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I have one player that have a cool idea for is character. He came up with a good background and we will be playing rebellion era. In his background, in short, he explain how he his a mandalorian that inherited is mother lightsabers (much like Venku Skirata and I was surprise because he doesn't fellow the Alternate Univers of GMC).

So what this player want that he can't buy with his starting credits are : two lightsabers, a mando armor and he even want a personnal starfighter.

For the starfighter, I could arrange the organisation hiring him to provide it. Would it be to much to allow him to have the rest ?

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Kenad Broki's SagaSheet 1.4 (with my correction 0.5)

Sure, I'd let him have the Mandalorian Armor. Mandalorian Style, anyway. There are numerous instances in the EU where people are wearing Mando-style armor made from basic materials. Heck, even Boba Fett did for a while. To get true Beskar'gram, or armor made with Mandalorian Iron, that should take some serious creds and/or an entire sub-plot.

Just have him buy whatever armor he can afford, and both of you agree it was made in Mando style and apperance. No change to the stats. Want precidence? Look at the stats for Boba Fett in the SECR.

Now, the lightsabers; what are they to the character and why does he want them? If he wants them as cool backstory plot, then I'd say cool. Go for it. But have the energy cell drained. That way, they're just momentos, and not a pair of Universal Cutting Tools. He'll need to charge the energy cells or modify new ones to replace the dead ones in the sabers. If he plans to wield them in battle, then you have more circumstances to weigh. Why is he using them? Is he Force Sensitive? If it's just to be a mando wielding two lightsabers...eh, I'm not sure that's enough "Rule of Cool" for me. But if there are neat character background RP reasons for it, then hey, why the heck not.

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Current Co-Host of All Wings Report In, the Official Podcast of the Rebel Legion SW costuming club
Order 66 Contributor: Fragments From the Rim - BLOG UPDATED EVERY THURSDAY

Here's the long and short of it as I see it (and how I do it at my table).

If a player wants something that's very much out of the typical characters starting budget right out of the gate, I'll generally look at them and say: Sure. You can have it. But here's my condition. And then I attach a string to it.

Yeah, you can have the starfighter. But you're currently leasing it from a fairly crooked businessman. If you start missing "payments" you're bound to get a visit from a "repo man."

Yeah, you can have the badass blaster rifle. However, you're dirt poor and in debt to someone you may not want to be in debt to.

As for the specifics for this character. I don't see any problem with the lightsabers. In the Rebellion Era, this kind of equipment is pretty self-correcting. If he pulls them out just because he can, he's going to find the Inquisitorius knocking at his door soon enough. Throw a couple of strings that you can tap for RP reasons later on the other pieces, and you should have no problem with it.

Just make sure you provide the same benefit for the rest of the party if you take this tack, and make sure you're up front about it with them and that you're doing it for balance and game reasons, and not just being an ass.

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Good point, Cyril!

I forgot the whole "Rebellion Era Self Correcting Problem" bit!

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Current Co-Host of All Wings Report In, the Official Podcast of the Rebel Legion SW costuming club
Order 66 Contributor: Fragments From the Rim - BLOG UPDATED EVERY THURSDAY

Why would you need to be higher level to have money?

If it were a player in my game I would just let him have it, and keep it open for plot hooks. Unless you're actually using the stats for something fancy, like some kind of ginormous mandalorian armor that gives a bonus he shouldn't have at level one, it won't really cause any problems in the long run and your player will have more fun.

Another thing you could do is just raise the starting amount of credits for all of the players so that they can all afford cool gadgets.

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If you're having hull problems, I feel bad for you son. I've got 99 problems, and a breach aint one.

Just throwing my 2 cents in. I like the idea of giving them the equipment and attaching strings to it. It will give you the GM some very interesting plot hooks in the future. Now given that, I would also say don't let it be too imbalanced. There is a point where you have got to draw the line.

In the same line of tough, do you keep track on how they transport or keep everything in their possession. It obivious that a rocket lauchner is not something you need a back pack for, but somtime having a lot of small items on you may require it. What I mean is : you do not see people with back pack in Star Wars and at some point the utility belt have it limits.

