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I had made a post about a grappling labor droid, and O66 answered my question on the last show (ep. 107). After listening to what they had to say, I started talking to my GM about it, and we decided to ditch the Pincer feat -- it really is too good, being able to disable another character with only a swift action -- and I'll replace it with Rancor Crush as suggested.


So now I've started working on a template for a large labor droid chassis.

The standard labor droid chassis has these stats:
+2 Str, -2 Int
Medium Size
Speed 6 (walking)
Droid Traits
Reroll on strength-based skills & strength checks (keep higher result)
+4 Armor, 2 claws

I looked at the various large heroic races, like the Herglic and Togorian, and judging by that it seems to me that just adding an extra +2 Str, -2 Dex and making the droid large would probably cover things. This is "character large", by the way -- not using the Large Droid Size from page 167 of the core rulebook. All he gets is -1 Reflex, -5 Stealth, +5 grapple, slightly better unarmed attack damage, and doubled carry capacity. His cost factor is still 2x though, when it matters.

I feel like the labor droid's stats are pretty sad compared to the other droids, so I don't think it's out of line. Yes, technically they have a "lucky reroll" ability (that is, you keep the higher result rather than the last one) that covers three skills, which is kind of a big deal, but I think that's a false benefit to some extent. First, climb, jump, and swim are pretty lame as skills go; they're much narrower in scope than most of the other skills in the game. In my game the GM has squished them all together into "Athletics", so there's actually only one strength based skill anyway. Second, droids have a pretty easy time getting rerolls on all those skills already -- jump servos and climbing claws can be had for a mere 1200 each -- okay, yes, doubled for large droids -- which you should be able to get together by 2nd or 3rd level without any problem.

What do you think?

Unanswered questions:

The duranium shell that labor droids come with for free costs twice as much for a large droid. Should I ignore that extra cost, or should I downgrade his armor to a quadanium shell (+3), which is pretty close to being half the price?

Speaking of armor, does a default labor droid take penalties for the armor he comes with? I can't see why he wouldn't, but it's weird and counterintuitive that the standard labor droid character is taking -2 on his Endurance checks (among others) if he doesn't spring for proficiency or start with a level of soldier.

And come to that, does droid armor work the same as PC armor where it replaces your level bonus? Does every labor droid have to take Armored Defense or else throw away his plating at 5th level?

Any chance of you coming up with a price for this. I know some nobles with wealth who would love this.

Yep, droid armor is armor. It works exactly like non-droid armor. Once you surpass it's protection, you get rid of it, unless you focus on an armor-using build. Of course, you can always use the non-armor-armor rules from CWCG that explains why the Jedi are wearing armor during the Clone Wars, even if they're not proficient with it. In that case the armor is simply treated as decorative. It provides no bonuses to your reflex or fortitude defenses, nor does it impose any of the restrictions or penalties. (You don't get to apply upgrades to it either, though.)

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Lightsaber: An elegant weapon from a more civilized age, dangerous Jedi paraphernalia, or the galaxy's best utility knife?
Regardless, it never listens to the Order 66 Podcast.

Oh, I dunno... if you're looking to buy a large droid you should do it by the core rules. This is for the Scavenger's Guide "Stock Droid Chassis" rules for building a droid hero, which is totally different from making a droid for purchase.

Anyway, it's not necessary -- large sized droids are already available if you just want to plunk down credits. It specifically says you can't have a large droid hero, though. And that fit with the original SWSE rules, but since then we've had half a dozen large player races show up, so I really don't see any reason to deny droid heroes the same opportunity. The only problem is the fact that the SWSE droid rules have large droids getting an insanely huge bonus to strength (+8!) just for being large, and that's not going to be acceptable for a player-controlled character.