The Star Wars Mega-thread

[seneschal]

Rancor

Rancors are biped reptilian prairie hunters native to the planet Dathomir, although a colorful forest-loving subspecies exists on Felucia.  They are 16 feet, 1.8 short tons of ravenous meanness, although Imperial scholars who have never encountered one insist they are not naturally aggressive.  The same scholars say rancors are semi-sentient.  What is indisputable is that their tough hide can shrug off laser pistol fire.

The creatures have tiny black eyes, flat and drooling muzzles crammed with jagged fangs, and long arms ending in giant grasping claws.  Their typical hunting technique is chase, grab and bite.  Humanoids are as potato chips to them.  No rancor worth its slimy spittle can eat just one.

Some wealthy, unprincipled individuals have been known to import rancors as trophy pets, useful for disposing of unwanted guests.  Gee, who would be rotten enough to do that?

STR  6d6+30 (51)

CON  4d6+12  (26)

SIZ  7.5d6+15  (34)

INT  1d6+3. (6-7)

POW  3d6  (10-11)

DEX  3d6  (10-11)

MOV  10

HP  30

DB  +4d6

Armor  15 (ridiculously tough hide)

Attacks:  Bite 50%, 2d6+4d6; Claws 50%, 1d10; Stomp 40%, 2d6+1/2DB

Skiis:

Edited October 31, 2019 by seneschal
Stat corrections

[Atgxtg]

Your rancor isn't bad but a few things are off.

CON: How does 4d6+42  average 26? Did you want 4d6+12 (26)or 4d6+42 (56)

SIZ: 7.5d6? Anyway SIZ 34 is a bit too small.  Wookiepedia lists them at 5m tall and 1650kg (over a ton and a half), that would be about SIZ 48 on the SIZ table.  Assuming the same STR, this would bump it's db up to 5D6. Yes, bad new for the players.

Hit Points: suggests that your wanted 4d6+12 for CON. 

Stomp: Most creatures that can stomp usually only add half their db to the damage, which should still be enough to  flatten a PC.

[seneschal]

Yeah, I was trying to throw this together late last night using allosaur stats from multiple sources to try to sort things out, and I didn't have access to any SIZ chart that could handle 1.8 short tons mass.  Which of course affected my ability to calculate Hit Points and Damage Bonus.  I got the 7.5+15 thing from one of your old SIZ discussions where you said a rough ballpark figure for large bipeds would be 3d6+6 per 2 meters of height.  Our rancor is 5 meters (16.25 feet), so that's where I guesstimated the calculation.  I also figured that the rancor, being smaller and lighter than an allosaurus, wouldn't be quite as brawny.

[Atgxtg]

I thought it was a bit rushed for one of your postings.Your stats are usually more solid.

BTW, there are a few tricks that can help with statting up creatures. It's stuff that some of us figured out when working on an aborted bestiary.

First off, the mass formula from Superworld, which is used as the base formula for RQ3 and most later versions of BRP is 2^(SIZ/8)*25 kg. I've got a table for this, originally from Suerpworld and RQ3 that can give you a SIZ score for any given mass. This also makes it easy to figure out stats for golems, robots and other creatures not made of flesh, by using specfic gravity (density)  to determine their actual weight. Useful if you wanted to stat up something like Talos from Jason and the Argonauts.

What that means is that every time you increase SIZ by 8 you double the mass.

Also if you double the height, length and depth of a creature, you multiply the mass by eight. and increase SIZ by 24.

STR increases with area, not volume. In BRP terms that means STR changes by 2 points per 3 points of SIZ. CON generally follows STR, in that larger creatures tend to be tougher. BTW this STR thing is why insects are so strong, as their SIZ falls off faster than their STR, and and why we don't have giants in the real world. The structural strength requited by the giant's skeleton to support it's weight increases slower than the weight does.

DEX does seem to drop off a bit with SIZ as the muscle to mass ratio decreases and because the messages need to be sent further, which takes slightly longer. Roughly this seems to be about -1 DEX per 24 SIZ or so. This can be condensed into anice table that shows what happens if a creature is made twice as big, three times and so forth. (I did one for Giants in Pendragon, although that had slightly different values as the SIZ formula is different in Pendragon).

 

POWER goes up at around 1/4 to 1/3rd SIZ just so that bigger creatures aren't especially vulnerable or easy to control via magic (or the Force). 

So if you took a 6' tall man and used a growth ray to make him a 12' tall giant, his SIZ would increase by 24, and his STR  and CON by 16, and he'd lose a point of DEX.

