Critical Hits, Vibroswords and Edges

By RebelDave, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

He has a Brawn of 4, and 3 ranks in Melee, and a couple of Force Powers. Enhance being one, with enough ranks to bump his brawn up when activated.

He has taken a Vibrosword, with a Monomolecular edge.

So he is weilding a Vicious 1 weapon, doing +6 damage (+7 if he enchances his Brawn with the force), doing Criticals on EVERY one Advantage.

So, with Vicious 1 already, 3 advantage (which comes up quite abit when testing the dice pool), hes doing a fair amount of damage, AND A critical at +30.

This seems insane.

Have I missed something? Can crits go as low as 1?

Has anyone houseruled this? (Im considering not letting anything crit below a 2)

He is potentially munching mooks 2 at a time.

Suggestions and thoughts?

Crits can indeed go down to 1.

And it's important to remember that he needs to keep running up to enemies that will likely want to stay at range from him. And that in doing so, he's shoving himself into the thick of things, becoming a closer and more desirable target for most enemies, particularly if he's doing more damage than anyone else in the group. This is all in-turn balanced by high Soak of having high Brawn. Also, keep in mind that minions are meant to generally go down pretty quick.

If you're worried about survivability of potential Nemesis. Parry ranks will help out with the damage, Durable will lessen Criticals.

Aim and shoot the sword out of his hand. Hit him with glop grenades, glue him down, and shoot him to pieces. Hit him with concussion weapons and stagger him. There are plenty of ways to deal with people that bring swords to gun fights.

Edited by 2P51

Remember the Order 66 recommendations" Keep it Long." Start your encounters out at long range, that's at least two rounds of that guy not not murdering things.

Also since the guy probably doesn't have much beyond melee and brawn add some environmental challenges that require coordination checks. "Want to get that guy? You need to walk across that wire. Make a hard coordination check."

Two words: jet pack.

Anyone flying, on higher ground, or at long range, will be able to chew him up and spit him out. Plus, the way things work, he can, at most, drop one group of minions a round. So if you attack the party with 4 groups of 2 minions each, the most he can do is run up to a pair of minions and slaughter the ever loving crap out of them.

Consider him mitigated through the action economy rather than combat challenges.

Alternatively you can try something a variation on what I did to one PC.

This PC was a giant murder bot, soak of 9 brawn of 5 with 3 ranks in melee, dual wielding modded vibro-axes. He chewed through enemies like nobodies business.

I had the main baddie call for reinforcements. Said reinforcements showed up in a hover truck, but not before ramming the murder bot. I let him dodge as a hard coordination check with set back. He failed and I ruled it like he fell from medium height. BOOM one incapacitated tank.

I now refer to that as a "Droid Tranquilizer" .

Never bring a Knife(sword) to a gun fight.... No matter how good you are.. your just a target for everyone else.

One question though...

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

You suggest he just made this character?

A starting character can't take skill above 2. so how did he get a Melee skill at 3?

Now if you house ruled to allow it.. sounds Like you set yourself up for this.

Also, personally, I don't allow Mods to be purchased at character creation.

Your over reacting.

7 damage is nothing special, almost every ranged (heavy) weapon does more, and crit 1 while looking scary usually takes 2-3 hits to kill a rival.

Heaven forbid they find the big guns.

Try to use Morality with him, if his first response is "I cleave them in 2" he will be dark side before you can say Imperial Inquisitor Apprenticeship.

If you don't have access to Morality rules then introduce narrative elements such as aforementioned Inquisitor or bounty hunters

Never bring a Knife(sword) to a gun fight.... No matter how good you are.. your just a target for everyone else.

One question though...

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

You suggest he just made this character?

A starting character can't take skill above 2. so how did he get a Melee skill at 3?

Now if you house ruled to allow it.. sounds Like you set yourself up for this.

Also, personally, I don't allow Mods to be purchased at character creation.

I'd assume Knight Level play, considering the stuff bought.

Seriously over reacting. I have a togruta with a sniper blaster (spin off the weequay blaster lance) with a spin barrel. 10 dmg accurate 2. Player can aim for a total of 3 boosts before assisting (2 dice Cuse togruta) the mando gadgeteer Witham genosian blaster rifle with spin barrel and red dot 11 dmg (tinkerer( crits at 2 advantage and gets one automatically with the dot) with a double aim that's 4 boost. N guess what? Blaster rifles still tear them to shreds

I think the OP was saying its a 10-11 base damage weapon depending on use of Enhance (Brawn 4 + 6/7) plus successes

To note a couple of points.

