Should Vader's armor have the cortosis quality? Luke seems to cut through it pretty easily in ROTJ.

1 hour ago, emsquared said:

Action economy is the bane of all solo BBEGs, and will be for your Darth Vader if you don't do something to bring him up to the PCs level.

Make up a Talent or Force Power (that of course no PC can ever have) that allows him to have multiple Initiative Slots (roll and then step down each slot by 1 success until they're gone?) for his own use.

Otherwise you're setting up yourself and your players for a HUGE let down when supposedly the most dangerous living being in the universe is embarrassed and ran circles around by comparative nobodies.

Good luck with this patently bad idea.

Action economy, also a thing in real life...

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith

BR 3 (6), AG 2 (3), IN 4, CN 3, WP 5, PR 5

WT 25, ST 30 -----OR----- WT 18, ST 20 to be more accurate to the films

Soak 6 (8 with armour), Def 2 (With armour)

Weapons : Lightsaber: Dam 10, engaged, Crit 1, Breach 1, Sunder, Vicious 3, Superior Weapon

Custom Armour : Soak 2, Def 2, Cortosis, Brawn +2, Resolve 2, breath mask and respirator (all included in profile)

Cybernetics : Legs (+1 Agility), Arms (+1 Brawn) (all included in profile)

Transport : Super Star Destroyer (The Executor) , Lambda Class shuttle.

Adversary 3. Force Rating 6. Dark Side Morality : 90.

Skills : Cool 3, Coercion 4, Discipline 3, Lightsaber 5, Mechanics 4, Perception 3, Piloting (Space, Planetary) 5, Vigilance 3.

Talents : Parry 7, Reflect 7, Improve Reflect/Parry, Superior Reflect/Parry, Confidence 3. Also consider: Intuitive Evasion 3, Intuitive Strike 3, and Exhaust Port.

Force Powers : Enhance (All powers except Leap), Move (S4, M3, All Control Powers), Bind (All powers), Sense (All powers).

Signature Ability : Vader may take more than one action per turn . Each additional action costs 2 strain. Max 3 users per turn.

On 3/6/2017 at 1:40 PM, Alisair Longreach said:

Here is my take on Darth Vader:

Boy Anakin: Racer (from Endless Vigil), Outlaw Tech as he built his podracers and C-3PO, Sense power + defensive upgrade

Teen Anakin: Add Starfighter Ace, Ataru Striker, Shien Expert, Enhance, Move, Influence powers

Clone Wars Anakin: Add Peacekeeper as Anakin did a lot of leading Clone Troopers in battle.

Darth Vader: Add Agressor, Bind, Foresee, Protect/Unleash powers

I like where you are going here, but I'd give Anakin the Bind power sometime during the Clone Wars. He uses it quite a bit during the Clone Wars cartoon series. I'd also give him foresee before he becomes Vader.

You are right, Ghatt, Anakin did use Bind power during the Clone Wars but it was his dabbling with the Foresee power that caused his fall as we saw in the Revenge of the Sith movie.

Instead of having special turn qualities why not use the Nemesis rules in The Edge of Empire GM Kit? Rolls normally and them gets an extra initiative slot at the end of the round should be more than enough. If you have a particularly strong party give him an ability that lets him flip a destiny point and "create" a new initiative slot for this round and goes next in the order.

Also, it's been a minute but I would personally say that Vader held the advantage for the duration of the fight with Ahsoka. It wasn't flashy but Vader held his ground and enforced the direction of the fight with powerful and efficient strikes.

2 hours ago, Alisair Longreach said:

You are right, Ghatt, Anakin did use Bind power during the Clone Wars but it was his dabbling with the Foresee power that caused his fall as we saw in the Revenge of the Sith movie.

Or was that Warde's Foresight? That adventure really hammers home the whole "Your interpretation of the future can ultimately cause exactly what you try to prevent".

4 hours ago, Alisair Longreach said:

You are right, Ghatt, Anakin did use Bind power during the Clone Wars but it was his dabbling with the Foresee power that caused his fall as we saw in the Revenge of the Sith movie.

Yeah, but he wasn't Vader until he saved Palpatine from Windu. Anakin fell and became Vader.

Anakin = Vader.

Vader = Anakin.

I don't buy this notion that a name change somehow created OR symbolized some sort of split.

13 minutes ago, MaxKilljoy said:

Anakin = Vader.

Vader = Anakin.

I don't buy this notion that a name change somehow created OR symbolized some sort of split.

I gather you're not a fan of The Clone Wars?

Anakin's path to becoming Vader wasn't a single event, but to say that the heroic and generous Anakin as portrayed in The Clone Wars is basically Darth Vader is a rather simpleminded notion. Sure, he showed lots of signs that he was falling and were largely ignored, but Anakin wasn't a remorseless murdering psycho until he ultimately fell to the dark side and became Vader.

10 minutes ago, ghatt said:

I gather you're not a fan of The Clone Wars?

Anakin's path to becoming Vader wasn't a single event, but to say that the heroic and generous Anakin as portrayed in The Clone Wars is basically Darth Vader is a rather simpleminded notion. Sure, he showed lots of signs that he was falling and were largely ignored, but Anakin wasn't a remorseless murdering psycho until he ultimately fell to the dark side and became Vader.

