Had the most aggravating session in my campaign so far. Hardly a dice roll came up in my favour. My stormtroopers missed consistently, or if they hit, they generated a ton of threat...then they got hit with a crit that allowed the PC to roll the same attack again, so they all went down like bowling pins; my ISB agent tossed a grenade, which failed, and she got a despair, so a PC grabbed it and tossed it back, nailing her with success, triumph, and enough advantage for Blast; my stormtrooper captain had his Soak temporarily lowered (tons of advantage on a PC hit) so the PC Enforcer was able to spray his teeth like chiclets all across the room; and my Inquisitor...

...most useless of all. Some well placed blaster fire turned off his lightsaber temporarily (I thought, no big deal, there are lots more turns coming), and then he failed every roll after that. After parrying a bunch of blaster fire, the PCs landed a crit (Hamstrung) which prevents his using his free maneuver. I put a 5 in his Willpower, and 3 in Discipline, and he completely failed to Move one of the PCs, getting all blanks on his positive dice, with maximum on the negative dice and all the wrong colour pips.

We had to leave it there for next time, but now he's alone, the PCs are almost completely unscathed, it's a new turn, the Inquisitor goes 3rd and he's Hamstrung.

I've decided they won't take him alive. He still has a grenade, and if it comes to it he's going to pull a "there are worse things than death" speech from the Rebels Inquisitor (my players don't watch the show) and try to take a PC down with him (temporarily of course). I'd really like him to escape down a ventilation shaft, but he then has to get to a hangar (where there is a simultaneous battle going on, also very much in the PC's favour), so I'm not sure if he'll be able to make it.

I guess my players had fun, which is the main thing, but I was hoping the fight would be more consequential.

Next session you probably won't be able to roll the dice without shooting legs off Monty Python style...

That's my other worry

I love blowing off legs and arms, so much fun...

Imperial reinforcements, perhaps? They can cover his escape?

Yes, I still have a stormtrooper squad whose whereabouts are "unknown" to the PCs, so they will likely show up. But I need him to survive at least one turn on his own otherwise it will seem ham-handed.

Per the optional rules, give him a second turn at the end of the round. The first time I did this I hadn't discussed the possibility of its use with my players and they acted a bit blindsided and felt cheated, even though I was using it purely as an escape mechanism, so you might take that into consideration.

and my Inquisitor...

...most useless of all.

****. Here I was, hoping that you’d found an idea for a new type of Inquisitor that fooled the PCs into thinking that it was a fluffy Loth-Cat or something, and then it went all psycho-mind control on them — Kinda like a Star Wars version of a Vorpal Bunny.

I guess I’m just going to have to go create that concept myself….

Seriously, I feel your pain. My players have gotten to the point where they regularly shred the opposition I throw at them, so last game I started really ramping up the groups I throw at them.

I found that large minion groups of large numbers of people per minion group do work well against post Knight-level Jedi types that have a fully filled-out talent tree, but it is a very long and slow grind, and they go up and down like yo-yos during the combat. Afterwards everyone is hurt so badly and out of stimpacks and has already used so many stimpacks that they can’t use any more.

So, I end up having to engineer a way for them to find military-grade medical supplies — and medical droids — left over from the Clone Wars, just so that they can have a reasonable chance of surviving the rest of the episode.

Then there’s the lone Mercenary who is after them, with 5 Agility, 5 Skill, and four ranks of True Aim, using a Verpine Heavy Shatter Rifle, and he is rolling double and triple triumphs every single time he fires, and so I have him shooting at their weapons instead of the PCs. Otherwise, he’d be dropping them with a single shot. I never quite realized how hard it is to damage or destroy lightsabers.

Per the optional rules, give him a second turn at the end of the round. The first time I did this I hadn't discussed the possibility of its use with my players and they acted a bit blindsided and felt cheated, even though I was using it purely as an escape mechanism, so you might take that into consideration.

I mentioned that to one player after the game, but we both feel that is not a good solution. My problem with the extra turn is the players can rightly ask "when do I get to do that?", which is basically never (barring a few Talents granting the occasional extra action). You can do this kind of thing in fantasy, where the logic is "it's a dragon, it's got claws, teeth, wings, and a tail", but the Inquisitor is just another sentient, something a PC should be able to take on solo at some point.

PCs do get SAs, and really some of those are honestly better than even an extra Action.

Well you also could use one Destiny Flip at the beginning of the turn.

"Suddenly a Steamtube breaks leak in the room, must have bin hitted by a privious blastershot/ lightsaber swing, filling the whole room immideatly with gas/steam.

You (The PCs) are blinded and go in a defencestance so you(the PC) can´t be attacked by total suprise, then you are hearing the sound of metal scratching over metal, then the voice of the Inquisitor: "next time you´ll be mine!" then there is silence. It takes some minutes before you (PC) are able to see again while the steam clears off. You see an open vent shaft... What do you do?"

The difference between an inquistor and a PC is specialised training, training that might function to make them better agents of the empire in the short term. Think enhancements that shorten life to turn them off the idea of getting it.

