I asked a few questions of the FFG Developers and got a few answers back.

These answers come from Max Brooke. So,apparently Sam is on vacation, or someone decided to help him out finally.

Recruit Universal Specialization

AoR Core Rulebook page 140: “Talents that are not ranked can only be purchased a single time. If a character is advancing through a specialization tree and reaches a talent without ranks that he has already acquired from another specialization tree, then he automatically purchases that talent on his new talent tree without spending experience points.”

There are four talents on the recruit tree that grant specific career skills (Basic, Tactical and Vehicle Combat Training and Well Traveled).

If you already possess the career skills that one of those talents grant you, must you pay the cost for that talent, or are you granted that talent without spending experience points?

For example, A Soldier Medic that takes recruit. Because he is already trained in Brawl, Melee, Ranged (Light), and Ranged (Heavy), he effectively already has the equivalent of both Basic Combat Training and Tactical Combat Training. Would he gain those Talents without spending experience points? Or would he still need to spend 5 experience points apiece for those talents?

I realize that he can always work his way down one pathway and work his way back up another to avoid spending experience points on talents that are unnecessary to him, but does he need to go to that trouble?

Optical Camouflage System

“This attachment can be equipped on any type of armor, but it is nearly useless on laminate or plastoid heavy armor, which is often too bulky and loud to mask properly.”

What does this really mean? Should we only allow it to be applied to armors that have a base soak of 1 or less?

Dodge.

Can Dodge (or Sidestep for that matter) be used in vehicle combat?

It seems to me that they cannot as they both refer to ranged combat checks, whereas Starship combat refers to making a combat check with vehicle weapons.

One of my players argues otherwise at least for the Dodge talent.

Pressure Point

EotE Core Rulebook page 141: “When making a Brawl check against a living opponent, the character may choose to forgo dealing damage as wounds, instead dealing the equivalent damage as strain, plus additional strain equal to his ranks in Medicine. These checks cannot be made with any weapons, but this strain damage is not reduced by soak.”

Does all of the damage inflicted ignore soak, or only the damage added from the Medicine Skill?

Is it effectively: The attack gains X Damage and Pierce X where X equals his Ranks in Medicine?

Or is it, the attack gains (Medicine Ranks in Damage) and Breach?

I would imagine that since Anatomy Lessons is in the same tree that you can spend a Destiny Point to boost that damage, but what about Soft Spot or Targeted Blow?

Does Feral Strength still add damage to Pressure Point as well?

Does the Cortosis attachment on armor prevent the bypassing of the target’s soak?

A/KT Shockrider Crash Suit and A/KT Wing Commander Armored Flight Suit

Both of these armors feature in the description the following Text:

“Thanks to its rugged construction and integrated armor, <Snip> suit reduces any strain received from Critical Hits dealt to the wearer’s vehicle by 1 (to a minimum of 1) and the flame-resistant coating reduces damage dealt to the wearer by fires and weapons with the Burn quality by 1.”

The only Critical Hit that I see that actually inflicts strain on a character aboard the ship is “10-18 Jostled: A small explosion or impact rocks the Vehicle. All crew members suffer 1 strain and are disoriented for one round.”

So, the protection from fires and the Burn quality I understand.

What exactly is the purpose of the other part? Since the minimum that can it be reduced to is 1 strain, and there is nothing that I see that deals more than 1 strain to the crew, what is the point?

Is there some other mechanic, that I might have missed, that applies additional strain to a character aboard a ship that has suffered a critical hit?

Stacking Armor

I know that you do not stack the benefit of soak from two different armors that you may be wearing (someone else already asked that).

If you are wearing a Smuggler’s trench coat over Laminate Armor do you get the best of the Soak and the best of the Defense?

For example, while wearing that combination of armors, do you have a Soak of 2 and a Defense of 1?

AoR Core Rulebook page 183: When worn, armor’s encumbrance rating is reduced by 3 points.

Do you reduce each set of armor worn by 3? Or do you add the 2 armors encumbrance ratings together, then reduce by 3?

For example, while wearing that combination of armors, is the character’s encumbrance from armor 1 ((4-3) + (3-3)), or 4 ((4+3)-3)?

DR-45 "Dragoon" Cavalry Blaster

Does it use attachments for Ranged (Light) weapons or Ranged (Heavy) Weapons or both?

If you could use its 3 HP for an Augmented Spin Barrel and a Fore Arm Grip for a potential for an Accurate 3 weapon, I'd be all over it. But, since it is a carbine I would assume that even if it can use Ranged (Heavy) attachments that it can't give it an Augmented Spin Barrel (even though it mentions it having a range-extending augmented spin barrel).

The fluff mentions it having the portability of a pistol with the range of a carbine. The portability I can see with it having an encumbrance of 1. Most pistols have medium range, as do all carbines (thus far). The Range is still only medium (again, even though it mentions it having a range-extending augmented spin barrel).

The only possible advantage that I see to this weapon is that if you rescue someone and you want to arm them, you have one weapon that can cover either skill.

