Just wonder as I seem to have a Lot of Players submit characters focused on Melee.

Melee is fast and easy to focus on early, and you can get pretty good without too much work. It’s an easy trope to follow.

But it’s easy to overwhelm melee-focussed characters with too many minions, and other types can wind up doing a hell of a lot more damage, given enough time and the right tools/weapons.

Being an M1A1 Abrams tank is great and very thrilling, until you discover that others in the group are the equivalent of an A-10 Warthog, or a satellite weapons platform that can lob nukes from orbit.

Then that sole tank on the ground starts feeling pretty lonely and wimpy.

Part of it is because in the early game the system rewards having one high stat. Brawn usually gets you the most bang for the buck as it ups your wounds, ups your soak (and in turn the number hits you take), is used for a number of skills, is used in calculating encumbrance, and is used for melee. Compared to other characteristics it looks pretty shiney early on.

Then factor in players coming from other game systems where PCs are almost always forced into melee with ranged combat options that don't deal much damage and you can see why they lean melee.

Plus if you are going lightsaber there is a good chance Brawn is your stat.

And of course there is the fun of playing a wookie, ripping off someone's arm, and then beating them with it.

I have the opposite conundrum. My players always seem to favor ranged combat. I am overjoyed when I see a good melee build (especially one that isn't lightsaber-focused!)

(double post)

And I thought it was all about wielding a lightsaber?!

No I don't believe it's necessary to be force sensitive to wield a lightsaber as for those lightsaber combat styles in F&D they're the only means of using anything other than Brawn with a lightsaber.

Do you grant them bonuses or their adversaries setback dice if they're engaging them in melee and their foe is only wielding a blaster of some kind?

Do you grant them bonuses or their adversaries setback dice if they're engaging them in melee and their foe is only wielding a blaster of some kind?

Actually, for that you're supposed to increase the opponent's difficulty.

Do you grant them bonuses or their adversaries setback dice if they're engaging them in melee and their foe is only wielding a blaster of some kind?

Actually, for that you're supposed to increase the opponent's difficulty.

Yes, p210 of the EotE core book. It's +1 difficulty if they have a ranged light blaster, +2 difficulty with a ranged heavy blaster...unless they have appropriately modded equipment.

It's anachronistic in a setting with ray guns and space ships, and yet Star Wars itself is anachronistic in lots of ways, so it all fits nicely together. Also, maybe you've just got a lot of Riddick fans....

It's funny because to me melee is very non-Star Wars-y.

Lightsabers yes, but other than that, Star Wars to me is blasters, blasters, blasters!

Aside from Han hitting a guy in a bunker with a satchel charge, or Chewie Kirk-hammering a guard in cell block AA23, melee isn't really a "thing" in Star Wars. It seems to be more of a last resort, something to do in order to grab your blaster.

Only in the RPG is melee or brawl a "thing" that seems to be worthwhile. Thankfully, no one in my group bothered to specialize in melee or brawl, so I don't have to worry about it. They all stuck to the Star Wars thematically appropriate blasters.

Looked like a brawl between Obi Wan and Jango to me on Kamino. Obi Wan whooped @$$ with Force Pike on Geonosis also. Luke about got his head caved in by a Gaffi Stick. Off the top of my head...

Also, Gamorreans have their axes...of evil.

Thanks for the responses everyone

Looked like a brawl between Obi Wan and Jango to me on Kamino. Obi Wan whooped @$$ with Force Pike on Geonosis also. Luke about got his head caved in by a Gaffi Stick. Off the top of my head...

Yes, all very good examples, much like the few I gave.

Aside from possibly the sand person with the gaffi stick, none of those characters are built to melee or brawl. It's a last resort, a desperation move, or simply a tactic to employ when something goes wrong.

Aside from Zeb in Rebels (which is very recent, obviously), melee just hasn't been the focus for any character in Star Wars that I know of. Again, not counting lightsabers.

