House Rules

The Force

Learning Force Powers

I have removed the need for prerequisite powers. However, for each prerequisite not possessed by the character, the cost to learn increases by one CP.

Instinctively Using Force Powers

You do not need to know a Force power to use it. Instead, you must at least be able to visualize in your mind what it is that you wish to do.

To use a Force power that is not known to the character, the difficulty increases by +3 for all rolls, and it must be rerolled every round, rather than staying "up". The roll difficulty increases by +1 for every prerequisite skill not possessed.

For every five times a Force power is used instinctively, the difficulty is reduced by 1. Once it has been successfully used twenty times instinctively, it is considered learned, and may be used without increase difficulty or restrictions.

Force "Spells"

For the learning of a single Force power without involving the use of Force skills, please refer to Cracken's Threat Dossier. In my campaign, these are more frequently encountered than traditional force skills, but not by much.

Learning Both

If a PC already know either the traditional skills, or spells, it is difficult for them to learn another way using the Force. All difficulties for learning Force skills and powers for a spell user (and visa versa) are increased by 5.

Force Powers, Skills and Spells at Time of PC Creation

A player who has dice in a Force skill can add to it at the time of creation, at the cost of two (2) skill dice (from the base of seven) per D of Force skills. No Force skill can be over 2D, nor can dice be added to skill that is not listed.

Each D in force skills allows the player to select 1 Force power, plus one. Additional powers may be learned for 1D of skill dice, but no player may have more than 9 powers to start the campaign, and must have all prerequisites for the skills he already has, to denote the gradual process of self-education. (Note: A GM may give one or two additional, MINOR powers, such as Direction Sense or Time Sense, at thier discretion.)

If a PC has die in Force skills at the time of creation, the player may choose to convert them all into Force spells, at 3D in spells for every D of Force skills. However, no player may start with more than 6 spells, and no more than 2D in any one spell. (A GM may give a player one or two additional minor spells, such as Direction Sense or Time Sense, at thier discretion.)

CyberPoints and the Force
When a character calls upon the Force, he must roll a die. If the number is equal to or higher than the total number of cyberpoints, the Force may be used with no difference from the rules. If the player rolls under the total number of cyberpoints, take thier total number of cyberpoints x3 and add it to the users difficulty for the use of any and all needed powers. If the power is one which must be 'kept up', then the added difficulty is the total number of cyberpoints x4. (These rules are compliments of Bill Smith.)

Calling on the Dark Side

ALL characters can call on the Dark Side, not just Darksiders.

Misc.

I do not consider Doppleganger to be an inherently evil power, and no DSP is given for using it.

I do not use the following powers. Instead, the powers that they are derived from are used. :
 
Telekinetic Kill Telekeniesis, +1D difficulty 
(All you are doing is squeezing)
Beast Languages Translation, +3 difficulty (+3 difficulty for animals that are both non-sentient and non-intelligent) 
(It is a different language, just hard because your target is non-sentient)
Postcognition Farseeing, with the same difficulties for seeing the future
Detoxify poison in another Detoxify Poison, +3 to all difficulties
May also be used to detox a vessel of poison within it
Contort/Escape This is not a Force power, rather it is an Acrobatics roll.  Control Pain may be used to reduce the pain of doing this, however.
 
 

Combat

Damage:
For every 5 points over the difficulty you roll, you may add +1 to the damage roll. (Example: Jiliac is shooting a scoped blaster rifle at an enemy officer 120m away. Since he was aimed for 3 rounds (+3D), and has +2D from his scope, his 7D Blaster roll equals 40. The basic difficulty is 17, meaning he can add +4 to his damage.)

"I aint got time to bleed":
If a character is injured, they may roll thier Stamina skill once per round to temporarily ignore thier injuries. The basic difficulty is the amount of damage done to the character (shooter's damage roll, less the target's STR and armour rolls), with +3 for ever level of injury above stunned( Wounded +3, Incapacitated +6, etc) and +1 for for every round (2nd round +1, 3rd round +2, etc). If the Stamina roll fails, Willpower rolls may be made as outlined in the rule book. However, it should not be forgotten that such actions can aggravate injuries, but these results can vary widely due to the nature of the injury, and are best left to the GM to decide.