Is there some subtle mis-translation of the fluff into the statistics of the weapon that I am missing?

Starship Sensors and Comms

On page 239 it describes Sensors and Comms, and state that Comms have a range equal to that of the sensors.

Is it always tied to that or just initially, and does that work both ways?

If you purchase the Upgraded Comms array attachment does that also increase the range of the ships sensors?

Or is it just supposed to be the Comms?

If you have a weapon with a range greater than your sensors can you not target things outside of your sensors range, or can you and there is just a penalty (Upgraded or increased difficulty, or setback dice)?

Example: YT-2400, Sensors: Short, Upgraded turrets have heavy laser cannons with advanced targeting arrays with sniper shot. Do you have to use the sensors in active mode (to boost them to medium range in a single arc) to be able to utilize the sniper shot mode to hit targets at medium range (in that arc)?

Woah. Those are a lot of questions. Unfortunately I doubt I'll be able to get to all these before heading out to GenCon. I'll try and make this a priority when I return.

Someone asked about this?

"PC: Uses Movement (Move to shooting range), uses Action (Attacks), and uses a second Movement (paying 2 Strain) to seek cover and run again far from enemies shooting range."

This is correct thanks to Strain "sacrifice" or because turns are almost simultaneous this isn't the proper choice?

Thanks!

Someone asked about this?

"PC: Uses Movement (Move to shooting range), uses Action (Attacks), and uses a second Movement (paying 2 Strain) to seek cover and run again far from enemies shooting range."

This is correct thanks to Strain "sacrifice" or because turns are almost simultaneous this isn't the proper choice?

Thanks!

You could do exactly that.

In fact, if you get 2 advantage when you make your attack you can spend it to take the maneuver to run away instead of spending the strain.

The whole spending-strain-for-a-second-manuever thing was a hot topic a little while ago. Following a rather heated discussion, I sent off for official clarification and received a formal response today.

My query:

Hi FFG,

During combat, each character gets to perform one maneuver and one action by default. However, if one wanted to gain a second maneuver on the same turn, the Rulebook mentions that this can be achieved most commonly either by downgrading the action (thereby losing it) or by voluntarily suffer two strain. Are these two options mutually exclusive?

For example: if a player chooses to voluntarily suffer two strain for a second maneuver, is the character still able to perform their free action, thereby allowing a character to perform up to (a maximum of) two maneuvers, plus the default action, in any one turn?

Thanks in advance for clarifying!

QuinnDx

Sam Stewart's response:

Hello QuinnDx,

You are correct, you can suffer two strain and gain two maneuvers in a turn, plus one action. You cannot perform more than two maneuvers in a single turn, however.

Hope this helps!

Sam Stewart

RPG Manager

Fantasy Flight Games

Here another "Concept" question:

Greetings Sam!

I have another concept doubt about difficulty Upgrades. I'm aware that Talents, Fear and also space maneuveurs Upgrades difficulty dices, also Destiny Points and some pieces of equipment but, what exactly can Upgrade diff a dice?

I readed 5 adventures, and apart those samples I mentioned, there were no Upgrades on difficulties BUT, a lot of that checks explained the option "If a Despair is rolled..."

So, from where Upgrades came? There use to be "usual"? Are upgrades a really hard exception to see?

Take care Sam!

---

Sam:

Hi Josep!

The whole idea of upgrading the difficulty of checks is that it isn't always the default (which is one of the reason the Despair options are usually so terrible!) and requires the GM to use a Destiny Point to put the possibility into play. That way the GM makes the conscious choice to put the option into play (and thus has taken a moment to think about the potential consequences to the player!).

Generally, we want to avoid creating a situation where the player rolls a Despair, and the GM and player suddenly both realize that something awful has happened to the player that neither of them wanted. This way, the GM has made the choice to introduce that complication, and is ready to deal with any potential consequences.

For example, I was running a prison break adventure during GenCon, and Despairs rolled during the break meant the alarm went off and the escape was discovered. Therefore, I usually held off from upgrading the difficulty of the checks until half-way through the adventure, when I knew the PCs had recovered their gear and were in a good spot to deal with this added challenge.

That being said, Despair can always show up in Opposed checks, or certain checks such as pilot checks or checks against Adversaries. Generally, in those situations we have options for Despair that are bad, but not completely game-changing (running out of ammo on a blaster is bad, but not crippling for a PC).

Hope that helps!

Sam

Do I still get to spend advantage, threat, triumph and despair if the combat check fails? I assume I do but at times that seems unfair.

Do I still get to spend advantage, threat, triumph and despair if the combat check fails? I assume I do but at times that seems unfair.

Yes you do, but you can't use any of them to trigger critical injuries/hits or special qualities (the former requires a damage roll above the target's soak/armour, and the second requires a hit).

Folks,

Keep in mind that the developers do not read these forums. If you want to ask questions to them and get official answers back, you need to use their web page form at https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/contact/rules/ and they will send a private response back to you.

The only purpose for this forum is for people to post a summary of the questions that they have asked to the developers, plus the response they got back from the developers.

