SW next chapter (yes, again).... now with PF

I am still looking to run another chapter of Star Wars set in the old Republic.  It will pick up the story line about 3 years after the end of the last campaign.

Here is a recap of the party's adventures and how it changed the SW universe

https://lodgestgaming.forumotion.com/t198-episode-1-recap-thread-working#11193

I think just using PF will be easier on everyone, since d20 SW was roughly D&D 3.25 in its rule set.

I will post some changes and conversions, but basically all PF classes are open, with all books.  Much like Rob and Josh did with Cyberpunk and World of Darkness, everything will simply be "re-skinned" into SW terms.   A fighter = soldier.  A rogue = scoundrel or imperial agent, etc.

I will be adding the 2 Jedi classes from d20 SW.  It is just easier to directly bring those over because they give very specific movie abilities directly.  Those classes were badly OP in d20, but should be more in line with the stronger classes in PF.  

You can play anything you want.  You can build a Force User as a Jedi\Sith using the SW rules OR you can build him using PF rules - Paladins make excellent Jedi warriors, Clerics would work, Sorcerers would work.  Understand that using PF rules means you are re-skinning spells for your Force Powers.  You cannot take "Force Skills" from d20 SW on top of it.  You either use d20 SW classes + Force Skills or you use PF and re-skin, not both.

Re-skin PF races to SW, talk to me, but feel free to swap out racial abilities.

Lvl 10 (to pick up where we left off).

This will be a sandbox-style game, so it will be driven by player decisions.

I would like to suggest that it is played from the perspective of the Sith Empire.  Last time everyone was on the Republic Side.  This does not mean everyone is evil or there will not be any killing of jedi younglings or any such nonsense.  I would suggest that everyone is more neutral or even good, while still within the Sith Empire.  There can be and are: Light Side Sith, neutral Sith, the Imperial Army\Intelligence, independents (smugglers, mercs) and the Bounty Hunters, not to mention any alien cultures (Force using or not) that you want to create. This is only a suggestion, I will run whatever kind of game you all want - Republic, underworld, Empire, fringe (Firefly), etc.

just as an example, there are mirror classes\ranks on both sides, not counting unusual alien stuff:

Jedi Knight = Sith Lord  (this is both RANK and class) - can take an apprentice (Anakin\Vader, Quigonn)
Jedi Counselor = Sith Sorcerer (Palpatine and Yoda, ObiWan)
Jedi Sentinel = Sith Marauder  (Windu and Dooku)
Jedi Shadow = Sith Assassin (Darth Maul)
Jedi Master = Darth
Jedi Council = Dark Council
Grandmaster = Emperor

Scoundrel = Imp Operatives
Gunslingers = Snipers

Rep. Soldiers = Stormtroopers
Rep. Spec Forces = Bounty Hunters

A couple things that have already come up, good questions from Josh.....

I want to keep the rules as close to PF as possible.  In general, go with PF, unless it is absolutely necessary to use a SW d20 rule.  

For example:

armor = AC, not damage reduction
Hit Points - not Wound Pts and Vitality  (Jedi will use their HP to fund their Force Powers)
Jedi will get armor proficiencies - Knights can wear up to Heavy and Counselors up to medium

Yes - favored class bonus
Yes - Traits
Both - use the ones that go with the race you are reskinning.  So if Josh uses an Elf to re-skin into a Faleen, he is limited to Elven Traits and Elven Favored Class bonuses.
Along those lines, while re-skinning, feel free to pitch me substitution ideas.  

For example, swap +2 Perception for +2 bluff, for Faleen Pheromones.  sure
swap elven weapons (feat equivalent) for something else that fits a Faleen.  sure

There are "magic items".  They are either Force-imbued items or prototype\alien technology.  a +2 wpn could be a Force-imbued Lightsaber with Ghosttouch or a +2 Klingon Disruptor (+1d6 acid).  A +2 str. belt is either Force-imbued or maybe it augments the servo-motors in your armor to give the bonus.

It is all just re-skinning, functionality remains the same.

