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shard/droid simbiosis
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Savar
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:53 pm    Post subject: shard/droid simbiosis Reply with quote

Whill you stated that you are going to let shard/droid simbiosis in your game. How are you planning to do the char creation?
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Savar
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Notes: used Whill's house language rule, I also took starting attribute dice and paid for the MSE-6's Strength and Dexterity out of the 18 starting dice.

I am working on the background for the char yet but he would be an infiltration/sabotage char.

Dexterity 0D
- Dodge +2D (4D in MSE-6)
Knowledge 4D
Mechanical 3D
Perception 4D
- Hide 5D
- Sneak 5D
Strength 0D (1D vs damage)
Technical 4D
- Computer programming/repair 5D
- Droid programming 5D
- Security 5D

Move: Immobile

Force points: 1
Dark side points: 0
Character points: 5
Force sensitive: No

Languages fluent: Shard, Binary, Verpine radio, Basic

Equipment: MSE-6, Multi Tool
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Savar
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

On another point, reading the shard description in alien encounters the shard droid combo only has the shards skills to use.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Savar wrote:
I also took starting attribute dice and paid for the MSE-6's Strength and Dexterity out of the 18 starting dice.

I am working on the background for the char yet but he would be an infiltration/sabotage char.

Dexterity 0D
- Dodge +2D (4D in MSE-6)
Knowledge 4D
Mechanical 3D
Perception 4D
- Hide 5D
- Sneak 5D
Strength 0D (1D vs damage)
Technical 4D
- Computer programming/repair 5D
- Droid programming 5D
- Security 5D

Move: Immobile

Force points: 1
Dark side points: 0
Character points: 5
Force sensitive: No

Mouse droids have wheels and clearly move in ANH (like 70s remote control cars). Why do you say this character is "Immobile"?
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On top of that, Shards are somewhere between 30 and 40 centimeters tall, and an MSE-6 is only 25 centimeters tall, and somewhat longer than it is tall. How is there going to be enough usable space inside an MSE-6 to fit a Shard plus the manipulators and drive gear that come standard on an MSE-6?
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Whill
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:32 pm    Post subject: Re: shard/droid simbiosis Reply with quote

Savar wrote:
On another point, reading the shard description in alien encounters the shard droid combo only has the shards skills to use.

Alien Encounters wrote:
All of the skills of the droid are provided by the Shard "driving" it.

That sentence in the Shard entry's Gamemaster Notes section does seem to settle that discussion we had about the nature of the symbiosis, at least what RAW's intention was. The Shard is in control and has all the skills, so the droid would seem to just be a body for the Shard. An easy contrivance to explain the skill thing in-universe would be that the Shard-droid interface system takes the place of skillware system in a normal droid.

Savar wrote:
Whill you stated that you are going to let shard/droid simbiosis in your game. How are you planning to do the char creation?

In my game all PCs of any playable species have exactly 18D in attributes (no more, no less), so it would be the same for Shard-droid symbionts. Then allocate skill dice the same way you would any other character. In my game Shard would have the normal PC two skill dice limit to allocate to skills, not the higher straight droid PC limit. IMHO, the straight droid PC rules are broken even more so because they equate attribute dice and skill dice, when the two are very much differently valued and should not be equated to each other.

What I haven't worked out yet was how to manage the attachments. Maybe that could be just be worked out between the GM and player with what would be reasonable for the type of droid. I have a rule flat-out disallowing 4th degree droids because the Shards are sending select members of their species out into the galaxy as droids to gain experience and someday bring it back to share with the Shard society. They are a peaceful species and not out to participate in animosity, plus don't want to attract too much attention to their homeworld, so they just wouldn't be 4th degree droids. By the same token, although a Shard PC may have been abroad in the galaxy for decades before play begins, the player would have to have a good explanation for having starting skill dice in any combat skills.

Below are my six Shard templates. Please note that since I have slightly changed the species backstory and moved them to a completely different homeworld, I have renamed the species "Sha'ard".

Whill wrote:
(degree) Template Name [pictured model]

(1) Sha'ard Medical Droid [GH-7 Medical Droid]
Dex 3D
Kno 4D
Mec 3D
Per 3D
Str 2D
Tec 3D
Notes: I included the GH-7 because I wanted to include one droid originating in the prequels. And this one is also different in that he can hover with repulsorlift tech.

(2) Sha'ard Astromech Droid [R2 Astromech Droid]
Dex 2D
Kno 2D
Mec 4D
Per 2D
Str 3D
Tec 5D
Notes: These could really be almost any astromech droids, but I actually have had one player that told me she wanted to play a character just like R2-D2, so here is my Sha'ard version. Of course a player could choose this template and easily create a character with a similar appearance and abilities as Artoo with a very different personality.

(2) Sha'ard Repair Droid [LE Repair Droid]
Dex 3D
Kno 3D
Mec 3D
Per 3D
Str 2D
Tec 4D
Note: This is the more humanlike repair droid type of Leebo from Shadows of the Empire. Every single attribute has a different value than the astromech droid above.