If you want to ask questions to get unofficial answers from other members of the forums, please use other threads for that.

Had to split the content. The length of the original list was too big for a single post.

Also added the following:

Exceeding Wound Threshold and Suffering Critical Injuries

Question asked by Yoshiyahu :

According to the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook, page 215, "When a PC suffers wounds greater than his wound threshold, [...] [He] immediately suffers one Critical Injury." Additionally, on page 158, we are told that Advantage can be spent to trigger a Critical Injury multiple times, but each subsequent use of Advantage for this purpose results in +10 being added to the Critical Injury roll. Finally, according to an answer by Mr. Sam Stewart to another question regarding Critical Injury rolls, "Criticals are generated on a "per hit" basis. So if you've got multiple hits, you can have multiple crits, just one per hit."

My question is this: If a PC or NPC spends Advantage to trigger a Critical Injury, and the attack that generated the Advantage results in the target exceeding his Wound Threshold, does the target receive one Critical Injury at +10, or two Critical Injuries (the second at +10)?

In a related question, if a PC or NPC receives a number of wounds that cause his total number of wounds to exceed his Wound Threshold, he suffers one Critical Injury. If he receives additional wounds after exceeding his Wound Threshold, does he receive an additional Critical Injury? Is the Critical Injury only applied when the Wound Threshold is initially exceeded, or each time wounds are suffered after the Wound Threshold has been exceeded?

Answered by Sam Stewart :

During Step 4 the character chooses to spend Advantage or Triumph to activate the critical injury. If he activates it multiple times for a single hit, he’ll just be adding +10 to each roll. However, during that stage, he does not resolve the critical injury. He has just declared his intent to do so, essentially.

Then, during Step 6, the character resolves damage. At this point, he also resolves the critical injuries. If the damage would cause his wounds to exceed his wound threshold, the rules indicate his target suffers a critical injury. Since you can only suffer one critical injury per hit, this just “stacks” in with the critical injury he’s already activated. So if he spent three Advantage to trigger a crit once, and he incapacitated his target, he’d be inflicting one critical injury at a +10. If he triggered the crit rating twice, it would be at a +20.

To your final question; rules as written a character would not suffer a second critical injury if the character takes more damage and is already incapacitated. However, since the character is incapacitated and cannot defend himself, the GM would be perfectly within his rights to allow the second hit to inflict an automatic critical injury, or any other nasty effects depending on the circumstances. If the character is being shot at point blank range while lying helpless on the ground, for example, the GM could simply skip the critical injuries altogether, and proceed directly to complete, unrecoverable death.

Note, if you are the GM, and it is one of your player characters who is in this situation, do not do this to your player and his character.

Recruit Universal Specialization

Question asked by Dakkar98 :

AoR Core Rulebook page 140: “Talents that are not ranked can only be purchased a single time. If a character is advancing through a specialization tree and reaches a talent without ranks that he has already acquired from another specialization tree, then he automatically purchases that talent on his new talent tree without spending experience points.”

There are four talents on the recruit tree that grant specific career skills (Basic, Tactical and Vehicle Combat Training and Well Traveled).

If you already possess the career skills that one of those talents grant you, must you pay the cost for that talent, or are you granted that talent without spending experience points?

For example, A Soldier Medic that takes recruit. Because he is already trained in Brawl, Melee, Ranged (Light), and Ranged (Heavy), he effectively already has the equivalent of both Basic Combat Training and Tactical Combat Training. Would he gain those Talents without spending experience points? Or would he still need to spend 5 experience points apiece for those talents?

I realize that he can always work his way down one pathway and work his way back up another to avoid spending experience points on talents that are unnecessary to him, but does he need to go to that trouble?

Answered by Max Brooke :

Your proposed Soldier Medic would indeed need to purchase those talents to progress down those paths through the tree. Even though the soldier possesses the related career skills already, the character does not possess the talent named Basic Combat Training or Tactical Combat Training, so the character does not automatically gain those talents upon reaching them in the Recruit specialization tree.

Of course, the character certainly can purchase these talents to reach the ones below or, as you note, buy around them.

Optical Camouflage System

Question asked by Dakkar98 :

What does this really mean? Should we only allow it to be applied to armors that have a base soak of 1 or less?

Answered by Max Brooke :

This means that the attachment grants no benefit to laminate or heavy battle armor, and other, similar types of armor at the GM’s discretion. Any armor that would logically make too much noise for the wearer to mask effectively gains no benefit from this attachment. While that includes many types of armor that has a soak of 2 or higher, it does not necessarily include all armor with soak 2 or higher. For more exotic types of armor not covered in the Core Rulebook, the GM must make a judgment call based on some combination of what makes the most sense and what will lead to the most fun for the group.

Dodge

Question asked by Dakkar98 :

Can Dodge (or Sidestep for that matter) be used in vehicle combat?

It seems to me that they cannot as they both refer to ranged combat checks, whereas Starship combat refers to making a combat check with vehicle weapons.

One of my players argues otherwise at least for the Dodge talent.

