First Edition's Consolidated Skills

[RedFox]

I love my R&E book and wouldn't trade it in for the world, however I'm not a fan of the somewhat fiddly sub-division of skills. I've heard that first edition had a much leaner and meaner skill list, so I was wondering if anyone had (or, could make!) a list of 1e skills and perhaps a list of which 2e skills fall under their purview?

Thanks.
_________________
Ooo, a droid! Can I fix it?

I have Star Wars stuff!

[Endwyn]

I don't think the skill list in the old edition is better. It's only smaller because it was the first time around. After that they saw what skills they were missing and added them. If you use the old list you will run into many problems of "what should I roll?", especially if you or the players are used to the expanded skill list. It still has the basics, but many skills are missing. I provided it below since you wanted it.

Dex:
Blaster, Brawling Parry, Dodge, Grenade, Heavy Weapons, Melee Parry, Melee Weapons

Kno:
Alien Races, Bueracracy, Cultures, Languages, Planetary Systems, Streetwise, Survival, Technology

Mec:
Astrogation, Beast Riding, Repulsorlift Ops, Starship Gunnery, Starship Piloting, Starship Shields

Per:
Bargain, Command, Con, Gambling, Hide/Sneak, Search

Str:
Brawling, Climb/Jump, Lifting, Stamina, Swimming

Tec:
Comp Prg/Rpr, Demolition, Droid Prg/Rpr, Medicine, Repulorlift Rpr, Security, Starship Rpr
_________________
Luke, I am your father.
That's impossible!
And Leia is your sister!
That's improbable?
And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.

[RedFox]

Thanks!

I've come up with a consolidated (read: streamlined) skill list for R&E. It won't fit everyone's comfort zone, but I think it works well enough for me. Skills in paranthesis are the ones that the listed skill absorbed.

Dexterity
Blaster (Archaic Guns, Bowcaster, Bows, Firearms), Dodge, Heavy Weapons (Blaster Artillery, Missile Weapons), Melee Combat (Lightsaber, Melee Parry), Pick Pocket, Running, Thrown Weapons (Grenade, Missile Weapons)

Knowledge
Alien Species, Bureaucracy, Business, Cultures, Intimidation, Languages, Law Enforcement, Planetary Systems, Scholar, Streetwise, Survival, Tactics, Value, Willpower

Mechanical
Astrogation, Beast Riding, Capital Ship Piloting, Communications, Ground Vehicle Operation (Hover Vehicle Operation, Walker Operation), Gunnery (Capital Ship Gunnery, Starship Gunnery, Vehicle Blasters), Jet Pack Operation (Rocket Pack Operation), Powersuit Operation, Repulsorlift Operation (Swoop Operation), Space Transports (Archaic Starship Piloting), Starfighter Piloting, Starship Shields (Capital Ship Shields)

Perception
Bargain, Command, Con, Forgery, Gambling, Investigation, Persuasion, Search, Stealth (Hide, Sneak)

Strength
Brawling (Brawling Parry), Climbing/Jumping, Lifting, Stamina, Swimming

Technical
Armor Repair, Blaster Repair, Computer Programming / Repair (Droid Programming), Demolitions, Droid Repair, First Aid, Ground Vehicle Repair (Hover Vehicle Repair, Walker Repair), Medicine (A), Repulsorlift Repair, Security, Starship Repair (Capital Ship Repair, Capital Ship Weapon Repair, Space Transports Repair, Starfighter Repair, Starship Weapon Repair)


Or, more cleanly and without the parantheticals:

Dexterity
Blaster, Dodge, Heavy Weapons, Melee Combat, Pick Pocket, Running, Thrown Weapons

Knowledge
Alien Species, Bureaucracy, Business, Cultures, Intimidation, Languages, Law Enforcement, Planetary Systems, Scholar, Streetwise, Survival, Tactics, Value, Willpower

Mechanical
Astrogation, Beast Riding, Capital Ship Piloting, Communications, Ground Vehicle Operation, Jet Pack Operation, Powersuit Operation, Repulsorlift Operation, Space Transports, Starfighter Piloting, Starship Shields

Perception
Bargain, Command, Con, Forgery, Gambling, Investigation, Persuasion, Search, Stealth

Strength
Brawling, Climbing/Jumping, Lifting, Stamina, Swimming

Technical
Armor Repair, Blaster Repair, Computer Programming / Repair, Demolitions, Droid Repair, First Aid, Ground Vehicle Repair, Medicine (A), Repulsorlift Repair, Security, Starship Repair
_________________
Ooo, a droid! Can I fix it?

