Lightsaber fights and melee combat & more in version one

[Orville]

Hello fellow Rebels, I need help and you are my only hope

I tried to run a rise of the empire era game during last weekend. The players used newly generated characters but some with an additional 25 experience pts. since they had level 4 characters in saga edition.

The rules for lightsaber combat and deflect in this version of d6 are very tough... In this version the difficulty for wielding lightsaber is 16 and adding a melee parry roll to that is very high... so it appeared that 6D on lightsaber was no where near the jedi´s skill in saga edition at level 4.

Also, one player had a saga edition noble with talents that increased skil checks for other characters... he was like a good leader kind of character. In D6 there is only the leadership skill and that is only for leading npc:s.

So now, I´m faced with the lightsaber problem and making a character for one other player.

I don´t want to leave the d6 system but if I don´t figure this out I may have to...

[Praxian]

If you have a problem with the power, re-write it for your personal game.

There's several options if you're looking at redoing the power (some are even posted in the various spots already):

1) No roll to activate, no MAP for normal upkeep, 1/2 control dice to damage, 1/2 skill dice to skill (I kinda like this one personally).

2) Roll for activation, no upkeep for MAP's, rest is regulated as per written.

3) (something for what it looks like you're looking for) Roll for activation, MAP as appropriate, use Lightsaber to deflect blaster shots as one would use Dodge to dodge blasters (aka roll Lightsaber + Sense Dice - MAPs as appropriate, result = parry result for all blaster shots. So PC rolls a 32 with Lightsaber skill, only hits that go with a 33 and higher actually hit the PC).

Keep in mind several things:

1) There are no "Levels" in d6. The focus is on Role vs Roll. So, while the two same characters that started at the same time, were at ever session, have gotten the exact same Character Points, could have VASTLY different abilities. One could've focused on raising skills, whether combat or otherwise, while another focused on raising Force Skills. After any amount of playing, if a person doesn't make their character combat-worthy, then they're on their own fault.

2) The power as a whole, actually is probably over-powered. As characters go up in experience, it's expected that they'll raise both their Lightsaber skill, as well as their Sense dice pool. With that in mind, with every adventure if they raise those two skills they're raising their Lightsaber skill by 2 pips, not one. That's twice the combat advancement the other non-jedi characters are getting.

3) There is nothing inherently wrong with changing the rules to fit your homebrew game! If you feel the need to change the rules, your the GM. If you need help changing them to keep them somewhat in balance, then do so. But by all means, make the game fun for both you, and your players!

[Orville]

Thanks that helps a lot. I will keep in mind the fact that the jedi probably will become very good at deflecting blasters over the course of the campaign.

The rules you suggest looks good to me. I will use them. I have one question though, I am not sure what you mean here:

1) No roll to activate, no MAP for normal upkeep, 1/2 control dice to damage, 1/2 skill dice to skill (I kinda like this one personally).

So if a jedi with 6D lightsaber and 3D sense is deflecting incoming blasterfire from a battledroid the jedi will roll 9D for the difficulty to hit him/her.

If the jedi declares that she will deflect and redirect the shot there is a MAP, right? The Sense roll to hit will be 3D-1D=2D or?

I also want to discuss melee:
If a lightsaberwielding jedi wants to attack a spearwielding maniac the difficulty to hit the maniac is: 16+(melee parry roll..if a maniac does that)-map
The maniac hits the jedi on 8 (diff. spear?)+ melee parry.-map

Thanks for discussing this, I just started gm:ing the WEG star wars after
a long pause.. I think my last game was in 98 before this weekend.

Also, are there any thoughts on characters focused on leading and assisting other characters? I remember that the tactics skill was mentioned for being able to perform fast actions without penalties.

My questions have probably been discussed by others on the forum but my forum fu is not what is should be,

[Raven Redstar]

[Praxian]

[quote=Orville]
1) No roll to activate, no MAP for normal upkeep, 1/2 control dice to damage, 1/2 skill dice to skill (I kinda like this one personally).

So if a jedi with 6D lightsaber and 3D sense is deflecting incoming blasterfire from a battledroid the jedi will roll 9D for the difficulty to hit him/her.

If the jedi declares that she will deflect and redirect the shot there is a MAP, right? The Sense roll to hit will be 3D-1D=2D or? [/quote]

Ok, so under the -normal- use of LS Combat he would have 9D. With the revision I'm mentioning however, you need to figure it out like this:

Skill + (Sense / 2) = Total Skill with LS Combat.
In this case we have 6D skill + 1D+1 Sense = 7D+1

Why is the Sense +1D+1? Glad you asked! Think of it like this, how many Pips is 3D? 9. Half of 9 is 4.5 (round down) you get 4 Pips. 4 Pips = 1D+1.

[quote=]
If the jedi declares that she will deflect and redirect the shot there is a MAP, right? The Sense roll to hit will be 3D-1D=2D or? [/quote]

Don't seperate it like that. Figure out the total skill, as we've done above, and go from there. 7D+1 = the Jedi's LS Skill with LS Combat active using that method. Use MAPS to subtract dice pool from there. Subtracting MAPs for the Sense pool and LS skill pool seperately will result in 1 dead Jedi PC (as you'd be double-penalizing for MAPS - which overall is not nice).

[Orville]

In my group of players I know they´ll start to comment on lightsaber skill:
If the lightsaber can be used instead of melee parry and lightsaber+sense/2 for deflect, in effect dodge.... that is a lot of skill points that the jedi don´t need to set on other skills then lightsaber...

Isn´t that to overpowered? Is there balance in a game where other players are blaster wielding characters?

Thanks for discussing guys!

[Bren]

[garhkal]

[Bren]

[garhkal]

I like that 'allowing them to oppose the diff with a willpower roll'.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Orville]

Ok, guys thanks for all the suggestions, i need to meditate over this...