Star Wars Saga Edition [SECR] Preview #4 is Up

[nerfherder]

-Right, but Rapid Shot is still just one die roll. Then they have a rule (still yet to be revealed) concerning two weapons, huh?

Yes - as I said, you can see an example of TWF in the Trandoshan Mercenary's stats.

Weird! I mean in StarWars there is nothing standard about two arms. Some critters have more arms some even have fewer.

I like the idea of one attack (die roll) per turn. But that's just me.

My guess is you can attack in two directions or some such when equipped with a brace of pistols. Still just one attack (Die roll, though).

It will be interesting to see the rules for TWF, and the Feats and Talents that effect it.

 

[nerfherder]

Although there is the hint in the Trandoshan's entry: "limb regeneration"

Arguably that would only be significant if there was a possibility of limb loss, so we can hope...

It has definitely been mentioned by the designers (before the previews, IIRC) that there will be limb loss. I think it's in one of the sticky threads on the Wizards board - the transcript of a presentation, I think.

 

[nerfherder]

Apart from the big stuff mentioned already, this caught my eye (my emphasis)



I wonder if they are formalising some form of 'fumble' for checks?

Some skills had explicit bad failure levels before (e.g. fail climb check by 5+ and fall), it would be interesting to see if they do something across all skills/checks

Good spot! I noticed that, then promptly forgot about it.

The other thing of notice is that ability checks are still present (there was some debate about whether they would be dropped entirely).

 

[iwatt]

Yes - as I said, you can see an example of TWF in the Trandoshan Mercenary's stats.

I thought that was from his martial arts feats...

 

[nerfherder]

I thought that was from his martial arts feats...

By TWF, I just meant fighting with two weapons (claws, in this case), rather than the TWF feat - my fault for not being clearer.

 

[iwatt]

By TWF, I just meant fighting with two weapons (claws, in this case), rather than the TWF feat - my fault for not being clearer.

I hadn't noticed the claws.

Still, let me see if I can figure the math:

Melee unarmed +7 (1d8+3) or
Melee unarmed –3 (1d8+3) and unarmed –3 (1d8+3)

Seems like quite the hefty penalty for 2 atatcks

+7 or -3/-3 ...... You don't even have to do the math to realize which one is better

Martial Arts I, Martial Arts II

these would seem to vastly increase damage (1d8 is a lot for an unarmed strike)

 

[McBard]

I just meant fighting with two weapons (claws, in this case), rather than the TWF feat

Yeah, I'm assuming the Merc's two melee attacks come from one of the Martial Arts feats...perhaps they'll be called "Double Attacks" (similar to Minis game ability of same name).

On another note, is it too soon to assume that the Saga action mechanic has done away with the concept of "full-round" actions? It seems they could be replaced with multiple swift actions.

For instance, from Preview 4, it says that Mighty Swing "lets [one] spend two swift actions to gain +1 die of damage on a melee attack." Therefore, to make a Mighty Swing one would spend the automatic swift action (1) + move action AS a swift action (2) + standard action for the actual attack.

Theoretically, D&D rules would word Mighty Swing as "take a full-round action to make a single melee attack, and gain +1 die of damage on the attack", or something. So, it seems Saga could potentially do away with full-round actions...

 

[3d6]

It looks like they've eliminated the off-hand. If that two attack routine the trando has is Two-Weapon Fighting, he's adding his full Strength bonus to the attack with his off hand, and his off hand has the same attack bonus as his primary hand.

 

[McBard]

...his off hand has the same attack bonus as his primary hand...

Yes, good point--and further evidence that his attack routine might be called a "Double Attack".

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Seems like quite the hefty penalty for 2 atatcks

+7 or -3/-3 ...... You don't even have to do the math to realize which one is better

My guess is that it's either supposed to be +3/+3 (a -4 penalty, which is still pretty harsh, admittedly - but perhaps fair if it's the only way to get multiple attacks) or each attack is at a -3 penalty.