[FULL] Star Wars D20 Revised Episode III - Episode IV

Nephtys · May 21, 2005

Ambrus said:
I understand it can be tricky to get a bunch of people together online regularly, but even a single hour of online chat once in a while could permit us to have in character discussions and probably accomplish much more than we could in an entire month of posting. Like I said, if the interest is there I'm sure we can work out a time that most of the players could manage on occasion. Even if it was only once a month I think it'd still be worthwhile. The majority of the time though, we'd just post as normal.

You're probably right about this. I'm willing to give it a try once in a while.

Ambrus said:
I have access to most of the books so I'd be happy to help you make your character.

Well, first of all, there are two base Jedi classes: the Jedi Consular and the Jedi Guardian. The Jedi Consular represents the more cerebral/social/spiritual members of the Jedi order (such as Yoda) while Jedi Guardians represent the more physical/martial members of the order (such as Obi-Wan and Luke). The Jedi Consular gets a few more skill points along with a more social oriented skill list, a selection of mental/social force feats, slightly lower BAB and vitality dice than the Jedi Guardian but good Fortitude and Will saves. The Jedi Guardian on the other hand has fewer skills points along with a narrower physical skill set to choose from, a selection of martial force feats, full BAB progression, higher vitality than the Jedi Consular but good Fortitude and Reflex saves. If you like, think of it as the Psion as compared to the Psychic Warrior.

Force adepts on the other hand, are non-Jedi who use the force according to some other undefined mystic philosophy. Between the two Jedi classes, they generally resemble the Jedi Consular a bit more than the Jedi Guardian. They get as many skill points as the Consular but with a more natural/eclectic mix of skills to choose from, a selection of sensory/mental force feats, the same BAB and vitality dice as the Consular but only good Will saves. They don't get to use lightsabers but instead channel the force through more primitive weapons to enhance their battle prowess. If you want to compare them to the Psionic classes, I guess they'd be more like Wilders?

Does this help?

It's a great help, thanks

.

For purely non-mechanical reasons I'd be more inclined to play a Force Adept, since we already have a couple of Jedi characters and an Adept would have a more distinctive flavour. In a point for point comparison it seems a bit weaker than the Consulsar, but not enough to make a difference.
The big question is skills. Skills affect Forcecasting, I know that much, and I'm guessing a lot of the Force skills are exclusive to a particular class. But I don't know which skills/spells are actually useful. So what I need now is a little list of the best low level forceskills of the Consular and the Adept. And some feats too, please

.

Galethorn · May 21, 2005

Callon Kordyran
Human Soldier 3

Str 14 (+2)
Dex 15 (+2)
Con 14 (+2)
Int 12 (+1)
Wis 10 (+0)
Cha 10 (+0)

Vitality: 27
Wounds: 14
Force Points: 3
Reputation: +1
Defense: 16 (+4 class, +2 dex)
Flat-footed: 14
Touch: 16
Initiative: +2 (+2 dex)
Speed: 10m

Saves
Fortitude: +5 (+3 base, +2 con)
Reflex: +3 (+1 base, +2 dex)
Will: +1 (+1 base)

ATTACKS
BAB: +3
Melee base: +5
Ranged base: +5
-----------------------
Blastech DLT-20A: +5 to-hit (+3/+3 rapid shot), 3d8+3 damage, crit on 20, range: 30m
Blastech DT-12: +5 to-hit (+3/+3 rapid shot), 3d8+2 damage, crit on 20, range: 6m
Knife: +5 to-hit, 1d4+2 damage, crit on 20, range: 2m

SKILLS (with ranks in them)
Computer Use: +9 (6 ranks, +1 int, +2 feat)
Demolitions: +7 (6 ranks, +1 int)
Knowledge (Technology): +7 (6 ranks, +1 int)
Pilot: +8 (6 ranks, +2 dex)
Repair: +9 (6 ranks, +1 int, +2 feat)
Spot: +3 (6 ranks, cross-class)

FEATS
1. Gearhead, Heroic Surge, Point-blank Shot
2. Rapid Shot
3. Quickdraw

CLASS ABILITIES
Proficient in...
All simple, primitive, and vibro weapons
Blaster rifles and pistols
Heavy weapons
Light armor

EQUIPMENT
One Blastech DLT-20A: 1300 credits, 6.7kg
One Blastech DT-12 Heavy Blaster Pistol: 900 credits, 2kg
Two frag grenades: 1000 credits, .5kg each (1kg total)
One knife: 25 credits, 1kg
Four power packs: 100 credits, .1kg each (.4 kg total)
Field Kit: 1000 credits, 10kg
Electrobinoculars: 1000 credits, 1kg
Total Weight Carried: 22.1kg (light load)

Light Load: 29 Medium Load: 58 Heavy Load: 87.5

PHYSCIAL DESCRIPTION
Short, unkempt red hair (and red stubble)
Fair skin
Blue eyes
Powerful, broad-shouldered build
196cm tall
110kg

BACKGROUND
Forthcoming

PERSONALITY
Forthcoming

PICTURE OF HIM

Melkor · May 21, 2005

Shadowbloodmoon -

I have come up with a good idea for a different character concept. Would you mind sending me an email through the site with your email address so I can discuss it with you (It looks like you have private messaging disabled on your account) ?

