You would play a droid because droids are comic relief.

We have a player in our group and if it's a Sci Fi setting, he's playing a droid.

That way the player doesn't have the hassle of dealing with emotions or making decisions. "Pft, what do I care? I'm a droid! Just tell me where to point and shoot next."

And there are those emotionally sensitive times during exposition where, Oh my goodness, your Mother, Son, BF, Twin just up and got KILLED and his response can appropriately be, "Oh, sorry, but I don't have to care about your trauma, er, I mean my, 'character' doesn't have to care about your expositional trauma. <shrug>"

So droids can be great for casual players.

On the other hand, if you are a very serious role-player, droids can offer an opportunity to explore a different aspect of existence. On the flip side of the same coin, rolling a droid is a great way to explore the nuances of humanity from a divergent perspective.

Point in case. It is my opinion that the only reason that Star Trek works is because in TOS you have the inhuman Spock character who gets to do the societal commentary bit about humanity. And they did the same thing in TNG with Data. (I think that without those two characters, Star Trek isn't more than a 1 season show. Come to think of it I actually stopped watching TNG after episode 5 . . . and every time I catch part of a rerun I don't regret that decision. Hmm, I may need to rethink this theorem).

So, a couple more reasons to play a droid.

Point in case. It is my opinion that the only reason that Star Trek works is because in TOS you have the inhuman Spock character who gets to do the societal commentary bit about humanity. And they did the same thing in TNG with Data. (I think that without those two characters, Star Trek isn't more than a 1 season show.

Yup. To make that kind of story work, you need someone to be able to look in and comment on the nature of humanity from the perspective of an outsider.

And the same is definitely true for Star Wars.

I would play a droid to buy all the Sound Investments talents on the Entrepreneur talent tree

Sound investments? Like, installing speakers and an amp in your chassis?

I heard someone else on the forum said that they had played an IG assassin droid who could transform to appear as a protocol droid. Cool!

(They wouldn't post the details, tho.)

[{(…could threepio have been one of those all along?)}]

Sound investments? Like, installing speakers and an amp in your chassis?

*sigh* All you penguins are the same.

Sound investments? Like, installing speakers and an amp in your chassis?

Kegerator....

"Yes, Tatooine is hot. Hey?! Would anyone like a cold beer?"........

Sound investments? Like, installing speakers and an amp in your chassis?

*sigh* All you penguins are the same.

Whoa whoa whoa, easy there with the anti-penguinism, you **** dirty mammal.

I have good reason to think that way. Ever heard of desslok?

Did you say Deathlok?

[{(…could threepio have been one of those all along?)}]

Like C-3PX?

My take.

Did you say Deathlok?

RRRGH!

…fine. Yes. I said deathlok. Absolutely. Deathlok is what I said.

I had the opportunity to make a pNPC astromech over the weekend and . . . oh my!

Droids certainly appeal to my munchkin side!

They start with 50% more skills and twice as much in starting Exp.

So in the SW RPG, droids start out very well statted! (And their programming can upgraded as time goes on!).

It's an interesting question - thanks for starting the thread.

I'm new to the game, but I think if you think of it purely in terms of stats you're missing out on a terrific role-playing opportunity. These games really are narrative driven, right down to the "pass/fail/bonus/complications" nature of the dice pool. So, play a droid and work the heck out of the character potential. You'll probably find your GM starts giving you bonus dice on your rolls just because you're amusing him/her.

Beyond that general statement, I think droids could be really useful in some unorthodox careers. Thanks to the movies, the first careers that come to mind for droids are as mechanics (R2) or public servants (C3PO - either as part of the original diplomatic mission in "A New Hope", or as Jabba's translator in "Return of the Jedi").

But here's a thought: A droid would make an excellent spy - either in intelligence or internal security.

For starters, in the movies, biological/organic beings tend to dismiss droids as "useless" - if they even think about them at all. Here are a couple of examples from the original trilogy of movies...

- Luke decides R2 isn't going to wander off, and he removes the restraining bolt. How much trouble can a little guy get into, etc. Basically, R2 is his prisoner/slave, and he frees R2 because he underestimates the droid. If he was keeping a biological being as a prisoner, it's unlikely he would've done that.

- When confronted by stormtroopers on the Death Star in the control room overlooking the hanger, C3PO quickly sends away the troopers by playing the victim: Would that have worked if he'd been an organic being? Then the droids escape because C3PO tells the stormtroopers that R2 is a bit shaken by the events, and has to go for servicing. Again, not something an organic hero could pull off, I don't think. If they'd faked illness, a stormtrooper or two would've accompanied them to the medical centre.