Answered by Max Brooke :

Dodge, Sidestep, Defensive Stance, and other, similar talents that make the character personally harder to hit do not make a vehicle that a character is piloting harder to hit.

Dodge’s full text, for instance, reads “When targeted by a combat check (ranged or melee), the character may choose to immediately perform a Dodge incidental to suffer a number of strain, then upgrade the difficulty of the combat check by that number. The number of strain suffered cannot exceed his ranks in dodge.”

When a character’s vehicle is targeted with an attack, the character is not the target—the vehicle is—and so the condition under which Dodge can be activated (“When targeted by a combat check, the character may…”) is not met.

Note that if a vehicle does fire directly upon a character, rather than on a vehicle the character is piloting, a character can (and almost assuredly should) use the Dodge talent to try to avoid being struck and likely incapacitated.

Pressure Point

Question asked by Dakkar98

EotE Core Rulebook page 141: “When making a Brawl check against a living opponent, the character may choose to forgo dealing damage as wounds, instead dealing the equivalent damage as strain, plus additional strain equal to his ranks in Medicine. These checks cannot be made with any weapons, but this strain damage is not reduced by soak.”

Does all of the damage inflicted ignore soak, or only the damage added from the Medicine Skill?

Is it effectively: The attack gains X Damage and Pierce X where X equals his Ranks in Medicine?

Or is it, the attack gains (Medicine Ranks in Damage) and Breach?

I would imagine that since Anatomy Lessons is in the same tree that you can spend a Destiny Point to boost that damage, but what about Soft Spot or Targeted Blow?

Does Feral Strength still add damage to Pressure Point as well?

Does the Cortosis attachment on armor prevent the bypassing of the target’s soak?

Answered by Max Brooke :

Pressure point reads: “When making a Brawl check against a living opponent, the character may choose to forgo dealing damage as wounds, instead dealing the equivalent damage as strain, plus additional strain in equal to his ranks in Medicine. These checks cannot be made with any weapons, but this strain damage is not reduced by soak.”

Thus, whenever the Doctor makes an unarmed Brawl check against a living opponent, first determine how much damage the attack would inflict. As normal, this takes the base damage for Brawl checks (Brawn + Successes), plus an additional damage from relevant talents and abilities (such as Anatomy Lessons, Feral Strength, Targeted Blow, Soft Spot, Wookiee Rage, etc). Then, the character’s player may decide to use Pressure Point to convert all of this damage into strain and add additional strain equal to the character’s ranks in Medicine. Then, the sum total of the strain the check inflicts ignores the target’s soak.

Note that this is meaningfully different from having the Breach quality, because armor with the Cortosis quality only affects weapons with the Pierce or Breach quality. Anything else that ignores soak still ignores soak against armor with the Cortosis quality.

A/KT Shockrider Crash Suit and A/KT Wing Commander Armored Flight Suit

Question asked by Dakkar98

Both of these armors feature in the description the following Text:

“Thanks to its rugged construction and integrated armor, <Snip> suit reduces any strain received from Critical Hits dealt to the wearer’s vehicle by 1 (to a minimum of 1) and the flame-resistant coating reduces damage dealt to the wearer by fires and weapons with the Burn quality by 1.”

The only Critical Hit that I see that actually inflicts strain on a character aboard the ship is “10-18 Jostled: A small explosion or impact rocks the Vehicle. All crew members suffer 1 strain and are disoriented for one round.”

So, the protection from fires and the Burn quality I understand.

What exactly is the purpose of the other part? Since the minimum that can it be reduced to is 1 strain, and there is nothing that I see that deals more than 1 strain to the crew, what is the point?

Is there some other mechanic, that I might have missed, that applies additional strain to a character aboard a ship that has suffered a critical hit?

Answered by Max Brooke :

Although only one result specifically calls out inflicting strain on the PC, the fact is that many of the results, from Major System Failure to Major Hull Breach to Fire! could easily cause conditions that result in the PC suffering strain (such as Suffocation, or Threat from various checks to avoid being set ablaze, hit by shrapnel, and the like). At the GM’s discretion, the Shockrider Crash Suit and A/KT Wing Commander Armored Flight Suit’s benefits would apply to such effects.

Stacking Armor

Question asked by Dakkar98 :

I know that you do not stack the benefit of soak from two different armors that you may be wearing (someone else already asked that).

If you are wearing a Smuggler’s trench coat over Laminate Armor do you get the best of the Soak and the best of the Defense?

For example, while wearing that combination of armors, do you have a Soak of 2 and a Defense of 1?

AoR Core Rulebook page 183: When worn, armor’s encumbrance rating is reduced by 3 points.

Do you reduce each set of armor worn by 3? Or do you add the 2 armors encumbrance ratings together, then reduce by 3?

For example, while wearing that combination of armors, is the character’s encumbrance from armor 1 ((4-3) + (3-3)), or 4 ((4+3)-3)?

Answered by Max Brooke :

Rules as written, nothing actually allows a character to wear more than one set of armor at a time. Therefore, if a GM does not wish to allow a character to wear two sets of armor at once, it is well within the GM’s purview to say that the character must choose only one to wear.