Thanks!

shadowbloodmoon · May 22, 2005

Sorry for the delay all, I had to work today and such. As for Vitality points, we'll go with max at first level and average each additional level. Plus applicable Constitution bonuses of course.

Galethorn... Callon looks good so far. I'll post the Rogue's thread so you can post him once you have his background and personality fleshed out.

Toric... Ka-Femi-Odo looks good so far. Vitality points are as above. As for his Starting money, normally third level characters start with 3000 credits, but I'm giving everyone the average of the 3 times their starting money, which in your case would be the average of 3d4x250 or 1875 credits. I'm doing this because of the war causing difficulties with economies everywhere, even within the Jedi Council, whose funds come originally from the Republic... That and you do start with a lightsaber

Nephtys... Ambrus seems to have helped you on the choosing of a class, but as far as choosing your skills and feats, that choice is pretty much up to you. The Force Adept can be considering a type of sorcerer/ witch/ shaman/ what-have-you. Whereas Jedi Guardians would focus on skills that improve your abilities with combat in a physical sense, Jedi Consulars focusing on skills and feats that help with combat in the mental arena (diplomacy, affect mind, etc.), Adepts would focus on natural aspects of the Force: healing, prophecy, etc.

That being said, even though the Force adept does have class skills, Force skills and feats are not exclusive to any one Force using class. What limits your skill choices is your choice of Force Training at first and second level. The only Force skills that don't have this limitation are Friendship, Enhance Ability and Empathy. Alter si usually the first choice for mosr Force Adepts, as it immediately gives them access to skills such as Move Object, Heal Another and Affect Mind. The next that is usually chosen is Control, allowing access to Heal Self, Battlemind and Force Defense. Sometimes Sense is chosen, which gives access to skills like Farseeing, See Force and Teleptahy.

As far as the feats go, it usually depends on what you want your Force Adept to focus on. Some allow you bonuses to Affect Mind, while others to Move Object and another for bonuses to Dark Side abilities. As you design your character, we'll help you flesh out the game details.

Ambrus.. Firstly, thank you for helping Nephtys out. That really helps me out. Secondly, if we can work it, I would like to do at least one chat a month. We'll see if we can work it out. Now, on to your character who is fast becoming a DRK-1.5.... I went with 3000 credits to start simply because one, that's normal for 3rd level characters and there is no average roll to make for droids. Also though, normally a DRK-1 costs 16000 without the launcher. The launcher add-on costs 2000. When normally purchased, it includes the launcher and would cost 18000 credits. Since you opted not to have the launcher, I gave that 2000 back, plus an additional 1000 simply for the extra heroic character level. That and I think I am giving you somewhat of a break on switching out all the redundant parts for newer/ more useful ones. That being said, do you think that is an unfair amount or better yet, what do you think would be a fair amount? I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I am trying to be fair with everyone.

Melkor... Hmm.. I thought I had my PM active. Anyway, I will send you a message with my email in it.

Captain Tagon... Sounds good with your character. I'm looking forward to seeing him fleshed out.

Speaking of characters, here is the Rogue's thread.

I hope I covered all the bases, if not, I should be here all night.

Melkor · May 22, 2005

Shadowbloodmoon -

I just sent you an email. Normally, I wouldn't post up just to say that, but I want to make sure you receive it. Let me know what you think and if you approve, and I'll get the character finished tonight.

Thanks.

shadowbloodmoon · May 22, 2005

Got it Melkor, reply on its way. I'm posting that because I know that our two email systems have problems with each other on occasion.

Ambrus · May 22, 2005

That being said, do you think that is an unfair amount or better yet, what do you think would be a fair amount? I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I am trying to be fair with everyone.

Honestly I hadn't considered if it was fair or not. Perhaps you got the impression I was complaining about the funds I've been allocated. I'm sorry if you did, it wasn't my intention. I only brought up the issue of the grenade launcher because it sounded like you thought the DRK-1 automatically got one for free. I just wanted you to be clear on the facts before you made any decisions. It's important to me that you be comfortable with my character, since you allowing a droid in the first place is already rather accomodating of you IMHO.

Three thousand sounds good to me, or any amount you choose is fine really. Would I also get the extra funds from any stock accessories I swap out, some fraction thereof or nothing at all? Just curious.

shadowbloodmoon · May 22, 2005

Ambrus... Depends on how much math you want to do.... I'll stick with the 3000 credits for beginning money. As far as swapping goes I would say add up all the overflow you get from swapping parts, etc. and take an additional 10 percent out of that for the cost of the work needing to be done to make room, refit parts, etc. Whatever's left over can be added to your starting credits. Oh and one more thing, the imagecaster and holorecorder are actually two different things... One allows you only to record, not play back images, the other gives you that capability as well.... I agree on the other stuff though. I don't see anywhere that overrides that equipment bonuses don't stack for droids... (or anyone else for that matter)

Ambrus · May 22, 2005

Originally posted by Shadowbloodmoon
Oh and one more thing, the imagecaster and holorecorder are actually two different things... One allows you only to record, not play back images, the other gives you that capability as well....

