d20 Star Wars Saga Edition news from Gen Con?

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

My only concern is that they keep some sort of parity between Jedi and non-Jedi for those that don't want to run an all-Jedi campaign. Mechanics I can wait and see and evaluate later.

But l do loves me the WP/VP system ever since I ran Dragonquest where it was Fatigue/Endurance. The advantage of the two 'hp' types is that you can have two seperate healing rates. I miss games where the party would actually beat a tactical retreat when they started taking 'real' damage because they knew taking too much would render them incredibly vulnerable and unfit to fight.

Fortunately for me, lethal/non-lethal with armor-as-DC works well enough when access to high-tech or magical healing is limited.

 

[CrusaderX]

I don't want to get myself into trouble here, but let me just say that just because there is no longer a Jedi Guardian class or a Jedi Consular class doesn't mean that you can't play a Jedi Guardian or a Jedi Consular. Not only that, but you'll probably be designing whole NEW types of Jedi if you so choose, especially with some of the new options for Jedi.

Excellent! This Saga Edition keeps sounding better and better, and I can't wait to buy the book next year.

Thanks much for the info, Moridin!

 

[Twowolves]

I just made a Duros Tech Specialist (Gunsmith/Chief Engineer for the party's ship) for a RCR game coming up, with dreams of customizing mastercrafted weapons and building droids. NOW what is going to happen to him? Will there be customization/personalization of items? What about Mastercraft items? Will the Craft skill even survive to the Saga edition? I'm a little leary of the game designers when they say the game should be a certain way (space opera/pulp in space/fast and furious) when not everyone takes the same thing from those 6 movies.

 

[wingsandsword]

Okay, this does have me curious, and scratching my head, if Force Adepts aren't a class anymore, and there is only one Force skill and no force feats, I'm wondering how you can make such highly adaptable characters to model any force tradition.

I'm really wondering how you can really do that in d20, customizing a class without skills or feats. Are there going to be Force-user substitution levels? Some completely new mechanic?

The same concept applies for creating Fringer and Tech Specialist types without those classes. I'm quite wondeing about that.

Okay, one Force Skill, but every power doesn't hinge on it, and apparently it's something completely new, and it's apparently not tied directly into the Jedi classes because the way Force Adept is being rehandled.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I wonder if these changes are as dramatic as are being hinted at, how well will old source material work with the new rules? I'm probably going to get the new book regardless, but I would also like to get the old books if they can work well.

 

[drothgery]

I'm really wondering how you can really do that in d20, customizing a class without skills or feats. Are there going to be Force-user substitution levels? Some completely new mechanic?

It sounds like there's going to be a new mechanic called Force Powers. A wild guess would be that there will be a feat that non-Jedi can use to buy a Force Power or three.

The same concept applies for creating Fringer and Tech Specialist types without those classes. I'm quite wondeing about that.

It seems to me that as long as there's a class that gets a lot of skill points, has a broad skill list, and doesn't have too much implicit flavor, it'll work for either archetype.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I just made a Duros Tech Specialist (Gunsmith/Chief Engineer for the party's ship) for a RCR game coming up, with dreams of customizing mastercrafted weapons and building droids. NOW what is going to happen to him?

Well, according to Moridin, all the tech specialist abilities have been put into other classes. Maybe he will be a Duros Scoundrel with tech specialist options, maybe he will be something else.

Someone tried a similar tech specialist in one of our games, but it didn't really work out - all his abilities were really tied to solo stuff (making things in a back room) and it was difficult for him to engage in the adventure with the others - especially when there was time pressure.

Hopefully you won't run into those kind of problems though!

Cheers

 

[Dragonbait]

It never ceases to amaze me, the willingness of some people to come to firmly held and argued positions on the basis of almost no information at all, and the venom that is sometimes spouted!

Isn't that what message boards and fanboys are all about? If it's not, then show me to those MBs and fans, because the ones I know can be damn obnoxious.

Er, my opinion on things:
VP/WP - Great idea, but when you see one major villain after another dropped because of a critical in round 1, it becomes annoying. Of course, that's keeping with the SW theme I guess. Lucas never seemd to like dramatic fights that did not concern two people with lightsabers (Boba Fett was killed with a sight-gag, Jango was killed in the bat of an eye, and so on). I'm interested in seeing the new system.

The lost classes - I liked the Tech Specialist. I'll have to see what they do before I make any decisions, though. If they can improve the other classes, then I'll take the sacrifice.

A conundrum: Stun settings have always been a sore point in the d20 system. Like a well-placed critical, it can seriously deflate a fight. I thought of some ideas to get around it, outside of cheating on my Fort save, but I wonder what they will do with that.

 

[Plane Sailing]

VP/WP - Great idea, but when you see one major villain after another dropped because of a critical in round 1, it becomes annoying. Of course, that's keeping with the SW theme I guess. Lucas never seemd to like dramatic fights that did not concern two people with lightsabers (Boba Fett was killed with a sight-gag, Jango was killed in the bat of an eye, and so on). I'm interested in seeing the new system.

Case in point. Last Sunday our little gang of 7th level Jedi were facing hordes of Robots and suddenly we spot the 11th level sith lord again. I decide that if we're going down, we're going down fighting. Charge attack! May the Force be with me! Natural 20, followed by crit confirmation! 31 points damage to his wounds and he fell over in two pieces!

On one level, it was a cool moment for me, and he would have destroyed us if he had got in his attacks (we only held him off before with a use of the (overpowered) Friendship power). On another level it was the problem you identify above - another villain dropped by a critical on round 1.

(This same character also killed a gargantuan Rancor on round 1 with a critical from a blaster rifle... my dice rolling for him is pants most of the time, but when it is really vital, the force is DEFINITELY with this guy )

Cheers

 

[Twowolves]

Well, according to Moridin, all the tech specialist abilities have been put into other classes. Maybe he will be a Duros Scoundrel with tech specialist options, maybe he will be something else.

Without mastercrafting, I dunno if it'll be even close to the same, and like I said above, I'm not even certain CRAFTING, much less mastercrafting will still be in the game.

Someone tried a similar tech specialist in one of our games, but it didn't really work out - all his abilities were really tied to solo stuff (making things in a back room) and it was difficult for him to engage in the adventure with the others - especially when there was time pressure.

Everyone has down time, that's when you customize the bounty hunter's rifle, or make the droid, or tinker with the hyperdrive. For the action sequences, his Repair skill was like +11 at 1st level, and his Computer Use was at +8. That alone makes him the best sensor operator/engineer they could hope for. I'm sure that aspect is still possible, but this character was designed as a support type anyway, not solo play. Like the unsung heroes that play the pilots in SW Battlefront.