SW style skills will be added to most classes - Repair, Pilot, etc

Like last time - everyone gets 1 bonus feat to cover piloting or starship wpns
- everyone gets 1 bonus skill to cover pilot, repair, navigation, etc
- everyone gets 2 free knowledge skills (advantage of hyper-information age)

feel free to pitch alternatives if you are some kind of primitive

Feats from both books are okay?
Multifire rules?
Magic item rules for 10th level?
+3 bane blaster pistol of speed?

...and Alan just jumped the shark. lol

(Just picking at you bro)

Fonzie reference? Oh YEAH!

Armor class or class def. Bonus w/ star wars wound/vitality crits?

navyik wrote:Armor class or class def. Bonus w/ star wars wound/vitality crits?

PF rules, see below

navyik wrote:Feats from both books are okay?
Multifire rules?
Magic item rules for 10th level?
+3 bane blaster pistol of speed?

PF rules, see below.  

Chris wrote:A couple things that have already come up, good questions from Josh.....

I want to keep the rules as close to PF as possible.  In general, go with PF, unless it is absolutely necessary to use a SW d20 rule.  

For example:

armor = AC, not damage reduction
Hit Points - not Wound Pts and Vitality  (Jedi will use their HP to fund their Force Powers)
Jedi will get armor proficiencies - Knights can wear up to Heavy and Counselors up to medium


There are "magic items".  They are either Force-imbued items or prototype\alien technology.  a +2 wpn could be a Force-imbued Lightsaber with Ghosttouch or a +2 Klingon Disruptor (+1d6 acid).  A +2 str. belt is either Force-imbued or maybe it augments the servo-motors in your armor to give the bonus.

Only Force Feats for Jedi classes from SW d20.

Chris wrote:
You can play anything you want. You can build a Force User as a Jedi\Sith using the SW rules OR you can build him using PF rules - Paladins make excellent Jedi warriors, Clerics would work, Sorcerers would work. Understand that using PF rules means you are re-skinning spells for your Force Powers. You cannot take "Force Skills" from d20 SW on top of it. You either use d20 SW classes + Force Skills or you use PF and re-skin, not both.

We are, however, using PF rules for Feat progression (1 every odd level) for all characters and the PF Skill system, correct?

Are we using 20 or 25 points for Abilities?

Mythic rules?

Are blasters going to do the same damage as PF firearms? Lightsabres?

whit10 wrote:We are, however, using PF rules for Feat progression (1 every odd level) for all characters and the PF Skill system, correct?

Are we using 20 or 25 points for Abilities?

We are using all PF rules, so yes even a Jedi class would get the PF feat progression and skill system.

20 pts

Robyo wrote:Mythic rules?

Great question! I forgot about that..... maybe.

navyik wrote:Are blasters going to do the same damage as PF firearms?  Lightsabres?

Those are early-tech firearms. SW-age slug throwers do up 2dx and blasters still do 3dx

Mandalorian, Sith, and the wandering wookie. Not certain that a straight up Jedi would be a good fit to round out the party.

Got a few ideas Ill kick around...

The mando doesn't HAVE TO be 'on a side'. He can just be 'on a job', so don't rule an idea out on my account. Shivak has played both sides too, I expect.

Shivak HAS played both sides. He plays his own side now. He has no inherent hostility to the Jedi... he thinks they're weak but that's another matter.

I'm thinking of adding nothing but Rogue levels after this

MAS wrote:Mandalorian, Sith, and the wandering wookie. Not certain that a straight up Jedi would be a good fit to round out the party.

Got a few ideas Ill kick around...

Play whatever you like, by all means. Having a little idealistic and personality conflict in the party would be fun. What about a disenfranchised Jedi? Or a Ronin Jedi?

Remember to consider building him as a PF character - there are some great options for different ways to do it

Another good question from Josh - Droids?

Yes, you can buy droids using your starting money. There is a list of sample droids and their prices starting on page 370 of the SW book.

Fair warning - droids you buy are , imo, equipment and will be treated as such. You are not buying "special" droids like R2D2 and C3PO, even if you buy an R2 unit or a C3 unit. Those were NPCs, verging on PCs, in my mind. No military or combat droids - only service\tech\medical\probe, etc

Along the same lines, the feat Leadership is banned. I love the idea of significant NPCs and there will be some, but you can't just buy them with a feat.

