Stormtroopers - Minions or Elite?

[DarthOmega]

So I wanted to get an idea as to what other GMs do when it comes to combats with regular Stormtroopers, thugs, and the like. I've been playing them as a straight "they shoot at you" type minions and ignoring their dodge skill and such (justifying their lack of dodging as a reliance on their armor) to give them a better chance to hit and to be hit.

Should I be running them that way, or should I be having them dodge and use them to their full capabilities? I don't want long drawn out combats which that can lead to, but then I almost feel like I am short-changing the Stormtroopers.

Also, the armor they wear states that the Stormtroopers are at -1D. Is that already counted in or not? If it's not already counted in, that will changes things fairly drastically.

Thanks for any advice, input, or help.
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Knowledge is power, and power corrupts...so what does that say about knowledge?

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[TyCaine]

In my SWU I use Stormtroopers as elite troops, switching them out for Imperial Army or Navy troops as necessary for published adventures and taking advantage of the Stormtroopers full training and skills to make them a challenge for the players.

Are they still NPCs and the players heros? yes, so sometimes the players would encounter 'green' Stormtroopers, still skilled but less experienced, but the whole idea is that the Stormtroopers in the movies were bested because they were facing off against heros of the rebellion!

An example of 'bonuses' I provide for Stormtroopers to highlight their skills are as follows:

Specialized Training:
Stormtroopers ignore Dexterity penalties from their armor, due to long hours spent training while wearing their armor.

Combined Fire:
Stormtrooper squads and platoons may combine fire against targets without the need for making a command test. Bonus is +1D for every three Stormtroopers (+1 pip each), may be split between attack roll and damage roll.

Firing By Ranks:
In certain situations (such as in confined areas where a limited number of characters may stand and fire side by side), Stormtroopers are trained to maximize their fire, by firing in ranks. In the first round the number of Stormtroopers that can fire is limited by space. In the second round, however, the forward troopers fall prone (+2D to difficulty to hit prone targets) while the second rank kneels to fire (+1D to difficulty to hit kneeling targets) and the third rank fires in a standing position, trebling the number of troopers who can fire at the enemy.

MFTAS:
+2D to Perception checks in low visibility situations (including smoke grenades, etc), +2D to ranged weapon skill uses against targets moving more than 10m per round.

Smoke Grenades:
Stormtroopers will often use smoke grenades to hinder their enemies as the Stormtroopers are unaffected by the smoke due to their helmet-mounted MFTAS. When smoke grenades are deployed increase the enemy's firing difficulty to hit by +1D to +4D.


That's my take on the Stormtroopers.



T.C.
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"For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble."

[gavin storm]

If you give them a reason to..... they will "Shoot at you."

http://d6holocron.com/wiki/index.php?title=Typical_Imperial_Stormtrooper

If you run at them, according to that, they stand a better chance of hitting you and yes their dodge is terrible.
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Gavin Storm
Causing Imperials headaches, one punch at a time, since 2000

[CRMcNeill]

[jmanski]

I'd give all Stormtroopers 2d across the board except for Strength and Dexterity at 3d.
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[TyCaine]

These are the stats I give my Stormtroopers:

Stormtrooper (Regular)
Dexterity 3D
blaster 4D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D, grenade 4D
Knowledge 2D
Mechanical 2D
Perception 2D
Strength 2D
brawling 3D
Technical 2D


Stormtrooper (Experienced)
Dexterity 3D
blaster 4D, blaster: blaster carbine / rifle 5D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D, grenade 4D, missile weapons 4D
Knowledge 2D
Mechanical 2D
repulsorlift ops 3D
Perception 2D
search 3D
Strength 2D
brawling 3D
Technical 2D


Stormtrooper (Veteran)
Dexterity 3D
blaster 5D, blaster: blaster carbine / rifle 6D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 4D, grenade 5D, missile weapons 5D
Knowledge 2D+1
survival 3D+1
Mechanical 2D+2
repulsorlift ops 3D+2
Perception 2D+2
search 4D+2
Strength 3D
brawling 4D, stamina 4D
Technical 2D+1
demolitions 3D+1


