Greetings all, so as the title suggests I am looking for a few ideas on how to properly utilize this concept in an upcoming campaign, Jewel of Yavin to be exact. What I have come up with so far and how we got here~

A few weeks ago, upon hearing that I would be GMing EotE again for my gaming group, a member of said group makes a comment about how interesting it might be to play a Hutt (And of course throws in his best Jabba impression for good measure.) We all have a good laugh, but after that I started to consider...would it work?

Fast forward a week or two, and we meet up for some character creation. By this time I have searched the forum and found a few ideas on how to roll up a Hutt PC, but am looking to find out what sort of backstory and motivations this guy would have. Obviously he is not going to be a stereotypical Hutt, but certainly still involved in...nefarious activities. His basic outline he gives to me is that he is the Star Wars equivalent of the Oracle from DC comics. A slicer/outlaw tech Hutt who remains at a distance but still involves himself in whatever activities are going to benefit his rise to success. Beyond that, he leaves the rest of the character to me to create. (Not because of lack of interest, mostly because I have the best grasp of the rules as the GM and am the biggest Star Wars nerd of the group.)

Because he basically wants to "buff" the other characters rather than fight himself, which makes sense for a Hutt, I am left with coming up with some unorthodox ideas. My initial thought was to have him make use of remote camera droids and holotransmitters in order to still be present with the others. Oh, I should also mention one of the other players has decided to be this Hutt's naive "servant" (i.e. slave), so the thought of carrying a holo device so Master is always nearby was an idea.

Beyond that though, does anyone have any suggestions? I have no problem with making up some houserule stats for him, and obviously the other PCs are all onboard (One of them being a willing slave and all) but I just want him to have enough to contribute to what is going on. What kind of things can he do in combat, out of combat etc? Note that at some point in the campaign, I will be making sure his character makes a few...unexpected appearances, either because an enemy got the drop on his location or because it's just necessary plotwise to be in person.

The first Idea that comes to my mind if have him operate through a droid. From the ship, he remotely controls the droid and uses it hack things, buff his allies, ect. I see him going Doctor as a 2nd specialization, so that he can buff his friends with Stim Application. Stating him would be incredibly tough, as Hutts are the kind of race getting tons of perks just for picking the race. The most fair way I could think of doing it is 2 Brawn, 1 Agility, 2 Int, 3 Cunning. 2 Willpower, 2 Prescence. Make his Wound threshold high, as a fat Hutt could take a few hits (13 + Brawn maybe?). His strain could stay normal (10 + Willpower). He may also start with the Plausable Deniability Talent, because Hutts all seem to be good at talking. Other talents that he could start off with instead are Know Somebody or Wheel and Deal. One of the setbacks of a Hutt is their immense size, so it would be tough for them to sneak or do coordination type checks (take a setback die). They also might need to pay more for armor items so they can get them correctly fitted to their bodies. I'm not great at statting out things like new races, but I hope this helps.

He could always be a Hutt that has undergone a gastric bypass or gastric sleeve in order to drop weight.

i don't see the problem, jabba looks just like any other pc.

I wouldn't let a player be a hutt. Just too many things that would "Break" the game (High strength, soak, WT, cunning, assets) and really would have to be rather abnormal hutt for a player to play them.

my .02 credits and MHO

I wouldn't let a player be a hutt. Just too many things that would "Break" the game (High strength, soak, WT, cunning, assets) and really would have to be rather abnormal hutt for a player to play them.

my .02 credits and MHO

I would be hesitant, for these reasons. But, the first thing I'd do is run it by the other players. If THEY think it'll be a fun idea, there are ways to make it work a little better.

For starters, he'd probably be a very young Hutt, not well established. So he wouldn't need the full stats of a Hutt Crime Lord, like the one on p407. I'd perhaps go with a 4 Brawn, 1 Agility, and leave the rest at 2. That's still above the normal calculation, but then you are also adding the "Abilities" of Awkward and Ponderous, which are not really abilities but penalties. A higher Cunning might seem called for, but remember that that is kind of a cultural trait, and this character is not really participating in the culture.

