Okay, updated.

So since this is a rebellion era game is there any chance of us seeing a write up on Guri? Black Sun biological android, or maybe a chance to obtain one of our own though that seems somewhat unlikely.

Still think good luck with that. She'd have a potentially frightening stat block, being an HRD AND Guri; probably not the kind of thing they'd expect "regular" PCs to have to worry about running into, and therefore not worthy of a stat block, even if we can all imagine our circumstances where it COULD happen.

And with a 9,000,000 credit price tag, I also sort of doubt we'd get a base write-up to play our own HRD (or whatever alien replica droid you were envisioning) characters; they cost too much to be allowed to just "screw around" on the perimeter of the galaxy. All IMO, of course; it would be cool to get the block, or to get the rules for our own, though they are, for the most part, the rules for droids, with the sensor-fooling skin overlay.

http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/1/10/MainGalaxy.png

Pretty sure this is the map of the galaxy in the core book, just rotated 90 degrees. Originally from The Essential Atlas (I believe).

Regarding the weighted head question, would it be possible to add a reference to the Tinkerer talent allowing a +1 HP boost to 1 item per times the talent is taken. I was unaware of it until it was pointed out to me when I asked about something else.

okay, shoot. first post. eager to playtest the game. I'm reading over some of it and the minion group rules seem cool. I just have this nagging issue with Stormtroopers. You take their brawn of 3 as a base soak value and then add 2 from their armor. Suddenly, Han Solo is incapable of shooting and killing a stormtrooper without some phenomenal rolling. I don't mind Stormtroopers being tough in some ways, but it doesn't seem like they got the feel of that right at all. Also the group rules add way too many dice as group skills. What's Star Wars without a gang of Stormtroopers missing everything and dropping like flies? Am I missing something?

okay, shoot. first post. eager to playtest the game. I'm reading over some of it and the minion group rules seem cool. I just have this nagging issue with Stormtroopers. You take their brawn of 3 as a base soak value and then add 2 from their armor. Suddenly, Han Solo is incapable of shooting and killing a stormtrooper without some phenomenal rolling. I don't mind Stormtroopers being tough in some ways, but it doesn't seem like they got the feel of that right at all. Also the group rules add way too many dice as group skills. What's Star Wars without a gang of Stormtroopers missing everything and dropping like flies? Am I missing something?

Not at all. Han's Heavy Blaster Pistol does a minimum of 8 damage, on a roll with a single net success. That's 3 past the soak. With a minion-group of stormtroopers that's a good chunk of the way toward dropping a single trooper just with a single success. He only needs 2 more successes to drop a stormtrooper in a single shot. It's not going to happen every time, but it's won't take phenomenal rolling either. There's also the potential for a Triumph to be used to drop a stormtrooper in a single shot in *addition* to any which might drop due to damage.

Also, don't forget that for a significant chunk of A New Hope (pretty much the entire Death Star sequence), the party is carting around the Blaster Carbines that they picked up from the various troopers they ambushed early on. Those do a minimum of 10 points of damage on a single-success hit. Exactly enough to bypass the soak, and drop a stormtrooper minion (the most common variety).

And, since soak only happens once per hit on a minion group, a particularly good roll, 6 net successes or more, would drop two troopers.

okay, so minion groups can be very dangerous. you can still dust off storm troopers. that's good to know. I look at Han in Ep 4 for example; I don't think people remember how absurd the power of his blaster pistol was. He would point in the general direction of a crowd of stormtroopers, fire wildly, and take them out one or two at a time. Everything he fired at exploded somehow and the Stormtroopers were doing nothing but missing and tripping over eachother. I would like to think that the game could feel like that. I'm still a bit worried about how group skills ramp up their accuracy. I do plan on testing the game this week.

Thanks.

okay, so minion groups can be very dangerous. you can still dust off storm troopers. that's good to know. I look at Han in Ep 4 for example; I don't think people remember how absurd the power of his blaster pistol was. He would point in the general direction of a crowd of stormtroopers, fire wildly, and take them out one or two at a time. Everything he fired at exploded somehow and the Stormtroopers were doing nothing but missing and tripping over eachother. I would like to think that the game could feel like that. I'm still a bit worried about how group skills ramp up their accuracy. I do plan on testing the game this week.

Thanks.

That "power of his blaster pistol" is what we have the heavy blaster pistol in both Saga and EotE for!