Ranged Combat

Ranged Weapon Difficulty Modifiers

These apply to blasters, slug throwers, dart shooters and other similar weapons, not bows and thrown weapons.
Shooting from the hip
     (negated with laser sight)
+2 difficulty point-blank range 
+5 difficulty short range 
+10 difficulty for the fisrt half of medium range
     +5 difficulty for EVERY HALF of a range band after that
Shooting from eye level, w/o using sights
    (negated with laser sight)
+2 difficulty short range
+5 difficulty medium range
+8 difficulty long range
Shooting pistol one-handed
Shooting rifle/carbine w/o proper use of stock
+2 difficulty past short range


Two Blasters (or other projectile weapons, including thrown weapons)

So long as both weapons are being simultaneously fired at the same target, they may be rolled separately with a difficulty modifier of +3, but they only count as single action for multiple actions. +1 difficulty if using these rules with long arms (carbines and rifles).

Fully Automatic Blasters

First, an explanation of the various terms we will be referring back to. "Semi-automatic" is a term, like many of those we will be using, to the old days of slugthrowers, and means that ONE round is discharged each time the trigger is pulled by the shooter. "Burst" means that a small number of shots, usually between two and five, are discharged each time the trigger is pulled. "Full Auto", or "fully automatic", means that when you hold down the trigger, you will fire rounds until you have run out of ammunition and/or let up on the trigger. "Selective Fire" capability means that one may choose between several different modes of fire, usually semi-auto and burst and/or full auto. "Cyclic Rate" is the number of rounds per minute (#r/m) or second (#r/s) that the fully automatic mode discharges when the trigger is held down. The majority of weapons, from blasters to grenade launchers, that are considered to be man portable are semi-automatic, as they fire one round per trigger pull.

Full autos will have a stats entry entitled "modes". This will tell you what fire modes are available on a certain model, and how many shots are fired in each burst.

When firing on "full auto", or long burst, the weapon may be fired that twice that round (unless specified otherwise). There is an additional -1D penalty to all actions that round, and no other attacks or piloting rolls may be made, and only one (1) reactive skill (Dodge, etc). Short bursts are treated just like any other shot.

It is a simple action to switch between firing modes.

When fired in burst or full auto, there is +2 difficulty to hit if the basic Blaster skill (or a specialty other than those that follow) is used. These specializations are not used to fire in semi-auto. The appropriate specialization will be given in the discussion:

Once a shot from a burst hits, each additional shot on the same target, or an adjacent one (<1m away) is one level of difficulty lower. The combined damage for a number of shots from a burst on the same target is determined as per the rules for Combined Actions in your rule book (I prefer those in 2.0). The only difference is that Blaster replaces Command as the skill of choice.

The legal problems with automatic blasters is usually the same as those for repeating blasters, or worse.)

REPEATING BLASTERS

Repeating Blasters are the most common light infantry support weapons today. Repeaters are designed with three to five barrels, housed in a cooling jacket that protects the internal working of the barrel mechanism. The barrels fire in turn, pumping out, on the average, 850r/s. This means that a large number of shots pound into a relatively small area in very rapid order, with a certain amount of shot dispersion imparted by the mobile nature of the firing mechanism. Due in part to ammunition consumption, and in part to minimize wear, there is fire limiter in the trigger group. Once the limiter trips (usually due to barrel heat), the system will not fire until it is safe to do so again. Due to the nature of the systems, and the cyclic rates involved, this limit is usually reached in a tenth of a second burst, and takes several seconds to cool.

Repeating blasters are usually classed by weight and throughput. Light repeating blasters are about 50-100% larger than infantry rifles, having a maximum range similar to rifles and only marginally more powerful, will still be conservative enough to use standard powerpacks. Medium repeating blasters are two to three time the size and weight of rifles, having about two-thirds more range and one third more power on target. They are usually moved by a two man crew, and fired from a bipod and power generator. Finally, the heavy blaster rifles are the size of light artillery pieces, having more than twice the range, and almost twice the power, of a rifle. They are manned and carried by a three to four man crew, and fired from a tripod or vehicle turret and feed from an external generator.