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Kenad Broki's SagaSheet 1.4 (with my correction 0.5)

The answer to DarthGM's question can be answered pretty quickly. if the character starts with Weapon proficiency: lightsaber as their bonus feat, then it is a safe bet the player plans to use them in combat.


There could be a couple of other options, too. If the player plans to make the PC a jedi later, then you might not allow them initially. Instead, the player could know of their whereabouts and have an adventure locating and obtaining them.

If the character wants to use them as an intimidating factor (I'll cut you if you don't talk), then you could allow them (with no real proficiency). It would be intimidating for most people in the Rebellion era to see a lightsaber, let alone have one pointed at you. That said, anyone who actually saw the blade would tell (or sell the info to) the authorities. The character could even get a visit from old Darth Vader himself (...ummm, I roll for deception and persuastion to explain why I have them?).

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Follower: "Because I follow you, sire. This automatically lowers my IQ by 75 points. Only the truly stupid are dumb enough to follow you around everyday, sir...It's not easy being this stupid."

Sounds like a serious Munchkin player...Mandalorian Armor and twin lightsabers? Is he wanting an Imperial-Class Star Destroyer to store them in by chance?

IMO, Starting credit limits for characters are there for a reason....game balance. No, you're Level 1 character can't have everything he wants at first level. And I think handing two lightsabers (CR 3000 each), and Mandalorian Armor (even if only styled to look like it) is a tad unbalancing. Like any other person on Earth, or in a galaxy far, far, away, he's going to have to work hard to get everything he wants.

Frankly, I'd turn the player down, if I were running it. Such things would be quest items for him. Make him earn it, and at the same time, make their acquisition meaningful.


However, if you are considering giving it to him, there's a few things that you should consider:

A. What does the rest of the group look like? Is this going to seriously tip the balance between the player characters in his favor? If so, I'd turn him down.

B. Does a Mandalorian armor wielding guy with twin lightsabers fit the feel of the type of campaign you're running? Again, if it doesn't, turn him down. I'm having a hard time seeing such a character running around the Death Star with a Wookiee, a smuggler ship captain, and a blond-haired farmboy from Tatooine. Does he fit with the rest of the group from a storytelling standpoint?

C. Finally, I want to know his in-character justification for why he has the items at game start. Not his min-maxing munchkin player justification, which generally is grounds for me to deny it just on general principle. I want to know why his character has it (not wants it, which is a different thing), what he did to get it, and what it means to him. I'd want it in writing (to indicate that the player has actually devoted some thought to it), and it better be interesting (my mother left it to me wouldn't begin to cut it in terms of the depth of thinking I'd want to see...I'd want to know the mother's back story as to how she came into possession of them, and why she gave them to your character instead of the character's two other brothers and sisters, etc.).

However, if you decide to give him the Monty Haul starting equipment he suggests, consider the following...he isn't going to be good with both the lightsabers and the armor...there's only so many feats and talents to go around. Make sure things like weight limits, armor check penalties, etc. are rigidly enforced. And there are better melee weapons than a lightsaber for somebody who isn't trained effectively in its use.

Also, since this is the Rebellion Era, consider that a character carrying lightsabers makes for a handy target for every goon in an Imperial uniform. If the Empire knows said lightsaber-wielder is also wearing Beskar'gam (or something that just looks like Beskar'gam), they're going to come at him with something more than a wimpy little 3d6 blaster pistol the first time he cuts somebody down.

EDIT: I completely missed the desire for a starfighter the first time I read your post. My answer is no-frickin'-way. This guy will seriously unbalance your game vis-a-vis the other PCs, and is missing the point of the Star Wars saga in the first place. Have him earn them.

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Greedo never shot.

I've actually got a player similar to this in my game. He's not a Gamer first; he's a Star Wars fan first. He's playing a mandalorian who is a desk-jockey for MandalMotors. When we started, there were a lot of things he wanted to do and be right off the bat because he sees it as "necessary for his vision of a star wars fictional character". Not because of "game balance" or "character equality", he wanted things because to him it made sense.

