Banded-mail, shield, Dodge, Shield Focus, Defender of the Society (trait) after your first shopping trip at 1st. -- You don't suck because nothing can hit you. It's easy. (Like most classes in this game, it only gets hard when you stray away from what the class was designed to be good at in the first place.They're drop-dead easy to build: keep your physical stats decent, and don't sack wisdom. That's about it.no its really not, building a fighter is one of the most complicated things in game if you don't want it to suck.
also vader is lawful evil, he committed several genocidesHe was unhinged when he killed the Sand People (who were slavers who killed his mother). He was Dominated when he killed the Younglings. Tarkin blew up Alderaan.
and with a 2d8 19-20x2 stat a light saber would be on par with a large adamantine bastard sword
Sure: a large adamantine bastard sword with Vorpal that ignores all armor and non-magical bonuses to AC (and who's to say that even magic will stop a lightsaber?). -- Most things you'd hit rolling a 14. Armor and fortifications are thoroughly worthless, and any mob desperately Zerg-rushing you knows that most of them are going to die before they finally pseudo-grapple you by means of burying you under a corpse-mound.
The reason Vader didn't seek to murder his way up Imperial command was because he was ALREADY THERE. He was on loan to Tarkin, true, but it was because he was there to help with Tarkin's project. He had his personal legion, he only answered to the Emperor,
...and he did nothing with it. He sulked and did "my Master's bidding". He knew the Dark Side of the Force, but didn't appear to revel in using it (like the Inquisitors in the cartoons), or study to increase his abilities in it further. He was strong in the Force, but that was pre-existing from his time in the Jedi (and why the Emperor selected him).
They fiddled with the character a bit in the cartoons (notably "Rebels"),
but didn't alter his motivations too much.
and remember, at the end, he WAS planning to overthrow the Emperor,
The "Join me, and we can rule the galaxy as father and son!" line was an attempt to lure Luke rather than anything Vader was actually plotting. (The actual plan was to turn Luke over to the Emperor.)
Vader is a tragic figure: a slave as a child, a Dominated enforcer at his most powerful, and an errand-boy while a Jedi inbetween. He was always pushing the broom for somebody. In the end, only the pleading of his dying son would finally break the Emperor's grip on his will, and he lived to enjoy his freedom for only a few minutes.
If I were to stat out Vader as the movie character in 20pt-buy, he'd look something like this at 1st level:
str+ 17
dex: 14
con: 14
int: 12
wis: 07
cha: 14
(Yeah...don't do that. As we know, it's ends badly.)
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vader is not dominated he is fully working under his own free will
Incorrect. --It helps to rewatch "Return of the Jedi" (ideally the Harmy's Despecialized Edition for the original theatrical cut), and pay very careful attention to the dialogue. "You don't know the power of the Dark Side. I must obey my master!" (emphasis on "must")
It is very clear, at that point, the relationship between the Emperor (the term "master" is used twice) and his underling.
The last dozen seconds of that scene are brilliant storytelling of the sort seldom seen in film over the several decades: There's no dialogue as Vader walks to a railing, deep in thought. You can almost hear the gears turning: "How the hell do I get out of being forced to kill my own son?" (I think it as this moment that it occurs to Vader that he has to sacrifice himself by goading Luke into overpowering him in physical combat. It's the only way for him to escape the Emperor's clutches. The concluding fight (in the scene following the linked clip above), in which Vader threatens "sister!" finally brings that out. Of course neither of them yet knows the full extent of the Emperor's abilities.)
I like the way it plays out from a Pathfinder RGP perspective: Luke is a paladin; he's radiating various auras that grant his allies +4 to saving-throws. He has sensed (Pallyvision FTW!) that his father is not evil. So what does he do? He treats his enemy as an ally! By doing so, he enables Vader to reroll some of those saves he's been failing miserably versus the Emperor, with the circumstance bonuses getting higher and higher with each re-attempt.
The whole thing of Vader being a whipped dog for his master ignores much of the EU, where he was plotting against the Emperor. The whole game of Force Unleashed was Vader plotting to overthrow the Emperor.
The "Extended Universe" (including the games) are non-canon. (To the extent that they might become so someday, suffice to say that it is not the original conception of the Vader character as fleshed-out in ESB and RotJ.)
exept there...
There are always exceptions scurrying about in the corners thirty after the original films containing the character's own dialogue linked in the scene previously provided to you in my previous post.
Vader "must obey" (emphasis original) his "master".
-- That's not "free will" (your term).
Now quit trying to "win the internet" by ever-striving for the last word when you're wrong.
Well for one thing, you need to decide on Hit Die, since they use a Wound Point /Vitality Point systemMeh, Vitality are hit points. Jedi Guardians get 1d10/level. That's fine.
The strongest that Vader can be in Star Wars d20, he can do 3d6 damage using Force Grip. That doesn't even compare to a 2nd level spell.The power of the Force is not as powerful as magic, but it's useful. Jedi get exclusive access to light sabers which do 2d8 for starters and do an extra d8 every 5 levels. Jedi Guardians are full BAB characters, so the fact that they don't get as much magic is not a big deal.
How do you handle the fact that defense is rather different in the two systems?Defense isn't especially different. D20 Star Wars Characters get an Armor Class Bonus that increases as they gain levels. That's all right.
