d20radio.com

First of all, Watto's is an excellent segment, and i wouldnt dare intrude on its territory. However, there is a certian aspect of all things Starwars U that's missing, and maybe on purpose: Weapons and Armor. I know there are many out there that have "Blaster Pistol" on their charachter sheets, and are happy with that.

This segment would be for the people who arent. The people who see "Blaster Pistol" and say "What kind? DL-18? I'm personally a fan of the Mer-Sonn IR5 Intimidator" Weapons and gear may be overdone, i dont know, I think there's a whole lot of wonderful flavor and crunch to be had there. Am I crazy?

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"Delta leads the way" -Barracks Grafitti

I personally don't think there's enough weapons and armor to make a segment in saga. Neither of them has a whole lot of crunch associated with it, and the saga ruleset also steers clear of the DnD style of playing: nobody cares if you're level 20, only about if you have a composite longbow and magical longsword of +5. In saga, talents and feats are far more important than weapons and armor. There really doesn't seem to be enough to talk about with a blaster pistol to make a segment, unless you go over every single type of pistol in the rules in one segment (in which case you'd run out of gear to talk about pretty fast).

I agree that there are some interesting parts to gear. I always encourage my players to add flavor to their weapons, whether it be the color of blaster bolt or exact model of the lightsaber hilt. I just don't think it would make a segment.

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Duct tape is like the Force; it has two sides and binds the galaxy together.

So unless I'm wrong, I'm understanding that you're thinking about a segment that deals more with the "fluff" side of weapons. That is, not each and every weapon in SWSE, but how to identify your character's weapon using Star Wars lore.

I like this idea...it really gets you in character talking about your blaster's make and model. SAGA treats them all as "Blaster Pistol," but that doesn't mean that your weapon doesn't have it's own distinctive look, sound, and unique quirks.

Not sure how you'd do it, but it does sound like an interesting idea.

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Saga Edition Resources:
My Google Docs Character Record Sheet
SE Official FAQ Compilation - SE Official Errata & Clarifications - Jedi Counseling 105 to 115

Edge of the Empire Resources: Beta Updates, crib sheets, and other goodies

I dunno, honestly. If it's just a fluff thing, wookieepedia is a good resource for just info about different kinds of blasters if you want some backstory to your gun.

If you're trying to mooch some kind of game effect out of your pistol, I'd just say: don't. A blaster pistol is a blaster pistol (unless it's a heavy). I'd rather not get into what the old D20 Star Wars (RCR) did, where there were three dozen models of blaster with tiny differences in DR or ammo capacity so that you always had to pull out the Arms & Equipment Guide to look up what made your particular gun special.

On the other hand, if you want to include some significantly different blasters that really tweak the usual sporting blaster / blaster / heavy blaster classifications, consider having the GM include some weapons that have S&V Upgrades or Tech Specialist upgrades pre-installed at the factory.

For example, you might have a "Czerka Deadshot 88" blaster that uses a pulse charger to pack as much punch as a heavy blaster pistol while skirting the licensing restrictions. Or a "Merr Sonn SL-45 Custom" sporting blaster that comes with silverplate and a mag-grapple hip mount instead of a holster (mechanically, "spring-loaded"). (After all, your gun is very shiny; it's a fashion statement more than a weapon, and you don't want to hide it in an ugly old holster!)

See this is why Delta's suggestion intrigues me. I always like going to Wookieepedia and figuring out what my gear looks like.

True that! Thanks for the Tech Spec/Upgrade suggestions. They do indeed provide all the fluffy flavor that you need while giving you many, many game-mechanics options to trick out your weapons.

A lot of this is going to depend on personal preference. Perhaps, Delta, given the great amount of "fluff" that this entails, we could have a forum thread for suggestions on what "factory" upgrades could be applied to various blaster models (and other kinds of weapons of course). Is that along the lines of what you're thinking of?

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Saga Edition Resources:
My Google Docs Character Record Sheet
SE Official FAQ Compilation - SE Official Errata & Clarifications - Jedi Counseling 105 to 115

Edge of the Empire Resources: Beta Updates, crib sheets, and other goodies

I think that this topic can be included in Watto's. Also, count me as one of those folks who doesn't care for having a ga-zillion types of blasters.

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Arkansas Regional Captain & proud member of Spice Runners Squadron
Kessel Base, The Rebel Legion

"The bad guys hardly ever quote Star Wars."
Harry Dresden, Cold Days

By the way, in case my math was a touch unclear here -- a blaster pistol with a pulse charger deals 3d6+3 damage, which is mathematically the same average damage as a heavy blaster pistol's 3d8. It has a slightly smaller spread -- higher minimum and lower maximum damage -- but it's basically "packing the same punch".

Naturally, a pulse charger also sticks a -1 on the attack roll, which I would flavor as the weapon having a much heftier kick than your average blaster pistol while lacking the recoil-moderating effect of a heavy blaster's greater mass.

Thanks, Darth P.

