I know we had alot of those already, but this one is a bit different, I think.

A player of mine wanted to play an HK-Assasin Droid, frozen for almost 4000 years, scrapped and sold and at some point activated by one of the other PCs.
The thing with HK Droids is they have a double role, as an Assasin and a Protocoll Droid. The player even wants to fool the others that he is just a Protocoll Droid.

So, how does one pull that off?
How do I show that a Droid is fluent in over six million forms of communication, while also being an beast in combat?
I read through most of the Droid Topic, but I didn't find an answer, especially to how build a protocoll droid.


The basic Characteristics I came up with are:

Brawn: 2
Agility: 4
intellect: 1
Cunning: 3
Willpower: 1
Presence: 1

Pretty basic Assasin Droid there.
A strong fighter, stalker and hunter.

But a bit lackluster on the Protocoll Part, but what would a Protocoll Droid need?
Presence? Some Skills?
I am really unsure about that and would be glad about every bit of help!

Ehy do you want stats for a droid model that's 4000+ years old? All it's tech is way beyond the current.

I get what you want, you want a protocol droid with killer protocols. Well first I guess you create a protocolldroid in the image of the Rival described in the CRB, then you adjust some of the stats.

Add some cybernetics while you're at it (droids have always a limit of 6) and give him the proper career.

There are two different protocol droids I know of that are listed as Adversaries in the books. See http://swrpg.viluppo.net/adversaries/adversary/807/ and http://swrpg.viluppo.net/adversaries/adversary/1138/.

In short, the Intellect should be 3, and the Presence should be 2. The skills should be Charm 2, Education 3, Xenology 3, Negotiation 2, Perception 1.

Add those to your HK Assassin Droid build, and you should be able to cover both roles.

Ehy do you want stats for a droid model that's 4000+ years old? All it's tech is way beyond the current.

Yeah, basically it is, but I wanted to counter it with it's age, in form of wear and tear, also it was salvaged badly.

(and he is 3668 years old to be exact )

I also liked the idea of cybernetics to represent the repairing of the droid, as he was badly damaged.

We'll probably go with Bounty Hunter Assassin, the Droid is still a "Hunter Killer", so the main focus is on assasination, with a fair share of Protocoll

There are two different protocol droids I know of that are listed as Adversaries in the books. See http://swrpg.viluppo.net/adversaries/adversary/807/ and http://swrpg.viluppo.net/adversaries/adversary/1138/.

In short, the Intellect should be 3, and the Presence should be 2. The skills should be Charm 2, Education 3, Xenology 3, Negotiation 2, Perception 1.

Add those to your HK Assassin Droid build, and you should be able to cover both roles.

Thanks, that's a good idea actually, I'm sure I'll find a good balance for the character together with the player, in the end he decides what protocolls took the most damage.

Or... just build a protocol droid. Period. All xp where it should be... and play it as one, full tilt. No hints that there might be anything else. C3P0 to the max.

All earned XP goes into the Assassin tree. All money goes into buying cybernetics.

These are narrated as uncovering and repairing original programming and killer subroutines. Correcting centuries of neglect to get the faster reflexes/strength you were built with.

As a GM, if a player did this, they would be buried under so much secret extra XP they wouldn't be able to spend it all.

The key (for me) is to keep it from the rest of the party until a major reveal opportunity presents itself... and to have GM buy-in.

Old model- give setback dice to checks (1-3 accordingly). Can be removed with xxx credits after creation.

He needs the stats ghost typed, and he needs to start on a combat tree and have integrated weapons and maybe some social module (1-2 boost dice).

I allows my players price discount and leeway on anything integrated that fluff-wise they should have.

It's important to decide how the PC kills enemies, shooting is obvious, but it could be in Melee in which case swap the numbers for Brawn and Agility.

Take extra Obligation or reduced duty to raise the intelect to 2 to help knowledge skills, any charm and negotiation ability is all down to the programming (skill ranks).

Next pick the style of communication the PC wants to do and look for careers that fit together (or don't, that's fun too!)

