The Tion Cluster Gambit (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Harry

I have always personally figured that any being with such power as a jedi could hardly always walk the straight and narrow. I mean come on...

I have always personally figured that any being with such power as a jedi could hardly always walk the straight and narrow. I mean come on...

:-)

I'll PM you re Gunnar when I am ready to get the thread rolling again (either tonight or tomorrow).

Shadow, did you think at all on the feat/talent changes? I get if it's too much work for you, just haven't heard anything about it.

I gave significant time and thought to this. I am going to say no. This is probably the game that I DM that I have the least amount of experience DMing so balancing encounters with even more powerful characters is something I do not feel comfortable with.

PM coming your way Gunnar.

I'll be moving the Imperial Table forward tonight. Sorry for the incredibly long delay folks.

Finally have all of my games moving forward once more!

Time to get the newest one off of the ground...

Not a problem, just figured I'd ask.

Not a problem, just figured I'd ask.

Never hurts to ask!

My Dark Side friends, we have picked up a new character but unfortunately lost the two that I had recruited several weeks ago.

If any of you know anyone who wants to play a Sith or Sith Empire character let me know, I have two separate Recruitments running for this spot and no bites...

Imperials, next update for you is tomorrow night.

Hello folks, I hope you don't mind me tracking down the group. I figure it was easier than asking shadow questions and waiting for answers. What kind of character does the sith side want? Because, if left to my own devices, I have been hankering to build a rather stupid sith marauder kind of character if no one has any objections.

Well, Havocprince, thus far the group has operated primarily through secrecy and guile, as opposed to too much direct conflict. We also have two fairly more regular Sith in the group, one focused on lightsaber combat, the other more generalist. The role I envisioned for my character was being more of a support character, one who facilitates the actions of the Sith by aiding them in the success of their mission. As long as your rather stupid Sith marauder kind of character can be controlled and isn't too erratic, I see no problem with it.

Hello folks, I hope you don't mind me tracking down the group. I figure it was easier than asking shadow questions and waiting for answers. What kind of character does the sith side want? Because, if left to my own devices, I have been hankering to build a rather stupid sith marauder kind of character if no one has any objections.

Thanks for checking in Havoc!

This BTW, is your 5th man (or woman). The 4th should be checking in soon, I believe some of you are familiar with him, it is DM Default/Inxpitter.

A Sith Marauder is certainly fine with me.

Let me know if you want a few links to the Legacy Era if you are not familiar.

Hey guys, I'm player 4 for the Empire game. I'm still reading to come up with a decent backstory, but my stats are here for you to peruse.

If anyone has any advice on the choices I've made, I'm all ears.

So, I'm going to start this off by saying that, while this reads as kind of harsh, it isn't meant to be, so please don't take it that way.

Your feat level order is a bit off due to prerequisites. Lightning Draw has Quick Draw as a prerequisite, so you may want to switch those. Deadeye also requires BAB+4, which you would not have at Level 1, which means it can't be your Human Bonus feat.

Burst Fire is also a feat, not a talent. Since you have that, you may also want to rethink Deadeye because the bonus damage doesn't stack, and I'm guessing you plan on using the heavy repeater most often. I also don't see Weapon Focus as a feat, which makes the Autofire Assault feat kind of superfluous. The extra damage from that also doesn't stack with Burst Fire.

You only get to choose one of the class's starting feats when you multi class, you do not get all of them. It looks like Scoundrel is your first class based on the skills chosen, so you would only get one of Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency (medium), and Weapon Proficiency (rifles).

If you would like, I can help you build out the character to do what you want it to do.

This is exactly why I I'm all ears. As my first character I've ever made for the system (and at level 8 no less) I kinda rummaged on a few advice forums and cobbled some ideas together.

I would love a bit of guidance if you're willing Cardis.

Okay, so, it looks like you're shooting for Heavy Weapons Specialist with some commando-esque qualities. How important is the armor to you? In order to make effective use of armor, it really does require an investment of talents, otherwise it's more of a hindrance than a help.

The main concept is soldier/ smuggler, a skilled professional that can also lay down heavy fire in combat.

I was considering the 'juggurnaut' mindset, but heavy armor is too expensive and I settled on my current light armor.

I'm going for a Jack-of-All-Trades kind of build, skills are handy, and the gatling laser is there to give the group covering fire.

The biggest reason I asked about the armor is because when you're wearing armor, you add the armor's bonus to your reflex defense instead of your heroic level, which, once you hit level 8, means you're actually lowering your Reflex defense versus normal. In order to choose between the two, you need the Soldier's Armored Defense talent.

