Yet Another (HK-)Droid Topic

By Ghost XV15, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I wouldn't base off any stats. The Protocol droids are just an easy go to figure for GMs to use. It doesn't represent ALL protocol droids. Just an easy average.

I say just make a character that has the stats you want him/her to have and then fluff as an HK. I mean HK-47 wasn't really a shining example of deception.

Edited by OfficerZan

So, I met the player today and asked him in which direction he wants to go.

He wants to mainly focus on the Assassin part of the Droid, with chunks of Protocoll thrown into there.
So we'll probably boost his int up to 2 (upgradeable with cybernetics anyway) and take the Assassin career.

However thanks to MOELANDER I had an idea.
While I have to agree that a second spec is simply not worth it, the Bounty Hunter has some Careerskills that don't fit HK, so the player can take 4 Bounty Hunter and 2 "Protocoll Droid skills"
Be it Negotiation, Xenology, Education or Charme.

The starting Credits can either be converted into more XP, or like Bishop suggested into gear and a Language Translator.
While I don't believe that there is such an item in the game rules, as Languages are more of a narrative thing, I believe I can make something up and letting the player pay for officially understanding pretty much everything is not that gruesome (especially since in the Beginning of "Long arm of the Hutt" a language Barrier is in place)

That should cover it, won't you agree?


Then I wanted to write abit about the Droid Model, since not many are familliar with it (and to be honest, I had to do some research myself)

The Model in question is HK-51, unlike its predecessor the HK-50s this model is more about precision assasination than mass slaughter.
Furthermore it is very polite and does not hate his victims, he even finds organics rather amusing (yes the PC will probably say Meatbags)
it even goes so far to say that both the 50s and 47 are "mentally unstable", so he has a stronger emphasis on the Protocoll-part.
However it still enjoys killing quite a bit, especially if it is as efficent as possible

So, I met the player today and asked him in which direction he wants to go.

He wants to mainly focus on the Assassin part of the Droid, with chunks of Protocoll thrown into there.

So we'll probably boost his int up to 2 (upgradeable with cybernetics anyway) and take the Assassin career.

However thanks to MOELANDER I had an idea.

While I have to agree that a second spec is simply not worth it, the Bounty Hunter has some Careerskills that don't fit HK, so the player can take 4 Bounty Hunter and 2 "Protocoll Droid skills"

Be it Negotiation, Xenology, Education or Charme.

The starting Credits can either be converted into more XP, or like Bishop suggested into gear and a Language Translator.

While I don't believe that there is such an item in the game rules, as Languages are more of a narrative thing, I believe I can make something up and letting the player pay for officially understanding pretty much everything is not that gruesome (especially since in the Beginning of "Long arm of the Hutt" a language Barrier is in place)

That should cover it, won't you agree?

Then I wanted to write abit about the Droid Model, since not many are familliar with it (and to be honest, I had to do some research myself)

The Model in question is HK-51, unlike its predecessor the HK-50s this model is more about precision assasination than mass slaughter.

Furthermore it is very polite and does not hate his victims, he even finds organics rather amusing (yes the PC will probably say Meatbags)

it even goes so far to say that both the 50s and 47 are "mentally unstable", so he has a stronger emphasis on the Protocoll-part.

However it still enjoys killing quite a bit, especially if it is as efficent as possible

You do know that anyone can take any skill, regardless of their spec? It just might cost a small amount more (5 per rank).

For translation, you want the "Tranlang V Audio/Visual Translator", see http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/gear/118/

The fluff is that this is basically the translation code that is used by a threepio unit, just without the droid attached.

Have your PC buy and integrate that, along with whatever attributes and skills you have him buy. Then you can flavor it however you want.

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.

Deception is a short term solution and even a high Rank in it will not hold up long. Deception will not get you through a security system, nor will it get you past a visual inspection if you don't look like what you claim to be. It won't help you track down your quarry or interact with the underground to get information or access, or even clients. It won't help you negotiate with the travel agent to get the adjoining room/berth. I could go on. Deception is enough to get you in the door but thats all.

Deception is a short term solution and even a high Rank in it will not hold up long. Deception will not get you through a security system, nor will it get you past a visual inspection if you don't look like what you claim to be. It won't help you track down your quarry or interact with the underground to get information or access, or even clients. It won't help you negotiate with the travel agent to get the adjoining room/berth. I could go on. Deception is enough to get you in the door but thats all.

My apologies, That comment was within the context of taking an entire tree just to disguise yourself as a protocol droid. My suggestion was to pump some ranks into deception.

I agree, deception shouldn't be your only social skill.

