I was wondering if people could explain how Ionization Blasters work. The CRB is very convuluted, particularly in talking about restraining bolts and arcs and other things. We had a heck of a time in our game today figuring out what the CRB actually meant, and that was too bad because we were fighting mainly against droids.

Thanks for the help.

Ignore the write up and just use the stats. It is a droid stun gun.

So the 10 damage, is that strain damage?

Does it stun automatically if it hits? Or only once it exceeds the wound threshold of the droid being attacked? I notice that a special ability is Disorient 5, which leads me to believe that it doesn't automatically stun on hit.

It delivers stun damage only on droids... but the Disorient 5 would need 2 advantage to activate it. Chances are it probably would leave the droid in question staggering around...

Does it stun automatically if it hits? Or only once it exceeds the wound threshold of the droid being attacked? I notice that a special ability is Disorient 5, which leads me to believe that it doesn't automatically stun on hit.

It has a base 10 damage that delivers Strain damage to droids. All the rules normally applied to Range combat apply. Soak, Range, etc.

As stated Disorient is a weapon effect. Disorient applies a Setback die if you can activate it to all of the target's actions with X equaling the number of turns.

I'm pretty sure that the Disorient quality on ion guns only apply to droids, though. Or did I miss something here?

Does it stun automatically if it hits? Or only once it exceeds the wound threshold of the droid being attacked? I notice that a special ability is Disorient 5, which leads me to believe that it doesn't automatically stun on hit.

It is not automatic, you have to exceed the threshold for Stain, or just Wounds on an Adversary droid that doesn't track Strain. Although it doesn't explicitly state that the disorient effect is only for droids, I would assume that if the weapon is only meant to inflict damage to droids the disorient effect is probably only for droids.

Yeah, the ion quality writeup isn't super clear, but if you take you time it does say ion attacks don't do raw damage, and hit droids in the strain. So if you aren't a droid (or otherwise have a weakness to ion damage) the attack won't allow the prerequisites for the disorientation to activate.

Yeah, the ion quality writeup isn't super clear, but if you take you time it does say ion attacks don't do raw damage, and hit droids in the strain. So if you aren't a droid (or otherwise have a weakness to ion damage) the attack won't allow the prerequisites for the disorientation to activate.

Strangely, the ionization blaster doesn't actually use the Ion quality (which only appears on planetary scale weaponry). Instead it uses Stun Damage with a clause that it works on droids (and presumably other electronics like datapads).

Yeah, the ion quality writeup isn't super clear, but if you take you time it does say ion attacks don't do raw damage, and hit droids in the strain. So if you aren't a droid (or otherwise have a weakness to ion damage) the attack won't allow the prerequisites for the disorientation to activate.

Strangely, the ionization blaster doesn't actually use the Ion quality (which only appears on planetary scale weaponry). Instead it uses Stun Damage with a clause that it works on droids (and presumably other electronics like datapads).

Yes it does. It's right here on... oh... wait....this is my AoR book...not EotE....

Ok, looks like it's errataed! In AoR they ditched the droid only stun setting for the Ion quality! Check it out, pg 173!

Thanks everyone. Certainly cleared the issue up.

It (ion) also stops all cybernetics, including droid "upgrades", on a hit. For instance, if she has upgraded arms, and you hit with ion, beat the soak by just one point, and the arms shut down, completely, until they are repaired or the scene is over. That's super for GMs!

It (ion) also stops all cybernetics, including droid "upgrades", on a hit. For instance, if she has upgraded arms, and you hit with ion, beat the soak but just one point, and the arms shut down, completely, until they are repaired or the scene is over. That's super for GMs!

Where do you draw that conclusion? Ion weapons do Strain damage, adjusted by Soak, to droids, that is all. Any effect to a PC is pretty much left to the GMs discretion.

It (ion) also stops all cybernetics, including droid "upgrades", on a hit. For instance, if she has upgraded arms, and you hit with ion, beat the soak but just one point, and the arms shut down, completely, until they are repaired or the scene is over. That's super for GMs!

That sounds very OP, especially if the cybernetics include vital organs, or in the case of an old character of mine all four limbs, both eyes and part of the spine.

It (ion) also stops all cybernetics, including droid "upgrades", on a hit. For instance, if she has upgraded arms, and you hit with ion, beat the soak but just one point, and the arms shut down, completely, until they are repaired or the scene is over. That's super for GMs!

Where do you draw that conclusion? Ion weapons do Strain damage, adjusted by Soak, to droids, that is all. Any effect to a PC is pretty much left to the GMs discretion.

EtoE, page 173 5th paragraph, paraphrased- The downside of cybernetics is if you are hit with an ion weapon, no matter how much damage it does, your cybernetics cease functioning for the scene, or until repaired. The example given says cybernetic legs being hit doesn't mean you just lost the stat bonuses but that they completely shut down and don't walk.

The cybernetics are not given the same protections from Ion as the droid's original body. They act the same as they do for norms. That's from Sam Stewart in the FAQs found here (Third question, under items)... http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/87276-some-rules-questions-answered-by-sam-stewart/

It's also in AoE, wanna say pg 189, but different paragraph.

