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Let's Stat an Over-Powered Adversary - Star Wars RPG
13 Plays1 month ago
With Robert unavailable, Daryl & Nick indulge in a fun creative exercise - statting out a ridiculously over-powered adversary for the Star Wars RPG system - Starkiller, the protagonist of the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Starkiller stat block
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Transcript
Introduction to How We Roll Gaming
00:00:01
Speaker
How We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master or player, and share stories of momentous events at our tables.
00:00:12
Speaker
Every game is a new story to tell.
Meet the Hosts: Daryl, Nick, and Robert
00:00:15
Speaker
I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
GamerNationCon Preparations
00:00:26
Speaker
Welcome back to How We Roll Gaming! So Nick, we you, like me, are neck deep in prep for GamerNationCon, aren't you?
00:00:42
Speaker
Yep. we We've got a playtest coming up this weekend. on that as well We've got...
00:00:53
Speaker
We've got games open for red for early registration, and main registration starts Monday, and we're less than a month of away. where Where did the last year go?
00:01:05
Speaker
ah In the garbage composer? Yeah, something like that.
What Makes an RPG Character Overpowered?
00:01:11
Speaker
We don't have Robert with us this time around, and so we thought we might try a little something different.
00:01:20
Speaker
Springing out of some table talk about one of our recent games, our group was laughing about translating ridiculously overpowered characters into RPGs.
00:01:32
Speaker
And so we thought it might be fun to bounce off of one another and build one out on the show. This is something that also we'd like to expand to maybe in the future, have like Robert join us back for a revisit or have your comment on are revisiting.
Building Starkiller as a Balanced NPC
00:01:50
Speaker
What we're going to be doing today... We'll be building Force Unleashed's incredibly overpowered, stupidly overpowered Starkiller.
00:02:04
Speaker
A.K.A. Galen Merrick. Building him as a PC in the Star Wars RPG system would be nearly impossible. and A horrible nightmare. We'd be cross-specking...
00:02:16
Speaker
into a variety of different specialization trees, and... And don't get us stars on the fourth release, too. We're not touching that. It would be all over the map.
00:02:27
Speaker
So, what we're going to do, since the rules for building out NPCs are different, where you just hol a la carte from all of the talents and everything, we're going to be building him as an NPC adversary, as if we were going to be throwing him at but a group of players. Specifically a high-level group, like yeah Don't take these this build and like f throw it at your first-time players. That won't be good.
00:02:53
Speaker
It could be fun. TPKs are fun. That's the that's the Robert influence, Daryl. Fight it. I mean, he has to be here in spirit if he's not here in person.
00:03:05
Speaker
Now, I don't know about you, Nick, but I would say that We need to put some kind of guardrails on this NPC build, right? If we were doing this as a proper NPC build, I'd call him a high-level adversary that can grow an endgame character.
00:03:25
Speaker
But we're going to start with like his initial form, for lack of a better term. Well, I'm saying more in terms of guardrails that we want to kind of, yeah we we have our books handy and we want to keep things in line.
00:03:43
Speaker
So we've got the official FFG edge stats for Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and... we're not going to let him go above them in most of the things.
00:04:00
Speaker
I mean, there, there's one or two things that he might be better than one or both of them at just because of the nature of his character versus their characters. But overall, either one of them needs to be able to put him in his place by the end of the game. And again, we're,
00:04:18
Speaker
He needs to be an adversary for player characters, so therefore, if they can't beat Emperor Palpatine Darth Vader, they can't beat him. Vice versa. We're going to start off with... Those are the guardrails that we have in place.
Attributes and Skills of Starkiller
00:04:32
Speaker
He's not going to be a be-all, end-all, because... Let's be real. In the video game, he pulls a Star Destroyer out of orbit using the Force. There's no way, realistically, without giving him like a Force rating of... like 10 and cheating the range upgrades for move that you could do that mechanically. And there's some arguments that we made, but like we're not here to argue that feat. We're here to like arbitrate a character.
00:05:03
Speaker
Although I do have an idea for how to do that kind of insane nonsense mechanically with the build that we're going to make.
00:05:16
Speaker
And I'll spring it on you a little later, and it might be along similar lines to what you're doing. Because part of this, we're going to have some fun hashing out what each of us thinks is the best way to do this. That's why we're open to a re-examination of this or multiple characters if we do this more often.
00:05:35
Speaker
Without further ado... Let's go ahead and get started statting out Starkiller. First things first, we know that the adversary type is obviously going to be a nemesis. He's basically a player character opposed to the player characters.
00:05:56
Speaker
Has the same sort of sort of rules and regulations to them. But built with different guidelines for creation. of on the field, and there's also assessments, such as, like, giving Nemesis an extra turn. But in terms of, like, straight-up Nemesis, they have the same sort of action and strain economy.
00:06:15
Speaker
So first things first, characteristics. So what would we say is his brawn? Now that's the one that I've had the longest to think about, because I feel that as a force user in determining like the force powers I want him to would feel that he needs to have the iconic ones.
00:06:35
Speaker
He needs to have a high wisdom. Alright. But we also know that and unless we take one of the other lightsaber talents when we get to talents, lightsaber's built on Bronn.
00:06:47
Speaker
So I'd say like... And we know we know that he has all those sick lightsaber tricks. Incredible sick lightsaber tricks. So I'd say if we have to put one at five, I'd put five into Bronn because also he's beefy.
00:07:01
Speaker
He takes a lot of damage. Yeah. Indeed. But that would mean that the four would be the wisdom. let's put, well, there is no wisdom in this system. Willpower. Willpower. Willpower.
00:07:13
Speaker
Now keep in mind, too, given that this is an NPC and a Nemesis NPC, we don't have that kind of limit in making the characteristics. We can make them whatever we want them to be.
00:07:26
Speaker
Because I would say, based on what all we see him do, he's probably got a four in agility as well. Intellect, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.
00:07:38
Speaker
We could keep him at a one, honestly. I wouldn't put him at a one. I'd put him at a two. yeah He's not a complete blithering idiot. the lightight and He's able to at least understand when his it starship is being worked on.
