Ah, OK, so it's talents. That explains it. I thought there was some sort of general rule that I'd missed. Thanks for the clarification, guys.

I'm a little confused reading this thread. I see some folks throwing out stats of a Brawn rating equal to 7 after limb attachments and talents and whatnot... but in the book on page 30 it explicitly states that "During the course of play, no characteristic can be increased higher than six."

I'm a little confused reading this thread. I see some folks throwing out stats of a Brawn rating equal to 7 after limb attachments and talents and whatnot... but in the book on page 30 it explicitly states that "During the course of play, no characteristic can be increased higher than six."

On page 173, First Column Second Paragraph states "cybernetics can increase a character's skill or characteristic one step above the normal maximum.

At a little over 100xp gained so far I only have 5 soak and 15 wounds.

A heavy blaster pistol starts at 7 damage

+1-3 for actuating module (+1-2 more from pierce)

+1 from superiour quality

+1-5 from deadly accuracy

+1-6 from targeted blow (agility) (or a similar talent) -requires a destiny point

+1 from jury rigged

+1-3 from point blank when firing from short range

That can get the damage on a heavy blaster pistol as high as 28 plus successes rolled.

No matter what kind of soak you achieve (with max being 17), weapons will always have the edge.

And getting it that high isn't even unrealistic in terms of xp, but modding the actuating module to get all four mods will be tricky. The others are easy though.

Getting the damage of a heavy blaster pistol up to 16 is not that hard.

And that's just a blaster pistol. Now bust out the Blaster Rifle and score that much damage, but with auto fire triggers.

The biggest issue is soak balance between players. If that mandalorian with his two modded heavy blaster pistols, that have a base damage of 20 shoots at the high soak PC with 15 soak and hits with 4 successes and both weapons... the PC will take 18 damage.

On the politico with 5 soak however, it's 38 damage and he'll be down with a crit and out until the end of the encounter. If he has 14 wounds, he's 24 over. A solid medicine check with 5 successes and 5 stims in a row still leaves him with 18 wounds.

The biggest issue is soak balance between players. If that mandalorian with his two modded heavy blaster pistols, that have a base damage of 20 shoots at the high soak PC with 15 soak and hits with 4 successes and both weapons... the PC will take 18 damage.

On the politico with 5 soak however, it's 38 damage and he'll be down with a crit and out until the end of the encounter. If he has 14 wounds, he's 24 over. A solid medicine check with 5 successes and 5 stims in a row still leaves him with 18 wounds.

So maybe he leaves the gunfighting to the mando

But when there's an angry senator trying to set up a bounty on you guys, and someone needs to talk him down before you guys get in to trouble, then who's turn is it to shine?

Yeah, combat dudes will have more soak because that's where they shine. Similarly, social dudes will get to shine when it is time to start talking. That's just how it goes.

Also, you the GM decides which NPC shoots at which PC. Have the Mandalorian target the high-priority targets (the big, tough-looking ones with heavy armour) while the "regular" grunts go after the ones that look like less of a threat.

The biggest issue is soak balance between players. If that mandalorian with his two modded heavy blaster pistols, that have a base damage of 20 shoots at the high soak PC with 15 soak and hits with 4 successes and both weapons... the PC will take 18 damage.

On the politico with 5 soak however, it's 38 damage and he'll be down with a crit and out until the end of the encounter. If he has 14 wounds, he's 24 over. A solid medicine check with 5 successes and 5 stims in a row still leaves him with 18 wounds.

So maybe he leaves the gunfighting to the mando

Perhaps, but I don't want an artificial "I'm a combat gimp" shield for players. I guess the bodyguard just have to work really hard to protect him, plus the politico needs to use cover and at least invest some points in defensive talents.

What's the point of being a combat oriented character if you're just as good as the non combat oriented characters in your group in combat? Can't talk, cant fix/mod stuff, can't heal? Why other than role play would anyone want that?

The biggest issue is soak balance between players. If that mandalorian with his two modded heavy blaster pistols, that have a base damage of 20 shoots at the high soak PC with 15 soak and hits with 4 successes and both weapons... the PC will take 18 damage.

On the politico with 5 soak however, it's 38 damage and he'll be down with a crit and out until the end of the encounter. If he has 14 wounds, he's 24 over. A solid medicine check with 5 successes and 5 stims in a row still leaves him with 18 wounds.

So maybe he leaves the gunfighting to the mando

Perhaps, but I don't want an artificial "I'm a combat gimp" shield for players. I guess the bodyguard just have to work really hard to protect him, plus the politico needs to use cover and at least invest some points in defensive talents.

I'm not sure that's an artifical shield. Any of the combat training I've ever heard of generally instructs an individual to identify and neutralize the "biggest threat" first. If my choice is between a target with an impressive array of weaponry wearing Mandalorian battle armor and someone with much less armor and reduced arms, my primary target should probably be the Mando.

Now if I'm contracted to kill said politico, then well, yes the body guard will have to stay on his toes.

The key to dealing with high soak is to just use weapons with the Stun Quality. Stun Grenades and shock gloves bypass soak completely.

Have the enemies throwing thermal detonators on them!

Throw things at high soak PCs in real life. Grapes, cheetos, wads of crumpled up character sheets...until they stop having so much soak.

Throw things at high soak PCs in real life. Grapes, cheetos, wads of crumpled up character sheets...until they stop having so much soak.

So what do you do with a character that has a 6 in presence and 5 ranks in a "talking" skill? Just tell them no sorry you can't use it?

Throw things at high soak PCs in real life. Grapes, cheetos, wads of crumpled up character sheets...until they stop having so much soak.

So what do you do with a character that has a 6 in presence and 5 ranks in a "talking" skill? Just tell them no sorry you can't use it?

No, just tie them down with tons of responsibility.

So what do you do with a character that has a 6 in presence and 5 ranks in a "talking" skill? Just tell them no sorry you can't use it?

This is exactly where a game with an actual person as a GM trumps a game where an AI determines what the NPCs do. The GM (that is, you) simply make the call that most enemies, or the enemies with the biggest guns, target the biggest threat. That tends to mean the big, tough-looking guy in the modded heavy armour toting more guns than a Stormtrooper company. It's just like Tenrousei said.

This is exactly where a game with an actual person as a GM trumps a game where an AI determines what the NPCs do. The GM (that is, you) simply make the call that most enemies, or the enemies with the biggest guns, target the biggest threat. That tends to mean the big, tough-looking guy in the modded heavy armour toting more guns than a Stormtrooper company. It's just like Tenrousei said.

And if that character has his soak from less obvious sources like Enduring? Its not always obvious who needs to be hit with the bigger guns.