I need the help of a Star Wars Universe Guru.

[Lord Ravinous]

Could anyone give me an idea of the kind of weapons a TIE Fighter Pilot would be trained with? Blaster Pistols or Blaster Rifles, or both? And what about melee training? Would they give them the skills w/ Vibro Weapons? or just Simple stuff? Any help would be great.
I'm also thinkin of changing out some of the Starting Feats for the Soldier to show different training, like Heavy Weapons for Starship Operation (Starfighter), and other stuff along those lines, whadda ya'll think?

TO THE MODS: pls don't put an [OT] tag on my subject, this is for my Star Wars d20 char. Thx

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Well, they don't seem to train them to fly, and their life expectancy has got to be measured in minutes, so they probably don't get any weapons training.

This is one of those things that doesn't work well in SW, I think. They would probably have the pistol/rifle proficiency(ies), in that they would have gotten rudimentary training, but they would not be nearly as good with them as a Stormtrooper (not that Stormtroopers seem to be any good...).

In game terms, if TIE pilot is a PrC, then I would not add any weapon proficiencies. Since you'd have to be a member of the Imperial Navy to qualify for the PrC, they'd have gotten their small arms training there. If they are intended to be an NPC class, it wouldn't hurt to give it to them.


FWIW, a friend of mine that was in the US Air Force said that they got one morning's worth of firearms training in Basic.

 

[Aaron2]

In my Imperial SW game I give TIE Pilots Simple Weapons and Blaster Pistols.

I've got a chart for both enlisted and officers that vary by specialization. Here goes:

Enlisted men (grunts etc):

All get simple weapon, blaster pistols and light armor.

Vehicle Crewman
- Starship Operations or Vehicle Operations

Infantry
- Weapon Group Proficiency (blaster rifles)
- Weapon Group Proficiency (vibro weapons)
- Armor Proficiency (medium)*

Heavy Infantry
- Weapons Weapon Group Proficiency (blaster rifles)
- Weapon Group Proficiency (heavy weapons)
- Armor Proficiency (medium)*

Security
- Weapon Group Proficiency (blaster rifles)
- Alertness Bonus Feats


Officers get the following based on what brance of the Imperial Space Academy they went to:
All get simple weapon, blaster pistols and light armor.

Exploration
- Starship Operation (transport) or Starship Operation (capitol ship)
- Bonus Class Skill: Astrogate

Starfleet
- Starship Operation (any)
- Bonus Class Skill: Pilot

Merchant Services
- Starship Operation (transport) or Starship Operation (capitol ship)
- Bonus Class Skill: Appraise

*Stormtrooper armor is considered Medium armor in my game


Don't diss the TIE fighters. They gave better than they took in ANH and they have an ejection system unlike any of the Rebel fighters.


Aaron

 

[Lord Ravinous]

Wouldn't an Imperial Fighter Pilot get proficiency w/ their Armored Flight Suit? Or do you consider it light?

 

[Piratecat]

TO THE MODS: pls don't put an [OT] tag on my subject, this is for my Star Wars d20 char. Thx

It sure is! In which case, it belongs in the correct forum for Star Wars stuff, which is not this one. I'll gladly slide it over.

 

[Warrior Poet]

Dingleberry, I believe Lord Ravinous requests help in an area of your expertise, or, at least, with which you have some familiarity ...

Warrior Poet

 

[Dingleberry]

Well, I don't know the Star Wars d20 system very well, but in the classic WEG d6 system, the only personal weapon they had any modicum of training with was the blaster pistol. They also had significant training in starfighter skills (piloting, gunnery, sensors, repair), decent knowledge of planetary systems, and some minimal command training.

[nostalgia]
Man, the d6 system was sweet. In addition to being the backbone for the best SW campaign I'll ever be a part of, Warriot Poet adapted it for a low-magic D&D game in which he GMd my (clumsy) ninja and another player's paladin wannabe in a city-based campaign. Worked great.
[/nostalgia]

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The Dragonstar rules contain the Pilot Class (I believe the new D20 Starwars edition does also), they have simple & martial weapon profiency, but this might be due to the fact that starship weapons are considered martial weapons.

Probably every Pilot is proficient with simple weapons (because everybody is, I think), and with Blaster Pistols. This weapon is small enough to be carried with you as a pilot, and if you have to make an emergency landing, you should be trained and equipped with a simple firearm...

According to my experience as a TIE FIghter pilot in the computer game, TIE Fighter pilots are well trained. Their only weakness is the bad shield system (they don`t have one), so they must rely on their ships maneuverability and small size to avoid being killed - or on their ejection system.

According to my experience as a X-Wing pilot in the computer game, the odds between rebel and imperial are 1 X-Wing vs. 3 TIE Fighters...
Rebel ships had also an ejection system, but unfortunately, rebel pilots that escaped with this system were often captured by imperial troups - the hit and run attacks of rebels made it really difficult for them to pick up the lost pilots...
And the ejection system had often failures, due to weapon hits - unlike TIE Fighters, most rebel ships could survive more then 2 direct Laser Hits, but anyway took some internal damage, which sometimes damaged the ejection systems...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Lord Ravinous]

Thanks all, wasn't real sure on some stuff, but ya'll cleared it up. Here's what I've got so far for a Fighter Pilot.

Fighter Pilot (Var. Soldier)

1d10 Vitality
4+Int Skill Pts./ level
1d6x500 Credits

Starting Feats:
Armor Proficiency (Light Armor)
*Armor Proficiency (Medium Armor)
Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons)
Weapon Proficiency (Blaster Pistols)
Starship Operation (Starfighter)

Class Skills: Astrogate (Int), Computer Use (Int), Intimitdate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Pilot (Dex), Repair (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Treat Injury (Int)

1st level: **Bonus Feat

Pilot Bonus Feat List: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Gearhead, Heroic Surge, Improved Critical, Improved Initiative, ^Maneuver Expertise, ^Pinpoint Accuracy, Point Blank Shot, Skill Emphasis (any class skill), Spacer, Starship Dodge, ^Starship Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus

* This is for the Imperial Armored Flightsuit only
** This represents an additional trick the pilot picked up in the academy (and replaces the lack of a starting feat)
^ Feat can be found in "Starships of the Galaxy" splatbook

Does this look ok? If not, tell me what you think.

Edit: Do ya'll think it'd be ok to make the Medium Armor Prof. cover all Medium armors? For game rules sake? If not, maybe there could be a price of like 4 skill points to change it into the Full Feat. Dunno, don't wanna screw w/ the way feats work if I can help it. If it ain't too unbalancing I'll just make it the full feat.

 

[Prince Atom]

I'd say TIE pilots are trained with blaster pistols and vibroblades at the very least. A crosstrained pilot could have a lot of weapon proficiencies.

But I'd go with those for starters. If they're Soldiers they'll get a lot of extra feats, and you can buy more for them.

As for the ejection system, I've seen two cases. One says TIEs have an ejection seat (mainly so the protagonists flying them could survive), and the other says they don't.

The TIE's main weakness is its lack of shielding and firepower. From a meta viewpoint, they were really there to harass Luke and get shot down pretty quickly. I don't think we're seeing their full potential in any of the movies.

My point is, there are two ways you can go about it. If you want a cinematic feel, give TIE pilots (and stormies, for that matter) a single level of Thug, proficiency with whatever weapon they carry, and let 'em go down easy. If you want a low-power feel, then give them several levels of Thug or even Soldier and let them get pretty bad-ass. The downside is, if the players are expecting a cinematic game, they'll likely feel pretty weak when a single stormie can give them trouble.

Enjoy!

TWK