Hello everyone! I am running into a dilemma that I believe is something that isn't explicitly stated anywhere though I could be mistaken.

My main question is: "Are (player or non-player) droids and vehicles considered items/devices/equipment?"

I am curious because of the varying talents that deal with equipment, attachments and modifications. On page 88 it eludes to droids, even player droids gaining advantages from Technicians. "Droids aren't the only pieces of advanced technology that Technicians might wish to customize heavily." Here are a few of the talents that I am wondering about:

• Gearhead . Does this count for adding cybernetics to a Droid players? It also must work for vehicles since they can benefit from attachments the same way other equipment can.

• Bad Motivator . Can a player or nemesis use this talent on a Droid player/nemesis? Does this work for vehicles as well?

• Contraption . "...fashion a device to solve a current problem." Can the device be a droid or a vehicle? In the talent description on page 133 it just suggests the tools and components used to make the device are destroyed. Requiring a GM approval of the device, what's the limit?

• Tinkerer . Are droids considered to have hard points if they are NPCs, or are they simply limited to the cybernetic implant cap? Can they gain hard points, are they items? Are vehicles considered items, can they gain the benefit of this talent?

• Jury Rigged . Reading page 138 I can understand why it wouldn't apply to droids. However can this bonus apply to vehicles? If so what characteristics could you improve; handling, speed, defense, armor?

The side bar "Droids and Equipment" Suggest allowing droids to use equipment as part of themselves. Are these considered attachments? Does it take time, and mechanics skill checks to add or remove components? Or does it fall under the unwritten rules for adding cybernetics to a player (presumably: the need of a medical facility)? How many hard points do droids have if the equipment is considered attachments, is it unlimited, or would encumbrance serve as an effective substitution for hard point limit?

Under the computer skill pg. 107 "Efforts to alter a droid's programming or gain access to its memories require the acting character to make a computers check." How does this interact with Droid players? Can one player alter the personality of a droid player, either for good or ill? Should the slicer be able to force the droid character to do something, or should this be used more like a social skill such as coercion/leadership/negotiation?

Also the Mechanics skill on page 111 suggests that it is only used for repairing devices, which it lumps devices as equipment, vehicles, and droids, can it also be used to create such things out of components and materials? The inventor talent on page 137 says you can construct new items, but I haven't found any place in the core rule book where it states what kind of check, or difficulty, or cost of construction, there is. Similarly can computers be used to create things as well? Computer software and the like? Droid programming, astrogation subroutines, etc?

I am looking for open discussion on this matter, so feel free to post your opinions, as well as any actual rules that I've just missed. Thanks!

Hello everyone! I am running into a dilemma that I believe is something that isn't explicitly stated anywhere though I could be mistaken.

My main question is: "Are (player or non-player) droids and vehicles considered items/devices/equipment?"

I am curious because of the varying talents that deal with equipment, attachments and modifications. On page 88 it eludes to droids, even player droids gaining advantages from Technicians. "Droids aren't the only pieces of advanced technology that Technicians might wish to customize heavily." Here are a few of the talents that I am wondering about:

• Gearhead . Does this count for adding cybernetics to a Droid players? It also must work for vehicles since they can benefit from attachments the same way other equipment can.

• Bad Motivator . Can a player or nemesis use this talent on a Droid player/nemesis? Does this work for vehicles as well?

• Contraption . "...fashion a device to solve a current problem." Can the device be a droid or a vehicle? In the talent description on page 133 it just suggests the tools and components used to make the device are destroyed. Requiring a GM approval of the device, what's the limit?

• Tinkerer . Are droids considered to have hard points if they are NPCs, or are they simply limited to the cybernetic implant cap? Can they gain hard points, are they items? Are vehicles considered items, can they gain the benefit of this talent?

• Jury Rigged . Reading page 138 I can understand why it wouldn't apply to droids. However can this bonus apply to vehicles? If so what characteristics could you improve; handling, speed, defense, armor?

The side bar "Droids and Equipment" Suggest allowing droids to use equipment as part of themselves. Are these considered attachments? Does it take time, and mechanics skill checks to add or remove components? Or does it fall under the unwritten rules for adding cybernetics to a player (presumably: the need of a medical facility)? How many hard points do droids have if the equipment is considered attachments, is it unlimited, or would encumbrance serve as an effective substitution for hard point limit?

Under the computer skill pg. 107 "Efforts to alter a droid's programming or gain access to its memories require the acting character to make a computers check." How does this interact with Droid players? Can one player alter the personality of a droid player, either for good or ill? Should the slicer be able to force the droid character to do something, or should this be used more like a social skill such as coercion/leadership/negotiation?

