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The problem with Wookies.
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Kytross
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Joined: 28 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I played a Barabel once who was min/maxed to be unstoppable at most forms of ground combat. We went to space and my mec 2D and tec 1D made me effectively useless. My GM let me rule ground combat and I played my reptile appropriately in other situations as a fish out of water.

If you want to balance the fights and still have epic ground battles, go to range and use combined fire. Blaster rifles can shoot 300+ yards.

Quote:
Model: SoroSuub Stormtrooper One
(later Freedom One) Blaster Rifle
Type: Blaster rifle
Scale: Character
Skill: Blaster: blaster rifle
Ammo: 100
Cost: 1,000 (power packs: 25)
Availability: 2, X
Range: 3-30/100/300
Damage: 5D
Game Notes: If the retractable stock and scope are used for
one round of aiming, the character receives and additional
+1D to blaster.
Source: Rulebook (page 231), Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook
SE (page 154), Arms and Equipment Guide (page 16)


Your party gets ambushed by a group of stormies from 250+ yards. Your Wookiee breaks cover to charge, confident in his strength to save him, and after he doesn't go down with the first or second combined salvo, the stormies all focus fire on him and easily drop him before he makes it 50 yards. If he uses his brain and moves from cover to cover, dodging and earning his way across the battlefield or uses his sneak to get around the battlefield, and makes it to melee range then he's earned his chance to unleash his Wookiee rage.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One rule sparks uses i like is called shots. Take a +5 to hit penalty, and if you do hit, add +1d damage.
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 7:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was just thinking. It would be interesting to do some games in an underwater or low-pressure environment. Even if he could physically brush off damage, his pressure suit could not. Especially in a low oxygen environment it could be harmful, but not deadly.

It may at least get him to invest in some defensive skills.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the things i never liked about d6 was how all damage seems to get resisted by str/stamina, which kind of neuters things like nerve or other gas agents against high str targets.
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schnarre
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 2:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

...For dealing with a high-strength Wookiee character there are actually plenty of means (in one of my early games, the first character death was a PC Wookiee):

Option 1: Force user opponent with a high Alter (Force Lightning ignores armor), or high Control & Sense (lightsaber is a good counter)

Option 2 : 1st Edition scaling rules--rolls above a given die cap are discarded, making even an AT-ST's 3D weapons potentially deadly

Option 3 : (as suggested earlier) a Trandoshan or similar tough adversary that can square off with it (Barabel comes recommended)

Option 4 : Sleep deprivation--by having the party on the run for most of a given day, they'll simply drop at some point regardless. In the module Tatooine Manhunt (1st Ed.), if I recall correctly, the rule was brought in that once a character had gone without sleep for a certain time Stamina rolls would be needed every hour thereafter until the character rested; this also incurred a cumulative -1D penalty on further checks for every hour so failure was inevitable at a certain point regardless of Stamina

Option 5 : A roll of '1' on the Wild die on the player's soak roll could mean the opponent dealt full damage

Option 6 : (as suggested earlier) Place the group in a situation where the Wookiee's Strength--such a rolls requiring high Dexterity or Perception, or operating vehicles


....Just my 2 credits worth anyway. Wink
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Zarn
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

schnarre wrote:
...For dealing with a high-strength Wookiee character there are actually plenty of means (in one of my early games, the first character death was a PC Wookiee):

(other stuff cut)

....Just my 2 credits worth anyway. Wink


Although you have a set of good ideas here, I still think this is probably a bad idea, because it is matching power against power. And, although that's an interesting exercise in and of itself, I think it might be counterproductive (that's not aimed towards you, but more perhaps the entire, general discussion).

The problem here isn't the wookiee character itself, in my opinion - it's the disparity against the rest of the player characters. If you have a group of Storm Commandos, you're fine. There's no individual disparity of power inside the group. If the entire group of player characters is cookie-cutter high STR wookiees, you'll be fine with matching power against power, strength against strength.

However, this is probably not the case.

An NPC capable of matching the wookiee might be downright lethal to the rest of the group. Let's say that the rest are intrusion specialists and others, having at most 3D in STR. Anything that challenges a wookiee with 6D, is likely to start draining CPs and perhaps even FPs from other characters if and when the NPC doesn't target the wookiee.

Furthermore, I'm actually fine with having a powerful player character in a group. The player characters are galactic heroes on the scale of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and so on (usually, eventually, sometimes). Letting a character built for smashmouth combat run rampant every now and then, steamrolling a bunch of NPCs isn't that different from letting a slicer shine by reprogramming computer systems and messing with droids, or letting a smuggler thread the needle with their light freighter through the closing hangar bay doors.

It's the character's special area of competence; let them be competent.

In my opinion, you should seek to manipulate the player of the wookiee or the players of the other characters, rather than going for the character. Make situations where the player is ill advised to 'think with his fists', as it where. Hence my suggestion that you use story factors and target the enslaved nature of most wookiees rather than matching power to power directly.

Heck, let the wookiee player work with recruiting the other characters to work towards freeing the wookiees enslaved, or otherwise take charge of the situation. Story factors are there for a reason. Don't meet strength with strength, because of collateral damage - in this case, potentially the entire group except the wookiee (and the only thing you've taught the players then, is that they need to make Barabels and what have you in order to survive in your game).

Which is fine if you wish to play that kind of game with that kind of characters - but make sure you make a conscious decision to do so. My group can sometimes decide to play a military fireteam - and in that case, this is what they'll do. And that's ok - but it's a conscious decision rather than some survival of the fittest thing.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

While that is a concern, its the same argument i have heard from other players/DMs for games like ADND and such, where you have one powerhouse PC and the rest are lower than him. Putting in a monster that could challenge HIM would crush the rest. To me that is almost as bad as telling the party, i will challenge you, but not go for the kill.
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jmanski
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess I see the Wookie (or other power character) rolling up his sleeves and huffing off to fight the big bad guy while the others cower, but on the other hand the Wookie will struggle in other areas and needs the other PCs. The lower powered characters can survive; they just need to be smart about it (use cover, dodge a lot, get better gear, etc.)
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