That being said, I think sometimes your big bad gets cornered and captured/killed and thats just fine, not every villian has to get away. Let your PC's have this victory and allow it to draw more attention. They caught him out fair and square and they would feel cheated if you handwaved his getaway. If you must save him, then use other means that force the players to rethink their plan: Have him drop his lightsaber and grovel and plead with the PC's to take him into custody and really put them in an award position. Make him give a sob story about how he was forced this way by powers greater then him; humanise this monster and then it will make for a interesting redemption period or alternatively an outlet for him to escape later from rebel cusdody. Ultimately though, if they want to just kill him, hand out a healthy dose of conflict for his execution.

My group's nemesis is a general turned Moff. We know he can't fight and wouldn't stand a chance of escape in the same room as us, infact he even surrendered himself into custody only to be broken out by an agent he had in reserve. Just it's his schemes and ideals that make him so tricky to deal with, he plans so far ahead that he probably has schemes that would out live him and continue to provide a legacy of our nemesis.

Up until this year inquisitors have been short term nemesis that we were able to beat with some difficulty, but ultimately due to their very low and limited influence on imperial war machine (being a specialist tool for hunting Jedi) they have very little influence beyond there. Though a more organised group of inquistors, called the Cabal, have made previous successes look trivial. Well, let me put it this way, Mara Jade was introduced as the party was going down the lift. A lightsaber stabbed through the ceiling and it ended up with the gunner blowing the roof off while she hacked at the Turbo lift couplings, and sprang off as it fell into a freefall, all without taking a wound due to the improved cover from her engagement.

Too many DM's have assumed the DnD mentality of having their nemesis fight to the death, after all Vader only fought when the odds were stacked firmly in his favour; always either accompanied by stormtroopers or other dudes. Take some inspiration from the prequels, there have been plenty of examples of villians looking to achieve a particular objective then leaving.

These are good generic solutions, but don't really fit this situation (which I haven't described, so there's no way for anyone to know). Flipping a DP and having him disappear would make my players feel cheated (and I'd feel like I cheated). He has to escape (or not) on his own terms, and there's still room for it...he's only taken about half his wound and strain capacity, and surely he won't epically fail a Move like that again...

Really, I was just moanin' about cold dice

Per the optional rules, give him a second turn at the end of the round. The first time I did this I hadn't discussed the possibility of its use with my players and they acted a bit blindsided and felt cheated, even though I was using it purely as an escape mechanism, so you might take that into consideration.

I mentioned that to one player after the game, but we both feel that is not a good solution. My problem with the extra turn is the players can rightly ask "when do I get to do that?", which is basically never (barring a few Talents granting the occasional extra action). You can do this kind of thing in fantasy, where the logic is "it's a dragon, it's got claws, teeth, wings, and a tail", but the Inquisitor is just another sentient, something a PC should be able to take on solo at some point.

The players don't have access to the Adversary talent or the Imperial Valor ability. The extra turn at the end of the round is just another NPC special ability that highlights the fact that they are a nemesis.

However, that isn't to say that players don't have access abilities that are fairly analogous to the above mentioned abilities. There are plenty of ways to upgrade the difficulty of incoming combat checks—Dodge, Sidestep, Sense, etc. If the PC is leading a squad, he can redirect the shot to one of his minions, thereby fairly replicating the Imperial valor ability. And Improved Field Commander gives players the chance to take an out-of-turn action for 1 strain.

Since I am the GM and I completely define my baddies, I don't feel bad about giving them abilities the PCs don't have. If there are complaints, I could say, "Look, this guy is designed to be your nemesis. I mean I could have given him a weapon capable of decimating the group in a single attack, but I didn't want to do that, because that's lame. So instead, I'm giving him an ability to "get one extra swing in" or to "get out of trouble" when he needs to. I would never do anything to screw you guys over, but I need you to trust me to run a fun game."

Of course, that would really necessitate me spelling out such an ability before blindsiding the players with it

And yeah, sometimes the dice are cold. You could just introduce a complication in the next round. Not something that just allows Fluffy to escape, but maybe something that makes the PCs job a lot harder, or gives them something else to do instead of killifying Fluffy. Maybe something happened in that simultaneous battle that requires the PCs' attention ASAP. Or someone's trying to take off with their ship or something, I dunno. Use what you've got

The players don't have access to the Adversary talent or the Imperial Valor ability. The extra turn at the end of the round is just another NPC special ability that highlights the fact that they are a nemesis.

A good point. However, the players can get close to Adversary with things like Enhance or Dodge. I will have to consider it in the future, but since half the fight is over I can't just introduce it now.

I'm somewhat mollified by the player's reactions because they know how many dice I was rolling, and how badly it went each time. There were was some good-natured gloating going on, but I don't think any of them are feeling over-confident with the situation. On the flip side, in retrospect I think I did a good job balancing the encounter, I don't want to make the mistake of assuming their steamroll is indicative.

Totally. Sometimes the encounter just goes in an unexpected way (read: all the time)!

A good point. However, the players can get close to Adversary with things like Enhance or Dodge. I will have to consider it in the future, but since half the fight is over I can't just introduce it now.