Hes created a new character to join an existing game, so was giving 190 XP after creation to bring him to the groups level. Which is why he has 3 ranks in Melee.

Between his Own Enhance, and the Medics Stim Application, it would be very easy to get him to Brawn 6.

At +2 for the weapon, and +6 for Brawn, and a minimum of +1 success, thats 9 Points of damage.

That on the whole does not worry me. The Selonian we have with a Glaive, (Br 3, Glaive +3, +1 Succ Min) is dealing similar damage. But thats not my worry.

My Worry is the Vibrosword with a Mono edge Criting on a 1, with a basic +10 to the Crit. And every singular Adv thereafter adding 10 to that crit.

Regardless of that, that means he is almost certainling taking down 2 minions a turn. So do I houserule something for crits? Or just throw MORE minions at the entire group?

Maybe I am overreacting. I dont know, I dont have enough experience in the system to really know. It just feels like Vibroswords are insane.

It's ok to upgrade enemies. D&D players don't fight goblins for 20 levels. It's ok to throw some tougher stuff or more minion groups.

It's ok to upgrade enemies. D&D players don't fight goblins for 20 levels. It's ok to throw some tougher stuff or more minion groups.

D&D players could fight goblins for 20 levels... you just have to add levels to the goblins...

Never bring a Knife(sword) to a gun fight.... No matter how good you are.. your just a target for everyone else.

One question though...

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

You suggest he just made this character?

A starting character can't take skill above 2. so how did he get a Melee skill at 3?

Now if you house ruled to allow it.. sounds Like you set yourself up for this.

Also, personally, I don't allow Mods to be purchased at character creation.

I'd assume Knight Level play, considering the stuff bought.

What is Knight level Play.. I don't recall this from EOTE .. I might have missed that section... as I am not all the way through yet.... But I would have started my group at beginning anyway.

Could be useful to know though...

I think I would still limit Characteristic development to the original racial exp though.

Never bring a Knife(sword) to a gun fight.... No matter how good you are.. your just a target for everyone else.

One question though...

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

You suggest he just made this character?

A starting character can't take skill above 2. so how did he get a Melee skill at 3?

Now if you house ruled to allow it.. sounds Like you set yourself up for this.

Also, personally, I don't allow Mods to be purchased at character creation.

I'd assume Knight Level play, considering the stuff bought.

What is Knight level Play.. I don't recall this from EOTE .. I might have missed that section... as I am not all the way through yet.... But I would have started my group at beginning anyway.

Could be useful to know though...

I think I would still limit Characteristic development to the original racial exp though.

It's part of F&D. Just means start with bonus xp to make more advanced PCs.

F&D? I suppose that refers to the Force book?

Yes

To note a couple of points.

Hes created a new character to join an existing game, so was giving 190 XP after creation to bring him to the groups level. Which is why he has 3 ranks in Melee.

Between his Own Enhance, and the Medics Stim Application, it would be very easy to get him to Brawn 6.

At +2 for the weapon, and +6 for Brawn, and a minimum of +1 success, thats 9 Points of damage.

That on the whole does not worry me. The Selonian we have with a Glaive, (Br 3, Glaive +3, +1 Succ Min) is dealing similar damage. But thats not my worry.

My Worry is the Vibrosword with a Mono edge Criting on a 1, with a basic +10 to the Crit. And every singular Adv thereafter adding 10 to that crit.

Regardless of that, that means he is almost certainling taking down 2 minions a turn. So do I houserule something for crits? Or just throw MORE minions at the entire group?

Maybe I am overreacting. I dont know, I dont have enough experience in the system to really know. It just feels like Vibroswords are insane.

The weapon sounds like a good Lightsaber... that can be sundered. So if it gets problematic, throw some sunder at the weapon.

Seriously, though, 2 minions/round isn't a big deal, especially for a melee weapon.

Additionally, you can use enemies nested in hard-to-reach locations with ranged weapons to slow down your melee combatants.

Never bring a Knife(sword) to a gun fight.... No matter how good you are.. your just a target for everyone else.

One question though...

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

You suggest he just made this character?

