Help requested - SWD20 Custom Droid

[Sugarmouse]

Hi all,

I tried getting some input over at the Wizards boards, but unless you are discussing something relatively controversial (like if Jedi are too overpowered) barely anyone responds. Sorry, exaggerating to make a point.

Please note I am trying to get help in order to determine a base price for a type of droid my character wishes to have custom built. I do not expect pats on the back (although they are welcome ), just a little constructive input.

I can find no sourcebook, or web-enhancement that provides guidelines in making custom droids, and pricing them.

I have below provided the stats and a general description of the droid my character would like custom built, in order to function as a co-pilot in his Z-95. (It would also function as a back-up character in case my char gets smeared.)

Kindly review the information, and please aid me in coming up a base price for this type of droid. (My GM calls this the killing machine - c'mon - four arms does not a killing maching make.)

Designation: Type H(alcyon), X0Y0 Navigator (TYPH-00N)
Medium Sized Second Degree Droid Chassis
Class Programming: Scout Level 2, Tech Specialist 3

Str: 14 + 2 Vitality: 34 (9+6+7+7+5) Wounds: 13
Dex: 18 + 4 Defense: 17 = 10 + 3 + 4
Con: 13 + 1
Int: 14 + 2 Speed: 10m
Wis: 12 + 1
Cha: 10 +

Saving Throws
Fortitude: 3 = 2 + 1
Reflex : 7 = 3 + 4
Will : 5 = 4 + 1

Base attack bonus: + 3
Melee : 5 = 3 + 2
Ranged: 7 = 3 + 4

Skills Total = Ability mod + ranks + bonus + bonus 2
Astrogate 8 = 2 + 6
Climb 5 = 2 + 3
Computer Use 13 = 2 + 6 + 2 + 3
Craft [tbd] 8 = 2 + 6
Demolitions 4 = 2 + 2
Disable Device 4 = 2 + 2
Jump 5 = 2 + 3
Knowledge [Technology] 5 = 2 + 3
Knowledge [Humanoid Biology] 4 = 2 + 2
Listen 6 = 1 + 3 + 2
Pilot 8 = 4 + 4
Repair 10 = 2 + 6 + 2
Search 8 = 2 + 4 + 2
Spot 6 = 1 + 3 + 2
Survival 4 = 1 + 3
Treat Injury 7 = 1 + 6

Languages: [Understand] Basic, Binary, [Understand] Durese, [Understand] Verpine

Feats: Multidexterity, Weapon Group Proficiency [Blaster Pistols], Weapon Group Proficiency [Simple Weapons]; Starship Operation [Starfighter]; Gearhead; Skill Emphasis [Computer Use]; Surgery; Multiattack
SQ: Droid; Trailblazing; Research; Instant Mastery [Search]

Gear: Price / Weight
Armor, Light [Droid] 1500, 8 Kg
Comlink, Integrated 200, 0.1 Kg
Diagnostics Package 250, 4 Kg
Internal Storage [10 Kg] 500, [/]
Locked Access 50, 0.5 Kg
Holorecording Unit 400, 5 Kg
Rust Inhibitor 40, [/]
Sensors
- Improved Sensor Package 200, 2.5 Kg
- Infrared Vision 150, 1.5 Kg
Tool Mount [Welding Laser] 310, 1.7 Kg

Equipment:
Surgery Kit 1000, 1 Kg
Tool Kit 250, 1 Kg
Blaster Pistol 500, 1 Kg
Ion Pistol 250, 1 Kg
Knife 25, 1 Kg

Total Equipment cost: 5625 Credits

Please note that this droid does has four appendages/arms.

All in all, I believe that this droid would cost about the same as a 'Zed' Police droid, however, due to the more specialised nature, the cost might indeed be higher.

I await your input, critique and evaluation.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Weclome to the ENBoards! I try to stay away from the WotC boards for star wars, it gets crazy over there.

I'm afraid looking at this Droid I can tell right away there's a problem. Only special GM-character droids and player character droids have heroic classes. If you plan on using this droid as a PC later I doubt it would be very balancing for your GM to give you two characters to play while the other players each only have one.

The only other way to possibly acquire such a droid would be to find it. Heroic classes can't be "programmed" into a droid I'm sorry to say. In addition p. 360 of the Revised Core Rulebook states that only a certain list of droid types may be played as Heroic Characters. So no custom built droid PCs unless you want to see your GM turn to the darkside.

If you're going to have a droid custom built you'll have to find someone willing to do so for you and then you'll be paying alot more for it as the prices for normal droids are alot lower thanks to mass production. On top of this you'll be looking at a Professional Class droid only most likely. Like an Expert 3/Thug 2 or something along those lines. However, if your GM is insane you might be able to find a special GM-character droid as an Expert 1/Scout 2/Tech Specialist 3 (though this is created by the GM and not a player). The first level has to be a professional class.

Your typical Expert 4 Astromech costs 4,500 credits. This model here would likely cost 3 times as much being custom built and more skilled, so say a base of 12,000 credits + equipment (5,625 credits) = ~17,500 credits for a ballpark figure. I did a back calculation taking into account all the example droids and compared prices vs challenge rating and level and figured out a decent cost-scale a while back. I'll see if I can't dig that up.