00:07:51
Speaker
Now, his cunning... That's a tough one. I'm saying that's at least a three. and he is trained as a Sith, so therefore he has to have a little bit of mistrust of everything.
00:08:02
Speaker
And his presence... A two? i mean that this is You're going to give Sam Witwer two? You're right. like That's at least a three. Because this isn't his most charismatic role.
00:08:14
Speaker
It's not his most charismatic role. It's not, but some of those social checks all run out of presents. coercion Well, Coercion doesn't run out of Presence. Coercion runs out of Willpower, so that's good.
00:08:27
Speaker
Alright, so we have our characteristics at Brawn 5, Agility 4, Intellect 2, Cunning 3, Willpower 4, and Presence 3.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's good. Are we good? any other abilities That's still like a really strong basic nemesis. Oh, for sure. For sure. Let's take a quick rundown the skills here if we want to give him any ranks.
00:08:51
Speaker
um Astrogation, i would say no because he's got... Yeah, he's got a pilot and he also has a droid and he also has a really good ship. So we could argue that he gets transported places.
00:09:06
Speaker
Right. Athletics, I'm going to say there needs to be at least two or three ranks in athletics. I think that we could keep that in the two to three reigns because we could modify that with force powers.
00:09:20
Speaker
Right. Brawl, I'm going to say needs to be another two or three. Good choice, yeah. Do we want it at two or at three? Because again, we get all some Augment. Charm, no. like If I remember playing the Force at least one, and he had no game with Juno.
00:09:40
Speaker
he has He has no game. I'm sorry, Sam Witwer is a handsome man, but Galen Marek did not have that. Sam Witwer is a handsome, charming man, but Galen Marek is not.
00:09:51
Speaker
Coercion. it Yes. There's ranks in coercion. It's a skill of the Sif and he he's got the anger in him to like really be intimidating. So two, three, are maxim out four or four.
00:10:05
Speaker
Because again, I'm going bait mostly on Force and Least one where he doesn't have like a whole lot of self-control. Oh, sure. so that's like ah so Computers? No. He has a droid for that. He has Juno for that. He has anyone else for that.
00:10:20
Speaker
And he is definitely... Again, Sam Witwer is cool. Starkiller is not cool. He is... Does not have cool. Coordination.
00:10:31
Speaker
does a whole lot of cool stuff. But I'd say maybe a one. Coordination is a bit more like finesse and he's more of a blunt instrument.
00:10:42
Speaker
Core Worlds? No, not really. Deception. I'd say at least a one. All right. Discipline, again, no. He does not have any of that. He lacks discipline. That's kind of what makes him so powerful.
00:10:56
Speaker
Education, no. Does that be more like regular? gunner Gunnery. Gunnery. No, he probably just relies on his ship captain. Leadership, He doesn't lead anyone. In fact, he's supposed to be a solo operative.
00:11:09
Speaker
Lightsaber. Four. Lore. Four. i' say it That one's a tough one. and because lord he got some lord He got some lore, but it was all kind of, you know as Obi-Wan would say from a certain point of view. He was meant to be in Vader's like crude instrument to take down Palpatine.
00:11:30
Speaker
Right. Now, let me point out, that since we gave him an intellect of two, giving him two ranks of lore basically maxes it out. I mean, we could give him more ranks and he would get more greens. I feel that that would be like, since we didn't give him any education, that is his education. He knows, like, Sif lore from a certain point of view.
00:11:53
Speaker
But he doesn't know anything else to contrast with it. Totally fair. Mechanics, no. the mechanic that no see That's a as the Captain Pilots. That's Juno on proxy.
00:12:05
Speaker
Medicine? No. Melee? Yes. I'd say like either, I'd argue four, but I can see it at three.
00:12:16
Speaker
That works for me. He's trained as lightsaber user, but he's ready to throw hands if he needs to. oh Negotiation? No. He doesn't really. Outer Rim? No.
00:12:28
Speaker
Perception? That's it. Piloting planetary, no, he's got Juno. Piloting space, no, he's got Juno. Ranged heavy, been a while since I'm late, I'm trying to remember if he used any So he wouldn't have ranged heavy.
00:12:47
Speaker
We'll skip by ranged heavy and ranged light. Straight to resilience. I'd say he's got a two in that, because Vader's his teacher, and if Vader doesn't, probably has some pretty heavy punishments for like failure your your favorite word of the game skullduggery uh yeah that wouldn't be him i'd say again he'd probably pass it on the proxy proxy or juno still i could see him having at least a two in stuff streetwise no survival yeah three baby just drops him off on planets like underworld uh i think give him a one
00:13:25
Speaker
Vigilance. He's much more vigilant than cool. I'd say that would be like, that should be at least, yeah, two. A two, knowledge warfare. say give him a one.
00:13:36
Speaker
He'd at least know about like imperial tactics. And xenology. don't think so. I don't think so. Yeah. He doesn't want to think about what he killed. He's just like, can I kill it?
00:13:46
Speaker
For those keeping score at home, just statting out his characteristics and his basic skills, we've already spent 575 Again, reference. ah again not and so just for reference Not every skill is useful in an encounter with a character.
00:14:05
Speaker
Well, that is very true. yeah But in terms of like the even in the martial combat abilities, he's pretty it's pretty beefy already.
00:14:16
Speaker
We haven't even added in the Force rating yet. Now, moving on to talents... I'm just looking down an alphabetical listing of all of the talents.
00:14:30
Speaker
The first one that I'm going to stop at, I'm going to skip over a few that I don't think really apply to him. First up, Adversary. Adversary. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the game, NPCs,
00:14:45
Speaker
the adversary talent... allows them to upgrade the difficulty of any combat check that targets them once per rank of adversary. I'm going to say, well, I'm going to flip over here and I'm going to look at at Papa Vader because I don't remember what Papa Vader's is. I know he, Papa Vader is an adversary four.