A starting character can't take skill above 2. so how did he get a Melee skill at 3?

Now if you house ruled to allow it.. sounds Like you set yourself up for this.

Also, personally, I don't allow Mods to be purchased at character creation.

I'd assume Knight Level play, considering the stuff bought.

What is Knight level Play.. I don't recall this from EOTE .. I might have missed that section... as I am not all the way through yet.... But I would have started my group at beginning anyway.

Could be useful to know though...

I think I would still limit Characteristic development to the original racial exp though.

Knight-level play is a starting option provided in Force & Destiny. It basically says "Give your players 150 XP post-creation and lightsabers if they want them". It was a solution to a substantial chunk of the community here crapping their pants when they were presented with the possibility that they could have Jedi that weren't guaranteed to start with glowsticks.

I think the OP stated the campaign was about a 190 XP in when the character joined.

Another Possible Solution, as it seems the layer is Purely designed for Combat (which might also indicate them being a bit light in the non combat areas) Make sure you have Parts of your adventures Desgned to play to other Characters Strengths that are outside of Combat... So that this character can't just dominate the game by his sheer supposed Uberness.

To note a couple of points.

Hes created a new character to join an existing game, so was giving 190 XP after creation to bring him to the groups level. Which is why he has 3 ranks in Melee.

Between his Own Enhance, and the Medics Stim Application, it would be very easy to get him to Brawn 6.

At +2 for the weapon, and +6 for Brawn, and a minimum of +1 success, thats 9 Points of damage.

That on the whole does not worry me. The Selonian we have with a Glaive, (Br 3, Glaive +3, +1 Succ Min) is dealing similar damage. But thats not my worry.

My Worry is the Vibrosword with a Mono edge Criting on a 1, with a basic +10 to the Crit. And every singular Adv thereafter adding 10 to that crit.

Regardless of that, that means he is almost certainling taking down 2 minions a turn. So do I houserule something for crits? Or just throw MORE minions at the entire group?

Maybe I am overreacting. I dont know, I dont have enough experience in the system to really know. It just feels like Vibroswords are insane.

The weapon sounds like a good Lightsaber... that can be sundered. So if it gets problematic, throw some sunder at the weapon.

Seriously, though, 2 minions/round isn't a big deal, especially for a melee weapon.

Additionally, you can use enemies nested in hard-to-reach locations with ranged weapons to slow down your melee combatants.

Never bring a Knife(sword) to a gun fight.... No matter how good you are.. your just a target for everyone else.

One question though...

OK, so my new player has finally created his character (Ill get into details on that in another thread), but it has me a bit worried.

You suggest he just made this character?

A starting character can't take skill above 2. so how did he get a Melee skill at 3?

Now if you house ruled to allow it.. sounds Like you set yourself up for this.

Also, personally, I don't allow Mods to be purchased at character creation.

I'd assume Knight Level play, considering the stuff bought.

What is Knight level Play.. I don't recall this from EOTE .. I might have missed that section... as I am not all the way through yet.... But I would have started my group at beginning anyway.

Could be useful to know though...

I think I would still limit Characteristic development to the original racial exp though.

Knight-level play is a starting option provided in Force & Destiny. It basically says "Give your players 150 XP post-creation and lightsabers if they want them". It was a solution to a substantial chunk of the community here crapping their pants when they were presented with the possibility that they could have Jedi that weren't guaranteed to start with glowsticks.

I think the OP stated the campaign was about a 190 XP in when the character joined.

Knight level play was always part of the plan for F&D.

He has enhance so I forsee force leap in your future. But this is something easily dealt with if you go relisten to the List strikes back.

Keep long as was suggested earlier. Don't forget elevation. You can alway put stuff between your player and the bad guys. Make sure there is stuff for the other PCs to do. Make sure you remember not all problems can be solved with a sword. Have difficult terrain. DO NOT EVER have fights happen in an empty room.

Edited by Daeglan

Oh and another important point. Allow this character to be awesome. Challenge them yes. But also throw stuff at him that he will annihilate. Because EVERYONE enjoys being awesome. Let it happen.

Regardless of that, that means he is almost certainling taking down 2 minions a turn. So do I houserule something for crits? Or just throw MORE minions at the entire group?

Maybe I am overreacting. I dont know, I dont have enough experience in the system to really know. It just feels like Vibroswords are insane.

+100