I know there's a similar thread but it doesn't quite cover my question and I don't want to change its topic. My question is does it seem like droids are getting jipped at character creation, all there characteristics are one to start with and only get two skills, granted they get the most xp to start with but doing the math they can't even get to the human base line of two points in all characteristics and six skills at one rank all together that's 220 points to reach that base line. Granted with six implant points increasing brawn, agility, and intellect is not a problem but that's only by one point each and is something humans could do with just three brawn. Is there better way to create a droid PC, at this point I'm tempted to just let him spend all six implant points at character creation for free to better balance him compared to the two force sensitives in the group that will inevitably out shine him once they get the xp to increase their force powers.

If it helps he wants to be a refurbished separatist droid, were thinking B2 Super Battle Droid model but as I just typed this I remembered the B3 Ultra Battle Droid, now that would be something to see but would be too big and conspicuous for an Edge of The Empire campaign oh well thought gone. If someone could tell me why droids start off with so little or how to design a better but balanced droid at character creation that would be a great help.

Some will come and disagree with me and tell you things like droid PCs need to buy mittens and scarves in cold climates, but at my table, just my table, for the gotcha guys and gals on this forum, at my table and my table only, not at any of your tables gotcha guys and gals on this forum......., a droid need not worry about things like hazardous climate gear, breathing gear, food, water, sleep, gas, poison, etc. That's not a real sexy perk but in sessions it actually can be quite handy.

They do get more skills which brings them to like 190 xp, and then there's the free rank of Enduring, which I don't exactly know all the specs, but it usually is buried pretty deep in most spec trees and costs quite a bit to ultimately reach.

addendum

I'm thinking Mechanic might be the most direct tree to a rank of Enduring and that's 30xp to get.

Droids are pretty badass. I created an autonomous B2 battle droid using the soldier/sharpshooter combo. I basically copied the B2 attributes and built from there. Having seen the character in action it is pretty cool.

1. they actually get "6 of the 8 career Skills (instead of the usual 4)" and "3 of the 4 Specialisation skills (instead of the usual 2)" so they get a total of 9 free "Skill Points" to spend as opposed to everyone else's 6, handy!

2. the second thing is to know that droids are usually good at only 1 thing, and what they lack in characteristics the make up for in training (R2 is very charming, yet he probably has a low presence)

3. those enhancements can actually make a big difference, i also suspect that some upcoming supplements will include more cybernetics (Lords of Nal Hutta had some of course).

4. those enhancements can technically raise a characteristic to 7, so a droid needs only a 1 Brawn and 5 Agility plus a heap of credits to get a 7 in agility (saving 60xp) where as a human would need at least a brawn of 2 to do the same thing, but then the droid kan keep on going with other cybernetics, the human is stuck with those 2 only (and yes I'm very aware this is power gaming, but you mentioned battle droids)

5. the droid can conceal small things inside itself for little or no effort, just so long as the GM allows it, making smuggling a small pistol, cred sticks, drugs or a light sabre etc much easier.

6. the Roleplaying elements of being a droid; no one pays any attention to most droids, they just blend in and are mostly considered property, they don't need to breath eat or drink, they heal differently which can have its benefits, they can look very different to other beings.

so basically so long as you focus on one thing mostly, and make up for the rest with skill training. then you also need your GM to include opportunities for your droid specific quirks to shine e.g. need to go into an area only service droids are allowed, or something on the outside of the ship needs fixing while in deep space

Edit: The GM also needs to be prepared to give you ample opportunities to acquire the cybernetics across the course of the campaign, so a good session zero with the GM covering your ultimate aspirations is required

Some will come and disagree with me and tell you things like droid PCs need to buy mittens and scarves in cold climates, but at my table, just my table, for the gotcha guys and gals on this forum, at my table and my table only, not at any of your tables gotcha guys and gals on this forum......., a droid need not worry about things like hazardous climate gear, breathing gear, food, water, sleep, gas, poison, etc. That's not a real sexy perk but in sessions it actually can be quite handy.

They do get more skills which brings them to like 190 xp, and then there's the free rank of Enduring, which I don't exactly know all the specs, but it usually is buried pretty deep in most spec trees and costs quite a bit to ultimately reach.

addendum

I'm thinking Mechanic might be the most direct tree to a rank of Enduring and that's 30xp to get.

im with you on this man, whats your stance on re-charging batteries (i say not required oftern enough to matter)

I think that could play into the starvation thread maybe. We only see Threepio ask once l think to shut down and that's after he got roughed up by the sand people. That's how a droid maybe recovers their strain on a 'quick breather'. It's no req imo.

