Hello forumites!

I have a question. The Edge of the Empire main rulebook specifically calls out the Bounty Hunter: Gadgeteer, Explorer: Fringer and Smuggler: Scoundrel specializations as especially suited for small group play (3 PCs or lower), as these specs were designed to be flexible and fill most roles at least somewhat competently.

Does Force and Destiny have specializations like this? Two or three specs that can cover most of the bases(at least to begin with)*?

*With the understanding that the GM is expected to tailor the game's challenges to party composition, for the most part.

Note: Stupid divided forum. I'm going to have to ask this question two more times in the other SWRPG forums.

Shadow

Armorer

Protector.

Please note there is no good Knowledge guy spec nor is there a good talky person spec.

Note: Stupid divided forum. I'm going to have to ask this question two more times in the other SWRPG forums.

No, you don't have to. Most people frequent all of them.

Shadow

Armorer

Protector.

Please note there is no good Knowledge guy spec nor is there a good talky person spec.

That's a good setup, but i think that it's possible to improve it somewhat in the fields of knowledge and face

Let's look at the general skills the triad brings to the party (and keeping in mind that they aren't really a true specialist in their field)

Gadgeteer : combat and mechanics

Fringer: piloting and knowledge

Scoundrel: social skills, rogueish type abilities with some combat

There is no perfect an equivalent in FaD to fill the same skill types,because the character specs seems much more specialized than in Edge or Age, so i would alter the suggested party setup like this:

Consular: Healer --> quite some Knowledge skills and some "face" abilities with negotiation (Mystic:advisor can be an alternative switching a knowledge skill with charm)

Guardian: Armorer -->good choice, it's the closest equivalent of gadgeteer

Sentinel: Shadow --> again a good choice.

However i think that, except for Armorer, the trick to a balanced group is in the selection of the species more than the career: Cereans treat all Knowledge as class skills and cover that part, and Twi'lek gain a free rank in charm or deception. The human perk of 2 free class skills is also extremely useful here. The "well rounded" talent would also be a great help.

Force and Destiny offers a unique perspective of Force-users over Edge of the Empire, so I'd suggest trying to capitalize upon this aspect of the game. I'll echo what others have implied and said about the shared goals between players and GMs; the whole party could be Armorers (one specializing in mechanical modifications, one specializing in using a lightsaber since it's a career skill, and the third gearhead using the Force with Heal and Suppress, etc.). In one example, even one others have suggested (read: Armorer), enough variant flexibility is possible to offer party cohesiveness and unique playing options.

Given how fewer Force and Destiny careers seems to specialize in Piloting when compared to Edge of the Empire, perhaps reconsider their starting resources. A party of Seekers using the newest sourcebook might enjoy raising and protecting thranta for profit and use of their innate abilities. In this instance, survival-minded careers may want a homestead or business over a ship, especially since this resource option offers a lot of NPC potential to assist and round-out the party for basic needs.

I second the suggestion of a Cerean, just for their access to all Knowledge skills as career skills. Both the Ithorian and Whipid offer some species-specific unarmed combat options, too, to make them more useful if weapons are unavailable (something small parties may need to consider).

Taking a different resource than a ship is a possible option, and can lead to greeat stories, if the players like the idea. Personally i see space flight as a fundamental part of star wars so having a campaign fixed in one place tends to detract from the star wars feel IMO. But it is certainly a viable option. It alla depends on the campaign.

I was also thinking that the dev intend the party to use the force powers to address any lacking skill or spec: there isn't a much of a "face spec" because you use Influence for social skills, and a only one piloting spec because with Enhance + Piloting upgrade you fly a starship decently. Seek and foresee can be used to sidestep the lack of a specific focus on Knowledge skills.

Depends on what you want in the group. What I like best about this system is that you don't have to adhere to "traditional" classes. The freedom of this system is great enough that you can be competent in something with little expenditure.

(Edit. I forgot the whole "3 or less" aspect of the OP so my comments remain valid but I would simply say SHADOW is the superior "Face" to SAGE in a smaller group. It just fills so many roles at once and can have Charm and Negotiation as class skills for only 15 XP.)

(Edit 2. I also only focused on F&D careers out of habit for the forum I'm on. That left out a glass cannon type build. I'm not going to do a full write up on all the other careers but here's a quick list for ideas.

Melee beast: Aggressor/Enforcer and Marauder depending on if you want FEARSOME or not. HG:Marauder is your career if you're not going Force sensitive. If you are, Aggressor is your starting point but build for a weapon that can have the Weighted head attachment or uses a Disorient based weapon. Electrostaff works best iirc.

I recommend Enforcer with Aggressor. Its, relatively, easy to get a lot of FEARSOME and it's really effective against minions but it adds a lot of extra dice rolling and tracking for the GM.