00:15:07
Speaker
So I'm saying Starkiller is at least an adversary two, if not a three. I'll double check to see here for the Grand Inquisitor. grand inquisitor is adversary three but so is the other inquisitors so including the ones who are who are kind of you know not terribly effective maybe compromise or i think it's fair to give him an adversary three i think it's fair to give him three because i wouldn't give him as high an adversary rating as vader
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah. Which is four. But that's how you differentiate him from Inquisitors with skills, talents, and other things. And that's also the fun part of mixing and matching in this NPC. The NPC catalog that we have has a whole lot of ways you can make your ideal enemy. Yeah.
00:16:03
Speaker
So I continue going down this alphabetical listing of talents. And the next thing that I come across that just screams, yes, this is Starkiller, is aggressive negotiations.
00:16:17
Speaker
Which, once per session, perform a hard lightsaber check. to decrease the difficulty of all negotiation checks for the rest of the encounter by two. So yes, he definitely has aggressive negotiations. We're not creating Starkiller for an encounter.
00:16:32
Speaker
We're creating Starkiller, the character, as you can just drop into a campaign, obviously higher level. But if you have a situation where this happens, you'll be able to act in those situations.
00:16:45
Speaker
Also, this is more or less... This isn't like our canon... or like cann Starkiller. It's our thought process. You could use this as a guideline to your Starkiller.
00:16:57
Speaker
Being totally honest, this is just a plain fun little exercise. We'll probably have like a proper like NPC building, especially for the Star Wars system, but in general, later down the line.
00:17:11
Speaker
Almost certainly. Looking down the list here, ah don't think Altered Deal works for him. But does ambush ever work for him? That could work, especially as... So once per round when he has cover, he can make an ambush maneuver and damage it add damage equal to his stealth skill to one hit of the next successful combat check.
00:17:38
Speaker
Well, no, but that's that's within short range. So he has he has no ranged weaponry or skills. So no, Ambush doesn't work for him. You can put a pin on that if he has has the ability to use a lightsaber skill at a ranged distance.
00:17:56
Speaker
That's true. And we will be coming back to that. So Ambush is in. With an asterisk at the moment. Because we also haven't discussed his weaponry yet. As the Force wills it, make an easy lore check to heal Strain at the end of an encounter, and a triumph can be spent to heal all Strain. I feel that's fair.
00:18:18
Speaker
feel that's a fair ability. As a nemesis, it's meant to be like... Like, we're about to say that this is not like one-and-done boss fight. Even if it was an encounter, it'd be like the full Sess and like, fight, retreat, fight, retreat for each side.
00:18:34
Speaker
Now, i think continuing to go down the list here, I've commented a few times. We've we've mentioned Sam Witwer, who the character's appearance was also modeled after.
00:18:45
Speaker
I think here's where we get Sam Witwer's look in. Yeah. Under baleful Gates. Targeted by a combat check from within medium range, can spend a destiny point to upgrade the difficulty of the check a number of times,
Advanced Talents and Abilities Discussion
00:18:58
Speaker
equal to ranks in coercion.
00:18:59
Speaker
So you can upgrade it four times. and I'm pretty sure you'll do that in editing, but you'll you'll prove the point. Maybe brace? Perform the brace maneuver to maneuver.
00:19:10
Speaker
To remove a setback per rank of brace from the next action, this can only remove setbacks added by environmental circumstances. Is it a ranked one? Yes.
00:19:22
Speaker
He only has one rank on it. Because he's meant... It reflects him moving around. he's He's not going to, like... Usually, like, braces use, like... For, like, sedentary, like, heavy gunners.
00:19:34
Speaker
But in this case, he'd be using it to, like... Take cover once, and then move. Does he have... improved brace, which is when the character performs the brace maneuver, they may choose one environmental circumstance.
00:19:48
Speaker
The benefits of brace apply to that circumstance until the end of the encounter. No. I feel like that'd be a bit too strong but because brace is is like environmental that means he could use it more times and depending on like a planetoid or area that he's in he can use it more reflectively as again he's supposed to be like slippery like an assassin sure sure maybe bring it down once per attack spend one destiny point to add damage to a single hit equal to the target's brawn value i can see that
00:20:22
Speaker
He is not a calm commander, he does not have anything related to like leadership or calming aura. now Would channel agony apply to him?
00:20:34
Speaker
After rolling a forced eye, may suffer wounds up to twice the ranks in channel agony to add an automatic dark side pip for every two wounds suffered?
00:20:45
Speaker
I'd say no, and that's because I have an idea for his equipment. Fair. To achieve the same thing without any a negative cost. Totally fair. Conditioned, remove a setback per rank of Conditioned from Athletics and Coordination checks and reduce the damage and strain suffered by falling or from falling by one per rank of Conditioned.
00:21:08
Speaker
ah say one condition sold we don't want him to again like this is like him traversing around environments like like i'm imagining like the long-term like encounter that we're having he's moving around and therefore we're going to make sure that he's maintaining health as well as strain recovering that and they're be able to like come back with a attack Now, continuing to go down the list, I could read out everything as we're going ah along, but why bother?
00:21:40
Speaker
Given the build that we gave him with the skills, yeah constant vigilance. He always uses vigilance for initiative. It makes sense. Because he's he's always paranoid, he's always looking over his shoulder. He's always wanting to please Vader, please the Empire, and he's ready for that inevitable, the inevitable betrayal.
00:22:02
Speaker
Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! to actually quote from the V-game, like, i lied, as I have from the beginning. Counter-Strike. When an attack misses the character and generates despair or two-threat, may upgrade the next lightsaber check.
00:22:20
Speaker
Oh, wait, no, but that uses cunning as lightsaber. Never mind. That's part of the tree that's specifically cunning, yeah. So, never mind. He's skilled, but brawn-based. Now, given the nature of The Force Unleashed and most video games, Creative Killer.
00:22:37
Speaker
Reduce the crit rating of improvised weapons by two. to a minimum of one. I mean, just like every other video game character, You occasionally just grab whatever's around to use as a weapon.
00:22:51
Speaker
I'd say that's more applicable to a player character where you have more options and have limited ideas. Unless, I'd say that be before like that could be added in, like a sort of like an added talent to a specific scene where player and NPC are in the place where they cannot use their regular weapon.
