Need some advice with joining a D20 Star Wars game

[Abraxas]

Howdy all. . .

A friend of mine is starting up a Star Wars D20 campaign and I have some questions. Initially there will only be 2 players beside the GM and each of us will run 2 characters - so 4 PCs total. We are using a 30 point buy and are allowed to use any race from the Ultimate Alien Anthology.

I haven't played any of the star wars rpgs and really don't know much about the setting other than the movies. I am leaning toward playing 1 jedi and 1 non jedi (perhaps a non combat oriented type)

So my questions are

1) what mix of characters would you suggest for a 4 PC party?

2) what Race/Class combos are interesting?

3) what array of ability scores would you buy for the Race/Class combo you suggest given 30 points to buy them with?

I'm not looking for the ultimate in min/maxing but I do want to have an effective character and not regret choices because of no experience with this system.

Thanx everyone

 

[d4]

from my experience GMing Star Wars, i would suggest either an all-Jedi party or a no-Jedi party.

the times when i've had mixed parties have always turned out bad.

 

[Abraxas]

Really?

What are the major problems with the mixed parties?
Would having straight Jedi and Jedi multiclassed characters work better?

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

ultimate in min/maxing but I do want to have an effective character and not regret choices because of no experience with this system.

Well, a few things:

1) A PILOT!!!! And a backup pilot, too. At least one of each of your characters needs to have Starship Operation: Transport for your ship.

Said primary pilot should probably be built off of Soldier first, for good BAB, all the useful skills in-class, and boatloads of feats. If you have Starships of the Galaxy, Deep Space Pilot is cool, and then Starship Ace if he's going to specialize in piloting.

2) Droids are cheap, useful, and plentiful. If you have Arms & Equipment Guide, you'll find plenty of examples of droids with useful things...like, the TTS-15 Tutorial droid, who has so many skills in-class it's not funny. Use your droids to fill needed skills.

3) Have at least one character who can talk to people. Jedi Consulars can do that fairly easily.

4) People without good attack can benefit from grenade launchers, since close counts.

5) Stun is MEAN. If I stun you, you drop what you're carrying and lose your next action. You're not helpless, but you can easily fall into a stun spiral, esp. if you're outnumbered. And, sure, MOST of the time you have to be within 2m to stun, those grenade launchers can toss stun grenades, which the Jedi can't deflect (per Hero's Guide).

Brad

 

[Abraxas]

Thanks - I'll check out the arms & equipment guide - never thought of having lots o droids. And I like the stun grenade idea a lot also.

There's a race in the alien anthology that is telepathic - perhaps I'll use that so we can talk with lots of folks - unless telepathy requires being able to speak the language.
As for multiple pilots - we had planned on having 2 characters with pilot skills.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

A Force Adept is GREAT for getting to use the Force w/o all the hang-ups and "issues" tied into a Jedi.

 

[humble minion]

The character mix question really depends on the GM and game style. I'm running a long-term SW campaign with one Jedi, one Force Adept, and two non-Force users, and we have had minimal problems.

I'd suggest that each character be good at two things minimum. For instance, our Soldier is good at blaster combat and piloting. Or scoundrel is good at computers and social skills, with a sideline in piloting. Our Force Adept is good at Force powers and social skills. The skill DCs required to do most tasks aren't terribly high, so overspecialising your character isn't really necessary.

The Jedi is good at cutting stuff up with a lightsaber. Jedi tend to be one-dimensional, and rely on other characters to do a lot of the background stuff. Nobody tops them in close combat though.

The general areas you should make sure the group can cover are piloting, close combat, ranged combat, computers and tech, and social skills. Force use gives you a few advantages and extra options in some of these areas, but is not essential in any of them.

The stun rules are widely believed to be a mess. The great majority of games that I have heard of use house-rules of some sort for stun. Just a warning before you base your character around exploiting that little loophole...