Looking to play Star Wars SAGA

[hellrazoromega]

I think we just approach "building a character to a concept" differently. If this were one of my characters I would define the concept as "a healer and survivalist who has some force training" and pick classes to get me the abilities that fit that concept. Defining the concept in terms of classes right from the bat strikes me as limiting your options too much.

Anyway, I don't disagree with you about the poison treatment aspect of the Treat Injury skill, but I would say that knowing how to survive on one planet doesn't necessarily help you all that much with other situations unless you have some formal training or gained experience on a lot of different planets too. Not having Treat Injury as a trained skill doesn't mean your character isn't an expert about all kinds of poisons found on the planet he grew up on. It just makes it more of a character background element than a game mechanics element.

The Knowledge skills in Saga are very broad categories. Take Knowledge: Life Sciences and you have medicine covered, but also biology, botany, zoology.

Yeah Soldier just did not seem to fit to me (none of the talent trees seems to fit life for years surviving on a planet the way Scout does) Noble also does not make much sense to be based on the back story. But I freely admit I just think differently than most :shrugs:.

In any case no matter, I rethought the concept some and have switched her to a stealth sniper character with no real technical skills, thinking of working the angle that she had a rifle and some type of solar recharger to keep the energy cells charged up and learned to shoot to hunt for food. The Solider does not have stealth so I think the Scout fits a sniper type better.

This is what I have so far:  http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=272710

[FragarachZ]

Somehow, I don't think we'll be allowed to start with 6 destiny points each.

[Cassandra LeMay]

I'll take a look at the character sheet tomorrow. Right now lack of sleep is catching up with me so I'd like to ask for patience.

[Muse]

Muse, a few thoughts on your character: To have Acrobatics as a trained skill you'd need a Skill training feat, as it's not one of the Noble's class skills. One skill you might consider taking instead as one of your trained starting skills would be Knowledge: Bureaucracy. I know it sounds a bit lame, but it does include knowledge of customs regulations, local laws, and such. That might come in handy now and then.

As for gunnery / vehicle combat, don't forget that a copilot can use Aid Another in starship combat. You can use the sensors to help your gunners; it only take a DC 10 Use Computer check to provide a +2 bonus. Even without Use Computer as a trained skill you should be able to easily make that DC most of the time.

That said, I could agree to have the light laser cannons on the Magpie being controlled by either pilot or co-pilot, with a swift action required to shift control from one station to the other and back again. (The double blasters not so much, as I figure they should be fired from within the gun turret.)

As for the talents and feats, it's up to you. But if you can't decide between the Scoundrel talents, maybe make the character Nobel 1 / Scoundrel 5 instead of 2/4? For the moment you'd lose one point base attack and a noble bonus feat, but you would gain a third Scoundrel talent.

Acrobatics:  I got that as a trained skill at level 4 when I raised my inteligence from 13 to 14. 

I'm comfortable with these talents.  :) 

I could switch weapon finesse for a skill training if it would help that much to have buraucracy or use computers. 

[Cassandra LeMay]

Acrobatics:  I got that as a trained skill at level 4 when I raised my inteligence from 13 to 14. 

I'm comfortable with these talents.  :) 

I could switch weapon finesse for a skill training if it would help that much to have buraucracy or use computers.

Did you build her with 36 points? I believe I said 33 points and I can't get her stats to work with a 33 point build.

As for Weapon Finesse, that's your decision. I am not sure Finesse is all that useful in a SW game, compared to, say a D&D game, but if you like it, keep it.

Something else I noticed is that I can't find Skill Focus: Pilot under her feats, but the +5 bonus is listend under her skills. Did you, by any chance, plan on taking the skill focus and then changed your mind, forgetting to correct the skill list?

[hellrazoromega]

Somehow, I don't think we'll be allowed to start with 6 destiny points each.

Yeah, I just out that in as a placeholder based on one per level since I have not played Saga edition in a long time, but it is not as if it is a completed sheet.   

[Batman4560]

I could switch weapon finesse for a skill training if it would help that much to have buraucracy or use computers.