Assasin + Gadgeteer is the obvious choice for a tough, sneaky, coercive character that can use just about anything to kill someone. But it lacks knowledge skills as well as the more friendly forms of communication

Infiltrator + Advocate is another fun combo, with great sneaking and Melee skills along with some very powerful Coercion/Deception stuff.

Ambassador + Recruit is an epic talky shooty combo, but limited in the sneaky stuff an assassin often needs.

Thief + Charmer + either Heavy/Enforcer/Recruit is long path to walk but covers so much of what your looking for.

And finally Saboteur + Advocate is my favourite, talks their way into and out of anywhere, and leaves behind surprises for their target without anyone knowing the wiser.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

No it actually had protocoll functions. But you can integrate them somehow I guess.

Let's face it you can't make a proper representation of all of HK-47's abilities without multiple spec-trees.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

No it actually had protocoll functions. But you can integrate them somehow I guess.

Let's face it you can't make a proper representation of all of HK-47's abilities without multiple spec-trees.

But that's the case with most characters, it's not like it's expensive for a second Spec. A beginning character is one who has a lot to learn.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

No it actually had protocoll functions. But you can integrate them somehow I guess.

Let's face it you can't make a proper representation of all of HK-47's abilities without multiple spec-trees.

But that's the case with most characters, it's not like it's expensive for a second Spec. A beginning character is one who has a lot to learn.

That is correct and it's good that way. If a player wants to be HK-50 or HK-51 or whatever he has to work for that. He can't start out with a done build, unless the GM says they start at Knight-level.

So yeah you have to decide: Either start with the protocol droid side of your concept, which IS less suspicous and add a few ranks in combat skills, or you start as an Assassin right away, which will make people suspicious of you, when you look like a Protocoll droid that can't do protocoll stuff.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

No it actually had protocoll functions. But you can integrate them somehow I guess.

Let's face it you can't make a proper representation of all of HK-47's abilities without multiple spec-trees.

I recall he could act as a translator. It sounds like I missed a few side-quests.

One thing I would require is that your Player not use Intellect and Presence as dump stats. The HK Series weren't just mindless Combat Droids they were Assassin Droids. Any old doorknob can shoot a blaster at someone but Assassination requires a great deal of research and planning. HKs need to be able to asses vulnerabilities, track, and manipulate their targets into exposing themselves as well as be able to bypass security and infiltrate. If all your Player wants is to be a gun platform any old Droid will do.

Or... just build a protocol droid. Period. All xp where it should be... and play it as one, full tilt. No hints that there might be anything else. C3P0 to the max.

All earned XP goes into the Assassin tree. All money goes into buying cybernetics.

These are narrated as uncovering and repairing original programming and killer subroutines. Correcting centuries of neglect to get the faster reflexes/strength you were built with.

As a GM, if a player did this, they would be buried under so much secret extra XP they wouldn't be able to spend it all.

The key (for me) is to keep it from the rest of the party until a major reveal opportunity presents itself... and to have GM buy-in.

This is an interesting idea, and I had something similar in mind.

Upgrading Intellect, Brawn and maybe even Agility with Cybernetics to show how it repairs itself and its programms.

What Class would you suggest for a Protocoll Droid? I guess it would be one from Age of Rebellion (Neither me nor the player would mind spending extra money for the Career Deck)

I'm affraid that if he takes a Protocoll Droid Career that he would be less efficent in the long run (I tend to make long Campaigns) so maybe taking Assassin as a Career, but buying into Protocoll Skills and stuff would help?

However I don't see how the PC would optain secret extra XP

Also it will be hard to create the right opportunity for his revelation, as the HK-Droid will probably enter the group at the beginning at "the long arm of the hutts" adventure and no HK Droid would never miss the opportunity of a fight, this will require some major crafting.

Old model- give setback dice to checks (1-3 accordingly). Can be removed with xxx credits after creation.

