Throughout cinema history there are characters that get ingrained into popular culture, known by people whether they’ve seen the movie the character is in or not. Han Solo and Darth Vader, Captain Kirk, the Terminator, Rocky Balboa, and Indiana Jones are all examples of characters that stand the test of time and become part of common vernacular. Growing up, all of these characters and more became favorites of mine, and all of them would be shining examples of characters I’d love to play in an RPG setting. But there’s one that I think would be an absolute ball when put into the Star Wars universe: Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, of Top Gun fame.
So here is my version of Maverick… if he was in Star Wars, using the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars RPG system. A fun, hilarious background to read if you’re a fan of Top Gun, he has all his stats and is ready for use! Don’t forget to check out his special ability: He’ll Fly Right By. Epic and Cinematic! And yes, you bet Goose is with him.
Background
Pete Mitchell, call-sign “Maverick,” was a military brat. Moving from system to system was necessary depending upon where his father, Duke Mitchell, was stationed. Growing up, Pete idolized his dad, considered one of the best pilots for the Republic in the Clone Wars. Duke, an ARC-170 pilot, was later shot down over the Battle of Coruscant, the great battle that essentially ended the war. Great controversy, however, followed the Mitchell family following his father’s death. While the details of the battle were classified, everyone knew that the battle had a great deal to do with the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine. Many things were to blame for the ability of the Separatists to infiltrate the planet and abduct the Chancellor. As rumors swelled following the battle, Duke Mitchell became one of the ones blamed for the failure, despite the fact that two Jedi Knights were able to retrieve the Chancellor shortly after the kidnapping. So for most of Pete’s life, he was told his father cost many lives that day over Coruscant.
Pete would go on to follow in his father’s footsteps. While Maverick initially joined the Imperial Naval Academy, he quickly became witness to the many immoral wrongdoings of the Empire. After seeing several atrocities, Maverick defected to the Rebel Alliance. Upon joining the Rebellion, Pete would earn the call-sign “Maverick” due to his selfish and flamboyant flying and dogfighting skills. Shortly after being promoted to Lieutenant, Maverick became an X-Wing pilot and met his Astromech, R7-G0…call-sign “Goose.” Very soon the tandem of Maverick and Goose became notorious throughout the ranks of the Alliance Navy, often finding them in trouble with superior officers. One of their trademarks was to do “Flybys” of the tower guard outside the base at Yavin IV, once causing a scene where the guard went around the Yavin base yelling, “I want some butts!”
Later on, Maverick would help save his fellow pilot Cougar and his astromech R2-MN “Merlin” land their fighter after having a near-death experience with new TIE Interceptors the Rebels had not seen before. Shortly thereafter, Maverick would take Cougar’s place enrolling at the prestigious Alliance Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, better known as “Top Gun.” At Top Gun, Maverick had trouble following directions and often showcased his hot shot piloting talents, leading him to be disliked by many of the other pilots at the school. Tom Kazansky and his astromech R3-SL “Slider,” became thorns in his side as each tried to outdo the other. During a dogfighting simulation in his X-Wing, Maverick had an engine flame-out, which induced a flat spin towards the ground. Maverick was pinned against the cockpit, forcing Goose to initiate the ejection sequence. Unfortunately, the flat spin forced the X-Wing cockpit upwards instead of back, and R7-G0 smashed against it upon ejection, permanently damaging his memory unit beyond repair. Maverick had lost his astromech.
The loss of his astromech best friend was too much to take. Maverick abruptly quit the Top Gun school. During his mourning, he had a conversation with an old pilot, Mike “Viper” Metcalf, one of his instructors. Viper told Maverick he was with his father during the Battle of Coruscant. For the first time in his life, Maverick heard the real story about what happened to his father in that ARC-170 that day. It turned out that his father did do it right. His ARC-170 was hit, but instead of leaving the fight he saved 3 other fighters before his ship exploded.
Inspired by the news, Maverick graduated from Top Gun and received a new astromech, R2-MN “Merlin,” Cougar’s old astromech. After a dogfight against the Empire with Merlin, Maverick decided to go back to Top Gun, and has been an instructor there ever since.