 

 

Armor is usually a multiple of the damage bonus (0.5x, 1x, 2x, etc).

A creature's maximum attack damage die, seemed to go up a step for every 8 points in SIZ. This was also adjusted upwards for a carnivore and down for a herbivore. Not that every critter did the max, but this allowed us to get values such as the 3D6 bite used for the large shark, as it has a huge mouth to bite with.

 

I actually did up a couple of spreadsheets that helped to automate a lot of this. The idea was that you could enter the stats for a similar creature and scale up the SIZ to get what you wanted, and the spreadsheet would work up the other stats for you. I wasn't perfect, but it put most stats in the right ballpark, and kept all the creature stats on the same scale, so it was internally consistent. They might actually help a GM trying to stat up Star Wars critters.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Atgxtg

[Atgxtg]

Just to put my method into action, here are stats for the Zillo Beast from Clone Wars. Wookieepedia lists it as 67 meters tall and 60,000 metric tons. UI used RQ's rock lizard as the baseline. It's probably about a bit a monster as we'd ever need to stat up, except perhaps a space slug.

 

Zillo Beast

STR 4D6+102 (116)

CON 4D6+102 (116)

SIZ 4D6+155 (169)

INT 2 (fixed)

POW 4D6+35 (49)

DEX 2D6 (7)

 

Move: 15

Hit Points: 143

Damage Bonus: +16D6

Armor: 48 points!  (3x the db, which is why it was so hard for the Republic to stop)

 

Attacks:Claw 40%, 2D6+16D6  Bite 40% 7D6+16D6, Tail Lash 55% 8D6, Trample 75% 16D6

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Atgxtg

[SDLeary]

23 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Actually I think Pendragon will give you less epic fights. More like Tink Boom. As written any hit against an unarmored opponent tends to be a major wound and incapacitates them. So rather than epic sword duels you get one hit fights. D6 has the same problem, at least since 2E. TO deal with those issues I'd suggest:

• Allow characters to dodge blaster attacks. Make this a Dodge skill that starts at DEX. 

That is one of the -isms, and fits the genre and fits the game. Not sure if I'd start THAT high, but yes it fits. As far as Tink Boom, if a lightsaber parries say 10 -ish points, then I think we are back to at least Tink Tink Tink Boom.

23 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

• Medpacs would need to be pretty good. Something like 3d6 healing and the ability to offset the stat loss from major wounds. Yes I know, lots of Jedi lose hands, but the average attack in Pendragon will be a major wound, and we dont want Star Wars heroes to be loosing attributes every time they get hit.

So you adjust the Damage formula a bit to better reflect things. Say /8 rather than /6. Also if you have fists, clubs, and improvised weapons deal less lethal damage, then nothing is really debilitating unless it is a Major Wound (giving broken bones) or with a real weapon, which in genre would be blasters and lightsabers (giving nasty deep burn wounds or cuts). Medpacks  wouldn't necessarily heal that much, but a basic med device on a ship could (not that all ships would have this). And remember... Lightsabers and Blasters... no bleeding most of the time!

As far as attribute loss, I haven't thought about that one yet, but I think that it would be overcome somewhat by tech. Think about Lukes prosthetic hand, or things that have been seen in Clone Wars or Rebels. Despite all his game level stat loss, Vader does pretty well in the movies.

23 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

• For a Lightsaber Duel, instead of doing damage, the Jedi would fight for advantage, and when one side go a large enough advantage for an autowin, they would win the duel, killing or "disarming" their opponent. Most combatants' would try to break off the fight before it got to that point. I mean we could do a normal fight and give protection vales for a lightsaber, but we usually do see a lot of nicks in the films, and the ones we do see are deliberate displays of skill rather than what gets past the parry.

Hmmmm... could work. I think that regular combat would be somewhat easier if we are looking at things in the time of the movies. Your idea sounds like it would fit more with the time before the overthrow of the Temple and the hunt initiated by the Emperor and prosecuted by Vader.

SDLeary

[Atgxtg]

9 hours ago, SDLeary said:

That is one of the -isms, and fits the genre and fits the game. Not sure if I'd start THAT high, but yes it fits. As far as Tink Boom, if a lightsaber parries say 10 -ish points, then I think we are back to at least Tink Tink Tink Boom.

