So, I played through my first session with my group and i feel like i got the hp and soak value for the NPC's right, but I feel like the weapon damage from the suggested weapon's for minions is too high, especially after calculating in additional successes as more damage. Should I just give minons lower damaging weapons? they had been using HBP 7dmg and the blaster rifle 9 dmg

Sounds right. PCs need to look into armor quickly. They need to make use of cover always if they can. You could use a lighter set of weapons if they aren't a terribly tough party or are lacking a serious Joe Gun or two.

You can also split up minion groups so they aren't as potent. Of course...that means collectively they get more shots...

If your PCs' soak values are averaging on the low side there's nothing wrong with equipping NPCs with blaster pistols and light blaster pistols (damage 6 and 5, respectively) to make things a little less lethal. Of course, you need to balance that with number and type of enemies, how dangerous the encounter is supposed to be, and so on.

Until the PCs get more than their starting equipment, I would suggest not shooting at them with anything other than pistols. A decent shot with a blaster rifle can easily get into the double digits and most PCs will go down after two such shots -- three will take any starting character out of the fight.

It's just fundamentally easy to hit targets in this system, so, if you want to have any heavy combat with multiple encounters, make sure to use pistols rather than rifles.

Until the PCs get more than their starting equipment, I would suggest not shooting at them with anything other than pistols.

This is basically what I've been doing. My players are "equipment poor" (they have the money, just haven't been interested in going shopping yet), so the most I've hit them with are a couple of Rivals with vibroknives. Suddenly they want some armour "like that Boba Fett guy"...

Awesome thanks for the tips! I had a guy bleeding out on the plains of dantooine after a guy decided to rush the nemesis with a light blaster pistol....

Awesome thanks for the tips! I had a guy bleeding out on the plains of dantooine after a guy decided to rush the nemesis with a light blaster pistol....

That sounds like an entirely different problem....

Awesome thanks for the tips! I had a guy bleeding out on the plains of dantooine after a guy decided to rush the nemesis with a light blaster pistol....

That sounds like an entirely different problem....

It's incurable as well.

My players use a Wookie Marauder to draw NPC fire. Wookies seem to enjoy getting shot.

Awesome thanks for the tips! I had a guy bleeding out on the plains of dantooine after a guy decided to rush the nemesis with a light blaster pistol....

That sounds like an entirely different problem....

It's incurable as well.

"God **** it, Leroy!"

My players use a Wookie Marauder to draw NPC fire. Wookies seem to enjoy getting shot.

If he shaves he'll make a smaller target than a Wookie would normally make...

Is there such a thing as a Stealth Wookie?!

Is there such a thing as a Stealth Wookie?!

Our Wookie definitely is not stealthy. He wears a Nomad Greatcoat (so the Hutt Trader will stop petting him...don't ask), has a drinking problem that makes Saul Tigh look sober, and has some very serious aggression issues. He is also quite fond of biting the fingers off of corpses and spitting them in the direction of any witnesses.

Until the PCs get more than their starting equipment, I would suggest not shooting at them with anything other than pistols. A decent shot with a blaster rifle can easily get into the double digits and most PCs will go down after two such shots -- three will take any starting character out of the fight.

It's just fundamentally easy to hit targets in this system, so, if you want to have any heavy combat with multiple encounters, make sure to use pistols rather than rifles.

I am new to this game and new to being a GM all together. I was going over the rules for this game and it seems very easy to hit targets. For example I bought the starter game for my group so that they and I can learn the system. The first combat encounter is against a group of gamorian thugs that as I played out the combat my self just to get a feel for it went down in 1-3 shots. Is that a typical encounter or am I missing something?

I am new to this game and new to being a GM all together. I was going over the rules for this game and it seems very easy to hit targets. For example I bought the starter game for my group so that they and I can learn the system. The first combat encounter is against a group of gamorian thugs that as I played out the combat my self just to get a feel for it went down in 1-3 shots. Is that a typical encounter or am I missing something?

Minions are designed to be blasted through by your players, while still posing a potential threat. In most encounters, the minions are there to either present a brief obstacle that can potentially hurt the PCs a little, or to back up a tougher Rival or Nemesis by soaking up hits and dealing additional damage.

Since you mention Gamorrean thugs, think how they played in Return of the Jedi - they were an obstacle for Luke, but easily dispatched, allowing Luke to show off his shiny new Force powers. Bib Fortuna, a Rival, was a more serious challenge for Luke, but a little use of the Influence power got him through that. Unfortunately, Jabba was a Nemesis and not so easily dealt with, landing Luke in hot water with another Nemesis enemy, a rancor.

