Character Composites: Kelly

Whatever Kelly's homeworld or origins, no one can guess.  Some insist that his accent is Alderaanian, while others swear that he hails from the Outer Rim.  A few Hutts believe his Huttese has a Toydarian accent, while Mandalorian mercenaries say he speaks Mando'a with the cadence of a Dantooinian farmer (and wonder how he speaks Mando'a at all).

Regardless, Kelly has created a niche for himself in the galactic underworld.  His uncanny skill with the pistol allow him to choose his own jobs, and as such he is not exclusive to the Hutts, Exchange, or any other criminal organization.  No one wants to be the crime boss who tries to force him under their permanent employ.  Only one has tried; the foolhardy Gand smuggling baron Muulish tried to strongarm Kelly into working only for him.  Muulish and 14 of his men were killed by Kelly's quick draw, and the implicating evidence left to the Bakura authority sent every member of Muulish's operation behind bars for life.

Kelly is known for both his deadly pistol skills and his unreadable body language, which make him an ideal assassin and enforcer.  Still, he doesn't look the part; he tends to wear the simple brown robes of the Dim-U bantha-worshipping cult common to the Outer Rim, leading many to dismiss or underestimate him by his appearance.  It's unclear whether or not Kelly is actually a member or merely wears their garb, though no one has ever claimed to see him mistreat a bantha.

Kelly has recently crossed paths with Kazbich on multiple occasions: first by double-crossing him and Marina working for Davik Kang on Taris, then later rescuing famed bounty hunter killer Borlok as Kazbich helped rescue Galduran Calrissian from Riga the Hutt on Nal Hutta.  Still, his motives are inscrutable, as he has no apparent loyalty to any one organization, and who can say what his plans are for Kazbich.

As Kelly is still a character "in play," his stats must remain a mystery for now.  Kelly is the third character whose stats I'm never completely satisfied with, the other two being On-Warr and the still-unnamed Sith woman who captured On-Warr.  (I know her name — in fact, it was one of the first things I thought up in my campaign plan — but it hasn't come up in play yet.)  I will say that he is of high level and he has levels in Gunslinger, but I suspect I will be redoing his stats over and over until Max is finally of a level to fight him.  I'm not even sure that he'll have only one prestige class.

Max didn't give me a whole lot of NPCs to work with in his backstory, so I really wanted to make Kelly his personal nemesis and to be a continually appearing but untouchable presence.  For inspiration, I looked to the character of Brother Mouzone on seasons two and three of The Wire, who is one of the deadliest men in the drug game but dresses as a member of the Nation of Islam; he's an unreadable character whose looks completely mask his skill.

The show must go on

As was discussed earlier tonight at the D&D game, I have decided that we will progress with the current Star Wars campaign rather than start a new campaign when play resumes in January.  I feel like it would be kind of a cheat to have set up everybody's destinies and stories, and then ditch it all for new ones.  So the game will resume where we left off: on Taris, after the party killed the Togruta pirate Dyani Zaan for the bounty, Aya Lim tells Logger to surrender to the Sith, or they'll kill On-Warr.

If you are really interested in doing a new character, talk to me and we can figure out a way to phase your old character out.

Also, I will continue to do stats and other posts to keep this blog updated about every week if I can help it and keep people checking in.

I got Scum and Villainy!

At 43 new talents for the base classes and 40 new talents for existing prestige classes, on top of 3 new prestige classes, it may be fair to say the new Scum and Villainy is the most ambitious character-building book so far.  The book features a lot of talents that build off of existing talents; a lot of the talents have talents from the core book as prerequisites, and a lot of them are seriously impressive.  Take, for example, the Scoundrel talent Uncanny Luck; it has the prerequisites of Knack and Lucky Shot, and once per encounter, you can treat any one d20 roll of 16 or higher as a natural 20.

Between these, the new species (Jawas are pretty awesome), and a huge equipment chapter that includes new equipment, new rules for upgrading equipment, and new stuff for starships (using the existing rules from Starships, 'natch), this book is a treasure trove for players.

It's also got a huge amount of information for DMs about contacts, allies, adventure building, etc. — in fact, more than half the book is devoted to DMs — but this is a very solid addition to the Star Wars RPG line.