I will find the stats for your ship and included with it is the Duros you befriended in the last story. He will act as your ship NPC. I haven't made stats for him yet, but he will likely by about a lvl 5 Techie (wizard) class. He will have all the "Repair" spells (will work on the ship and droids) as well as a crafting feat, probably craft wondrous items.

He is 100% loyal to the party and the ship, unless he is mistreated or subverted. He will happily craft minor Prototype (magic) items for you. You still have to pay the cost and give him time. This doesn't apply to your starting gear, but is something you can do during the game.

He is an example of acquiring a significant NPC through roleplaying. The party was merciful and spared his young life, when it was evident he wasn't a threat or a bad guy.

Also - everyone needs to choose an Attunement (alignment) with the Force.

Light Side (good)
Dark Side (evil)
Neutral

Please also choose your Political\Social ideology - Lawful\Neutral\Chaotic

The former will have more of an impact than the latter, but both have mechanical implications in PF - think spells and wpn effects.

Force Attunement is something that can be sensed by other Force users, as per the movies. Mechanically this can be done either by the SWd20 skill See Force or by using re-skinned spells like Detect Evil\Good. Attunement would also affect a re-skinned Cleric\Paladin's abilities.

In terms of Roleplaying, consider it a tendency and should in no way limit how you play your character in any given moment, it is just a general guide - are you generally a good witch or a bad witch?

I am going to incorporate a few of the really great ideas from D&D 5e

specifically:

You can take 1 free action with both your Move and your Standard actions.  These free actions include things normally considered move (or free) actions in PF including, including but not limited to:

drawing\stowing a single weapon
readying a potion or scroll
flipping a switch
activating a piece of equipment that costs a move action or less
opening a door
speaking

This basically makes Quick Draw obsolete, but it is a change that is long overdue in my opinion.

I love the idea of Advantage\Disadvantage.  I will use adv\dis for Inspiration points - awarded for good roleplaying.

We will use Hero Pts as listed in PF.  

In addition to all the PF options, you can choose to make a roll with Advantage, instead of the +8\+4 bonus, if you choose.  You can still use Hero Pts as normal, this just gives you 1 more option of how to spend them.  

Hero Pts = Force Pts.  

You cannot use a Hero Pt with the SWd20 rules, however.

I don't have 5e.

Quick draw then allows you to draw 2 weapons at once?

so the Advantage/disadvantage thing is basically just optional? Just for "inspired" stuff, as you put it?

That aspect of 5 Ed. still doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I'll roll with it

navyik wrote:I don't have 5e.

Quick draw then allows you to draw 2 weapons at once?

sure - for 2 wpn fighting

if you wanted to take a Full Round Action and make all your attacks while dual-wielding, then you would need Quick Draw to draw 2 wpns.

You could, just to say it, draw a single wpn and still get all your attacks, minus the 1 for 2 wpn fighting feat.

whit10 wrote:so the Advantage/disadvantage thing is basically just optional?  Just for "inspired" stuff, as you put it?

That aspect of 5 Ed. still doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I'll roll with it

Right

you don't have to use it all, but it is an option. I think the standard +8 is more beneficial in certain circumstances (you already have a high bonus) but the Adv would be better if you didn't have a skill and were just making an attribute check.

Inspiration is just an added perk for really good roleplaying.

SWd20 classes get a bunch of Lightsaber powers included in their class package. For PF classes that are being re-skinned as Jedi\Sith, you can buy those Lightsaber abilities with Feats.

I am thinking that PF folks will need to spend 2-3 feats for their Lightsabers

1) exotic wpn prof - Lightsaber, does 2d8 damage, ignores up to 8 hardness (like spell stone hands, or something)

2) +1 AC defense with Lightsaber and can Deflect blaster bolts

3) Redirect (pre-req of 1 + 2) - if miss is by -4 or less, can use an AoO to redirect blaster, using ranged attack. (need Combat Reflexes to redirect more than 1)

4) Extend (pre-req of 1,2,3)

5) extra +1d8 damage, (pre-req 1 and BAB +5, +10, +15) selectable up to 3 times, damage stacks


That is a lot of feats, but it will help balance the SWd20 classes, since that is such a powerful series of abilities.