Stormtrooper (Elite)
Dexterity 4D
blaster 6D, blaster: blaster carbine / rifle 7D, brawling parry 5D, dodge 5D, grenade 6D, melee combat 5D, melee parry 5D, missile weapons 6D
Knowledge 2D+1
survival 3D+1
Mechanical 2D+2
repulsorlift ops 4D+2
Perception 3D
command 6D, hide 6D, investigation 5D, search 6D, sneak 6D
Strength 3D+1
brawling 5D+1, stamina 4D+1
Technical 2D+1
armor repair 3D+1, blaster repair 3D+1, demolitions 3D+1, first aid 4D+1, security 5D+1


From there I have additional stats for the various specialized Stormtroopers. I believe these stats came from a set provided by a RancorPit member Guardian_A available from http://www.4shared.com/folder/kDhtNrty/Imperial_NPCs_D6.html



T.C.
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"For every person with a spark of genius, there are a hundred with ignition trouble."

[griff]

How I feel about stormtroopers is best summed up in explaining my avatar. This picture is the pinicle of stormtroopers in A New Hope. We see them blasting away rebels on the corevette (not dodging, or taking cover), take out some Sand People (that's were they get the gaffi sticks and banthas), take out a sand crawler full of jawas with precision ("only imperial stormtroopers are so precise"), and the Lars' homestead. Then they march down the streets of Mos Eisly, toward a show down with our heroes, and they're never as bad @$$ again. I like to use stormtroopers as they are before they meet up with Solo, not after.

I would create a stormtroopers with 15D of stating dice, DEX and STR at 3D, PER TEC and MEC at 2D+1, give a few more skills other than the ordinary like tactics: squads, grenade, blaster artillery, command, investigation, brawling, and the some others. With 5D creation dice and 30 character points to improve.

I would also use them sparingly, in groups of three to four. With an all out stormtrooper division assaults once or twice in a campaign.

If your game ever takes you into an Imperial facility, the place should be crawling with stormtroopers, and the character should do their best to avoid large groupings of them.
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"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.

[Whill]

Despite a common refusal to believe this among first generation SW fans, I have a source from January 1978 (Star Wars Official Poster Monthly 4) that states that stormtroopers are all clones from groups of genetically identical humans. The article even mentions that a previous attempt at creating clones fully-formed to adulthood in growth tanks was an utter failure, so then they switched to raising the clones from childhood. It says that the unruly stormtrooper kids are raised in harsh prisonlike conditions. These "nasty little orphans" have only "the sheer unparalleled joy of a good raid" on their minds. Their military training makes them extremely arrogant, and of course they are brainwashed from the very beginning to believe they are special and serve proudly. As adults in service of the Empire, stormtroopers "are allowed liquor and women." (Yes, it really says that!) Multiple groups of clones implies that the clones may not all be clones of the same person, which would explain why they were not all the same height or had the same voice.

However based on the classic films alone, I normally ran stormtroopers as inept. Even the Emperor's "best troops" were fairly easily defeated by primitive teddy bears. My stormtroopers were usually overconfident armored thugs who didn't use too many tactics other than attempting to depend on superior numbers and surrounding their opponents, sometimes even comically shooting each other in crossfire. However when a group of them started to see their squadmates get picked off by the PCs, I did play the stormtroopers as becoming more fearful and wising up enough to realize they didn't have the advantage they thought they did, so they would look for cover and dodge. However taking to heart the idea of them being clones of different men, I did introduce somewhat superior batches for higher level characters to provide more of a challenge.

When AotC introduced clonetroopers in 2002, it was obvious to me by their armor and their allegiance to the Republic that these were meant to be the predecessors of Imperial stormtroopers. However there was an apparent disconnect between the trilogies because the single clone template, Jango Fett, was a bad@ss who could hold his own against Obi-Wan, and the clones themselves seemed far from inept. Lucas was asked about this and he confirmed that Imperial stormtroopers were all clones too, but after Jango Fett's death, clones began to be based on multiple genetic donors (which strongly implies that the cloning process requires live templates). And Lucas also said that the quality of genetic sponsors varied wildly due to it becoming a political thing. Not a logical way to run an Empire, but it is canon that stormtroopers largely sucked in the films so there has to be some explanation, and Lucas' works for me.