Using Maverick in Your Games
Maverick was one of the best pilots in the Navy, so it stands to reason that he should be one of the best pilots in the Rebellion. I built this version of Maverick to have 310 earned XP, rather than stat out a beginning character. I wanted one that had been through these experiences. So, feel free to knock back any of these stats or talents if he is too strong for your game.
Base Statistics and Characteristics
Career: Ace
Specializations: Pilot/Hot Shot
Species: Human
Brawn: 2
Agility: 5
Intellect: 2
Cunning: 2
Willpower: 2
Presence: 3
Maverick is a bit of a hot-headed pilot, but is quite cool in the air was well as with the ladies. So Maverick has one rank in Charm, and two ranks in Cool. Piloting the ship needs amazing Agility and skills, so after getting Dedication, Maverick sports an Agility rating of five, with a rank in Perception, three ranks in Piloting (Space), and two ranks in Gunnery to make sure he shoots down his enemies. Last, a couple ranks of Warfare seem logical as he’s been part of a military family or career his entire life. His XP has been spent more on dogfighting and hot shot talents, rather than base skill ranks to reflect his cinematic nature.
Special Ability
“He’ll Fly Right By” – If Maverick is engaged in combat with a silhouette 3 or lower ship, and that ship has Gain the Advantage on Maverick’s ship but has not fired yet, Maverick may perform a “Fly Right By” maneuver: Suffer 3 strain, reduce Maverick’s ship’s speed to 1 less than the opposing ship, and automatically Gain the Advantage on the enemy ship.
Talents
- Corellian Sendoff – Take a Corellian Sendoff action targeting two ships or vehicles at Close range; make a Hard Cool check to cause the targets to suffer a minor collision.
- Improved Corellian Sendoff – When performing a Corellian Sendoff, the targets suffer a major collision instead.
- Dead to Rights – Spend 1 Destiny Point to add additional damage equal to half Agility (rounded up) to one hit of successful attack made with ship or vehicle-mounted weaponry.
- Dedication – Agility +1
- Defensive Driving – Increase defense of vehicle or starship being piloted by 1 per rank.
- Full Throttle – Take a Full Throttle Action; make a Hard Piloting check to increase a vehicle’s top speed by 1 for a number of rounds equal to Cunning.
- Improved Full Throttle – Suffer 1 strain to attempt Full Throttle as a maneuver and decrease difficulty to Average.
- Grit – 3 Ranks
- High G Training – When a starship or vehicle being piloted would suffer system strain, may suffer personal strain up to ranks in High-G Training to prevent an equal amount of system strain.
- Koiogran Turn – When an opponent has gained the advantage on a starship or vehicle being piloted, may perform a Koiogran Turn maneuver to remove the effects.
- Let’s Ride – Once per round, may mount or dismount a vehicle or beast, or cockpit or weapon station on a vehicle as an incidental.
- Natural Pilot – Once per session, may re-roll any 1 Piloting (Space) or Gunnery check.
- Rapid Recovery – May suffer a number of strain to add an equal number of Successes to any Vigilance or Cool checks to determine Initiative. May not exceed number of ranks.
- Short Cut – During a chase, add a Boost Die per rank in Shortcut to any checks made to catch or escape an opponent.
- Showboat – When making a check in a starship or vehicle, may suffer 2 strain to gain Triumph on success or Despair on a failure.
- Skilled Jockey – 2 Ranks
Equipment
- Blaster pistol
- A/KT Wing Commander Armored Flight Suit – Soak +1, Melee and Ranged Def +1, Reduces strain received from Critical Hits to the wearer’s vehicle by 1, Reduce damage from fires and weapons with the Burn quality by 1.
- Astromech – R7-G0 “Goose”
Scott Alden
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Uh… Popping the speed brakes to force an overshoot would be a narrative description of successfully gaining the advantage.
Of course that’s valid. I think there are a lot of examples in the game where a talent or ability could be narratively accomplished with advantage or triumph. The benefit of a Talent… is that you don’t need advantage or triumph to accomplish the feat, you can simply say you’re doing it. If you roll 3 advantage you could easily get an extra maneuver. But there are talents that grant maneuvers. All of those ways are perfectly valid.