Yes, that was my point, and the fact that PCs can get close to this "extra turn" ability being discussed with effects like Improved Field Commander or other action-juggling talents. The "extra turn at the end of the round" just simplifies it so that the GM doesn't have something fiddly to try and keep track of—it's just an extra turn at the end of the round.

And I thought they were talking about an actual found Inquisitor who looks like a Lothal Cat...

Hey Ezra found your new student!!!!

Per the optional rules, give him a second turn at the end of the round. The first time I did this I hadn't discussed the possibility of its use with my players and they acted a bit blindsided and felt cheated, even though I was using it purely as an escape mechanism, so you might take that into consideration.

I mentioned that to one player after the game, but we both feel that is not a good solution. My problem with the extra turn is the players can rightly ask "when do I get to do that?", which is basically never (barring a few Talents granting the occasional extra action). You can do this kind of thing in fantasy, where the logic is "it's a dragon, it's got claws, teeth, wings, and a tail", but the Inquisitor is just another sentient, something a PC should be able to take on solo at some point.

Early on when our group started playing and they first encountered a Nemesis level character with an extra turn I simply said, NPCs aren't built like PCs and this guy gets an extra turn at the end of the round. They still grumble about it from time to time but now its more like, oh ****! this is a nemesis!

And I thought they were talking about an actual found Inquisitor who looks like a Lothal Cat...

Hey Ezra found your new student!!!!

Or this?

Ok, so I got to to the second sentence:

My Stormtroopers missed consistently....um it's what they do...duh. Just playing with you man!

No that sounds like a blast...no pun intended. I'm sure your group had a lot of fun. On another note, I didn't see anywhere in there, any mention of meters, feet, kilometers, range bands, or of time keeping references. Are you sure you guys had fun? Sorry, just being an ass now, I'm hoping to get on that cool kid list one day too!!! I mean, just need a few more people to chime in before this thread gets locked too!! Sorry... I digress.

Anyway, back to the actual topic. That is how I like my games too. Fast and exciting. My players almost always win, but I like to give them that illusion of getting their butts kicked. I wouldn't say I cheat, but I know the stats of my baddies. And if I need to drop in an extra die, or reduce the pool by a die or two to help the story either become that much more epic, or fun, then so be it.

And while you might have been been hoping for a "more consequential" fight, it seems consequential enough for you to share it with us, and, maybe not that consequential to your story or plot, but something the players will remember and talk about for a long time. So indeed, it was quite consequential. Well, congrats on running what I think was a pretty epic encounter for your guys! I mean wait, you can have a good fight without the grid map and minis and rulers and stop watches!!! LOL. I'm just making fun of all of us and our debates that we so love and have. Ah, the things we care about.

(In light of current naming conventions, I vote for Darthy McDarthface!)

Ok, so I got to to the second sentence:

My Stormtroopers missed consistently....um it's what they do...duh. Just playing with you man!

Had the most aggravating session in my campaign so far. Hardly a dice roll came up in my favour. My stormtroopers missed consistently, or if they hit, they generated a ton of threat...then they got hit with a crit that allowed the PC to roll the same attack again, so they all went down like bowling pins;

...

I guess my players had fun, which is the main thing, but I was hoping the fight would be more consequential.

Just had a thought. Remember when Leia said, " They let us go. It was the only reason for the ease of our escape"?

What if you flipped a Destiny Point at the end of the encounter and didn't tell the players what it was for...and you basically retcon a "reason" for why the Imperials were performing so terribly. A reason for why they wanted the heroes to win.

A good thought, and I already had it But without boring everyone with a massive backstory and other details, I'll just say that one hope I had for the encounter was that the Inquisitor would twig to their ability to use the Force (all of them are Force Sensitive) and might even be able to connect the dots on another issue the Inquisitor has been investigating. If the Imperials don't make some connections, the PCs get to leverage that a little longer, which is probably better for them. This is why I'm okay with the outcome, though I'd much prefer the Inquisitor escape than be captured/killed. (Actually, captured could work very much to the Imperials advantage, as far the overall plot goes...hmmm...)

Basically, I could retrofit a "the Imperials were expecting you" plot line, but then there's a domino effect.

We just got a kitten she's probably 3.5 months old now and is crazy playful (which means destroying things) the thing you have to remember about the ordinary house cat is that's it's probably the most effective predator on the planet and it considers everything smaller than at least 1.5 times its own size as potential prey. And to a cat playing means killing something smaller than itself. So considering how your inquisitor rolled calling him a kitten is being very flattering/undeserved-praise. Just saying

And I thought they were talking about an actual found Inquisitor who looks like a Lothal Cat...

Hey Ezra found your new student!!!!

Or this?

This would be a typical sight, if cats had opposable thumbs.

And I thought they were talking about an actual found Inquisitor who looks like a Lothal Cat...

Hey Ezra found your new student!!!!

Or this?

This would be a typical sight, if cats had opposable thumbs.

Cathar maybe? Or a Felacat? Or a female Devorian?