GM Chris said:

Creative things can and should be used by "mathematically competent" characters too!

Otherwise it's clear they wouldn't have many chances.

GM Chris said:

Dude… Have you played it yet? I'm telling you, from first hand player and GM experience… the "battle doesn't go to the strongest" in that sense. This system doesn't reward mathematical competance. In play… it rewards roleplaying chops and out of of the box thinking. The "better built" characters in my playtests didn't hold a candle to the person who could suggest the more creative things to do with the advantages on their rolls.

This. This right here.

Shakespearian_Soldier said:

GM Chris said:

Dude… Have you played it yet? I'm telling you, from first hand player and GM experience… the "battle doesn't go to the strongest" in that sense. This system doesn't reward mathematical competance. In play… it rewards roleplaying chops and out of of the box thinking. The "better built" characters in my playtests didn't hold a candle to the person who could suggest the more creative things to do with the advantages on their rolls.

This. This right here.

The system rewards roleplaying chops and out of of the box thinking, we all agree about this.

But the thread is not about "a strong character played by a dull player" vs "a weak character played by a good player".

I have tried (at my table) both droids and non droids with "good" (non dull) players.

In my experience droids tend to fall a little "short".

I think they should have some free (free from credit cost and "slot" cost) cyberneric upgrades to compenstate.

My group is tentatively set to make characters on Sunday.

We all know that a charismatic player can use his characters charisma as a dump-stat at many tables and somehow the character excels in social settings. More so doing just that has resulted in a grand time had by all. I have been there. But all the same I want rules for governing how good the CHARACTERS are. We seem to have those whereby one characteristic equates to one die rolled (or upgrades a die rolled).

Right now there is a choice between being more competent and being more concept that can be removed all together from the character creation process by giving everyone X-points, having a package cost for a race, starting characteristics at 1, and giving a race +1/-1 characteristic modifiers that add outside of the point-cost structure. Doing so would fix droids, and remove the detrimental choice one needs to make between intelligent resource management and concept.

Love your brain!

I'm enjoying following this and similar threads about droids and character creation. People are bringing up valid points and having actual, logical arguments in a way that encourages feedback from others.

So first, thanks for conducting this discussion so well -- and with so many good points of interest.

Answers to some specific questions would help narrow the focus and more clearly define what people feel is missing.

1) In terms of relative value or "power" how do you perceive the Droid's passive abilities (no need to eat, sleep, breathe, unaffected by mental Force powers)

2) For argument's sake, if droids are meant to be specialists within a narrow range of fields or skills, how would you approach that issue? (keep in mind that simply adding more XP to their budget does not solve this problem, but actually works against that concept).

3) Do players not perceive long-term value in the droid's Cybernetic Implant cap -- allowing a droid specialized in non physical skills to still upgrade to a wide variety of implants?

4) Do you feel the current droid rules do not allow you to create characters comparable to R2-D2, C3PO or IG-88?

Thanks for your continued feedback.

- Jay

*****Q1) In terms of relative value or "power" how do you perceive the Droid's passive abilities (no need to eat, sleep, breathe, unaffected by mental Force powers).*****

No need to eat: cool, but rarely used in adventures. Meatbags can buy/gather/hunt food. I would imagine that some races would be able to go for extended time without food and water and essentially replicate this advantage. I would imagine that a human needs food and especially water more often than a droid needs power and eventual maintenance. If a droid was on an adventure where a subsistence diet was called for, then I would send off a droid to collect water/food while the ones made of flesh rested in the shade to conserve water and calories. Perhaps the cost of living for a droid would be lower (less energy “wasted” on converting energy . . . it takes 10 energy to convert into 1 usable energy).

No need to sleep: Very useful. Meatbags can not buy this. Crafting (or working) characters who are droids will be able to crank out 1/3 more work for not needing sleep. Possibly add another 1/3 on top of that due being less likely to get board, need rest, go out and play, or spend time with friends and family. So droids can likely craft (or work) three times as much in a day. A droid can possibly earn two or three times the living as a flesh and blood person. When exploring ruins or adventuring in the wilderness being able to take every watch is a bonus. Likewise having someone on deck of a ship when others are sleeping could mean the difference between escaping and having a few rounds of antagonists taking shots at or boarding the ship.

