Well first off hello everyone. I am new to gming EotE or any rpg in general. i like the idea of being a gm because i like doing the narrative, especially with this game as it makes it very easy to do it and leaves a good bit up to the players and the gm. on another note i have been reading a lot you guys have put up on these boards and I would like to thank everyone for just bout everything.

Now to get to the point. I have one player who wishes to play a marauder who uses a vibro-sword, which he obtained from his mentor. We were reading up on the lightsaber, because he does wish to eventually obtain one. Long story short the book says that the lightsaber can be used with either brawn or agility if I remember correctly. My player was asking me why he couldnt use his sword with agility. He wants to be using a agile sword style. I was hoping for on some on ideas why it would be bad or good to let him make melee and agility skill when using his sword.

Now I have a second player who wants to play a story teller type character. He wants to play an older human with a bunch of knowledge lore and what not. We both believe politico is a good fit for the class with its inspiring rhetoric and scathing tirade. Now this character wants two things. 1 A career skill of perform(storytell) which will use presence based off the fact that thats what charm uses. The second thing he wants it to have only 1 brawn to represent his character is old and frail now. Which I am cool with but he wants some bonus exp or a boost in another stat. How would you guys handle this?

P.S. Sorry if Im posting in the wrong spot.

Hello,

If his base Brawn is higher than 1, I'd let him move the points into another non- physical attribute, such as intellect or cunning. Wouldn't give him bonus exp.

Agility is not the game-breaking stat that Dexterity was in d20 editions. As long as you establish up-front that you won't tolerate any munchkinly behavior from the player (if you both know what Munchkin is), and as long as he roleplays his character with the appropriate panache of an agile duelist, it should be fine. I wouldn't add Agility to damage, though. That would make him too good at too many things. Keep the damage at +Brawn.

Mechanics-balanced wise, I would just make it an attachment for the player to install in a one-handed melee weapon: "dueling hilt" or something. It eats up a hard point (maybe 2?), and lets him use his Agility instead of Brawn when forming the Melee skill pool.

For the second player, mayyybe give him 5-10 XP for dropping his Brawn from 2 to 1. But ask what he wants to do with it first, and then decide if you want that in this game.

Really, this not being a d20 game, it's pretty darn hard to break things, especially when just giving someone a few extra XP. But still you want to be careful giving your players too much.

If he's focusing on swords, I would let him use the agility. If he's doing this so he can just grab a 4 agility and rock at melee and ranged weapons, then I would hesitate. That begins to stink of min-maxing.

Keeping damage based of brawn is a good move though.

This arguement can always start a slippery slope issue, so watch your back. "I want to be an intelligent fighter, like Sherlock Holmes in the Downey Jr movie...so can I use int for melee attacks?" "I want my character to be an inimidating fighter in close quarters fighting, so can I base my attacks of presence." "I want to make a female fighter that distracts men with her sexuality while making attacks, so I want to use my cunning to make melee attacks." It can get a little crazy.

Melee weapons need strength to be weilded correctly and effectively. A lightsaber is a different issue all together though. They aren't particularly heavy, and when 'on' the weight is all contained in the handle. A large vibrosword is different though. It's much heavier, and has more balance issues as the weapons weight extends out to the tip of the sword.

As for the second player. Drop the brawn and give him 1 rank in any class skill he wants (staying at 2 or under for starting ranks as per the rules).

I'd hesitate with allowing Agility as melee characteristic. Perhaps there is a solution in what Away says about still tying Brawn to damage, but again, I think it's unnecessary.

About Away's attachment idea, if going this way, and why not its your game, I'd require 2 hard points for such an attachment, and this attachment would have no or perhaps 1 modification option, this could be a defensive 1 mod, or innate talent (quick draw) or something.