That doesn't fit Star Wars. Jedi don't trade min or hits until one drops. They mostly are unharmed until someone lands a decisive blow, and 10 points of armor won't stop much. Keep in mind that the average character is doing 4d6-5d6 and will do 14-18 points on average. That's assuming a lighsaber doesn't get any bonus. In Pendragon knights get the armor, supplemented by a shield and perhaps the armor of honor, and that soaks up most of the damage, and either completely block s a hit of turns in into a m in or injury. But that model doesn't fit Star Wars.

Lighsabers should pretty much block all the damage on a partial success.  It should probably take a critical success or a failed roll to get past the opponent's guard. One problem I see is that is we go with something like even 20 points then PKS and NPCs will just wind up being big and strong so they can do 6d6 or 7d6 to get past it, kinda what ca n happen in late Pendragon when Plate becomes more common.

We could go the WEG route and just set Lightsaber damage to 5d6 regardless of the character's damage stat, but that doesn't seem to fit with what we know knight and lightsaber forms. 

 

9 hours ago, SDLeary said:

So you adjust the Damage formula a bit to better reflect things. Say /8 rather than /6. Also if you have fists, clubs, and improvised weapons deal less lethal damage, then nothing is really debilitating unless it is a Major Wound (giving broken bones) or with a real weapon, which in genre would be blasters and lightsabers (giving nasty deep burn wounds or cuts). Medpacks  wouldn't necessarily heal that much, but a basic med device on a ship could (not that all ships would have this). And remember... Lightsabers and Blasters... no bleeding most of the time!

I disagree. It's not that the characters is Star Wars are taking less damage. It's that they generally aren't getting hurt at all. This is like how RQ or Pendragon combat compared to D20/D&D. where combat is decided by hit point attrition.

In Star Wars, for the most part the PCs shouldn't get hit-that's what we would need to model. Lightsabers with a very high protection score  will work for Jedi, but we'd need to figure out why Han, Chewie and Leia can run around and not get hit. In the orginal trilogy Leia get's shot twice (stun, flesh wound), and Luke once (robtic hand). 

9 hours ago, SDLeary said:

As far as attribute loss, I haven't thought about that one yet, but I think that it would be overcome somewhat by tech. Think about Lukes prosthetic hand, or things that have been seen in Clone Wars or Rebels. Despite all his game level stat loss, Vader does pretty well in the movies.

I don't thing there should be attribute loss, nor the game be as dark and gritty and Pendragon combat. Pendagon is emulating medieval combat, as well as medieval medicine. Most of the fatalities happen long after the battle is over. Today, if soldier can get to medical treatment, they generally (over 95%) survive.

I'd suggest that a successful First Aid roll negates stat loss, or that it be eliminated completely . There is a reason why the other Star Wars RPGs don't do it.

9 hours ago, SDLeary said:

Hmmmm... could work. I think that regular combat would be somewhat easier if we are looking at things in the time of the movies. Your idea sounds like it would fit more with the time before the overthrow of the Temple and the hunt initiated by the Emperor and prosecuted by Vader.

SDLeary

I disagree. :Look at the lightsaber fights from the original trilogy.

 

A New Hope - Obi-wan vs. Vader: No one gets hurt until Obi-wan basically sacrificed himself and gets cut down/vanishes.

Empire Strikes Back - Luke Vs. Vader: It's all fun and games until Luke loses a hand, and discovers that you really can't pick your relatives.

Return of the Jedi - Luke vs. Vader with Kibitzing by the Emperor:  Once again not one gets hurt by  a Lightsaber, or at all, until the Emperor pulls out the Force Lightning, and then Vader has second thoughts and shafts him.

 

There is no nickly and diming like there in in Pendragon. It is more like "parry, parry, parry, parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry, oops!". So what we'd need tpo mimic is the ebb and flow of the duel and who has the upper hand without inflicting hit point loss. I think we might want to have the Jedi fight for "advantage" in +5/=- increments.

 

 

[seneschal]

Even more than the Death Star, a garden-variety lightsaber is the (insert echo effect) Ultimate Weapon (tm).  It can (apparently) easily cut through anything except another lightsaber blade.  A practiced wielder can use it to block small arms and even mounted heavy weapons fire. So if Luke,  Vader or even FF-whatever his number was comes after you with a plasma blade you are toast unless you have one in hand, too.  The only way to win is nuke 'em from orbit.

Also, as you guys have noted, the first combatant to hit wins automatically since the unstoppable blade does catastrophic damage.  Luke survived only because Vade didn't follow up on his first successful stroke.  So, why did the Imperials abandon this technology again?  It is apparent from the recent movies that you don't have to be a Force user to build or use the things.  Why not pack a weapon that can carve up the toughest opponents like butter?

