This isn't really an rpg question, but... if X-wings have repulsorlifts and are VTOL-capable, why did Luke crash?

Cuz he's from a desert planet and is used to clear sky flying?

Yoda caused his systems to fraz out. Pretty much the first test that Luke fails before being trained.

He was flying in blind. Landing on VTOL blind would have resulted in the same thing. The scopes were dead, he couldn't see. Because he couldn't see he didn't know when to engage the repulsors.

He rolled a despair on his piloting check.

He rolled a despair on his piloting check.

Or Yoda has a fully upgraded Misdirect power...

He rolled a despair..

Plot

The GM used a darkside destiny point and then Luke rolled nothing on his piloting check so ended up in the drink.

He did however used a lightside destiny point to insure his x-wing wasn't damaged although being swamp logged might have been a problem so probably a setback die for later when he got round to fixing it...

If you want an in-universe answer, the novelization of RotJ (I believe it was) had Luke reasoning that Yoda created the storm so he could bring Luke's X-wing down where he wanted it - i.e., close to his hut. Luke had a whole planet's worth of landing sites to choose from; it would have been pretty inconvenient for Yoda if he'd had to trek 5,000 kilometres to get to where Luke landed. Having the X-wing sink into the swamp was probably just an added bonus, since it kept the impatient Luke from just getting up and leaving when his frustration with the training got the better of him.

Script said so.

Other than the heavy cloud cover and a complaint about his scopes being dead, so no altitude readings, speed readings, etc... looks more like The Force guided him to a "landing site". heheh.

Luke actually isn't a very good pilot.

#TheDeathStarAttackWasAnInsideJob

Luke actually isn't a very good pilot.

#TheDeathStarAttackWasAnInsideJob

Hypermatter fuel can't melt transparisteel!

Luke is a rubbish pilot.

His only job in the battle of yavin was to fly in a straight line and shoot a stationary target. A shot anyone not arrogant enough to turn off their targeting computer could have made.

He followed that up with crashing into a planet.

It's no wonder he didn't get to fly in the battle of endor, where the alliance threw every ship and fighter they had at the empire (except Luke and his astromech)

You forgot him crashing the airship on Hoth as well.

But Han Crashed a Taun Taun. So I guess he isn't too awesome either.

You forgot him crashing the airship on Hoth as well.

But Han Crashed a Taun Taun. So I guess he isn't too awesome either.

Eh, Han is a spice smuggler, not a cowboy. People who don't deal with livestock often forget (or have no clue) how difficult they can be to take care of.

I'm going to agree it was a Yoda thing. I mean planets are big, really BIG, freakn' Huge actually, how else do you think he ended up walking distance to Yoda's hut? The Force.

I still feel like he could have cut in the repulsors and floated down gently. Instead he comes screamin' in almost horizontally. How did he not hit a **** tree?!?

I still feel like he could have cut in the repulsors and floated down gently. Instead he comes screamin' in almost horizontally. How did he not hit a **** tree?!?

A) He did hit trees. B) based on Legends, repulsors only worked within a certain distance of the ground. C) he had no sensors to tell him just how close to the ground he was or how fast he was going. If you've never been in a fog, you don't understand just how disorienting they can be, even while on the ground.

I still feel like he could have cut in the repulsors and floated down gently. Instead he comes screamin' in almost horizontally. How did he not hit a **** tree?!?

A) He did hit trees. B) based on Legends, repulsors only worked within a certain distance of the ground. C) he had no sensors to tell him just how close to the ground he was or how fast he was going. If you've never been in a fog, you don't understand just how disorienting they can be, even while on the ground.

Kallabecca is correct, in extreme situations it's not uncommon for pilots of small planes to even find themselves flying upside-down!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_disorientation

I still feel like he could have cut in the repulsors and floated down gently. Instead he comes screamin' in almost horizontally. How did he not hit a **** tree?!?

A) He did hit trees. B) based on Legends, repulsors only worked within a certain distance of the ground. C) he had no sensors to tell him just how close to the ground he was or how fast he was going. If you've never been in a fog, you don't understand just how disorienting they can be, even while on the ground.

Kallabecca is correct, in extreme situations it's not uncommon for pilots of small planes to even find themselves flying upside-down!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_disorientation

I stand corrected!

Sure wouldn't mind knowing what the average repulsorlift's flight-ceiling is...

I imagine some repulsorlifts have pretty high ceilings. The LAAT/i's rely mostly on repulsorlift to generate lift and thrust, enough to break free of planetary gravity and into space. Let's not forget that speeders also fly several kilometers over Coruscant's surface.

There are several examples of repulsorlifts in the FFG lines with flight ceilings of 100km+.

There are several examples of repulsorlifts in the FFG lines with flight ceilings of 100km+.

Right, but in the case of the X-Wing, there is no evidence that their repulsorlift operates much above six feet off the ground.