Hi there!

Still a newbie to playing this system, so I had a question for which I think you can figure out from my title. I am going to be joining a new campaign soon and I was thinking about playing a soldier character. However, everyone else is going to be playing Jedi. What I was wanting to know was how well can I stack up compared to a jedi? In older systems I would be at an extreme disadvantage even if we were the same 'level'.

So is there a disparity between the two types? Can I still be as effective as a non force-user?

If I can be, what are some tips/pointers for doing so?

So is there a disparity between the two types? Can I still be as effective as a non force-user?

I am pretty sure that there will be no problem. While the Force allows Jedi to do some things only they can do, it costs XP to get all that. XP you can sink into talents and skills. Balance is a difficult concept in a game so much based on narrative, but the rules seem to be quite nice in that regard to me.

If I can be, what are some tips/pointers for doing so?

Find your niche(s), the thing(s) only you are good at in the group. Someone needs to repair all the stuff, patch everybody up after a fight, fly the spaceship, drive the speeder and so on. Discuss roles with your fellow players and the GM to make sure everybody got their niche(s) and the GM knows what to include in the adventures to give everybody their time in the spotlight.

As a soldier, you probably want to be good at combat. The good news is that there are several ways to be extremely proficient at combat, probably at least to the level of Lightsabering Jedi (if not even deadlier). For example, tricked out auto-fire is still very powerful.

Welcome to wonderfull world of SW.

And to be honest, you wont be at disatvantage even if you are at the same level.

You will be more or less the same. Or not even a bit better.

because Jedi, will have more options to choose from to invest their XP.

When he will want some fancy Force power with upgrades, then you by spending the same ammount of Xp, improve your skills.

Now, he can move some smal objects at long distances (If he dont go to dark side), but you now can trow 3 yellow dices in your favuorite skill.

to be honest they have made this game quite balanced towards all classes.

P.s **** missed by 4 mins xD

That depends on the game they're running.

For example are you all Knight level?

I've noticed a trend towards spending most of that starting xp on improving your attributes so you have good base die pool to call upon for various checks whilst force sensitivity is useful it really depends on whether you want to run a force user whose also a soldier rather than the Wedge Antilles of soldiers?

No matter what people think the FFG system is pretty good for evening the scales, but your gm is the one that decides how that's handled in the end.

What feels like would be the most fun for you to play might be more important in the long run.

So what do you fancy running?

Come up with some examples of what you'd like to play as a character in this game?

Arnie from Predator for example or Arnie from Commando perhaps you want to play the role Chris Pratt played in Jurassic World and start off with a speeder bike and a trio of high speed flying velocity raptors....

Okay I made that last bit up but still...

I would suggest having the Force characters figure out their roles first. This way the non-Force-user can find an area that isn't covered to shine at. As it stands, Force-users can eventually eclipse non-Force-users in many areas, but that's only after everybody has a whole lot of XP invested.

The important thing to remember here is that you're almost certainly going to have more skills and skill ranks than the Jedi characters, especially once you've played a while. They will be splitting their XP between skills, talents and Force powers, while you only have to worry about skills and talents. You will also have more career skills than them, and more starting ranks in skills.

If I was in your situation I'd be concentrating on getting some useful skills up rather quickly, skills that let you be versatile and useful in several kinds of situations. Stealth, Skulduggery, Survival, Mechanics, Computers, that sort of thing. Also I'd be focusing on ranged combat, since most of the Jedi characters will be concentrating on melee. Sharpshooter is a good spec to start with for you.

You won't be at a disadvantage. The marauder in our game could utterly destroy any of the Jedi in a fight.

"Take the greatest Jedi Knight, strip away the Force, and what remains? They rely on it, depend on it, more than they know. Watch as one tries to hold a blaster, as they try to hold a lightsaber, and you will see nothing more than a woman - or a man. A child.”

I've played in a few games as a "Jedi type" while the other PCs were EotE or AoR characters.

And even when those games broke the 300 earned XP mark, my Jedi PC in any of those games was not more powerful than the rest of the group, for the simple fact that I had to spread my XP around a bit more than the other PCs did.

Now two of those three PCs are exceptionally good at combat (the third started as a Smuggler/Scoundrel/Force Emergent and didn't get to spend much XP on Ataru Striker before the game ended), but that combat focus is on using a lightsaber, which may not be something they can always do, as I at least pay heed to the idea that we're in the Rebellion Era and the Empire tends to respond badly to folks openly brandishing lightsabers; my Shii-Cho Knight has the option to fall back on his Brawl skill (which is pretty good) but it's not as good in terms of sheer damage output. And if those two PCs can't use their lightsabers, then they pretty much lose access to about half the talents they've purchased in their respective specs.