He needs the stats ghost typed, and he needs to start on a combat tree and have integrated weapons and maybe some social module (1-2 boost dice).

I allows my players price discount and leeway on anything integrated that fluff-wise they should have.

I like this idea, give him boosts and setbacks on different checks.

Would you give him setbacks on social skills though? Maybe showing his older language?

I have to play with this, still haven't completely wrapped my head around the dice system

It's important to decide how the PC kills enemies, shooting is obvious, but it could be in Melee in which case swap the numbers for Brawn and Agility.

Take extra Obligation or reduced duty to raise the intelect to 2 to help knowledge skills, any charm and negotiation ability is all down to the programming (skill ranks).

Next pick the style of communication the PC wants to do and look for careers that fit together (or don't, that's fun too!)

Assasin + Gadgeteer is the obvious choice for a tough, sneaky, coercive character that can use just about anything to kill someone. But it lacks knowledge skills as well as the more friendly forms of communication

Infiltrator + Advocate is another fun combo, with great sneaking and Melee skills along with some very powerful Coercion/Deception stuff.

Ambassador + Recruit is an epic talky shooty combo, but limited in the sneaky stuff an assassin often needs.

Thief + Charmer + either Heavy/Enforcer/Recruit is long path to walk but covers so much of what your looking for.

And finally Saboteur + Advocate is my favourite, talks their way into and out of anywhere, and leaves behind surprises for their target without anyone knowing the wiser.

Except for the HK-50s, HK-Droids seem to favour Sniper Rifles (maximum efficency) for eliminating hostillites (hehe)

Yeah, the stats were made completely without Obligaton in mind, and I will allow for a bigger ammount of it, due to it's value, etc.

At first I plan to only use EotE, but I'm willing to buy into Career Decks

So I would think that Assasin fits quite nice, as he is still an Assassin Droid, however the Advocate and the Ambassador both are interesting options to combine it with.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

No it actually had protocoll functions. But you can integrate them somehow I guess.

Let's face it you can't make a proper representation of all of HK-47's abilities without multiple spec-trees.

Indeed, they were often even used as Protocoll Droids, while the Masters didn't even know that "their" Droid is actually out for killing someone or even them

So I hope I will be able to narrow it down to 2 spec trees for my player to choose from.

What's the reasoning for picking up a protocol droid? As far as I can remember the HK-Series droids only disguised themselves as protocol droids. I would throw a few ranks into deception and call it done.

No it actually had protocoll functions. But you can integrate them somehow I guess.

Let's face it you can't make a proper representation of all of HK-47's abilities without multiple spec-trees.

But that's the case with most characters, it's not like it's expensive for a second Spec. A beginning character is one who has a lot to learn.

That is correct and it's good that way. If a player wants to be HK-50 or HK-51 or whatever he has to work for that. He can't start out with a done build, unless the GM says they start at Knight-level.

So yeah you have to decide: Either start with the protocol droid side of your concept, which IS less suspicous and add a few ranks in combat skills, or you start as an Assassin right away, which will make people suspicious of you, when you look like a Protocoll droid that can't do protocoll stuff.

That's right, and I won't allow him to be as deadly to kill Darth Vader alone from the beginning of the game.

However, what are specific Protocoll Droid tasks and how would one insert it into a game?

They mostly help with organisation, translation and everything that comes with that, so I guess it would be possible to find a good balance, so the player is able to do protocoll stuff, without even spending alot of XP for that.

One thing I would require is that your Player not use Intellect and Presence as dump stats. The HK Series weren't just mindless Combat Droids they were Assassin Droids. Any old doorknob can shoot a blaster at someone but Assassination requires a great deal of research and planning. HKs need to be able to asses vulnerabilities, track, and manipulate their targets into exposing themselves as well as be able to bypass security and infiltrate. If all your Player wants is to be a gun platform any old Droid will do.

I agree, that's why I'm not happy with the stats and ask for help

About the setting:

The group will start with the Adventure from the Starter Set, the HK Droid is found on the Ship the group is stealing and the player switches characters, then they will play (probably) the second adventure, where they may or may not find out about the true nature of the Droid.