Which leads to another perk. Get yer arm or leg blowed off? No problemo, bolt it right back on.

lol, yeah, i have always wanted the chance to inflict a Threepio type injury on a PC droid for the party to have to deal with, never had the chance... Yet.

So its all in the opportunity where droids are better equipped, makes sense I guess, I wish there were more cybernetics that wouldn't require me to get another expensive book though. Being lower in characteristics and skills isn't the worst thing though makes it easier to improve, plus a lot of the gear in the book that he purchases can simply be attached to him and easily concealed like someone said. You wouldn't relieve an old man of his walking stick or a droid of his arm, and then of oops its a wizard staff and oops it has an integrated blaster. I think I can make this work thanks for the info and being able to be rebuilt is a major boon for this particular player and now I'll have a tank in the group.

What someone said a few posts before me is a good point: Choose on thing and be realy good at it! For Example, ur group (lets say 5 Players) has already 4 guys, a Fringer, a pilot, a politico and a mechanic. Ok u realy need something that can kill and beat up people, so lets create a mean killer droid. With 5 points from your start-obligation, u get 180 Points. Sure u could do something smart blablabla, but lets be funny. We take a "hired gun artillery" and put brawn and agility on 4, the rest on 1. This is definitly a charakter no one will like to deal with. If it gets realy nasty u can take a repeating blaster and do the schwarzenegger thing.

Or, u could do a black market mechincs droid, with intelligence 4 and some cunning an willpower. or an pilotdroid... or... or... or...

I have to say i haven't played one yet, but i m looking forward to it, cause the roleplay will be quite exciting and different from the usual.

Droids are a race of specialists, it's one of the few races where you can get two attributes at 4. (And which 2 isn't fixed). It's also the only way to get a 5 Attribute (And still not fixed to the species 'strong' point) and still have experiance to buy skills and talents with.

And, as 2P51 noted, Droids have a host of immunities organics don't, and that's without the RP benefits of being a droid. The trick to playing a droid is to try and stick to your specialization. Let the organics be the generalists.

6. the Roleplaying elements of being a droid; no one pays any attention to most droids, they just blend in and are mostly considered property,

Depending on the circumstances, I very well might give a droid player an extra blue (or even an upgrade) to their sneaking. Really, who pays attention to the vacuum cleaners and parking meters of the world?

6. the Roleplaying elements of being a droid; no one pays any attention to most droids, they just blend in and are mostly considered property,

Depending on the circumstances, I very well might give a droid player an extra blue (or even an upgrade) to their sneaking. Really, who pays attention to the vacuum cleaners and parking meters of the world?

I would say that depends on how the droid looks. C-3PO isn't going to be able to walk into an Imperial because quite simply, he's gold! But if you gave him a temporary silver or black finish, he would have no trouble passing himself as an Imperial droid. Although I think he would definitely have something to say about that.. "But it's against my programming to impersonate another droid. Have you no decency? How much more perverse can you get?" Roll an Hard Charm check as you attempt to soothe 3PO's delicate... nerves, I guess..

6. the Roleplaying elements of being a droid; no one pays any attention to most droids, they just blend in and are mostly considered property,

Depending on the circumstances, I very well might give a droid player an extra blue (or even an upgrade) to their sneaking. Really, who pays attention to the vacuum cleaners and parking meters of the world?

I would say that depends on how the droid looks. C-3PO isn't going to be able to walk into an Imperial because quite simply, he's gold! But if you gave him a temporary silver or black finish, he would have no trouble passing himself as an Imperial droid. Although I think he would definitely have something to say about that.. "But it's against my programming to impersonate another droid. Have you no decency? How much more perverse can you get?" Roll an Hard Charm check as you attempt to soothe 3PO's delicate... nerves, I guess..

Or the Empire just buys its droids off the shelf from a list of approved vendors with no real concern for color. Also, 3PO is a lying liar who lies....

Love that scene with the Trooper on the right in the back as viewed, that cracks his head on the door walking in......

Love that scene with the Trooper on the right in the back as viewed, that cracks his head on the door walking in......