No need to breathe: cool, but uncommonly useful. Meatbags can buy rebreathers and space suits. This is essentially one step better than built in gear.

Unaffected by mental Force powers: campaign specific usefulness. Some races not stated out in the play-test can do this, so it is less special. More useful in high powered games and less useful in low powered games.

*****Q2) For argument's sake, if droids are meant to be specialists within a narrow range of fields or skills, how would you approach that issue? (keep in mind that simply adding more XP to their budget does not solve this problem, but actually works against that concept). *****

[idea 1] Lifting the maximum number of skill levels a droid can have at character creation would be one way to improve the usefulness of droids.

[idea 2] Allowing a droid to begin with some cybernetics would be cool. Create a +1 cybernetic attachment for each characteristic. Let's say a droid can begin with three cybernetic attachments, then at character creation, potentially, three of the six characteristics are no longer a standard deviation behind a human (the player could select non-characteristic attachments).

[idea 3] Including starting packages for R2-D2, C3PO or IG-88 type characters would be very cool. Stat them up like races. That way you can work around the one standard deviation behind humans in all characteristics problem (see idea 4, below).

[idea 4] An array of characteristics that can be assigned as ones sees fit of 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1 would would help elevate the one standard deviation worse than humans disadvantage. This would place them a standard deviation above in two areas, equal in one area and below in three areas while being equal point-wise to a human's 120-points of characteristics.

[idea 4.1] Perhaps these 50-points spent on being a droid, or some of those points, can be shifted from less-points than humans to less-points than humans can spend on characteristics. Do this giving the droids those 50-points back, but limit the 50-points to non-characteristics. This is a disadvantage that would make a droid less well-rounded and more specialized. The points would be there, but could not be placed into characteristics, thus being a disadvantage in the long-run. I know I always add up what skills I need/want, and what characteristics they come from, and then see if buying more levels of characteristics would be optimal (this idea can be applied here to a greater extent as characteristics cannot be raised at a later time). This would remove that optimal choice, but sting less than simply having 50-points fewer than a human. As the rules stand I would put as many of my points into characteristics as I could, and buy non-characteristics later with experience. Removing that option is a clear disadvantage.

[idea 4.3] So a 120-point array of characteristics (3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1) to be assigned as ones sees fit, 60-points to spend on anything, and 50-points (or less whatever the point value of being a droid turns out to be) to spend on non-characteristics. You would have specialized characters with the same point value, that cannot be as well-rounded as a human, must be specialized, and as such have sub-optimal characteristics to begin with. These characteristics can then be upgraded at a later time using cybernetics (campaign specifics to get credits, a place to upgrade, and the time to do it) to make them potentially as optimal as humans. Optimal droid characteristics without cybernetics 4, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1 and with 60,000 credits of cybernetics becomes 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2. Optimal human characteristics without cybernetics 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 and with 20,000 credits of cybernetics becomes 5, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2 (as brawn will likely not be optimal in a fighter-pilot and laser gun setting, but a human would be equal if he/she had a brawn of 3 and 10,000 more credits).

*****Q3) Do players not perceive long-term value in the droid's Cybernetic Implant cap -- allowing a droid specialized in non physical skills to still upgrade to a wide variety of implants? *****

Allowing the droid player to begin with built in “tool box” equipment like R2-D2 without taking up cybernetic slots would be cool. Call it incidental droid cybernetics.

I do not mean to sound snarky, but we are not play-testing rules that do not yet exist (for us). I can only guess at how useful those rules would be. The ability to buy equipment with credits at a later time is . . . something everyone can do. It is neat to have it built in; it really is. It is neat that droids can have more built in equipment, and that makes total sense. If it is a built in computer (or some tool) that a human can just throw in his/her backpack, then it is not really that much more useful. If it is something that a human cannot buy (like does not need sleep), then that is another story.

*****Q4) Do you feel the current droid rules do not allow you to create characters comparable to R2-D2, C3PO or IG-88?*****

Nope. I want to play an Astomech in our play-test game. However, it would not be nearly as useful as a human who would be able to do most-everything it can do, only better.