Not really interested in revisiting Tson. Didnt connect very well with him.

I've got two ideas for Jedi - one lighter and one darker.

For lighter, using the PF "warpreist" class, I'd be a combat capable healer/buffer. Bringing some "good guy" contrast to the party through roleplay. Thinking Strix for race, thatd make for a cool Alien. (PF ARG, Uncommon races)

For darker, using the PF "bloodrager" class, I'd be a pure combat engine (the BAB for that class is +10/+5 at 10th level!). Maybe more of a fallen/broken Jedi (but not Sith!) with some kind of "force curse" driving the rage portion of the role play concept. Maybe Hobgoblin for race?

I am leaning towards the "lighter" option.

Either option sounds good to me. Roll one up when you get a few minutes and see how it looks.

Alan sounds like he is going to do 1 more encounter then pass the reigns for a bit, so you have a little time.

I would like to start establishing backstory, PC party history, etc in the meantime, so we are actually ready to start as a group on day 1.

so far, Josh and Alan both have connections to the previous party via gear, sort of like legacy items and Rob is revamping Sharn for the moment.

Matt - you don't want to play the aquatic crustacean in a power-armor suit anymore?

Chris wrote: Matt - you don't want to play the aquatic crustacean in a power-armor suit anymore?  

I actually considered it in a couple different forms. One possibility was using the cavalier class, and having the mount be a power Armour suit. Another was using the summoner class and the Eidolon, but they don't combine until Level 16. None of the concepts and rule sets I looked at meshed in a way that inspired me, so I moved on.

As I have said many times before, I have a lot of trouble playing in well established settings like Star Wars, LOTR, GOT, Star Trek, etc. It is very difficult for me to find a concept that doesn't feel like a retread or an invasive, out of place hack. You do a great job of telling your own story in the SW universe, its just always been a conceptionally awkward thing for me as a player.

MAS wrote:

Chris wrote: Matt - you don't want to play the aquatic crustacean in a power-armor suit anymore?  

I actually considered it in a couple different forms. One possibility was using the cavalier class, and having the mount be a power Armour suit. Another was using the summoner class and the Eidolon, but they don't combine until Level 16. None of the concepts and rule sets I looked at meshed in a way that inspired me, so I moved on.

As I have said many times before, I have a lot of trouble playing in well established settings like Star Wars, LOTR, GOT, Star Trek, etc. It is very difficult for me to find a concept that doesn't feel like a retread or an invasive, out of place hack. You do a great job of telling your own story in the SW universe, its just always been a conceptionally awkward thing for me as a player.  

I understand that and I respect your feelings on it. I was thinking Summoner too, but you are right about the Eidolon issues. Summoner would cover the drones - basically you could summon droid drones each round for combat.

What about just going with a visual re-skinning of magic items?

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems/wondrousItems.html#apparatus-of-the-crab

or even just re-skinned flying carpet with some armor and other gadgets?

This story will definitely be far off the beaten path of SW lore, since it sounds like it will be from the Empire's POV in an altered historical timeline.

Chris wrote:

MAS wrote:

Chris wrote: Matt - you don't want to play the aquatic crustacean in a power-armor suit anymore?  

I actually considered it in a couple different forms. One possibility was using the cavalier class, and having the mount be a power Armour suit. Another was using the summoner class and the Eidolon, but they don't combine until Level 16. None of the concepts and rule sets I looked at meshed in a way that inspired me, so I moved on.

As I have said many times before, I have a lot of trouble playing in well established settings like Star Wars, LOTR, GOT, Star Trek, etc. It is very difficult for me to find a concept that doesn't feel like a retread or an invasive, out of place hack. You do a great job of telling your own story in the SW universe, its just always been a conceptionally awkward thing for me as a player.  

I understand that and I respect your feelings on it.  I was thinking Summoner too, but you are right about the Eidolon issues.  Summoner would cover the drones - basically you could summon droid drones each round for combat.

