still testing rules (the previous one from armor/soak seems that works pretty well, but considering if rounded up or rounded down). We added a broader variety of armor possibilities thanks to this and reduced "non armored Soak monster "problem".

Now I'm considering to add to armors a value similar to the Durable Talent or even, make that some armors give that Talent. Add? replace?

Still on concept and I must discuss this with my player

I've been toying with some house rules for Droid characters. Since they can incorporate items and weapons into their bodies, it would make sense to allow them to install Modifications, substituting Cybernetic Slots for HP. For instance, instead of having armor with the Enhanced Optics Suite attachment, a Droid could just install that mod directly into their body, using up a Cybernetic slot. This would essentially give them 6HP to work with, but it doesn't seem OP since modifications tend to be significantly less powerful than most Cybernetic upgrades.

The only way I could see this being abused is via the Hands Free Weapon Attachment, but more weapons mean more difficulty, and that would still require 2 Cybernetic Slots (and a weapon HP), which I think balances out, considering those slots could otherwise be used on 2 attribute bonuses, multiple skill bonuses, or multiple innate talents.

As far as equipment HP goes, it would probably stack. For instance, if a droid character equips Laminate armor, the book says the character is essentially installing the armor onto their body. Since Laminate armor has 3 HP, and is now a part of the droid's body, it would make sense that the HP just combines with their natural HP, for a total of 9 (which I'm not even sure a droid could spend, considering they don't need a lot of the armor attachments meant for organics).

Overall, I think this makes sense from an RP perspective, and it also makes droids more enticing to play (considering their fairly low starting XP, after taking into account their starting attributes). I've been doing the math, and while almost any race I've looked at can easily have two rank-4 attributes along with either all 2's or all 2's and a 1, the most a Droid can hope for is a 4, a 3, and all 1's (with a 2, if they don't want any talents or skills; They could also do a 4 and all 2's, which puts them about 70xp[!] behind your other races). Actually, @quicksabre puts it a lot better than I did:

If we try to build a non-human stat block with a droid, we'll have 45XP left over instead of 100. So the question here is, essentially, do the droid's abilities equal 55XP. They do get an extra skill over and above the typical two (or one plus talent or equivalent) of most species, so that's worth 5 (unless you really wanted that cross-class skill, but if you're a droid you probably don't). Which means the force resistance and lack of a need to eat or breathe is worth 50XP. That seems like a lot to me.

Considering they're also affected by Ion damage, along with numerous RP setbacks, I think this is a house rule that makes a lot of sense and helps enhance what playing a droid should be (an equipment-based highly-modifiable entity), without unbalancing the current system.

[Edit] I realized since droids can already install equipment directly onto their bodies, this kind of makes the Hands Free Weapon issue moot.

I also realized that this rule could technically apply to any character, and would give way more options for a cybernetically oriented character. If HP and Cybernetic Slots could be used interchangeably, then characters wouldn't be limited to the mostly expensive and arguably overpowered cybernetic options available. It makes sense that a Human could buy an Enhanced Optics Suite cybernetic attachment. Maybe double the cost and increase the rarity for non-droid characters, since the mod would need to be...um...modded for such a use.

The other ideas I had for dealing with Cybernetics are as follows:

As it stands, a single point of Ion damage getting past soak is enough to completely obliterate a cybernetic character for an entire encounter, which is absolutely ridiculous. I'm currently experimenting with two simultaneous methods for handling this:

1) Any character with cybernetic devices takes Strain damage from Ion attacks (which I think is already a rule in the book). I think they should take less than a Droid, and take less the fewer devices they have (i.e. a character with 1 upgrade should take less damage than a character with 6), though I haven't figured out a good way to calculate that. It would make sense that a character with 6 would take as much damage as a Droid, since Droids can have 6 upgrades, and then characters would take less damage with 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 upgrades. Maybe even do simple subtraction. So a character with 5 upgrades takes Ion Damage -1 (after it gets past soak). A character with 4 upgrades takes -2, etc. This could be to a minimum of 1 damage, so if any Ion gets through their soak, they are guaranteed to take at least 1 damage and suffer the effects of point 2 below:

2) If a point of Ion damage gets past the character's soak, they add 1 Setback die per cybernetic upgrade for a number of rounds equal to the damage. For example, a character with 3 cybernetic upgrades that took 4 Ion damage (past their soak) would suffer 3 setback die to all checks for 4 rounds. Length wouldn't stack, but overlap. So if they had 2 rounds left and took another 5 Ion Damage, they would suffer for 5 rounds, not 7. If they had 5 rounds left and took 2 Ion Damage, then they would still just suffer for 5 rounds. This is more difficult to keep track of, but is better than having a paraplegic character due to a single point of Ion damage. As with the 1st point, this would not affect Droids, as they are already susceptible to Ion damage.