*****

Not being able to edit out an error at a later time on the forum is exceedingly annoying. I want to be able to change errors I made a day ago, a week ago, or a year ago. I especially want to fix mathematical, spelling and grammatical errors. Can you guys change that “feature”?

ynnen said:

1. I consider the immunity suite to be moderately useful. I also consider a mechanical body to be immune to poision and a few of the crit results (ones that inflict setback dice due to pain for example or blood loss). I'm reminded of C3-P0 being strapped to Chewie's back. Some restrictive GMs might not allow this though which would lessen its value.

2. I'm kind of a fan of starting their attributes low as was done in the book. Alternatively an ability like Not Coded For That which increased difficulty of tasks they lacked skill ranks in would accomplish that. It might be amusing if all challenge dice were upgraded for droids doing things without training.

3. Currently, No. Though this has more to do with the state of implants and their lack of variety than with droids. Currently all implants are desined for flesh and blood characters and it shows. Where is the built in jetpack or the extra arms? I'd also like some guidelines for installing mundane gear as part of a droid (IE armor as chassis upgrade etc). Also it seems really expensive. I'd expect droid upgrades to be cheaper than cybernetics since one dosnt have to worry about a man/machine interface - especially if the 'cybergear' is a standard issue for the model.

4. My impression from reading the book was that I could recreate C3-P0 or IG-88 without too much difficulty. R2-D2, thogh isn't even humanoid and it didnt occour to me to try. I was honestly expecting Droid (class 2) to appear in the rebel book.

1) No need to eat and to breath: a living character who is prepared and can go on for long periods without needing them. So useful, but only so much.
No need to rest: it is very useful for all the characters in the party. It means more work he can do (building something or taking a watch).

2 - 3 - 4) I think that for those 3 points my answer is the same: specific implants.
Droids can have low basic stats, but they could compensate this with implants.
There are only few implants, the idea to "transform" equipment into implants is great (thanks Cetiken!).
There should be "specific implants" for the various droids classes. The current rules makes no difference between droid classes.
Maybe droids could gave some additional specific "class X" implant slots: some implants could only be installed on those special slots (and maybe in "standard" droids slots, but a double slot cost).

I like the idea of Droids starting with a free implant. Droids start down 120 xp from humans, based on stats, and have 65 more starting xp. The immunities and "versatility" don't really add up to 55xp. A free implant would either give the Droid a stat bump that should make up the XP deficit, or give them something unique like an implant weapon.

I made two characters for the beta test. A human with 265-points of stuff, and a droid with 205-points of stuff (not counting the droid abilities). So a human has 60-points more than a droid to spend on characteristics, talents, and skills.

The prominent deficit I see is the lack of characteristics. This was true in the West End version of Star Wars, but not in the Wizards of the Coasts version (all though I remember WotC having three methods for creating droids). Perhaps FFG can have two options. One where droids suck for story reasons and one where droids do not suck for concept reasons (not being punished for wanting to play a droid).