I plan on going to Noble for a few levels when we hit lvl seven so I could take use computers and Buaracucy for some skills. If you want to keep your weapon finesse, also Cas can I message you about the idea I had for my character?

[Cassandra LeMay]

In any case no matter, I rethought the concept some and have switched her to a stealth sniper character with no real technical skills, thinking of working the angle that she had a rifle and some type of solar recharger to keep the energy cells charged up and learned to shoot to hunt for food. The Solider does not have stealth so I think the Scout fits a sniper type better.

This is what I have so far:  http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=272710

The character concept is pretty sound, but we'll have to work on some game mechanics. Edit: Sorry, only just now saw your comment that it's still a WIP.

The 33 points for the attributes are for the character at level 1. You do get the regular level 4 attribute increase on top of that. I think you didn't take the latter into account.

I assume your first level was as a Jedi? In that case you'd need to take Skill Training feats later on, to get Stealth and Survival as trained skills, during your time as a Scout. Then again, you have 6 trained skills listed, and starting as a Jedi you would have 4. Did you already intend to take those skill training feats and just forgot to list them in your list of feats?

Concerning skills: While it's not in the rulebook, it's official errata that the class skills for the Jedi should include Jump and Mechanics. You can take those for your starting skills too.

What species will it be? Human might be a good choice for the extra trained skill and feat.

I plan on going to Noble for a few levels when we hit lvl seven so I could take use computers and Buaracucy for some skills. If you want to keep your weapon finesse, also Cas can I message you about the idea I had for my character?

Sure, message away.

But you won't be able to take Use Computer or Bureaucracy before level 8, even if you add some Noble levels, as you wouldn't get a feat to buy Skill Training at level 7. But all in all it's probably not that important. You should have enough skills covered (as a group) to get by.

[KirbysFolly]

I didn't misread the book did I? You do get two attribute increases at level 4, but they can't both be in the same attribute? I just wanted to double-check on that.

[Cassandra LeMay]

I didn't misread the book did I? You do get two attribute increases at level 4, but they can't both be in the same attribute? I just wanted to double-check on that.

Exactly. It's a +1 to two different attributes.

[Muse]

Did you build her with 36 points? I believe I said 33 points and I can't get her stats to work with a 33 point build.

As for Weapon Finesse, that's your decision. I am not sure Finesse is all that useful in a SW game, compared to, say a D&D game, but if you like it, keep it.

Something else I noticed is that I can't find Skill Focus: Pilot under her feats, but the +5 bonus is listend under her skills. Did you, by any chance, plan on taking the skill focus and then changed your mind, forgetting to correct the skill list?

33 point buy: 
Wait...  Did I mess up her dexterity? 

I did!  Should be 17 dexterity, not 18. 

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Strength       10   2
Dexterity       16   10   +1 Level 4
Constitution    12   4
Intelligence   13   5   +1 Level 4
Wisdom       14   6   -2 Racial
Charisma      14   6    +2 Racial

And that's wierd, I distinctly remember deleting the +5 from skill focus when I dropped it so as not to hone in on Frag's schtick. 

I'll change it to Skill Training: Bureaucracy. 

[FragarachZ]

Regarding what we have on the ship, I'd like to have (either assembled over time or courtesy of the rebel alliance) on the Lucky Magpie:
A set of field kits for the crew (2 at least)
A set of flight suit for the crew (2 at least)
A set of space suit for the crew (2 at least)
Several fire extinguisers
Lots of mesh tape (MacGyver taught me that you never know when duct tape will be handy)
1 power recharger
1 security kit
1 medical kit
2 tool kits (1 for on board repairs and 1 for an away team)
6 repulsor pads (officially for moving cargo, 2 for each cargo bay)

That way most requirements would be covered for skill-use requirements as long as we have access to the ship or can take stuff with us. Flight and space suits, fire extinguishers etc just make sense on a space ship. With all this we'd only have to worry about personal equipment.
If not, we'll have to assemble what we can when we figure out how much starting money we get.

Edit: Cass, you're okwith the statblock I posted/sent or do you want me to fill out a character sheet?

