The Rancor Pit Forum Index
Welcome to The Rancor Pit forums!

The Rancor Pit Forum Index
FAQ   ::   Search   ::   Memberlist   ::   Usergroups   ::   Register   ::   Profile   ::   Log in to check your private messages   ::   Log in

Building a Droid...
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Official Rules -> Building a Droid... Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Wajeb Deb Kaadeb
Commodore
Commodore


Joined: 07 Apr 2017
Posts: 1448

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Straxus wrote:
Am I the only one who sees the equipment on templates as "suggestions suitable to the character type, pending GM approval"?


No, I believe that's exactly what I've been promoting.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Raven Redstar
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 2648
Location: Salem, OR

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't mind giving Droids certain pieces of add-ons as equipment, so long as they don't grant large inherent bonuses to skills, or get used to counteract weak skills or ones the droid is not programmed with.

I've never had a player who wanted to play a droid, ever, in almost 20 years of playing and running Star Wars. I think it's largely because droids are usually viewed as a "Sidekick" character, and all players want to be the star of the show.
_________________
RR
________________________________________________________________
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Sovereign Protector


Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14152
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 3:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Raven Redstar wrote:
I don't mind giving Droids certain pieces of add-ons as equipment, so long as they don't grant large inherent bonuses to skills, or get used to counteract weak skills or ones the droid is not programmed with.

I've never had a player who wanted to play a droid, ever, in almost 20 years of playing and running Star Wars. I think it's largely because droids are usually viewed as a "Sidekick" character, and all players want to be the star of the show.


Over the years, i think i've met only 2 players who EVER were willing to give droid pcs a chance.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Zarn
Force Spirit


Joined: 17 Jun 2014
Posts: 698

PostPosted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 5:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree; it's rare to see anyone interested in a droid pc.

Last edited by Zarn on Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:37 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kytross
Line Captain
Line Captain


Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 782

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've tried making a player droid many times. I find the official rules are inadequate.

My house rule for PC droid creation is simple: Treat them like a PC.

Specifically a human. 18D Attribute dice, 7D Skill dice. All attributes are 2D minimum, 4D Maximum.

I treat attachments like gear. Make sure each player get roughly the same amount of stat boosts from their gear as the other players do.

If you want to use the official droid creation rules, good luck!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kytross wrote:
I've tried making a player droid many times. I find the official rules are inadequate.

My house rule for PC droid creation is simple: Treat them like a PC.

Specifically a human. 18D Attribute dice, 7D Skill dice. All attributes are 2D minimum, 4D Maximum.

I treat attachments like gear. Make sure each player get roughly the same amount of stat boosts from their gear as the other players do.

If you want to use the official droid creation rules, good luck!


You know, what if we switched that up?

Droids are built with 7D attribute Dice, and 18D skill dice. This would make the default droid pretty generally lousy at most things (1D attributes), but of average competence in one area (2D attribute), and with a lot of specialized knowledge (18D skill dice).
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Director of Engineering


Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16272
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kytross wrote:
I've tried making a player droid many times. I find the official rules are inadequate.

My house rule for PC droid creation is simple: Treat them like a PC.

Specifically a human. 18D Attribute dice, 7D Skill dice. All attributes are 2D minimum, 4D Maximum.

I treat attachments like gear. Make sure each player get roughly the same amount of stat boosts from their gear as the other players do.

If you want to use the official droid creation rules, good luck!

Seconded. A droid PC is going to be an exceptional droid anyway.

Again, I recommend the Advantage / Disadvantage system from D6 Space to give it some structure. Attachments that provide bonuses to skills and attributes can be treated like Special Abilities, whereas basic attachments like the saw on an Astromech can be treated as starting equipment.

One thing that might be fun for a Swiss Army Droid like the Astromech is an Omni-Gadget. There was a DC super heroes game a while back that used these for Batman’s utility belt, and he could basically invent a gadget for a specific purpose as needed mid-game. There were limitations and penalties, but it always seemed in the films as though Artoo always had some new gadget that did just what he needed it to do at any given moment. That could be a fun incentive for an Astromech character.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10397
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kytross wrote:
I've tried making a player droid many times. I find the official rules are inadequate.

My house rule for PC droid creation is simple: Treat them like a PC.