Glass cannon. BH tinkerer (for auto fire abuse if it's allowed) or Sharpshooter for ranged Marauder. Soldier is best imo as it gives you Commando and Sharpshooter together.

Healer: Medic from AoR. I saw this spec in action from one of my players. He wasn't that good or innovative and the spec still shined bright. I forget the names of all the abilities but Stimpack Spec with surgeon/physician(?) and the lowest tier talent, you know the one, made it better than Doctor imo.

Tank: Commando/Tinkerer(?) Any non force class that has Armor master talents is the way to go although Commando is tougher, Tinkerer has a bit more Damage output.

Rogue. So many options for this build I can't really call it best. Imo, I would go with Smuggler/Infiltrator/technician depending on what you want to do.

Face. Again, lots of options but I think Diplomat/Colonist have the best options.)

That being said, If you want traditional party makeup I would go with

Knowledge/talky guy. SAGE (alternatively Shadow. See below) Charm, negotiation are your bread and butter and the smooth talker, KwK, natural negotiator, and knowledge specialization talents reinforce the theme. Pair with NIman Disciple for combat ability or Mystic for a Force wizard. Your only real drawback is the lack of options for being a Face, like Deception. I really feel SAGE deserved WELL ROUNDED as a talent but I think it would have made it too powerful as a Min/Max Spec. (Edit: forgot to include the obligatory reference to buying INFLUENCE to get the Force die to several key rolls. Applies to Shadow entry below as well)

Tank:Soresu Defender/Armorer/Protector. Parry/Reflect with defensive stance/circle and both IMP versions (as well as supreme parry) and Armorer/Protector in career makes SD quite a bit stronger than Shien expert or Shii Cho knightfor the tank role. Protector has an additional rank each of parry/reflect as well as that precious second Force rating to enhance attacks as well as defense with the full left side of the SENSE tree.

Armorer or Protector is the second option for either above depending on if you want to build a bigger parry/deflect beast or rely on armor to protect you and REINFORCE ITEM for cortosis when up against opposing Lightsabers. I dislike Armorer because REINFORCE ITEM requires 2 FORCE that you can't use for SENSE. Armorer is really good in every case except Lightsaber, but that's true for everyone. The only time it really matters is if you didn't go Soresu Defender since you have to rely on enhancing your armor with Cortosis somehow.

Healer. This is the hardest build imo. The Heal/Harm tree is hideously expensive, 70 pts just to get to the "add medicine ranks to HEAL" addition. Since HEAL counts as a stimpack, I think the best option is a Consular:HEALER and second spec into MEDIC from AoR. Multiple ranks of Physician/Surgeon help get Allies back on their feet and you can add Stimpack specialization (from Medic or Protector) for more options.

If you go HEAL then you're going to need 70 XP just to get down one side or the other of HEAL, on the right side you need 20 XP to heal Strain, 20 more to remove a status from an ally, 15-30 more to heal 1-2 additional wounds for a total of 55-70 points. On the left side you need 70 points to add ranks in Medicine to HEAL. I recommend going down the right side and buying over through the middle to avoid the first rank of RANGE on the left. The heal strain, status effect, and +1 for a rank of strength saves you 15 points over the left side of the tree and that means you can afford MAGNITUDE to potentially affect 1 additional person with 5 XP left over. Protector and Mystic are both good choices if you want to emphasize HEAL power over medicine skill while Healer and Medic/Protector is the way to go if you want to rely on skill and spend points on some of the more "fun" Force powers.

Rogue: Sentinel Shadow is really your only option here. Computers, Skullduggery, Perception, Streetwise, Stealth, Deception, Know:Underworld are all class skills and WELL ROUNDED, gets you two more class skills of your choice for only 15 XP. This is hands down the best class for Rogue type characters and Shien expert is an excellent, in career, spec if you want to play with Lightsabers. Add in a wealth of interesting and unique Talents and it's easy to see why Shadow is such a popular Career/Spec. Once the Sentinel spec book comes out you should have anot her option or two but for now, this is it imo. Nothing else gives you such a total theme package for a Rogue along with the ability to customize based on party role.

That's my $.02 on "traditional" party makeup in this system.

As always, concept trumps Min/Max.

In all honesty I don't think it's that important what your PC's initial careers are. If your PC's are missing some Skill set that comes up a lot one of them can buy Ranks in it or take a second Specialization. The system is pretty much designed to take a couple, or more, Specializations. You can also add an NPC Astromech Droid to fill in some of the tech gaps.

You may run into a problem if your Players are min-maxers then you'll likely end up with a party that is so specialized for killing or whatever you might find your adventure options a bit limited.