As for minions, it should be added that (at least in RAW) minion groups have (group size - 1) ranks in the minions' group skills, so every minion downed in a group is a skill rank lost, and minion groups make one attack per group . Let's say that your party ends up running into four stormtroopers in a dark alley with no sergeant about to direct them (thankfully!):

• If you treat this quartet as a single group, then they're concentrating their fire on one player character at a time, attacking with blaster rifles at Ranged (Heavy) 3.
• If you split the quartet evenly into two groups of two stormtroopers each, then they can each attack different player characters but do so at Ranged (Heavy) 1.
• If you split the quartet into a trio and a solitary stormtrooper, then the trio attacks their target with Ranged (Heavy) 2 while the unfortunate solitary stormtrooper has no ranks, only Agility, with which to attack his (or her!) own target.
• If you split the quartet into a pair and two solitary stormtroopers, then that's three separate targets but the pair attacks their target with Ranged (Heavy) 1 while the other two stormtroopers have to attack their own targets with no ranks at all and only their base Agility 3 without any proficiency dice.

(I recognize the humorousness in how according to these rules a single stormtrooper sergeant shoots as if he were three stormtroopers... in how both of them have frag grenades but he has Ranged [Light] and they don't!)

There's a thread discussing the use of minion groups here as well, and I believe that at least one of the posters there suggests adjusting group sizes/proportions on the fly between rounds?

ah multiple minion groups. I never thought of that. Now Han and Chewie against a gang of 8 storm troopers doesn't sound like instant death.

Keep in mind as well that a minion is immediately incapacitated if they suffer a Critical Injury, and that if a group of minions suffers a Critical Injury, it suffers one minion's worth of wounds (so that one of the minions in the group is incapacitated).

okay, question #2. I want to play a smuggler with 2 specializations. I pay for the second one with starting XP. When I select my bonus class skill advancements, can I mix between my two specializations at character creation? It says you don't gain advancements. This wouldn't be gaining advancements. This is just picking two pre-existing advancements between two specializations that I've paid for.

okay, question #2. I want to play a smuggler with 2 specializations. I pay for the second one with starting XP. When I select my bonus class skill advancements, can I mix between my two specializations at character creation? It says you don't gain advancements. This wouldn't be gaining advancements. This is just picking two pre-existing advancements between two specializations that I've paid for.

No. The two free skill picks must come from the free specialization that you selected.

Okay. Where's that in the rules?

Read Character Creation from start to finish in order. Step 4 & 5 are where you choose your Career and starting Specialization. This is where you spend your free skill points. Step 6 is where you spend XP. You can now add another Specialization, but since you're past Steps 4 & 5, you obviously don't go back and reallocate the free skill points.

Is it obvious? I wasn't aware that it was obvious. Don't much like the obvious part. I've read character creation in order and it doesn't mention that under buying new specializations. It mentions what to do after you buy another specialization in terms of not getting extra points.

Is it obvious? I wasn't aware that it was obvious. Don't much like the obvious part. I've read character creation in order and it doesn't mention that under buying new specializations. It mentions what to do after you buy another specialization in terms of not getting extra points.

I wasn't trying to offend you with my use of the word "obvious" so If we can get past that...

Look at what I put in bold in your own statement. You don't get extra points, and the free points you were given have already been allocated for your first Specialization.

Page 35 under select specializations:

If the character can choose multiple Specs at character creation (whether due to some factor of character creation or because he purchases an additional spec with starting xp) he must select one and ONLY one spec from which to choose his two free ranks in two career skills.

emphasis mine

Thank you!

Thank you!

No problemo!

Hey Venthrac, could you possibly add something about Attachments/Modifications to this FAQ? There is a surprising number of people who continually ask the same questions about it. May be a good candidate.

Hey Fang,

I did put up the question about the weighted head thing, which seemed to be the most common question relating to attachments and modfications.

Do you have suggestions for other questions? I'll be happy to add them if you do.

Hey Fang,

I did put up the question about the weighted head thing, which seemed to be the most common question relating to attachments and modfications.

Do you have suggestions for other questions? I'll be happy to add them if you do.

I was thinking about the attachment/modification question that keeps getting brought up. For some reason people are having a heck of a difficult time understanding how it is supposed to work. I.e. You buy the attachment and then modify that attachment. The weighted head was a pretty common question before the podcast, but for some reason that whole section puzzles people.

Venthrac great stuff. One question I would like to see on the FAQ since I have seen it on the forums a few times is: The clarification that cover and guarded stance gives you 1 defense ranged and melee respectively, it does not increase your defense by 1, it gives you 1 defense. So if you have 1 defense for any reason already (armor, talent, item quality, etc) then cover and guarded stance doesn't give you a bonus at all.

Okay, I'll add some new stuff over the weekend. Thanks for the feedback, guys!

okay, so minion groups can be very dangerous. you can still dust off storm troopers. that's good to know. I look at Han in Ep 4 for example; I don't think people remember how absurd the power of his blaster pistol was. He would point in the general direction of a crowd of stormtroopers, fire wildly, and take them out one or two at a time. Everything he fired at exploded somehow and the Stormtroopers were doing nothing but missing and tripping over eachother. I would like to think that the game could feel like that. I'm still a bit worried about how group skills ramp up their accuracy. I do plan on testing the game this week.

Thanks.

It can, and it does, especially when one's rolling 3y+ and a couple blues.