I'd also put a Hutt at Silhouette 2, not only for its size, but it's broad proportions.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

I wouldn't let a player be a hutt. Just too many things that would "Break" the game (High strength, soak, WT, cunning, assets) and really would have to be rather abnormal hutt for a player to play them.

my .02 credits and MHO

I certainly wouldn't give a PC Hutt the same stat advantages as NPC Hutts who are not generated using chargen rules.

Hutts can be mobile, I probably would just increase the number of Maneuvers they need to cover distance. Medium to short could stay the same, but everything above that doubles.

A higher Cunning might seem called for, but remember that that is kind of a cultural trait, and this character is not really participating in the culture.

It has never been clarified whether higher Characteristics and starting Skills are genetic or cultural in nature. Certainly this has come up with the Mon Cal, where every single Mon Cal in the universe, from slaves to pirates, has Knowledge: Education 1 at start. So that implies it's not a cultural thing, even if that seems to be a wonky skill to be "genetic" (unlike natural skills with Perception or Melee, for example).

I prefer to think of Characteristics as genetically based, so higher Cunning and lower Agility, tied to a high base WT, seem reasonable to me. I don't see the need for a Hutt to have high base Brawn even if they are bulky, because they're not necessarily strong like all Wookiees are.

If the Hutt in question is always operating remotely via a HoloNet-connected droid, then his physical stats don't matter so much. What will matter in that case are his other stats.

Since Hutts apparently remain in the equivalent of a Kangaroo Joey Pouch for something like 50+ years after they are technically "born", you could make him just 75 years old.

If S/he was going to physically go out adventuring, then I'd definitely throw in some drawbacks that would make them cover distance more slowly, have them be Sil 2, increased armor costs (if they wear armor), etc....

Remember that Teemo had a large-size blaster that he used, and that a single human female with a chain was able to strangle Jabba to death. So, while they are physically quite large and imposing, they're not necessarily actually physically strong. I would suggest that you decide what the is most important base attribute for a Hutt, whether that be Cunning, Willpower, or Presence, and make that a 3. Then Brawn could be 1, and everything else could start at 2.

I wouldn't let a player be a hutt. Just too many things that would "Break" the game (High strength, soak, WT, cunning, assets) and really would have to be rather abnormal hutt for a player to play them.

my .02 credits and MHO

I would be hesitant, for these reasons. But, the first thing I'd do is run it by the other players. If THEY think it'll be a fun idea, there are ways to make it work a little better.

For starters, he'd probably be a very young Hutt, not well established. So he wouldn't need the full stats of a Hutt Crime Lord, like the one on p407. I'd perhaps go with a 4 Brawn, 1 Agility, and leave the rest at 2. That's still above the normal calculation, but then you are also adding the "Abilities" of Awkward and Ponderous, which are not really abilities but penalties. A higher Cunning might seem called for, but remember that that is kind of a cultural trait, and this character is not really participating in the culture.

I'd also put a Hutt at Silhouette 2, not only for its size, but it's broad proportions.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

I can understand your concerns but like I said in the original post, I don't think statting him out is the issue. This player's idea was to essentially help from afar, so I don't feel like his stats are going to break the game. If anything I think it will be a handicap for the eventual need of him to make a physical appearance, since he will be rocking things like Awkward and Ponderous. I should also mention that my group is ok with the idea, and none of us are what I would consider min-maxers, it's really more for the story and roleplay opportunity. A younger up and coming tech-saavy Hutt was the basic jist.

The first Idea that comes to my mind if have him operate through a droid.

This is an interesting option, maybe the droid is still sometimes autonomous and could suffer from malfunctions/general sassy droid attitude when the Hutt player rolls enough threat or despair on his checks?

The first Idea that comes to my mind if have him operate through a droid.

This is an interesting option, maybe the droid is still sometimes autonomous and could suffer from malfunctions/general sassy droid attitude when the Hutt player rolls enough threat or despair on his checks?