I lightsaber can use agility because the blade is weightless, so you can use agility to be more accurate. A Vibrosword is heavy. In d20 rules, there was a "Feat" (similar to talents) called "Weapon Finesse" that allowed a character to use Dex bonus instead of Str on a lightweight weapon. In D&D this meant daggers, rapiers - I think longsword was the heaviest blade that qualified.

As a house rule, you might offer to let him substitute a block on the Talent Tree for one that allows the substitution. But I would probably make it usable with a Vibroblade, but not Vibrosword.

The game actually doesn't differentiate between light and one-handed weapons. They also don't have "vibroblades." Vibroknives are +1 damage, and Vibroswords are +2. If I were to insert vibroblades in there, I'd put them at +2 definitely. And so that was my reasoning. Make it an attachment so it's a specific, dedicated weapon, and so he can't do go around willy nilly with any old melee weapon he likes.

Speaking of heaviness (3 Encumbrance for vibroswords) I might include a modification option for that attachment that reduces the weapon's encumbrance rating.

The game actually doesn't differentiate between light and one-handed weapons. They also don't have "vibroblades." Vibroknives are +1 damage, and Vibroswords are +2. If I were to insert vibroblades in there, I'd put them at +2 definitely. And so that was my reasoning. Make it an attachment so it's a specific, dedicated weapon, and so he can't do go around willy nilly with any old melee weapon he likes.

Speaking of heaviness (3 Encumbrance for vibroswords) I might include a modification option for that attachment that reduces the weapon's encumbrance rating.

Oops. I meant vibroknife. "Vibroblade" came off the keyboard out of habit.

The game actually doesn't differentiate between light and one-handed weapons. They also don't have "vibroblades." Vibroknives are +1 damage, and Vibroswords are +2. If I were to insert vibroblades in there, I'd put them at +2 definitely. And so that was my reasoning. Make it an attachment so it's a specific, dedicated weapon, and so he can't do go around willy nilly with any old melee weapon he likes.

Speaking of heaviness (3 Encumbrance for vibroswords) I might include a modification option for that attachment that reduces the weapon's encumbrance rating.

Oops. I meant vibroknife. "Vibroblade" came off the keyboard out of habit.

You speak for all of us, I think

My thought on the sword part follows what others are already commenting on: it can get a bit broken, but it's a possibility.

One option, as mentioned, was going with an attachment. Personally, I'd say chalk up the cost on a Vibrosword by a bit, perhaps even double it, leave it with 1 HP, allow Agility to be used instead of Brawn to hit, and call it a "Vibrorapier."

Another option is to simply create a whole new skill for it. For example, you can call it "Agile Swordfighting" and allow it to be tied to Agility. The advantage? It becomes a non-career skill that the character has to pay a bit more for in exchange for the potential min-max of only needing to focus on one trait and reduces the use to whatever weapons you can arguably say are "agile" and not hefty.

As for your second player, it's easy to okay the idea lowering one stat to place on another. Most races do it already, so why not allow it for someone old?

For your performing side of things, that's really going to be up to you. Personally, if I did allow it, I'd make them lose another skill from Politico to replace it. Perhaps, because he's such a good performer, he never really picked up on the Knoweldge of the Core Worlds that most Politicos would learn.

Just my two cents.

I thought of Vibrorapier as well. Making a vibrosword lighter would probably lower some of its effectiveness. In a d20 system, a rapier's damage was between a sword and a dagger, but having only 1 point of difference between the vknife and vsword in this system, I'd stick with the +2 damage rating on a vibrorapier. I thought about having it be only Pierce 1, but if the knife version is Pierce 2, why not a rapier. That's kind of its thing, after all. Perhaps, since the rapier is more about slipping through gaps in armor, rather than brute force through it, you could replace Pierce 2 with Pierce 1 / Accuracy 1. If the boost from Accuracy results in a success, it has the same effect as 1 pierce, but not always. There's also the matter that a rapier is thin and light; not as effective as a fully weighted sword for parrying, except against another rapier. This, of course, is getting into minutia that could bog things down.