Specifically a human. 18D Attribute dice, 7D Skill dice. All attributes are 2D minimum, 4D Maximum.

I treat attachments like gear. Make sure each player get roughly the same amount of stat boosts from their gear as the other players do.

If you want to use the official droid creation rules, good luck!

Right on!

MrNexx wrote:
You know, what if we switched that up?

Droids are built with 7D attribute Dice, and 18D skill dice. This would make the default droid pretty generally lousy at most things (1D attributes), but of average competence in one area (2D attribute), and with a lot of specialized knowledge (18D skill dice).

A whole lotta nope to this! IMO, attribute dice and skill dice should not be equated (including being reversed).

CRMcNeill wrote:
Seconded. A droid PC is going to be an exceptional droid anyway.

Thirded!

CRMcNeill wrote:
Again, I recommend the Advantage / Disadvantage system from D6 Space to give it some structure. Attachments that provide bonuses to skills and attributes can be treated like Special Abilities, whereas basic attachments like the saw on an Astromech can be treated as starting equipment.

One thing that might be fun for a Swiss Army Droid like the Astromech is an Omni-Gadget. There was a DC super heroes game a while back that used these for Batman’s utility belt, and he could basically invent a gadget for a specific purpose as needed mid-game. There were limitations and penalties, but it always seemed in the films as though Artoo always had some new gadget that did just what he needed it to do at any given moment. That could be a fun incentive for an Astromech character.

Good ideas!
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Kytross
Line Captain
Line Captain


Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 782

PostPosted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 1:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kytross wrote:
I've tried making a player droid many times. I find the official rules are inadequate.

My house rule for PC droid creation is simple: Treat them like a PC.

Specifically a human. 18D Attribute dice, 7D Skill dice. All attributes are 2D minimum, 4D Maximum.

I treat attachments like gear. Make sure each player get roughly the same amount of stat boosts from their gear as the other players do.

If you want to use the official droid creation rules, good luck!


If you decide to use this method, I recommend not allowing your PC droid to use software, aka skillware, to improve skills. This has the potential to seriously unbalance the game. I tell my players that this droids advanced brain is incompatible with standard skillware.

The advantage to being a droid is that you don't need to eat or breathe, you can survive in space without a suit, and you can always be repaired even after your character 'dies.'

The disadvantage to playing a droid is that you can not heal naturally. You must be repaired. Also, you may be owned and society tends to treat you like property.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dph
Lieutenant
Lieutenant


Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 95

PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Spot on Krytoss.

I've had a few Droid characters over the years in my games from Assassin to Probe Droids. The standard rules can work but I found it easier to do just as you did and treat them as a PC.

They pick a core model, I come up with Attribute Min/Max based on the flavour of the design and they get standard 18/7D.
I let them have as many attachments from the core model as I think is 'fair' in balance with the other PCs or even appropriate attachments to the new concept.

My most recent player was a Labor Droid that had been modified by criminals to slice so he got a scomp link/data access attachment in his finger!

No Force points, repair not heal and upgrades skills with CPs.

Kytross wrote:
I've tried making a player droid many times. I find the official rules are inadequate.

My house rule for PC droid creation is simple: Treat them like a PC.

Specifically a human. 18D Attribute dice, 7D Skill dice. All attributes are 2D minimum, 4D Maximum.

I treat attachments like gear. Make sure each player get roughly the same amount of stat boosts from their gear as the other players do.

If you want to use the official droid creation rules, good luck!

_________________
Check out my campaign and others on Obsidian Portal!

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/roguetraders
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ClaytonH
Cadet
Cadet


Joined: 23 Sep 2019
Posts: 15
Location: Indiana

PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 12:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I do not allow droids as main characters in my campaigns. My old ones (mid 90's) I think I tried then cut that off. I treat them as pets. As a GM you are somewhat dissuaded from destroying a properly roleplayed or a player who asymmetrically uses their "pet"as opposed to just some disposable object that costs the player money.


The Star Wars universe has had several examples of how/why sentient droids where a bad idea and are shunned.

Droids are for the most part universally disliked unless it is "your" droid. Droids that are servant class do not have the ability to defend themselves let alone others and those are the only droids that are really acceptable in mixed company or in public. That is why all of the droids with blaster skill are illegal or require extra special permits.

