Hey guys, I'm new to the edge of the empire and just started GMing a game with a few friends so I'm trying to understand a few of the rules. I've been playing a PC in the D20 Star Wars game for over 2 years now so not everything is the same.

How does auto fire work? Because in the D20, if you miss, you still do half damage.

Also if you melee or brawl against someone and have no hand weapon, how much damage do you do if the roll is successful?

Thanks guys!

If a weapon has autofire you get an extra hit for two advantage on a successful attack.

Basic hth damage is equal to your Brawn attribute.

Autofire also scales, more pairs of advantages means more hits per each pair.

Note autofire has a different difficulty then normal shots. Also the hits from autofire are not compiled. 3 damage 10 hits do 10 damage 3 times, not 30 once.

Hand to hand does Brawn + successes, also it gets several inherent qualities, like knockdown and the option to do strain damage.

As an example if you roll 6 advantages you can hit once for the success of the attack and then 3 more times, for 4 hits. The damage can add up very quickly with a good roll or a character dedicated to auto fire.

"Because in the D20, if you miss, you still do half damage."

Haha, I thought it was you get two extra attacks but all attacks get -6!

As ghost mentioned, don't let your group forget about increasing the difficulty for Auto. And if you want to shoot more than one target, remember you must roll against the most difficult one and use the advantage to get extra hits on easier targets.

So just to be clear.. For every 2 advantage the PC rolls, the PC can make an extra attack towards the enemy. What if he declares auto fire before he even attacks and wants to attack multiple targets? How is the damage of a roll distributed to each player?

Each pair of advantages is an extra hit. The PC has to declare they want to hit multiple targets. It adds a difficulty die on top of the first one and the primary target has to be the most difficult one to hit.

When you attack with an autofire weapon, you first must choose whether or not to use autofire for your attack. If you don't want to activate autofire, just attack as normal and ignore the autofire quality. If you wish to use autofire, you state this before rolling, and increase the difficulty of your attack by one.

By default, all autofire hits will be against a single, selected target. If you wish to attack more than one target, you must state this before the attack, and select which targets you wish to attack, all of which must be within range of the weapon. For multiple targets, the "initial" target of the attack must be the target with the highest difficulty and defense. If more than one target qualifies for this, the GM decides which will be the "initial" target.

Autofire can be activated with two advantages if the initial attack succeeds, and can be activated multiple times. When attacking a single target, all attacks will be made against that target. If multiple targets have been selected, the initial successful attack must go against the "initial" target, but any other activations of Autofire can be against any of the specified targets (including the "initial" target). In general, the damage done will be the same for all hits, but this isn't always the case. For instance, some talents may add damage for "one hit of an attack". If this is the case, the player must choose which of the hits (the initial hit, or one of the autofire hits) to which to apply the extra damage.

For instance,a player states that his PC wants to make an autofire attack. Additionally, he wish to specify four different targets for this attack: a nemesis with Adversary 2 and Defense 1, a rival with Adversary 1 and Defense 2, plus two minion groups. The difficulty of this attack is increased by one because of the autofire. Additionally, the "initial" target must be selected. The nemesis has the highest difficulty, but the rival has the highest defense. So, it's up to the GM to decide which target will be the "initial" target. The GM selects the nemesis, so the difficulty of the attack is upgraded twice and a setback die is added for the nemesis' defense.

The dice roll is a success, so the main hit goes against the nemesis. The roll also includes 5 advantages, which allows for two additional autofire hits. The player may decide to allocate one autofire hit to the nemesis and the other to the rival, or both to the rival, or one each to each minion group, or any other combination of hits against any of his selected targets.

Note that just because you are performing an autofire attack, it does not mean that all of your advantages must be used to activate additional hits. With the five advantages, you may decide to activate only one additional autofire hit, and use the remaining three advantages to cause a critical injury. The critical injury could be against any of the targets hit during the attack (the initial target or the target of the autofire hit, if different).

Okay thanks Oggdude that makes a lot more sense. Thank you guys for the help

Autofire is a beautiful thing and you should get some as soon as you can if you're a player.

If you're a GM, and you deploy an NPC with autofire, you may be sending out a total party killer.

Sorry to slightly hijack this thread, but I have a few Autofire questions that have been troubling my GM and I for a bit now.

Given the cinematic/narrative style of combat where a single attack action could potentially be a series/flurry of attacks over the course of a few minutes, how do you feel Autofire fits in?

