Star Wars Saga Edition [SECR] Preview #2 is Up

[jezter6]

I'd bet that disarming a bomb would be 'Trained Only' use, likely falling under a streamlined Repair skill.

 

[delericho]

First, the request was for "an example."

Agreed. And thank you.

- Disarming a bomb

Now, is that something that is actually impossible without training, or is that something that you really shouldn't be trying without training for reasons that are very obvious?

 

[JPL]

I'm liking all of these changes.

Of course Star Wars heroes have a decent shot at defusing a bomb. One lucky shot by a farmboy blows up the Death Star and you think the bombs are going to be hero-proof? No, sir.

Now, to get to that bomb, you will have a lot of people shoot at you and miss, you will have to travel to strange lands and face terrible dangers and survive by the skin of your teeth with the help of unlikely allies thrown together by Fate. You might even kiss your sister in a weird way. But once a Star Wars hero goes through all of that, he will be able to defuse that bomb, whether it's Yoda or Jar-Jar.

Maybe one of the differences between science fiction and space fantasy is that in the former, there's at least some lip service to laws of physics and engineering. In the latter, it's just cool special effects that dress up a timeless tale of heroism and derring-do.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't see any problem with the absence of Craft skills - someone mentioned 'what about poetry or painting' - but to be honest, how often does that EVER come up as a pivotal point in a campaign? It is easier to just include it as (DM-approved) flavour for a character, really.

I quite like the idea of effectively giving characters level/2 'ranks' in everything, with a +5 bonus for trained skills (however they are assigned) and an additional +5 bonus for Skill Focus.

"Round the corner run a bunch of 6th level thugs. I know instantly that they have +3 on initiative check and +8 on their intimidate (persuade) check".

I've run a game for a long, long while with initiative as a skill check, and I've not seen any problems with it. Some scouty types have pumped their 'awareness' skill, most haven't bothered at all.

 

[Ranger REG]

I don't see any problem with the absence of Craft skills - someone mentioned 'what about poetry or painting' - but to be honest, how often does that EVER come up as a pivotal point in a campaign? It is easier to just include it as (DM-approved) flavour for a character, really.

Not in Star Wars, but maybe in d20 Modern.

 

[JohnSnow]

Of course Star Wars heroes have a decent shot at defusing a bomb. One lucky shot by a farmboy blows up the Death Star and you think the bombs are going to be hero-proof? No, sir.

"In my experience, there's no such thing as LUCK."

Maybe one of the differences between science fiction and space fantasy is that in the former, there's at least some lip service to laws of physics and engineering. In the latter, it's just cool special effects that dress up a timeless tale of heroism and derring-do.

Well, to be fair, what usually happens in most adventure stories is that the main character is just ridiculously talented. The number of times we have heroes confront situations they just don't have the skills for is nil.

Consider James Bond. He can, with reasonable proficiency: shoot a gun, fight hand to hand, or with a knife, run, climb, jump, drive a car, ride a motorcycle, pilot a boat, fly a plane, fly a helicopter, drive a tank, sneak into a base, bypass a security system, ski, surf, skydive, scuba dive, bungee jump, hack a computer, swordfight, pick locks, plant explosives, disarm bombs, fast talk, find a secret door, play a mean game of baccarat, blackjack and Texas Hold 'em, and god knows what else.

That jack of all trades thing sounds like it ain't just applicable to Star Wars.

 

[Ranger REG]

I apologize, because I feel I should know, but I admit I don't. What does the [SECR] stands for? Saga Edition Core Rules or what???

Correct on the first try.

Technically, Saga Edition Core Rulebook to follow the predecessor RCR (Revised Core Rulebook) and the original d20 OCR (Original Core Rulebook).

 

[Ranger REG]

I do like the changes to the skill system... for Star Wars. For D&D, I prefer the more complex system we currently have, thanks.

Yeah, but think we should consider consolidating some of the skills in D&D.

 

[JPL]

"In my experience, there's no such thing as LUCK."

Well, to be fair, what usually happens in most adventure stories is that the main character is just ridiculously talented. The number of times we have heroes confront situations they just don't have the skills for is nil.

Consider James Bond. He can, with reasonable proficiency: shoot a gun, fight hand to hand, or with a knife, run, climb, jump, drive a car, ride a motorcycle, pilot a boat, fly a plane, fly a helicopter, drive a tank, sneak into a base, bypass a security system, ski, surf, skydive, scuba dive, bungee jump, hack a computer, swordfight, pick locks, plant explosives, disarm bombs, fast talk, find a secret door, play a mean game of baccarat, blackjack and Texas Hold 'em, and god knows what else.

That jack of all trades thing sounds like it ain't just applicable to Star Wars.

Certainly, there are a lot of pulp / cinematic genres where that's the norm for the heroes. With James Bond, perhaps it's more a matter of "this guy is the best of the best of the best", while in Star Wars, I see it more as the universe gettting out of the way so the Hero can achieve his Destiny.

I'm a d20 Modern player, mainly, and so far I think I'd like to yoink a lot of these rules for modern era play.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

That jack of all trades thing sounds like it ain't just applicable to Star Wars.

What about Obi-Wan and Han Solo? These two guys were capable of doing all sorts of things with a reasonable degree of competency, excelling in a few select areas. Han excels in piloting and repairs (according to the EU, needed just to keep the Falcon running in the first palce), and Obi-Wan with the Force, general athletics, and probably persausion given his sobriquet of The Negotiator. Both are reasonabley competent in other fields, such as Obi-Wan being a decent pilot (being untrained in that skill), but could barely keep up with Anakin (who is trained and likely has Skill Focus in that same skill).

Bond is a bad example of a typical jack-of-all-trades character, since he's constantly shown in the movies to be world-class in just about anything and everything (effectively he would be considered trained in every single skill).