How about the MagnaGuards? Every Wookiee in every movie? These are all melee badasses. The Gamorreans look like they're built for some rough & tumble, even though they don't really get down in the films.

The Clone Wars had some other examples of melee/brawl-focused characters, like the Zygerrians and the Mandalorian royal guards.

They are secretly hoping to stumble across a lightsaber...

Yes, even if they are not force sensitive/Jedi, they still want a lightsaber.

Because deep down none of us want to be Luke, we all want to be Han Solo with a lightsaber.

They are secretly hoping to stumble across a lightsaber...

Yes, even if they are not force sensitive/Jedi, they still want a lightsaber.

Because deep down none of us want to be Luke, we all want to be Han Solo with a lightsaber.

Yup. I had a Bothan spy take down a dark Jedi with a really lucky crit. Then she took his lightsaber!

And later got some really lucky crits on a Zakkeg...

I should check that player's dice...

I've seen the opposite issue, It's very easy to be "good enough" with guns (rifles in particular) to meaningfully contribute in combat. Melee and, especially, Brawl are a different story. Without some Talents to boost them--often only available by taking entire Specializations to that effect--they are largely the inferior option. This means that the guy that's good in Melee/Brawl has a bit of niche protection since not everybody can afford to take such Talents, while it's very easy to be "another guy with a gun."

Looked like a brawl between Obi Wan and Jango to me on Kamino. Obi Wan whooped @$$ with Force Pike on Geonosis also. Luke about got his head caved in by a Gaffi Stick. Off the top of my head...

Yes, all very good examples, much like the few I gave.

Aside from possibly the sand person with the gaffi stick, none of those characters are built to melee or brawl. It's a last resort, a desperation move, or simply a tactic to employ when something goes wrong.

Aside from Zeb in Rebels (which is very recent, obviously), melee just hasn't been the focus for any character in Star Wars that I know of. Again, not counting lightsabers.

Obi Wan did a flying drop kick and knocked a guy with a jetpack out of the air. Looked like he meant to do it to me. Clearly Obi Wan is Joe Lightsaber, but he put some serious points in Brawl as well if he is 'Jim Kirk' flying drop kickin of guys out of the air.

But then there's Obi-Wan and his unarmed fight with Darts D'Nar, where the Jedi Master was prepared and still got totally qwned.

But then there's Obi-Wan and his unarmed fight with Darts D'Nar, where the Jedi Master was prepared and still got totally qwned.

Obi-Wan was deliberately taking a beating to stall him whilst Anakin and Ahsoka defused the bombs around the town. The moment they called to confirm this was done, Obi Wan gets up and pummels his opponent quite cheerfully. Not that this takes away from your point that there is non-lightsabre melee in the setting, just that Obi-Wan is most definitely not "totally qwned".

Part of it is because in the early game the system rewards having one high stat. Brawn usually gets you the most bang for the buck as it ups your wounds, ups your soak

Your wound count does not increase with the increase of Brawn stat (unless you're using a house rule to that effect), only soak increases.

Do you grant them bonuses or their adversaries setback dice if they're engaging them in melee and their foe is only wielding a blaster of some kind?

Actually, for that you're supposed to increase the opponent's difficulty.

Yes, p210 of the EotE core book. It's +1 difficulty if they have a ranged light blaster, +2 difficulty with a ranged heavy blaster...unless they have appropriately modded equipment.

Actually it does both, the ranged attacker gets increased difficulty and the melee combatant gets a boost die. I am away from the books right now, when I get home I will give a page number and quote.

And sometimes melee brawls in cantinas don't get investigated by the authorities with the same level of determination that a firefight with blasters would. Settling scores with knuckles mean that the losers don't have to end up dead or with lots of wounds instead of strain.

Part of it is because in the early game the system rewards having one high stat. Brawn usually gets you the most bang for the buck as it ups your wounds, ups your soak

Your wound count does not increase with the increase of Brawn stat (unless you're using a house rule to that effect), only soak increases.

Brawn does up your initial wound points. I think that is what jmoschner was saying.