00:23:14
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. But what about crippling blow? the crippling Increase the difficulty of the next combat check by one. If the check deals damage, the target suffers one strain whenever they move for the remainder of the encounter.
00:23:28
Speaker
Definitely. And he's not much into traps. The trap is him. If he's making a trap, the trap is him coming down. Well, I was thinking of Cunning Snare. He's not much i would say into setting traps. there's a trap that's being set, it's him lying in wait and then coming down or coming out of the shadows. and like Deadly Accuracy.
00:23:51
Speaker
When acquired, choose one combat skill, add damage equal to ranks in that skill to one hit of a successful attack made made using that skill. I like it.
00:24:02
Speaker
But I want to put it rains but the put on lightsaber, but we can't exactly specifically put it on lightsaber. I would put it like specifically lightsaber throw attack.
00:24:16
Speaker
We might have ways around. Now, how many ranks of deadly accuracy does he have? I'd say one, if we can do it for the lightsaber throw attack.
00:24:27
Speaker
Two, if it can only be put on this a regular lightsaber attack. This next one is definitely on brand for Starkiller.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yep. Deathblow. After making a successful attack with a non-starship or vehicle weapon, The character may spend one destiny point to add damage equal to his willpower to one hit of the successful attack.
00:24:51
Speaker
That's the cool, like, star killer, like, uh, like, I call them, like, mini fatalities in the game. The whole start ah cool style kill. It's been a while since I've played.
00:25:03
Speaker
Does deceptive taunt apply to him? Uh, read that out. Once procession may make deceptive taunt action... Make a pose, deception check. If successful, one adversary must attack the character during the adversary's next turn. He did have a taunt move in in the game, actually.
00:25:21
Speaker
Where he'd sort of egg on opponent that's slightly away from him. like I used to use that egg on melee guys to... like jump over like a gap where they just would fall into the lava.
00:25:35
Speaker
so sort of like yeah So yeah, a taunt would work for him if we're building this like he's an antagonist and everyone's going to be attacking right now. Next up that I think might apply is defensive training.
00:25:49
Speaker
When wielding a lightsaber, melee, or brawl weapon, the weapon gains the defensive quality with a rating equal to ranks in defensive training. That makes sense, especially if we get into like lightsaber talents.
00:26:03
Speaker
And how many ranks of defensive training would you say he has? Again, since I'm thinking about his future lightsaber talents, I'm thinking like giving him some like at least two reflect.
00:26:16
Speaker
I'd say give him a one in this, but two reflect will add on to that. Here's the thing. We know what weapon he's going to have, which already has a defensive rating of 1.
00:26:30
Speaker
And this gives the weapon defensive quality, which it will already have. He does not have a disarming smile. He is not a disciplined soul. Although, Sam, we're sorry. We're criticizing the character.
00:26:44
Speaker
We love you, Sam. We're talking about the character. We're not talking about you. And if you have any problem with what we're saying right now, you can also come onto the podcast and refute that.
00:26:55
Speaker
Yes, you may. Disorienting strike. After failing a lightsaber combat check may spend two advantage or a triumph to disorient the opponent for three rounds. I don't think he has enough like skill to do that.
00:27:09
Speaker
Fair. yeah That's more like a Vader move. Or like like a mole move. Dodge. At least one dodge. improved dodge which lets him as an out of turn incidental especially once we get into like force powers oh man looking at this list i'm seeing one of my homebrew talents and i'd love to add it but it's homebrew so it's off the table dramatic entrance ah that's that's also a good thing that we should also like talk about like homebrew stuff in the future future episode
00:27:41
Speaker
future episode Absolutely. So little sidebar here. i was in working on something that I'm still working on, an adaptation converting West End Games, Lords of the Expanse to the Fantasy Flight Edge system.
00:28:01
Speaker
there's There's a lot of of swordplay and and swordsmen and duelists in Lords of the Expanse. buck So I was making... say That is, in fact, what I called the specialization tree that I was working on, swashbuckler.
00:28:22
Speaker
And Dramatic Entrance is one of the homebrew talents that I put on that swashbuckler tree which is once per session, spend one destiny point to move directly to engaged range with an opponent.
00:28:36
Speaker
I really like that. that as As someone that's also ah big fan of that that setting that you're trying to adapt, like I don't know if I want to run a game with you on that or play in a game with that.
00:28:49
Speaker
Spoiler alert, I had three other homebrew talents on that tree. Not Left-Handed, Not Left-Handed Supreme, And drop your sword.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, ah my my references and influence aren't worn on my sleeve or anything. That's the other episode we talked about. Like wearing your references and like inspirations.
00:29:14
Speaker
Actually, I figured out the theme of that episode. Everyone's heard it before. Going down the list, I just saw drop your sword, which yes, has a period after each word.
00:29:25
Speaker
Once per session, spend one destiny point to make an opposed cool versus discipline check against an opponent at engaged range. If successful, opponent is disarmed. But we can't use that.
00:29:36
Speaker
Duelists' training, though, had a boost to melee and lightsaber checks when engaged with only one opponent. Honestly, I think we shouldn't have that because sort of the appeal of Starkiller of his overpoweredness... That he just goes ham on everybody.
00:29:55
Speaker
picking out anyone. like And honestly, that would actually work for certain classes like the Guardian. They have like a ah dedicated duel signature ability.
00:30:06
Speaker
How about then, though, durable? At least one durable. reduce ranks of any critical energy Reduce any critical injury suffered by 10 for rank of durable.
00:30:18
Speaker
I'm going to go with two, just because you know he's a video game main character. so bad. Ah, here we go. Now we're getting into some good Starkiller stuff. Embrace your hate.
00:30:30
Speaker
Spend a destiny point and suffer conflict equal to dark side destiny points in the pool to add equal damage to a melee attack. May use this ability once per encounter per rank.
00:30:41
Speaker
that that That's a Starkiller move. How many ranks of Embrace Your Hate does Starkiller have, Nick? I appreciate this with saying he starts with one, but if we have him going through like previous like sort of stages, he gets up to three, eventually.