Edited November 1, 2019 by seneschal

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

Even more than the Death Star, a garden-variety lightsaber is the (insert echo effect) Ultimate Weapon (tm).  It can (apparently) easily cut through anything except another lightsaber blade.  A practiced wielder can use it to block small arms and even mounted heavy weapons fire. So if Luke,  Vader or even FF-whatever his number was comes after you with a plasma blade you are toast unless you have one in hand, too.  The only way to win is nuke 'em from orbit.

It's not quite that good, but close. For instance it took Qui-Gon time to melt through the blast doors, he couldn't just cut a man-sized hole to step through. And there are some materials that can stop them or are at least harder to cut (Phrik, Mandaloran Iron, etc.). Although WEG assumed there was little to no resistance, later sources have stated the opposite and that it does still take force to cut through things, so STR and SIZ would apply.

In game terms I think rather than ignoring some armor as per d20,it should du cumulative damage when applied against an armored surface. So if it is being used to get though a 100 point armored bulkhead, it will eventually cut through but will take multiple rounds to do so.

The ability to block blaster fire was said to be an application of the Force, which would limit the defelction ability to those with such powers.

 

Quote

Also, as you guys have noted, the first combatant to hit wins automatically since the unstoppable blade does catastrophic damage.  Luke survived only because Vade didn't follow up on his first successful stroke.  

More because Vader didn't want Luke dead. According to the sources defeating someone by cutting off his weapon hand was something of a Jedi specialty and a sign of skill. Sith probably didn't favor this as much, but since many of the Sith in the films were once Jedi they probably were already skilled in fighting this way, and better at in beating foes with it than with other moves.

Quote

So, why did the Imperials abandon this technology again?  It is apparent from the recent movies that you don't have to be a Force user to build or use the things.  Why not pack a weapon that can carve up the toughest opponents like butter?

Well there could be several reasons:

• First off it is a melee weapon, so it is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. Yes, Jedi could use lightsabers to defect blaster bolts through the Force, but those who didn't know how to use the Force couldn't, and so would be vulnerable at range. This would include droids.
• Secondly is that the weapon is very dangerous to the wielder as it would be very easy to injure oneself with it, requiring a lot of skill and probably proficiency with the Force. In D6 system terms a character needed to get to 5D or 6D to be able to wield one without much risk of hitting himself by accident. This meant a high skill and/or good Force skill and the Lightsaber Combat power. Yes, droids could be programmed to use the weapon decently, but it would be expensive and they would be vulnerable.
• Thirdly, damage isn't all that fantastic compare to other weapons. A repeating blaster is probably just as effective if not more so in the hands of normal people and droids.
• Lastly, anyone who could wield the weapon effectively was probably a Force user, and thus a threat to the Emperor and either needed to be controlled, per the Hands and Inquisitors, or eliminated. Palpatine probably didn't want a large group of Force user around, even if they were loyal to him, as they would always be a potential threat. One Sith apprentice and a handful of semi-skilled underlings was probably risk enough.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Atgxtg

[seneschal]

THIS is why we need lightsabers in Rolemaster. With the critical fumble tables your character could cut off his own head!  😈

[Atgxtg]

7 hours ago, seneschal said:

THIS is why we need lightsabers in Rolemaster. With the critical fumble tables your character could cut off his own head!  😈

Well if you use the fumble table in RQ, you could do it there too. BTW, I think the easiest fix for lightsabers would be to use the parry rules from old Strombringer, and Magic World where a parry just blocks the attack and no dfamage gets through, as opposed to the RQ method.

[SDLeary]

13 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Lighsabers should pretty much block all the damage on a partial success.  It should probably take a critical success or a failed roll to get past the opponent's guard. One problem I see is that is we go with something like even 20 points then PKS and NPCs will just wind up being big and strong so they can do 6d6 or 7d6 to get past it, kinda what ca n happen in late Pendragon when Plate becomes more common.

I wouldn't go with all. More than the 10 I quoted, certainly if you don't adjust the Damage attribute, but all would mean that a lot of the little wounds that do occur wouldn't. Also, it would mean that if you block a blaster shot, then it could NEVER damage you. I think we've seen this once or twice in the movies. 

13 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

I disagree. It's not that the characters is Star Wars are taking less damage. It's that they generally aren't getting hurt at all. This is like how RQ or Pendragon combat compared to D20/D&D. where combat is decided by hit point attrition.