So there's a possibility this guy is doing this from a character standpoint, if so then his "transgressions" may not be as bad.

Still Munchkin', but not as bad.

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Current Co-Host of All Wings Report In, the Official Podcast of the Rebel Legion SW costuming club
Order 66 Contributor: Fragments From the Rim - BLOG UPDATED EVERY THURSDAY

Oh, I agree on this. Maybe there is a legit RP reason. I guess my opinion is just informed by too many games where the RP reason takes a distant backseat to min-maxing.

There is, of course, another solution to this dilemma besides what we've all come up with so far...nothing says the game needs to start with 1st Level characters, either.

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Greedo never shot.

sounds like your player wants to be Batman!

The Front of SOTG has some good advice on obtaining financing, which could be extended to other gear. If you want to start at level 1, it is the first in game method that springs to mind. An organization usually provides a starfighter for a fixed length of time.

I don't know if I would allow that much gear for RP reasons. I usually make availability allowances for RP reasons, but not credits. If I did, I would totally mug them and take it away in scene 2. This much free stuff would certainly attract the ire of the other players, and you would either have to compensate them, in which case you'll have a bunch of level 1 chars with 50,000 credits, or punish the player somehow. I'm talking take away a feat ot talent level of punishment. If you want good starting gear, you take a noble with wealth.

lightsabers? I would relax the restriction, and say he inherited them, but that his family is massively in debt, and if he doesnt pay back the 20,000 they own dear old mom is going to be spaced. Then have every jedi hunter in the galaxy show up. I would possibly work the starting debt into the game, and have several run ins with debt collectors, so that every spare credit he earns as a PC is going into servicing the debt. He might protest, saying he can never get new gear, but he has plenty already. I would wait until he has paid off 2 or 3 times the cost of the initial gear before I allow him to earn any money for himself. Of course he could try and not pay the loan sharks.. but NPC loan sharks can take 20 on gather information to find him.. and the Bounty Hunters Guild make good debt collectors.

For a laugh, you could have him "discover" that the person to whom he owes the credits is none other than Jabba the Hutt. And if he doesn't pay, Jabba will put a price on his head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for him. Explain your character vision to the rancor.

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Vader: "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of the force".
Motti: "Dude, not cool. Everyone worked really hard on this thing".

I've solve the problem. Like DarthGM said, the player do not want to break game balance, he just want to stay fidel to his character concept... Anyway, I gave him the lightsabers, but the special energy cell are empty (and they are very rare to find). I gave him the armor, but with a "string attach", I should be very careful not to bring dishonor to is clan. For the ship, it not a very big deal because my campaign do not have that much space battle.

That leave me with my other question :

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Kenad Broki's SagaSheet 1.4 (with my correction 0.5)

Keeping track of gear (both how much and where it is stored) is a pain. But it does come up.

For the games I run I am not too interested in gear - even the tough stuff (recently the a PC grabbed a balster carbine with micro-grenade launcher under-slung). I try to balance encounters to allow for the advantage gear gives and I oftern find that it is PC / NPC powers / abilities that matter more.

So, I use gear as a story device (your power pack runs dry when you rolled that 1) and plot hook ("so you are carrying the rocket launcher in the main promenade of Sel Zonn station - are you certain you didn't leave it in the ship?").

Players like gear - let them use it. If they get silly, make them face the consequences.

Antalon.

I have run into that problem several times. My players have learned that just because I allow the character to have the equipment, does not mean i'll let them use it.

One of the ways I handled it was upon entering a space station where their contact was going to meet them for a job. The port authority would not allow them to take the possibly game breaking junk inside with them. Had to leave it all on the ship. Lucky for them the contact had some "more appropriate" gear smuggled in the station for them to use on the job.

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Brave Sir Robin ran away. Bravely ran away. When danger reared it's ugly head. He bravely turned tail and fled.