This has come up in a game I'm running. The players want to drive across a river in land speeder. Is this something a speeder should be able to do?

LANDSPEEDERS DON'T WORK ON WATER...

UNLESS YOU'VE GOT POWER!!

LANDSPEEDERS DON'T WORK ON WATER...

UNLESS YOU'VE GOT POWER!!

Landspeeders are kept aloft by repulsorlifts. Repulsorlifts function over water.

So yes.

His statement was a butchering of a Back To The Future line about hoverboards, but the same basic principal applies. The hoverboard keeps you above the water, but without ground to push against with your foot, you have no propulsion. Landspeeders use repulsorlifts to keep them hovering above the ground, but then they have a jet like engine used for propulsion.

I'm sorry... I couldn't resist.

In all seriousness, yes, I would think speeders should work fine going over water for most purposes.

I can't actually think of any examples of a repulsorlift vehice (landspeeders, airspeeders, speeder bikes) working on water except for TCW and the bog-speeder things on Nal Hutta. But yeah...I wouldn't think it would be an issue at all, operating a repulsorlift over water.

Edit: for posterity...

Got you. I get the reference now. I'll probably all for a pilioting check since the river is overflowing now that I know it is possible

What do you think this is, Warhammer 40,000? We don't need no stinking rough terrain check and risk crashing when flying a spaceship (or speeder) over water.

If this was 40k I'd need a Tech-Ritual and a Tech-Use check just to get the speeder started again.

Choppy water is absolutely a great use of difficult terrain. Threat means water starts to get inside the cab...a Despair could capsize the vehicle.

Awesome stuff.

LANDSPEEDERS DON'T WORK ON WATER...

UNLESS YOU'VE GOT POWER!!

First thing I screamed out as soon as I saw the thread!! Awesome.

In my games I meet in the middle.

Landspeeders and speederbikes can operate in shallow water (depth that's less than/equal to the vehicle max altitude) or cross water for short distances (like crossing a river or lake) without much difficulty, though they will slowly lose altitude until they either sink or reach water with a depth that's within the vehicles normal altitude limitations. So you can operate on beaches or "skip" a moving landspeeder across a body of water small enough, allowing chases and such, but you can't take your landspeeder to sea.

For traversing deep water you want a boat, or a hydro/aqua speeder, which is largely the same as a land speeder but with proper sealed hull and slightly more powerful repulsorlift. Some will also have hydrofoils or pontoons to augment the repulsorlift, and most can float in reasonably calm water even with the repulsorlift inactive. Swampspeeders fall into this category as well. If these speeders can be used as landspeeders as well is dependent on make and model.

Airspeeders, cloudcars, and swoops are sufficiently powerful enough to ignore water.

So you're taking the idea that repulsor fields don't interact with liquids? An interesting idea - makes oceans and large lakes barriers again.

So you're taking the idea that repulsor fields don't interact with liquids? An interesting idea - makes oceans and large lakes barriers again.

They do, but not well, unless you've got a repulsor that's turned for it and has got a little more Oomph then the typical landspeeder has.

Think of it like the difference between a regular car and an off road vehicle. If you're being chased by the mob you can hop the curb in your Prius and cut across a corn field and probably be OK, at least for that chase scene. But I wouldn't try taking that Prius on an African Safari or on a race through the Mojave...

I get it from my WEG days, they had water require a different kind of speeder to allow certain story points to work.

So you're taking the idea that repulsor fields don't interact with liquids? An interesting idea - makes oceans and large lakes barriers again.

They do, but not well, unless you've got a repulsor that's turned for it and has got a little more Oomph then the typical landspeeder has.

Think of it like the difference between a regular car and an off road vehicle. If you're being chased by the mob you can hop the curb in your Prius and cut across a corn field and probably be OK, at least for that chase scene. But I wouldn't try taking that Prius on an African Safari or on a race through the Mojave...

I get it from my WEG days, they had water require a different kind of speeder to allow certain story points to work.

I remember that, especially in the No Disintegration's adventure book. My take is that a normal repulsorlift would not work on water, you would require either (as suggested) a specialist repulsorlift vehicle or a boat, or you could use an Airspeeder.

The repulsor is supposed to be anti-grav, a pushing force based on two interacting masses. The liquid most certainly has mass, so the repulsor should work.

But, based on the speeder's mass, the repulsor's area of effect and the liquid's density, a kind of bowl would press down into the liquid's surface. So, maybe the speederboat in wookieepedia has repulsors covering a large area.

Except, Speeder's don't push down the substance below them. Otherwise we'd have a lot of crushed people on Coruscant (those floating landing platforms), and a much flatter Qui-gon and Jar-Jar (who are directly under a massive troop transport with less than 1 foot of clearance.

Well, in that case it has to work on water just as on solid ground. Anything else would stretch my personal Suspension of Disbelief to the cracking point.

1. Its Star Wars... why are we arguing physics?

1. Its Star Wars... why are we arguing physics?
2. Your the GM and this is your game, if it improves the story, they work over water, if them not working on water makes for a more interesting scene then go with that.

