SW Saga Edition Thread 2: The Sith Lords

[Alejandro]

Sorry, I more meant "Combat gloves don't have a damage die, so if you empower them, what happens?"

[The Random NPC]

I'm trying to make a buffing build, we start with a 35 point buy and at 7th level. So far I'm thinking about 7 levels of Noble and prestigeing into Officer. The talents I'm looking at Inspire Confidence, Born Leader, Distant Command, and Coordinate to start with, and grabbing Trust, Assault Tactics, Exploit Weakness, Commander's Prerogative, and maybe Tactical Edge with future levels. The question I put to the Playground is, what feats should I take, and do you know if there is a way for my character to give up my entire turn? So far I can give up my standard action and either my swift or move action depending on if I take Tactical Edge. I'd really like to be able to do something with my entire turn, but I'm at a loss for that last action.

[Waar]

I'm trying to make a buffing build, we start with a 35 point buy and at 7th level. So far I'm thinking about 7 levels of Noble and prestigeing into Officer. The talents I'm looking at Inspire Confidence, Born Leader, Distant Command, and Coordinate to start with, and grabbing Trust, Assault Tactics, Exploit Weakness, Commander's Prerogative, and maybe Tactical Edge with future levels. The question I put to the Playground is, what feats should I take, and do you know if there is a way for my character to give up my entire turn? So far I can give up my standard action and either my swift or move action depending on if I take Tactical Edge. I'd really like to be able to do something with my entire turn, but I'm at a loss for that last action.

Crime lord, wich has (two) talents that let you take two swift actions to give an ally a standard action. Otherwise you could get a noble talent, iirc it is called: inspire competence haste (if you have a force user in your group this is very usefull)

[The Random NPC]

Crime lord, wich has (two) talents that let you take two swift actions to give an ally a standard action. Otherwise you could get a noble talent, iirc it is called: inspire competence (if you have a force user in your group this is very usefull)

I'm already planning to grab Inspire Competence Trust, but I'll need a couple of levels to get it. I'll have to look into Crime Lord though, granting two standard actions in a turn is nothing to sneeze at.

[Waar]

I'm already planning to grab Inspire Competence Trust, but I'll need a couple of levels to get it. I'll have to look into Crime Lord though, granting two standard actions in a turn is nothing to sneeze at.

Sorry, the talent I meant was inspire haste (lets an ally make a skill check that normaly requires a standard action in only a move action), not inspire competence (which is also very good).

edit: do note that inspire haste stacks poorly with crime lord, so there is no need to take both.

[The Random NPC]

Sorry, the talent I meant was inspire haste (lets an ally make a skill check that normaly requires a standard action in only a move action), not inspire competence (which is also very good).

edit: do note that inspire haste stacks poorly with crime lord, so there is no need to take both.

My race is Pau'an which grant an addition +1 with morale and insight bonuses, so I took Inspire Competence and Born Leader right off the bat for a total of +4 to attacks and +2 to skill checks. My plan for turns is to use Commander's Prerogative to go first, then to activate Born Leader, Inspire Competence, and Assault Tactics. Subsequent turns will consist of using Trust and Assault Tactics every turn until everything around us is dead. What I would like to to either find a method of using my Swift action to buff my allies or to find a Move action to buff my allies and grabbing Tactical Edge to make Assault Tactics a Swift action. Currently I'm debating using Crime Lord to grant 1 ally 2 Standard actions or sticking with my current plan to grant 1 ally a Standard action and all my allies +1d6 damage.

[Waar]

My race is Pau'an which grant an addition +1 with morale and insight bonuses, so I took Inspire Competence and Born Leader right off the bat for a total of +4 to attacks and +2 to skill checks. My plan for turns is to use Commander's Prerogative to go first, then to activate Born Leader, Inspire Competence, and Assault Tactics. Subsequent turns will consist of using Trust and Assault Tactics every turn until everything around us is dead.

Them pau'ans look quite strong, while this is less importatnt for a group buffing build, it is worth to consider what level of power the rest of the players are at.

What I would like to to either find a method of using my Swift action to buff my allies or to find a Move action to buff my allies and grabbing Tactical Edge to make Assault Tactics a Swift action. Currently I'm debating using Crime Lord to grant 1 ally 2 Standard actions or sticking with my current plan to grant 1 ally a Standard action and all my allies +1d6 damage.