[Cassandra LeMay]

I'll get back to you later today about the stats. Now on to equipment, for now:

Some of what you ask for I would probably have given you anyway so most of it it okay with me, with a small changes:

The space suits should cover most of your needs for environmental protection, meaning I don't think you'll need the flight suits. But since you may need some protection fast and can't always take the time to don a spacesuit I'll throw in two breath masks, and 12 spare atmosphere filters and canisters for each (in addition to the ones you have in the field kits). Having some gas masks at hand in case of a fire makes sense, and you don't always have time to get them out of a field kit.

Speaking of fire extinguishers: 4 extinguishers with 2 replacement cartridges for each should cover all your needs.

Repulsor pads: Do these things even have game stats? That aside, I think one for each cargo bay is more than enough. A small freighter usually operates with a crew of 1 or 2 people so you won't be able to make use of more than 2 most of the time anyway. And most spaceports should have some at hand for loading and unloading ships, i.e. you won#t have to bring your own in many cases anyway.

Tool kits: Take 1, and instead of the second tool kit I'll give you 1 utility belt. That contains a toolkit too, and might come in handy.


That the Security Kit isn't exactly legal reminded me of something: What I don't have on the deckplan yet is the smuggler's compartment. Where would you like it?

[FragarachZ]

I imagined Anya wearing a flight suit without the helmet most of the time. I'll buy one with credits then if I can afford it. Space suits are for spacewalks or going out nto asteroids I guess, making hull repairs or blasting mynocks chewing on the ship while in space.

Repulsor pads were statted in either the scout or scoundrel related books but their stats are irrelevant. I want backups on us in case we need to carry possibly heavy stuff with us fast and silent, or smuggle someone in crates, etc. Three should suffice unless we rig something to blow up and send them floating in on these things.

The smugglers compartment would be under/between the captain's quarters and the adjacent cargo hold. A smaller compartment (enough for a few items or weapons at most) would be accessible from the captain's quarters and the most of it as a seperate space from that cargo hold (for actual cargo).

[Cassandra LeMay]

Edit: Cass, you're okwith the statblock I posted/sent or do you want me to fill out a character sheet?

The stat block is okay with me. No need to fill out a character sheet.

Are you certain about giving Anya a hold-out blaster as her sidearm? A sporting blaster would cost the same, be not quite as illegal, has a stun setting, and offers a lot more shots if run on a power pack. Granted, the hold-out is much easier to conceal, but that comes at the prize of quite a few drawbacks.

[FragarachZ]

Hm, yeah I guess a sporting blaster would be more appropiate. Let's make it so then.

Oh, that will be fun to say during space combat on the ship. "Captain, should I reroute shield power?" "Make it so!"

[hellrazoromega]

The character concept is pretty sound, but we'll have to work on some game mechanics. Edit: Sorry, only just now saw your comment that it's still a WIP.

The 33 points for the attributes are for the character at level 1. You do get the regular level 4 attribute increase on top of that. I think you didn't take the latter into account.

I assume your first level was as a Jedi? In that case you'd need to take Skill Training feats later on, to get Stealth and Survival as trained skills, during your time as a Scout. Then again, you have 6 trained skills listed, and starting as a Jedi you would have 4. Did you already intend to take those skill training feats and just forgot to list them in your list of feats?

Concerning skills: While it's not in the rulebook, it's official errata that the class skills for the Jedi should include Jump and Mechanics. You can take those for your starting skills too.

What species will it be? Human might be a good choice for the extra trained skill and feat.

Yeah I need to take skill training survival with the changes I was making I was tossing stuff around and missed that. I am going human for the extra feat and skill.

On stats. My initial spread was 11,17,12,13,13,11 which I believe comes out to 33 points I then took the +1 to Cha, and since the character is middle age I took one away from all physical and added one to each mental stat. Which comes to what I have on the sheet---unless I did something in error, which is entirely possible. And I am only assuming at this point I will have enough to afford a blaster carbine---if not I can alter it later.

Still WIP but updated so feats and spelled them out a bit more. http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=272710

[Cassandra LeMay]

Yeah I need to take skill training survival with the changes I was making I was tossing stuff around and missed that. I am going human for the extra feat and skill.

