Looking over the Outlaw Tech that one of my PCs is looking at building and he pointed out that Speaks Binary can be used to really boost the effectiveness of non-PC droids. The player plans on using various droids for all manner of tasks. Yes, they can get expensive, but that's something that will work itself out as the other PCs upgrade their equipment too.

OTOH, Speaks Binary doesn't seem to require any effort on his part (it's a Passive talent) and it grants Boost dice for pretty much anything he instructs his droids to do. Between Outlaw Tech and Scholar, he's going to be buying two ranks fairly quickly and a third later on. Between that and spending maneuvers to Assist his droids, they'll likely have three Boost dice on almost any action that he directs them to attempt. Thankfully, he's unlikely to be purchasing an Assassin Droid, but even an astromech or security droid with those bonuses is going to be very helpful.

Has anyone experienced a droid-using "pet-handler" in this game before? Any suggestions?

Not as a long-term thing, but as a spur-of-the-moment act of desperation.

A Colonist (Scholar) in a recent adventure had Speak Binary. As an encounter began, he asked if he could use Leadership to direct nearby Mouse Droids to drive in amongst the enemies' feet to trip them up. I figured, why not? Several Successes and a Triumph later, he had severely disoriented and distracted their attackers. No damage or anything, but Setback Dice on their actions until they destroyed the droids or drove them off.

I'd recommend having Speaks Binary allow the use of command-style talents and abilities on droids. Since he's an Outlaw Tech, maybe let him substitute Computers for Leadership if he's got a control device of some kind.

I haven't really encountered this problem yet because my players mostly use their droids to assist them at their own tasks, and they also know that getting droids to do everything for them is a great way to loose experience points. But I could definitely see how it could get crazy.

One way to mitigate it a little bit is to make it use up an action. It makes sense that using the talent might take a little time; most organic creatures can't quite mimic the sounds of binary, so although you're not strictly making a skill check one can surmise that the talent naturally assumes you're both talking to and listening to droids as they beep and boop. A small exchange of some kind is assumed to take place, even if it isn't directly roleplayed.

Another way to mitigate things is to keep in mind the different droid Classes, as well as the individual model's Intellect and/or Cunning. Depending on the command, the droid in question may not understand what the player is saying even with Speaks Binary.

Last but not least, you could always just restrict it to one rank. That wouldn't break the game either.

I'm not terribly worried that the effect is too strong on any given droid (excepting the Assassin Droid). The typical droid has a crap dice pool, so adding the blues isn't going to break it. Where I do think that it might be a problem is that there appears to be no limit to how many droids can benefit from it at once. Cost effectiveness of buying several lesser droids and having them all picking up a pair of blues seems really attractive.

I don't plan on having Speaks Binary require an action. Speaking is typically an incidental, so I'm not planning on changing that. Besides, I strongly doubt that this talent literally has the character speaking binary - more likely the name is just a flowery way of saying that they character knows how to best direct droids to accomplish tasks.

I see what you mean... my player's funds are tied up for the foreseeable future, but I could see this becoming an issue during, for instance, a frantic space combat situation wherein an army of droids rolls around repairing hull damage/system strain, turbocharging deflector shields, and reducing the difficulty of Piloting (Space) checks, all with 2 or 3 blue dice added to their pools.

You could also treat those Boost from the different ranks like Force dice that need to be committed to different droids? Just a thought. I'm going to keep this one in mind for the future, though, just in case things get out of hand.

My advice, if it is of any use:

I prefer to be a "yes" or "yes and" GM. I would allow him to use it, as written in the book (and errata), AND the enemy would see his command of the droids as the threat, not the droids themselves. After all, if he goes down, no one is left to issue commands to the droids.

I try not to house rule too much. I like my players to be able to dive into the books and errata and get a general idea of what they can expect. thats my two credits

My advice, if it is of any use:

I prefer to be a "yes" or "yes and" GM. I would allow him to use it, as written in the book (and errata), AND the enemy would see his command of the droids as the threat, not the droids themselves. After all, if he goes down, no one is left to issue commands to the droids.

I try not to house rule too much. I like my players to be able to dive into the books and errata and get a general idea of what they can expect. thats my two credits

That's not always practical. For example, if the character is in a starship and his droids are manning the various stations (with their bonus dice), targeting the character isn't going to happen.

Besides that one example, most of his planned uses of the droids will be non-combat in any case. Things like Computers, Mechanics, Medicine, and various Knowledge skills (depending on the droids in question). There are a number of flexible droids in Enter the Unknown that open up even more possibilities.

Of that, I have no doubt, and you DO have your work cut out for you, but I still do not really see it as becoming a problem. As for that, I could be wrong I suppose, I have never had that particular career as a player, outside of some Con one-shots. I would love, however, if you could up date me (or us) on what you decide and how it turns out. I would love to gain from your experience with this so I know how to handle it if it comes up for me in the future.

I would love, however, if you could up date me (or us) on what you decide and how it turns out.

Just a small note: update is one word. I only mention this because when I read the sentence the first time I skipped the word "up", as I was reading fairly fast, and couldn't figure out how dating had any connection to what he decided.

I would love, however, if you could up date me (or us) on what you decide and how it turns out.

Just a small note: update is one word. I only mention this because when I read the sentence the first time I skipped the word "up", as I was reading fairly fast, and couldn't figure out how dating had any connection to what he decided.

Indeed sir, I did mean update, not up date....lol