What about just going with a visual re-skinning of magic items?

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems/wondrousItems.html#apparatus-of-the-crab

or even just re-skinned flying carpet with some armor and other gadgets?

This story will definitely be far off the beaten path of SW lore, since it sounds like it will be from the Empire's POV in an altered historical timeline.  

I hadn' t considered how the summoning would work for the drones, THAT actually fits really well! I'll have to look over magic items and see how that might work out. Interesting!

Just did a casual re-read of the summoner class. It actually works REALLY well for the mech platform/drone controller concept!

Should have time look in depth this weekend.

per Rob's question -

YES. We will be using Mythic rules. at the beginning, everyone is Tier 1 Mythic. I was thinking about working it into the story, but because of the mechanical issues, it is probably better to just let you crunch it from the start.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mythicAdventures/mythicHeroes.html

please run your mythic stuff by me, just so we can talk about it and how to re-skin it.

I am open to your suggestions about how you became Mythic, but I may decide it based on how it fits into the story.

For example:

If Rob stays with Sharn - he became Mythic in the temple at the end of the last story - when the party had its moment of Transcendence, saw the Force plane, etc. All non-force users became force sensitive and Sharn gained Mythic tier 1.

Daxx likewise gained Mythic Tier 1 when he used the ghost-touch lightsaber to sever the Force Conduit connecting the Force plane to the ghost of Markus Ragnar - which caused the surge of transcendence. This power transferred through the lightsaber and into Shivak when he killed Daxx and took the artifact.

For Alan's guy - it will somehow be linked to his mind-wipe and reprogramming, but he doesn't understand how or why..... yet

per Josh's question...

SW weapons need conversion to using Crit threat range and damage multipliers in PF.  I am thinking about (though not married to if anyone has other suggestions) the following for PF-SW:

pistols 19-20 x2
          rifles 20 x3

vibro melee weapons mirror their PF counterpart, but do a base of 2dX

Lightsaber 19-20 x2  (ignore up to 8 hardness)

This should give you the base stats if you are looking at any Crit-based Feats or magical abilities.

If you want something funky, like a sporting carbine or a light-claymore with crossguards, just hit me up with a proposal  

Rob talked me into using the Race Builder Rules for making a Wookie race

since I allowed Rob to do it - feel free to make a custom race staying within the 11 pt cap

so yes, you can go over 11, but you have to buy racial flaws to get the point total back down. Check out Sharn's thread at the end, he ended up with a total of -3RPs and a net total of 10 or 11 RPs depending on which minor skill abilities he chooses.

all races subject to GM approval for abuse

Chris wrote:Rob talked me into using the Race Builder Rules for making a Wookie race

feel free to make a custom race staying within the 11 pt cap

all races subject to GM approval for abuse

BOOOYAH!

Howdy y'all!
Chris and I have been playing with Rob over on the Faction Wars group, and Chris invited me to join the campaign, so here I am.

Anyway, I was thinking of playing a Bothan explorer. This character is an ex ace fighter pilot that went into semi-retirement a few years back. All he does now is travels the galaxy with his jawa buddy Wigg-wuk in their Alderanian Star Freighter, sometimes carrying cargo or passengers to make a few extra credits. This bothan, named Bos Lobo, has lived a hard life so far, doing eveything from fighting in wars, gathering intel for the Bothan spynet, being stranded for several months on the moon of Endor (with nothing to eat but Ewok!), and even enslaved on the planet Kessel for a time - forced to work in the spice mines for two years until he escaped. His favorite passtime now is getting high on spice with his jawa compatriot and blasting off into some uncharted region of space for days at a time.

Chris: The problem I'm having is that I'm totally unfamiliar with both the starwars rpg and pathfinder systems, so I may need a little help here (from you or whomever in the group would like to chime in). I do have the pdf's for both systems, but I want to make sure I'm making this character correctly. I was thinking of using the Bothan race from starwars d20, and building him as a pathfinder Bard (since he is a jack-of-all-trades). But I also want him to be proficient in hand blasters and mechanical tools to fix his ship. I would also like him to be an ace pilot (like the prestige class from starwars) skilled in vehicular combat, vehicle talents and dodge bonuses. Please help me out here. That's where I would like to begin, but not sure how to get there.