I have Star Wars stuff!

[Endwyn]

If that list works for you, that's good. I'd look at possible balance issues with some skills in your list absorbing lots of other skills. Besides making some skills "widely useful" where they were more specific before it also opens the door to players abusing specializations. For example, a character could use your skill list to take Melee Combat: Lightsabers; which they would get and increase at a significantly cheaper price than before. Also, by buckling many skills into one (ie Starship Rpr) you make it possible for certain "common builds" to practically need only one skill instead of many; specifically the starship tech only need one skill to cover their concept where most others still need many skills.
** The pilot will still need Astro, at least one of the 3 piloting (or more), and likely need shields and gunnery too.
** The combatant will still need dodge and at least one weapon skill
** The "brain" gets no help as no Knowledge skills are folded.
** The "social character" also gets no help.

I'm not trying to criticize your list, if this is what works in your group; that's fine. I just don't know if you have considered some of the above as possible problems you could encounter. Some concepts will benefit much more than others, to a point that they can easily become munchinized.
_________________
Luke, I am your father.
That's impossible!
And Leia is your sister!
That's improbable?
And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.

[RedFox]

I'm not overly worried about those sorts of balance issues. For one thing, I don't want the starship techie to be so narrowly focused that he has to spend across so many skills just to fix ships. Having one skill means "starship tech" is now "tech," which works much better for me in a Star Wars game.

Likewise, I think that lightsaber should be a melee specialty. If someone wants to focus on that to the exclusion of all other melee fighting abilities, then good for them. They can get it a might cheaper.

Or maybe I'll cap specialization dice, who knows.

It's true that the "face" doesn't get any love in this setup, but there's not a lot of social skills to begin with and they're all sufficiently different that I think it works out alright. Likewise, the Strength skills haven't really been consolidated either. Knowledge guy likewise gets no love, but again the skills are rather broadly useful to begin with.

I dunno, as I said it's just my particular sweet spot I'm striving for here. I just found it rather ridiculous in a Star Wars game that there's actually two different skills for using a jet pack, but something like Computer Programming / Repair is one skill. Just goes to show that it's all about where you personally want to draw the line. ;)
_________________
Ooo, a droid! Can I fix it?

I have Star Wars stuff!

[Ankhanu]

I could see Lightsabre being an Advanced Skill of Melee, but not a specialization. Though, that would also require a re-write of the rules a little bit; reduction in difficulty to use and imposition of a penalty (-10 or something) when attempting to use one without the skill., or something like that.

[RedFox]

Only if you care to retain the "lightsaber is supa difficult to use" bit, which I don't. It never made much sense to me to begin with.

On the whole it's still balanced. lightsabers do 5D, but they don't add a Strength bonus to damage, so they're still a sub-optimal choice for anyone except those who can use the lightsaber combat force power.
_________________
Ooo, a droid! Can I fix it?

I have Star Wars stuff!

[Ankhanu]

[RedFox]

Yeah, I just don't see any of that as especially important.
_________________
Ooo, a droid! Can I fix it?

I have Star Wars stuff!

[Ankhanu]

If you ever have to hold a weapon, it is

[RedFox]

[garhkal]

[Ankhanu]

[Endwyn]

About the lightsabers and weight:

The reasons why the difficulty is so high is because (like said before) the weapon has no actual weight distributed across it; the handle itself is the only weight and it is negligible. The secondary reason for this was to maintain a barrier that keeps non-force users from being able to wield a lightsaber without maiming themselves unless they have dedicated years to learning to wield one safely. (Which mostly means they spend at least a long time learning to use it outside combat before they ever would consider trying in an "uncontrolled environment" ie combat situations.)

Although side topic about their weight. In Ep 4-5 Lucas directed the actors to hold and use the lightsabers as though while activated there is a huge weight in the handle. If you watch the way they handle the lightsabers you can see they hold them two handed and clearly act as though the lightsaber is heavy, making most movement from changing the angle of the saber in relation to their body, not with flowing swinging motions. Just FYI for those who didn't know. (That idea was latter abandoned when Lucas wanted more grandeur lightsaber fights.)
_________________
Luke, I am your father.
That's impossible!
And Leia is your sister!
That's improbable?
And the Empire will be destroyed by..EWOKS!
That's...highly unlikely.
The Force? Bacteria called midichlorians.
If you don’t take this seriously I'm out.

[Xynar]

Nothing covers sensors unless I missed something. Transform communications into Com-scan.
_________________
Xynar
The Great Adventurer