Also, what do you feel about the similarity to Linked?

And finally, since minion groups act as one, it feels a bit off to me that a minion group of several people with regular weapons would be effectively firing less than a single person with an autofire weapon.

Any thoughts and opinions?

Thanks a bunch.

Auto fire is more shots, not sure it needs to be more complicated than that. You can squeeze off a fair number of shots with a semi auto weapon fairly quickly. Anyone who has ever fired a GP MG knows they are bullet hoses.

Linked can only hit one target, autofire is different enough in that way it works for me.

What if the minion group is a crew served weapon team? 4 stormtroopers, 1 LRB, good times.

Autofire is a beautiful thing and you should get some as soon as you can if you're a player.

If you're a GM, and you deploy an NPC with autofire, you may be sending out a total party killer.

Great statement as to why Autofire is broken

And finally, since minion groups act as one, it feels a bit off to me that a minion group of several people with regular weapons would be effectively firing less than a single person with an autofire weapon.

I don't worry much on this. The fact that larger groups tend to hit often early on due to having a larger dice pool is off set by smaller or single minions missing much more. It makes them a viable target to deal with early on rather than not worrying and heading straight for the big baddie.

Autofire is a beautiful thing and you should get some as soon as you can if you're a player.

If you're a GM, and you deploy an NPC with autofire, you may be sending out a total party killer.

Great statement as to why Autofire is broken

Maybe not broken but it could have been written better. I think it could better if Auto-fire allowed an additional roll per rank of Auto-fire but still increased the difficulty of the shot as it already does. For example, Auto-fire 2 allows two additional rolls with no further modification, for 2 Advantage needed for each attempted roll. I know it increases the dice rolling but a spray of blaster fire shouldn't be guaranteed hits.

Okay maybe not broken, but baseline Auto-Fire is the most effective combat action in the game right now. I agree it could have been written better.

Jury-Rigged autofire, however, is broken.

Okay maybe not broken, but baseline Auto-Fire is the most effective combat action in the game right now. I agree it could have been written better.

Jury-Rigged autofire, however, is broken.

Can't remember where, but someone in the forum suggested the Rambo Rule. Number of extra shots cannot exceed Brawn rating. It seems to have limited the munchkin problem in our group.

Also: no jury-rigged.

Okay maybe not broken, but baseline Auto-Fire is the most effective combat action in the game right now. I agree it could have been written better.

Jury-Rigged autofire, however, is broken.

Can't remember where, but someone in the forum suggested the Rambo Rule. Number of extra shots cannot exceed Brawn rating. It seems to have limited the munchkin problem in our group.

The number of dice should limit the number of extra shots anyways. A) you have to hit, so successes have to exceed failures. B) it costs to activate, so number of Advantages has to exceed Threat. For example, 5 Proficiency, 1 Ability vs 3 Difficulty seems to generate at most about 7 symbols, split between Successes, Advantages, Triumph. Even with Jury-Rigged being allowed for all the shots and not just the first activation, that is at most 7 total shots going out and all against one minion/group (since the difficulty wasn't adjusted for multiple targets). Without Jury-Rigged, that is only 4 shots total going out and hitting someone. And maximum shots means minimum successes, which means minimum damage being dealt by each shot.

Okay maybe not broken, but baseline Auto-Fire is the most effective combat action in the game right now. I agree it could have been written better.

Jury-Rigged autofire, however, is broken.

Can't remember where, but someone in the forum suggested the Rambo Rule. Number of extra shots cannot exceed Brawn rating. It seems to have limited the munchkin problem in our group.

The number of dice should limit the number of extra shots anyways. A) you have to hit, so successes have to exceed failures. B) it costs to activate, so number of Advantages has to exceed Threat. For example, 5 Proficiency, 1 Ability vs 3 Difficulty seems to generate at most about 7 symbols, split between Successes, Advantages, Triumph. Even with Jury-Rigged being allowed for all the shots and not just the first activation, that is at most 7 total shots going out and all against one minion/group (since the difficulty wasn't adjusted for multiple targets). Without Jury-Rigged, that is only 4 shots total going out and hitting someone. And maximum shots means minimum successes, which means minimum damage being dealt by each shot.

You don't think of 7 shots as a wee bit OP? Even with your dice pool why not Aim? That's two more Boost dice and maybe 4 more Advantages. Slap a laser sight on and that's another auto Advantage. It scales up absurdly quickly.

