disable device/slight of hand during combat

[yoippari]

I had an idea the other day as a way to add a little flavor to combat in a d20 star wars game I am in. I am using a tech specialist/soldier (soldier is out of nessecity) that likes to build things. Specificly he builds armor for sale and jet/repulsor packs. His race is fairly peaceful and he uses violence only when needed.

So, would it be possible to use disable device or maybe slight of hand to, for example, take the power pack out of a storm troopers blaster. Would disable device come in at all?

Would such a maneuver require a grapple check or something? It isn't really grappleing since it is just quickly reaching for their gun, probably pressing a button to release their power pack and pulling the pack away.

Similarly this could be used to take apart someone's pistol in d20 modern, or cutting a bow/crossbow string in DnD. I can think of several uses such a maneuver could be used in close proximity to effectivly disable an opponent, infact to some extent this is what happened in RotJ when Han accidently fired Boba Fett's jetpack. That would probably actually be flavor added by the GM when near blind Han made a critical hit (or critical miss).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I had an idea the other day as a way to add a little flavor to combat in a d20 star wars game I am in. I am using a tech specialist/soldier (soldier is out of nessecity) that likes to build things. Specificly he builds armor for sale and jet/repulsor packs. His race is fairly peaceful and he uses violence only when needed.

So, would it be possible to use disable device or maybe slight of hand to, for example, take the power pack out of a storm troopers blaster. Would disable device come in at all?

Would such a maneuver require a grapple check or something? It isn't really grappleing since it is just quickly reaching for their gun, probably pressing a button to release their power pack and pulling the pack away.

Similarly this could be used to take apart someone's pistol in d20 modern, or cutting a bow/crossbow string in DnD. I can think of several uses such a maneuver could be used in close proximity to effectivly disable an opponent, infact to some extent this is what happened in RotJ when Han accidently fired Boba Fett's jetpack. That would probably actually be flavor added by the GM when near blind Han made a critical hit (or critical miss).

It might either require a grapple check, or a check to grab an item, which is similar to disarm, if I remember correctly - at least that's how it would work in D&D 3.5.
The problem might be that Disable Device requires more time than you have, I think - I believe there is a table that tells how long it takes, and I believe it is measured in rounds (and seldomly a single one).

Chosing Improved Disarm or something to improve your grapple ability (Improved Grapple?) might be a good idea - you don't have to deal damage to your enemy this way, you just block his possiblities to attack.

 

[Pbartender]

I had an idea the other day as a way to add a little flavor to combat in a d20 star wars game I am in. I am using a tech specialist/soldier (soldier is out of nessecity) that likes to build things. Specificly he builds armor for sale and jet/repulsor packs. His race is fairly peaceful and he uses violence only when needed.

So, would it be possible to use disable device or maybe slight of hand to, for example, take the power pack out of a storm troopers blaster. Would disable device come in at all?

Would such a maneuver require a grapple check or something? It isn't really grappleing since it is just quickly reaching for their gun, probably pressing a button to release their power pack and pulling the pack away.

Similarly this could be used to take apart someone's pistol in d20 modern, or cutting a bow/crossbow string in DnD. I can think of several uses such a maneuver could be used in close proximity to effectivly disable an opponent, infact to some extent this is what happened in RotJ when Han accidently fired Boba Fett's jetpack. That would probably actually be flavor added by the GM when near blind Han made a critical hit (or critical miss).

Here's what I'd use...

Step 1: Opposed attack roll, just like a disarm check. The Defender gets an attack of opportunity, if the option is available. Success indicates the attacker has grabbed the device being held.

Step 2: A Disable Device check. I'd make it a straight DC 20 check, with a duration of 1 round... You just need to jam the weapon, which technically isn't difficult, but doing it fast is. If the attacker is not proficient with the weapon, give them a -4 penalty to the check.

or...

If the character isn't worried about retreiving a usable device, just use the Sunder rules.

or...

Just tell the player to Disarm the enemy, and describe it as pulling the clip out of the gun.

In the end, the mechanics all amount to the same thing, and the rest is just descriptive text.

 

[yoippari]

The goal is to add flavor to "I attack him", or "I attempt to disarm him". If I can do something specific like disabling their weapon with a skill check then I can make it feal more like my character is doing it and not just another ragdoll (or mini) on a grid. So doing the grab check, which is like a disarm, then another check to do something to their weapon would work for what I am looking for. Thanks