Power Levels of the Adventures

AWAD · Cadet Joined: 16 Jan 2009 Posts: 14

Hello fellow GMs,

I have started to run again, some of it free from and others from premade adventure books. I use to remember (1990 and earlier) 5D was respectable skill, 6D really good and 7D was killer.

But is seems to me in the later books, like Instant Adventures the power level moved up. Does anyone agree? Also some of the source books seem to do this.

There was one intro battle in which the generic pirates had 5D+2 Blaster. Holy carp Batfish, Old Stormies had 3D maybe 4D.

Also I saw a lot more targets of moderate and difficult in many rolls like Streetwise and Security.

Then you get online and see a Battle Droid with a 7D blaster!!!!????

So for a starting 7D created character what do you consider to be an average blaster skill for a generic thug? Medium level villain? Toadie to the Emperor?

Of course you can make is all relative and balanced but want to get your feel and advise.

Many thanks in advance for ideas as assistance.

AWAD

jmanski · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:31 am Post subject:

I'm running a military campaign right now. Starting Blaster for our folks is between 5d-6d.

Yeah, 5d+2 seems high for a pirate's blaster, but a Stormie with 4 blaster just can't hit much. I've had to pump up bad guy NPCs even against lower level PCs. Remember that with 5d+2 the average roll is 19-20. That sounds pretty good until the pirate starts taking MAPs. And if your PC is smart at all and takes cover...
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Gry Sarth · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:03 am Post subject:

The person who assigned 7D Blaster to a Battle Droid must be completely out of his mind. BD are cannon fodder, worse than rookie Stormies.
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garhkal · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject:

Well to me 7d is not that outrageous. A starting character can get that. As for pirates getting 5d+2, i think that is just about right.
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vong · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:44 pm Post subject:

power levels are easy to adjust to in my mind (more people or better opponents).

the hard part is when one player is more powerful / more powerful in one area, and everyone else is weak in that area.
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cheshire · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:17 am Post subject:

It depends on how long your campaign has been going as to whether or not 7D is outrageous. If you've got a Jedi campaign that's been going for a year and a half, then it's probably a sufficient challenge. If you've been running a smuggler campaign for two months, then it's outrageous.

I think folks like Jodo Kast and IG-88 had blaster skills of 7D and 8D, but those, of course, were galactic level bounty hunters.

The instant adventures were made for GMs looking for quick ideas to throw into a larger campaign and seemed to assume that you've been running your game for a while.
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Gry Sarth · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:12 pm Post subject:

No matter how experienced your players are, 7D for a Battle Droid is outrageous. As we've seen time and again, they are the worse soldiers in the galaxy. If you need a greater threat to your players, throw a big bunch of them, or more advanced models such as Super Battle Droids, Droideka, Assassin Droids, Commando Droids, etc.
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cheshire · Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:06 pm Post subject:

Oh, for a battle droid, of course, it's the most ludicrous thing I've never seen. There's no way that a battle droid is as good a shot as a galactic class bounty hunter.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

jmanski · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 11:05 pm Post subject:

Agreed, battle droids should be weak. 3d or 4d blaster is fine for those pieces of ..... junk.
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Lostboy · Commander Joined: 22 Aug 2008 Posts: 384

A high performance assassin droid like the HK series maybe but not a rank and file battle droid.

atgxtg · Rear Admiral Joined: 22 Mar 2009 Posts: 2460

There is a scale of relative skill ratings in the rule book. Most "professionals" seem to be around the 4D level, and by 7D the character is hiting into the "best in the ...." range.

The 7D battledroids (and 6D+ Clone Troopers) seem to take the view that these things are supposed to be much better than beginning PCs (who can easily hit 5D, and 6D).

But frankly, the films and TV series just don't support this level of aptitude. If BDs were that good, the Jedi wouldn't have been able to slice though ranks of them and still make their parry rolls.

One difficulty that GMs have in SW d6 is that as the PCs improve, "average" foes like battledroids and stormtroopers end up as little more than "bantha fodder".

Personally, rather than making all the foes expert marksmen, I'd rather toss a few skilled leaders, backed up with a lot of fodder.

A bunch of Pirates with 4D blaster following a Pirate Captain with Command 7D, is more believable, and capable of some 6D+1 combined attacks. Give these guys a few grenades and they become much more formidable that a goup with Blaster 5D+2.

Whill · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:09 pm Post subject:

Delkarnu · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:19 pm Post subject:

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