I think Reflect 5 is the best suggestion here. THey will take strain as long as they keep the shield up. But a shield that is up is difficult to penetrate. Also it wouldn't be making up any house rules.

You could also modify the amount of strain taken too, so instead of 3 strain maybe two?

You could also modify the amount of strain taken too, so instead of 3 strain maybe two?

I agree that Reflect is the best way to go, and when they hit whatever Strain Threshold is given to them the shields go down.

The GSA also statted up a bunch of Clone Wars droids a long time ago (http://gsa.thegamernation.org/category/article/stat-blocks-and-builds/threat-assessment/). Their droideka is pretty good, but I would definitely change how they do shields (+2 defense) and how they handle the weapons (2 Heavy Blaster Rifles --> 1 Heavy Blaster Rifle with Linked 1).

I feel like everyone is over thinking this dilemma.

If I didn't want to use defense to portray a Droideka's shield, I would just give it a massive soak and the cortosis armor quality.

Or better yet, I would just flat out tell the player their weapons do not work on the Droideka. Chances are better than average they have seen Episode I. They should believe you when you tell them their attacks are useless. Why bother allowing them direct attacks? Sure you are allowing the players to roll for success, but I don't think they would be likely to suceed with whatever shield-replacement mechanic you would have used anyway. Being upfront with your players seems like a easier alternative than coming up with a load of new rules.

If the players are using heavier weapons, or using grenades + coordination (or whatever skill you decide) to slowly roll the grenade through the shields, then just use whatever statblock you would have drawn up minus the "shields" mechanic you would have had to create.

An easy solution is to give the Droideka an extra 10 Soak from the shield, but allow a Triumph to be spent to allow one hit to bypass this extra Soak. Now you have a really tough target that can still be hurt by a really good shot.

I like the reflect 5 option... collapsible shields is a good thing

An issue with Reflect is that it ends up being worse against Stun/Strain damage.

An issue with Reflect is that it ends up being worse against Stun/Strain damage.

Special Rule: This enemy, despite having Strain, is still a Rival. The listed Strain threshold is only used for the Reflect talent to represent the shield's power.

An easy solution is to give the Droideka an extra 10 Soak from the shield, but allow a Triumph to be spent to allow one hit to bypass this extra Soak. Now you have a really tough target that can still be hurt by a really good shot.

The issue I have with that is "a really good shot" isn't supposed to get through either. I'm starting to think the solution to this problem lies in the story, not in the stats. Basically, if the players can get their hands on a missile, or a vehicular weapon, or if they can find a way *other* than trying to shoot it with their blaster, they will succeed. Otherwise it's simply impossible...as impossible as slicing into a computer with a blaster. Ultimately, a droideka should not be presented necessarily as a combat problem. If you don't have the firepower, it's a stealth/athletics/computers problem, or you cause a distraction to get them to run off on a wild goose chase. They're pretty fragile without the bubble, so getting them to move is a good strategy, and they should be shootable then, with maybe Soak 3 and WT 8...not much, but that's the point.

So whafrog, as I suggested, if a player describes his blaster shot - say with a triumph - as hitting an explosive container beside the droid, is that fine?

We have seen shields in the movies not do a whole lot. Battle of Yavin is a good example.

The droidekas, using shields as written, will still be a large threat. The droidekas are basicically mobile e-web blasters. This is why the Jedi ran, they would likely be unable to deflect every blaster bolt.

I used the term narrative and I stand by that. Every roll if the dice does not equate one pull of the trigger. Rounds are up to a minute long. This system encourages creativity. A player could say they throw a fuel canister and shoot it with a blaster bolt causing an explosion and fire to damage the droideka. If a player tried that, I'd give them a boost die.

The serback dice the shields give COULD be interpreted, from a certain point of view, as the player getting a shot in as the droideka moves. If the setback dice cause the shot to miss, describe the shot as being absorbed by the shield.

But your mileage may vary, and whafrog, from your comments to me you bseem to think I'm playing the game wrong.

First things first:

But your mileage may vary, and whafrog, from your comments to me you bseem to think I'm playing the game wrong.

Oh brother. Really? You had to take a mere disagreement and insert this too? We're arguing, sure, but my assumption is that whatever you do at your table is none of my business. I could level the same sort of accusation at you...you're telling me I'm doing it wrong and I should be more "narrative" and more "creative"... how is that any different? Are you saying I'm doing it wrong?

I'm not satisfied with how droideka shields work. I think your decision to accept Soak as a hard value and Shields as a "narrative" value is arbitrary, and I don't agree with your suggestions about how to make it work at my table. But that is all, it's not a comment on how you do things at your table.

So whafrog, as I suggested, if a player describes his blaster shot - say with a triumph - as hitting an explosive container beside the droid, is that fine?

Meh. Other than there seems to be explosive containers lying around everywhere with this overused trope: first I'm not sure a Triumph is significant enough. A Triumph allows you to upgrade an ally's next attack, which seems a lot less potent than exploding a fuel canister to take out a droideka. Once the players are rolling a couple yellows on every shot, they'll get Triumphs fairly frequently.