I like LibrariaNPC's idea of letting him buy the ability to use Agility for Melee with XP. Rather than a separate skill, I would use the Talent Tree.

New Talents:

1. Nimble Attack Active (Marauder) When making a Brawl check or Melee check with a weapon of Encumbrance 3 or lower, suffer 1 Strain to base the Attack on you Agility instead of Brawn. Cost 5

2. Nimble Fighter Passive (Marauder), preceded by Nimble Attack. May use Agility instead of Brawn for Brawl checks or Melee checks using a weapon of Encumbrance 3 or lower. Cost 10

It's melee fighting, so it would still be within the Marauder specialization. (It could also fit in the Assassin specialization, perhaps)

Personally, in a game where most players just want to get the biggest gun and shoot from far away, I like to encourage players who opt for up close and personal style, and an Agility based melee style makes a lot of sense. Letting one characteristic benefit both ranged and melee combat is an advantage that should require some investment from the player. The new talent lets him make a single investment (in two easy installments) to do what he wants.

While I would consider it within the Marauder Specialization, the new talents probably would not connect to any of the others, so it would not get him any closer to qualifying for higher talents.

I like LibrariaNPC's idea of letting him buy the ability to use Agility for Melee with XP. Rather than a separate skill, I would use the Talent Tree.

New Talents:

1. Nimble Attack Active (Marauder) When making a Brawl check or Melee check with a weapon of Encumbrance 3 or lower, suffer 1 Strain to base the Attack on you Agility instead of Brawn. Cost 5

2. Nimble Fighter Passive (Marauder), preceded by Nimble Attack. May use Agility instead of Brawn for Brawl checks or Melee checks using a weapon of Encumbrance 3 or lower. Cost 10

It's melee fighting, so it would still be within the Marauder specialization. (It could also fit in the Assassin specialization, perhaps)

Personally, in a game where most players just want to get the biggest gun and shoot from far away, I like to encourage players who opt for up close and personal style, and an Agility based melee style makes a lot of sense. Letting one characteristic benefit both ranged and melee combat is an advantage that should require some investment from the player. The new talent lets him make a single investment (in two easy installments) to do what he wants.

While I would consider it within the Marauder Specialization, the new talents probably would not connect to any of the others, so it would not get him any closer to qualifying for higher talents.

Personally, my view of using talents is that it becomes too narrow. Learning an agile fighting style can theoretically be learned by anyone with a bit of practice, but not the same dedication of a career, For example, I learned how to fence while I was in college; you could argue that my "career" was a Scholar, so I just spent XP on this new skill (with the higher XP cost) rather than buying a whole career talent tree to make it happen.

Just my two cents.

I thought of Vibrorapier as well. Making a vibrosword lighter would probably lower some of its effectiveness. In a d20 system, a rapier's damage was between a sword and a dagger, but having only 1 point of difference between the vknife and vsword in this system, I'd stick with the +2 damage rating on a vibrorapier. I thought about having it be only Pierce 1, but if the knife version is Pierce 2, why not a rapier. That's kind of its thing, after all. Perhaps, since the rapier is more about slipping through gaps in armor, rather than brute force through it, you could replace Pierce 2 with Pierce 1 / Accuracy 1. If the boost from Accuracy results in a success, it has the same effect as 1 pierce, but not always. There's also the matter that a rapier is thin and light; not as effective as a fully weighted sword for parrying, except against another rapier. This, of course, is getting into minutia that could bog things down.

Sometimes, the minutia really make things interesting.

How about this for an example (if we are not using an Agile Swordsmanship-like Skill):

Vibrorapier.

Skill: Melee.

Damage +2.

Crit: 2

Range: Engaged

Encum: 3

HP: 1

Price: 1500

Rarity: 6

Special: Allows use of Agility instead of Brawn for melee attacks. Pierce 3. Defensive 1.