On stats. My initial spread was 11,17,12,13,13,11 which I believe comes out to 33 points I then took the +1 to Cha, and since the character is middle age I took one away from all physical and added one to each mental stat. Which comes to what I have on the sheet---unless I did something in error, which is entirely possible. And I am only assuming at this point I will have enough to afford a blaster carbine---if not I can alter it later.

Still WIP but updated so feats and spelled them out a bit more. http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=272710

Your character may be too old for the concept you had in mind, i.e. a youngling who escaped the Jedi purge. The Jedi purge happened about 23 or 24 years ago. If your character was a youngling then (say 10-12 or so) she would be in her mid-30s, placing her in the adult category with no age-based attribute modifiers. That would allow (for example) for an initial build of 10, 16, 12, 14, 14, 13  with the +1/+1 added at level 4. If you want to go with an older character I have no objections, but your character couldn't have been a youngling during the time of the Jedi purge and you'd have to rework the character background a bit.

Skill modifier for level is half your character level, i.e. +3 instead of the +1 currently listed on your sheet.

Don't forget to take the extra trained skill for being human if you  go with an older character. With your current build you'd still have one more skill, as the Int increase due to age grants you an extra bonus skill retroactively for a total of 7 (2 jedi, 2 Int, 2 training, 1 human).

Have you considered taking a Skill Focus with use the Force? You could give up the Weapon Focus feat for that extra +5  to use the force. Might be worth that 1 extra point on lightsaber attacks.

The blaster carbine is okay.

[FragarachZ]

Have you considered taking a Skill Focus with use the Force? You could give up the Weapon Focus feat for that extra +5  to use the force. Might be worth that 1 extra point on lightsaber attacks.

I agree. Deflect will have little value if you need an above average roll to even successfully activate it, and you already have evasion to protect from autofire. And lightsaber focus could come in to play even less, as using a lightsaber and not instantly taking out threats would likely just draw more attention. If a saber is not your primary means of fighting, it might be just an alternative or last resort. Skill focus UtF if force using will be your main thing, or an extra skill would be useful, as we already have a dedicated scout and all your other skills seem to be personal/passive skills outside of tracking. It's your call though, just my two creds.
Edit: just saw that you had skilled advisor

[Cassandra LeMay]

One thing we should figure out while we are still setting up the characters is what forum section should this game be in.

As I said earlier, I am not terribly interested in writing smut or sex scenes, but rather an adventure story. That should not stop anyone from writing sex scenes involving their characters, just that I might be the wrong person to look to when it comes to a writing partner for them - i.e. I am perfectly fine with you folks having your characters get into the sexy smexy stuff among yourselves. I might have an NPC participate in the occasional sex scene, but it's hardly my primary goal or game focus.

Heck, as long as we keep the violence to the PG cinematic "you shoot him, he goes down and doesn't get up again" level we could even place this game in the non-adult board, but I want to hear from you guys what you have in mind and where you see the adult content of this game going. I'm not going to make a call on this without getting some comments first.

[FragarachZ]

I'm totally ok with sexy scenes among the group (though I'm more interested in the "old fashioned" MxF pairing than FxF). As long as it doesn't go beyond that, it seems like human or exotic light? Or if we'll have big sleazeball hutts and other aliens licking the twi'lek girls... I guess it's all up to what may happen in the story. You're the one who knows where the story can take us, if we keep sexyness only within the group I doub't anyone will rape the others as we're supposed to be a bunch of heroes.
As far as violence level goes I'm not looking for details on brain splatter seeping between floor tiles, but I like colorful, descriptive creative combat. I like to know where someone is hit, how they turn a deadly hit into a near miss, and in tougher battles it's often gratifying to have the enemy go down in a spectacular fashion. I will also try to improvise a lot in using surroundings, ranging from hacking the lights to create shadows to hide in, turning on the fire extinguisher systems to create obscured areas, overloading power condiuts to blow up electrocute possible enemies etc.
It's also not beneath me to offer sexual favors as a bargaining chip, or seeing how my current character would have some insecurities encourage such for other players