Do you have a force user in your group? if you do, inspire haste
is an option

[Alejandro]

Crime Lord talent, Impel Ally I:

It says you can spend a swift action to grant one ally the ability to move their normal speed. They have to do so immediately. You may do this up to 3 times on your turn, one swift action each time.

Some questions that came up at our table:

- Does the crime lord need LOS with the ally? Able to communicate with the ally? Neither is mentioned, or errata'd.

- Can the crime lord let the same ally move 3 times in a row?

[Waar]

- Does the crime lord need LOS with the ally? Able to communicate with the ally? Neither is mentioned, or errata'd.

I think the later is assumed and I would reccomend having both.

- Can the crime lord let the same ally move 3 times in a row?

sure, why not (it might look a bit strange if you overdo it).

[The Random NPC]

Them pau'ans look quite strong, while this is less importatnt for a group buffing build, it is worth to consider what level of power the rest of the players are at.

Not to worry, I always let my group know what I'm playing and what they're capable of, so there's no surprises.

Do you have a force user in your group? if you do, inspire haste
is an option

Most of my group is planning on using the force is some way, so I think that'll be the best option.

Crime Lord talent, Impel Ally I:

It says you can spend a swift action to grant one ally the ability to move their normal speed. They have to do so immediately. You may do this up to 3 times on your turn, one swift action each time.

Some questions that came up at our table:

- Does the crime lord need LOS with the ally? Able to communicate with the ally? Neither is mentioned, or errata'd.

- Can the crime lord let the same ally move 3 times in a row?

I've been looking at Crime Lord, but I think I'm going to stick with Officer. So my build is now 15 Noble and 5 Officer.

[Echobeats]

Sorry, I more meant "Combat gloves don't have a damage die, so if you empower them, what happens?"

Isn't the point of combat gloves to have something for Martial Artists to use weapon-boosting talents (like Weapon Specialisation or Empower Weapon) on?

[Kraken]

If you roll a natural 20, can the attack still be deflected?

[Mando Knight]

If you roll a natural 20, can the attack still be deflected?

Yes, though it will be much more difficult for the Force user to deflect the attack.

[Alejandro]

Isn't the point of combat gloves to have something for Martial Artists to use weapon-boosting talents (like Weapon Specialisation or Empower Weapon) on?

Sure. I was just pointing out that they are a weapon, but don't have a damage dice, so in some cases, one does not know what to add.

[Kraken]

Could a mastercraft helmet package be added to armor that doesn't come with a helmet package? Even if the armor itself already has a superior tech upgrade?

[Philistine]

1) There wouldn't be much point in listing a price to add it to a set of armor if it couldn't be added to a set that didn't already have one.
2) Helmet packages (and other "equipment-style" mods, mostly presented in Scum & Villainy) are a completely separate game subsystem from the Tech Specialist/Superior Tech modifications.

[Waar]

Could a mastercraft helmet package be added to armor that doesn't come with a helmet package? Even if the armor itself already has a superior tech upgrade?

To the best of my knowledge, you (generally) can't upgrade upgrades, so no.

[Philistine]

Why not? You'd use Tech Spec to make the helmet package a superior device, then install it in a Sup Tech-upgraded suit. I don't see how that differs from using TS to upgrade the guns of a vehicle which has also gotten a TS upgrade for the vehicle as a whole, and AFAIK that's entirely kosher.

ETA: AFAICT, the reason you normally wouldn't apply TS upgrades to equipment mods is that they're only eligible for Device Traits - so most of the time it's just not very useful to do so.

[Echobeats]

How much XP would you award for this encounter?

The PCs will be attacked by pirates in a CL8 ship who will attempt to board. There will also be a one-man CL7 ship hanging around as backup. The four pirate crewmen are CL5 and their leader is CL7. The PCs' ship is CL6 when statted with normal crew. I'm hoping they will be boarded so I can run the encounter at starship scale and character scale simultaneously.

I count 5,400 XP for a hand-to-hand fight alone, but I'm not sure what to do about the ships. Awarding full XP for the ships as well feels like double-counting, but then of course the PCs should get more XP than they would for shipless opponents.