Cardis is also a Jack of All Trades build, so there may be a bit of overlap there. He's designed to become a force multiplier for the Sith without being a combat liability (a very real possibility with straight Noble).

I would suggest the following general build.

Scoundrel 1
Skills: Acrobatics, Deception, Initiative, Mechanics, Persuasion, Pilot, Stealth, Use Computer.
Class Feats: WP (pistols, simple), Point Blank Shot
Feats: Skill Training (Perception), Precise Shot (Human Bonus)
Talent: Art of Concealment

Scoundrel 2
Bonus feat: Quick Draw

Scoundrel 2/Soldier 1
Class Feat: WP (heavy weapons)
Feat: Weapon Focus (heavy weapons)
Talent: Devastating Attack (heavy weapons)

Scoundrel 2/Soldier 2
Bonus feat: AP (light)

Scoundrel 3/Soldier 2
Talent: Hidden Weapons

Scoundrel 4/Soldier 2
Feat: Autofire Assault
Bonus feat: Lightning Draw

Scoundrel 4/Soldier 3
Talent: Armored Defense

Scoundrel 4/Soldier 4
Bonus feat: Sniper

The Scoundrel side of your build is entirely unaffected, and on the Soldier side, when you use the heavy weapons, you treat the target's Damage Threshold as 5 lower. That means you might be able to knock them down the Condition Track and unconscious, and then we just have the Sith cut their heads off with lightsabers. You can also now more effectively use your armored flight suit, and avoid sacrificing any of your Reflex Defense.

If Havocprince does end up making his Sith Marauder-character, you may want to look at swapping out Autofire Assault and Weapon Focus (heavy weapons) in favor of Medium Armor Proficiency and Martial Arts I. Doing so would allow you to go into the Elite Trooper prestige class at level 9, when you can take the Controlled Burst talent which lowers your autofire penalties.

If you'd like to swap anything out, let me know and I'll see about providing alternative options.

This looks great! Though, I looked up a bit on the armor vs unarmored situation. Would I be better off without armor then? Would the armor be a liability after a couple more levels?

With Armored Defense, it doesn't become a liability and, depending on the armor, gives you a small boost to your Fortitude Defense. Plus, you can modify it with nifty things (the rules are in Scum and Villainy), like environmentally sealing it or applying cortosis weave (Knights of the Old Republic Sourcebook). But that's just to keep it from being a liability. To make it an advantage, you would want at least the Improved Armored Defense talent so you can add half the armor's defense bonus to your Reflex Defense in addition to your heroic level.

Most characters in Star Wars are unarmored, but some do wear it (Boba Fett, for instance).

Here's an altered build with Soldier as the first level instead of Scoundrel.

Soldier 1
Skills: Initiative, Knowledge (tactics), Mechanics, Perception, Pilot, Treat Injury, Use Computer
Class Feats: AP (light, medium), WP (pistols, rifles, simple)
Feats: Weapon Proficiency (heavy weapons), Weapon Focus (heavy weapons)
Talent: Devastating Attack (heavy weapons)

Soldier 2
Bonus feat: Burst Fire

Soldier 2/Scoundrel 1
Class Feat: Point Blank Shot
Feat: Precise Shot
Talent: Art of Concealment

Soldier 2/Scoundrel 2
Bonus feat: Quick Draw

Soldier 3/Scoundrel 2
Talent: Armored Defense

Soldier 4/Scoundrel 2
Feat: Autofire Assault
Bonus feat: Sniper

Soldier 4/Scoundrel 3
Talent: Hidden Weapons

Soldier 4/Scoundrel 4
Bonus feat: Lightning Draw

This build looks to enter the Elite Trooper prestige class at 9 by picking up Martial Arts I as the feat at that level, so you can get the Controlled Burst talent from Elite Trooper. However, it sacrifices all of the social skills from the previous build without having to spend a feat to train them, as well as Acrobatics and Stealth. It also requires a slight stat rework, since Burst Fire requires Strength 13 to take. It does get Knowledge (tactics) and Treat Injury in exchange, and you don't have to spend a feat to train Perception, but only you can decide if the trade is worth it.

I also noticed a mistake I made in my last build. The mistake is corrected in the spoiler below:

EDIT: I know I'm hitting you with a lot of information here, so let me know if I need to clarify anything.

Something interesting, and one of the things I love about Saga Edition, is that while the end result of both builds is nearly identical, both characters have an incredibly different feel to them, with the first being more of a heavy-weapons toting smuggler, and the second being more of a heavy-weapons toting commando.