Most of the time throughout the books ('79-03'ish) they had to leave the droids on their ships. How easy is it to program droids to act normal then have them just murder somebody, or anybody given the proper trigger. They also explained that the droid armies of the clone wars did not leave droids with a shining reputation. How moral is it that a programed inorganic can kill organics? They cannot understand life or its value they are just produced and programed.

The empire used some military droids but few and their experiments with assassin droids resulted in them making them illegal.

Some droids made the "leap" to personality (like r2 and c3po) because of never having maintenance or having such clumsy maintenance performed the bugs effectively gave them an evolutionary advantage. They are heros and I would think the other 9,999 (or more) droids who were treated this way would simply break.

If getting some biological piece of your body replaced with a machine it makes you more evil than before or more susceptible to evil. Which to me says your being human is what gives you your humanity something that cannot be obtained with a program. There just isn't any capacity for empathy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ninja-Bear
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 26 Sep 2016
Posts: 209

PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 2:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Several years ago I had a buddy who wanted to be a droid. Since I didn’t like the rules at the time, I talked him out of it. He used Cyborged Pirate. Now I regret not working with him to be a droid. The reason? Cause I’m a GM. I allow as much freedom in creating characters as possible.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:

MrNexx wrote:
You know, what if we switched that up?

Droids are built with 7D attribute Dice, and 18D skill dice. This would make the default droid pretty generally lousy at most things (1D attributes), but of average competence in one area (2D attribute), and with a lot of specialized knowledge (18D skill dice).

A whole lotta nope to this! IMO, attribute dice and skill dice should not be equated (including being reversed).


It's been a couple of years, but I'm still not following the reasoning on this.

The default rules of Droid creation (R&E p. 236) already conflate them... you take your stock droid, add up the attribute and skill dice, and that's your droid. Anything under 25D, total, can be discretionary, and this system works ok with stock droids. But if someone wants to build their own stock droid, there's not a lot of guidance in R&E.

This is a simple guideline... one that prevents my kind of nonsense, where I have 4D in all attributes and an extra 1D in an attachment that gives me +1D in all ship skills (similar to a 2-1B's bonus with medical skills).
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10397
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think I understand your post. I thought the discussion was specifically about making droid PCs. Droid models and individual NPCs don't need game balance. PCs do. You can't equate attribute dice to skill dice for PCs and have any sense of game balance. There is a droid PC template in R&E. It is woefully disabled to other PCs. And the rules allow you to create an OP droid. What simple guideline are you referring to that prevents dropping 24D into attributes?

If you are ok with attributes and skills being equally valued in a pool of total creation dice, then why don't you do that for non-droids too? I feel it makes no sense to have droids be all over the place but non-droids not to be. I don't have droid PCs but I have a version of Shards in droid bodies. In my game, these PCs also have 18D in attributes, and the same number of skill dice as everyone else. It's simple, and it's fair. I would recommend that any GM who has straight droid PCs in their game do the same.
_________________
*
Site Map
Forum Guidelines
Registration/Log-In Help
The Rancor Pit Library
Star Wars D6 Damage
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral


Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
I don't think I understand your post. I thought the discussion was specifically about making droid PCs. Droid models and individual NPCs don't need game balance. PCs do. You can't equate attribute dice to skill dice for PCs and have any sense of game balance. There is a droid PC template in R&E. It is woefully disabled to other PCs. And the rules allow you to create an OP droid. What simple guideline are you referring to that prevents dropping 24D into attributes?

If you are ok with attributes and skills being equally valued in a pool of total creation dice, then why don't you do that for non-droids too? I feel it makes no sense to have droids be all over the place but non-droids not to be. I don't have droid PCs but I have a version of Shards in droid bodies. In my game, these PCs also have 18D in attributes, and the same number of skill dice as everyone else. It's simple, and it's fair. I would recommend that any GM who has straight droid PCs in their game do the same.


The simple guideline I refer to is the one I laid out... Droids being generally 7D attribute and 18D skills, which I agree DOES heavily disadvantage droid characters. As it stands, there's nothing preventing the OP, 4D in everything, Droid, save GM fiat.
_________________
"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Official Rules All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 3 of 4

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


v2.0