Star Wars Saga, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[mcrow]

I'm an old WEG SW fan. Some people don't see that there is much changed between Saga and the other d20 versions. I say, you arn't looking close enough to find all the stuff.

The biggest: Damage & the condition track. This is the greatest thing to happen to d20 since it was invented.

You get to raise two stats 1 point every fourth instead of 1, one point

The skill system: no more ranks (that the rpg gods). Love the "trained" skill rule. Consolidated skills, simple is better IMO. Almost all skills can be attempted untrained, big plus in my book. I like that you have to use a feat to get more trained skills.

Force: using a "use the force skill" is very cool and keeps is simple , plus you automatically get some powers just by selecting it. The Powers are almost perfect.

Destiny: I like it, though it seems a littl forced. NPI.

The NPC generation and Droid section rock on toast. Again, much more simple yet robust.

really, I could not be happier with Saga. WotC managed to convert an old WEG d6 fan.

 

[breschau]

I'm an old WEG fan too, I can't wait to see what WotC has done to the system.

 

[pawsplay]

I ordered mine from Amazon last Friday and got it on Wednesday with free shipping for $26.37.... I am totally happy with it

I took advantage of the free shipping to throw in a couple of packs of Alliance and Empire, too. Mine should be here by next Wed.

 

[ValhallaGH]

It's been there for a few days now. The link is from Saga Edition corebook page, not the downloads page. Here is a direct link.
http://www.wizards.com/starwars/downloads/SW_charsheet.pdf

Thank you very much. I had not been able to find that at all.

 

[Jer]

Funny, i never would have considered that a roleplaying dealbreaker.

If you aren't mathematically minded, and you've just been shoved a piece of paper with a list of number on it, a handful of dice of multiple shapes, and you're trying to juggle all of that while someone is telling you the 1-2-1 rule, I could see deciding that it's too much work for the expected level of fun. Especially if they've been roped into it by a friend and aren't sure if they're going to like it anyway, or if they're a computer gamer trying out a pencil-and-paper RPG for the first time.

Of course, I still have people in my group who have trouble telling a d12 from a d20 and wondering why they can't hit anything on a given night, so my experience with math-hating folks might be greater than average...

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Of course, I still have people in my group who have trouble telling a d12 from a d20

Key is to tell them that a d20 is made of triangles, a d12 is not, usually seems to help the newbs I've gamed with.

 

[Felon]

Well, you can immediately burn one to prevent death, even if it means breaking the "one force point per turn" rule, so I'd say they are pretty darn critical!

Well, it certainly might seem critical to a PC who is about to die, but in a more objective sense, it's only really critical if the PC's deaths are extremely likely to happen without them (like, say, WarHammer RPG, where fate points are also a finite resource resource). I'd say the saga edition delivers some pretty hardy heroes.

 

[Felon]

In which case, you should be able to save them up between levels.

Roll over points, huh? A magic item that recharges daily doesn't let unspent charges from the previous day accrue. I currently allow AP's to accrue in my campaign, but I actually am starting to have regrets. Players overstuffed with AP's are a problem, because it equpis them to ruin certain encounters that were intended to be challenging (deadly even).

Wasn't there something about regaining force points between fights, though?

I think that's the condition track you're thinking of, although I do believe there is a force talent that allows force points to be recovered under certain conditions.

 

[Felon]

Force talents are an interesting concept that nobody's talked about yet AFAIK. They are talent trees that aren't linked to a class, but rather are available to any character with the Force Sensitive feat. When you level, you can take a force talent in the place of a class talent.

There are trees for non-jedi traditions too--Sith, Witches of Dathomir, and some other one that the Jedis picked on (the old Jedi council sometimes sound like a bunch of intolerant fascists).

 

[Felon]

Something I got a big beef with is the inequity between certain classes. You look at how things pan out and tell me if anybody gets the short end of the stick:

HIT DICE
Noble, Scoundrel--d6
Scout--d8
Jedi, Soldier--d10

SKILLS TRAINED
Jedi--2
Soldier--3
Scoundrel--4
Scout--5
Noble--6

BAB
Noble, Scoundrel, Scout--Tops out at +15
Jedi, Soldier--Tops out at +20