PC Skill

[Naaman]

Well... If the grenadier goes first, then the shooter, then the brawler grapples and holds down the pc while the bladesman stabs him in the gut, they just might pull it off....

For what its worth, though, in our games, reaction skill maps dont stack.

[Bren]

[Kaloth Varsk]

I find the game best balanced around starting characters and characters slightly advanced. The game as a whole loses interest for me by the time people are putting up 8D to 9D skills, and I really dislike having jedi characters of any skill, since they tend to take over the game later.

[garhkal]

[Naaman]

Bren, I was actually just joking around with that sequence of events, however, it seems we have run into a rules interpretation difference.

Rather than alternating sides, we have always played based on individual initiative rolls. Though, admittedly, large groups of homogenus npcs usually act on the same initiative.

[Bren]

[Fallon Kell]

[garhkal]

[Bigkrieg]

If my characters get really high in their skills, I like to make situations where they are forced to use skills they have not invested in. For example Space combat or use of knowledge skills. I try to make situations wher emy players are still challenged by focusing on areas they are not skilled in. I often make it so they lose whatever mission they are on because they lack the abilities to complete it.

I have several Jedi characters who I require to meet other standards before allowing them to be trained by their Master. They need to have other skills such as command, Scholar: Jedi Lore, tactics, etc before their master will train them.

I also enjoy ambushes That helps humble my players no matter their skill level.

[garhkal]

I too love hitting them with problems that the lesser used skills are apt for, so it teaches them that being one trick ponies is not always best.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[cheshire]

I've got a campaign going right now (incidentally not Star Wars, but still D6), and the PCs have been trying to piece together what's going on with an underground cult based on events in the past some thousand years ago. When they first started they said, "Heh, yeah, like I'm ever going to use scholar." And even still, now that they've been unsuccessfully trying to use resources in ancient libraries, they STILL have yet to up the skill regardless of how much they're trying to use it.

It amazes me sometimes.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[garhkal]

THen perhaps they should have to live with the Ignobility of failing cause of that..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Jedi Skyler]

I'm personally playing in a game currently where each of the players created five PCs (yes, that's extremely high a number of characters for one person to keep track of, but there are reasons we went there). Part of the requirement for this was that each player was to draw up a character for the Command Crew of a huge ship that is the mobile base for a planetary militia in a system that is being ransacked by the Empire for its wealth of resources. Each of the normal characters got 12 skill dice to allocate at creation, and each of the Command Crew characters got 16 skill dice. This setup was for several reasons. First, the GM wanted to give an opportunity for the players to be able to take part in the adventure from different perspectives. Secondly, he wanted to signify that each of the characters in this campaign weren't just starting characters, but were already individuals who had been either dealing with the Empire already, or had been in enough combat scenarios that they'd have at least half a shot at surviving the mass assault that happens at the beginning of the adventure.

Another requisite was that each character HAD to spend some points in specific skills--not just Blaster or Piloting--in order to have a shot at being successful. Any fighter pilots had to put dice in Astrogation, rather than simply relying on an astromech droid. One group of characters is part of a smuggling crew that, at campaign start, had been hired to deliver a cargo to the space station that is about to fall under Imperial attack. So one of those characters has high Astrogation, a couple have high Piloting, and two or three have high Starship Gunnery stats. We also have a couple slicers on board, as well as an Information Broker. We also have a true tank character who is predominately for security when groundside. That character has dice in Squad Tactics as well, and so is able to help direct any dirtside fighting.

Each of the Command Crew had to put some dice in Command, as well as in whatever area their specialty falls into. My Command character is the Chief Engineer, so although he can handle himself in a fight, he has the majority of his dice in Technical skills, rather than putting them all in Dexterity and Perception skills.

All in all, I have found this to be a rather creative, if expansive, way to give all the players a well-rounded game, letting each player experience a very diverse set of circumstances, yet without making them sacrifice so much that they can't survive a simple Imperial boarding party. The game is still very young, but so far has been enjoyable.

[garhkal]

For those getting 12d, what is the max they can put into any 1 skill? What of the 16d guys?

How did you dole out force powers for those who wanted them? What of equipment?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Jedi Skyler]

So far, there are several Force-sensitives in the game. However, there are only two actual Force-users: one is a Gotal Shaman of the Whills, the other is a Devaronian Jedi hunter. That character is going to be interesting, especially when she starts coming up on all the other Force-sensitives. She has been twisted from a young age by her mother, and made to believe that a Jedi killed her grandmother. In actuality it was a Sith who killed her grandmother, but after years of training she's been brought up to hate Jedi and those who are Force-sensitive. She comes from a long line of Jedi-hunters, so this is a prejudice that extends back for generations.

The rub is that this character herself is Force-sensitive, but hasn't ever had it explained to her. She simply believes she has a few tricks and abilities she uses to detect and hunt Jedi or potential Jedi, and hasn't ever connected the dots (or had them connected for her) about the truth behind her abilities. It is going to be VERY interesting when THAT all starts to play out.

For that character, she has mostly-latent Force sensitivity. She has one special ability-the ability to detect Force-sensitive beings. That is the only training she has received; she has NO skill dice in any of the Force skills. As such, she's only able to detect a Force-sensitive, but can't discern anything else about them. She's been taught combat skills, and had it drilled into her that the Jedi are evil.

The Gotal Shaman of the Whills is another character that will be interesting to watch develop. This character has Force sensitivity, but also has NO dice in Force skills. What he has is 5D in Knowledge and 5D in Perception, and the majority of his dice are spread between those two attribute skill sets. All other attributes are at 2D. He has 3D in Archaic Guns, the only skill die that was spent outside those two primary attributes. Needless to say, this guy is not used to having to dart around in the middle of a lightfight. He'd better have some darn good cover when he gets into one.

As for skill dice caps, we were allowed to go past 2D in one skill. However, we had to have a darn good explanation in our backgrounds for it. The GM said he wanted us to create the characters we wanted to play, but the stories had to be rich and very, very thorough. If we had something in our stats that was out of the norm, but not explained properly, we either had to back it down or do a rewrite. The same went for equipment. We of course couldn't have the entire Gundark and Galladium catalogs' lists of equipment for our characters, but we were allowed to start out with a goodly amount of gear. But again, we had to have a very descriptive explanation of how we came to have such equipment, and the story had to make SENSE. All in all, I found it a very pleasant experience; I have a tendency to write very descriptive and longer than usual backgrounds for my characters, but I've always found that the perfect vehicle for fleshing out one's character and really explaining to the rest of the group why this character is the way he is. I personally think ALL players ought to do the same for their characters, but I also know not everyone is gifted the same with the ability to write effectively.