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Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Star Wars On the Cheap: 200-point Ship Mechanic/Slicer

Earlier today, I was discussing some of my old GURPS Star Wars materials with an acquaintance on IRC - #gurps on irc.sorcery.net - when he mentioned that he'd want to run a Star Wars game at some point in the future.  However, while I was used to running Star Wars in a cinematic rule-set with 250 to 400 points to start, he was saying a "grittier" game with 150 to 200 points to start.

So as a thought exercise, I decided to convert my tech specialist/ship's mechanic/expert slicer/explosives expert from a Star Wars d20 Saga Edition game I was in a few years back.  I cut her back to the start of the campaign, as the campaign itself had had a ten year gap.  I just barely got the character in at 200 points, and even then I had to mess with the build.

The following house rules are in effect: Talents give conditional bonuses to Wildcard skills when the Wildcard is being used to substitute for a skill the Talent covers.  Mechanic! is a custom Wildcard skill that covers most of the skills that can be used to build but not design technology.  Wrist Gun is a new specialty for Guns and Beam Weapons that covers weapons mounted on the wrist or forearm.

And without further ado:


Jena Tan

Gender: Female
From: Tion C, Tion System, Tion Hegemony, Outer Rim
Age: 22
Height: 1.6 m (5'3")
Weight: 55 kg (121 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Skin: Pale

Physical Description:
     Jena Tan is a somewhat attractive woman in her early twenties, of average height and build with a light complexion, almond shaped eyes, and light brown hair framing a slightly elfin face.  She is normally dressed in a one-piece jumpsuit with a utility belt around her waist and nerf-skin boots.  From time to time, she'll wear a loose cloak to protect her from the elements.

History:
     Jena grew up on the third moon of the planet Tion, in the Tion Cluster of the Outer Rim.  At a very young age, she discovered her talent for mechanics.  This soon led to her running a small-time droid repair operation out of her parents' apartment.
     After coming of age, Jena struck out on her own, carrying only her tool kit and accompanied by her family's R5 droid, which decided to tag along with Jena rather than staying behind.  She signed on at the starport with the crew of the Dire Bantha, a ship headed towards the Core Worlds.  After serving on the Dire Bantha for a few years, she left to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

Attributes
ST: 9 [-10]
DX: 12 [40]
IQ: 12 [40]
HT: 11 [10]

HP: 9 [0]
Will: 12 [0]
Per: 12 [0]
FP: 11 [0]

Basic Lift: 16 lbs.
Damage: 1d-2/1d-1

Basic Speed: 6 [5]
Basic Move: 5 [-5]

Ground Move: 5
Water Move: 1

Social Background
TL: 11 [0]
Cultural Familiarities: Core Worlds [1]; Hutt Space [1]; Outer Rim (Native) [0].
Languages: Durese (Accented) [4]; Galactic Basic (Native) [0]; Huttese (Native) [6]; Rodese (Accented) [4].

Advantage
Ally (R5-B8, "Bait") (100% of starting points) (15 or less) [15]
Artificer (3) [30]
Evil Computer Talent (3) [15]
Fit [5]
Gadgeteer [25]
Single-Minded [5]

Perks [2]
One-Way Fluency (Binary) [1]  (the language of droids)
One-Way Fluency (Shryiiwook) [1] (the language of Wookiees)

Disadvantages [-50]
Absent-Mindedness [-15]
Clueless [-10]
Code of Honor (Hacker's) [-5]
Oblivious [-5]
Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]
Sense of Duty (Friends and Crewmates) (Small Group) [-5]
Workaholic [-5]

Quirks [-5]
Cannot Be Distracted When In "The Zone" [-1]
Careful [-1]
Congenial [-1]
Horrible Hangovers [-1]
Mild OCD [-1]

Skills [62]
Area Knowledge (Galaxy) (E) IQ+0 [1] - 12
Beam Weapons/TL11 (Pistol) (E) DX+0 [1] - 12
Beam Weapons/TL11 (Wrist Gun) (E) DX+2 [4] - 14
Brawling (E) DX+0 [1] - 12
Computers! (WC) IQ-1 [12] - 11
---- conditional +3 from 'Evil Computer Talent'
Current Affairs/TL11 (Science & Technology) (E) IQ+0 [1] - 12
Electronics Operation/TL11 (Force Shields) (A) IQ+0 [2] - 12
Electronics Operation/TL11 (Security) (A) IQ+0 [2] - 12
Electronics Operation/TL11 (Sensors) (A) IQ-1 [1] - 11
Explosives/TL11 (Demolition) (A) IQ+0 [2] - 12
Fast-Draw/TL11 (Ammo) (E) DX+0 [1] - 12
Guns/TL11 (Wrist Gun) (E) DX+0 [1] - 12
Liquid Projector/TL11 (Flamethrower) (E) DX+0 [1] - 12
Lockpicking/TL11 (A) IQ+0 [2] - 12
Mechanic! (WC) IQ-1 [12] - 11
---- conditional +3 from 'Artificer'
Science! (WC) IQ-1 [12] - 11
Spacer/TL11 (E) IQ+0 [1] - 12
Streetwise (A) IQ-1 [2] - 11
---- includes: -1 from 'Oblivious'
Throwing (A) DX+0 [2] - 12
Wrestling (A) DX+0 [2] - 12

Stats [80] Ads [111] Disads [-50] Quirks [-5] Skills [62] = Total [200]


Left off the sheet is Jena's custom-built weapons gauntlet, a combination gadget consisting of a wrist blaster, a gyroc launcher, a small flamethrower, and a grapnel spike launcher with a retractable cableOther gear left off are her stash of explosives, grenades, and rockets, as well as her other droid, a WED-15 Treadwell repair droid named Dummy (inspired by the robot of the same name in the Iron Man movie trilogy).

Also left off the sheet, due to budget constraints, are the skills she needs in order to fly a Z-95 Headhunter (or similar small starfighter) in combat.  Her most memorable achievement in the old game was remotely hacking into a Trade Federation battleship during the Clone Wars by sending signals on the frequencies used by the Trade Fed to not only hijack its wing of Vulture droids, but also the ship itself - from her Headhunter's cockpit!

Personally, I think I need another 50 points to get the character right, especially with some of the skill selections.  She is still a cinematic rather than gritty character, given the liberal use of Wildcards.  Omniproficient is hard to do on a budget, and Star Wars characters tend to (and are expected to) be omniproficient in their fields.