So, I'm going to be running a new group through a modified version of the beginner game scenario, and its sequel (Long arm of the hutt). One of the players is playing a droid tech. I'm planning on giving them the chance for their first project on board the krayt fang, in the form of the "collection of various droid parts" found in the workshop of the freighter.

Now, this is a player I've known for a while who usually goes outside the box in the things they do. Can make for interesting, yet difficult situations. And I just KNOW that when it comes to the first few scenarios, they're going to want to do the following;

1. Steal parts off of defeated guard droids. To give you an idea of the kind of thing they're after, they've armed their character with a vibro weapon instead of a blaster for easy removal of parts. They actually didn't get a mechanics toolkit to start, but that's going to be remedied very soon. Regardless, is there any precedent for salvaging parts off defeated droids? I have special modifications on back-order, so if there's something in there that will be helpful, but I would appreciate any suggestions or past experiences other GMs have had, because they're going to continue wanting to do it any time we run into droid foes.

2. The droid that belongs to the junkyard dealer, the one that can be convinced to steal the hypermatter igniter. We know it doesn't like its master....but I'm assuming that it has some kind of loyalty programming that prevents it from running off. What is to stop this PC from trying to steal and/or convince the R5 droid to leave the junkyard dealer? I feel like "Hey free R5 droid" is just a little too easy, as expensive as astromech droids are.

3. They want to make a "salvager droid" that can be left on its own to steal and/or acquire parts if it's dropped off on a junkyard world like ord mantel. There's a whole lot I can think of that could go wrong with this. I want them to have a little fun with it, make something practical, but again, I don't want "Hey, free parts" without any effort beyond the initial crafting of the droid.

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

Special Modifications doesn't provide any hard rulings on how to use existing parts in droid crafting, but it does suggest you could reduce or waive the costs of a crafting project if the player finds the parts on their own. Thing is, that doesn't stop the parts from getting wrecked when they fail their roll, so it's not an infinitely abuseable resource. As for droid loyalty, as far as I understand restraining bolts tend to to the job there just fine. They're quite easy to remove with some tools though, so that's not the most effective hurdle for players. Maybe the droid needs to be convinced its life will be better with the party before it'll leave? I mean, sure, it hates its current life, but is there any assurance life will be any better with a mob of criminal spacers?

As for the salvage droid, seems like it'd be a pretty juicy target for scavengers, especially when left unattended. Let them get the benefit of harvesting parts, but have complications come up occasionally like scavengers stealing it, damage happening to the droid, quirks in programming developing, etc. Could represent this with a small obligation if you want a hard and fast way of ruling when things go bad.

46 minutes ago, Tom Cruise said:

As for the salvage droid, seems like it'd be a pretty juicy target for scavengers, especially when left unattended. Let them get the benefit of harvesting parts, but have complications come up occasionally like scavengers stealing it, damage happening to the droid, quirks in programming developing, etc. Could represent this with a small obligation if you want a hard and fast way of ruling when things go bad.

Yeah, it sounds like something you would want for your homestead … the droid needs afterall space for the parts he gathers, protection against thieves and the wild, a place to recharge. It sounds a lot like the homestead rules offer. Would be as well a good place for the techs workshop and to sell crafting results which did not turn out well enough.

The homestead rules are in far horizons. The workshop ones in special modifications.

7 hours ago, Bowoodstock said:

1. Steal parts off of defeated guard droids. To give you an idea of the kind of thing they're after, they've armed their character with a vibro weapon instead of a blaster for easy removal of parts. They actually didn't get a mechanics toolkit to start, but that's going to be remedied very soon. Regardless, is there any precedent for salvaging parts off defeated droids? I have special modifications on back-order, so if there's something in there that will be helpful, but I would appreciate any suggestions or past experiences other GMs have had, because they're going to continue wanting to do it any time we run into droid foes.

It strikes me that a vibroblade still isn't a great option for hunting droids if you want to keep the parts intact, the way those weapons work sounds like they'd cause all kinds of metal fatigue, microfractures, and structural damage that wouldn't be immediately obvious to the mk. 1 eyeball. Better to get an ion weapon IMO.

As for looting and scavenging rules, here are some initial thoughts.

1) The easiest thing to do with spare parts is probably create repair patches, let the tech convert parts and time into handy items.

2) Reprogramming droids permanently should be tricky, require some amount of upkeep, and give them quirks, look at K-2S0, but quickly hacking them to perform a simple task out two before their original programming reassert itself sounds useful, fun, and not game breaking.

3) Cannibalising parts can only go so far, but is an opportunity for creativity. When I'm GMing I tend to prefer allowing "upgrades" stolen from other droids to be temporary or come with a downside unless they're from the same model. E.g. The enhanced armour of an IG series Droid could be applied to a old battle Droid, but with a setback to agility or a reduction in defence/soak to represent the armour not fitting the chassis permanently. Likewise an bubble shield from a Destroyer Droid could be fitted to an astromech, but the power draw limits it's use to only a couple of rounds, or it works for an entire scene and then burns out destroying itself or requiring further maintenance or parts before it'd work again depending how the technician rolls.

1. Your call but if you want to limit them, time is your friend. It takes time to remove n salvage parts and they should have precious little after a firefight. In addition if they're taking what time they've got for doing that there'd be no Strain recovery or medical checks for them, they're not resting or sitting still. In addition you don't salvage parts with a vibro weapon, I'd poo poo that and ask how many mechanics they've seen using a jackhammer to take off a tire.

2. I'd role play it. Plus you can always have that loyalty program just self activate a tracking beacon and make their heads hurt later.

3. Flip 2 on them for 3. Someone does the same to their salvager droid " thx for the droid, dummies!"

Encumbrance. All those salvaged parts will take up a huge amount of encumbrance to carry/move around. And would probably be easily damaged. Odds are, they’d probably be damaged just by salvaging them, unless you were really lucky/careful.

If those salvaged parts could be made to move themselves, then you wouldn’t have that problem, but then you would have another problem — a mobile droid might not want to become a pile of salvaged parts. Then you have a rebellion on your hands.