In Star Wars, for the most part the PCs shouldn't get hit-that's what we would need to model. Lightsabers with a very high protection score  will work for Jedi, but we'd need to figure out why Han, Chewie and Leia can run around and not get hit. In the orginal trilogy Leia get's shot twice (stun, flesh wound), and Luke once (robtic hand). 

Then you go with Less Lethal damage. It winds you, fatigues you, tires you out. We do see this in running fights. If the hit is from anything OTHER than a blaster or lightsaber, this would apply. The only other time that you would incur real damage this way would be if a Less  Lethal hit gave you a  Major Wound, then you would have broken bones.

As far as not getting hit in the first place... RQ2 Defense.

13 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

A New Hope - Obi-wan vs. Vader: No one gets hurt until Obi-wan basically sacrificed himself and gets cut down/vanishes.

I haven't watched in a while, but didn't Obi-wan strike Vader on the arm? But of course Armor.

13 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

There is no nickly and diming like there in in Pendragon. It is more like "parry, parry, parry, parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry,parry, parry, oops!". So what we'd need tpo mimic is the ebb and flow of the duel and who has the upper hand without inflicting hit point loss. I think we might want to have the Jedi fight for "advantage" in +5/=- increments.

There is some, but its certainly not significant until the oops, or boom, or whatever you want to call it. Your play for advantage could work, but how do you prevent this from becoming a long drawn out thing? Perhaps I need to look in Pulp for some inspiration.

Also, if you go beyond the initial three movies, into the comics, books, nu-movies, and animations... you see how deadly they can be. Granted not always, but I feel that's probably due more to an in-world mindset of beating your enemy rather than annihilating them, at least on the Jedi side of the equation. (Personality Traits??)

SDLeary

[Atgxtg]

11 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

I wouldn't go with all. More than the 10 I quoted, certainly if you don't adjust the Damage attribute, but all would mean that a lot of the little wounds that do occur wouldn't. Also, it would mean that if you block a blaster shot, then it could NEVER damage you. I think we've seen this once or twice in the movies. 

That's just in in the movies they don't get hurt unless they fail to parry. There are  not  "lot of little wounds" in the films.

 

11 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

Then you go with Less Lethal damage. It winds you, fatigues you, tires you out. We do see this in running fights. If the hit is from anything OTHER than a blaster or lightsaber, this would apply. The only other time that you would incur real damage this way would be if a Less  Lethal hit gave you a  Major Wound, then you would have broken bones.

Thats fine for most poeple punches and kicks, but again doesn't hold for the fights we see in the films. 

Basically this is the D&D problem. If you adapt the setting to the current rules then it won't feel like the setting. You have to adapt the rules to better fit the setting. That's what Cahoiusm has always done when adapting BRP to a setting, and why the old AD&D supplments for variuous settings always played and felt just like standard D&D.

 

11 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

As far as not getting hit in the first place... RQ2 Defense.

Sucks. C'mon now. You telling me that Han and Chewie went though all three films and never got hit once because they had a ridiculously high RE2 Defense score? That opens up a whole can of troublnig worms. First off the automatic 5% chance to hit would hae gotten them a few times over. Secondly if their defense is that high, what about Luke or Vader? I think that ends up escalating game stats well over 100% pretty quickly. 

I think something like using Stormbringer/Magic Wolrd style Parries and Dodges would solve the problem far more elegantly. A parry just block the attack and a dodge dodges it. Tooss in some hero/force/character points and you can mimic the general style of the films.

11 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

I haven't watched in a while, but didn't Obi-wan strike Vader on the arm? But of course Armor.

No but I berlieve  Luke got him on Bespin with a quick shot. It didn't seem to do much too him. Of course it might not have actually hit him, but soem cybernetics. The respoinse is the same as when Luke get shot in the cyberhand in RotJ. 

11 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

There is some, but its certainly not significant until the oops, or boom, or whatever you want to call it. Your play for advantage could work, but how do you prevent this from becoming a long drawn out thing? Perhaps I need to look in Pulp for some inspiration.

Well if you are trying to mirror the duels from the films ten it should be a long drawn out thing, that's the point. The two Force users pair off and have a two or three minute fight. If it gets resolved in one or two rounds then it isn't like the fights in the films. What I suppose would help to keep in  from going on for too long would be both fatigue, and that once somebody starts to get a signficant advatage his opponent is going to want to break off from the melee before he loses some body parts. 

