Star Wars d20: mêlée combat?

[Agback]

Star Wars d20: mêlée combat?

G'day

I've just started in my first Star Wars d20 campaign, and even more recently bought myself a copy of the rulebook. One thing strikes me as odd, and that is a surprising emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. I would have thought that anyone (except a Jedi with the ability to deflect or absorb blaster bolts) who tried to rely on mêlée combat would find himself reduced to a cinder before he closed to mêlée range with the typical blaster-wielder.

So could somebody with experience of the system let me know what turns out in play? Is the mêlée specialist viable, or do missile weapons rule?

Regards,


Agback

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Ranged combat predominates... Star Wars is more of a Space Western genre, than a Space Fantasy.

However, some situations make melee combat preferable. Combat with in a large crowd of innocents (wouldn't want a stray blaster to kill a bysander, eh?), combat aboard a starship (oops, that blaster bolt just slagged the navicomp), magnetically sealed garbage compactors, etc...

 

[NMC]

Melee in Star Wars

I agree with Jack on this one. While Jedi kick some in hand-to-hand, the vast majority of characters seem to stick to ranged combat.

Now that attacks of opportunity have made the Jedi even more dangerous, I think most characters will stay even farther away from them. Since using a blaster weapon normally doesn't provoke an aoo, most people will stick with it.