	Light repeaters have an area of effect of 1/2m
	Medium repeaters 1m
	Heavy repeaters have a 2 meter area of effect.  
There is no added difficulty or bonus to the shot, due to the high rate of fire.)

Slugthrowers vs. Blasters

Both have thier advantages. Most firearms can be fitted with sound supressors and leave no trail back to the firer, while blasters can be neither sound nor flash nor trace suppressed. Blasters use more standardized ammunition, and most can be reliably fired in vacuum and under water, while most chemical slugthrowers can not. The biggest difference in in the penetration of cover.

Blasters that strike a layer of cover (even as light as moderately heavy foliage) spend most of thier energy directly on thier surface of that cover, with residual thermal blooming and blast effects penetrating only a few centimeters through the cover (which is why you get burned when your armour takes a hit, but a standing a meter behind a plate glass window will protect you once). Blasters also do not ricochet off of most surfaces (magnetic shielding is the exception).

Slugthrowers (except for explosive projectiles) are reliant on the transfer of kinetic energy and mechanical penetration of tissue for thier damage. They can penetrate cover and can can continue on for many meters as a dangerous object. If the cover suffers Incapacitated damage, the slug continues on at -1D damage. Use the grenade scatter to determine the direction that it travels. (NOTE: If it must go through several layers, figure them individually. For example, a bullet fired into a Stormie's chest must go through a layer of 2D Physical armour, his body, and another layer of 2D armour before exiting.) Slugs can ricochet off of armour, but it is best left to the GM to rolepaly this effect.

Flame Throwers

Most people just hold the flamethrower on a particular target. This is not always the best way to do this. To spread the fuel around, one fans the muzzle of the flamer around. (No difficulty modifier, but it must be in the same range. If it changes from, say, short to medium range, use the medium range difficulty.) There are two ways to do this:

method 1: The area of effect is not necessarily a circular one. Reduce the depth of the area to expand the breadth to it by the same percentage. Example: Ungor the Gammorean has a Merr-Sonn F-93, with a 2m area of effect. He wants to cover an area 4m wide. His area is now four meters wide, but only one meter deep.

method 2: The area may be expanded by one area of effect's worth of linear space for every two additional rounds of damage that you are willing to give up. Example: Ungor doesn't want to loose the depth of his fire. As a result, he lays his fire stream out six meters wide and two meters deep, but it no longer does 4D damage for the next 10 rounds. It now does 4D damage for the next 6 rounds.

These rules may be combined. It should also be noted that the blowtorches, like the SoroSuub F-34, can not have their damage modified in this manner. They are essentially just an aerosol spray fitted with an igniter.

Melee Combat

Using Two Melee Weapons

If using two melee weapons, a character gets one free attack or parry per round, or +1D to thier parry or attack rolls.

Specialization must be for paired weapons, not single weapons (ie: Melee Combat: two knives). If using a combination of weapons, that distinction must be clear in the specialization (ie: Melee Combat: vibrosword and vibrodagger)

These rules may be used for both melee and light weapons, but not whips. These rules are are intended to serve as mechanics guide line for a roleplayed event.

Armour Rules

There are the two traditional, basic forms of armour protection, physical and energy. But there are other forms of armour for specialized protection, or those that are commonly ignored. The most common of these are non-penetrating physical, flame and acid. They way that modern armour works depends on what one is trying to do.

For basic physical protection, layers of ballistic cloth are sandwiched together, while non-penetrating protection can consist of almost any kind of padding. Or various kinds of plastoid, metallic and composite rigid armours may be used. Acid protection is achieved much the same way, but the fibers or plates are either chemically treated or composed of especially acid resistant material.

Most protection from energy weapons is achieved from using several layers of ablative material, which burn away with each hit. The typical blast vest is composed of several, interwoven layers of ablative/ballistic cloth. But the protection needed for working in areas of great conflagrations calls for non-combustive, insulative and/or reflective material. For the most part, this consists of several layers of nonflammable fibers, but those units designed for the hottest fires includes cooling systems. Protection from radiation is achieved in much the same manner, but also invloves the use of layers of very dense matter, highly specialized forms of insulation, or light weight energy shielding.

types:
physical
blunt (batons, clubs, unarmed combat) (if not listed, use the basic physical measure)
acid (if not listed, use the basic physical measure)
energy
fire (if not listed, use the basic energy measure)
radiation (if not listed, use the basic energy measure)

Misc

Enviromental Effects:
Many of these are modified from basic guidelines layed out by WEG. Remember that these rules may be modified to reflect local conditions.