00:30:58
Speaker
Yeah, fair. Let him start at one. Does he have essential kill? When making a non-gunnery combat check, the character may add force die no greater than his force rating to the check.
00:31:13
Speaker
The character may spend force points to add advantage, or three Force Points to add a Triumph character's choice to the mix.
Exploring Starkiller's Force Abilities
00:31:22
Speaker
Wait, what is it? Like the base check?
00:31:24
Speaker
That's just when you make a non-gunnery combat check, you can add Force Dice up to his Force Rating to the check. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, as Starkiller as it is, like, I'm gonna, gonna put a veto on that. That's, that's a bit too hardcore.
00:31:41
Speaker
Because we haven't established porch ready yet, but we can put an asterisk in it. Make a note then for us to possibly come back to that. Essential kill. Come back around to essential kill.
00:31:53
Speaker
This is, again, a case where it's been so long since I've played, i don't remember if anything like this would from the game would count.
00:32:04
Speaker
Far strike. As an action, make a brawl check. As ranged attack, adding force dice up to the force rating. increase the range of the attack by one band for each force point spent to a maximum of long.
00:32:20
Speaker
He's in a brawler. He's in a brawler. He has to do brawl. Fair. um um I'm going back and forth on fear is my ally. Spend a threat on an opposed social check to recover one strain.
00:32:34
Speaker
it a ranked one? No. Yeah, does' yeah put in the maybe. guy... Could be, but he's more about getting his hands dirty than scaring people away. Fear the Shadows.
00:32:46
Speaker
Perform the Fear the Shadows action to make a hard deception check to force a minion group to flee. And also with the level of ah if we're even like data, like just his like fists right now.
00:32:59
Speaker
He can't clobber a stormtrooper group on a good roll. Fearsome. When an adversary becomes engaged with the character, The character may force the adversary to make a fear check with the difficulty equal to the character's ranks in fearsome.
00:33:14
Speaker
He just jumps into the scene like, it's in fear check. Now, given that he is Vader's secret apprentice, I doubt Fearsome Rep would apply.
00:33:27
Speaker
Oh, no. Go ahead. It would not apply. Honestly, it would, like, Fearsome would apply to if there's, like, stormtroopers in the group. They're, like, terrified. And the idea is, like, no one's leaving this room alive.
00:33:40
Speaker
Faint. Spend a triumph for a three advantage generated on a missed melee attack to upgrade the difficulty of the opponent's next attack, targeting the character by ranks in feint.
00:33:51
Speaker
I'd say no. Starko's a bit, like, aggressive and Anakin-like and Ahsoka-like, so cocky. So... Would we say that Feral Strength yeah might apply to him then?
00:34:04
Speaker
Add one damage per rank of Feral Strength to one hit of successful attacks made using brawl or melee skills. but One or two ranks of Feral Strength. What would you think?
00:34:16
Speaker
I could see both. I'm leaning towards two, but I also don't want to be unreasonable with it. Again, like, he's more feral than Anakin has feral strength, but he has, like, control.
00:34:31
Speaker
His apprentice is, like, just, like, or just, like, stab, stab, stab. Just a one. Especially since we've worked with the discipline stuff. Right. maybe Makes total sense.
00:34:42
Speaker
Honestly, just realized this episode will, like, give people, like, how we stand out and, like, really think of, like, our NPCs and stuff. Right. it it It does take a lot.
00:34:53
Speaker
It's more than just like sap locks and and like funny voices. Does it work for the character? You can find the perfect sap lock. You can find like the funny voice that you're going to do. is like But is that the character? Is that the right for the encounter? For for the assassin? For this for the campaign?
00:35:14
Speaker
It's a lot more. This seems like it would be a good fit based on again, video game mechanics and what I remember of the game.
00:35:24
Speaker
Force Protection. Perform the Force Protection maneuver. Suffer one strain and commit one Force die up to ranks of Force Protection. Increase soak by number of Force dice committed until the beginning of the next turn.
00:35:37
Speaker
Suffer one strain every turn the Force die remains committed. Yeah, it's perfect. that that no No notes. How many ranks do we think he has in Force Protection?
00:35:50
Speaker
I think it should be two. that works for me. Does he have frenzied attack? When making a melee or brawl check suffer a number of strain to upgrade the attack an equal number of times, the strain suffered may not exceed ranks in frenzied attack.
00:36:07
Speaker
And keeping in mind, some of these some of these skills like this, we broadly interpret melee to also encompass lightsaber attacks. Some of them haven't been updated in certain areas, but have been referenced in others.
00:36:24
Speaker
Some of them were introduced to the game before the lightsaber skill was introduced. What have been referenced in other books as well? This is a melee skill, this is a lightsaber skill weapon.
00:36:35
Speaker
So there's some leeway. But could you repeat the one you requested again? Frenzied attack. When making a melee or brawl check, suffer the number of strain to upgrade the attack an equal number of times. The strain suffered may not exceed ranks in Frenzied attack. Honestly, I'd say no and...
00:36:53
Speaker
Honestly, like I feel we're talented a lot. We have, but there's there's there's some in the... <unk>re We're just going through the list and there's plenty in the in the bottom of the alphabet for him.
00:37:06
Speaker
We're also going to forget like Force powers and we haven't even discussed the weaponrys. we We won't. I mean, it's it's right there in the title of the episode, Nick. This is an overpowered adversary.
00:37:20
Speaker
Okay, next up, i think I think it's fair to give him Jump Up, where once per round, he may stand from Seated or Prone as an Incidental.
00:37:31
Speaker
That's one of the are the easier like uses of it of Advantage or Triumph is to knock someone prone. And there's also a knockdown for a certain weapon. This sounds pretty Starkiller as well.
00:37:44
Speaker
Juyo Savagery. Character adds plus five to Critical Injury rolls from Lightsaber Attacks. For each Darkseid Destiny point in the Destiny pool. Is that ring? So, yeah, that's fine.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's a straight up plus five to his crit rolls. That's a good... For each Darkseid Destiny point. Mid-fight turntable. like Like, really making making the players put them on the back half.