1. I'm a health physicist by trade so its in my nature

2. The ability to use speeders over water doesn't have a huge impact on the game. The situation which brought it up had the party one one side of a rapid flooded river with an individual taking cover behind a crashed imperial walker on the other side of the river (Primitive forested planet). I told the players it was a full round (two maneuvers +1 action) with a hard athletics check to get across. The first player being a mon-calamari was able to get across easily (he did not have to make a check). Another decided to get in their V5 Cargo hauler and ferry the rest across. Since this is a Play by post game I had time to ask here if that was possible. I do not like to say no to players when they are being inventive and when the board agreed it was possible i went with it. Oh one player did try to swim and got swept down stream underwater which was my intent for most of the group but was not imperative for the story. All this to say, I'm not sure if it improved or detracted from the story and so was unable to judge off of criteria two.

1. Its Star Wars... why are we arguing physics?
2. Your the GM and this is your game, if it improves the story, they work over water, if them not working on water makes for a more interesting scene then go with that.

1. I'm a health physicist by trade so its in my nature

2. The ability to use speeders over water doesn't have a huge impact on the game. The situation which brought it up had the party one one side of a rapid flooded river with an individual taking cover behind a crashed imperial walker on the other side of the river (Primitive forested planet). I told the players it was a full round (two maneuvers +1 action) with a hard athletics check to get across. The first player being a mon-calamari was able to get across easily (he did not have to make a check). Another decided to get in their V5 Cargo hauler and ferry the rest across. Since this is a Play by post game I had time to ask here if that was possible. I do not like to say no to players when they are being inventive and when the board agreed it was possible i went with it. Oh one player did try to swim and got swept down stream underwater which was my intent for most of the group but was not imperative for the story. All this to say, I'm not sure if it improved or detracted from the story and so was unable to judge off of criteria two.

1. i was referring to using the unit of a Parsec as a measurement of time, instead of its use in our world as a measure of distance (also its based on the orbital characteristics of Earth, and this is supposed to be in a galaxy a long time ago, far far away! not to mention the energy required to do what they do is extreme in the best of cases, oh and the force...
2. cool, great setup, use the old Yes... But, as an answer. I try to always say yes, then start handing out black red and purple

In my games I meet in the middle.

Landspeeders and speederbikes can operate in shallow water (depth that's less than/equal to the vehicle max altitude)

CLIP

Airspeeders, cloudcars, and swoops are sufficiently powerful enough to ignore water.

ASide from you being wrong about how repulsors work in the SW universe... Why the distinction between a speeder bike and a swoop?

A swoop is just a much more powerful speeder bike... Think Harley compared to a sportbike. An akin rode a swoop on his way to rescue his mother in Episode 2 (understand it pains me to reference that movie)

ASide from you being wrong about how repulsors work in the SW universe...

Depends on your source. Some sources say landspeeders and the like cannot cross large bodies of water, and you require special speeders to do so. I go with those sources as it allows me to use large bodies of water as a barrier or obstacle, which I consider a useful story tool in my GM toolbox.

Referencing the films, they seem to go out of their way to use non-repulsor craft on water. We don't see landspeeders in the canals of Theed. Even the amphibious assault in EPIII shows a grand total of ONE possibly land-style repulsorcraft carefully picking it's way across the water beach. Everything else is either an aircraft style repulsorcraft, a "swamp speeder" or an amphibious nonrepulsor ground vehicle.

And at the end of the day, it's an RPG, and I'm the GM, so I can't be "wrong." Now quit complaining and either make a Piloting Check, or surrender to the Selkath Inquisitor and his Aquatroopers; the other players are waiting on you.

Why the distinction between a speeder bike and a swoop?

A swoop is just a much more powerful speeder bike... Think Harley compared to a sportbike. An akin rode a swoop on his way to rescue his mother in Episode 2 (understand it pains me to reference that movie)

Exactly. A swoop is a much more powerful version of a speederbike. Specifically, check the numbers and you'll find that typically a swoop has a dramatically higher max altitude than a speederbike. A speederbike is essentially just a space motorcycle. A swoop is more the sci-fi flying rocketbike, and as such I tend to categorize it as a kind of aircraft.

There's of course some reasonable exceptions. The Guardian E2 "speederbike" has the altitude of a swoop, and as such I'd allow it to cross deep water just as easily as a swoop.

If a land speeder hovers 2m off the ground and there is a 4-6m swell that body of water just became a real barrier...

I haven't had it come up but I'd rule no for any depth greater than the max altitude of the speeder. I'd do this for purely story reasons though because it's another complication for the PCs to have to work out.

Be careful when putting limitations on speeders... they could be tricky.

If they can only over 2m above ground, and would be underwater in a 4m depth pool of water, would they be able to hover on the second floor of a building if it is more then 2m above ground ? In that case, what would be the difference between water and upper floors ? Could repulsors work on starshipts since their is no ground or would a repulsor droid like the Interrogation Droid in EpIV just fall to the floor ?

For the original question, the Canon answer is YES.

Unless they aren't canon, in the Lost Missions of the Clone Wars, when CT-5555 (Fives) escapes from Tipoca City, he jumps on the back of the medical droid AZ-3 and goes back to the city, hovering above water using the droids repulsors. People could argue that it is Kamino, a ocean planet and that they have special repulsors, but it still is the best answer to the question.

Anyway, it's your game, so you can decide whatever you want.
Personnaly, speeders can go above water fine, but hovering only 2m above water can get tricky out in the open sea. So if your players are trying to cross a river with a speeder, no problem. If they want to cross the ocean, it would be pretty dangerous and daunting task to do because of the waves and wind, that's why there are ferry shuttles using airspeeders or some other kind of special amphibious ferry speeder or boat.

Hope it helps.