GH-924 “Rosco”
Human (Clone Trooper)
Smuggler (Pilot, Scoundrel [5 XP])
Cause (Emancipation)
Responsibility (Clone Troopers) 10
—Characteristics—
Brawn: 2 [20 XP]
Agility: 4 [90 XP]
Intellect: 2 [20 XP]
Cunning: 3 [50 XP]
Willpower: 2 [20 XP]
Presence: 2 [20 XP]
—Derived Characteristics—
Soak Value: 2
Wounds: ___ [TH: 12 | C: ___ ]
Strain: ___ [TH: 12 | C: ___ ]
Defense: 0 [TH: ___ | C: ___ ]
—General Skills—
Astrogation (Intellect) C - 0
Athletics (Brawn) NC - 0
Charm (Presence) C - 0
Coerce (Willpower) NC - 0
Computer (Intellect) NC - 0
Cool (Presence) C - 0
Coordination (Agility) NC - 0
Deceit (Cunning) C - 1 [5 XP]
Discipline (Willpower) NC - 0
Leadership (Presence) NC - 0
Mechanics (Intellect) NC - 0
Medicine (Intellect) NC - 0
Negotiation (Presence) NC - 0
Perception (Cunning) C - 0
Pilot - Planet (Agility) C - 0
Pilot - Space (Agility) C - 2 [15 XP]
Resilience (Brawn) NC - 0
Skullduggery (Cunning) C - 1 [5 XP]
Stealth (Agility) NC - 0
Streetwise (Cunning) C - 0
Survival (Cunning) NC - 0
Surveillance (Intellect) NC - 0
Vigilance (Willpower) C - 1 [5 XP]
—Combat Skills—
Brawl (Brawn) C - 0
Gunnery (Agility) C - 1
Melee (Brawn) NC - 0
Ranged - Light (Agility) C - 0
Ranged - Heavy (Agility) NC - 0
—Knowledge Skills—
Core Worlds (Intellect) NC - 0
Education (Intellect) NC - 0
Lore (Intellect) NC - 0
Outer Rim (Intellect) NC - 0
Underworld (Intellect) NC - 0
Xenology (Intellect) NC - 0
—Equipment—
Credits: 0
Armor: None
Ranged Weapon: Blaster [500 Credits]
Melee Weapon: None
Personal Gear: Incidental
—Talents & Special Abilities—
Convincing Demeanor 5 XP | p.58 | p. 91 | -1 Deceit and Skullduggery setback die
Skill Jockey 5 XP | p.57 | p.98 | -1 Pilot (Ground/Space) setback die
—Point Value----
125 Racial Package + 110 Racial XP + 30 Career Skills + 0 Experience = 265 Total
220 Characteristics + 30 Skills + 10 Talents + 5 Specialization = 265 Spent

R2-D8
Droid (Class Four) Modified Astromech
Technician (Mechanic), Hired Gun (Bodyguard [10 XP])
<Modivation>
Duty-bound (Ship) 10
—Characteristics—
Agility: 3 [50 XP]
Brawn: 1 [0 XP]
Cunning: 2 [20 XP]
Intellect: 4 [90 XP]
Presence: 1 [0 XP]
Willpower: 1 [0 XP]
—Derived Characteristics—
Soak Value: 1
Wounds: ___ [TH: 11 | C: ___ ]
Strain: ___ [TH: 11 | C: ___ ]
Defense: 0 [TH: 0 | C: ___ ]
—General Skills—
Astrogation (Intellect) C - 1 [5 XP]
Athletics (Brawn) C - 0
Charm (Presence) NC - 0
Coerce (Willpower) NC - 0
Computer (Intellect) C - 1 [5 XP]
Cool (Presence) NC - 0
Coordination (Agility) C - 0
Deceit (Cunning) NC - 0
Discipline (Willpower) C - 0
Leadership (Presence) NC - 0
Mechanics (Intellect) C - 2 [15 XP]
Medicine (Intellect) NC - 0
Negotiation (Presence) NC - 0
Perception (Cunning) C - 0
Pilot - Planet (Agility) C - 0
Pilot - Space (Agility) C - 0
Resilience (Brawn) C - 0
Skullduggery (Cunning) C - 1 [5 XP]
Stealth (Agility) NC - 0
Streetwise (Cunning) NC - 0
Survival (Cunning) NC - 0
Surveillance (Intellect) C - 0
Vigilance (Willpower) C - 0
—Combat Skills—
Brawl (Brawn) C - 0
Gunnery (Agility) NC - 0
Melee (Brawn) NC - 0
Ranged - Light (Agility) C - 0
Ranged - Heavy (Agility) C - 0
—Knowledge Skills—
Core Worlds (Intellect) NC - 0
Education (Intellect) NC - 0
Lore (Intellect) NC - 0
Outer Rim (Intellect) NC - 0
Underworld (Intellect) NC - 0
Xenology (Intellect) NC - 0
—Equipment—
Credits: 0
Armor: None
Ranged Weapon: Blaster [500 Credits]
Melee Weapon: None
Personal Gear: Incidental
—Talents & Special Abilities—
Gear-head 5 XP | p.xx | p. 91 | -1 Deceit and Skullduggery setback die
Droid Droids do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, and are unaffected by toxins or poisons. Droids have a cybernetic impact cap of 6 instead of their Brawn rating
Inorganic xxx
Mechanical Being xxx
—Point Value----
? Racial Package + 175 Racial XP + 30 Career Skills + 0 Experience = 205 Total
160 Characteristics + 30 Skills + 5 Talents + 10 Specialization = 205 Spent

ynnen said:

1) I actually consider them to be underrated. People have mentioned that most of these abilities can be replicated by the various species (mostly due to equipment), but I don't think that lessens the impact of a droid's abilities. While organic characters needs to suit up to enter space, or scramble to get their breath masks on (losing valuable time), a droid can act right away or continue unhindered. I've also played my fair share of games where rations do become an issue. Not needing to sleep is always an advantage (it mitigates the whole "shift-rotation" problem - having a sentry who cannot fall asleep is quite valuable). The abilities also would extend to environmental hazards (at least all but the very extreme ones), and the point above about certain critical hits results being void holds some merit. These things should probably be pointed out, however.

2) I actually don't believe it's necessary to to address this as a droid character is quite capable of focusing its abilities at the moment. For 160 XP you can get an array of 4 [90], 3 [50], 2 [20], 1, 1, 1 which I would say is quite decent if you're specializing. It also leaves you with 15 xp (or 20-25 if you get any obligations and pick xp). However, yes, I can see that those stats are a little behind organics - and also that keeping in the spirit of specialization more xp won't solve it. If something else was to be added in order to increase specialization, I would suggest a free first-row talent in the droid's starting specialization. Although it's only worth 5 xp, an extra talent can go a long way and seems to be "in spirit".

3) As pointed out, the limitation on this point might be the implants available at the moment. However, I think the emphasis in the question should be on long-term. I would not be surprised if more are added in a future supplement… But some more rules and options to mod or pimp your droid might not be bad in the main rulebook, either.

4) I feel I definitively can create R2-D2, C-3PO and IG-88.

R2-D2:

Obligation: Responsibility
Motivation: Comrades
Brawn 1, Presence 1, Intellect 4, Agility 3, Cunning 1, Willpower 2
Career: Technician, Specialization: Mechanic
Skills: Astrogation, Computer 2, Mechanics 2, Surveillance, Pilot (Space)
Talents: Solid Repairs
Gear: Tool kit

C-3PO

Obligation: Dutybound
Motivation: Droid Companion
Brawn 1, Presence 4, Intellect 3, Agility 1, Cunning 1, Willpower 1
Career: Colonist, Specialization: Scholar
Skills: Charm, Negotiation 2, Knowledge (Core Worlds, Education, Outer Rim, Underworld, Xenology 2)
Talents: Speaks Binary
Gear: Comlink

IG-88

Obligation: Criminal, Bounty
Motivation: Droid rights
Brawn 2, Presence 1, Intellect 1, Agility 4, Cunning 3, Willpower 1
Career: Bounty Hunter, Specialization: Assassin
Skills: Pilot (Space), Streetwise, Surveillance, Ranged (Heavy), Skullduggery, Stealth, Coordination
Talents: Lethal Blows, Dodge
Gear: Blaster Rifle, Flame Projector, Emergency Repair Kit, General Purpose Scanner

The iconic droids above might not be entirely precise, but they're fair enough. The point is that I feel you can make quite cool characters with the droid rules. I'd happily play either of the above. Well, granted, I might do the threepio a little different if I were to actually play him, but he's interesting enough.

(and then I noticed the updates pdf with some droid changes in them already. Well, the above stands more or less the same, though).

Yeah, droids get a free skill point. That's the equivilent of a little XP.

Put it in a non-career skill you think fits the concept or is otherwise useful, or put it in a career-skill you also pick up with your free points to get it at 2 for free. I feel it's a decent bump on par with my talent suggestion above. True, all species gets some kind of upgrade (which I think is great), but I really don't think droids are useless stat-wise. Then again it should be noted that I'm also not that big on complete balance between various characters as long as everyone got their area to shine in. The droid is able to shine in a few areas, so that is good enough for me.

[Q4] Do you feel the current droid rules do not allow you to create characters comparable to R2-D2, C3PO or IG-88?

I don’t think this is a fair yardstick to determine balance. We can use the rules presented for droids to create characters comparable to any character. The current droid rules do not allow me to create droid characters comparable to non-droid characters. There is most definitely a concept tax being placed on droids. I do not understand the motivations behind this concept tax. I do not understand the harm it would it do if droids (specifically player character droids) were comparable to other races. I cannot see how having an iconic race choice suck for players would be a design goal. I don’t think that is fun to have them suck.