MrBrownstone75 wrote:Howdy y'all!
Chris and I have been playing with Rob over on the Faction Wars group, and Chris invited me to join the campaign, so here I am.

WOOOHOOOO! Welcome Bronson! Glad to have you along - feel free to ask questions and we'll pitch in to get you on target.

You will want to get acquainted with the Pathfinder SRD wiki  everything you'll ever need is in here.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/

My race build is under my character post.

navyik wrote:PH


Race build
Engineered human Super soldier?
Advanced 4
+2 str, dx, con
+4 int
-2 cha
Deathless spirit 3
Fearless 1
Sr 11+ 3

If I am reading it right, that looks like 11 pts, which is fine. Trait choice is fine

MrBrownstone75 wrote:Howdy y'all!
Chris and I have been playing with Rob over on the Faction Wars group, and Chris invited me to join the campaign, so here I am.

Anyway, I was thinking of playing a Bothan explorer. This character is an ex ace fighter pilot that went into semi-retirement a few years back. All he does now is travels the galaxy with his jawa buddy Wigg-wuk in their Alderanian Star Freighter, sometimes carrying cargo or passengers to make a few extra credits. This bothan, named Bos Lobo, has lived a hard life so far, doing eveything from fighting in wars, gathering intel for the Bothan spynet, being stranded for several months on the moon of Endor (with nothing to eat but Ewok!), and even enslaved on the planet Kessel for a time - forced to work in the spice mines for two years until he escaped. His favorite passtime now is getting high on spice with his jawa compatriot and blasting off into some uncharted region of space for days at a time.

Chris: The problem I'm having is that I'm totally unfamiliar with both the starwars rpg and pathfinder systems, so I may need a little help here (from you or whomever in the group would like to chime in). I do have the pdf's for both systems, but I want to make sure I'm making this character correctly. I was thinking of using the Bothan race from starwars d20, and building him as a pathfinder Bard (since he is a jack-of-all-trades). But I also want him to be proficient in hand blasters and mechanical tools to fix his ship. I would also like him to be an ace pilot (like the prestige class from starwars) skilled in vehicular combat, vehicle talents and dodge bonuses. Please help me out here. That's where I would like to begin, but not sure how to get there.

Welcome Bronson!  Glad to have you on board.

There seem to be a couple ways to go about this and it is really up to you.  The main issue is which book you want to build your character out of - either PF or SW.  You can't use both books, you either pick 1 or the other.  There are some issues that come up when crossing books.

1) build him as a Bard in PF, custom race Bothan and just take Starship feats

2) build him as a (soldier\explorer\etc) out of the SW book, use SW Bothan race stats and then use the Ace Starfighter Prestige class.

But especially with a Magic using class with high skill points in PF, you can't mix Bard and the SW book.  

IMO, the non-Force using classes are very weak in SW compared to a PF class.  Also note (near the top of this thread) that I am giving everyone the following bonuses for free:

+1 feat - either Starship piloting (freighter or starfighter) or Starship Wpns

+1 skill - pilot, repair, computer etc as a bonus class skill (at max ranks)

+2 skills - must be Knowledges  (at max ranks)

all - access to SW skills like Repair, Computers, etc

Blaster pistols are simple wpns, rifles are martial, so no problem there. There are no "Tools" like in 5e. Just take Repair and Computer skills and you are set. You can buy MasterWork tools that give a bonus to those checks, of course.

Much like Rob's game, a Bard's spells could be technological gadgets or they could be the Force.

Since you get the free Starship feat, you could buy the others in the progression from the SW book (Starship Dodge, etc)  

Also worth noting - the group has a ship from the last story, it is much better than a starting ship would otherwise be.  You could buy a ship of your own, of course, look at the prices in SW - a used Stock Light Freighter is about 25,000 which would use up most of your starting $$.

I don't like the Leadership feat, it is just way over-powered in my opinion, so that rules out companions.  You can buy droids, but they are expendable (not minor characters like R2D2 - more like the other 5 that got blasted in PM "we're losing droids fast!" and no one cared).