- Jabba - who didn't achieve crime lord status by being a trusting sort - lets a droid carrying a concealed lightsaber onto his sail barge. Didn't anybody in his entourage think to check R2 for weapons? No - of course not. You would think Jabba would've hired smarter henchthings... but what's an R2 unit going to do: astromech you to death?

Droids have the ultimate disguise kit, built right in: Nobody looks at them twice. They CAN all look alike, and the same models are used by everyone in the galaxy. Identical appearing protocol droids can serve a smuggler, a rebel commander, or an Imperial general, and nobody bats an eye. It might even be the same droid...

Here's more on the appearance issue - which is great if you're a spy:

- Organic beings must make a real effort to change their appearance: Droids go to Galaxy Depot for a quart of paint. Or can have their personality loaded into a completely different shell.

- Organic veterans in the Alliance can probably be recognized by their battle scars: Droid veterans can have their dented, scratched, scorched hides completely replaced. R2 gets his head blown open in the battle to destroy the Death Star, and there he is in the awards ceremony, as good as new after a trip through the shop - and looking like any other astromech droid.

- Once an organic PC's Contribution Rank rises to the point where they're on the Empire's radar, their picture is going to be on the wall in every Imperial Post Office in the galaxy. When a droid becomes Public Enemy #1, the Empire is going to discover that putting up posters saying, "Have you seen this trash can?" will be astonishingly ineffective. Meantime, our astromech droid PC has had his intelligence loaded into a model with a different head, or into a completely different body. "Your 3PO droid sure whistles a lot, doesn't he?"

Here are some thoughts:

- If a protocol droid offered you a nibbly from a tray at a diplomatic function, would you even say thanks? Would you wonder if it was a spy?

- If you were talking to an informant in a cantina and a droid arrived to clear your glasses, would you pause your conversation?

Based on the movies, you would not - because if you're organic, you wouldn't even notice the droid. Yet here's a being with awesome hearing, perfect eyesight, and total recall, listening to you and your informant in any of the six-million forms of communication that you might choose to employ for your secret meeting.

So, by the numbers, the droid might not be the strongest species in the book(s). But I think there are plenty of ways to enjoy role-playing them. Espionage is just one (but a good one!)

Again, thanks for starting the discussion. Really interesting thread.

Cheers!

I had the opportunity to make a pNPC astromech over the weekend and . . . oh my!

Droids certainly appeal to my munchkin side!

They start with 50% more skills and twice as much in starting Exp.

So in the SW RPG, droids start out very well statted! (And their programming can upgraded as time goes on!).

I had the opportunity to make a pNPC astromech over the weekend and . . . oh my!

Droids certainly appeal to my munchkin side!

They start with 50% more skills and twice as much in starting Exp.

So in the SW RPG, droids start out very well statted! (And their programming can upgraded as time goes on!).

You must not have compared your character to what most other species are capable of looking like at character creation or your munchkin side might have been sorely disappointed.

That little astromech droid was the third character I've completed in 6 months. I'm not disappointed at all. It's brilliant at what it's been designed to do.

Sure it's useless in a gun fight, but that's not a hole that needs filling in our group.

I have good reason to think that way. Ever heard of desslok?

Pfft. Speciesist.

I have good reason to think that way. Ever heard of desslok?

Pfft. Speciesist.

Ahem. I rest my case.

I had the opportunity to make a pNPC astromech over the weekend and . . . oh my!

Droids certainly appeal to my munchkin side!

They start with 50% more skills and twice as much in starting Exp.

So in the SW RPG, droids start out very well statted! (And their programming can upgraded as time goes on!).

You must not have compared your character to what most other species are capable of looking like at character creation or your munchkin side might have been sorely disappointed.

Nah, astromechs are the ultimate munchkins in the system. You will not get a better copilot for equal amounts of XP. And a rival pilot with a PC astromech will most likely perform better than a PC organic pilot with an rival astromech. I honestly believe that from a balance perspective astromechs player characters are OP.

Droids excel at munchkinisim... if your happy with at least 3 characteristics of 1.

Are you people redoing the entire thread now? :-))

Are you people redoing the entire thread now? :-))

definitely! that was 18 months ago, people probably agree with me now

Are you people redoing the entire thread now? :-))

It seems like this thread just won't die. It seems to finally die but three weeks later someone comes across it had feels compelled to revive it with their own opinion. then the same 3 arguments come up until the circle completes and goes back into hibernation.

Are you people redoing the entire thread now? :-))

It seems like this thread just won't die. It seems to finally die but three weeks later someone comes across it had feels compelled to revive it with their own opinion. then the same 3 arguments come up until the circle completes and goes back into hibernation.

So, is that anything like having a droid's memory wiped?