Mustrum_Ridcully said:
I am curious if this is a game system flaw or if it just came up due to the circumstances:
How big was the group in total? What would have been different if you had 3 Soldiers armed with blaster rifles and grenades? How would it compare to a D&D combat encounter with 3 Rogues (against crittable/sneak-attackable monsters)
My theory is that the impression was mainly caused because there wasn't just one Jedi that used his Force Slam each encounter. In a more mixed group, some of the enemies would have been taken out by automatic blaster fire or grenades instead of force slams.
In a group with 3 soldiers with blaster rifles, they would naturally seem domineering too.
At least, that's my theory.
You know it's funny, because I brought up the same problem with Force Slam...and was basically told I wasn't a good GM because I didn't use situations to neutralize the effectivenes of the power. Which IMHO is bull( I shouldn't have to artificially create siutuations that minimize force slam). Their basic tactic was for each jedi to Force Slam a group or even a single opponent(4 jedi w/two force slams each is 8 used per encounter). The soldier would then pick off the few who survived.
Force Slam is an extremely effective and dominant power, though I will admit I had an all jedi and one soldier party. It not only does 4d6 points of damage(6d6 if you're willing to spend a force point) to multiple enemies, it also knocks them prone(which eliminates the chance that those who survive can spread out and attack next round). It also does half damage(but no knock prone) if it fails. With the static saves and the boosts a jedi can take to his UTF skill it can become quite the GM bane in a majority jedi group. Even if the jedi only has an ability modifier of +2 & UTF as trained and focused he starts with a +12 to this power at first level.
Now to put this in perspective...It's a ranged attack that is a 30' cone and is vs. Fort defense power and here are a few Fort defenses and hp's for different level opponents in the rulebook, and remember this is all for a 1st level jedi.
CL1 Stormtrooper Fort Defense 12 hp's: 10 (jedi has 100% hit and avg dmg 14/21)
CL2 Clone Trooper Fort Defense 13 hp's: 21 (jedi has 95% hit and avg dmg 14/21)
CL5 Assasin Fort Defense 14 hp's: 27 (jedi has 90% hit and avg dmg 14/21)
CL7 Bounty Hunter Fort Defense 20 hp's: 64 (jedi has 60% hit and avg dmg 14/21)
NOTE: the second dmg score is if they spend a force point.
The thing about a soldier with grenades or using auto-fire is that his attks are vs. Reflex. This creates an imbalance because he will never at first level have an attk bonus equal to a jedi's UTF skil, BAB doesn't scale like skills. The second problem is auto fire is a -5 to hit and only targets a 10' by 10' square(I believe this is the same with grenades). Grenades do 4d6(unless were talking tossing around thermal detonators) and blasters do 3d8..now check out the Reflex defenses of the same opponents.
Stormtrooper Ref Defense:16 (Soldier hits 50%/25%; avg dmg=14+2/13+3)
Clone Trooper Ref Defense: 17 (soldiier hits 45%/20%)
Assasin Ref Defense: 20(FF 17) (soldier hits 30%/5%/45%FF)
Bounty Hunter Ref Defense 23(FF 21) (soldier hits 15%/5%nat. 20/25%FF)
NOTE: Second score is with the -5 for autofire.
Now assuming a soldier has BAB +1, Ability modifier +3(let's be generous), weapon specialization talent(+2 to damage), Point Blank shot(+1 to hit and dmg on the autofire) and weapon focus +1...he get's a +6 vs. the jedi's +12 at level one and does. Then has to face higher defenses for his attacks. IMHO there is definitely an imbalance here, mainly because skills don't scale the same as class abilities.
