Whats everyone's favorite, pros cons and characters they've made? I'm thinking of doing a verpine cowboy character and I'm thinking of what career to use.
Personal favorite gun career? Gunslinger? Sharpshooter? Etc.
Depends on what kind of cowboy. Outlaw? Neutral wanderer/merc? Bounty hunter? Town sheriff?
For the pistol-focus, go Gunslinger, for the rifle-focus or a blend of both, go Sharpshooter.
If you're thinking the first two, Smuggler/Scoundrel is a good starting point, then add the one you want.
The bounty hunting cowboy is a little trickier, but Bounty Hunter/Survivalist isn't a bad choice, with Gunslinger or Sharpshooter tacked on. Time will tell how Martial Artist, Operator, and Skip Tracer fit into this.
The last category is best defined by Colonist/Marshal, with Gunslinger or Sharpshooter added.
Of course, Hired Gun/Mercenary Soldier may also be used for any of the above.
If you're not afraid of working the Force into a build, Warleader is also focused on Ranged combat.
Personally, I was always fond of the gunslinger. Up close and personal, tons of upfront damage, and lets you be in the center of the battle.
Plus, numerous elements of the specialization are tied directly to the duel mechanics, and the Signature Abilities are also a godsend, making the Gunslinger an excellent choice for a cowboy-type character.
Mercenary Soldier is very strong even if many of its best abilities (Deadly Accuracy and two ranks of True Aim) are very deep in the tree. Still, two ranks of Point Blank early on are rather nice.
Gunner. 2 ranks of True Aim, Durable, Enduring, and Jury Rigged, on top of Heroic Fortitude and useful stuff for ship combat. You're accurate, can tweak a autofire gun into a bullet hose, tweak a set of armor awesome, reduce crit severity or just plain ignore the effects in a lot of cases with Heroic Fortitude, and you're helpful in ship combat.
Gunner is nice. It does create a weird gray area between it and Heavy when looking for a big gun carrier.
Has anyone seen magnificent 7? It's a recent cowboy version of 7 samurai? Thinking about a wanderer like the main character, skills like the sharpshooter Ethan hawk plays, or the pistol in each hand like the character Chris Pratt plays.
I've fallen in love with the Marshal. Sure, Gunslinger and others are better combat specs. But Marshals can hold their own well enough. Plus they get some really neat out of combat abilities. Being immune to being lied to is awesome. And the ability to add a Despair to any failed attempt to deceive you is great. I'm in love with this spec and I'm currently writing up a Sathari Marshal for an ongoing campaign.
Interesting question, and there are a lot of way to answer it. There are many ways to skin this cat, my first question to you would be What elements of Cowboys is most appealing to you?
- Shooting (Agility)
- Coercing (Willpower)
- Deceiving (Cunning)
- Charming (Presence)
- Animal Riding (Cunning)
- Hardy and tough (Brawn)
- A survivor (Cunning)
- Sneaky and Thief (Cunning)
- Wins Bar Fights!
Then there are some interesting builds you can come up with when you combine different elements of what makes a cowboy.
Hunter is great, its a tough survivalist, handles beasts well (Those boost apply to riding and training animals not just killing them) and can shoot a rifle better than most.
For similar reasons the Executioner is great, its a bit more on the wild side of the law, aggressive and deadly in a fight, again using rifles
Agressor is an amazing cowboy, Brawl, Perception, Survival, Coercion and Ranged Light are all career skills... this is the Antagonist Cowboy, mean and tough.
Pathfinder is an interesting blend, its handy with light and heavy guns, is tough, fast on their feet and is arguably the best Rider in the entire game line.
Shadow focuses more on the sneaky side of Cowboys, with Deception as a career skill they are the trickster. But that Well Rounded talent lets you get Survival and a Ranged skill as career skills... a slightly different approach to cowboy but none the less a good one.
Warleader is an expert with Light weapons, but also swift, tough, and with Survival can potentially ride well and survive the worst nature has to offer. its also an interesting character because you could build it around being the leader of a gang of Cowboys, guiding them in Bar Fights and shootouts the same.
Trailblazer makes for a fantastic Stage Coach robber, a good shooter, survivor, rider, great in ambushes, a tracker and outdoorsman, good with all types of combat especially with Disorient and Prey on the Weak. Social is lacking but with a decent Cunning they can even Deceive.
Vanguard can be the "good guy" cowboy quite easily. With the bodyguard series of talents, both initiative skills and some great ways to hit hard in combat its fantastic and versatile in a fight. it has all the relevant combat skills as well as Survival again so thats a great all round combat cowboy.
Beast Rider is simply the best on the back of an animal, you can go faster for longer over any terrain. Survival, Ranged Light, Perception, this guy is great.
Gadgeteer , it seems wrong but it covers some great areas of the cowboy style. With Coercion, Brawl, and Ranged Light it ticks some important boxes. then with that tricked out gear it sure can bring the hurt, get one of the more menacing pistols and your on your way to scary town.
Survivalist , an incredibly tough outdoorsman, great on a mount and can use Heavy rifles well. Your going to have a decent Cunning so that Soft Spot talent can work wonders.
