Using Star Was SAGA Rules with D&D 3.5

[Baby Samurai]

My mother caught me using the force once. Said I'd go blind if I kept doing that.

Sinner!

 

[EditorBFG]

OTOH, having fewer spellcasting talents makes those talents correspondingly more powerful. I'm thinking it might just be more effective to Use The Force.

yeah, but not all the talents available to those classes would be so powerful. You could even build a balancing factor into the talent itself. When I did Fantastic Classes , I wrote it so arcane spellcasting was a single talent, but it was built for a class with 9 skill points per level. By taking the talent, you reduced your skill points to 3 per level. (Obviously, since Fantastic Classes converts all the D&D classes to talent tree-based classes, it might be a useful resource for a Saga based D&D type game).

 

[Elephant]

IRT "Use the Force" dirty jokes: *snicker*

I mean, shame on all of you who made them.

yeah, but not all the talents available to those classes would be so powerful. You could even build a balancing factor into the talent itself. When I did Fantastic Classes , I wrote it so arcane spellcasting was a single talent, but it was built for a class with 9 skill points per level. By taking the talent, you reduced your skill points to 3 per level. (Obviously, since Fantastic Classes converts all the D&D classes to talent tree-based classes, it might be a useful resource for a Saga based D&D type game).

Hmm, interesting idea. I'll have to give it some more thought.

 

[Remathilis]

Has anyone posted a list of the force powers from the SWSE book? It would be interesting to know what's there and to use them for guidance on how magic spells would work under a similar, encounter-based system. In addition to all of the telekinetic stuff, I assume there are powers that similar to common D&D buffs, haste, and of course force lightning should give a sense of what evocations would be like.

Sure:

Battle Strike (grants bonus damage)
Dark Rage [Dark-Side] (bonus hit/damage)
Farseeing (clairvoyant power)
Force Disarm (disarm at distance)
Force Grip (damage over time)
Force Lightning [Dark Side] (8d6 lightning bolt)
Force Slam (buffet of damage)
Force Stun (-1 condition track)
Force Thrust (bull rush at distance)
Mind Trick [Mind Affect] (Typical Enchantment)
Move Object (nuff said)
Negate Energy (ignore one energy attack, abjuration)
Rebuke (negate a force power, abjuration)
Sever Force [Light Side] (stop people from using the force/force points, dispel magic)
Surge (bonus to movement/jump checks)
Vital Transfer [Light Side] (heal hp, you take 1/2. Closest to curing in SAGA)

Obviously, that leaves a lot of area open. Noticably, buff spells/powers are GONE. No ability score changes in mid-combat (which is good, IMHO) and healing is very weak in saga (to fit with SW, but there are other ways to heal)

One idea I tinkered with is using Spellcraft as UtF is, to determine casting ability for spells. It either becomes the "to hit" roll for attack spells (like fireball; Spellcraft vs. ref save) or it determines the power level of a spell (or both! Maybe the number of dice of damage a fireball does?). Many spells have this built in now (detect magic, dispel magic) so it wouldn't be too hard to do. It might also cut back on redundant powers (spellcraft roll determines number of d8s healed, caster level determines the +X on a cure spell) and allow for a limited amount of "overchanneling" (blow a action point to maybe cast a spell a bit better than you could on the d20 alone).

 

[HeinorNY]

I'm thinking about taking the SW saga rules into a medieval fantasy setting, and not converting D&D to the saga rules. I believe it would turn into a low magic setting and I like that.
There is a final fantasy conversion to saga rules on the way, it looks very nice, even if you (me) is not into FF that much (at all).

http://bluwiki.com/go/Finalfantasysaga