I want to play an Astromech, but I fear that I would start off behind in so many areas, and this issue will just get worse as time goes on. I could fill the same concept with a much more competent human. This makes me sad.

Having Droids a standard deviation behind in all characteristic areas (but one, if you raise a characteristic to 5 for 140/175 starting points) simply punishes droids as a race selection. Droids are not comparable to any other race. Races should be comparable to each other.

Another suggestion for droids.

Make them start with this free (no credit cost, no slot use) "cybernetic" part: the Droid Base Frame build.

Class 1 Droid Frame (Medical, Biological Science, Physical Science, Mathematics): +2 Intellect
Class 2 Droid Frame (Astromech, Exploration, Environmental, Engineering): +1 Intellect, +1 Cunning
Class 3 Droid Frame (Protocol, Servant, Tutor, Child Care): +2 Presence
Class 4 Droid Frame (Security, Gladiator, Battle, Assassin): +1 Agility, +1 Brawn
Class 5 Droid Frame (General Labor, Specialist Labor, Hazardous-service): +2 Brawn

Those stats modifiers are added after the character creation, like any other cybernetic stat modifier.

What do you think?

I like the idea.

However: [1] I would balance out the packages to be equal point wise*, [2] seriously conceder them to be 120-point packages**, [3] add in the bonuses at the beginning like the other races***.

*Start each race at 1 characteristic, and then see how many points a races archetype is worth.
**Like humans have with six 2-point characteristics.
***Else you could end up with a 7-point characteristic by picking a +2 race.

What happens if you spend most of your starting XP on Talents, with the understanding that you can max out your primary characteristic at 7 through implants?

Spending points on talents during character creation is sub-optimal, less you have remainder points that cannot be used to raise characteristics. Doing so will only further exacerbate the characteristic discrepancy droids have compared to the other races. I certainly hope that this option is not seen as an advantage in the balancing of the droid race. That is a trap for players who have not mastered the system if I ever did see one (not that I have mastered the system). It would be fine for a one-shot, but would seriously suck for a campaign. Because one cannot buy more characteristics with experience after character creation, the effectiveness of the other races would increase at a higher rate than the droid. The droid with all of its 1's will be sub-optimal, and become even more sub-optimal as the other races gain experience.

Since you cannot train a skill above 2 with starting xp, could a droid player then hoard a bunch of his starting xp and after the first session max out a few skills at 5? It seems like a pretty decent way to compensate for the low characteristics.

Also don't discount the advantages of a monster characteristic. The droid in our group with a 5 in Intellect is the go to character for all Intellect rolls even though he only upgraded the Mechanic skill. The extra green dice in an untrained skill still seem to out weigh the 1 green 2 yellow other characters are rolling. It also makes droids the king of assisted checks.

I personally think droids are very strong. They can get a characteristic to 5 and still have 35 xp left over for talents, and between their career, specialization, and bonus rank there will be at least one skill where they get 2 bonus yellow dice, it makes Daunting skill checks trivial right out of the gate.

I think the game, as currently written, is trying a little too hard to make Droids out to be "just another character species" with all the same rules as everyone else. While this makes everything easy, I also think it does something of a disservice to the people who enjoy the idea of playing a droid.

Personally, I'd have preferred not to have droids in the species chapter, because it's not just another species option. Rather, I'd like to see a chapter dedicated to droids in general, which could include rules for droid PCs. Or, alternatively, a supplement about droids further down the line. We have a droid bounty hunter in our group, and the player really hates the idea of buying heavy clothing for his droid. But he also really needs the extra soak. It'd be fairly simple to make something up for that, but I'd prefer if the book didn't just ignore the issue.

Slaunyeh said:

This is a very old debate.

In Saga Edition, the WotC designers did just that - at first. Droids had a unique chapter! They followed very different character creation rules. Now… Saga (as all WotC products) is a very gamist system which usually has encounters boiling down to tactical pseudo-wargaming. As such, it rewards min-maxing.