Second, and the main thing, it still lets the players approach the problem by shooting at it. Sure, they might narratively invent an exploding container that just happens to be lying next to the droideka, but they're still just shooting at the droideka. Now if they had asked for a Perception roll and got several Advantages or a Triumph, and said "that cliff face seems unstable, I shoot at the cliff, not the droideka" then I'd absolutely let it happen. They'd still have to make the shot (hit the weak spot on the cliff face) and do enough damage to widen the fracture.

I used the term narrative and I stand by that. Every roll if the dice does not equate one pull of the trigger. Rounds are up to a minute long. This system encourages creativity. A player could say they throw a fuel canister and shoot it with a blaster bolt causing an explosion and fire to damage the droideka. If a player tried that, I'd give them a boost die.

Exactly, that works too...except, they're shooting at the canister, not the droideka. And it requires Athletics or Ranged-X (can't recall at the moment) to throw the canister. And the droideka's shields don't come into play against either the throw, nor the shot to the canister, which seem like two separate actions to me, either in successive rounds, or maybe one player to make the throw, and another to take the shot. I'd totally allow and encourage that kind of thing.

Therefore, the point is (once again): having the shields immune to most personal firepower requires the players to be creative about how they handle it. You fix your starship with Mechanics, not a blaster. You deal with a droideka with up-front creativity, not retroactively with a blaster.

Again, I'm not worried about simulating shields correctly. I don't want my PCs run into an unbeatable encounter if they failed to equip properly. That way, you will only start an arms race with your players. Once they arm themselves up to their teeth with thermal detonators and the like, that's also sort of killing my fun.

If I want the droid to be tough, I slap on a couple ranks of the Adversary talent, give them Defense and a nice amount of soak. All of this may or may not be narrated as "shields". The reason I suggested modeling it after Reflect was that it provided an easy way I could make the shields go away when they threaten to become an impediment to the story.

I don't know why in other people's campaigns the vaunted droideka has to be paramount to a TPK, but these hunks of junk will never become a roadblock for my campaign, shielded or not

I don't know why in other people's campaigns the vaunted droideka has to be paramount to a TPK, but these hunks of junk will never become a roadblock for my campaign, shielded or not

* Total Party Naptime, there are no party wipes in this game.

** I did that once. Just once. Then it's buddy shot me, and I waved my tools and cried "I FIX" as I fell unconscious (waving tools at enemy Droids and shouting "I FIX" was my standard combat Deception check. It didn't work nearly as often as I wanted it too).

EDITED: For comedy

For what it's worth, I used Droidekas recently. I wanted to make them scary, but possible to kill. My solution was to give them two Soak values - one for the shield and one for the actual droid, so 20/5. If they walk over grenades, mines etc it bypassed the shields. This made them killable within the range of a couple of missile tube hits, or a hit from a vehicle weapon, both of which were possible to attain.

The players saw a couple of those suckers rolling up and ran. Which is probably the sensible thing to do. They should be used as a definite threat, or a roadblock of some kind. They don't have to be killable, but it should be possible.

Whafrog, we may be getting off on the wrong foot. We both seem to be taking a personal issue, for my part it was because of the 'sigh' you used. In my personal experience, fge use of a sigh signifies a very negative affectation as well as representing a percieved personal slight. I took this as a peesonal attack and responded.

Fair enough. It wasn't directed at you, I've just had a couple recent discussions where the "narrative" argument was applied, and IMHO applied rather arbitrarily. That's all I was really reacting to. My apologies if it got too personal.

I like what MrDodger did.

Maybe give them a special ability like:

Shields Up. Take a Shields up maneuver, increase soak value by 15. This maneuver must be taken each turn to keep the shields up.

This topic is making me want to stat out Droidikas as "Build your own inquisitors" from force and Destiny.

NPC Type: Nemisis

Characteristics:4,4,3,2,5,3. They're accurate and tough, but their real strength is their intimidating behavure and unbreakable will. Inteligence is decent, but their cunning is their weakness.

Wounds/Strain: 20/20

Combat skills: Range heavy 3, Gunnery 4, Brawl 2 (They're primarally gun platforms, but can still smack you if yyou get too close)

Knowlege skills: 2 ranks in all (default)

General Skills: The Brute (Athletics 3, Coercion 3, Discipline 2, Resiliance 4, Streetwise 1, Vigilance 1)

Talents:

Parry 5- may perform Parry as an out or turn incidental to reduce melee damage by 7,

Reflect 5- may perform Reflect as an out or turn incidental to reduce ranged damage by 7

(Shields arnt shown to be able to bounce lightsaber blades, but I'm assuming it's a capability)

Abilities:

Intimidaing Presence- All enemies in short range add 2 threat to all skill checks.

Imperial Valor: May perform a manuver to redirect attacks against it to hit one engaged ally or hostage helpless enemy.

Adversary 3: upgrade all combat checks 3 times vs it

Equipment: Heavy Blaster Rifle, Blaster Rifle, Laminate Armor.

A simple solution to a basic problem. I love it. Good work Rakaydos.