If the GM does want to allow a PC to wear multiple sets of armor at once, a good rule of thumb is that a character can only ever benefit from one set of armor at any given time. In other words, if the character is attacked, only one worn set of armor provides defensive benefits against the attack (which includes soak, defense, and any other properties it might possess).

As to the matter of encumbrance, because wearing two sets of armor is already outside of the scope of the rules, I would personally recommend that the character reduce one piece of armor’s encumbrance by 3 as normal, but have to carry the full weight of the second piece armor because they cannot properly wear it. However, GMs must decide how to handle this exceptional situation as they see fit.

DR-45 "Dragoon" Cavalry Blaster

Question asked by Dakkar98 :

Does it use attachments for Ranged (Light) weapons or Ranged (Heavy) Weapons or both?

If you could use its 3 HP for an Augmented Spin Barrel and a Fore Arm Grip for a potential for an Accurate 3 weapon, I'd be all over it. But, since it is a carbine I would assume that even if it can use Ranged (Heavy) attachments that it can't give it an Augmented Spin Barrel (even though it mentions it having a range-extending augmented spin barrel).

The fluff mentions it having the portability of a pistol with the range of a carbine. The portability I can see with it having an encumbrance of 1. Most pistols have medium range, as do all carbines (thus far). The Range is still only medium (again, even though it mentions it having a range-extending augmented spin barrel).

The only possible advantage that I see to this weapon is that if you rescue someone and you want to arm them, you have one weapon that can cover either skill.

Is there some subtle mis-translation of the fluff into the statistics of the weapon that I am missing?

Answered by Max Brooke :

Does it use attachments for Ranged (Light) weapons or Ranged (Heavy) Weapons or both?

Because it is essentially a rifle, it uses Ranged (Heavy) attachments as the default. However, at the GM’s discretion, it can be equipped with certain Ranged (Light) attachments that make sense. Additionally, if the GM feels that a certain Ranged (Heavy) attachment is inappropriate for it because it is a carbine (rather than a full-sized rifle), the GM should feel free not to allow those particular attachments.

Is there some subtle mis-translation of the fluff into the statistics of the weapon that I am missing?

The weapon’s statistics are correct as printed.

Starship Sensors and Comms

Question asked by Dakkar98 :

On page 239 it describes Sensors and Comms, and state that Comms have a range equal to that of the sensors.

Is it always tied to that or just initially, and does that work both ways?

If you purchase the Upgraded Comms array attachment does that also increase the range of the ships sensors?

Or is it just supposed to be the Comms?

If you have a weapon with a range greater than your sensors can you not target things outside of your sensors range, or can you and there is just a penalty (Upgraded or increased difficulty, or setback dice)?

Example: YT-2400, Sensors: Short, Upgraded turrets have heavy laser cannons with advanced targeting arrays with sniper shot. Do you have to use the sensors in active mode (to boost them to medium range in a single arc) to be able to utilize the sniper shot mode to hit targets at medium range (in that arc)?

Answered by Max Brooke :

Starship Sensors and Comms On page 239 it describes Sensors and Comms, and state that Comms have a range equal to that of the sensors.

Is it always tied to that or just initially, and does that work both ways

Increasing the range of a vehicle’s comms does not increase that of its sensors. However, increasing that of its sensors would increase that of its comms.

If you have a weapon with a range greater than your sensors can you not target things outside of your sensors range, or can you and there is just a penalty (Upgraded or increased difficulty, or setback dice)?

Example: YT-2400, Sensors: Short, Upgraded turrets have heavy laser cannons with advanced targeting arrays with sniper shot. Do you have to use the sensors in active mode (to boost them to medium range in a single arc) to be able to utilize the sniper shot mode to hit targets at medium range (in that arc)?

Sniper Shot already includes an upgrade to the difficulty of the check, which reflects the difficulty of firing beyond optimal range. Further, keep in mind if something is outside of the sensor range of a ship, those aboard the vessel frequently do not know that it is there to shoot at it.

However, if they do end up in a situation where they are attempting to fire at something they cannot “see”, without the aid of Sniper Shot or a similar ability, the GM is certainly encouraged to add a number of setback dice to the check to reflect the negative circumstances (in this case, the inability to see the target).

Strain and Second Maneuver

Question asked by QuinnDx :

During combat, each character gets to perform one maneuver and one action by default. However, if one wanted to gain a second maneuver on the same turn, the Rulebook mentions that this can be achieved most commonly either by downgrading the action (thereby losing it) or by voluntarily suffer two strain. Are these two options mutually exclusive?

For example: if a player chooses to voluntarily suffer two strain for a second maneuver, is the character still able to perform their free action, thereby allowing a character to perform up to (a maximum of) two maneuvers, plus the default action, in any one turn?

Answered by Sam Stewart :

You are correct, you can suffer two strain and gain two maneuvers in a turn, plus one action. You cannot perform more than two maneuvers in a single turn, however.