Zero Gravity
Very few species are adapted to a lack of gravity, and even fewer of them are sentient. These rules may be modified to reflect adaptation to 0-G. (NOTE: These do not accurate reflect Newtonian physics, but Star Wars is Space Opera.)

Low Gravity Low gravity allows those people who are used to full gravity lift more and run faster, but until they adapt, they also usually overcompensate for thier actions. These rules may be modified to reflect adaptation to low gravity.

High Gravity High gravity drains the body of it's energy reserves very, very quickly. These rules may be modified to reflect adaptation to higher gravity.

Underwater While most life might live in the galaxy's oceans, most intelligent life dis not evolve there.

Radiation
Fields of intense electromagnetic radiation occur naturally, as a byproduct of modern technology, or more commonly as a byproduct of modern warfare. These fields are rated by class (Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, etc) up to a Class 20 radiation zone.

Moving:

Each move counts as one action. You can make up to four moves in a round. (this is from 2.0)

Fire

Some special notes should be made about the nature of fire. When a target has received cumulative damage done to the target equals 10, modified for the target's nature (for example, Wookie fur ignites if the damage exceeds the STR roll by 3, but a permacrete wall ignites if the damage exceeds 20 [note: most structural, exterior walls are a speeder scale target]). The amount of damage done by this new fire is up to the GM (based on such variables as the oxygen content of the air, the flammability of the target, and other such randomness). When the target has had five Killed damage results done to it, it is totally consumed by the fire, and is no more. Feel free to ignore the technical aspects of this, and use it more as a roleplaying device (I do).

Scale:

I personally feel that the scale rules from v2.0 are more realistic, and actually easier to use than the rules from v2.1. Below are the modified tables that I use:

To hit:
Using this table: To use this table, one must locate the scale of the shooter in the left most (bold) column. Then, find the scale of the target along the (italic) row at the top. Where the coumn and row meet, that is the die cap. The number there is the highest number you can role on any die. (ie: A starfighter is shooting at a single person, and a die rolls up 6. It is still a 2.) Note that a six on the Wild Die, regardless of the die cap has the normal effects. All pip additions (+1, +2) are applied as normal. "-" means that you can not realistically hit the given target. Immolate his general area, yes, but actually hit only him, no.
Char Speed Walk Star Cap DS
Character 6 6 6 6 6 6
Speeder 4 6 6 6 6 6
Walker 3 5 6 6 6 6
Starfighter 2 4 5 6 6 6
Capital - 1 2 3 6 6
Death Star - - - - 3 6

To dodge:
This table is organized exactly like the To Hit table, but is instead used to figure out how well you can dodge incoming fire. A "-" means you haven't a snowball's hope of getting out of the way fast enough, because the entire neighborhood was just zapped.
Char Speed Walk Star Cap DS
Character 6 5 5 3 - -
Speeder 6 6 5 4 2 -
Walker 6 6 6 5 3 -
Starfighter 6 6 6 6 6 5
Capital - - 6 6 6 4
Death Star - - - - - 6

To hit: This table is used to measure the damage done by a shot and the STR roll to avoid it. The numbers are die caps, with the left digit being the shooter's maximum roll and the right digit being the target's maximum roll. A "-" means either you can only scratch the paint, or that you haven't a chance. In either case, forget rolling, because it isn't going to do anything to change the outcome.
Char Speed Walk Star Cap DS
Character 6/6 3/6 2/6 2/6 -/6 -/6
Speeder 6/3 6/6 3/6 2/6 1/6 -/6
Walker 6/2 6/3 6/6 4/6 2/6 -/6
Starfighter 6/1 6/2 6/3 6/6 3/6 -/6
Capital 6/- 6/1 6/2 6/3 6/6 2/6
Death Star 6/- 6/- 6/- 6/1 6/3 6/6

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