[SWd20] To those who want Episode III goodies

[DnDChick]

The Star Wars D20 page has delivered: Stats for Palpatine, General Grievous, Anakin Skywalker, and Greivous' bodyguard droids, plus new weapons, full-cybernetic conversion, and other goodies!

Revenge of the Sith Villains

Note that this is the "first in a series of articles about Revenge of the Sith."

Nifty!

 

[Committed Hero]

So rumors of it's death are exaggerated. Cool.

 

[DnDChick]

I was happy to see this. My campaign is set about a year after EpIII, so none of the published stats for Darth Vader that I have access to really fit what he would be like at that time. Having the EpIII Anakin Skywalker makes it easier for me to up him a level or two and slap on some cybernetics to make the newbie version of Darth Vader that I'd need to terrorize my Jedi players.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I love the new builds for Palpy and Anakin. Good to see them making use of the supplementary material.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I love the new builds for Palpy and Anakin. Good to see them making use of the supplementary material.

Yes, it is rather interesting to note that Palpatine didn’t level at all after Episode III…

Also interesting to note that they say Darth Plagueis trained him… Weren’t we debating that sometime ago?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Yes, it is rather interesting to note that Palpatine didn’t level at all after Episode III…

Well, Vader does all the work for him by then.

Also interesting to note that they say Darth Plagueis trained him… Weren’t we debating that sometime ago?

By the movie, its debatable. By the novel...Palpy outright says it.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

By the movie, its debatable. By the novel...Palpy outright says it.

Heh, good to see you finally on my side...

Oh and I don't buy your Vader did the work for him, he did lots of it, but you do get XP for being alive... (RP bonuses, etc. )

I find it far more likely that it’s the 20 level cap issue... (This is the third or fourth time we've seen this happen, KotoR, Palpatine, Yoda, and I do believe Darth Vader is 20th level in the Core book is he not?)

 

[Aeson]

They need epic levels for some of the iconic characters.

 

[wingsandsword]

Yay! This is a ray of hope for the RPG. (And at least if it dies, they've started filling in the one real gap in stats/game mechanics in the game with Episode III). This is going to be very useful (my new campaign currently in planning is set in the Clone Wars, and going into the aftermath and rise of the Empire, so these will be very useful, those MagnaGuard stats are one thing I was explicitly wanting).

I find it interesting they completely re-did Palpatine's character build from Noble/Dark Side Devotee/Sith Acolyte/Sith Lord into Noble/Dark Side Marauder/Sith Warrior/Sith Lord after Episode III.

Yes, it's the level 20 cap issue. Yoda and the Emperor were both 20th level, Vader in the original trilogy was 18th. Of course, there is very little to stop you from making your own Epic level stats for the Emperor for the Rebellion era. The epic level rules work pretty cleanly for Star Wars (most of the Epic feats have got to go), Epic levels in just more abilty points, Vitality, the small epic rise in BAB and save, and more skill points would do fine (and the bonus feats).

I both love and hate the new Episode III Anakin stats. I like that they gave him Jedi Ace (and Jedi Weapon Master) levels, but as of the assault on the temple, how could he have the prereqs for Sith Lord? Unless they are changing that too, it requires 8 ranks in Knowledge (Sith Lore), Read/Write Sith, Speak Sith and a total of 8 Ranks in Dark Side force skills. Would Anakin just happened to have that when he went to confront the Chancellor? I also don't like the idea of Anakin gaining 6 or 7 levels during the Clone Wars (the version of him in the RotS Minis book is Fringer 1/JG 11, this is F 1/JG 5/Jedi Ace 2/Jedi Weapon Master 3/Sith Lord 2), and his Episode II version was Fringer 1, JG 5. Movie characters gain levels pretty slowly in Star Wars, and by all the other EU materials Anakin was only knighted as a Jedi about 6 months prior to Episode III, although it has been suggested that maybe the council withheld his Knighthood longer than it should have been (in other words, they didn't confer it at Level 7), giving Anakin real reason to be upset. The only other character who gains levels at a rate of about 2/year was Luke (who went from Fringer 2 to Fringer 2/Jedi Guardian 7 during the 3 & 1/2 years of the original trilogy).

 

[DnDChick]

I don't have the PDF here with me, so I may be inaccurate in what I am about to say, but:

I don't have the Dark Side Sourcebook, but I have the revised versions of the PrCs that I downloaded from the StarWars FAQ site.

According to that PDQ, a Jedi that becomes a Sith can forego most of the requirements of a Sith PrC because the Sith are so pleased that a Jedi has fallen to the Dark Side so completely.

Or something to that effect.

That might be the rule they are evoking to make Anankin a Sith Lord so easily.


... as for how he gained levels so rapidly, that I can't answer.