Marshal definitely combines the social, streetwise and ranged light elements better than any other specialisation. You can have a decent Agility, then choose between Cunning, Willpower and Presence to create the personality you want, even with 2 of those options to cover more ground.
Big-Game Hunter , yet another Survival/Stealth/Ranged Heavy character, this one excels at tracking and ambusing.
Enforcer is similar to the Aggressor, just without the Force and Conflict. Brawl, Coercion and knowing the underworld are its specialities. can shoot a pistol too, but its possibly the best Bar Fighter there is (well until Martial Artist is released)
Gunslinger , what more can I say other than this is hands down the best with Ranged Light weapons there is. Call 'Em is just the most cowboy thing to do, its worth getting the tree just for that thematic element alone!
Scoundrel is great mix of the social and combat skills again. Less focused on dealing regular damage and more on saving your own bacon, but aint nothing wrong with that! With Quick Draw, Rapid Reaction, Quick Strike, Side Step and Soft Spot all linked together it can make for one of the best showdown cowboys too.
So none of those cover every aspect of being a cowboy, of most note there are none that really handle Shooting, Riding and all around Social in one. there are plenty of ways to go though.
My pick? I like a Charming Decieving Pistol Wielding Horseback Rider. Hunter is awesome at shooting, riding and surviving, with a cross spec into Scoundrel to get a great mix of social options and bolsters the Ranged options making for a great all around cowboy.
I would be looking at starting characteristics of 2,3,2,3,2,3 although Intellect could be a 1 if there was a narratively interesting species that allowed Agility or Cunning to be a 4 at the start, thus allowing for an eventual stat block of 2,4,1,4,2,4. but its the combination of talents thats interesting to me. A person comfortable in the wilds, perceptive, a great Rider, but also amazing at the midday showdown;
- 4 ranks of Side Step!!!
- Sixth Sense
- 2 ranks of Rapid Reaction
- 2 ranks of Quick Strike
- Quick Draw
- Soft Spot (which is in both trees, so you get a free pass on one of them to make other things easier to access)
- Using that Force Rating of 2 with the Foresee Power to add to the Initiative AND Ranged Light checks
Its a formidable opponent for sure
Anyway, an interesting exercise which lead to a character i now want to play! thanks.
Your welcome! Thinking less horse rider, though that's part of the archetype and more of the guy on a mission, best shot in the west, two guns on the hip kinda guy.
I'm considering a verpine 243222 or 253121 gunslinger, with a branch into marshal? Suggestions? I got the idea from this picture
I'm thinking like gun monk.
Is there a good int agility career for the contemplative cowboy?
Not really. The combination of Intellect and Ranged Light is almost nonexistent. Gageteer is about the only one, it's use of Intellect is focused on Mechanics obviously, and its other skills and talents enjoy a decent Willpower, with either Brawn or Agility as your combat choice.
But it's actually quite fun to have a high characteristic that none of your primary skills use, it gives a new and interesting flavour. With Gunslinger you would need a 3 or 4 in Agility since it's your main focus, both then an Int and Will of 3 would work well. Your not social, sneaky or a survivalists in any way, and Cool which is important for standoffs would need some ranks to make up for the deficiencies. Otherwise you could go 2,3,3,2,3,2 and still have xp to spare. It's more well rounded but not as good with a gun until later with a dedication.
Don't forget about Int and Assassin, even though assassin has no obvious synergies with Int, if one starts as a gadgetter you have a lot of directs to go in.
My PC started off as a Gadgetteer that multiclassed into assassin. As an accomplished machanic and a gunslinger he had plenty of ways to get a lock open and while he wasn't the quickest draw on the block (average cool) when he did shoot he would almost certainly kill someone with A-lessons and deadly accuracy. Both of which are very easy to obtain.
Just pick the deadly accuracy wisely. My DM wouldn't let me change ranged heavy to ranged light when I found a preference for ranged light, and I still haven't got around to buying it from the assassin tree. XD
Enforcer/Gunslinger for the win...
Although for a Verpine...
Now I just have this image of a Xenormorph with a cowboy hat and a poncho burning its way through my brain.
Thanks for that.
Heh heh love it
What's the SW equivalent to a cowboy hat and poncho?
Helmet and a Jetpack.
What's the SW equivalent to a cowboy hat and poncho?
That would be a good question to ask Cad Bane:
Gunslinger then into pilot, then sharpshooter and then racer. That's my Chiss Derra.
What's the SW equivalent to a cowboy hat and poncho?
A hat and poncho.
But I would say that leather is more common.
Nice I'm playing a Chiss too. He's a Pilot then a gunslinger and last a force exile. With a force rating of two and going down the left side of the sense power equals win.
One of my players plays Thad Bane (you've probably heard of his infamous uncle), which is spec'ed as a duros, marshall, sharshooter, which works remarkably well as a gunslinger/bounty hunter (this was before fly casual was out), the sharpshooter quick fix talent is wonderful to use for tough quick draws because it let's him use agility (which he has as his highest attribute) to quick draw. And marshall provides the actual quick draw talent and all the other stuff related to a cowboy/sherrif/gambler. Thad Bane is a pretty decent sabaac player
I was thinking of dipping marshal.
I was thinking of dipping marshal.
Marshal is really good for social talkers and being the backup talker.