 

[Sugarmouse]

Thank you for the welcome!

On the note on professional only classes. Agreed that it powers the droid up a bit. See below for my reply on the one response at WOTC:

"And agreed, this version would be somewhat heavy handed on the market, not to mention cost-prohibitive.

Perhaps a toned-down version with Professional levels (no more then four, and scaled back on the armour) would provide an alternative for Starship Captains who like to see their droids pouring Jawajuice, calculating a hyperspace jump and covering a prisoner with a pistol at the same time. I would hazard a guess that such a version of droid would cost about the same as an R2 or R3 or somewhere between the two.

Though lacking a Heuristic processor, and being more space inefficient (size wise) then a modern Astromech, I personally see great novelty value in such a droid."

On that point - what about the 'Zed' Police droid then. It has 5 Soldier levels (and other droids in the A&EG have heroic classes) and is worth approx 12K Credits. Money is currently not too much of an issue, thankfully. And there is always the option of turning in the wookie in the party for a bounty on his head.

And the only time I would actually play this droid, is when my on-the-road-to-redemption Dark Jedi/DSM gets killed. May that days be far gone in the future. Until then it would remain a GM controlled npc.

Wasn't too sure about the professional class as first level. Might have to get my other GM to agree to reverse engineer the battledroid he made me take to face of against the YV. But then he might try to do something similar with his PC in my campaign.

Oh what a twisted web is woven.

 

[edventure]

There were some prototype custom droid creation rules on the Wizards board. Basically you paid X amount of credits for Y amount of skill points to allocate and then built from there. I'll hop over there and see if I can dig up the thread.

I used them to create a droid NPC for the campaign I'm running and it came out pretty well.


Found it: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136855

Improtant bits: (Keep in mind these are fan created and in no way official, but they worked for me)

Droid Creation Rules

Abilities -
A droid's creator can not create a droid that has higher Int, Wis, or Cha than he/she does.

200 credits 54 Stat Points = 9 Average
300 credits 60 Stat Points = 10 Average
600 credits 66 Stat Points = 11 Average
800 credits 72 Stat Points = 12 Average
1100 credits 78 Stat Points = 13 Average
1500 credits 84 Stat Points = 14 Average

Class Levels -
A droid's creator can not create a droid of a higher than he/she is.
Commoner = 0 credits

NPC Classes (Diplomat, Expert, Thug)
Level 1 = 250 credits
Level 2 = 500 credits
Level 3 = 1500 credits
Level 4 = 3000 credits
Level 5 = 5000 credits
Level 6 = 7500 credits
(Credit cost equal to half exp needed for that level)

PC Classes (Scout, Soldier, Tech Specialist)
Level 1 = 500 credits
Level 2 = 1000 credits
Level 3 = 3000 credits
Level 4 = 6000 credits
Level 5 = 10000 credits
Level 6 = 15000 credits
(Credit cost equal to exp needed for that level)

Size -
Creating a droid of large size increases the cost of the droid by 500 credits. Medium sized and smaller droids have no increase or decrease in cost. Working on assumption that larger droids require more materials, while smaller droids need more in miniaturization tech keeping there from being a discount.

 

[edventure]

By the way, 4 arms can definately be a killing machine.

I created a recurring baddie for my group. He's a 4th level Xexto Soldier. He has SIX +10 attacks using 4 modified Diplomat blasters (+11 at point blank). And he hasn't even gotten his first iterative attack yet. Ouch!

 

[Turanil]

Does this droid fly, walk, or goes on wheels? This would greatly affect its usefulness, and thus its price.

The droid has four arms, so what? Humans have two arms, but to attack with two weapons at the same time, you need appropriate feats or suffer severe penalties. Since droids are created as if they were PCs, it shouldn't be different.

 

[argo]

The droid has four arms, so what? Humans have two arms, but to attack with two weapons at the same time, you need appropriate feats or suffer severe penalties. Since droids are created as if they were PCs, it shouldn't be different.

All droids automatically get Ambidexterity and TWF for free, logic being that a machine with a computer brain does not favor one limb over the other.

 

[edventure]

I know they get ambidexterity free, but I don't recall anything about two weapon fighting. Can you cite a source?

It follows that a designer would not weaken a droid by making one hand worse than the other. TWF though might require dual targeting systems etc...

 

[Sugarmouse]

Many thanks Edventure! Exactly what I was looking for as cost guidelines. No wonder I didn't find it. That thing was posted last year.

I can see where a multiple apendage sentient/non-sentient could become a monster with four base attacks (with the requisite penalties). I was just referring to the fact that this thing is definetly not a killing machine.

This is a bipedal motion droid. I considered giving it half a body and a repulsorlift unit, but it reminded me too much of some robots in an old C64 game I loved. *nostalgic tear drop*

Droids get ambidexterity for free (or in the case of this droid - multidexterity), however TWF needs to be picked as a feat (or can be used to replace a starting feat - utilising the great malleability of the d20 system that I love so much.)