Or maybe sometimes there is a breakdown in the HoloNet, and thus the droid has to operate on his own? And maybe the droid is supposed to cover for his lack of communication if/when that happens?

All sorts of interesting plot developments can occur when there are ... communication problems.

Hmmm. I don't know about this.

It seems like a better stick for an NPC who is just working with the PCs.

Bradknowles has given me an idea with the droid thing.

Maybe have both the droid and the Hutt be the PC's character. The Hutt can be normal Hutt(or young hutt) stats, but he stays behind and just communicates through the droid most of the time. The Hutt could partially be a PC and partially an NPC sort of thing. The Droid is the main PC most of the time, and thats where XP gets applied to.

Could be interesting, with the droid almost having a split personality. One is a Hutt and the other is the actual droid.

A Pc Hutt, now that's interesting. If I were to have that in my games I would approach it differently. If he wants to be a buffer/debuffer via tech then I would highly suggest you look into gameplay from watch dogs. The advantages and setback the character generates via computer skill checks in combat could be explain via over loading circuitry or stream vents, opening and closing doors, or even gathering tactical intel by hacking a security camera from another angle of the enemy to give the team a heads up.

I wouldnt let him hide behind a droid of some kind. All hutts belong to a family and if he were to steal from a family member by accident or on purpose could be interesting. Give him a skiff for moving around if he is really big. It would make an interesting plot hook when it gets sliced by a rival hacker. Besides, if I were a goon and saw a hutt among the enemy, I would target it first. Might give room for a body guard droid/PC.

Remember that Teemo had a large-size blaster that he used, and that a single human female with a chain was able to strangle Jabba to death. So, while they are physically quite large and imposing, they're not necessarily actually physically strong. I would suggest that you decide what the is most important base attribute for a Hutt, whether that be Cunning, Willpower, or Presence, and make that a 3. Then Brawn could be 1, and everything else could start at 2.

Right, but those scenes are not influenced by the game crunch; they're cinema, they weren't made with the mechanics in mind and we can't even say that the mechanics were influenced by those scenes. With theoretical grappling rules, a human might garrote a wookiee without too much effort.

Right, but those scenes are not influenced by the game crunch; they're cinema, they weren't made with the mechanics in mind and we can't even say that the mechanics were influenced by those scenes. With theoretical grappling rules, a human might garrote a wookiee without too much effort.

My understanding is that the game is supposed to be cinematic in nature, and therefore not very crunchy.

So, where the crunchy game rules conflict with the cinematic narrative, I think I would be inclined to sacrifice the rules in order to get things to feel the way I want them to feel.

Of course, each GM has to make their own decision as to where they draw that line.

Might give room for a body guard droid/PC.

My only issue with having more PCs as part of the Hutt's entourage is that one is already planning on being his naive slave. Basic idea: A small Selonian den of Tralus is having a rash of males born sterile; their solution being to sell them off into slavery in return for some credits. The Hutt purchases one while still young and uneducated, raises him well enough and uses him as a gopher in the field (a Smuggler- Thief career to be precise.) The Selonian's agile nature makes him a perfect fit and, being somewhat simple minded, thinks this is a great arrangement for both of them.

While I find the slave idea great, I'm not sure the entire party should be just in service to him, as that kind of warps the whole story to fit one person's character.

Right, but those scenes are not influenced by the game crunch; they're cinema, they weren't made with the mechanics in mind and we can't even say that the mechanics were influenced by those scenes. With theoretical grappling rules, a human might garrote a wookiee without too much effort.

My understanding is that the game is supposed to be cinematic in nature, and therefore not very crunchy.

So, where the crunchy game rules conflict with the cinematic narrative, I think I would be inclined to sacrifice the rules in order to get things to feel the way I want them to feel.

Of course, each GM has to make their own decision as to where they draw that line.

These games have dozens of talents and numerous pieces of gear that all have their own rules exceptions. Just because the Star Wars lines are narrative games doesn't mean they aren't crunchy in the mechanics.