I'm currently feeling more of the heavy-weapons toting smuggler currently. The heavy weapons detail is so I can be effective in combat with all the leaping lightsaber folks.

I do have a question pertaining to another way I can take the character.

I was curious about a vehicle-focused character, most likely switching four of one class to pilot. Not sure how much of the adventure takes place on a vehicle. Another concept I was playing with is a tech-head, mainly focused on splicing and mechanics, primarily making modifications and repairs to vehicles, equipment, and weapons.

I know I'd have to sacrifice some current strengths to add these, but if these are active elements, I might not mind. It'd give me my specialty nook as well.

Hp: 8d10 ⇒ (6, 3, 4, 9, 10, 6, 10, 3) = 51

Bare bones is in the profile, have to gear her and get derived statistics.

Background wise, I pretty much want her to be on loan to you guys from Darth Nihl or someone similar. no one seems to know what said Darth did to her but she is a broken Jedi, meek and timid and servile until you take her collar off and the rage takes over. Point her at a target and stand back.

Going to enjoy roleplaying the duality of the character.

We haven't done a ton of vehicle-focused combat so far, apart from some minor travel and such. We might do some actual space combat soon, but it doesn't seem to be a major theme.

Plus our ship has a crew of 1. Everything is operated by the pilot, so space combat will end up being kind of a one-PC show.

For a tech-focused PC, you'd probably end up sacrificing the Soldier parts. The vast majority of the slicing and mechanics talents are part of the Scoundrel class. Doesn't mean you have to sacrifice heavy weapons, since that's mostly covered by feats, but you'd definitely go armorless.

Havocprince, do you want feedback on the character? I haven't looked yet, just curious.

Thanks Phntm888 for the assistance with new PC builds! Great suggestions.

Based on the current pace of the Dark Side Table, we should be able to get the two new PCs into the game by next week.

If you want to take a look at her, be my guest. Never hurts to have a second pair of eyes going over a build.

Actually, I'm liking the general idea of the character... but the execution I have come up with feels a little off. I may rebuild as a force sensitive medic.

Going to sleep on it and take a fresh look in about 8 hours. Probably feel better about the character then.

Actually, I'm liking the general idea of the character... but the execution I have come up with feels a little off. I may rebuild as a force sensitive medic.

Going to sleep on it and take a fresh look in about 8 hours. Probably feel better about the character then.

Sounds good. You have at least a week till the current PCs complete the adventure and you and Rylla are added to the squad.

I'm liking this build better. Healer, Mechanic, inquisitive annoyance.

It's pretty nice, but I'll admit to being concerned that you went too heavy on the out of combat stuff. I would suggest backing the Wisdom down a bit to get your Dex to 14, and swap a Skill Focus for WP (pistols). That way you're at least proficient in pistols, and have a decent chance of hitting. I know Lurmen are pacifist, but you're already willingly working with Sith, so you're not exactly normal for a Lurmen, anyway.

I think you also need a Soldier talent, unless I missed it.

Okee-doke. Rylla Cyn is *tentatively* done.

The character sheet is updated with immense help from Cardis Rin, and there's a somewhat generic backstory for her.

One last adjustment thing.

Would sacrificing my quick draw feats for more utility be a decent decision? Perhaps Lightning draw for more skills or something like knowledge (tech) or something. Also, is the current party lacking in skills anywhere?

Looks good overall. Don't forget that when you multi class, you only get to choose one of your new class's starting feats, you don't get all of them. You also get to add 1/2 your heroic level to all damage rolls.

I'd keep Quick Draw, since you have talents that pair nicely with it, but if you wanted to swap Lightning Draw for something, that would probably be okay. Our only skill deficiencies appear to be two knowledge skills, physical sciences and social sciences, but it might not hurt to double up on Knowledge (tech), since the only other one who has it is Phedra. Knowledge tactics might be good too, since I'm the only one that has that.

I have noticed that I'm the only one trained in Gather Information. That's another one that might be good for you to train.

hp: 7d8 + 1d10 + 24 - 9 ⇒ (6, 5, 8, 5, 1, 6, 1) + (2) + 24 - 9 = 49

The soldier talent was battle remedy. Comes off the veteran tree out of GaW.

I plan on rolling up with some grenades and maybe a thermal detonator if I can get away with it. Also, going to scavenge up a droid and build a useful marksman to pull triggers for me eventually.

Little ball monkey rolls past at high speed, dropping a small sphere with a blinking light... oh crud.

