*When* we get droidekas, how powerful and expensive should they be? A pair of them was too much for two Jedi Knights to handle, so pretty tough.

Well, they should be relatively weak with a very high defense (i.e. shields), so I would say a cost of 6-8 with a health of 4-6 They should have a speed of 2, Assault, and an ability that allows them to move an additional 4 spaces if no attack was made this round (giving them an effective speed of eight to roll all over the place, but needing to 'set-up' positioning to blast away). Their final ability should be Shield Generator, which allows them to ignore the first 4-6 damage dealt in any given round.

Attack should be three dice.

They should really be the equivalent of an eweb in limiting mobility, increasing attack, but with the shield generator they would be more beefy.

I reckon they should be pretty expensive, similar to Jedi Luke, since Obi Wan and Qui God were s scared of them. I like the idea of extra movement if they don't attack, but the special rule for shields seems unnecessary - why not just have lots of health?

Although really, their thing was that they could roll up and deploy super quickly, so maybe they should be able to move fast then attack, just not the other way around?

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I reckon they should be pretty expensive, similar to Jedi Luke, since Obi Wan and Qui God were s scared of them. I like the idea of extra movement if they don't attack, but the special rule for shields seems unnecessary - why not just have lots of health?

Health is a permanent stat. You take off health this round, it stays off next round. The shield generator ability would require you to focus fire on them to finish them in a single round before their shield recharges. I dunno, seemed thematic to me and works the same way that the 'Personal Shield Generator' works in the one skirmish setup... and every video game ever. It would make them different from other units in a flavorful way.

And as far as movement, I thought the thing with them was that they actually take a couple of seconds to deploy. I think it was the ROTS PS2 game in which that was your window to kill them, just after they stopped rolling but before the shield went up.

I reckon they should be pretty expensive, similar to Jedi Luke, since Obi Wan and Qui God were s scared of them. I like the idea of extra movement if they don't attack, but the special rule for shields seems unnecessary - why not just have lots of health?

Health is a permanent stat. You take off health this round, it stays off next round. The shield generator ability would require you to focus fire on them to finish them in a single round before their shield recharges. I dunno, seemed thematic to me and works the same way that the 'Personal Shield Generator' works in the one skirmish setup... and every video game ever. It would make them different from other units in a flavorful way.

And as far as movement, I thought the thing with them was that they actually take a couple of seconds to deploy. I think it was the ROTS PS2 game in which that was your window to kill them, just after they stopped rolling but before the shield went up.

Yeah, I think you're right about the shields. 4-6 damage per turn is a lot though, I think they'd have to be expensive (which I am in favour of).

A couple of seconds though is very little compared to less dynamic heavy weaponry like the e-web. Ooh, a mechanic where after they move they have to choose between bringing their shields up or firing straight away, or something along those lines?

Or how about just they can move pretty fast as their first action, then fire, but if they move a second time instead of firing then they get extra speed?

Man, everyone in this conversation is so clever, articulate and good looking. I am most impressed.

Aww, thanks!

You could make it so if someone interrupts to attack them before, after or while moving then they bypass their shields.

Check the character homebrew thread.

I reckon they should be pretty expensive, similar to Jedi Luke, since Obi Wan and Qui God were s scared of them. I like the idea of extra movement if they don't attack, but the special rule for shields seems unnecessary - why not just have lots of health?

Health is a permanent stat. You take off health this round, it stays off next round. The shield generator ability would require you to focus fire on them to finish them in a single round before their shield recharges. I dunno, seemed thematic to me and works the same way that the 'Personal Shield Generator' works in the one skirmish setup... and every video game ever. It would make them different from other units in a flavorful way.

And as far as movement, I thought the thing with them was that they actually take a couple of seconds to deploy. I think it was the ROTS PS2 game in which that was your window to kill them, just after they stopped rolling but before the shield went up.

You could just give them lots of health, then give them an ability called "shields" that makes them recover a lot of health at the end of each round. Would have pretty much the same effect, but would be simpler to implement I think.

Or you could just give them a normal amount of health, but something crazy like "+4 block"

As for their rolling+setting up, I think giving them speed 4 or 5, but the "tripod" ability from the E-Web, would make sense. And yeah at least 3 dice for attacks. Really strong ones too, like BRY, +2 accuracy, ~ +2 damage, and "Deadly".

Also, they shouldn't be able to interact. Because that would be dumb.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/185885-homebrew-characters-thread/?p=1813454

You could always give them a special action;

Shields: Gain +4 block until the next round.

That way the player has to choose to bring the shields online, instead of attacking maybe...

I don't know; they seem to be able to attack through their shields. Maybe "Shields: if you have not exited the space you were in at the start of the round, apply +3 block to your defense results"

I don't know; they seem to be able to attack through their shields. Maybe "Shields: if you have not exited the space you were in at the start of the round, apply +3 block to your defense results"

I agree, attacking with shields up should be possible. It might just be best like this: Shields is a special action, so you can do it and then attack, or move and then shields, but you can't move, shield, attack all in the same turn. However, their rapid fire attacking should be implemented as well, so I think maybe making them the first ranged unit with Brutality might be interesting.