Shadowbloodmoon, I don't mean to dispute this with you, but I'm fairly certain that the two devices both record and project holograms. The holorecorder is described as a "recorder with a playback feature" and then clarified with the phrase: "The droid can record up to 5 minutes worth of material and play it back whenever desired." This is the piece of equipment that R2 has and we've all seen him both record and project holograms. The Imagecaster's description is a bit more confusing but it ends by saying that "If two comlinks, each connected to an Imagecaster are in communication, they can send and receive real-time images, allowing for face-to-face communications." The only way that they could manage 'face-to-face communications' is if both imagecasters were capable of simultaneously recording and projecting holograms of their respective users. The only difference between the two devices is that the former records only five minutes worth of images while the latter can record up to an hour of images and uses an energy cell. Maybe there's another description of these devices or an errata that I haven't read though.

Oh, BTW, I found a Star Wars gamer article where the rules for playing a droid (most of chapter 15 of the Revised Core Rulebook) were first published. One of the very few pieces of equipment they list as an accessory for a droid is a "Humanoid Digital Manipulator Arm" for a cost of 400 credits. It gives a droid the regular use of a humanoid hand and requires a free tool mount to attach. It's almost 1400% more expensive than what you originally proposed, but I'm willing to go with it if you like it.

Also, I found a thread on JD Wiker's own site in which he answers some questions about the DRK-1 and some of the quirks we've been discussing. If you're interested, here's a link: http://pub35.ezboard.com/fjdwikersboardsfrm2.showMessage?topicID=584.topic

Originally posted by Nephytus
The big question is skills. Skills affect Forcecasting, I know that much, and I'm guessing a lot of the Force skills are exclusive to a particular class. But I don't know which skills/spells are actually useful. So what I need now is a little list of the best low level forceskills of the Consular and the Adept. And some feats too, please .

Nephytus, this is rather tricky to work out but I'll do my best. (I don't suppose I could just convince you to play a soldier or something simple to start... :heh:

) Basically, there are various force based skills that aren't class-skills for any of the force using classes (Jedi or Force Adept); that is, until they buy a force feat which grants them access to certain force skills as if they were class-skills. Different force feats grant access to different groups of related force skills. Both the Jedi Consular and the Force Adept gain the basic Force Sensitive feat for free (the feat that makes a person into a force user) as well as a bonus feat at 1st level (and again at later levels) which allow them to buy one of these three skill group force feats: Alter, Control and Sense. Alter grants you access to force skills that manipulate raw force energies: Affect Mind, Drain Energy, Force Grip, Force Lightning, Force Strike, Heal Another and Move Object. Control grants you access to force skills that help you manipulate the force within your own body:Force Defense, Force Stealth and Heal Self. Sense grants you access to force skills that increase your sensitivity to the force allowing you greater insight and perception: Enhance Senses, Fear, See Force and Telepathy. The last two feats also grant you a few esoteric abilities tied to their theme.

As far as which "low-level" skills are "actually useful", well, that's a matter of personal preference and game experience. I mean, every skill is useful to at least some degree at low levels (every master has to start somewhere after all). And for the feats you are free to spend any available feats you have on other force feats though there isn't much point in buying the other two force-skill related feats since you'll get them eventually for free by advancing in your class and, really, you won't have enough skill points to buy up that many force skills anyway. Both the Jedi Consular and the Force Adept have to narrow their focus and only try to master a handful of force skills during their careers if they want to be truly effective. The good thing though is that simply having a skill-related feat makes those skills available for use in untrained skill checks in a pinch.

On top of that, there are a slew of other force feats to choose from. Some grant nifty force enhanced martial abilities, others grant various esoteric abilities and some simply grant a +2 bonus to two related force skills. Think of them as psionic feats, they're hard to summarize because their effects are so varied. You won't get many of them since you usually have to buy them with your few level granted feats, but they can really add some focus and direction for your character. Try to pick a direction for your character and I'll narrow my focus to helping you find stuff that fits your concept.

Nephtys · May 22, 2005

shadowbloodmoon said:
...

Ambrus.. Firstly, thank you for helping Nephtys out. That really helps me out.

Yeah, he's great.

You too, sorry for being so needy.

Ambrus said:
Nephytus, this is rather tricky to work out but I'll do my best. (I don't suppose I could just convince you to play a soldier or something simple to start... )

Nah, I'd rather have the Force with me.

Alter seems more well-rounded, combining both offensive, support and diplomacy bonuses. I'll pick that as my first Force Training feat. If I get a second FTF (as I noticed Toric's character got) I'll choose Sense.

What skills would I focus on... It's not easy to choose when I don't know what they do, but here's an unqualified guess: Affect Mind, Heal Other, Move Object, Enhance Senses, Telepathy.
I'm guessing Drain Energy, Force Grip, force Lightning and Force Strike are similar in use and I would have to know what kind of damage they can do before choosing between them. Are they all Dark Side skills? And what side-effects does that have?