As a Saga Edition veteran and erstwhile GM, my players started breaking droids FAST. And OFTEN. It came to a point that I had to start house-ruling droid creation every time. Eventually, WotC published Scavengers Guide to Droids for Saga, and that reversed it, providing a codified option for droid players that now had droid PC creation happen just like any other PC - basically, as another "species".

It was (and is) hailed as the preferred method for that system, by the majority of players and GMs (I've YET to meet a GM who doesn't use it). Because it accomplished two things:

1. It made character creation easier for a droid. That was far and away the biggest benefit.

2. It prevented the min-max tweakage to a large degree.

Despite it all, droid PCs could still customize themselves heavily and make themselves very different characters from organics. [shrug]

But as far as Edge is concerned, I like treating droids as "a species" strictly for the purposes of character creation. It's a lot easier on the GM, and for new players who are intruiged and want to build Artoo or HK-47. And (more importantly), I think it really works for a narrative system.

I have two players with Droid characters, and they immensely enjoyed their experience. One of them is a "bodyguard," and one is an "assassin." They utilized their XP well, buying the necessary ranks in Characteristics and leaving all the rest at 1. They understood the concept behind a droid being really good with a blaster but not able to talk his way out of a parking ticket (and explained their characters in such a way). And when it came time for combat, they played their characters extremely well to their strengths, putting down several baddies between the two of them (I have a 7-player party).

Oh, and Heavy Clothing = a mechanical +1 to soak. Paint it, skin it, call it what you want. This is a roleplaying game. If you don't like the name of some mundane item you can purchase for X amount of credits, rename it. Calling something by a different name does not effect the mechanical balance of the game whatsoever.

Droid with heavy clothing.

Droids are always an issue. No matter how they are designed in a game some group of people will cry foul. Droids either end up as one note devices or they are more powerful than everyone else. Look at R2 as an example of a stupidly overpowered character.

R2 is a pilot, mechanic, spy, slicer extraordinaire, portable toolbox, smuggler, and warrior. That is all sorts of not equal to C3PO, even Han comes up short in comparison.

Droids are virtually immortal, can be completely rebuilt if they get shot by a starfighter, go for days without sleeping(recharging), don't eat, aren't affected by most environments, etc. To claim these, no matter how situational, are not advantages is silly. How many living beings can get shot in the head by a TIE fighter and live?

Low starting XP or not, I just don't see the inequality. I think they have handled droid characters as well as they could.

"Personally think droids are very strong. They can get a characteristic to 5 and still have 35 xp left over for talents, and between their career, specialization, and bonus rank there will be at least one skill where they get 2 bonus yellow dice, it makes Daunting skill checks trivial right out of the gate (AFredeI)".

Well this is assuming the player either has [1] understanding of the game systems math or [2] has a concept of a one-trick pony. This is a dangerous trap for [1] those who are not versed in the game systems math or [2] have a concept that is not a one trick pony. So those who do not select [1] or [2] above, will suffer immensely in competence beyond the other races ability to gimp themselves at character creation.

Essentially to be able to buy a characteristic at 5 [140 XP] you give up something like 75-points. A droid ideally has a second characteristic at 2 [20 XP], has four characteristics at 1 [0 XP], and is left with 15 XP to spend.
One could just go human and start with a 4 characteristic [90 XP*], ideally have a second characteristic at 3 [50 XP*], have four characteristics at 2 [20 XP/each*], and have 10 XP left to spend.

*20 XP per characteristic is built into human.

Characteristic A: 5 Droid [140] / 4 Human [90]
Characteristic B: 2 Droid [20] / 3 Human [50]
Characteristic C: 1 Droid [0] / 2 Human [20]
Characteristic D: 1 Droid [0] / 2 Human [20]
Characteristic E: 1 Droid [0] / 2 Human [20]
Characteristic F: 1 Droid [0] / 2 Human [20]
Leftover XP: 15 Droid / 10 Human
Bonus Skill(s): 10 XP Droid / 20 XP Human
Total: 185 XP Droid / 260 XP Human

Okay follow my train of thought:
[1] Pay 75-points to select the droid race
[2] Pay 50-points to raise a characteristic from 4 to 5
[3] Have four characteristics at 1-dice rather than 2-dice
[4] Now the character can be able to roll 5-dice rather than 4-dice in one characteristic
Is this opportunity worth the cost?