Ah, okay. Gotcha. I thought that was a Medic talent. Now I see I missed Steady Under Pressure when I looked over the stat block. We're good.

I would get GM permission for that strategy before implementing it. I view just dropping an item to be different than arming and dropping an explosive device. As for the droid, you could just use your starting funds to 'purchase' the droid, so you already have it scavenged when we start and don't have to build it out of parts we find in-game.

[dice=hp]7d8+1d10+24-9

The soldier talent was battle remedy. Comes off the veteran tree out of GaW.

I plan on rolling up with some grenades and maybe a thermal detonator if I can get away with it. Also, going to scavenge up a droid and build a useful marksman to pull triggers for me eventually.

Little ball monkey rolls past at high speed, dropping a small sphere with a blinking light... oh crud.

As Cardis notes below I'll have to look at the rules on that one.

Also, purchasing a Droid is certainly an option. If you do not have enough credits to start with we can discuss further.

It would be a two round function to do the rolling ball of death. Swift action activate an item, swift action curl in to ball, move action roll up on combat probably with stealth. Round two move, drop item as a swift action during move, swift action to unroll so as to prepare for next round. Standard action being broken down for a swift action in both cases.

I'm looking in to droids.

I'm looking at having scavenged and modified a 2-1b series medical droid with a custom built brain and a few upgrades. Would I follow the alternate pricing rules from the scavenger's guide?

Swapped Lighting Draw for Gather Information skill.

Think I fixed everything, so good to go whenever.

Playing in 20+ games and running 26 (soon to be 27) is time consuming. Outside of the boards I have a fairly busy work schedule and of course a life!

Often I find that if I fall behind in updates, I need to make time to simply update a Discussion Thread to inform the PCs of a particular game that I am either going to be posting later in the day or week or will be on a break form the boards for one reason or another.

To save time updating so many damn threads I am going to open this thread and link all of my DM aliases (and PC aliases) to this thread to inform people as to status.

Of course if people feel the need to ask other questions outside of PbP feel free to do so but mainly this will be a thread dedicated to ensuring that my PCs know my status and to assure everyone that even though I may have some absences away from the boards (or particular games) that new thread will always be up to date with my status.

It's awesome how many games I play in with you. Just saying.

Of course, you're posting that ststement 47 times :).

It's awesome how many games I play in with you. Just saying.

Of course, you're posting that ststement 47 times :).

And that's just as PCs! Too bad they split us up in the Curse of Crimson Throne tables ;-(

Yes but that's the last time I'll need to do that 47 times! Really ate into my posting tonight but in the long run I think it'll be worth it.

47 just seems like overkill. So, that droid question?

47 just seems like overkill. So, that droid question?

I'll take a look tonight or tomorrow, had in on my mind but got sidetracked with setting up that new thread and I am working through other updates tonight. I will be posting for another 2 1/2 hours or so then I'll call it quits so if you don't see the answer by then it'll be tomorrow night as I am going to the beach tomorrow and won't have any of my books with me.

K, I'll mock something up using those rules just in case. If you decide to use a different set for custom jobs I will work from there.

Hey guys, my father-in-law is in the hospital, and my wife and I have our second wedding anniversary next week. Posting might be short and scarce until Thursday.

Hey guys, my father-in-law is in the hospital, and my wife and I have our second wedding anniversary next week. Posting might be short and scarce until Thursday.

Hope he gets well soon.

Congrats on the anniversary.

No worries RL comes first!

I think I have all my equipment down.

N-O-T 2-1B is a standard 2-1B model droid with a scratch built protocol set and personality. Designed for long range single target shots. He can even treat wounds so he can pose as a normal 2-1B when I need him to.

Everything else went in to getting him a gun and me the bare necessities to perform my multiple roles.

I think I have all my equipment down.

N-O-T 2-1B is a standard 2-1B model droid with a scratch built protocol set and personality. Designed for long range single target shots. He can even treat wounds so he can pose as a normal 2-1B when I need him to.

Everything else went in to getting him a gun and me the bare necessities to perform my multiple roles.

With a few vacation days and a big push for Ruins of Azlant prep this git away from me, I'll revisit within the next few days!

All good good buddy.

All good good buddy.

Thank you, I appreciate your patience. I did NOT expect to sink in 10-14 hours this weekend on getting my ambitious Ruins of Azlant stuff together. 25 new traits with 25 unique Wayfinders connected to 25 Pathfinder Society NPC's plus converting 5 PRCs to Base classes = time consuming as all hell! And I still have 2 classes to go... sigh.

I would say you have my sympathy, but you did kind of do it to yourself.