Okay maybe not broken, but baseline Auto-Fire is the most effective combat action in the game right now. I agree it could have been written better.

Jury-Rigged autofire, however, is broken.

Can't remember where, but someone in the forum suggested the Rambo Rule. Number of extra shots cannot exceed Brawn rating. It seems to have limited the munchkin problem in our group.

The number of dice should limit the number of extra shots anyways. A) you have to hit, so successes have to exceed failures. B) it costs to activate, so number of Advantages has to exceed Threat. For example, 5 Proficiency, 1 Ability vs 3 Difficulty seems to generate at most about 7 symbols, split between Successes, Advantages, Triumph. Even with Jury-Rigged being allowed for all the shots and not just the first activation, that is at most 7 total shots going out and all against one minion/group (since the difficulty wasn't adjusted for multiple targets). Without Jury-Rigged, that is only 4 shots total going out and hitting someone. And maximum shots means minimum successes, which means minimum damage being dealt by each shot.

You don't think of 7 shots as a wee bit OP? Even with your dice pool why not Aim? That's two more Boost dice and maybe 4 more Advantages. Slap a laser sight on and that's another auto Advantage. It scales up absurdly quickly.

7 hits from an auto-fire gun in a minute or more? These are weapons that typically throw several HUNDRED shots a minute. So, no, I don't consider it OP. Opponents should dive out of sight or find something solid to get behind. That is normal when you have survival instincts. And if your team is known to have one, the enemies should escalate appropriately.

Yes, I am aware of what a GP MG can do in real life, I am referring solely to game mechanics. If the PC goes first there is no 'dive for cover' option for opponents. A HBR is essentially an apocalypse stick in the game with Jury Rigged.

Yes, I am aware of what a GP MG can do in real life, I am referring solely to game mechanics. If the PC goes first there is no 'dive for cover' option for opponents. A HBR is essentially an apocalypse stick in the game with Jury Rigged.

You beat me to it... I was just about to raise the same point..

Remember that the biggest auto fire weapon, the Heavy Repeating Blaster, needs to be "Set Up", a 3 action operation and should require at least 2 to operate, if not 3, its also restricted (and if your seen with one id GM fiat that it comes with a 15 Obligation Bounty). It even states in the description: "Civilians caught with one of these powerful cannons face a long stay in an imperial prison."

The Light Repeating Blaster is also restricted although can be used by a single person, so its going to attract a lot of heat if you use it anywhere in public, so don't go shooting at any Imperials (or Gangers, or Slavers, or big time Pirates, or the Rebellion) if you want to keep out of trouble.

Lastly, the smallest, the Heavy Blaster Rifle is the only one that the PC's should be using on a more permanent basis, its a lot less severe damage wise, but you should still be a target for anyone facing you if you unload with it into their ranks.

The Encumbrance is another important aspect of these weapons, with a brawn 5 (thats a lot of points in brawn for a character who shoots things for a living, affecting how high their agility is for those important rolls), the Charactes Enc Capacity is only 10, there is gear to make this better, but even still the Heavy Blaster has an Enc of 6! give them a secondary weapon of a pistol and they have used 7-8 of their capacity, some grenades, reload, and they have hit the capacity already! what if they are using the Heavy Repeater, its got an Enc or 9!!! sure they can take it out on dedicated missions, or use it as defence on their base, or mount it on their air speeder. but your not walking down the street with it, period.

its all down to the GM really, sure in combat they are DEADLY in combat, but out of combat they should be a real hassle at the minimum, an outright liability most of the time. this game is not just a Dungeon Crawler, its supposed to be a story, its up to the PC's and GM to have a good discussion about the consequences of walking around with an automatic weapon

Yes, I am aware of what a GP MG can do in real life, I am referring solely to game mechanics. If the PC goes first there is no 'dive for cover' option for opponents. A HBR is essentially an apocalypse stick in the game with Jury Rigged.

Right, there is no dive for cover, but if the NPCs are aware that the PCs are nearby, why are they just walking out in the open just waiting to get shot? Do they have an overwatch? (sniper, cameras, etc...). Is it dark? If so, do the PCs have some way to compensate for the lack of light? etc...

If the NPCs aren't aware, then so what. If even one survives, guess what their action is? They find the nearest wall to break line of sight and start calling for reinforcements. If none survive, then someone is going to wonder what happened to them at some point and send reinforcements.