Meanwhile, the muggles in the group are able to more freely spend their XP and don't have to worry about spending that XP on stuff they may not always be able to use.simply due to not wanting to draw down the wrath of the Empire. Case in point, the Gadgeteer/Mechanic in the AoR game I'm in is just as much if not more of a beast in combat than my Shii-Cho Knight, as he's got a monster of a blaster rifle that's been heavily-modified, a high Brawn score, and tricked-out combat gloves that really deliver a pounding, and he can use either of those combat options in open view without the kind of worry that would come if my PC drew his lightsaber.

Wow. I didn't expect such a positive response!

How do I modify my equipment, and is it the Mechanics skill I need to do that?

Mechanics, yes. Probably easier to read the rules and then return with specific questions, but basically you buy or find the attachment and install it. This requires no Mechanics check, and you gain the basic benefits.

Some attachments have mods you can upgrade further, I believe the max is four. Upgrading an attachment with a mod starts at a Hard Mechanics check (PPP). Each additional mod to the attachment requires a new Mechanics check at +1 difficulty over the last one. So the second mod to the attachment is a Daunting (PPPP) check, the third is Formidable (PPPPP). Usually the difficulty is capped at five dice, but the dice are upgraded, so fourth will be RPPPP. Of course, the GM can flip a Destiny Point at any time, so you're never free of the threat of a Despair, which destroys the attachment.

The implication here is that if you want to mod your equipment (and presumably that of the party), you'd better have a decent Intellect (3+) and invest heavily in the Mechanics skill, which means making sure it's a career skill. If you're going for a mechanic and want to go long range shooting, you need something with Ranged (Heavy) as a career skill, so the most immediate option is the Ace: Gunner. None of those Talents really support Mechanics much, but do support shooting in general, and Gunnery in particular. That might be something unique in your party.

Ranged (Light) can be pretty potent, especially if you wield twin pistols, so if you go with that you have a lot more options. Any of the Ace careers can help, including those in the Stay on Target sourcebook, which gives you a total of 6 to choose from. Otherwise, the Commander: Squadron Leader, or any of the Engineer specs will serve you well.

Of course, you can always just focus on the Soldier aspect, and have Mechanics as an incidental, it will just cost more. Or you can be, say, an Engineer and buy the Recruit spec to get the combat skills you want.

Wow. I didn't expect such a positive response!

How do I modify my equipment, and is it the Mechanics skill I need to do that?

For modifications it starts simple but gets complicated, I'll do my best to outline the basics:

1. Each weapon and armour type has a hard point value.

2. There are attachments you purchase and "attach" to the equipment, taking up or using Hard Points, no roll is required for this step. Multiple Attatchments can be put on a single item, so long as the item has enough Hard Points. The base benefits of the Attatchment are then usable for that item.

3. Each of the Attachments has a list of modifications that can be made to that specific Attatchment. This is where Mechanics rolls are required. Each individual modification requires a Credit Value of parts and a mechaics roll. If a roll is successful then 1 modification option is applied to the Attatchment . If the roll is failed then the parts are wasted and that particular modification can not be attempted again on that specific Attatchment.

4. In the case of multiples of the same modification type (ie "4 x Damage +1 modifications") these count as seperate modifications, therefore you must pay and roll for each individually. If the first attempt is failed then in the example 3 more attempts could be made, but the maximum damage increase would now be +3

5. After each attempt at modifying a specific Attatchment the difficulty of the next attempt is upgraded, whether the previous attempt was successful or not. Due to this it can get very difficult very quickly.

6. It is highly discouraged that PC's attempt to have multiple attachments for a piece of gear that they "Hot Swap" and all of the mentioned work must be performed during narrative play not structured play (no swapping blaster barrels during combat!)

There you go, sure I missed stuff, but that's the basics of how to make stuff better.

whafrog beat me too it!

Oh. Wow, that's deeper than I thought it would be! Awesome!

I'm going to check out the Stay on Target book now. I think I need something (all the things?) from there.

That depends on the game they're running.

For example are you all Knight level?

I've noticed a trend towards spending most of that starting xp on improving your attributes so you have good base die pool to call upon for various checks whilst force sensitivity is useful it really depends on whether you want to run a force user whose also a soldier rather than the Wedge Antilles of soldiers?