Basically, I removed Vicious because the weapon isn't much for cleaving, but as you mentioned, it has a pretty good Pierce quality due to getting between weak parts of armor. Basically, doesn't have the same power, but it can get the job done in the right hands.

Also, since most Vibrorapiers are already high-end in Canon, I've reduced the HP to denote the attachment that comes standard.

Thoughts?

The designers said they wanted to avoid the super stat problem other games have and so all melee and brawl is under one stat and all ranged another. They've mitigated this by using a Skills modified by Attribute combat based to hit system. Since one roll = both the chance to hit and the total damage when you hit Brawn becomes the base because it's the base for how hard you hit, your Skill determines how of well you hit with the better strike doing more damage. But even if their intention was based purely on game mechanics it's still basically accurate because without strength you cannot be an effective swordsman.

If your guy wants to be a super "agile" swordsman tell him to keep his Brawn normal and max out his Skill. This is closer to "real life" sword combat anyway. Believe it or not Strength and skill are the primary attributes when fencing with combat weighted blades (not those whippy little wire blades modern fencers use), if you can't hold up 3-4lbs at arms length for 5min+* without dropping the blade and exposing yourself to an attack, all the agility in the world won't save you.

* Seriously, try it. Find one of those 2.5-3lb jogging weights and hold it with your arm out and slightly bent for as long as you can. This is about how heavy my Rapier is and if you can't hold that up without dropping your guard for several minutes, it won't matter how quick and agile you are because you're going to loose to the guy who can.

I get that this is a fantasy and we can't judge our PC's abilities with our own but we can extrapolate what people are capable of, so a test like this has value in understand the argument. Regardless the FFG system has been developed and balanced based on the mechanic that Melee and Brawl is a Brawn based skill, to mess with that could have unintended consequences down the line.

This is my Rapier, it's 2.3ish lbs:

http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image_additional&pID=194&pic=4&products_image_large_additional=images/rap2ringsweptIe.jpg

I wouldn't create a Perform(storytelling) custom skill. I suggest using a combination of the appropriate Knowledge skill check (Xenology for a Rodian hunting story, Lore for an Old(er) Republic tale, etc.) and a Charm skill check with the following rules:

First the player rolls a Knowledge skill test to remember an appropriate story and then a Charm skill test to actually tell it in an entertaining fashion. I suggest a boost dice for clever/cool story ideas and good RP.

Suggested Knowledge difficulties:

Easy - Native Species/Culture/Environment: I grew up on these stories.

Average - Familiar Species/Culture/Environment: I know a dozen of Core Worlds stories.

Hard - Somewhat familiar Species/Culture/Environment: Those military types will probably like to hear a brothel story.

Daunting - Unfamiliar Species/Culture/Environment: Every good storyteller should know at least one Wookie battle ballad.

Formidable - Ancient/Unheard of Species/Culture/Environment: I think that maybe I heard about a Sith legend one time.

Impossible - A completely alien Species/Culture/Environment: So... you come from beyond the great barrier...

Every extra success grants a boost die to the Charm skill test.

Advantages can be used to regain strain.

Threats can be used to cause strain.

Despair will upgrade the Charm skill test difficulty.

Triumph will downgrade the Charm skill test.

Suggested Charm test difficulties:

Easy - Easy crowd to manipulate: Children, Ewaks.

Average - Normal crowd: The average cantina patrons.

Hard - Tough crowd : Agitated children, angry Ewaks.

Daunting - Very tough crowd: Hello Mr. Stormtrooper, have You heard the story about the little boy who cried Rankor?

Formidable - Hostile crowd: You don't say? You have the death sentence on twelve systems?

Impossible - Extremely hostile crowd: That blaster shot I just fired at You reminds me of a funny story.

Dice results can be used as suggested in the Charm skill description on page 106 in the core rule book plus:

Advantages can be used to regain strain for the listeners. A good story can go a long way to ease the mind.

Threats can be used to cause strain for the listeners. This was a good story but you stirred up some sore feelings.

Hope it helps.