[SWSE] Observation about ability scores...

[Donovan Morningfire]

What I'm curious to see is con will become more of a dump stat. It still an important stat, but at first glance doesn't seem as critical. We will see if the damage threshold still makes it an important stat to keep high.

But once again, charisma is one of those stats that's only useful if your character uses it. No system ever seems to put in a basic use for charisma that effects everyone, like encumberance and strength, etc.

Well, given how deadly combat can be in Star Wars, I don't see CON ever truly being a dump stat. One of the most common weapons in the game, the blaster pistol, does 3d6 damage. While not as deadly to a 1st level SECR character, it can still prove dangerous to someone with a CON penalty, especially if they're playing a Noble or Scoundrel (the two classes most likely to use CON as a dump stat).

I'll agree Charisma is one of those "need it or don't" stats. Nobles need it by virtue of their core function (party talker), while Jedi really need it if they want to be any good at working their Force mojo.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

And it's probably also worth noting that, like in most versions of the Star Wars RPG, a melee Wookie can be truly scary.

Very true. At least d20 resolved the "Wookiee PCs shrugging off blaster rifle fire" that occured under SWd6. But under SECR, I have a Wookiee Pugilist pre-gen that when he hits is almost guarenteed to drop you down the condition track (unless you're of a much higher level than he is), and can one-punch stormtroopers even more effectively than he could under RCR

 

[Destil]

Note one aspect of the system is with a good Toughness feat available and 6x HP at 1st level you're putting 8s into Con and not shooting the character in the foot. Something I really like.

Also, a big drawback of Str is that it's the worst remaining offender with skills that are too narrow. Jump, Climb and Swim makes the ability less useful (because you'd need to dedicate a lot of trained skills to being able to do much with it), not more... a real shame they aren't all Athletics.

I was considering simply adding Cha modifier to your base action points every level in my Eberron game, but never really got around to making the house rule.

 

[Nifft]

That's a good idea, actually.

Per-session Force points makes it REALLY EASY to run NPCs, too -- since you don't have to track anything like how many they've spent between sessions or if they've leveled since the last time they fought the PCs.


However, I'm thinking about 1 + 1/4 level + Cha bonus (min 1) every session. At 1st level, that's 1-3 per session (rather than 5 total); at 20th level, that's (1+5+Cha) 6-10 per session (rather than 15 total).

Assuming a level lasts 3 to 4 sessions, this system gives a few more Force points than the PCs would usually have. However, it's worth considering that the usual allotment may all be used in one big "boss fight" -- the PCs may not spend their Force Points at a constant rate. So giving them a few extras early won't overpower them, so long as they have at least one encounter before (or after) the "boss fight" in the same session.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Aust Diamondew]

In games that I use action points the character's add their charisma modifier as a bonus to the number they get. I'll eventually do the same thing in my star wars game but I want to run the game vanilla for a while first.

It's always bothered me that charisma doesn't do something mildly useful mechanically for all characters.

Strengths the same way to a lesser extent.

 

[Nifft]

Strengths the same way to a lesser extent.

Strength to Fort defense makes sense in some cases... I'd leave Con to damage threshold.

Hmm, -- N

 

[ValhallaGH]

Strength to Fort defense makes sense in some cases... I'd leave Con to damage threshold.

Like Droids?
Not every character needs to be Strong, just like not every character needs to be Quick, Tough, Smart, Wise or Personable. Changing the mechanics so that every character needs to be these things is very unfun, especially to the guys that roll a number of 6s during character creation.

It's always bothered me that charisma doesn't do something mildly useful mechanically for all characters.

Of course it does. It modifies social interaction rolls. Those come up all the time, even for characters with a 6 Charisma; characters like my gungan bounty hunter that had to make numerous Persuasion, Deception, and Gather Informaiton rolls last night.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Sorry, double post.