Children of the Empire

Game Master Talmonis

I've done the same.

ok, im in and changed my name...

Excellent, you should be it then Harry. Let's get this party started.

I am a little lost for Initiative. Is it our(the pilot's) Initiative?

Also, please feel free to roll any reflexive/reactionary rolls for Ianthé, if doing so will help speed things along. I don't have to roll every save/check personally if all that is needed is a single line from me. :)

I concur. If rolling a check that would be a passive or automatic thing, i.e. perception, initiative, save, whatever, I have no objections to the DM rolling those if that will smooth out the game flow. Up to you, DM.

Initiative is rolled with your initiative skill bonus as the pilot, or with a pilot check, whichever is higher. After rolling, modify it by the vehicle's size mod.

I'm willing to take over initiative checks for the party after this first round, if that's what you folks would like.

Init: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Ianthé isn't the type to talk in combat.

I think having all the initiative rolls happen at once saves a little time. No need to wait on someone to roll one die to see when their turn goes.

I still don't know which fighter and callsign I am.

As I mentioned in the game thread, everywhere I see talks about adding the ship's size modifier to your Initiative checks, except on page 169 of the Core Rulebook, under "Characters in Vehicles", Pilot entry; it says you add both ship's size modifier and ship's Dexterity modifier, if you are the pilot of a vehicle.

But since this is the only place where it says to do that, but everywhere else it only mentions adding the ship's size modifier, this could very well be a typo that the Devs missed in errata.

EDIT: Oh, if you need me to reroll initiative, let me know. My modifier should be +7 in that case, so if there is no reroll, it should be 23 and not 30.

Mel:

Melgora, Night 2

Harry, Night 3
Helrun, Night 4
Kira, Night 5
Ianthe, Night 6
Perallus, Night 7

And on the map, each of your fighters has a nameplate on it. When it's your initiative turn, please move your fighter and describe your action in the game thread (so we know you've done so).

Posting over lunch break. How far can our ships move? Where can I find the stats for our ships?

Ugh, vehicle combat in SW is so fiddly...

TIE Interceptors can be found in Starships of the Galaxy, page 143.

Ok, it's been over 24 hours. I'm going to roll for Harry and "hold" his action until he's ready to move it himself.

Heh, carryin' all the big guns and he's late for the pew-pew...

Looking up the Core Book online over my lunch break (yes, I found a site that has all the PDFs, I can PM those who want em), I found the following:

"An attack roll with a vehicle weapon is calculated as follows:

1d20 + base attack bonus + vehicle's Intelligence modifier + range modifier"

"Vehicles have a Reflex Defense and a Fortitude Defense which are calculated as follows:

Reflex Defense = 10 + vehicle's DEX modifier + size modifier + armor bonus or pilot's heroic level

Fortitude Defense = 10 + vehicle's Strength modifier[/b]"

For example, Melgora's TIE Interceptor has an armor bonus of +3, but she's a level 5 character, so her level supercedes the vehicle's armor bonus. A TIE Interceptor has 16 DEX for a +3 bonus, it has and as a Gargantuan starfighter, it takes a -5 size modifier penalty. Therefore, Melgora's Reflex Defense in her Interceptor is 10 + 3 - 5 + 5 = 13. By contrast, a "vanilla" Interceptor from Starships of the Galaxy has a 15 Reflex Defense.

((Related question: Since we all get Improved Armored Defense [add character level PLUS half of armor bonus when calculating Reflex Defense], does that apply to vehicles too?))

Also notable is that a TIE Interceptor has a fly speed of 5sq on the starship scale.

I'll also post the range scale for our ships, so people can have easy access and not constantly be looking stuff up. These measurements are in the starship scale, in squares (rather than character scale).

Blaster Cannons: 6d10x2 (TIE Interceptor)
Point Blank: 0-1sq
Short: 2
Medium: 3-4
Long: 5-8

I'm going to have to modify Melgora's actions this round to take all this new info into account. I'll do that when I get home. Just letting you know, sir GM!

Tip: Instead of religiously insisting that people post in the proper order, and holding up the entier encounter for the one person whose turn it is (as is normally done in IRL games), it may be more efficient to let everyone post in whatever time is convenient, then when everyone has posted, you do a "summary" post detailing all actions that happen that round, in the proper Initiative order. I've seen GMs use this on PbPs before and it works quite well.

Food for thought.

I would recommend that everyone take time to familiarize themselves with the stats of their vehicle as it's affected by their character, and then make an addition to your messageboard alias that has all of those stats, just like a normal PC stat block! This will be way more convenient IMO in the long run.

((Related question: Since we all get Improved Armored Defense [add character level PLUS half of armor bonus when calculating Reflex Defense], does that apply to vehicles too?))

Correction: I believe that we get the benefit of the Armoured Defense talent, as it is currently written in the Armour Specialist talent tree, as a general rule. Then, the Armoured Defense talent was changed to the suggestion I had (so if you have Armoured Defense, then once per encounter, as a reaction, you can get DR equal to half of the armour bonus until the start of your next turn).

But, even if you have Improved Armoured Defense (like Kira has), it only applies to Armour you are wearing, not your ship's Armour bonus (there may be an Officer talent that does something similar to that for starships).

Otherwise, Mel is spot on with the rules, and I agree with her suggestion. :)

EDIT: A TIE Interceptor is Huge size, which means the size modifier is -2, not -5. Also, a TIE Interceptor has a 24 Dex, which means the Dex bonus is +7, not +3.