Also the Mechanics skill on page 111 suggests that it is only used for repairing devices, which it lumps devices as equipment, vehicles, and droids, can it also be used to create such things out of components and materials? The inventor talent on page 137 says you can construct new items, but I haven't found any place in the core rule book where it states what kind of check, or difficulty, or cost of construction, there is. Similarly can computers be used to create things as well? Computer software and the like? Droid programming, astrogation subroutines, etc?

I am looking for open discussion on this matter, so feel free to post your opinions, as well as any actual rules that I've just missed. Thanks!

Gearhead - no, mods and cybernetics are not one in the same. There is a reason why cybernetics are so expensive, as they are the only current way to increase statistics post character creation. No where in the wording of gearhead suggests to me this would work apply to cybernetics.

Bad Motivator - I don't think it is intended to be used in combat, as it is an action. If they really wanted to sure, but trying to do a hard mechanical check while engaged with something trying to hit you seems beyond the realm of belief. At the very least i would give setback to a player wanting to do this during a fight.

Contraption - unless they have ample time and tools/parts I would limit this to a scene or act. Creating a speeder on the fly that can hold the entire party... sure I guess if they rolled enough success/advantages. But I would give it a handling penalty to represent the crude manner it which it was assembled. Creating a droid, again it would be pretty limited unless the PC was in a droid facility with access to all sorts of spare parts.

Tinkerer - I had a player take this, and I would limit it to armor/weapons. If you refer to page 187, where it talks about modding attachments, every mention of a modification refers to a player's gear or device. For the same reason you can't covert unused cargo space into hard points on your ****, you can not install hard points on droids or speeders to trick them out with weaponry.

When referring to Droids and Equipment, are you talking about PC droids? If a pc droid wants to install a light tool, sure I would have no problem with that. I would say it all depends on the type/size of the tool vs the droid, and I would rule any tool with an encumbrance value would apply to the droid/pc's total encumbrance.

Slicing a pc droid? Naturally a droid would have a self-preservation subroutine, and would not just stand idly by while someone wiped it's memory or changed it's programming. If used against a minor npc to find clues or move the plot on, sure, but against a PC... I'd say that would be a hard or even daunting check, representing by the safety protocols in place by the manufacturer and/or setback unless the PC is experienced in reprogramming droids.

If they want to use this to make new items, you can allow it, with several caveats. This should be abused to make items out of thin air, and if they are using scrap parts they find, I would limit the use to 1 or 2 scenes. I have a player with Inventor, and he wanted to create an item with it, I thought it was a great idea and let him do it. Thinking it was going to have very limited use, simply to overcome the current obstacle. Next thing I knew he was using it in every scene as a means to avoid everyone and everything and it really slowed things down to a crawl and threatened to affect the plot.

Gearhead - no, mods and cybernetics are not one in the same. There is a reason why cybernetics are so expensive, as they are the only current way to increase statistics post character creation. No where in the wording of gearhead suggests to me this would work apply to cybernetics.

Bad Motivator - I don't think it is intended to be used in combat, as it is an action. If they really wanted to sure, but trying to do a hard mechanical check while engaged with something trying to hit you seems beyond the realm of belief. At the very least i would give setback to a player wanting to do this during a fight.

Contraption - unless they have ample time and tools/parts I would limit this to a scene or act. Creating a speeder on the fly that can hold the entire party... sure I guess if they rolled enough success/advantages. But I would give it a handling penalty to represent the crude manner it which it was assembled. Creating a droid, again it would be pretty limited unless the PC was in a droid facility with access to all sorts of spare parts.

Tinkerer - I had a player take this, and I would limit it to armor/weapons. If you refer to page 187, where it talks about modding attachments, every mention of a modification refers to a player's gear or device. For the same reason you can't covert unused cargo space into hard points on your ****, you can not install hard points on droids or speeders to trick them out with weaponry.

When referring to Droids and Equipment, are you talking about PC droids? If a pc droid wants to install a light tool, sure I would have no problem with that. I would say it all depends on the type/size of the tool vs the droid, and I would rule any tool with an encumbrance value would apply to the droid/pc's total encumbrance.

Slicing a pc droid? Naturally a droid would have a self-preservation subroutine, and would not just stand idly by while someone wiped it's memory or changed it's programming. If used against a minor npc to find clues or move the plot on, sure, but against a PC... I'd say that would be a hard or even daunting check, representing by the safety protocols in place by the manufacturer and/or setback unless the PC is experienced in reprogramming droids.

