So the group have gotten hold of R5-K3 from Escape from Mos Shuuta, as a joining member (ally). That's fine, I thought, as it's only a grumpy R5, and they need a bit of mechanics/engineering help.

But then I noticed the book itself doesn't stat this droid up. I saw that the R5's were the cheapest R series droid. So I was wondering, how far do you think I should go in downgrading this little fella from the regular astromech? And how? They did after all get him free, as a stow away (troublemaker).

Even if it's a case of them being able to spend credits on upgrading it later.

If you go with Legends and the old WEG lore, the R5 was less of a Starship droid and more of a homestead droid. So it really wasn't an "astromech". I wouldn't give it skills in Piloting: Space or Astrogation. Maybe one/two rank(s) of repair, and a rank of Piloting: Plantery.

If you don't go with the Legends lore and WEG stuff, then you can do whatever you want. Hell, in Rebels, there is no problem communicating in Hyperspace!!

Not much worse, when I did the same with my group I largely just shifted stats around.

The biggest hit was probably swapping the 2 in Cunning with Willpower to make him a little more obstinate (if you want to be mean try swapping Intelligence with Willpower), I then swapped ranks in Astrogate and Repair, and changed Piloting (Space) into Piloting (Planetary) since he came from a parts/repair shop and may have had little experience with space work.

If you want to make him a bit of a dullard, remove his ranks in Cool too.

An R5? 1 rank in cooking, 1 rank in home decorating, 2 ranks in house cleaning. NO Piloting skills AT ALL

I would say that you should feel free to downgrade it as much as you think is appropriate and fits the story/plot.

Make it into a droid the likes of “Chopper” from Rebels, so that sometimes they wonder if he’s an asset to the crew or a detriment.

Give it all sorts of interesting … quirks … that can at least make things funnier, even if they aren’t actually useful. What if he’s a droid that likes making fart jokes, and simulating sounds from farts, and finding ways to put electronic whoopee cushions under other party members butts? What if he finds other … bodily functions … to be funny?

Or maybe R5s were actually quite good at something, and the story that they were so bad is just what everyone has been told?

When i ran the boxed module as a one shot, my Vex player did steal R5 away as well, and also began down the path that would definately have led to a droid rights arc for the players xD

(Postes from mobile)

One other angle you could go: harder maintenance. Keep the same stats as R2, but since the R5 is an older unit, it''s more prone to break down and adds blacks when someone is trying to repair it.

As I recall from the old EU, R2s and R5s were fairly interchangeable. Wedge has an R5 throughout most of the X-Wing series of novels. R4s were called "Agromechs" since they weren't designed to handle space travel.

But that's Legends, so take it for what it's worth.

When i ran the boxed module as a one shot, my Vex player did steal R5 away as well, and also began down the path that would definately have led to a droid rights arc for the players xD

(Postes from mobile)

The player that took my R5 was a jawa, so, thinking about it, he never had any choice...

If you go with Legends and the old WEG lore, the R5 was less of a Starship droid and more of a homestead droid. So it really wasn't an "astromech". I wouldn't give it skills in Piloting: Space or Astrogation. Maybe one/two rank(s) of repair, and a rank of Piloting: Plantery.

If you don't go with the Legends lore and WEG stuff, then you can do whatever you want. Hell, in Rebels, there is no problem communicating in Hyperspace!!

Death to WEG! Vivé la nouveau canon!

If you go with Legends and the old WEG lore, the R5 was less of a Starship droid and more of a homestead droid. So it really wasn't an "astromech". I wouldn't give it skills in Piloting: Space or Astrogation. Maybe one/two rank(s) of repair, and a rank of Piloting: Plantery.

If you don't go with the Legends lore and WEG stuff, then you can do whatever you want. Hell, in Rebels, there is no problem communicating in Hyperspace!!

The original Star Wars novelization by Alan Dean Foster did identify the then-unnamed R5-D4 as an agricultural droid (or cultivator unit, something like that) similar is design to an astromech droid, just equipped with different tools.

Ha! I turned that droid into the nemesis bounty hunter's partner. It's been 2 years and they haven't figured it out...yet. Heck, they even armed it! It absolutely plays the "I'm a dumb droid, don't mind me" card.

As I recall from the old EU, R2s and R5s were fairly interchangeable. Wedge has an R5 throughout most of the X-Wing series of novels.

Exactly. We see R5 units throughout the Rogue Squadron and X-Wing/TIE Fighter/X-Wing Alliance games as well, socketed into X-Wings and Y-Wings.

Other than stylistic differences (and a few supplemental materials telling us the R5 is somehow worse than the R2), we've never really witnessed a distinction between astromech droids.

In canon, the droids we see on Padme's starship in TPM and the multiple astro-droids we see in that one TCW arc with the "frog general" (ha ... don't really feel like looking up his name right now) seem rather interchangeable and indistinguishable other than their 'heads/domes' being different.

And, hey, we absolutely see R5 units socketed into Y-Wings in both SW and RotJ!

Finally, in FFG's X-Wing Miniatures Game, the astromechs are entirely interchangeable, with each droid providing a different bonus. The 'stock' R2 unit is better at flying while the 'stock' R5 unit is better at repair.

Finally, in FFG's X-Wing Miniatures Game, the astromechs are entirely interchangeable, with each droid providing a different bonus. The 'stock' R2 unit is better at flying while the 'stock' R5 unit is better at repair.

This thread inspired me...

*fixed the above image

This thread inspired me...

Nice, but there's one problem with it: the droid pictured is an R6, not an R5.

good catch!

I'll be fixing it, posthaste

Just checked The Complete Visual Dictionary: it calls R5-D4 an agromech droid.

Just checked The Complete Visual Dictionary: it calls R5-D4 an agromech droid.

Well, then that droid must have been specially modified (by the Jawas?) to work the moisture farms on Tatooine. Because, by and large, R5 units are astromechs.

Again, I'm with the posters here who believe you should just use the R2/astromech stats from the core rulebook.

A fantastic online source for astromechs, backed by a ton of canonical and behind-the scenes research, can be found here.

Just checked The Complete Visual Dictionary: it calls R5-D4 an agromech droid.

Well, then that droid must have been specially modified (by the Jawas?) to work the moisture farms on Tatooine. Because, by and large, R5 units are astromechs.

Again, I'm with the posters here who believe you should just use the R2/astromech stats from the core rulebook.

A fantastic online source for astromechs, backed by a ton of canonical and behind-the scenes research, can be found here.

Fabulous, good tip, thanks.

*fixed the above image

So, you realize that the text at the top of the card says “R-5 Series Astromech Droid”, instead of “R5-Series Astromech Droid”, right?

EDIT: And speaking of typos on cards, what is a “fletchette pistol”? Is that related to a “flechette pistol”? ;)