(2) Scout Droid [Mark V Explorer Droid]
Dex 2D
Kno 3D
Mec 3D
Per 3D
Str 4D
Tec 3D
Notes: This is based on the Scout Droid template from Galaxy Guide 8 p.96. The added twist here is that the PC doesn't know that he is a Sha'ard and just thinks he is a droid. He had been damaged at some point resulting in the Sha'ard inside being in a coma-like state and the Sha'ard-Droid interface being damaged, so the PC still has access to all his skills but can't remember any events from before the "accident" aside from some vague fleeting images.

(3) Sha'ard Protocol Droid [B-3PO Protocol Droid]
Dex 2D
Kno 5D
Mec 3D
Per 3D
Str 2D
Tec 3D
Notes: This template is based on the Protocol Droid template from the game, which seems to have been created for the theoretical player that has their heart set on playing a character like Threepio. My twist is that the character is a greasy slick-talking con man type of character like Threepio was originally going to be before he turned into a worried butler. The original image for the template from 2E is similar to yet clearly not the same model of droid as C-3PO, so I made-up "B-3PO" as a predecessor model. Its appearance does somewhat differentiate the character from Threepio. (To make that make more sense, "C-3PO" is a droid model in my SWU so Threepio's unspecified full individual designation is really longer. I imagine R2-D2 to also be a specific model of R2-units in the R-series, so Artoo also has a longer unspecified individual designation.)

(5) Sha'ard Labor Droid [BLX Labor Droid]
Dex 3D
Kno 3D
Mec 3D
Per 2D
Str 4D
Tec 3D
Notes: The same model as Bollux from Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures. My concept for this template type is a very depressed and negative droid inspired by Marvin from The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy series. He resents his species giving him the body of a menial 5th degree droid, as his intelligence and PC-caliber capabilities are far above and beyond his droid designation. He is extremely oppressed (both by actual and perceived oppressions).

I hope all this helps.
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Last edited by Whill on Sun Jan 22, 2017 3:18 am; edited 1 time in total
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Savar
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Forgot to update move when cut n paste.

Well dump the brain and skill matrix slot equipment. Leave the slot in place for show. Maybe drop one of the manipulators.
Might still have space issues.

So that the shard controls the body, would the shard then need a piloting skill for the droid locomotion type? Or just use mechanical attribute.

I like the Astromech droid, the R2 wannabe. Was surprised to see a technical attribute of 5D though after some of the conversations I have seen.

Thank you for the list of pc templates.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 1:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Savar wrote:
So that the shard controls the body, would the shard then need a piloting skill for the droid locomotion type? Or just use mechanical attribute.

Unlike a normal sentient piloting a vehicle, the Shard is integrated with the droid body. In the Shard-droid integration, the Shard perceives what the droid would perceive and feels what the droid would feel (In the films, droids clearly can even feel pain). I personally wouldn't think of locomotion as piloting per se, but if you must, then the "piloting" skill for Shard-droid pedal "locomotion" quickly and/or over challenging terrain would be Running, like it would be for regular droids with legs. For droids that roll, they might have a more appropriately named skill, but I would still put it under Dexterity in place of Running. However I would say that a droid that floats via repulsorlift technology would use Repulsorlift Operation, but that would work the same for a droid NPC or a Shard-droid PC in my game, so there still isn't a special 'droid-body piloting' skill, in my game anyway. I personally think of the droid as the Shard's body, not a "vehicle", even though the AE entry does use that term (in quotations marks) in the Story Factors.

Savar wrote:
Thank you for the list of pc templates.

You're welcome. Just sharing what I had worked up for you or anyone else it might help or inspire to do it their own way.

Savar wrote:
I like the Astromech droid, the R2 wannabe. Was surprised to see a technical attribute of 5D though after some of the conversations I have seen.

I think I may recall what conversations you are referring to, about RAW's game mechanically uber species like Verpine and Sluissi. RAW has the Shard TEC attribute range go up to 6D, but for my game I lowered that to 5D. (I also lowered the max PER from 4D to 3D). And my Shard TEC 5D does not come with any species bonus that adds to all TEC rolls, or the broken two-for-one skill dice allocations. And if TEC 5D still sounds too uber for a crystalline alien in the body of an astromech droid, keep in mind that with my templates all being 18D, if you lower the TEC 5D then you would have to raise something else. I didn't want a character like R2-D2 to have more than 2D in DEX, KNO or PER. So TEC 5D, MEC 4D and STR 3D is what's left. Also, my Astromech template is contrasted with the more humanlike LE Repair droid who has 3D in the Astromech's 2D attributes, and 1D less than the Astromech's other three attributes.

That's just the method to my madness. For your game, make it whatever works best for you.
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Savar
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 11:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am fine with the 5D technical Smile

So the shard didn't get the +1D to computer use/programming ?
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Whill
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
And my Shard TEC 5D does not come with any species bonus that adds to all TEC rolls, or the broken two-for-one skill dice allocations.
Savar wrote:
So the shard didn't get the +1D to computer use/programming ?

That is certainly a reasonable bonus, but RAW goes a little further...

Quote:
Computer Mind: Shards have an instinctive understanding of computers and droid brains and gain +1D with the computer programming/repair and droid programming skills as well as any other skill that involves computer programming or operation such as astrogation or security (versus computerized locks and devices). Shards can interact directly with comlink-equipped computers using their telecommunication ability...

Security and Astrogation...I'm not sure. I haven't worked out my Shard special abilities package yet. Sorry.
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