The beta book mentions a brawler is at a "substantial disadvantage" vs an armed foe. But I'm not sure it actually clarifies what that means (or at least I couldn't find it). The normal brawl or melee check is 2 difficulty dice. Does "substantial" mean the check is vs one die? Auto upgrades of the check? And I'm assuming an armed foe means one with a Melee weapon, not a ranged one, since against a blaster a club is about as useful as a second thumb.

Thanks!

Rykaar said:

That's old text, likely a holdover from the alpha testing stages.

In the rules as we've currently got them, the only "disadvantages" that an unarmed brawler has against somebody using a melee weapon is the lower damage rating (straight Brawn vs. Brawn + weapon modifier) and that a melee weapon frequently has a much lower Crit Rating, needing fewer Advantage to trigger a Critical Injury. Beyond that, it's a melee attack, each at the same base difficulty (2 purple).

Of course, the lower base damage, and higher crit is a substantial disadvantage, all else being equal.