That's the downside for paying 10G for a point in attributes.

You can work the "effects" however you wish, but that is RAW. I'd encourage people to be more skeptical of "free/easy" bonuses in a system that places them at a premium.

It (ion) also stops all cybernetics, including droid "upgrades", on a hit. For instance, if she has upgraded arms, and you hit with ion, beat the soak but just one point, and the arms shut down, completely, until they are repaired or the scene is over. That's super for GMs!

That sounds very OP, especially if the cybernetics include vital organs, or in the case of an old character of mine all four limbs, both eyes and part of the spine.

Just had it happen to a droid PC of mine.... all 4 limbs, and eyes. Was blind and a paraplegic while the rest of the party got their butts handed to them (he was the combat monkey). For everything there is a price.

Really, that's how I happen to have the page numbers and link handy.... it was like 5 hours ago.

It also says the consequences are left up to the GM. In addition it would require the specific hit on the part which would be a called shot, and the shooter would have to know the limb is cybernetic to even be possible, or a critical hit to an applicable area. Not just general hits.

It also says the consequences are left up to the GM.

as are all consequences in the game. Doesn't mean it isn't working as intended.

I'm pretty sure the intent was to dissuade entire groups of cyber force and droids from min/maxing their stats. It made the freebies (really cheap) stat upgrades have a cost so not everyone was doing it. It's your game, not telling you how to run it, just saying what the book says...

It also says the consequences are left up to the GM.

as are all consequences in the game. Doesn't mean it isn't working as intended.

You implied if you are just hit in general and regardless of whether damage is actually inflicted then all cybernetics are shut down. That isn't what's written.

It also says the consequences are left up to the GM.

as are all consequences in the game. Doesn't mean it isn't working as intended.

You implied if you are just hit in general and regardless of whether damage is actually inflicted then all cybernetics are shut down. That isn't what's written.

That's what the book say..."on a hit". It doesn't say anything about damage being done. In fact, the point of ion is to not do damage, so one couldn't say "on damage" because it would never happen.

As a base ion blaster is 10 points, nobody has a soak that high, so no matter what, you'd be "hit", provided the person shooting doesn't botch the shot. If you are applying your soak, you've already been hit. You can't soak something that has not connected yet. Truly, that's impossible!

Ion is supposed to do this stuff... file it under "working as intended".

Technically, if one wanted to say a star ship got hit with ion, as the ship is metal and conducts electricity/ion, any droid would have their upgrades shut down... any person with cybernetic legs would have them shut down. as long as there were a conductive path to the cybernetic it would be done. Rain and puddles would be a nightmare for the same people. I've never gone that route, but if I had someone munchkin and being a weasel about it, I wouldn't have a problem doing it.

Despite all this... How I work it is thus...

Not everyone walks around with ion weapons since they are kinda useless against normal people. I have placed a few criteria to determine if my encounters feature them. 1) I roll percentile and if it's less then 10%, a random ion weapon present. 2) If the enemies know about the party (see them on surveillance footage, heard about them through the grape vine, are bounty hunting them, etc...) they prepare, smartly. As the party is earinng a rep, it's not a matter of "if" ion shows up, but when. IIf the party encounters a group of bad guys, then encounters them again... said bad guys don't make the same mistakes a second time. Same applies to the ithorian, once he has bellowed- stunned a group, said group does all it can to not be in range of that attack a second time.

Again, play it how you like.... run it how you like... doesn't matter... but if you're letting cybernetics get away scott-free, I would encourage you to figure out a way for the rest of your party to boost stats without having to chop off perfectly good arms. It's only fair. Of course then you should be giving it to your bad guys too (for balance), and before you know it there was no point to it in the first place. (just my .02, but at least level it for the other party members).

On a hit to the cybernetic part. The paragraph is referring to a hit on the enhancement, not the whole target. To say nothing of the fact the whole premise is just dumb, I stun a droid's Strain threshold but if they have a cyber enhancement it just stops instantly, that's just dumb mechanically and dumb narratively, and OP.

On a hit to the cybernetic part. The paragraph is referring to a hit on the enhancement, not the whole target. To say nothing of the fact the whole premise is just dumb, I stun a droid's Strain threshold but if they have a cyber enhancement it just stops instantly, that's just dumb mechanically and dumb narratively, and OP.

But getting a stat boost of +1 to Brawn, and +1 to Agility, not to mention the 10 SKILLS that apply to them, for less then the cost of a hover car (I.E. by the end of the first adventure), and no downfall, isn't OP? Not to mention in a system that despises min/maxing Come on? When normal characters are lucky to see the dedication talent (stat increase), after how much investment/months of playing? That sounds ever remotely fair?

That is up to the GM if they install those things. If they let them, then apparently it wasn't OP in their opinion or they wouldn't have let them install them at all. There is nothing written in the book that says a GM has to allow players to install or buy anything they want to as if they're ordering items from Amazon. That's just a lack of imagination and story control on the part of the GM.