I don't believe in the cinematic / narrative contrivance of a bright line between "good guy" and "bad guy".

The "redemption" at the end of RotJ was... awful, as well. The idea that saving his own son from death was enough to wash away billions of murders...

2 minutes ago, MaxKilljoy said:

I don't believe in the cinematic / narrative contrivance of a bright line between "good guy" and "bad guy".

The "redemption" at the end of RotJ was... awful, as well. The idea that saving his own son from death was enough to wash away billions of murders...

That is the entire point of the Star Wars saga you realize?

Let's not and use the Vader rule ffg provided

3 hours ago, ghatt said:

That is the entire point of the Star Wars saga you realize?

Doesn't mean it's a good point.

But his ability to be redeemed is another indication that there isn't a real split. It's just Obi-Wan covering his ass after being caught in a lie by Luke, and Anakin telling himself he's not the same person anymore to make things easier on himself.

39 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

Doesn't mean it's a good point.

It's Star Wars. Doesn't matter to me if you like it or not.

My, how cool we all are.

15 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

My, how cool we all are.

I know, shocking... You found a Star Wars fan on a forum for a Star Wars RPG. *mind blown* lol

Being a fan or not has nothing to do with it, unless you equate uncritical acceptance with being a fan.

Just now, Stan Fresh said:

Being a fan or not has nothing to do with it, unless you equate uncritical acceptance with being a fan.

Hey, if you don't like it that's your business man. You have every right not to like it. It is integral to Star Wars though. Just a wee bit important to the overall story. No biggy.

49 minutes ago, ghatt said:

It is integral to Star Wars though. Just a wee bit important to the overall story. No biggy.

I didn't say it's not important to the story.

But it's a bad part of the story.

For those of you who prefer some kind of super-Vader (not my preference to be fair, but that's not relevant here) I used Oggdude's awesome Character Generator to get a Vader built on just over 3000xp. Some of his outstanding features include:

Brawn 6 (due to cybernetic arms), Agility 3 (dropped to 2 due to injury, and increased back to 3 due to cybernetic legs), Intellect 3, Cunning 4 (Obi-wan said "He was a cunning warrior"), Willpower 5, Presence 3

WT 27, ST 26, Soak 8 (Cortosis), Ranged and Melee Defense 1

Important skills include:

Cool 3, Discipline 4, Leadership 3, Perception 3, Pilot (Planetary) 4, Pilot (Space) 5, Resilience 4, Vigilance 3, Gunnery 4, Lightsaber 5

Some of his Talents are (good luck keeping track of them all during combat!):

Against All Odds, Bodyguard 2, Bodyguard (Improved), Center of Being 3, Confidence 1, Counterstrike, Crippling Blow, Defensive Stance 3, Defensive Training 1, Disruptive Strike, Djem So Deflection, Dodge 2, Durable 2, Falling Avalanche, Fearsome 3, force Protection 2, Heroic Fortitude, Intimidating 2, Intuitive Evasion 2, Intuitive Strike, Multiple Opponents, Natural Blademaster, Parry 11 , Parry (Improved), Parry (Supreme), Prey on the Weak 2, Quick Draw, Quick Strike 2, rapid Reaction 2, Reflect 7, Reflect (Improved), Reflect (Supreme), Saber Swarm, Saber Throw, Sarlaac Sweep, Second Wind 2, Sense Advantage, Shien Technique, Side Step 1, Skilled Jockey 2, Strategic Form, Sum Djem, Terrify, Terrify (Improved), Touch of Fate.

His Force Rating is 5, and he has the following Force Powers at varying power levels:

Bind, Enhance, Move, Protect/Unleash, Sense

Equipment-wise, he has the following:

Basic Lightsaber: Damage 11, Crit 1, Breach 1, Sunder, Superior, Vicious 2, Defensive 1, Dual Phase Modification

Heavy Battle Armor Equivalent: Soak 2, both Defenses 1, Cortosis, Vacuum Sealed

2 x Cyber Arms (Brawl), 2 x Cyber Legs (Agility)

Voila! If you want to give him an extra action per turn, or a few levels of Adversary, knock yourself out... he is Super-Vader after all.

As mentioned at the start of my post, I do not believe Vader is this good. I think his power and ability have been inflated to stupid levels by fan-boys, but this version should put the fear of the Dark Side into some of your Players. 3000 xp is not unreasonable for someone "in the business" for over 30 years.

Space Monkey, Darth Vader should also have Mechanics 4 and a few Outlaw Tech talents as Anakin was quite adept with technology. You also forgot he had the Foresee power.

No, sir. As mentioned at the beginning of my post, what I listed wasn't the entirety of his abilities. I just listed those that may come into play during combat. I also built him with Mechanics (at Rank 4 surprisingly), Coersion 1, Astrogation 1, and a whole list of other Talents.

At the end of the day, no-one can build a Vader that everyone will agree with. This was my version and, as I mentioned, you can add or subtract what ever you want from it. Hell, scrap it all together if you like, but the OP asked to build Vader. That's what I did.

I thank you.

Space Monkey, you are right, there are so many ways to build Darth Vader all the way from absolute Force God and down to quadruple amputee with lousy prostethics and feeble Force powers.

Personally, I prefer the "quadruple amputee with lousy prosthetics" version. Image your Player's faces when they finally face down Vader and you built him like that. Priceless!