Since Lucas' confirmation of stormtroopers all being clones but not all based on the same person, I have had much more varied calibers of stormtrooper in my games, including ones closer in quality to the clonetroopers in the prequels. Stormtroopers being recruits of normal human men was introduced by the EU, and in my SWU the Empire(s) did not begin that practice until after RotJ.
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[garhkal]

[gavin storm]

[Lane Arroway]

I use stormtroopers as the elite troops they are. I've been running a campaign for about five years now and my players are pretty experienced. While they can speculate about the stats of the stormtroopers they encounter, they never take them lightly. This is not because of overwhelming dice pools but rather my use of stormtrooper numbers, tactics and technology.

As far as their behavior in game, I have them use their skills like grenade and dodge. I also have them take advantage of cover and use squad tactics.

My advice is to use them however you want to move to story along. Sometimes fights run longer than you expect. As long as everyone is having fun it's no worries.
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"This job is 90% talking to people and 10% shooting at them."

[wildfire]

I tend to use them as elite troops and as crmcneill says I tend to use Imperial Army troops as general minions.

It makes my players perk up when the see stormtroopers as they know the target is important, and they will have a fight on their hands.

[DougRed4]

I do things pretty similar to what Ty Caine posted in his first post on this topic. Mostly I've used them as in the book (though I figure that the DEX penalty is already factored in), but I try to sometimes mix in some better tactics (like combined fire or Command rolls). I don't generally have them dodge, instead relying on their armor to protect them (probably against ordinary citizens it would).

I've also used more advanced ones (Storm Commando Troopers) before.

Good point on the smoke grenades; I'll definitely be incorporating that into my game!
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Fallon Kell]

I've had my player run up against Imperial stormtroopers once. It was a large, pitched battle with many chaotic elements (hurricane, remains of destroyed planetary defense fleet raining to the ground, etc.)

I had the stormies use cover and teamwork, rather than trying to dodge, but they operated like elite units. Their leader was a royal guard rotated back to combat duty, and he nearly killed my player and the friendly NPC I sent along to keep him alive.
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[TheDoctor]

Just some thoughts about Stormtroopers in no particular order

*The average character weapon does 4D to 5D of damage. Rolled against the Stormtrooper's Armor and Strength of 3D, the result is usually Wounded or Stunned. That said, RPG Stormtroopers have some pretty good durability as opposed to the one shot kills common in the films.

*Stormtroopers aren't the only Imperial bad guy, there are the Naval and Army Troopers. Compared to these Imperial Regulars, Stormtroopers are a notch above. For beginning characters, I have them face Naval or Army troopers first, with a few sparse Stormtrooper "boss" encounters.

*As Ty Caine posted, not all Stormtroopers are created equal. You can have PCs run into run-of-the-mill Stormtroopers through most of the campaign that die with Wilhelm screams everywhere, and then run into a more elite Stormtrooper Legion (like the infamous 501st) when they need more of a challenge. The Stormtrooper Corps is vast, and individual legions have different functions be it massacring poor little Jawas or as front line shock troops.

*Star Wars is a game of heroes, not average joes. Stat-wise, Stormtroopers will annihilate 2D skilled average people easily, but are not meant to be as robust against the heroes.

*In SW:IV ANH, Leia suspects that they were let go and Tarkin confirms this in later dialogue. The plan to let them go includes the Death Star Stormtroopers missing the heroes at every turn. One could speculate that if Tarkin and Vader did not want to let them go, the Stormtroopers could have easily wiped out Luke and company well before they reached the hanger bay with the Falcon.

*Let's be fair, Stormtroopers redeem themselves and seem pretty efficient in SW:V TESB. I'm not going to say anything about Ewoks though, nothing can explain that...

*It depends on the era. Stormtroopers nee Clonetroopers straight out of the Clone Wars are battle hardened veterans. In 3 BBY when the Declaration of Rebellion was signed, there wasn't much in the way of major combat actions. Therefore many Stormtroopers would have languished in garrison duty shooting the odd native here or there for j walking.

*Not all Stormtroopers have the same exact equipment. For beefier opposition, some Stormtroopers can have stronger armor, or a better targeting HUD in their helmets (negating the DEX penalty).

*Ultimately, it's up to you. If you use Stormtroopers in the RPG with their native stats and reasonable tactics, they give a good stand up fight and will quickly destroy a PC party that doesn't use their heads. If you want to mimic the movies more closely, assume each hit is a one shot kill instead of rolling for damage.
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