Even I, the least gear-crazed RPGer on the planet, sometimes fall in love with some weapon or piece of kewl tech or magic from a new (or old!) movie, book, or game. But there’s no stats for it! Maybe it’s from a setting that’s not associated with a given game, but in a similar genre. Maybe the licensed RPG hasn’t caught up with the latest movie or video game release.
Homebrew stats is the obvious answer, and it’s a good one. I’ve done a few sets for this column. Creating your own stats is fun and many players and GMs enjoy it. However, it isn’t always the answer. Some GMs just don’t want homebrew stats, under any circumstances. If you’re not very experienced with the system, you can create balance problems down the road with a homebrew item. Even if the GM has no objections to homebrew, someone has to be willing to create the stats. Maybe you don’t care for stat development, or don’t feel comfortable enough with the system to DIY. Or the scenario is a one-shot or con game.
There is an alternative: Reskinning. Take a similar item, and use those stats wholesale. This works for other types of gear–weaponry, vehicles, and droids, especially. One of your players must be! a Guardian of the Whills and my Lightbow stats just won’t work for your campaign? (Which I am totally cool with.) Then just use the bowcaster stats–both FFG and SWSE have those. Carbine stats might also work for a pick-up/one-shot game, or one with no additional XP.
There’s no reason not to do this for NPC droids of models that lack official stats, especially if they don’t serve an important story purpose. Same for a droid that is–ahem–custom, like Star Wars: Rebels’ Chopper. Look through the books to find a droid of the same class and use those stats. If the droid is important, put a lot of creativity into quirks and description, then change one or 2 bits of crunch. It is still a lot faster than building from scratch.
In the early days of Star Wars Saga Edition, this solution was recommended even by developers. It most often came up as an answer to the question asked by every Boba-wannabe gamer, “Where’s Mando armor stats?”: Just pick an armor and call it Mandalorian style. It was still a valid go-to even after there were official SWSE stats for beskar-gam. As I recall, that armor was still pretty pricey, even after the steep discount for PCs with the appropriate background.
I took that piece of advice to heart, and still use it today, playing and running the successor system, FFGSW. Take a look at my characters, both the ones I play and the ones here. You’ll see that depending on the character, I’ve described Heavy Clothing as everything from basic shipboard coveralls to medical garb, and I will do the same for every other type of armor and clothing in the books. I think Armored Clothing works for the ensemble (breastplate, helmet, uniform) worn by Imperials like Agent Kallus, General Veers, and my own Agent Abyss. I love that Rebel Body Armor from the Dark Horse comics line. Depending on the XP level and credits, I’d go with either Armored Clothing or Laminate Armor.
Whatever the gear type, I oftener than not prefer to reskin existing gear stats, even if I then opt to change a few things up. Reskinning is faster than creating the mechanics from scratch. Which means you can get on with adventuring and try out your Kewl New Movie Stuff.
Linda Whitson
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