As a GM, I am considering allowing my PC Ace to have a NPC astromech that can take action (not just give a boost die), similarly to that of what a Pathfinder would do with an animal companion (F&D). It fits with the Star Wars universe since R2D2 would often attack or take action against anyone that would try to hurt his owners. Like zapping the monkey or trying to take the light from Yoda. Anyone else try this? Or am I just asking for trouble?

The Astromech could distract the enemy, defend his pilot, store a weapon and use a maneuver to supply the weapon to the pilot, etc...

What does the community think?

Thanks.

R2-D2 would be considered by many to be a PC. But I digress, the rules in Stay on Target still allow for NPC astromechs to provide the benefits of astromech actions/maneuvers, the PC just needs to roll 3 advantage or a triumph. If you think that is too much you could say that the astromech is paired with a certain ship, reducing the advantage needed by 1 or 2 (1 is probably best), but only for that ship.

R2-D2 (and to a lesser extent BB-8) would pretty much be full PCs, albeit ones that are willing to ride shotgun in a starfighter to help their 'master' out during starfighter battles.

Bear in mind that to get the full perks of Animal Bond and related talents, the Pathfinder (and Hermit in Savage Spirits) have to pay XP to get those talents, and that it has a Silhouette restriction on what sort of animals can be affected by the talent. So I probably wouldn't just hand that out to an Ace character simply because they've got an astromech.

I'd say take a page from Stay on Target with regards to NPC astormechs and the new astromech-only actions, in that if the PC generates 2 advantage or a Triumph on their own action, they can direct the astromech to do something that is within the realm of reason, such as using a built-in fire extinguisher to throw up a smokescreen, rush over to start working on slicing the blast doors that you really need to get past, or similar things.

What Donovan said. The astromech rules in Stay on Target pretty much does the same for astromechs as the animal companion talents do for animal companions. Granted they only apply when the astromech is riding in a starship, but that's probably when you want them to be able to do more things in the first place.

It depends on how you want to rule things as a GM.

I run one game where a Droid NPC is a big part of the party in the storyline, so I basically have a GM PC.

This can be good and also bad depending on how you handle this kind of situation. Typically, the GM PC shouldn't outshine the group narratively or in structured play. This Droid was created through the crafting rules, so the stats are set and can't really increase unless the group intentionally gives him better gear and Cybernetics. Personally, I've already almost killed said GM PC in the one session he was used in a tense situation. It wasn't like a "I have to end this before it escalates" thing but more of a "this makes sense for the scene, oh look the crit was high enough that he will die next round" thing. The mechanic who owns said droid managed to repair the crit in time.

The other option I can think of is to rule it similar to how one would "handle animals" (Survival) or "command followers", (Leadership) by making a skill check for your PC's Action (Could be Leadership, that fits just fine) and then the NPC gains a maneuver and an Action that is taken right after your PC's turn ends. Otherwise it would not do anything in structured play and would not occupy an initiative slot of its own.

6 hours ago, GroggyGolem said:

The other option I can think of is to rule it similar to how one would "handle animals" (Survival) or "command followers", (Leadership) by making a skill check for your PC's Action (Could be Leadership, that fits just fine) and then the NPC gains a maneuver and an Action that is taken right after your PC's turn ends. Otherwise it would not do anything in structured play and would not occupy an initiative slot of its own.

I like the idea of having to make a skill check as the PC's action in order to have their companion droid do something other than hanging about in the background. Also gives the Speak Binary talent more weight as the PC with said talent can get a lot of more mileage out of having their droid do things for them.

On 26.5.2017 at 9:33 PM, wileekoyote said:

As a GM, I am considering allowing my PC Ace to have a NPC astromech that can take action (not just give a boost die), similarly to that of what a Pathfinder would do with an animal companion (F&D). It fits with the Star Wars universe since R2D2 would often attack or take action against anyone that would try to hurt his owners. Like zapping the monkey or trying to take the light from Yoda. Anyone else try this? Or am I just asking for trouble?

The Astromech could distract the enemy, defend his pilot, store a weapon and use a maneuver to supply the weapon to the pilot, etc...

What does the community think?

Thanks.

R2D2 is a PC, he is actually the main character of star wars.
Now I get that NPC astromechs are underwhelming, especially when you could replace them just fine with a crafted droid with assassination directives who should be able to act like an PC astromech, with great dice pools and much more useful than those NPC mechs.

So I get the drive to house rule the game to have more PC like astromechs, even when personally I think having actual PC astromechs in the party is much, much more awesome.

Edit:
BTW, I think using the squad rules for pilot + astromech teams works quit well too, meaning on triumphs your astromech gets his independ action, as long as you formed the squad with a leadership check first. It kind of a shame that the squad rules normally only allow to form squads with minions and not with rivals as well.