I knew ya'll were doing way too little in the way of damage. Ok, fire it up folks.

Also, I checked on some Errata and found that initiative IS modified by the dex of the ship. You were correct originally.

Also yes, from here on, we can try that method of actions per round.

Also, remember the range modifier for lasers.

0-1 spaces: No modifier.
2 Spaces: -2
3-5 Spaces: -5
6-10 Spaces: -10

Melgora Kormanthul wrote:

((Related question: Since we all get Improved Armored Defense [add character level PLUS half of armor bonus when calculating Reflex Defense], does that apply to vehicles too?))

Correction: I believe that we get the benefit of the Armoured Defense talent, as it is currently written in the Armour Specialist talent tree, as a general rule. Then, the Armoured Defense talent was changed to the suggestion I had (so if you have Armoured Defense, then once per encounter, as a reaction, you can get DR equal to half of the armour bonus until the start of your next turn).

But, even if you have Improved Armoured Defense (like Kira has), it only applies to Armour you are wearing, not your ship's Armour bonus (there may be an Officer talent that does something similar to that for starships).

Otherwise, Mel is spot on with the rules, and I agree with her suggestion. :)

EDIT: A TIE Interceptor is Huge size, which means the size modifier is -2, not -5. Also, a TIE Interceptor has a 24 Dex, which means the Dex bonus is +7, not +3.

Okay, I think we're looking at two different TIE Intereptors. I was looking at Starships of the Galaxy 173.

Okay, I think we're looking at two different TIE Intereptors. I was looking at Starships of the Galaxy 173.

My Starships of the Galaxy only goes to 163. You sure you have the Saga Edition version, and not the old d20 version? Do the credits have Rodney Thompson?

I'm getting the feeling that one of you is looking at the TIE Interceptor entry in the Core Rulebook.

Side note: may I recommend the campaign info tab, or the top of the gameplay thread have the most current link to the battle map? Saves having to go dig for the post.

I think we need the GM to specify precisely which TIE Interceptor stats we are using. Maybe he can post them here?

Allright then.

Defenses: Reflex 18 (+3 armor, +5 dex,-2 Size) Fort 24
HP: 90 DR: 10 Threshold 34
Speed: Fly 5 squares
Fighting space 1 square
Grapple bonus +26
Atk Options: Autofire, Fire-linked
Abilities: Str 38, Dex 24, Int 16
Attack bonus: +3 (Int) +(Your base attack bonus) +/- Range modifier
Damage: 6d10x2 + Your class level

Helrun, you hit with your attack. Please reroll your damage. Ianthe can take her turn at any time.

Another small suggestion for the players: in your alias's profile, under the class/levels field, would probably be good to put your squadron callsign like I've done here.

Just found out the roll20 platform is not compatible with my phone, so can only update there during the week....

Will get ship stats in my profile Monday...

Ok I am in, let me try moving my ship and figuring out to hits and damage.....

hey guys,

i am going to have to back out of this game. I like the concept, and if i had more time at work i would be all over this game. as it is, i am DMing 3 games at this moment, and my lunch break went from 1 hour to 30 minutes.

so, sorry for the suddenness

Uh oh. I don't envy the task of figuring out how to bow out a character in this situation...won't end well in any event. Take care though.

No problem, I understand.

Dibs on any surviving gear! ;)

Only kidding.

See you in our other game!

Good luck Harry. I know how busy work can get. *sigh*

Although, I get the feeling Harry's TIE Interceptor may have some sort of accident during this battle...

I get the feeling that you may be right.

Woo! Not me! nothin' like a malfunctioning ship on our first mission to skyrocket that morale, eh squad?

Woo! Not me! nothin' like a malfunctioning ship on our first mission to skyrocket that morale, eh squad?

Kind of like the days of Darth Vader - nothing keeps personnel operating at peak performance when your Commander can Force Grip you to death :)

Sorry for the lack of updates folks. I'm out of town. As soon as I'm back, I'll be able to make a lot of needed updates. In the meantime, anyone heard from Helrun?

I moved my ship one space.

I can't get on roll 20 over the weekends (not compatible with my phone)

Sorry about the big delay folks. Everything should be back to normal now. I'm going to hurry this combat along, and get to the next part. Do any of you have any suggestions for smoother combat for the future?

I usually think blocking inititive into us and them is more benificial for speeding up pbp combat.

Yeah, just run it as one big block instead of doing everyone individually.

Also, I don't think re-rolling everyone's Initiative every single round is a good idea. I'm not even sure why you're doing it in the first place, really...

Force of habit, I run two physical games that we do that. From here on, we'll be using the first roll as normal.

Yeah, saves posts for the good stuff. Besides, as I've come to understand it, the best time for an initiative reroll is when combat conditions change suddenly and/or drastically, breaking everyone's rhythm and forcing completely new reactions.

Like, say, a whole fleet of rebel cruisers dropping out of hyperspace on top of us! or something crazy like that.

Sorry if I haven't been as active as I should be. Past couple of days have been busier than normal, but hopefully, it should now be normal. :)

It's ok, I understand completely. Good to have you back =)

I've been pretty busy too. Work's been nuts.

Are there any particular shinies in the loot chest that the techs opened for us? Or is that just an IC explanation of how we got the gear listed on our sheets?

Also, I'm having a difficult time visualizing the quest area and the map and geography and so forth. Any chance of an overview? I need to scope out where to set up my sniper overwatch position to cover everyone moving in.

I'll work on getting an overview map for you this weekend.