The Vehicle Difficulty Modifier system in this link would have me apply -3 to the CL of each opponent, but this feels wrong for a hand-to-hand fight since the PCs won't have the benefit of ships' guns once boarded.

Perhaps the answer is to treat the ships as CL5 and CL4 respectively, but the pirates as normal, meaning the total is 7,200 XP. But then I'm left with the problem of what to do if they aren't boarded, which will depend heavily on the pirates' tractor beam attack rolls...

What do people think?

[Alejandro]

Honestly? Give whatever amount of XP you think is right.

[Echobeats]

Honestly? Give whatever amount of XP you think is right.

But I don't know what I think is right, because I'm not sure how to go about assessing how difficult it is!

Though given that they are 2,000 XP from levelling up, I could give them that much each...

[Mando Knight]

Here's the perfect way to determine XP gain for Saga:

Are you the GM, and do you feel like the PCs should go up a level? If so, then they got enough XP to go up a level!

Lets you take the campaign at your pace. XP budgets are still useful in this system, but only for estimating a decent challenge against the PCs, rather than planning out how many encounters you can fit in before they level up.

[Alejandro]

Mando wrote it out more nicely than I did. Basically, don't worry about calculating exact totals. Just tell the players to level when you think they should. As long as you're steady and reasonable about it no one will care a bit.

[Waar]

Here's the perfect way to determine XP gain for Saga:

Are you the GM, and do you feel like the PCs should go up a level? If so, then they got enough XP to go up a level!

Lets you take the campaign at your pace. XP budgets are still useful in this system, but only for estimating a decent challenge against the PCs, rather than planning out how many encounters you can fit in before they level up.

This, in SAGA the only thing that XP determines is when you go upp a level, so I have found it much easier to simply tell the players when (I want/think) the PCs will go up a level.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Hell, even in D&D 3.5 I think numerical XP is too much of a hassle, and it actually has purposes other than leveling there. For Star Wars? Wing it.

(If anyone's curious, I've never DMed a game of a high enough level to get into item crafting or XP-cost spells, but if I did I'd work out some alternative compensation, probably involving a side quest.)

[Alejandro]

The Saga Strikes Back. :)

[Krazzman]

Horray!

Our group manages to meet more... if it weren't for my stomach cramps we wouldn't have missed last session but anyway.

So far we come out if near to no encounter or subvert encounters because we all feel totally frail right now.

We are travelling for Lightsaber parts to replace the ones we had to give up.
As such we travelled to a jungle and well encountered some "Living Force" and one of us actively got touched by it getting +1 on all force stuff.
With the DM hinting that everyone will probably get a fitting bonus to something.

Tomorrow we will play again... still thinking about writing a log about the adventure...
Current title ideas:
Planlos im Weltall (Planless in Space)
Odyssee der Narren (odyssey of the fools)

or something along the lines... mostly because we are rather clueless...

[Istari]

I'm trying out Sage for the first time and looking for basic advice, I don't think my group will be very optimized, but I'd like to avoid any obvious traps. We're starting at first level and I'm making a Noble, skill-monkey, probably multi-classing to Scoundrel for the hacking talents and later into Crime Lord if we get that far. Are there any particularly useful feats or equipment for that sort of character? I know one member of my group is making a wookie and the other is making a Scout that will be the group's pilot.

[Greyheart]

Hey all, long time no post! I don't know if anyone remembers me though. Anyways, good to see this thread alive and kicking!

[Alejandro]

I'm trying out Sage for the first time and looking for basic advice, I don't think my group will be very optimized, but I'd like to avoid any obvious traps. We're starting at first level and I'm making a Noble, skill-monkey, probably multi-classing to Scoundrel for the hacking talents and later into Crime Lord if we get that far. Are there any particularly useful feats or equipment for that sort of character? I know one member of my group is making a wookie and the other is making a Scout that will be the group's pilot.

Consider the Noble talents that let you grant bonuses to your party. They'll work both for the Wookiee and the pilot, and both will love them. Also, if you plan to be near the rest of the party, look at Stand Tall, so they can punish anyone who attacks you.