11 minutes ago, SDLeary said:

Also, if you go beyond the initial three movies, into the comics, books, nu-movies, and animations... you see how deadly they can be. Granted not always, but I feel that's probably due more to an in-world mindset of beating your enemy rather than annihilating them, at least on the Jedi side of the equation. (Personality Traits??)

SDLeary

Well if you stick with the stuff Lucas wrote, the sabers are deadly, but the duels take time. You don't get the one or two round swing-hit-kill results you get in D6. The only exception is when Palpatine manages to cut down two Jedi who are trying to arrest him. That is simply because he is that much better at it than they are.

Personally I think to get the authentic Star Wars feel it need to be like the films Luucas did. Otherwise, well, it's just some space opera with laser swords. 

Look at the various D20 interpretations. I believe WEG did three versions. Yet because they were more D&D than Star Wars the felt more like D&D than Star Wars, and encouraged a D&D mindset. I used to tell some players that no matter how many levels they got, they'd never equal a Star Destroyer. That actually shocked them, since in D&D level is the great equalizer.  

If you just want to write the characters and stuff up into BRP then sure you can do that, but the results won't feel like Star Wars. You could mimic the Force use the Spirit Magic or Psionic rules. But unless you adapt those rules to fit the setting it will just feel like BRP. 

[seneschal]

Tauntauns

Tauntauns are fast (90 kph) biped herbivores native to the ice planet of Hoth.  They are covered in thick blubber and dense off-white fur to endure the intense cold but must seek shelter at night.  They have dual nostril slits to help regulate their body temperature.  Tauntauns have a keen sense of smell and their skin emits a powerful musk that helps them attract mates.  In the wild they congregate in herds of up to 25 individuals as a defense against predators.  The Rebel Alliance domesticated the creatures to serve as mounts when it established a base on Hoth.

Both starwars.fandom.com and starwars.com insist that tauntauns are a type of ice lizard with scales beneath their blubber.  However, the entire appearance and lifestyle of these creatures screams "mammal."  (Despite their kangaroo-ish build, I can't see a marsupial reproductive method working in the brutal cold of Hoth.)  In addition to fur and an active warm-blooded lifestyle, tauntauns have deer-like or kangaroo-like ears and muzzles and forward swept goat-like horns set where a human's ears would be. Despite their clawed forelimbs the joints of their powerful hind legs more closely resemble those of a mammal than of a theropod dinosaur.  A typical individual stands about 6 feet at the shoulder and weighs 600 to 800 pounds.

STR  4d6+12 (26)

CON  2d6+6 (13)

SIZ  4d6+16  (30)

INT  5

POW  3d6  (10-11)

DEX  5d6  (17-18)

MOV  14

HP  22

DB  +2d6

Armor:  4 (blubber and fur)

Attacks:  Claws 30%, 1d4; Horns 50%, 1d6+db;  Kick 60%, 1d6+db; Tail Bash 60%, 1d6+1/2db

Skills:  Dodge 36%, Jump 40%, Sense 60%, Survival 70%

Edited November 2, 2019 by seneschal

[Questbird]

7 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

TI think something like using Stormbringer/Magic Wolrd style Parries and Dodges would solve the problem far more elegantly. A parry just block the attack and a dodge dodges it. Tooss in some hero/force/character points and you can mimic the general style of the films.

No but I berlieve  Luke got him on Bespin with a quick shot. It didn't seem to do much too him. Of course it might not have actually hit him, but soem cybernetics. The respoinse is the same as when Luke get shot in the cyberhand in RotJ. 

Well if you are trying to mirror the duels from the films ten it should be a long drawn out thing, that's the point. The two Force users pair off and have a two or three minute fight. If it gets resolved in one or two rounds then it isn't like the fights in the films. What I suppose would help to keep in  from going on for too long would be both fatigue, and that once somebody starts to get a signficant advatage his opponent is going to want to break off from the melee before he loses some body parts. 

Well if you stick with the stuff Lucas wrote, the sabers are deadly, but the duels take time. You don't get the one or two round swing-hit-kill results you get in D6. The only exception is when Palpatine manages to cut down two Jedi who are trying to arrest him. That is simply because he is that much better at it than they are.

Personally I think to get the authentic Star Wars feel it need to be like the films Luucas did. Otherwise, well, it's just some space opera with laser swords.