I will meet the player tomorrow and ask him how he thinks about the ideas postet here and how he wants to go about this and will write it here, so we can adapt

So you ask the question which career this should be build upon. You thought right. The Diplomat career actually represents the functions of a protocoll droid the best. And I guiess for an HK-Series you want the Analyst tree from the Desperate Allies sourcebook. If you don't have the AoR CRB then just buy Desperate Allies, since all the rules are the same. Here's my opinion on every Diplomat Spec and how it would work for an HK.

• The Analyst works best because he has some slicing abilities, as well as research (and what does a careful assassin do) and helps his "master" to sort through Data. So imo this is the perfect starting tree for a protocoll droid.
• The Propagandist could work, but I would advise against it since it basically makes the droid a media person and I guess he would kinda avoid that.
• The Agitator could work also, because all it tries to do is incite the people's rage against a certain group. Be that oppressed citizens or bluecollar workers for KDY. But riots aren' really HK-47 style.
• The Ambassador... Kick it, nobody takes a droid serious enough to let him lead hard diplomatic negotiations.
• The Quartermaster... Well it could work, but I woul put it on the "Maybe later" shelf, since the weapons and mods must come from somewhere adn the quartermaster is basically a trader.
• The Advocate I would only recommend if you want to give the HK-47 a bit of an attitude. Maybe put this one on the later-shelf, too. It could be awesomely fun when he twists the other players words against them when he want's to deny having an Assassin subroutine.

I hope this helps you.

I personally would not bother with any diplimatic specializations in lieu of a 5 in deception. Remember, they only posed as protocol droids to get close to their targets. As long as their targets believed they were protocoal droids, the talents (IE, the point of having charisma/diplomatic talent trees in the first place) are irrelevant.

In short, they just had to fake it long enough to get the job done. Ideally, you would grab some disception based talents and suppliment them with some protocol-like talents, but I fail to see why you need to dump so much XP for a single ruse.

Also it will be hard to create the right opportunity for his revelation, as the HK-Droid will probably enter the group at the beginning at "the long arm of the hutts" adventure and no HK Droid would never miss the opportunity of a fight, this will require some major crafting.

So, one thing to consider here is that maybe he was programmed to infiltrate the PC group, and therefore would be required to maintain his Protocol Droid cover, and thus stay out of the fight?

So, who would program him to infiltrate the group? And why? Those could be interesting questions to explore.

Or, maybe he’s not programmed to infiltrate the group per se, but he is programmed to infiltrate somewhere else, and he’s using the PC group as cover to assist in his primary mission. So, again, he would have to retain the pretense that he is an ancient Protocol Droid.

I personally would not bother with any diplimatic specializations in lieu of a 5 in deception. Remember, they only posed as protocol droids to get close to their targets. As long as their targets believed they were protocoal droids, the talents (IE, the point of having charisma/diplomatic talent trees in the first place) are irrelevant.

So, the issue here is that, at chargen, you can’t raise a skill above a rank of 3, and just deception alone at a rank of 3 is not going to be enough to fake your way through making people believe you’re a Protocol Droid.

You’d also need some of the skills that a normal Protocol Droid would normally have, plus the high ranks in Deception, in order to make that fly.

I'll agree with kaosoe here, Knowledge skills (Education & Xenology) cover most of a Protocol droids tasks. Knowledge Warfare probably fits well with a HK as well.

The social skill an HK needs is all about the Deception, with Coercion for when the ruse is uncovered. So Cunning is key.

Then to use a Rifle you need to be agile with Ranged Heavy.

So:

Brawn 2

Agility 4

Intelect 1

Cunning 3

Willpower 2

Presence 1

Then a whole load of skill ranks in Knowledge's to help bluff it's way through.

Brawn 2

Agility 4

Intelect 1

Cunning 3

Willpower 2

Presence 1

Then a whole load of skill ranks in Knowledge's to help bluff it's way through.