00:38:08
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And, you know, up those crits. And to flip the Destiny pool in their favor, technically. No, it doesn't flip. It just adds per dark side points in the destiny pool. It just adds to the crit score.
00:38:25
Speaker
ah So still, a strong ah strong sign of things for the but the encounter. And while we're talking about crits, on top of that, does he have any ranks in lethal blows?
00:38:36
Speaker
I think one. Which adds... I think add one. Just one rank. One, so... So he will add ten another 10 to yeah his critical roles. Sounds good.
00:38:48
Speaker
Again, this is not meant to be for your average and group. This is honestly close to an end level group. This is a boss fight. and not have been like a This is absolutely a boss fight.
00:39:02
Speaker
And probably multiple levels. like Probably multi-states or like evolving over time. This... features into a trait of how he operates that we talked about just a few minutes ago.
00:39:16
Speaker
Multiple opponents. He gets a boost to lightsaber checks when engaged with multiple opponents. That is Starkiller through and through. is a consummate fighter ready to take on anyone, especially lightsaber.
00:39:32
Speaker
Now, do we want to be mean enough to any players who might go up against this version of Starkiller? And make him a natural blade master who, once per session, may re-roll any one lightsaber or melee check.
00:39:48
Speaker
There you know me, the most mean game master of all time. Just ask yourself, what would Robert do? Sorry, Robert. God bless you.
00:39:59
Speaker
We love you, Robert, but you make tough adversaries. And that is not that is not a complaint. Honestly, when we get to like actual like like hard adversaries, like he's definitely going to be like the one we're going to be listening to.
00:40:14
Speaker
No. That's why I asked how mean wanted to be. not going to be that mean. But do you propose, like what do you feel? no No, that's totally fine. Alright, next coming up, an essential skill for someone using any kind of lightsaber or melee weapon.
00:40:31
Speaker
Parry. Parry, when hit by a brawl, melee, or lightsaber attack, suffer three strain to reduce damage by two plus ranks in parry. How many ranks in parry does he have?
00:40:42
Speaker
I'm going to go with two, but hit me with your friend. Nah, I was thinking two or three. Now, does he have improved parry? I he does have improved parry. That's why I'm going with two. So when he parries a hit that generates a despair or three threat, he can hit the attacker once with his lightsaber weapon, dealing base damage after the original attack resolves.
00:41:05
Speaker
That's why i wanted him to have the lesser parry, but have the ability to hit right back. Does he have supreme parry? No. Yeah, no, because he wouldn't not make a combat check. He wants the ability to combat check.
00:41:20
Speaker
No, he would not sacrifice that. Okay, here's something that kind of fits in with the character and how parts of the game play out, parts of the video game play out.
00:41:31
Speaker
Power from pain, once per session as an incidental, may spend a destiny point to gain plus one force rating for each critical injury that the character is suffering until the end of the encounter.
00:41:44
Speaker
Granted, this depends upon the player's being able to inflict a critical hit on Starkiller. But if they do, if they do inflict a critical hit, he can spend a destiny point to increase his force rating until the end of the encounter.
00:42:07
Speaker
A dangerous gamble. It's a dangerous gamble, But it allows for some of the crazy high-end force stuff that he does in the video games.
00:42:19
Speaker
Usually you don't advertise abilities to your players. every everyone That be one that I would say that would have to be explained to a degree. Just so they aren't like completely caught off guard.
00:42:31
Speaker
It's one that exists that they have access to if they have the right tree. And there's also the fact that if they're going up against Starkiller at this point, they should know what Starkiller means.
Equipping Starkiller: Gear and Weapons
00:42:44
Speaker
like There's a reason that canon turns Starkiller into like the Death Star 5.0. So you you've talked me down from that, and you'll probably talk me down from Power of Darkness, where once per session may perform the Power of Darkness maneuver,
00:43:00
Speaker
An increased wound threshold and strain threshold by one per the dark side destiny point. Actually, I think I'll allow yeah i that is car loud va one instead. Drawing on the darkness as like pain and like the battle goes on feels a bit more Starkiller-y.
00:43:18
Speaker
Alright, I will take it ah He's like feeling all of the pain and the anguish and it's like turning that into power. Does he prey on the weak?
00:43:30
Speaker
Does he add plus one damage to one hit of successful combat checks against disoriented targets per rank of prey on the weak? I'd say because at this point, like the adversaries he's facing probably have ways of like either removing or...
00:43:48
Speaker
or negating Disorient. So I know. Alright, we will now slide on down the alphabet to something that we know this character has, and that is Reflect.
00:44:00
Speaker
When hit by a ranged attack, suffer three strain to reduce damage by two, plus ranks in Reflect. How many ranks in Reflect does our boy have? Four Reflect. Four Reflect.
00:44:11
Speaker
And I presume he has improved Reflect, When yeah reflecting a hit that generated despair or three threat, may hit one target in medium range with the same damage as the initial hit. That's the initial ability you have in the video game.
00:44:27
Speaker
Basically how I got from the first level. It's like, yeah bam, bam, bam. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Before we get to the one that I know you really want him to have, does he have Saber Swarm?
00:44:40
Speaker
Can he perform the Saber Swarm maneuver, suffer one strain to make The next, like oh no, that's when lightsaber is yeah tied to agility. Never mind. So here's the one that you have been chomping at the bit for, saber throw.
00:44:55
Speaker
Perform a saber throw action, make a lightsaber combat check as a ranged attack at the target within medium range, adding force dice no greater than the force rating, must spend force points and succeed to hit the target, and spend a force point to have the weapon return to his hand.
00:45:13
Speaker
He has saber throw. Does he have improved saber throw to increase to long range? All right. So for spending two force points, he can have the weapon return to his hand attacking at long range.
00:45:28
Speaker
I think this also kind of goes with his his typical lightsaber type attacks, though. I think he has Sarlacc Sweep. He increases the difficulty of the lightsaber check by one perform the Sarlacc sweep action and may spend advantages to hit additional engaged targets. Yeah, that's like he can hit from long range and he can also hit multiple in range. Does he sense danger?