When to upgrade checks

Question asked by Josep Maria :

I have another concept doubt about difficulty Upgrades. I'm aware that Talents, Fear and also space maneuvers Upgrades difficulty dices, also Destiny Points and some pieces of equipment but, what exactly can Upgrade diff a dice?

I readied 5 adventures, and apart those samples I mentioned, there were no Upgrades on difficulties BUT, a lot of that checks explained the option "If a Despair is rolled..."

So, from where Upgrades came? There use to be "usual"? Are upgrades a really hard exception to see?

The whole idea of upgrading the difficulty of checks is that it isn't always the default (which is one of the reason the Despair options are usually so terrible!) and requires the GM to use a Destiny Point to put the possibility into play. That way the GM makes the conscious choice to put the option into play (and thus has taken a moment to think about the potential consequences to the player!).

Answered by Sam Stewart :

Generally, we want to avoid creating a situation where the player rolls a Despair, and the GM and player suddenly both realize that something awful has happened to the player that neither of them wanted. This way, the GM has made the choice to introduce that complication, and is ready to deal with any potential consequences.

For example, I was running a prison break adventure during GenCon, and Despairs rolled during the break meant the alarm went off and the escape was discovered. Therefore, I usually held off from upgrading the difficulty of the checks until half-way through the adventure, when I knew the PCs had recovered their gear and were in a good spot to deal with this added challenge.

That being said, Despair can always show up in Opposed checks, or certain checks such as pilot checks or checks against Adversaries. Generally, in those situations we have options for Despair that are bad, but not completely game-changing (running out of ammo on a blaster is bad, but not crippling for a PC).

Lightsaber Techniques

Question asked by dfn :

Assuming I have Niman Technique and then later get Defensive Circle, may I use Lightsaber (Will) for Defensive Circle? Assuming my only specialization is Ataru Striker, and I have Hawk Bat Swoop but DO NOT have Ataru Technique, is the check for Hawk Bat Swoop still Lightsaber (Agility)? Thanks!

Answered by Sam Stewart :

To answer your first question; no, you must use Lightsaber (Intellect) for Defensive Circle. To answer your second question, you cannot use the Hawk Bat Swoop action unless you have a talent that allows you to make a Lightsaber (Agility) check.

When to heal critical injuries

Question asked by 2P51 (Paraphrased) :

Must you wait a week after suffering a critical injury, before a medicine check can attempted to recover from it. Or can a doctor or medic attempt the check immediately after suffering the critical injury?

Answered by Sam Stewart :

The latter; the medicine check may be attempted immediately, then if failed, attempted again after a week has passed.

My question:

Regarding the Force and Destiny rulebook and morality rules: Page 52 mentions some reasons on why a PC might not roll to resolve Conflict at the end of a session, such as the player being absent or the character being incapacitated. I seem to understand, but does this mean that a character has to actually be confronted with an event during a session where they stand to gain conflict, even if he does not gain any at all, before he would roll to resolve his conflict and gain morality, and in sessions where characters never gain conflict because they are never confronted with such a scenario crops up, they would not roll and gain any morality? Thank you.

And the response, from Sam Stewart:

A character should not roll to gain Morality if they had no moral choices to make (i.e. chances to gain Conflict) in a session. These chances to gain Conflict could have been concrete mechanical choices (i.e. the PC had a Force power and chose not to use Dark Side results to generate Force Points) or narrative choices (i.e. the PC chose to not murder someone or steal something). Arguably, these situations should always come up in the course of playing a regular game session, although it is always possible that a PC may spend the entire session locked in a workshop building a device, or maybe healing in a bacta tank. Of course, if the player is not present to play, then his PC should certainly not gain Morality.

Hope this helps!

Rules as written, only one character makes the check, so only that character’s talents would apply.

Hope this helps!

I asked a really long and complicated question. I will summarize the question so that it best fits the answer.

1. Can you reduce the difficulty of opposed checks via talents?

2. Can you downgrade opposed checks via talents?

3. Is there a specific timing to removing dice from a pool when assembling the pool, and does reducing the difficulty count as "removing purple dice," meaning they would be removed in that step?

Answered:

This is more errata, but:

Force and Destiny lists the talent Sixth Sense as Ranked. Edge of the Empire lists it as Unranked. Which is correct?

It is unranked; the listing of it in Force and Destiny is in error and will be corrected in reprints.

Hope this helps!

Sam Stewart

RPG Manager

Fantasy Flight Games

This one surprised me. Apparently, if you can apply the benefits of a "Commit Force Dice" power multiple times when activated unless it is explicitly disallowed in the upgrade/power's description. In other words, the "[X] benefit per die committed" language seen in Misdirect's 'auto-threat' control upgrade is implicit in all text where it's not explicitly disallowed.

This one surprised me. Apparently, if you can apply the benefits of a "Commit Force Dice" power multiple times when activated unless it is explicitly disallowed in the upgrade/power's description. In other words, the "[X] benefit per die committed" language seen in Misdirect's 'auto-threat' control upgrade is implicit in all text where it's not explicitly disallowed.