See my post above about the attributes and skills that a Protocol Droid would normally be expected to have — in particular, Intellect of 3 and Presence of 2, plus the Charm and Negotiation skills.

Also, at chargen, you’re not going to be able to raise any skills above a rank of two, so you’re not going to be able to get a “whole load of skill ranks in Knowledge”.

IMO, to pull off the charade of supposedly being a Protocol Droid, you’re going to need to have an Intellect of at least two, if not three. And either a larger number of ranks in the Charm and Negotiation skills, or also boost Presence to two.

Attribute ranks of two is the baseline for the average person in the FFG SWRPG Galaxy, and those people will be able to easily tell if you’re a lot dumber than they are, even if you have trained skill ranks in certain areas to a higher level.

Of course, this is just my opinion. YMMV.

Gear is also a big deal for droids...

Install a language translator, and Presto! you're proficient in 6 million forms of communication (or close enough to it for a bunch of meat bags...)

Brawn 2Agility 4Intelect 1Cunning 3Willpower 2Presence 1Then a whole load of skill ranks in Knowledge's to help bluff it's way through.

See my post above about the attributes and skills that a Protocol Droid would normally be expected to have — in particular, Intellect of 3 and Presence of 2, plus the Charm and Negotiation skills.Also, at chargen, you’re not going to be able to raise any skills above a rank of two, so you’re not going to be able to get a “whole load of skill ranks in Knowledge”.IMO, to pull off the charade of supposedly being a Protocol Droid, you’re going to need to have an Intellect of at least two, if not three. And either a larger number of ranks in the Charm and Negotiation skills, or also boost Presence to two.Attribute ranks of two is the baseline for the average person in the FFG SWRPG Galaxy, and those people will be able to easily tell if you’re a lot dumber than they are, even if you have trained skill raznks in certain areas to a higher level.Of course, this is just my opinion. YMMV.

I get your point, and to be a Protocol Droid your absolutely right. I just thought a basic (and a HK at character gen will be basic as we both know) HK was designed to pretend to be a Protocol droid for just long enough to get close to their target, then BAM!!! murder bot.

I may have a bad memory but I thought HK from KOTOR was a lousy translator when you got it, and his social skills amounted to various forms of intimidation. I agree it was quite good at Negotiations too. But at the end of the day it's an Assasin that uses Social Engineering to get to its target rather than Stealth.

So there are a couple of ways this character could be built, which would reflect the various ways an owner of an HK would prepare and program their Droid to achieve its goals.

Basically choose if your a Protocol who can kill or a Killer who can pass as a Protocol. Then pick your social and combat skill of choice to guide your Primary Characteristics. Decide your Career (important for Sig Abilities later) based on the answer to the first question.

He was the only droid in existance to speak Tusken Raider.

And he states that he in fact is both a fully functional Protocoll and Assassin droid. But since the secretive nature of the latter they are buried below the more civic ones.

I would make him start as a Diplomat simply because it's main charme was the quirky way it handled that. Then add asassin programming.

Or since you're the GM, this is your game so you canbend the rules any way you want: why not let him start with the Bounty Hunter career, but make his first Spec one of the Diplomats? Substract 10xp and voila a mixed concept, that would make it easier for him to pay for all the Assassin and Gadgeteer Trees he wants, but still have proper protocoll function. Houserule it man!

He was the only droid in existance to speak Tusken Raider.

And he states that he in fact is both a fully functional Protocoll and Assassin droid. But since the secretive nature of the latter they are buried below the more civic ones.

If we're talking building a PC here, they should only spend that XP if they intend to use the social aspects. If it's just fluff (as it was in KOTOR since HK-47 never actually performed any protocol services other than translating tusken raider-which can just be an automatic language or a knowledge (Xenology) roll) - then there's no need. Ultimately, HK-47 and HK-50 (I can't say I am familiar with 51) were assassin droids.

I'd just take marshal and a couple levels ranged heavy and call it day.

HK really wasn't that great at either role.