[hellrazoromega]

Yeah I think I will stick with the older character and make the loss have happened well before the purge. I did switch out for the skill focus. After all that I rethought her story to her being stranded on a planet with a race that did not have star faring capability, her dealings with these people made her more of a negotiator and diplomat rather since she did not have to worry about survival as much. With that I took the noble class and went back to my healer/negotiator idea. Stats 11,17,13,12,12,12 took age adjustments and then +1 to Cha and Wis.  Adjusted my dice rolls for HP .
2015-07-14 15:22:09   At 2015-07-14 15:22:09, hellrazoromega (uid: 57374) rolls: 2d10 Result: 9
2015-07-14 15:10:34   At 2015-07-14 15:10:34, hellrazoromega (uid: 57374) rolls: 3d6 Result: 10

Still WIP but getting there.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=272710

[Cassandra LeMay]

Bit of a change there, to put it mildy, but it looks pretty solid to me. Don't forget the +2 (instead of +1) Will Resistance bonus you'll get from the Noble class and make certain you do add the +3 instead of +1 for skill bonus from character levels (is that the sheet messing up?). I'll give you a final verdict when you say you are done with here, but it looks to me like she's pretty good.

[FragarachZ]

Having exchanged PMs with some of the others, background-wise it seems so far that my character Anya was working against the anti-alien empire and mercing for the rebellion to get enough credits and purchase the freedom of her family from a crime lord.
On a risky mission she accepted, she was meant to smuggle goods to and from a wartorn planet with local feuds. She was caught in an explosion that seriously injured her and Batman4560's character saved her life with some first aid and then by taking her to a surgeon. He joined up when she offered a position on her ship and to join the fight against the empire's opression and domination of system after system.
When Muse's girl won her freedom from the same crime lord who keeps Anya's family as slaves, Anya took her in to learn as much as she could about her family and the hutt's cartel, as well as hoping to get back at the sleazeball one day.

Now we just have to figure out how the remaining two characters fit into the picture?

[hellrazoromega]

Bit of a change there, to put it mildy, but it looks pretty solid to me. Don't forget the +2 (instead of +1) Will Resistance bonus you'll get from the Noble class and make certain you do add the +3 instead of +1 for skill bonus from character levels (is that the sheet messing up?). I'll give you a final verdict when you say you are done with here, but it looks to me like she's pretty good.

yeah the + 1 Is just the  standard value on the sheet and have not changed it yet. The noble angle just came to me so I went with  it. I need to switch the blaster to a light one and make the adjustments you pointed  out. Other than that what was the decision on how much money/equipment we start  with, I missed it.

Edit:
Yeah It was the way I had my levels on the sheet--should be fixed now.
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=272710
And a bit of a background.

Background

Kylen Jan-Tarsis Was a Jedi youngling on a training outing when the cruiser she was traveling in encountered a hyperspace anomaly which threw it thousands of light-years off course and caused major damages to the vessel. The Ship crash landed on a remote planet inhabited by a race known as the Viskoo. Fortunately the Viskoo spoke a dialect similar to Huttese, a lay over from a time long ago when a hyperspace lane had passed near the planet. Kylen and the few survivors we taken in by a pastoral community and nursed back to health. Over the years the survivors, a Jedi master, 3 youngling and some of the crew formed a bond with the community and help them settle disputes with band of nomads who preyed on pastoralists. The Viskoo were a simple people with no advance technology so there was little hope of escape for the survivors. Kylen was able to master negotiation and learn healing from some of the other survivors. Over the years, accidents and violence took the lives of all of the outsiders but Kylen.

Many years had passed when a smuggler vessel which had encountered a similar anomaly, but which had fared much better structurally, set down on the planet for repairs. Kylen was able to hitch a ride with the smugglers and returned to a galaxy very different from the one she had left. The Republic was gone, the Jedi dead, and the Empire ruled with an iron fist.  Kylen spent the next several years hiding out with various groups in the Outer Rim, smugglers, traders, and other scallywags who saw her value for healing and negotiation.