Rules Question:

The ongoing force powers allow characters to commit force dice to activate benefits. Is it possible to commit *more* force dice than is listed to receive the a greater benefit from the power? This, of course, provided the power does not explicitly forbid it. Example: A Jedi has Agi 2, Force rating 3, and Enhance with all of it's upgrades. Is it allowed for the Jedi, with a single activation of enhance's Agi control upgrade, to commit 2 (or all 3) of his force dice to said upgrade, increasing his Agi from 2 to 4 (or to 5, if all force dice are used). If not, is there *any* way for the Jedi to use Enhance's ongoing effects to increase either Brawn or Agility by *more* than one point.

Sam's Response:

Unless the upgrade states otherwise, you may commit additional Force dice to increase the power. Thus, in your example, you may increase your Agility by as much as plus three, in the scenario you describe.

Additional Note:

In a further response, he clarified that this is not considered multiple activations, but activating the effect once and triggering it multiple times.

Huh. I'm away from the book - would this apply to Sense, too?

Enemies could become very clumsy when attacking someone who've bought the Strength talent that upgrades the difficulty twice when commiting a Force die.

[Y]ou can apply the benefits of a "Commit Force Dice" power multiple times when activated unless it is explicitly disallowed in the upgrade/power's description.

[Additional clarification redacted for brevity]

Huh. I'm away from the book - would this apply to Sense, too?

Enemies could become very clumsy when attacking someone who've bought the Strength talent that upgrades the difficulty twice when commiting a Force die.

I, too, am away from book, but IIRC the Sense powers explicitly limit the force dice you can commit.

The ruling, technically, applies to everything. AFAIK Enhance's "commit" upgrades are the only ones that don't explicitly allow (e.g. Misdirect's 'auto-threat' upgrade) or explicitly disallow (e.g. Sense, again, IIRC) 'triggering' the upgrade multiple times. I don't mind saying I was dead-set against interpreting the rules this way based on all the precedent apparent in the game, but this is straight from the Dev, so I really can't disagree with it.

This thread, however, is for posting the rulings, not for discussion as I understand it. Please start a new thread to discuss the rulings. Thanks.

This one surprised me. Apparently, if you can apply the benefits of a "Commit Force Dice" power multiple times when activated unless it is explicitly disallowed in the upgrade/power's description. In other words, the "[X] benefit per die committed" language seen in Misdirect's 'auto-threat' control upgrade is implicit in all text where it's not explicitly disallowed.

Rules Question:

The ongoing force powers allow characters to commit force dice to activate benefits. Is it possible to commit *more* force dice than is listed to receive the a greater benefit from the power? This, of course, provided the power does not explicitly forbid it. Example: A Jedi has Agi 2, Force rating 3, and Enhance with all of it's upgrades. Is it allowed for the Jedi, with a single activation of enhance's Agi control upgrade, to commit 2 (or all 3) of his force dice to said upgrade, increasing his Agi from 2 to 4 (or to 5, if all force dice are used). If not, is there *any* way for the Jedi to use Enhance's ongoing effects to increase either Brawn or Agility by *more* than one point.

Sam's Response:

Unless the upgrade states otherwise, you may commit additional Force dice to increase the power. Thus, in your example, you may increase your Agility by as much as plus three, in the scenario you describe.

Additional Note:

In a further response, he clarified that this is not considered multiple activations, but activating the effect once and triggering it multiple times.

Huh. I'm away from the book - would this apply to Sense, too?

Enemies could become very clumsy when attacking someone who've bought the Strength talent that upgrades the difficulty twice when commiting a Force die.

Both control upgrades for Sense, in the Force and Destiny CRB, say they can only be activated once. Even though it is technically a single activation, based on the ruling, the "cannot activate this multiple times" language means you can only commit the number of Force Dice shown.

Both control upgrades for Sense, in the Force and Destiny CRB, say they can only be activated once. Even though it is technically a single activation, based on the ruling, the "cannot activate this multiple times" language means you can only commit the number of Force Dice shown.

This would be correct, as I understand it. Based on Sam's verbage in his follow up, a better wording for the Sense upgrades' description, et al, may have been "This effect cannot be triggered multiple times." What is in the book, though, should make it clear that it falls under the "explicitly disallowed" clause. At least as far as I can tell, this whole ruling still seems bizarre.

Not sure if I posted this one already.

Josep María: Good evening! Or night... not sure XD

I have another game concept question. I would love to understand your point of view about combat mechanics (space and ground).

I understand that game is focused on cinematic style, thing that I enjoy so much. You should see my player and me every time we roll looking exited ot the dices waiting that the result tell us an awesome story XD Its and incredible sensation that we forgot long time ago. Mechanics isn't just only the way, with Edge is also the STORY! Sorry my question XD

I told you before, but I love the concept that a character gets incapacited/killed just with only 1-4 shots (generally). No more HP200 barbarians or elite soldiers with d12 XD

But also I have to say that hit% seems so high. I understand that every combat roll can be easily a movie scene about 1-3 minutes long, but hit% seems so high.