We have a house rule that improved parry and improve reflect only take 2 threats or 1 despair to activate instead of 3.

Also have several houserule talents amd working on two specializations. One is a special ops and the other the Jar'Kai

lightsaber form

These are less house rules, and more an alternate rules system... For those that are RAW fans, thats cool man, not my bag though, so please try to be constructive. That being said, the goal of these rules is simplicity, and consistency. OK, here goes:

Alternate Dice Mechanic:

Advantages may be converted to successes on a 3:1 basis.

When a triumph is rolled, it counts as 2 successes, and allows you to re-roll that die and add any additional results to your roll.

Whenever a rule calls for adding a Boost or Setback die, instead add an advantage, or a threat.

Ranged:

Assemble your ranged dice pool, and add one (failure) per difficulty indicated by range band.

They may take on up to 5 strain to cancel successes on a one for one basis(If they are not in cover, or otherwise equipped to evade blaster fire, they lose their next full action). If one success remains, the defender suffers Half the listed weapon dmg(rounded down), if more than one success remains, then the defender suffers full weapon damage.

Melee:

Make a melee attack opposed by the defender’s melee pool(provided they are appropriately armed) or the defender's agility score(if they are not). The defender may take on up to 5 strain to cancel successes on a one for one basis. If there are any remaining successes, then the defender suffers weapon damage plus Brawn - armour soak.. If the defender ends up with more successes, then the attacker suffers one strain.

Damage and Criticals:

Whenever a character suffers more unsoaked wound damage than their brawn rating, they suffer a critical hit. Multiply the amount of unsoaked damage suffered by five, and add that to your percentile roll on the critical hit chart.

Soak:

Soak is only derived from Armor value and special abilities.

I rule that a character can't aim and use autofire in the same round

Also i use maps printed in 11x17 inch pieces it costs 1 maneuver to move 1 sheet over and then convert from the number of maneuvers to range bands (any one on the same sheet of paper is in short range, 2 to 3 sheets away are medium range, 4 to 5 sheets away are long range, this makes using minis easy)

My group wound up with 4 of the old clones from the Mask of the Pirate Queen working for them. For ease of play I'm going to make into robust minions BUT I made up a trait called Aged. When one of these minions is taken out from damage or a crit he will die unless the players spend a destiny point. Then he is just wounded and needs healing before he can be of use.

I'm currently running a few.

1. The GM also rolls for Destiny Points: My group is just 2 players, and sometimes, it means the DP pool is ridiculously low. So, I toss in a die too just to try and up the numbers. Works fine for smaller than average groups.

2. Don't flip Destiny Points when using Dark Side pips: Again, this is a result of our small group, and thus small DP pool. We don't use them much, because it's so small, it means I sometimes have to continuously keep adding in stuff with the DP to make sure they've got a light side DP to flip. We just don't use the DP's much. So, no DP flipping. Which works well for us, as it means the Dark Side is quicker, easier, and more seductive than before

3. Stuning: Anyone familiar with Exalted or Scion will recognize that term. Basically, the more cool/awesomely you describe what you're about to do, the bigger of a benefit I'll give you. Don't just say, "I'm going to try and intimidate the predator animal attacking the civilians" say "I'm going to ignite my saber, drag the blade along the ground, sparking up gravel and dust as it turns them to plasma heated gas, and screaming like a rancor!" "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Have a boost die for that!" It encourages more creative descriptions from the players, and in general, makes the game more dramatic, cinematic, and awesome. Which is what Star Wars is all about.

4. Despair Event Tracker: Not sure if this is a house rule, or if it might be printed somewhere, but I decided that I don't like trying to track timed events in a tense situation. I have trouble keeping track of lots of different things, and will quickly forget to take note that on this round X is supposed to happen, and next round Y is supposed to happen. So, instead, I made a "Despair Chart". In scenes that are significantly dangerous/dramatic, I have one of the die be a red die, in every roll. I tell the players "This is a very dangerous situation you are in, bad things could happen at a moments notice...that's what this red die represents." Then we do the scene as normal. If they happen to roll a Despair, I check a little chart I made, for how things get worse with each one. This way, you can have a scene where "The reactor is going to explode in 2 minutes!!" But in the movies, the action always takes longer than 2 minutes. So that way, I'm not tracking specific number of turns, just how close they are to the "Boom" Despair result. Each new Despair, introduces a new negative effect. That way, you still have your dramatic building of tension, without having to try and gauge "Ok, so how many turns is enough to be risky, but not so long as to be no real threat? And how few can I give them without it being simply impossible?" It's worked out quite well at our table.