00:45:53
Speaker
he is the danger, so no. So once per session, he can't remove two setbacks from any one check? That's too, like, precaution-based.
00:46:04
Speaker
He's jumping into situations. Okay, that's fair. And just, and everything must die, except for me. Let's see. i think He doesn't have shroud. He's pretty much a beacon to force powers.
00:46:15
Speaker
want to say that's at least one rank of sidestep to get out of grenade range. Because he's basically going to close the distance or bring them to the distance eventually.
00:46:28
Speaker
And we're where in the homestretch of the alphabet. I am taking a quick spin through see what else might apply. Terrify?
00:46:38
Speaker
Take the terrify action. Make a hard coercion check. Adding force dice no greater than the force rating. Disorient one target within medium range per success. Spend advantage to extend duration.
00:46:50
Speaker
And spend force points to immobilize the effective target. One rank of that. Oh. That's not ranked. That's not good. um Now, there is an improved Terrify to reduce the difficulty of the check to average and spend a triumph to stagger an affected target. That's someone higher than this.
00:47:09
Speaker
That's like someone like leaving someone alive. What about Terrifying Kill? Can spend a destiny point to to take the Terrifying Kill maneuver... After incapacitating or inflicting a critical injury, roll force dice no greater than the force rating and spend force points to inflict one strain upon each character within short range of the target.
00:47:32
Speaker
So they watch him and eviscerate their buddy and take strain. yeah yeah take they that that yeah That's cool. That's Starkiller. That is the end of the talent listing.
00:47:45
Speaker
Next up will be Force talents, but... Might want to do it a slightly different way, but before we do the Force, we have to figure out what his Force rating is. Now, let's let's look at let's look at Daddy Vader. Daddy Vader has a Force rating of 6. And the Abedinic Quisitor is around 3.
00:48:07
Speaker
but right Given some of the insane things that we see him do... see the previously mentioned pulling a Star Destroyer out of orbit. I'm thinking we gotta go four or five.
00:48:21
Speaker
guess if we're just going for like a fives, I'd say four. Now, and like I said, like and yeah and that's fair, like I said, have something in mind that can help replicate those occasional off-the-wall crazy Force feats that he did the game.
00:48:44
Speaker
So we've got a Force rating of 4. Up there in terms of like an NPC. So let's take a look at his Force abilities. It's been a while. Does he have anything with sense?
00:48:55
Speaker
Does he have any sense? No. Starting it at three, he gets unleashed. ah Protect, unleash? Mm-hmm. And does does he have the full tree, or what does he have?
00:49:10
Speaker
We're going to give him the full unleashed tree. That's the only um full tree that he has. He has other trees as a force powers, and we'll get into that. All right. We have the full tree.
00:49:22
Speaker
So I wouldn't say he has altar. I wouldn't say he has battle meditation. How about bind? I'd say has... said mine He's got the basic power.
00:49:34
Speaker
Basic power, obviously. Which lets him restrain an enemy and prevent the target from attacking. Does he have any root? I would say it'd be like Path of ree ah Least Resistance. Strength, strength, strength to mastery.
00:49:48
Speaker
So Force Choke. Alright. He can't lift up multiple people. He cannot bind others. He can't find anything bigger than silhouette individual, so he's just... yes can it Can he move his his one target, one range band closer or further away?
00:50:08
Speaker
And does he have any range at it? Because it by default, it's short range. Yeah, no, i'll I'll leave it as like he's only able to be right in front of you. like Classic Vader-like four-stroke.
00:50:20
Speaker
That's fair. Because that's his master. That's what he has learned. That's absolutely fair. Pretty sure that he's got enhance. Because, you know, force leaps.
00:50:31
Speaker
Yep, I'll let you propose to me the enhance for him. I would say he's got the force leaps and can use them as a maneuver.
00:50:42
Speaker
And lays down the the right side of the tree. is it enough to be a maneuver, or we would sacrifice the maneuver to something else on the left side of the tree?
00:50:53
Speaker
No, I'd say he gets the maneuver, just because I think it's nearly useless to have force leaps not be a maneuver. I would say that's true, and that that basically isn't the double chop in the video game.
00:51:05
Speaker
Because that means the video game. Force Leaps, by default, are short range, so I think he gets two range upgrades so that he can go to long.
00:51:17
Speaker
Okay. But he does not have... you know He can't use it for coordination or resilience or brawl or brawn or agility. But that's not his thing. Basically, it's all about the Force Leap.
00:51:30
Speaker
Yeah. Which is like 90% of the video game, the video game is like a... It's an action platformer. So you got a movement and... Yeah, that fits. Back to being a while since I played it, does he have influence?
00:51:45
Speaker
Nope. Didn't think so. ah the The mind trick stuff they introduced in in the Force Enlist 2, where it's just like the suicide button.
00:51:56
Speaker
Here comes the other biggie, because... It's in the thumbnail on YouTube. We've mentioned it two or three times already. Move. I think he's got the whole tree on move. Yeah, he's got the full move on tree.
00:52:09
Speaker
As an NPC, that would make for the most, especially with, like, if Robert was was making a boss fight with this, he'd have a field day with this.
00:52:20
Speaker
Oh, yes. There'd be so many moving parts, and I'd be like... Honestly, I think that's all of his Force abilities. Oh yeah, those are of his, like, arguably, like, people would say, like, oh, but he also has, like, force lighting, harv, but that's not his, like, iconic ability.
00:52:39
Speaker
Right. It's the unleashed move. Now, we kind of come at this point, most adversaries, especially nemesis level in this system, have a special ability of some kind.
00:52:55
Speaker
Here's where I said i have an idea for how to allow him to do the crazy overpowered force stuff. Special ability called, and I'm going to be super original here, the Force Unleashed.
00:53:13
Speaker
He said the thing. Starkiller may spend, once per session, three destiny points to Double his force rating for an encounter.