In general therms a "pseudo Boba Fett" can be hit easily by a pack of Storm Troopers because he only is a 2-3 Purples and above 2-3 Setbacks.

Force Sensitives can stand a bit more thanks to Sense Commit upgrades (that can be stacked?) but the difference doesn't seems so much higher.

I know that spending Strain with Dodges, Side Steps and other talents you can gain some upgrades. Also there is the armor/cover bonuses, but, in general therms (based on a forum sample XD) naked uncle Lars and naked pseudo Boba have the same defense. Get more than 2 Dodges is pretty difficult to achieve, so Boba would be (paying 2 Strain) 2 Reds instead 2 Purple. He would be hit but would get more Threats.

I'm seeking for some point of view to understand if there is any reason to this. Not a mechanical reason, a CONCEPT reason.
Mechanics are almost pretty clear (only there a are a few confusing things like the Commit one), but in generals therms is pretty clear,so, probably I need some designers concept point of view to interpretate that situations. I'm wrong?

Thanks again for all to your team and yourself, and please continue creating those awesome things.

--

Sam:

Hi Josep,

As far as your question goes, conceptually there were several reasons why we made combat values static numbers, although as you point out, there are quite a few mechanical reasons why we did so as well! However, as per your request, I won't delve too deeply into the mechanical reasons.

Conceptually, the dice system fits our vision of combat, because we see Critical Injuries as proper injuries, and wounds more as wear, tear, minor cuts, bruises, sore muscles, grazes, and minor burns. Basically, wounds are being battered, but Critical Injuries are the actual injuries that can put you on your back.

So by keeping the difficulty of combat checks simple, we acknowledge that it may not be too hard to get hit, but being hit isn't the same thing as being badly injured. Being hit more easily also creates interesting choices and combat dynamics. If a PC gets injured, the player has to decide whether to spend his next turn getting to cover, using a stim pack, or taking the riskier approach of continuing to fight and hoping to overcome his opponent.

Another conceptual reason is that we wanted basic combat rules to be simple and intuitive, while complexity would be added as PCs grew in ability. A PC's first combat will probably be fairly simple; allowing him to learn the basics of how to fight. Then, as he starts purchasing talents such as Dodge, Side Step, or Sixth Sense, he can introduce them to subsequent combats.

I hope that helps! All the best, and good gaming,

Sam

Followed up on the multi-activation crit vs. minion question:

"[W]hen hitting a minion group with enough advantages to activate a critical on a weapon twice, should the player choose to activate both critical effects (the initial critical and the second for +10 to the critical result), how many minions should be eliminated from the group?"

Sam: " ince you can only inflict one critical per hit (the “second” that you mention is just enhancing the ability of the original critical, and is not actually a second critical hit in its own right), activating a critical multiple times on a weapon that only inflicts a single hit would not eliminate any additional minions from the group."

More details on defensive abilities and their interaction (hint: there really isn't any):

"What would be the melee and ranged defense of the following character:

3 Brawn

Sentinel: Shien Expert

1 Rank Defensive Training

Wearing Armored Robes

Wielding a Riot Shield (Left Hand) and a

Shoto Lightsaber with a fully Modified

Lorridian Gemstone and a

fully Modified Curved Hilt ? And why? How would the various defenses stack?"

Sam: "

Here's an interesting answer from Sam Stewart on the Move power.

I asked the question:

Helloo there! I have a query posed by a friend: is the Move power designed to allow the Force user (the one using the power) to fly ? Barring that, can a Force user levitate something that he is standing on, and in *that* manner fly around? My take is that it allows the Force user to affect anything outside himself, but not his own body or things that he is standing on. That's what we went with, but I would appreciate any insight into the intent of the power's design! Thanks

And he answered:

Move was actually left a little intentionally vague on that regard, because we wanted people to have the chance to come up with their own creative uses when necessary. So, to answer your question; yes, it’s not unreasonable that you could use Move to fly.

However, as with anything, there are some caveats and risks involved. First, you’ll be using pretty much all your concentration to keep yourself aloft, and moving very slowly. (In game terms, you’re spending at least an action every turn to activate the Move power, and move somewhere). In addition, once you’re aloft, failing that Force power check is going to have some very unpleasant consequences!

You could turn to the “Moving and Duration” sidebar on page 299 for some ideas on how to commit a die to stay hovering, rather than making a check every turn. However, if I was the GM I would be well within my rights to say that while you could “hover” in place by committing a die, if you wanted to actually move somewhere else, you’d need to make another check. In addition, if you keep trying to keep yourself aloft, you’re going to tire yourself out quickly, and start suffering strain (also covered in that sidebar).

In short, it is possible to Move yourself with Move. However, it’s difficult, slow, and potentially dangerous, which is why most Jedi use Enhance to get around, or just purchase an airspeeder!

Hope this helps!

Sam Stewart
RPG Manager
Fantasy Flight Games

Move power, Control upgrade. Combined check with ranged skill to attack. What skill?

Move power, Control upgrade. Combined check with ranged skill to attack. What skill?

You have to send an email to the developers. This is were we've posted the answers to questions we've sent. Go here .