He definitely couldn't see a thing in that helmet. I just wish I had the OT on DVD or Blu-ray.. still have the VHS though the VCR is out of commission

I would say that depends on how the droid looks. C-3PO isn't going to be able to walk into an Imperial because quite simply, he's gold! But if you gave him a temporary silver or black finish, he would have no trouble passing himself as an Imperial droid. Although I think he would definitely have something to say about that.. "But it's against my programming to impersonate another droid. Have you no decency? How much more perverse can you get?" Roll an Hard Charm check as you attempt to soothe 3PO's delicate... nerves, I guess..

No one seemed to pay him much mind when the Stormtroopers found them alone in the monitoring room in Ep IV. His plating had nothing to do with it. I just don't think anyone pays much mind to droids.

Not "paying much mind to droids" is a mixed bad. You might gain Boost on some Stealth rolls, but you're almost always taking Setback on most interaction rolls because you're a non-person in the eyes of most galactic citizens.

Not "paying much mind to droids" is a mixed bad. You might gain Boost on some Stealth rolls, but you're almost always taking Setback on most interaction rolls because you're a non-person in the eyes of most galactic citizens.

Good point.

Love that scene with the Trooper on the right in the back as viewed, that cracks his head on the door walking in......

That's hilarious! I never noticed that before!

You can even hear it....

You can even hear it....

In the Special Editions and beyond, but not in the original theatrical release. The follies added it when they redid the effects.

My character and another are alone after blasting our way back into our ship out of my home planet: the home-planet-of-almost-totally-force-resistant folks - oops. This leaves the other PC, the Force Sense-itive one in a quandary - are we alone on the ship, or are some of the force insensitives stowed away? What about our droids that might have caught the nano-virus? Are there some droids hiding out too? Eeek!

Totally different from the usual situation where the first thing we do is all look at the force sensitive character and she immediately signals "No life" or "Look out! lots of life".

This Sunday the Order 66 will be delving into this exact topic! Pretty stoked to hear what the guys have to say on it!

My favorite PC characters for SW:EotE have been astromech droids. I tend to make them decent in Agility and Intellect, with a touch of Cunning. They can't swindle anyone, but they are great pilots, mechanics, hackers, etc. And they can still be "adorable" even without Presence.

The first one I played was an Explorer/Driver. He was encountered when the group was around the 200 XP mark. He was an R2 droid that was a smuggler's pal, was fitted with redundant memory banks for data heists, got stolen and scrapped, salvaged, and shoved into an R5 chassis. He was then sold to... a flower delivery shop on Corellia. The other PCs were looking for access into a fortified plantation owned by a former Imperial officer. They tried to hijack his flower delivery van, but learned quickly that 200 XP into the Driver tree makes for a mean off-road driver. They finally stop the van (I can't remember how; this was over a year ago). Turns out the owner of the flower shop was abusive, so the droid was happy to join a criminal band again. He made a great pilot and astrogator for the group. He had lots of retained memories backed-up into his memory banks that survived the multiple memory wipes. Many of them would leak out into his holo-projector (installed by the flower shop to play customized messages). This made some memorable moments.

The second one was R5-C1, aka "Rascal", made for an EotE/AoR privateer game. He was a Tech/Mechanic for a smuggling group until that group was killed in space by the Black Sun (too much debt). While the ship was largely undamaged, the Black Sun managed to score a hull breach that bled out life support. The Rebellion salvaged the ship, and Rascal joined the privateer group. They found out why he is called Rascal fairly quickly: he gets bored and/or distracted easily. He was an instigator rather than a thinker (low Will coupled high Intellect and Cunning). For example, during the Jewel of Yavin, the party needed a distraction in a local marketplace but kept arguing about what the distraction should be. Fed up, Rascal rolled up to a market stand, produced his cutting saw, and sawed the legs out from the stand knocking it over. Ta-da! Distraction. His favorite trick was to roll up to Imperials, produce a stun grenade from his chassis, and detonate it at point blank range. He eventually added the "tech" Bounty Hunter spec to his repertoire, registering with the Bounty Hunter Guild as "Rascal Rapscallion". His built-in blaster pistol started getting more use.

So yeah, Droids are fun to play. They make great specialists. But they cannot be as well-rounded as Humans or other organics.

IT-0 B411 (aka "Dr. Ball") has the opposite problem.
It is a Colonist/Doctor Droid repurposed from an IT-0 interrogator.
Given its assumed (rather than actual) function it attracts a lot of unwanted negative attention.
It can get very surly about it.






for refernce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKtZ_r0V6E