So by RAW all cybernetic enhancements of any creature (living or droid) hit by Ion damage are automatically shut down until repaired.

This is very silly... Vader has no chance agains a Ion grenade.

Any ideas to counter this effect? Maybe with a "Ion Shielding" upgrade?

How could this work?

Step 1: Don't use the RAW.

Step 2: Weapons with the Ion quality can inflict Strain damage (adjusted per Soak normally) on characters with cybernetic implants just as they do to droids.

Step 3: In addition to the above damage, allow Ion weapons to damage cybernetic implants as if using the Sunder quality.

Very good ideas!

I think I'll go for half damage (after soak) against cyborgs.

This is very silly... Vader has no chance agains a Ion grenade.

Let's be real, he would use the Force to never even let it get close.

This is very silly... Vader has no chance agains a Ion grenade.

Let's be real, he would use the Force to never even let it get close.

Pretty sure you'll be out of grenades and wounds by the time you wade through the regiment of stormtroopers along the way....

Unless you have a single Hired Gun that take out a regiment of minions in two turns. PCs are meant to get crazy powerful in this game, so Vader isn't entirely untouchable.

This is very silly... Vader has no chance agains a Ion grenade.

Let's be real, he would use the Force to never even let it get close.

It would make for an interesting session if a GM decided to roll a Move against a Thrown Ion grenade... and fail miserably. Granted the narrative would require(traditional Star Wars narrative anyways, maybe not so for an Infinities-style narrative) that Vader is knocked down/disabled/whatever since Vader should only be an obstacle preventing the PCs escape.

Watch Batman VS Darth Vader on Superpowered Beatdown. There is a moment that will answer the question somewhat.

Very good ideas!

I think I'll go for half damage (after soak) against cyborgs.

Ion grenades do 10 damage, but stun grenades do 8. For ion weapons to be an effective weakness for cyborgs, they should do more damage than the alternatives- so I wouldn't halve their damage.

In case of a cyborg target I let them take strain as if they were a droid, and I allow the attacker to activate a crit to disable an implant of their choice. But the Sunder idea sounds good as well, perhaps even better.

Regarding the strain on cyborgs, i've been thinking of doubling their Soak, then reducing it by their number of implants; but it's too complex a formula in my opinion.

Very good ideas!

I think I'll go for half damage (after soak) against cyborgs.

Ion grenades do 10 damage, but stun grenades do 8. For ion weapons to be an effective weakness for cyborgs, they should do more damage than the alternatives- so I wouldn't halve their damage.

What I find odd is that Ion grenades and Stun grenades have a different base damage.

Anyway my idea was something like this:

Living Creature

Stun Damage = 100%

Ion Damage = 0%

Cyborg (up to 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage = 100%

Ion Damage = 50%

Full Cyborg (more than 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage = 50%

Ion Damage = 100%

Droid

Stun Damage = 0%

Ion Damage = 100%

Or maybe it could be somthing like this:

Living Creature

Stun Damage Maximum = Unlimited

Ion Damage Maximum = 0

Cyborg (up to 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage Maximum = Unlimited

Ion Damage Maximum = 2 x Number of Cybernetic implants

Full Cyborg (more than 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage Maximum = 2 x Number of Original Organs/Limbs remaining

Ion Damage Maximum = Unlimited

Droid

Stun Damage Maximum = 0

Ion Damage Maximum = Unlimited

I find that "yes/no" is far easier to use and fits this system better than figuring percentages.

What I find odd is that Ion grenades and Stun grenades have a different base damage.

Anyway my idea was something like this:

Living Creature

Stun Damage = 100%

Ion Damage = 0%

Cyborg (up to 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage = 100%

Ion Damage = 50%

Full Cyborg (more than 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage = 50%

Ion Damage = 100%

Droid

Stun Damage = 0%

Ion Damage = 100%

Or maybe it could be somthing like this:

Living Creature

Stun Damage Maximum = Unlimited

Ion Damage Maximum = 0

Cyborg (up to 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage Maximum = Unlimited

Ion Damage Maximum = 2 x Number of Cybernetic implants

Full Cyborg (more than 50% cybernetic conversion)

Stun Damage Maximum = 2 x Number of Original Organs/Limbs remaining

Ion Damage Maximum = Unlimited

Droid

Stun Damage Maximum = 0

Ion Damage Maximum = Unlimited

That's overcomplicated for minimal gain- and why are you making Droids immune to stun? Do you currently find droid to be underpowered- if not, then how are you going to balance out this sudden & substantial buff to them? Have you considered that this reduces the possibilities for most NPCs to KO PC droids- unless specifically prepared, they can only kill them (so if the PCs get involved in a bar-room brawl, for example...).

To which sources of stun damage- only stun grenades & blaster stun settings? How about force pikes or shock gloves? Are you halving base damage (which will reduce damage to very little or nothing), or damage after soak?

Ion weapons have a slightly higher base damage than stun ones because stun effects everyone and ion only effects droids, so ion weapons are more effective against their specialist targets. That's it.

Or you could come up with a Cybernetics skill. So that when your cyborg gets hit by an ion and say it shuts down something. You or a friend can repair it. So you don't have to wait to get to a planet that has a repair facility on it. There is a part in the book that encourages people to fill in skills where there might be a need for it.

Or you could come up with a Cybernetics skill. So that when your cyborg gets hit by an ion and say it shuts down something. You or a friend can repair it. So you don't have to wait to get to a planet that has a repair facility on it. There is a part in the book that encourages people to fill in skills where there might be a need for it.

You would use the Mechanics skill to effect repairs on a cybernetic implant.

In regards to Stun and Ion, I think the question that should be asked is why are Droids affected by both Stun and Ion qualities whereas Organics are affected by the Stun quality only, unless they have cybernetic implants? There is no reason that Ion weapons can't affect organics since the Ion Cannon describes fried circuits, fused joints and fires can occur due to the intense heat.

With that in mind, I would rule that any weapon that deals Ion Damage deals half (if not all) that Damage to Organic wound thresholds, soak still applies.

Ion Grenades however might be a special case. If the Grenade successfully hits the intended target, whether the target is Organic or Droid, it still does the 10 Damage (or 5 Damage if target is Organic) - Soak. If Blast is activated on a hit, the Blast only affects Droids and not Organics. If the Ion Grenade misses but Blast activates, the Blast still only affects Droids and not Organics.

In the case of Ion weapons affecting Cybernetic Implants, I would rule that the cybernetic implant is deactivated for the remainder of the encounter, if there is more than one implant the shooter chooses one. If a Critical Hit occurs, the shooter can choose to have an implant affected (instead of the traditional Critical Hit) and that implant is deactivated permanently, requiring an Average to Hard Mechanics check to reactivate it. Ion Weapons have relatively high Crit ratings so Critical Hits are less likely to occur.

I find that "yes/no" is far easier to use and fits this system better than figuring percentages.

Well, you don't have to figure out percentages, you have only to figure if he's "more man than machine" (cyborg, like Luke) or "more machine than man" (full cyborg, like Grievous). I don't think it's very difficult or time consuming.

That's overcomplicated for minimal gain- and why are you making Droids immune to stun?

Ion weapons have a slightly higher base damage than stun ones because stun effects everyone and ion only effects droids, so ion weapons are more effective against their specialist targets. That's it.

Because I like more the "interpretation" made by previous RPG and Wookieepedia about stun damage: it only affects organic creatures.

Anyway from a mechanical point of view, I don't think this changes much. If you want to capture a droid you will use Ion weapons (and not Stun weapons) because they are more effective.