Deception is a short term solution and even a high Rank in it will not hold up long. Deception will not get you through a security system, nor will it get you past a visual inspection if you don't look like what you claim to be. It won't help you track down your quarry or interact with the underground to get information or access, or even clients. It won't help you negotiate with the travel agent to get the adjoining room/berth. I could go on. Deception is enough to get you in the door but thats all.

My apologies, That comment was within the context of taking an entire tree just to disguise yourself as a protocol droid. My suggestion was to pump some ranks into deception.

I agree, deception shouldn't be your only social skill.

Thats fair. I think though that HK-47 wasn't just disguising himself as a protocol Droid it was part of his design so that he could infiltrate as well as kill.

Our campaign is in the old republic era, and the characters have an HK droid working as the cook in their cantina. He makes great onion rings, but you have to be careful when scavenging for food around his kitchen. It's not unusual to find grenades in the egg cartons, pistols in the drawers, and vibro weapons being used to cut the meat.

You do know that anyone can take any skill, regardless of their spec? It just might cost a small amount more (5 per rank).

Yes, I'm aware of that, I just wanted to say to buy into a second spec doesn't make sense, additionally I will grant him once in chargen to change 2 of his Career skills into any other he wants (he wants Protokoll Stuff (he has to want))

after that he has to pay the extra exp for them ;)

It is mostly because he can take 9 skills at chargen, as a droid, but some are just thematically nonesensical and probably won't be used by him, so I use the might of the GM to throw those unwated 1-2 skills out and replace them to solve the dilemma of how to represent a protocoll/assassin droid directly at chargen without abusing Obligation etc.

You know...

Enforcer might be worth looking at. It's got a great mix of social and combat skills, and some of the talents are fantastic.

With a few additional skills thrown in, this might be just what the Doctor ordered...

You do know that anyone can take any skill, regardless of their spec? It just might cost a small amount more (5 per rank).

Yes, I'm aware of that, I just wanted to say to buy into a second spec doesn't make sense, additionally I will grant him once in chargen to change 2 of his Career skills into any other he wants (he wants Protokoll Stuff (he has to want))

after that he has to pay the extra exp for them ;)

It is mostly because he can take 9 skills at chargen, as a droid, but some are just thematically nonesensical and probably won't be used by him, so I use the might of the GM to throw those unwated 1-2 skills out and replace them to solve the dilemma of how to represent a protocoll/assassin droid directly at chargen without abusing Obligation etc.

If you want to you can actually create entirely new careers from scratch using Oggdude's chargen. I am currently working on some Specializations myself. It's actually quite easy, once you get used to it!

Just look at an existing career and spec in the Data Editor, create a new Data Set and the start writing new talents. It's really easy!

You do know that anyone can take any skill, regardless of their spec? It just might cost a small amount more (5 per rank).

Yes, I'm aware of that, I just wanted to say to buy into a second spec doesn't make sense, additionally I will grant him once in chargen to change 2 of his Career skills into any other he wants (he wants Protokoll Stuff (he has to want))

after that he has to pay the extra exp for them ;)

It is mostly because he can take 9 skills at chargen, as a droid, but some are just thematically nonesensical and probably won't be used by him, so I use the might of the GM to throw those unwated 1-2 skills out and replace them to solve the dilemma of how to represent a protocoll/assassin droid directly at chargen without abusing Obligation etc.

If you want to you can actually create entirely new careers from scratch using Oggdude's chargen. I am currently working on some Specializations myself. It's actually quite easy, once you get used to it!

Just look at an existing career and spec in the Data Editor, create a new Data Set and the start writing new talents. It's really easy!

It seems easy, until you try to figure out the balance of your new spec against the others to try and avoid the new spec being the "I just have to have that spec or what's the point" issues.

You do know that anyone can take any skill, regardless of their spec? It just might cost a small amount more (5 per rank).

Yes, I'm aware of that, I just wanted to say to buy into a second spec doesn't make sense, additionally I will grant him once in chargen to change 2 of his Career skills into any other he wants (he wants Protokoll Stuff (he has to want))

after that he has to pay the extra exp for them ;)

It is mostly because he can take 9 skills at chargen, as a droid, but some are just thematically nonesensical and probably won't be used by him, so I use the might of the GM to throw those unwated 1-2 skills out and replace them to solve the dilemma of how to represent a protocoll/assassin droid directly at chargen without abusing Obligation etc.

If you want to you can actually create entirely new careers from scratch using Oggdude's chargen. I am currently working on some Specializations myself. It's actually quite easy, once you get used to it!

Just look at an existing career and spec in the Data Editor, create a new Data Set and the start writing new talents. It's really easy!

It seems easy, until you try to figure out the balance of your new spec against the others to try and avoid the new spec being the "I just have to have that spec or what's the point" issues.