00:53:26
Speaker
Approved. Approved. Approved. Wait, I do have one caveat. Yeah? Costs at least three strain. Okay. Wait, wait, wait.
00:53:39
Speaker
I have ah another... have a modification to that. Ooh. Dial that down to two strain, but two strain...
00:53:50
Speaker
per round that he uses the double force rating. Oh, that's approved by using that ability.
00:54:01
Speaker
Yep. I mean, if if you want to make a case for making it three strain per round, but I think two strain per round is fair. As an antagonist, that would be more fitting for a player character to have three.
00:54:14
Speaker
That allows him one encounter per session, to have a force rating of eight and basically doing an insane moment yes ba pulling that star destroyer out of orbit i can dig it i can dig it while also still having a huge moment it's like they have to leave and hopefully the dm has enough uh enough destiny points too and they they are gone on But like the idea is like big moment.
00:54:46
Speaker
All right. Now we can kid him out. I think this is easy. I think this is very easy. Barber clothing, which is Inquisitor clothing. Basic. Right.
00:54:57
Speaker
Basic soak, basic defense. Now here we get into like the more important thing. Like what kind of lightsaber are we giving them? It should be a corrupted lightsaber. So automatic dark side pip plus two to damage.
00:55:10
Speaker
So we get a basic hilt and we give it a corrupted crystal. How many, if any, of they opposite of that corrupted crystal's mods does it have?
00:55:25
Speaker
It can take two additional damage mods. We have enough as an incredibly dangerous adversary. I feel like this should be... With that corrupted crystal, he has a the base damage of six on the lightsaber.
00:55:38
Speaker
A base crit rating of 2, Breach 1, Sunder 1, and Vicious 2. It adds a Dark Side Point to the attack.
00:55:49
Speaker
Yep. My final question is, is it an Inquisitor lightsaber? Is it the Spinny? No, because it wasn't in the game. Okay, that's fine. That I recall, anyway. It it wasn't.
00:56:00
Speaker
I was just going to say that because that would make your your son really upset. Yes, it would. All right, so we're we're going to leave the optional mods alone? i said I feel like that's an incredibly strong opponent that can be modified for your game or completely changed out for your game.
00:56:19
Speaker
But I feel it's like it's strong high-level
Final Thoughts and Adaptation for Gameplay
00:56:23
Speaker
villain. Oh, Nick, you're not looking at the XP here yet. i'll I'll give you the XP total in a minute. A heavily high-level villain to eventually challenge you in the future.
00:56:35
Speaker
Okay, so we've got his lightsaber, we've got armored clothing. i don't think he really needs any other gear. Yeah. By default, this gives... What we've given him...
00:56:49
Speaker
Gives him a wound threshold of 17 and a strain threshold of 14 with a soak of 6. Do we want to tinker with any of those numbers at all?
00:57:03
Speaker
Or are we good with his wound and strain thresholds? I think we're good for those. All right. think we've reached the end of the build. And... To build Starkiller, we have used 1,525 XP. A fair,
00:57:19
Speaker
fair Starkiller. Yes. I will translate this into a character sheet. We will post a link to it in the show notes on our website.
00:57:31
Speaker
And so anyone who wants to use it, and I will also post these stats to my Star Wars homebrew website, myswrpg.com, and we can... But also, we are open to discussing this again. like This is not...
00:57:50
Speaker
are This is just discussion.
Closing Remarks and How to Connect with Us
00:57:53
Speaker
This is just having fun. Now, but in in the interest of just having fun, let me tell you, Nick, years ago for a campaign that I ran from home, I statted out a clone of Starkiller that they ran into once.
00:58:07
Speaker
who By comparison, i spent 1,043 XP on that version of Starkiller. I did not look it back up before we started this episode because I wanted to come into it completely fresh.
00:58:25
Speaker
That's something we can look at, too. and like I've talked with Robert. mean Robert has proposed like his version of Starkiller before. like I've heard other builds and I hope that our viewers have opinions ideas concepts indeed and since that ends the build you have allowed me to segue into our closing, Nick.
00:58:54
Speaker
This is the part of the show where I always remind everybody to check out our website at howwerollgaming.com and there you'll find links to all of our socials.
00:59:06
Speaker
You'll find information about our current campaigns. You'll find a link to our merch store to help keep producing the podcast to help you just kind of keep us keep us rolling.
00:59:17
Speaker
No pun intended. keep that amazing life behind you. And if you have any questions... It yeah does look good It does.
00:59:28
Speaker
It does. Thank you for the light, Nick. That was a gift from Nick. You're welcome. If you have any questions you'd like us to answer, topics you'd like us to cover, or even submit your own RPG Glory Stories for the next Glory Stories episode, shoot us an email at podcast at howwerollgaming.com.
00:59:47
Speaker
And we would be delighted to hear from you. Feel free to join the Discord. Feel free to join the Discord. That's linked on the website. All of our other socials are listed on the website.
01:00:00
Speaker
And hopefully after Gamer Nation Con, we will have some pictures of us in action, in the wild, with players and everything.
01:00:11
Speaker
We're regular people. like It does take us time. like We're not always available, but If you have questions, we'll try best be there for you. We will try our best.
01:00:22
Speaker
Yep. But we hope that you have enjoyed us you just geeking out and having fun building an insanely overpowered adversary to throw at your Star Wars players sometime.
01:00:35
Speaker
ah Don't kill them if you can help it. But you know this could be a fun challenge once they've leveled up quite a bit. And you yeah, 1500 plus XP to build him.
01:00:48
Speaker
But when you have an entire group of player characters, yeah they can all work together where, you know, he's on his own. Honestly, that might be a certain like moment where we like do like a live play where we see if like just do a live play ah Just do a live play of everyone's favorite characters from various Star Wars campaigns versus Starkiller.
01:01:13
Speaker
Our Starkiller versus their best. Yep, but in the meantime, we hope that you have enjoyed it. We hope you join us next time. And until then, Daryl.
01:01:27
Speaker
I'm Nick. And this is how we roll.
01:01:33
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2025, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyrighted their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.