 

The fights are like Master duels in Stormbringer (ie. skill over 100%). Each opponent will normally hit and parry perfectly round after round. The only difference is the critical chance. Someone will critical and/or someone will fumble. Then the fight is over; but it can take a long time. Add in some Force powers to even things up. Examples from the movies: Jumping great distances, acrobatic dodges, Force push or pull of inanimate objects (eg Vader throwing bits of equipment at Luke in The Empire Strikes Back). Note that in this last case the rain of objects did bruise and tire Luke even though he dodged or sliced through most with his lightsaber.

Another part of all Lucas-style lightsaber duels is banter and psychological warfare. Obi-Wan and Vader try to undermine each other with words while they clash their sabers. Vader and Luke do the same when they fight; arguably Luke is defeated in Empire because he's psychologically unprepared for Vader's stunning news, he can't handle the truth. If we can assume that all full Jedi are at master level skill with their lightsabers and are therefore in for a long haul when they duel with others, perhaps this parallel psychological duel is as important as the combat. If you can unnerve your opponent maybe your skill increases or his decreases for the round, modifying the inexorable critical chance enough for victory?

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

Tauntauns are fast (90 kph) biped herbivores native to the ice planet of Hoth.

I have played them as herbivores, too. The crew of our YT1300 transporter had managed to garner a cargo transfer from the rebel alliance, to move a dozen extreme terrain one man mobile units from a layover on Tatooine to a distant rebel base. Easy credity, right?

The poor things had been stranded on Tatooine for a few days already, using up their native food and shedding fur like champions to deal with the environment as their previous transport had suffered a life support system breakdown. (Fur in the air scrubbers...)

Upon discovering the nature of the transport units and their needs, the crew was desperate to scrounge up some plant matter on the desert planet, and their botanist turned data and sensor operator managed to acquire a few containers of salad just running out of "best before" date. Food problem solved?

Our intrepid crew didn't think the fur would be much of a problem (after all, their YT1300 had come with a Wokiee engineer, too, so removing fur from the air filters was a routine job), and managed to cool down the vessel to a cozy minus 20 degrees - until the Tauntauns were brought in, whose added warmth kept the cargo hold/mess area just above freezing.

After take-off, the tauntauns started to enjoy their salad. Unfortunately, their digestive system was overcharged by the stuff, or possibly the parts which weren't exactly fresh any more were to blame. They developed a case of diarrhea.

Halfway into the trip, the atmospheric scrubbers capitulated against the stench of tauntaun diarrhea, and the crew had to make an emergency stop at a space habitat to exchange scrubbers and atmosphere (and biodegradables).

Unfortunately, the owners of the (rebellion-friendly) habitat were germaphobes, and insisted on complete decontamination of all organisms on board other than crew and passengers. After faking some papers granting the transport units the status of "military personnel", the euthanazing of the tauntauns could be avoided, and the rest of the trip was without any new problems (the diarrhea and the stench persisted, though...).

The episode remained in the campaign log as a shitty job. I wonder why?

 

Visually, the tauntauns remind me of bipedal llamas with some sort of rams horns flanking the face. Those horns appear to be a feature of the Hoth makrofauna that managed to adapt to the planet's iced-over surface.

Alan Dean Foster's Icerigger trilogy gives a somewhat plausible excuse for such makrofauna persisting on an ice ball. Apparently, Foster was involved with some story-telling about Hoth, but given his output of "novels to the movie" in those years (not at all limited to SF), no special qualification might have been necessary.

 

[Atgxtg]

 

 

2 hours ago, Questbird said:

The fights are like Master duels in Stormbringer (ie. skill over 100%). Each opponent will normally hit and parry perfectly round after round. The only difference is the critical chance. Someone will critical and/or someone will fumble. Then the fight is over; but it can take a long time. Add in some Force powers to even things up. Examples from the movies: Jumping great distances, acrobatic dodges, Force push or pull of inanimate objects (eg Vader throwing bits of equipment at Luke in The Empire Strikes Back). Note that in this last case the rain of objects did bruise and tire Luke even though he dodged or sliced through most with his lightsaber.

Exactly. Now something like this would play out different in a BRP style of fighting with alternating attacks and parries than in a Pendrdagon style of fighting where attacks and parries are combined into one roll. Still, I think Pendragon has an advantage is that is was built around opposed rolls, like D6 Star Wars. 

I think what might work is to limit actual hits to attacks that are not partially parried, and give the winner some sort of advantage bonus to his next roll for winning. Since this would be reflexive, it would increase the chance of getting a strike past the opponent's lightsaber. And since most weapons can't block lightsabers this rule would only need to apply during duels between Jedi and other Force users.

