My players are practically Knight level (135 xp currently). Two of the players now have lightsabers and can use them fairly well.

I have an idea for a trap laid by a Magnaguard to lure in a Jedi, and it accidentally lures in the players instead (since they're hunting the same Jedi as the Magnaguard). I've playtested the encounter, and it's a bit rough, but the players won when I tested it.

It's worth noting, I houseruled Linked and Autofire in my game. It costs 2 extra success rather than 2 extra advantage to trigger. This reduces the damage output considerably, and makes it a bit harder to trigger, since not as many things add automatic success. My players all really prefer this way. As a result, the Magnaguard's electrostaff won't do quite as much damage as it could, but it crits more often and clears more strain.

Of my players, three are rolling dice pools of 2 green and 2 yellow for their main weapon. One is just rolling 1 green and 2 yellow. That player has soak 5 and 17 wound, while the rest all have a lower soak and wound, but they have a ranged and melee defense of 1.

With this information, how would you guys handle it? A single Magnaguard against four PCs who are just shy of Knight level play. When I tried it, it was a rough but manageable encounter. If you were players, would you feel like it's too much?

Do it! PC death is hard to get in this system, the magnaguard won't stand there hacking up the unconscious while the rest are still attacking. Probably plan for some recuperation time afterwards.

I would enjoy it, being victorious is a great reward

Your PCs should be able to handle a single MagnaGuard without too much trouble, especially as two of them have lightsabers, putting the droid's ranks in Parry as the only real defense against those attacks it has.

If anything, I'd suspect that your PCs may have a fairly easy time of it, since they'll probably come up with tactics you as the GM wouldn't have thought of.

Interesting house-rule regarding Autofire and Linked though. It would certainly seem to cut down on the sheer damage that those weapon qualities can dole out as the attacker has to choose between fewer hits with more damage or more hits with lower damage.

10 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

Do it! PC death is hard to get in this system, the magnaguard won't stand there hacking up the unconscious while the rest are still attacking. Probably plan for some recuperation time afterwards.

I would enjoy it, being victorious is a great reward

For the record, if I run this encounter, I was planning on using the optional rules for tough adversaries (Letting them have one extra turn at the bottom of the initiative). That might be why my test run turned out as brutal as it did. You guys have convinced me that I should definitely run this encounter, and I'm really excited to try it out. The question now is, should I include the extra turn for the Magnaguard or not?

7 hours ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

Your PCs should be able to handle a single MagnaGuard without too much trouble, especially as two of them have lightsabers, putting the droid's ranks in Parry as the only real defense against those attacks it has.

If anything, I'd suspect that your PCs may have a fairly easy time of it, since they'll probably come up with tactics you as the GM wouldn't have thought of.

Interesting house-rule regarding Autofire and Linked though. It would certainly seem to cut down on the sheer damage that those weapon qualities can dole out as the attacker has to choose between fewer hits with more damage or more hits with lower damage.

That was exactly the idea behind it. It lets me run some powerful weapons on the NPCs without running too high of a risk of them mowing down the players, while also being balanced with the players having the same equipment. Also, it just makes more sense to me. You have extra advantage? Do a fun thematic thing. You have extra success? You succeed harder (Hitting more than once).