Will everyone have Force Points, or just Vader?Just Vader. That's what I would do. He'd be the only one with a Light Saber. If I were worried it was too powerful, I'd make him start without a light saber and have it something he will learn how to build when he reaches level _________________. I probably wouldn't allow any other tech into the universe, unless I wanted to.
how much of the rest of the system are you allowing in?Mostly none of it. I'd use all Pathfinder rules. I'd let the character take Star Wars Feats and Skills with the caveat that there is not Star Wars tech except maybe his own personal light saber. I'd also let him use Pathfinder Feats and Skills, which I think are much better.
My main point is that there are ways to make Darth Vader as a Pathfinder character, or at least close enough to be recognizable, without having to bring in an old system that has a few compatibility issues.Cool.
My point is that rules describing what the OP's player wants already exist with just a few...
I have made a Jedi for Pathfinder using both the RCR and Saga Edition, and both were fun and not overpowered. We decided the Force would be a type of psychic magic. He used the Monk's skill list, and all Force powers that worked against uses of the Force worked against magic. The lightsaber was nerfed to 1d8 and could bypass the hardness of objects, but attacked regular AC instead of bypassing armor. He would have been able to craft his own lightsaber and increase the damage later on. My most memorable moments were using move object to disarm a cleric of his unholy symbol so he couldn't cast, and flinging an opponent across the room. Unfortunately there was a TPK, and I moved on to another character.
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(snip a few intervening posts)vader is not dominated he is fully working under his own free willIncorrect. --It helps to rewatch "Return of the Jedi"...and pay very careful attention to the dialogue. "You don't know the power of the Dark Side. I must obey my master!" (emphasis on "must")
It is very clear, at that point, the relationship between the Emperor (the term "master" is used twice) and his underling.
The last dozen seconds of that scene are brilliant storytelling of the sort seldom seen in film over the several decades: There's no dialogue as Vader walks to a railing, deep in thought. You can almost hear the gears turning: "How the hell do I get out of being forced to kill my own son?" (I think it as this moment that it occurs to Vader that he has to sacrifice himself by goading Luke into overpowering him in physical combat. It's the only way for him to escape the Emperor's clutches. The concluding fight (in the scene following the linked clip above), in which Vader threatens "sister!" finally brings that out. Of course neither of them yet knows the full extent of the Emperor's abilities.)
I like the way it plays out from a Pathfinder RGP perspective: Luke is a paladin; he's radiating various auras that grant his allies +4 to saving-throws. He has sensed (Pallyvision FTW!) that his father is not evil. So what does he do? He treats his enemy as an ally! By doing so, he enables Vader to reroll some of those saves he's been failing miserably versus the Emperor, with the circumstance bonuses getting higher and higher with each re-attempt.
except he doesn't hes always had a choice just like how he chose to kill the emperor in the end of the 6th movieVader "must obey" (emphasis original) his "master".
-- That's not "free will" (your term).
Now quit trying to "win the internet" by ever-striving for the last word when you're wrong.
-- Are you capable of following an argument? What's wrong with you, Lady-J? We went over this ground not more than a day ago.
I directly quoted the character in his own movies.
And RotJ isn't the "6th movie"; it's the third one, and the first in which Vader's motivations are explored. I.e., why is he doing these things? --In the first movie, he's just a goon that we seldom see and who has few lines. In the 2nd, he's a major "lieutenant" NPC that the PCs are supposed to lose to (and boy, do they). And RotJ is where it all comes together.
By the time the prequels were in development, Lucas was already heavily butchering the "original trilogy" but he never messed with Vader's dialogue and motivations in ESB and RotJ. So, that's who the character is. The films are seen by several dozen times as many people as who will ever play some odd video game or read a comic book that alters the character.
He's a complex, tragic, dominated figure straight out of Greek mythological analogs featuring transformed, chained monsters forced to do the bidding of their master, not a generic BBEG in a mask. --That's what makes him interesting.
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Ahem...do you think this fan boy battle is helping the OP in any way?
Build a Bladebound magus or Phantom Blade.
All the force tricks you could ever want + the ability to turn your sword into a force weapon.
Interesting! I always build my Jedis has Qinggong monks and Siths has Kensei Magus. My GM doesn't allow Occult classes yet but I'll surely look into that if he does one day. Props for your Vader build
I agree :P but with Magus, you do get to take Ghost Blade (SU) that allows you to enchant your weapon with brilliant energy which is perfect to mimic the *Ignite lightsaber*
I think I would recommend bloodrager too.
It's simple, (rage isn't hard to understand and hitting things is even easier) and it get a few (very few) select spells which would cover some with like tricks later on. Make the weapon flaming and vicious. Light saber fueled by rage and hate. Done.
Oh. And welcome to the forums.
A bit of a necro, but I thought I'd come back to this, because there's an endless supply of youngsters wanting to play Vader.
-- Anyway, Vader doesn't rage. (Anakin might have, but learned-his-lessons-and-schooled-proper Vader is never depicted as anything other than dispassionate, calculating, and ruthlessly efficient. He demolishes the opposition because he's a 15th-level Mind Knight Psychic Warrior in a world of 1st-level commoners and 6th-level martials.)