Just curious how my fellow GMs sort out the toys for their NPCs. Do you give every baddie a standard blaster and vibro-knife or do you select special weapons from the various source books a lot?

I have tended to use mostly generic weapons (blaster carbine, heavy blaster pistol), especially for minions and rivals, but the occasional NPC (Usually nemesis or potent/memorable rival) gets a special weapon. The ISB-agent that will be a thorn in the PC's side for a while will get a H-7 “Equalizer” Heavy Blaster Pistol. The rich and fancy pirate captain gets a Raider Arms “Nova Viper” Heavy Blaster Pistol. The ex-military corporate head of security gets a nasty-looking HH-50 Heavy Blaster Pistol.

I tend to use the special weapons only on one NPC in each encounter as it makes it easier to remember what special properties the weapons have. They also allow the NPC to stand out even more in the eyes of the players and tells them this is someone important.

So, how do the rest of you do it? Do you use standard stuff all the way or do you mix it up?

Given a Rival bounty hunter has a Disruptor rifle I don't get too crazy beyond what's in the section. I don't give super high end gear to anything other than a Nemesis, and then sparingly.

My rule of thumb is this: if I don't want the PCs to have it, don't give it to the enemies I think they might have a remote chance of defeating. Do you really want your players to be walking around in a powered exoskeleton with 2 light repeating blasters and a targeting system built in?

We're only two games in, so for the time being the baddies are only getting run-of-the-mill equipment. After we've played for a bit, I'll step things up.

Do you really want your players to be walking around in a powered exoskeleton with 2 light repeating blasters and a targeting system built in?

I'll field this one, me. The answer to that is no. I performed extensive table testing.

Honestly a good Nemesis character, even optimized for combat, is far more lethal loading up on stats, skills and talents than any individual weapon. In reality a good Nemesis should be about getting away, not engaging in a stand up fight, that's way too video game. A Nemesis will have legions of minions and rivals, or the iconic arena the PCs fall into to face the pair of starved Acklays while the Nemesis cackles wildly....

I'm solidly in the boat of not giving the NPCs anything I don't want the party to have. Occasional interesting equipment is, axiomatically, interesting. It also gives the party good opportunities for upgrades even if the party isn't rich or making lots of money.

Well, there's always the gene-lock, although that seems low.

Well, there's always the gene-lock, although that seems low.

A good tech can overwrite/remove that quick enough. It would really be more of an annoyance in the middle of a fight than as a hindrance in the long run.

Just to clarify, the "special" equipment the occasional NPC gets is not something I would want to keep from my players (no baddie "walking around in a powered exoskeleton with 2 light repeating blasters and a targeting system built in" for me, thanks!). It's just something I feel can add a bit of flavor when used sparingly. It tells my PCs something when the head of corporate security points his huge double-barreled HH-50 Heavy Blaster Pistol at them. I'm just curious if other GMs see it that way too or if they stick to the generic stuff for simplicity (like I do, most of the time).

I add distinctive equipment to some NPCs, though generally not for combat purposes. It really helps me to get into the character when my notes include some cool props to help solidify who this is supposed to be.

I do occasionally add in "Special" equipment for sale or on NPCs..

Not talking disruptors or the like.

But, like one player paid 250% of the base cost of a Smugglers coat, because It gave a boost die to his Charm and Negotiation checks.

best part is.... It can be destroyed.

But they become cool minor bonuses the players can pick up here and there..

I don't and then frequently, but I do add them.

My current play group converted its old characters from WEG D6 to FFGSW ; all the characters were starting characters with a 60xp bonus.... not much xp, but they still had all their gear and money from before, all their background and contacts... Reaching the 600 total XP mark, some of them bought some cool high end gear... paying sometimes 4 times the listed price from underground market and special orders vendors...

But I do believe a lot of great gear is hidden within each book... sometimes the players just dont see how that weapon is great....

In one of my next games, i'm gonna have my players go with no gear into a mission and have them find some cool gear they wouldn't have bought or tried before.... just to give them some new insights on the gear. I hope they like the gear In my current game, they just found how awesome riot shields can be

But like many said before... I usually don't give my Rivals and Nemesis cool uber gear.... they have stats and talents that make them a challenge... maybe i'll give that character some special weapon, but never the super awesome ones.... They had a fight with some hostile natives, their leader had a Huntsman Vibrospear fully modded... not has good as a Lightsaber, but decent enough.... ironicaly, my players didn't even take it.... or I think they kept it just for show. If I put some super weapons, they'll probably be gonna be on some side/secret room that the players don't have to go to finish the mission, but if they go beyond the mission, they can find it....

Yeah, I go very sparingly on all mods. Almost all the weapons used by my baddies have no mods. Only one or two planned NPCs will have a modded weapon, it is usually much easier to just fix stats or add a talent to get the desired result rather than having every other weapon tweaked out.

I keep money abstract in my games, the PCs never have much for long and can't really buy much when they do, they always have some access to normal stuff but most Mods and special weapons I reserve for in game acquisition during the course of an adventure. However I make up for it by keeping an eye out for what the Players want and occasionally give the big baddie that thing. When they take them out it's their reward. I also occasionally have one of the special weapons found in the splatbooks that are good but have a drawback like limited ammo or higher than normal ENC, something a Player wouldn't buy but I think are kinda neat.

Honestly a good Nemesis character, even optimized for combat, is far more lethal loading up on stats, skills and talents than any individual weapon. In reality a good Nemesis should be about getting away, not engaging in a stand up fight, that's way too video game. A Nemesis will have legions of minions and rivals, or the iconic arena the PCs fall into to face the pair of starved Acklays while the Nemesis cackles wildly....

That depends. Arming the nemesis with an Auto-fire weapon can make (or break) an encounter, a Nemesis with a lightsaber is absolute hell for most combat characters that rely on Soak, and a Nemesis with a proton torpedo launcher fitted to his ship can really change the pace of starship battles.

My rule of thumb is this: if I don't want the PCs to have it, don't give it to the enemies I think they might have a remote chance of defeating. Do you really want your players to be walking around in a powered exoskeleton with 2 light repeating blasters and a targeting system built in?

Due to fighting imps, we have encountered the gene enhanced stormtroopers with a breach cannon on at least three occasions. Bombs are literally built into the weapon and the trooper so upon defeat not much remains,

A good rule to follow. If its on your NPCs, a PC will find a way to get it.

As both a player and a GM I like when equipment is gotten through encounters not just a quick haggling moment. For this I try to talk with players about the things they are working towards and try to place them in the world. If it's a weapon of some kind that they want then it's probably going to show up on a bad guy. If I find interesting equipment that I think the party may enjoy using then I'll even build an encounter around it. Cash is important too, as a player i love pouring over the splat books finding cool things to spend cash on. Duty helps a lot too, players get a lot more control over what they are getting with that system.

Since my players aren't much for shopping around for new "cool" guns, and would rather put their money into stuff like spaceships and other equipment, here's what I'm planning on doing:

I'll be equipping the minions with no-brand weapons like "light blaster" or "blaster carbine", while their rivals might have brand specific weapons that are not super-special, but still cool.
And their Nemesis' will have the rare and hard-to-find special weapons.

(although the smuggler of the group, a girl who is completely new to RPG's, actually bought a dragoneye reaper, and the big-game hunter of the group bought a weequay blaster lance, so they're not completely new to the brand-name market hehehe)