If they want to use this to make new items, you can allow it, with several caveats. This should be abused to make items out of thin air, and if they are using scrap parts they find, I would limit the use to 1 or 2 scenes. I have a player with Inventor, and he wanted to create an item with it, I thought it was a great idea and let him do it. Thinking it was going to have very limited use, simply to overcome the current obstacle. Next thing I knew he was using it in every scene as a means to avoid everyone and everything and it really slowed things down to a crawl and threatened to affect the plot.

Hi I really appreciate the thoroughness of your response. It has given me quite the insight into my questions. There are just some notes that I have on your answers specifically. I wonder if these issues will be addressed in errata or in further supplements/rule books.

Gearhead . "There is a reason why cybernetics are so expensive, as they are the only current way to increase statistics post character creation." Except for the Dedication talent in every tree.

Bad Motivator . "I don't think it is intended to be used in combat, as it is an action." It is an action so I would imagine that it would be designed for use in combat. As action is a category of special events that happens during combat rounds. Furthermore the action itself doesn't have a preset range in which it works. Bad motivator talent : "One device (subject to the GM's approval) spontaneously fails due to the character's involvement, or because it was about to fail anyway and the character noticed it (this is the character's decision.) " To notice something you do not need to be engaged with it as you suggested. It is completely likely that the player chose to notice something about to fail while using this talent. (Barring GM intervention) then the device fails. ramza82 says "If they really wanted to sure, but trying to do a hard mechanical check while engaged with something trying to hit you seems beyond the realm of belief." No need to be engaged so nothing beyond belief.

Contraption . "Creating a droid, again it would be pretty limited unless the PC was in a droid facility with access to all sorts of spare parts." Unless it was something as simple as a gonk droid or little truck bot. Then I imagine it a droid could be created out of any decent junk pile or scavenge yard pretty easily.

Tinkerer . "you can not install hard points on droids or speeders to trick them out with weaponry." What about the speeders that already have hard points, you can trick them out with weaponry already, why would this only be limited to certain types of items that have hard points? I can definitely understand not adding the hard points to droids, even if they are considered devices or items.

"When referring to Droids and Equipment, are you talking about PC droids?" Does it matter? A droid is a droid. There is no differentiation between NPC and PC droids. "Slicing a pc droid? Naturally a droid would have a self-preservation subroutine, and would not just stand idly by while someone wiped it's memory or changed it's programming." Page 47 "Droids do recover naturally by resting, as their systems attempt self-repairs." I would take this as to mean they shut down while recovering strain. So whenever a droid shuts down, even for routine maintenance, they are vulnerable to slicing.

"If they want to use this to make new items, you can allow it, with several caveats. This should be abused to make items out of thin air, and if they are using scrap parts they find, I would limit the use to 1 or 2 scenes. I have a player with Inventor, and he wanted to create an item with it, I thought it was a great idea and let him do it. Thinking it was going to have very limited use, simply to overcome the current obstacle. Next thing I knew he was using it in every scene as a means to avoid everyone and everything and it really slowed things down to a crawl and threatened to affect the plot." You have to be careful what you allow the PCs to create as far as items go. However if the PC put ample time and credits into crafting an item I wouldn't make it only useful for one scene unless they can somehow scavenge the item and get their credits back. If they spend credits on an item, they should be able to use it as long as any other item they spend credits on. If the item is meant to be a one time use, I would make sure my PC is aware of that before dumping credits into it. Grenades and such are good examples of this.

Thanks for the reminder about Dedicated, I had forgotten about that. But keep it mind it is a bottom tier talent, and as such is expensive(xp wise) to get to. This was done specifically by the developers, as they didn't want stats to be easily acquired, which is why in character creation there is a mention that this is a good time for players wishing to boost their stats to do so.

For Bad Motivator, let me explain as I realize what I said sound kind of contradictory. As I read the description of this talent, I don't really see it as intended for PC's to just point at a droid adversary and shut them down with it. Maybe you interpret it as such, but it would seem to suggest it requires some analysis of the device first, which is why I would limit this check to engaged or short range personally. I guess at the crux of our two interruptions is, i don't see droids as devices. Mundane worker droids perhaps, but any droid with a personality I would consider sentient and more akin to a humanoid.

As for Contraption, that is what I did. As he wanted to make a scouting device on the ship in Trek's work bench, so I allowed a small mouse droid(with repulsors as he rolled a triumph) but you don't want players using this macgyver their way out of every little situation.

As for Tinkerer I see you point, even though it mentions items( and one could argue if a speeder falls in that category) however it does limit each item to only being modified once, so I suppose it isn't a broken as I first thought. If not for that last sentence in the description I would not allow it, but you have swayed me!