I would suggest that you have somehow lost contact with your Jawa buddy and are actively looking for him.  Maybe he got captured, lost, whatever?
I would rather you find him during the game.

It is up to you, but my suggestion would be to build him out of PF since we are using those rules to cover 90% of the game.  There absolutely will be starship combat, but like the movies, it is only about 1/4 of the action.

We still doing a starship feat and a maxed starship skill free from GM?

navyik wrote:We still doing a starship feat and a maxed starship skill free from GM?

Duh. I see it.

Maybe I am behind the power curve here - but have you guys seen the "Technology Guide" on the Pathfinder Wiki?

Looks like they've got sci-fi weapons, cybernetics, pharmaceuticals, etc

They've done an interesting color code system to designate approximate "spell level" equivalency in a tech item's power level.

Worth checking out!

Okay, great. Thanks for the help everyone. I think I'll just build the character as a straight bard out of pathfinder. Bothans love to acquire knowledge and debate endlessly with others. They love convincing others they are right, and I can see this translated in-game as a bard's influence abilities. I actually don't see this character whipping out a lyre and singing an inspirational tune to work magic. I'll most likely play his bardic abilities as enhanced racial talents and force powers (like a jedi mind trick). I'll post him on a separate thread once I get him built. Chris: feel free to tear him down and rebuild as necessary.

MAS wrote:Maybe I am behind the power curve here - but have you guys seen the "Technology Guide" on the Pathfinder Wiki?

Looks like they've got sci-fi weapons, cybernetics, pharmaceuticals, etc

They've done an interesting color code system to designate approximate "spell level" equivalency in a tech item's power level.

Worth checking out!  

Good find dude... I had no idea that PF had ANOTHER damned book out.

I think the correspondence between energy types will be less starwarsey and more MIBish.

Question for everyone.....

Do you want your characters to all know each other and be together at the start or do you want to have the first adventure be a "meet and greet"?

It is kind of tricky since we have some folks coming from the Republic side (Sharn), Sith side (Shivak), fringe\underwold side (Bronson), far-out alien side (Matt) and mystery side (Alan).

I have a pretty good idea of how to get everyone together.  I can either write this up as "Backstory - group" and we go forward with the actual story from there or that can be the first chapter.

I am going to do a little individual "Backstory - Shivak" or "Backstory - XYZ" for some of the characters anyways to establish certain story threads.   It won't be fair, honestly, since Sharn really doesn't need much backstory - he played it out for 9 months and Alan's guy has been mind-wiped.  It will mostly focus on the new characters like Shiv, Matt's and Bronson's.  

I can stop the solo backstories at the point where everyone meets and we play that out or I can just do a brief summary in "Backstory - group" that gets everyone together so we can start the meat of the real story.

just FYI - I still want this to be a very sandbox style game.  The party, once they are together, can choose where to go and what to do.  I will give you some options and story hooks, but whether you follow them or just decide as a group to go in a totally different direction is entirely up to you.  

The advantage of having your backstory done is that you get to start the sandbox from day 1.

Totally up to you - just let me know what you want.  It's your story after all.  

whit10 wrote:

Good find dude... I had no idea that PF had ANOTHER damned book out.  

Don't know if they published a book or just put this up on the wiki - its mostly tables and lists, but: they have to publish to survive. That's the thing with gaming company business models = without new content, they wither. Eventually they'll have to broaden out introduce new settings, keep expanding rules, etc = or they will have nothing new to offer a market that has already purchased everything they have to offer.

Chris wrote:

Do you want your characters to all know each other and be together at the start or do you want to have the first adventure be a "meet and greet"?

Starting out knowing each other would launch us into the adventure quicker, but playing through the meeting might make for an excellent "organic" catalyst for sandbox play. I'm down for either.

I'm down for either but I think it would speed things up to sort of know each other to start with. Shivak certainly doesn't have the ship by himself, that wouldn't make much sense.

the ship is with Sharn, since he is the hold-over from the last game


Matt - either way
Josh - either way, leaning towards knowing each other (fair?)