No matter what people think the FFG system is pretty good for evening the scales, but your gm is the one that decides how that's handled in the end.

What feels like would be the most fun for you to play might be more important in the long run.

So what do you fancy running?

Come up with some examples of what you'd like to play as a character in this game?

Arnie from Predator for example or Arnie from Commando perhaps you want to play the role Chris Pratt played in Jurassic World and start off with a speeder bike and a trio of high speed flying velocity raptors....

Okay I made that last bit up but still...

Okay so what I was wanting to play was a stormtrooper who had been abandoned by the empire as an expendable asset. I survived, and disillusioned by the empire became a rogue element that was eventually heard about and 'recruited' by the force users for his skills and knowledge.

I would like him to be extremely competent with ranged combat, but also mechanically minded, perhaps someone who loves tinkering with his blaster, trying to get every last ounce of power out of it. He's also capable behind the stick of a TIE, being a competent dogfighter.

I've played in a few games as a "Jedi type" while the other PCs were EotE or AoR characters.

And even when those games broke the 300 earned XP mark, my Jedi PC in any of those games was not more powerful than the rest of the group, for the simple fact that I had to spread my XP around a bit more than the other PCs did.

Now two of those three PCs are exceptionally good at combat (the third started as a Smuggler/Scoundrel/Force Emergent and didn't get to spend much XP on Ataru Striker before the game ended), but that combat focus is on using a lightsaber, which may not be something they can always do, as I at least pay heed to the idea that we're in the Rebellion Era and the Empire tends to respond badly to folks openly brandishing lightsabers; my Shii-Cho Knight has the option to fall back on his Brawl skill (which is pretty good) but it's not as good in terms of sheer damage output. And if those two PCs can't use their lightsabers, then they pretty much lose access to about half the talents they've purchased in their respective specs.

Meanwhile, the muggles in the group are able to more freely spend their XP and don't have to worry about spending that XP on stuff they may not always be able to use.simply due to not wanting to draw down the wrath of the Empire. Case in point, the Gadgeteer/Mechanic in the AoR game I'm in is just as much if not more of a beast in combat than my Shii-Cho Knight, as he's got a monster of a blaster rifle that's been heavily-modified, a high Brawn score, and tricked-out combat gloves that really deliver a pounding, and he can use either of those combat options in open view without the kind of worry that would come if my PC drew his lightsaber.

Would it be too much of a bother if I asked if you could share that Shii-Cho Knight of yours, stats and the like?

Can I still be as effective as a non force-user?

Absolutely. Our Marauder could, if she chose, completely destroy every single Jedi in the game. She is far and away the best combatant of the group.

Okay so what I was wanting to play was a stormtrooper who had been abandoned by the empire as an expendable asset. I survived, and disillusioned by the empire became a rogue element that was eventually heard about and 'recruited' by the force users for his skills and knowledge.

I would like him to be extremely competent with ranged combat, but also mechanically minded, perhaps someone who loves tinkering with his blaster, trying to get every last ounce of power out of it. He's also capable behind the stick of a TIE, being a competent dogfighter.

That's a long shopping list that will be hard to impossible to cover with a starting character. It is still possible to end up with that skill set but to shine in any one of those three areas you need the carrer and the talents from them. To do two at start up is possible but you will feel behind any starting character that went to town on just one carrer.

I would like him to be extremely competent with ranged combat, but also mechanically minded, perhaps someone who loves tinkering with his blaster, trying to get every last ounce of power out of it. He's also capable behind the stick of a TIE, being a competent dogfighter.

That's a long shopping list that will be hard to impossible to cover with a starting character. It is still possible to end up with that skill set but to shine in any one of those three areas you need the carrer and the talents from them. To do two at start up is possible but you will feel behind any starting character that went to town on just one carrer.

I think it's doable. I think the whole Ace career is his playground Start with Ace Gunner, with Agility 4 and Intellect 3. He'll be a good shot with anything out of the gate, a decent pilot as well, and the Gunner gives him Ranged Heavy and True Aim. A couple ranks of Mechanics and he's well on his way. The left side of Gunner adds to tanking and survivability. Later branch into Driver for Fine Tuning and Gearhead and other useful talents, or Rigger if the group's ship becomes important to the campaign.

If the GM allows, he could also use one of the EotE careers. Bounty Hunter: Gadgeteer might work, though there's little specific to piloting. I think it's a good bet that the BH sourcebook will include some sort of pilot spec though.