So you would have a unit that is ranged, have relatively high cost and attack power, Brutality to attack two different targets with one action, Shields to give additional defense for the rest of that round, and a constant balance interplay between attack, defense, and positioning. It would be good at all three, but you can't do it all in one turn, so you have to choose wisely.

They were tough for the Jedi to handle in the movie which, like most things in episodes 1-3, didn't make a lot of sense. In the Clone Wars TV series the Jedi were handling them much more easily. Considering they can pick up x-wings, knocking a droideka around, like, well, a ball, shouldn't be much of an issue.

Anyway there is a person shield card in the game already that gives +5 block, which seems about right to make a force user, which commonly have pierce 3 with their light sabers, think twice about going toe to toe with one. As a once per round ability it seems like it would model the source material.

I reckon they should be pretty expensive, similar to Jedi Luke, since Obi Wan and Qui God were s scared of them.

I think you are exaggerating a bit. That particular scene is readily available to view on the internet. The killer robots roll in, Ewan McGregor shouts something to the effect of 'Oh look, rolly robots', and then 'Hey, they have blue bubbles of stuff!'. They shoot a bit, the guys do some zoom-zoom action with their laser swords and Liam Neeson, quite calmly says "It's a standoff, let's go" and they go down an adjacent corridor.

I take that to mean Destroyer Droids, unlike the silly Roger Rogers encuntered thus far, were a foe that wouldn't fall apart if you looked at them funny, and Qui Gon, quite sensibly, didn't want to get into a protracted conflict while stuck on a huge battleship filled bottom to top with literally tens of thousands of various enemy soldiers and whatever automated defense systems besides those. I also imagine that the shielding would be much less of a concern to trained acrobatic ninja warrior monk space wizards if they had more room to maneuever around than a spaceship corridor.

In fact, Destroyer Droids would get scrapped fairly regularly in the Clone Wars cartoon.

In fact, Destroyer Droids would get scrapped fairly regularly in the Clone Wars cartoon.

They were scrapped by EMP grenades and flanking maneuvers. I vaguely remember Asohka sliding under them to get inside the shields or some such tactic. The point being... most of the characters in IA (and Rebels) are not trained acrobatic ninja warrior monk space wizards. They are people with guns or minimal lightsaber training. Droidekas were high-investment, elite units. They were meant to be more imposing and powerful than battle droids and should be treated accordingly in a combat game. Nowhere in the films did anyone, even Jedi, take droidekas for granted. In fact, the only ones I remember being destroyed were shot/struck by a starfighter, accidentally shot in the leg by Jar-Jar's puppet battledroid, and with the special green turbolaser thingees on the dropships. No one actually slices or blasts one that I can recall, although there was a lot going on in the arena background.

most of the characters in IA (and Rebels) are not trained acrobatic ninja warrior monk space wizards.

All of the heroes in IA could rek king baddass lord of the sith even before they reach their final form at the end of the campaign. Biv could potentially butcher him with 1 action. Same with the inquisitor and new Luke. Hell, I think Biv could potentially kill all 3 with 1 activation.

I reckon they should be pretty expensive, similar to Jedi Luke, since Obi Wan and Qui God were s scared of them.

I also imagine that the shielding would be much less of a concern to trained acrobatic ninja warrior monk space wizards if they had more room to maneuever around than a spaceship corridor.

Fair enough, when a large scale battle game comes out they can be weaker, but in IA you're generally in corridors much like they were in the film

Ultimately the only thing destroyer droids have going for them is their shields. I think Patrick's version is close to perfect (as I said in the other thread I think they should be a bit faster).

How about 3 speed but takes 4 squares. Wheel form lets them move 8 spaces like a nexu pounce without the attack.

Aka Descent 2nd edition rules.

If they only 1 or 2 square big then 2 speed.

Also, why would they have non-Sentient? They are droids they can just transmit to the door/consoles.

How about 3 speed but takes 4 squares. Wheel form lets them move 8 spaces like a nexu pounce without the attack.

Aka Descent 2nd edition rules.

If they only 1 or 2 square big then 2 speed.

Also, why would they have non-Sentient? They are droids they can just transmit to the door/consoles.

I don't understand why you think they should be so slow. Your double action move means they're basically speed 4 if they don't attack; they should clearly be faster than that.

How about 3 speed but takes 4 squares. Wheel form lets them move 8 spaces like a nexu pounce without the attack.

Aka Descent 2nd edition rules.

If they only 1 or 2 square big then 2 speed.

Also, why would they have non-Sentient? They are droids they can just transmit to the door/consoles.

I don't understand why you think they should be so slow. Your double action move means they're basically speed 4 if they don't attack; they should clearly be faster than that.

They should be super slow when walking. If you want to do an ability which mimics their wheel form but negates shields and attack, that's fine. But they were super slow in walking - click, click, click. They were basically tripods when deployed.

They should be non-sentient because sometimes interacting means picking up an object (which it doesn't seem like they could do) or talking to a person (not sure if they could do that). But I haven't watched any of the EU TV shows; maybe they're shown as having more capabilities in that.