D&D 5E Is 5th Edition Directly Descended from Star Wars Saga Edition?

[fjw70]

This got me thinking...

I wonder how well a "5e" version of Saga would work?

One of the biggest problems with Saga was that everything scaled wildly different (skills were super high and slowly grew, defenses steadily grew, and attacks varied on class) which resulted in a small "sweet spot" around mid-level where all the numbers converged, and widely unbalanced beginnings (Where Skills dominated defenses, making the Force an auto-win) and ends (by high level, your defenses were so good using the Force was useless). 5e's singular "proficiency bonus" to attacks, saves, skills, and (in this game, to compensate armor) AC would be a good fix to the math.

Additionally, subclasses would be a good way to introduce archetypes (Jedi Guardian, Consular), Hit Dice (with the Healing surge variant) is a good Second Wind mechanic, the game is balanced against not needing magic items, and I'm sure a decent Force mechanic could be hammered out of Saga's encounter-card system and 5e's pseudo-Vancian magic. Oh, and Backgrounds would be great for distinguishing pilots, bounty hunters, farmboys and rebel princesses.

Heck, the Fighter could Straight Up be used for Solider, the Rogue is probably not far off of Scoundrel. Bard and Ranger (reworked to avoid spells) would be Nobles and Scout bases, and Jedi seems like a good Paladin/Eldritch Knight hack. It'd take some work, but I'm sure it could be done.

I would love to see a space opera version of 5e (I.e. Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off).

 

[jayoungr]

2E had spells that granted disadvantage and there was a optional roll 3 dice take the best rule as well..

Sure, I wasn't trying to suggest that Saga invented the idea. But it seemed like Saga used it on a wider scale than any previous D&D system, and then 5E expanded on it even further.

 

[dracomilan]

I would love to see a space opera version of 5e (I.e. Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off).

I second this. They could use the Alternity brand name for it, and use the Star*Drive setting as a backdrop.

 

[darjr]

One of the D&D podcasts, or an Order66 podcast, in an interview with one of the Saga designers said that Saga edition had access to a, then very early, version of 4e and they went off on their own with some input/crossover from the 4e design team to make Saga. Saga was it's own thing and the early designs of 4e influenced its design. Though I'm sure that road went both ways to some degree.

 

[Henry]

This got me thinking...

I wonder how well a "5e" version of Saga would work?

I would very much like to see it, but we never will, not commercially, at least. I've never played FFG's Star Wars, but I have played their 3rd edition Warhammer, and just cannot get into the "story dice" mechanic. However, they seem to be doing RIDICULOUSLY well, judging from the ICV2 numbers, and if anyone gets the license when it's renewed, it will be FFG again (assuming Disney doesn't just decide to reel it in and never offer another RPG license again.)

 

[Remathilis]

I would very much like to see it, but we never will, not commercially, at least. I've never played FFG's Star Wars, but I have played their 3rd edition Warhammer, and just cannot get into the "story dice" mechanic. However, they seem to be doing RIDICULOUSLY well, judging from the ICV2 numbers, and if anyone gets the license when it's renewed, it will be FFG again (assuming Disney doesn't just decide to reel it in and never offer another RPG license again.)

Oh, I realize it can't officially happen, but it'd be a cool fan project.

 

[Tormyr]

I am planning on running a star wars game with my daughter. While I was trying to figure out the mechanics, I finally said, "Screw it, I am using vanilla 5e. The magic spells are the different ways of using the Force. Moving on."

 

[Zardnaar]

This got me thinking...

I wonder how well a "5e" version of Saga would work?

One of the biggest problems with Saga was that everything scaled wildly different (skills were super high and slowly grew, defenses steadily grew, and attacks varied on class) which resulted in a small "sweet spot" around mid-level where all the numbers converged, and widely unbalanced beginnings (Where Skills dominated defenses, making the Force an auto-win) and ends (by high level, your defenses were so good using the Force was useless). 5e's singular "proficiency bonus" to attacks, saves, skills, and (in this game, to compensate armor) AC would be a good fix to the math.

Additionally, subclasses would be a good way to introduce archetypes (Jedi Guardian, Consular), Hit Dice (with the Healing surge variant) is a good Second Wind mechanic, the game is balanced against not needing magic items, and I'm sure a decent Force mechanic could be hammered out of Saga's encounter-card system and 5e's pseudo-Vancian magic. Oh, and Backgrounds would be great for distinguishing pilots, bounty hunters, farmboys and rebel princesses.

Heck, the Fighter could Straight Up be used for Solider, the Rogue is probably not far off of Scoundrel. Bard and Ranger (reworked to avoid spells) would be Nobles and Scout bases, and Jedi seems like a good Paladin/Eldritch Knight hack. It'd take some work, but I'm sure it could be done.

Divorce use the force from skill checks or get rid of skill focus utf helps.

 

[GMMichael]

One of the D&D podcasts, or an Order66 podcast, in an interview with one of the Saga designers said that Saga edition had access to a, then very early, version of 4e and they went off on their own with some input/crossover from the 4e design team to make Saga. Saga was its own thing and the early designs of 4e influenced its design. Though I'm sure that road went both ways to some degree.

Re-he-heaaaaally? That's very interesting. I'm sure that 4e is involved in the love triangle that produced 5e. You know, healing surges, cantrips/warlocks and all. And a lot of 5e features are just direct improvements from 3.5e. I know because a lot of the design choices in my RPG were based on what 3.5 could have done better, and these found their way into 5e as well.

I am planning on running a star wars game with my daughter. While I was trying to figure out the mechanics, I finally said, "Screw it, I am using vanilla 5e. The magic spells are the different ways of using the Force. Moving on."

+1 GM points. A good GM is nothing if not flexible.

 

[MarkB]

One thing I still love about SWSE is the way the feats-and-talents system allowed really easy, flexible multiclassing. It was about 1 or 2 steps away from being a truly classless system, and 5e's bounded accuracy would bridge most of the remaining gap.