Minion group size matters a lot as well. A group of two is usually only a threat to low-level PCs, as they only gain 1 yellow die. Not only does that mean that they hit less, but when they do hit they will deal less damage (due to having less successes), deal few if any criticals or other advantage effects, and the group is also quite flimsy: a combat-oriented character can easily drop two minions with one round of shooting or 'sabering. A group of four, by contrast, is capable of dishing out very serious damage even to seasoned mid-level characters, since they're likely to have as many as 3 yellow dice. More successes means more damage, and more triumphs means more nasty things happening to the PCs. Still, although they deal a lot of damage, it's usually not that hard to quickly dispatch the group or at least thin their numbers: Minions just aren't meant to have staying power, as they're the faceless goons our heroes bulldoze through during their adventures.

If you want to put a real roadblock in front of the PCs, you need to use Rivals or even a Nemesis (though the latter should be used sparingly, as a primary villain or 'boss' encounter). Many Rivals and Nemeses have the Adversary talent, which means that they upgrade some of the purple dice to red dice when they're being attacked, making them much harder to hit and kill, in addition to their higher Wounds and other stats.

My players use a Wookie Marauder to draw NPC fire. Wookies seem to enjoy getting shot.

In my first FFG SWRPG group, I played the Wookiee Marauder. They do make pretty good tanks, if you build them right.

There’s nothing quite like a Wookiee that can easily still be standing after you hit him with a Thermal Detonator, and now he’s PISSED OFF.

I am new to this game and new to being a GM all together. I was going over the rules for this game and it seems very easy to hit targets. For example I bought the starter game for my group so that they and I can learn the system. The first combat encounter is against a group of gamorian thugs that as I played out the combat my self just to get a feel for it went down in 1-3 shots. Is that a typical encounter or am I missing something?

Minions are designed to be blasted through by your players, while still posing a potential threat. In most encounters, the minions are there to either present a brief obstacle that can potentially hurt the PCs a little, or to back up a tougher Rival or Nemesis by soaking up hits and dealing additional damage.

Since you mention Gamorrean thugs, think how they played in Return of the Jedi - they were an obstacle for Luke, but easily dispatched, allowing Luke to show off his shiny new Force powers. Bib Fortuna, a Rival, was a more serious challenge for Luke, but a little use of the Influence power got him through that. Unfortunately, Jabba was a Nemesis and not so easily dealt with, landing Luke in hot water with another Nemesis enemy, a rancor.

Minion group size matters a lot as well. A group of two is usually only a threat to low-level PCs, as they only gain 1 yellow die. Not only does that mean that they hit less, but when they do hit they will deal less damage (due to having less successes), deal few if any criticals or other advantage effects, and the group is also quite flimsy: a combat-oriented character can easily drop two minions with one round of shooting or 'sabering. A group of four, by contrast, is capable of dishing out very serious damage even to seasoned mid-level characters, since they're likely to have as many as 3 yellow dice. More successes means more damage, and more triumphs means more nasty things happening to the PCs. Still, although they deal a lot of damage, it's usually not that hard to quickly dispatch the group or at least thin their numbers: Minions just aren't meant to have staying power, as they're the faceless goons our heroes bulldoze through during their adventures.

If you want to put a real roadblock in front of the PCs, you need to use Rivals or even a Nemesis (though the latter should be used sparingly, as a primary villain or 'boss' encounter). Many Rivals and Nemeses have the Adversary talent, which means that they upgrade some of the purple dice to red dice when they're being attacked, making them much harder to hit and kill, in addition to their higher Wounds and other stats.

Thanks for the explanation! That makes a lot of sense thinking about it that way. I guess I am just used to D&D encounters where battles were generally more long and drawn out and difficult.

Thanks for the explanation! That makes a lot of sense thinking about it that way. I guess I am just used to D&D encounters where battles were generally more long and drawn out and difficult.

No problem!

It's important to remember the style of a Star Wars adventure, versus a traditional D&D dungeon crawl. Where classic D&D focuses on tactical combat encounters with monsters, where positioning, buffs, debuffs, status effects and special abilities are important for resolving the situation, FFG's Star Wars line is more about simulating the swashbuckling pulp adventure of heroes in space. Encounters should resolve smoothly with a few cinematic actions - blasting an overhead chandelier light fixture into a bunch of goons, swinging across a pit of deadly lava, and rapelling up up and away to safety as an avalanche plows through the bad guys. Don't forget to embellish the occasional plummet of a goon into a bottomless chasm with a timely Wilhelm Scream.

My PCs run into people with blaster pistols of any variety much more often than they run into people with rifles. Especially in urban settings where walking around with anything bigger can get you into trouble.

One thing you can also keep in mind is that the weapons some minion thugs or planetary security use might not always be top-notch. Perhaps the blasters are of sub-standard quality (made by the lowest bidder...) or are not maintained well. One or two setback dice can save a PCs life (and leave the type of player that loots the guns too with much less "good" loot to grab).