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Arkansas Regional Captain & proud member of Spice Runners Squadron
Kessel Base, The Rebel Legion

"The bad guys hardly ever quote Star Wars."
Harry Dresden, Cold Days

That's not entirely true, there's the merr-sonn 434 death-hammer in the clone wars campaign guide, and there is the sidearm (limited rate of fire but a large shot capacity) in galaxy at war. those are both "blaster pistols" that significantly differ from the generic version.

But really talking about weapons tricked out with the scum and villainy modification system could be a decent segment, will the appropriate fluff of course. I'm particularly fond of a sporting blaster carbine with the stun setting stripped, the improved energy cell and rapid recycler upgrades (200 shot autofire capable carbine that is not inaccurate if you use 2 hands to shoot it) with an attached bothan (template from KotOR) shock stick

And even if we're talking about a short run segment, the gear is spread across all the books and "collecting" weapons of a particular type into one week's segment wouldn't be a bad thing.

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"One should not seek to control the force for it is an ally not a slave, rather one should seek the aid of the force in controlling one's own self." --Elias Windrider quoting his father

I'm aware. I'm very negative about all the variant weapons in CWCG. Those are exactly the sort of thing I was trying to dissuade the OP from building.

Examples!

The BlasTech DH-23 "Outback" is a regular blaster pistol with a SLIGHTLY higher break DC. It claims that the weapon "sacrifices range and strength", but it's not marked inaccurate or dealing less damage than a standard blaster. So I see no reason for this to exist. (I'm going to add my version of the Outback to my custom weapons thread, though. It's a blaster that comes with the Environmentally Sealed upgrade pre-installed.)

The BlasTech DT-12 is a heavy blaster in every way. It deals 4d6 instead of 3d8, which is effectively +0.5 damage (and a slightly flatter damage curve) in exchange for 150 credits. Again, why does this exist? Is there any significance to equipping a character with a DT-12 instead of a generic HBP? The damage difference is something you could only detect with a spreadsheet.

Now... the Merr-Sonn Model 434 "Death Hammer" is overpowered. It deals the same damage as a HBP, it's the same size and weight as an HBP, but it isn't Military and it isn't Inaccurate. Oh, and it's 100 credits cheaper. That's what you call strictly superior. There's no reason to choose an HBP over a DeathHammer -- ergo the DeathHammer is overpowered. (This could be fixed, though. Double the cost and make it Military, and then you have effectively a HPB that can still be used at long range. That justifies its existence without making it so significantly better than the base weapon.)

The BlasTech 500 ESPO goes the other way. Why? Just why? It's strictly inferior to a basic blaster carbine -- equal or worse in every area. It costs more, is more restricted, is twice as heavy, takes a penalty on non-autofire attacks, and lacks the retractable stock; and in every other way is a standard carbine. The text claims it "trades simple accuracy for the ability to hit just about anything in its path" but that is not upheld by its rules text. I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean. How does one define accuracy if it's not "the ability to hit what you aim at"? (Fix suggestion: It has a greatly increased rate of fire, so it takes only a -2 to the attack roll when used in autofire mode but expends twice as many shots per autofire -- 20 instead of the usual 10, or 10 instead of 5 when you Burst Fire. If you have the ability to brace the ESPO, it can be fired with no autofire penalty at all.)

The Sorosuub Firelance is weird. It claims to have a "highly effective stun setting" but the rules specify that it deals 4d6 stun instead of 3d8 in normal fire mode. Uh... see the above discussion about the DT-12. 3d8 and 4d6 are virtually the same thing. Calling that "highly effective" is probably overstating it quite a bit. (I'd fix that by having the Firelance be a standard blaster rifle with the Bothan template applied.)

I love the shock stick! It's like, "yeah it's an Adv Melee weapon, and it's only 1-handed, but here throw it on this rifle. Now you're proficient and it's 2-handed!" And the possibility for a one-hit-drop is golden.

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Saga Edition Resources:
My Google Docs Character Record Sheet
SE Official FAQ Compilation - SE Official Errata & Clarifications - Jedi Counseling 105 to 115

Edge of the Empire Resources: Beta Updates, crib sheets, and other goodies

As a large weapon, a shockstick is always a two handed weapon if you're medium sized. The one-hit thing is fine, but it only works on enemies that are so close to dropping that they'd have gone down if you'd used a non-stun attack in the first place.

I'm just not sure how a large weapon can be bayonet-mounted, unless most of its size is just a spear-haft sort of thing that the gun replaces.

You got that exactly right, per a dev that I think was on an old episode of order 66

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"One should not seek to control the force for it is an ally not a slave, rather one should seek the aid of the force in controlling one's own self." --Elias Windrider quoting his father

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll admit, even I think the RCR defintion of "Weapons specialization" was pretty lame, but i didnt really know how to present my idea without saying "I wanna crack open Scum and Villiany and see how badly i can break any given peice of gear"

Either way, i'm looking forward to working the kinks out of this idea, and atleast have something somewhat presentable.

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"Delta leads the way" -Barracks Grafitti