I think many Force powers could be handled by adapting the inspiration rules. So someone who wants to jump vast distances could use their Control skill to augment their Jumping, someone who wants to do a "Burst of Speed" could do it to increase their Move rate, the "Lightsaber Combat" ability would improve Lightsaber skill, "Magnify Senses" would increase Awareness, and so on. It wouldn't  work for every application of the Force, but it would work for most of the "Control" powers, and give us a simple framework to start with.

 

2 hours ago, Questbird said:

Another part of all Lucas-style lightsaber duels is banter and psychological warfare. Obi-Wan and Vader try to undermine each other with words while they clash their sabers. Vader and Luke do the same when they fight; arguably Luke is defeated in Empire because he's psychologically unprepared for Vader's stunning news, he can't handle the truth. If we can assume that all full Jedi are at master level skill with their lightsabers and are therefore in for a long haul when they duel with others, perhaps this parallel psychological duel is as important as the combat. If you can unnerve your opponent maybe your skill increases or his decreases for the round, modifying the inexorable critical chance enough for victory?

That is something that Pendragon's Traits and Passions could help with. In Pendragon if someone tries for inspiration and fails they get disheartened, and there are a few other situations where their traits and passions can work against them. One of the neat things about this is that in Pendragon it is possible for traits and passions to make a character behave in an undesired way, or for actions to ultimately alter someone's personality. So confrontations like this can pull someone towards the light side or the dark side. 

[Old Man Henerson]

What sort of advantages can having the high ground give you?😏

[Lloyd Dupont]

attack bonus? and and attack and perception malus to the enemy?

[Old Man Henerson]

Not to mention a very easy attack bonus

[seneschal]

Nearly 2,000 views and nobody has statted up Rey or Kylo Ren or FN-whatever or a double-bladed lightsabre yet?  Gee, Disney really has ruined the franchise.  Not a fan of the prequels but those locust/lizard  things from Attack of the Clones were sort of interesting.  Anyone ready to stat them up?

[Old Man Henerson]

50 minutes ago, seneschal said:

Nearly 2,000 views and nobody has statted up Rey or Kylo Ren or FN-whatever or a double-bladed lightsabre yet?  Gee, Disney really has ruined the franchise.  Not a fan of the prequels but those locust/lizard  things from Attack of the Clones were sort of interesting.  Anyone ready to stat them up?

But what about the droid attack on the wookie stats?

[seneschal]

No movie made after 2005 counts.  But the Marvel/Dark Horse Comics continuity is a must!  My Star Wars heroes need to meet a race of green Bugs Bunnies and fierce psychic feline bounty hunters..

[Old Man Henerson]

20 minutes ago, seneschal said:

No movie made after 2005 counts.  But the Marvel/Dark Horse Comics continuity is a must!  My Star Wars heroes need to meet a race of green Bugs Bunnies and fierce psychic feline bounty hunters..

Star Wars vs Space Jam? I sadly can't help you with the comics, my experience only comes from the movies and a little bit of the Thrawn books By Timothy Zahn. (The one true sequel trilogy)

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

Nearly 2,000 views and nobody has statted up Rey or Kylo Ren or FN-whatever or a double-bladed lightsabre yet?  Gee, Disney really has ruined the franchise.  Not a fan of the prequels but those locust/lizard  things from Attack of the Clones were sort of interesting.  Anyone ready to stat them up?

As for geonosian stats, try something like this:

Characteristic   Role              Average

STR                      2D6                16-17

CON                      2D6                   9

SIZ                       1D6+6             12

INT                       2D6+6            17-18   

POW                     2D6                    6

DEX                      3D6                15-16

APP                      1D6                    3

Move: 5 (10 when flying)

DB: STR+SIZ

Hit Points: CON+SIZ

Armor: 1 Point Carapace

Attacks: Sonic Rifle, 30% Stun Lance, 30% See Big Golden Book

Skills: Fly, 70% Stealth, 65% Listen, 50% Spot, 30%

Powers: None

I Just made this up so you might want to adjust it to your liking.

[Atgxtg]

4 hours ago, seneschal said:

Nearly 2,000 views and nobody has statted up Rey or Kylo Ren or FN-whatever or a double-bladed lightsabre yet?  Gee, Disney really has ruined the franchise.  Not a fan of the prequels but those locust/lizard  things from Attack of the Clones were sort of interesting.  Anyone ready to stat them up?

I wouldn't mind taking a stat as vehicle and ship stats. I kinda did the groundwork for that years ago for WEG's D6 system and a lot of it would port over easily enough to BRP.