Also, did you know you can't shift in Star Wars?  I bring it up because it's specifically a talent for the Assassin prestige class, simply named Shift, that lets you do just that.  Star Wars and D&D 4th Ed. are really blurring together, I guess...

Character Composite: On-Warr Bistellion

As a child, On-Warr Bistellion was the sole survivor of a merchant ship that crashed into the Draethos homeworld. Adopted as a slave by the Draethos war clans, his Force potential was recognized by the ancient Keetael master Alhu-Zun, who trained him in the ways of the Force through the brutal hunts of his tribe for three decades. On-Warr was discovered by a Jedi Knight who had made a pilgrimage to a memorial to Jedi Master Odan-Urr on Draethos, and was accepted for training despite his advanced age.

As a Jedi, On-Warr was a difficult student because of his long years of training with the Keetael, and so he did not get along well with the other Padawans. He was eventually knighted, however, and took to wandering the galaxy to help those in need, maintaining only minimal contact with the Jedi Order. It was the will of the Living Force that led him to take as his student the alien orphan Aya Lim on Nar Shaddaa, but she had trouble reconciling how the Force could allow bad things to happen to good people. On-Warr eventually decided Aya's training was complete, and they went their separate ways.

Though many feared he had joined the Revanchists' call to war, On-Warr stayed out of the Mandalorian Wars, devoting himself to aiding the plight of the refugees that had been displaced. At the end of the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi High Council asked On-Warr to be one of several Jedi Knights to search the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions for the missing Revan and Alek. It was on this search that On-Warr came to the distant world of Endor and took a new student, the alien Logger, taking him across the galaxy to help find several of his people who had been enslaved. Logger, like On-Warr, was a natural seer, and On-Warr hoped he would be able to help the young adept control his visionary abilities.

On-Warr is an accomplished warrior, as evidenced by the fact that he's a monster in melee, both with his lightsaber and unarmed — it comes from a lifetime of training with the warlike Draethos. In imagining On-Warr as a wandering Jedi warrior, I envision him as being similar to David Carradine in Kill Bill or Kung Fu — an exotic, powerful, self-sufficient fighter well into his 50s. He's inspired a lot by that "wandering Shaolin monk" archetype. The Keetael talents are a good way to tie him to one of the new Force traditions, as well as play up the exotic nature of his abilities, which notably includes a Visions-related talent. (And this does mean Logger has access to the Keetael talent tree.)

On-Warr Bistellion

Male Human Scout 5/Jedi 7/Force Adept 4/Force Disciple 1
Destiny: 0; Force: 7
Init: +16; Senses: +18*; Bad Feeling
Languages: Basic, Draethos
-
Defenses: Ref 37 (flat-footed 31); Fort 34; Will 37; Visionary Defense
HP: 186; Threshold: 34
Immune: mind-affecting effects
-
Speed: 6 squares
Melee: +18 lightsaber (3d8+14)
or +16 lightsaber (4d8+14) with Rapid Strike
or +13 lightsaber (5d8+14) with Improved Rapid Strike
or +18 unarmed (2d10+14)
or +16 unarmed (3d10+14) with Rapid Strike
or +13 unarmed (4d10+14) with Improved Rapid Strike
Ranged: +17 by weapon
Base Atk: +14; Grp: +17
Atk Options: Improved Rapid Strike, Rapid Strike
Special Actions: Force Momentum, Visionary Attack, WatchCircle Initiate
Encounter Powers: Echani Training, eralam crystal
Force Powers Known: Use the Force +18; farseeing (3), mind trick, repulse, sever Force, surge, vital transfer
Force Techniques: Force Point Recovery, Language Absorption
-
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 10
Special Qualities: prophet
Talents: Acute Senses, Attune Weapon, Empower Weapon, Force Momentum, Force Perception, Past Visions, Visionary Attack, Visionary Defense, Visions, WatchCircle Initiate
Feats: Bad Feeling, Echani Training, Force Sensitivity, Force Training (2), Improved Rapid Strike, Martial Arts I-III, Rapid Strike, Shake It Off, Skill Focus (Use the Force), Toughness, Weapon Groups (lightsabers, pistols, rifles, simple)
Skills: Endurance +16, Initiative +16, Knowledge (galactic lore) +14, Perception +18*, Pilot +16, Stealth +16, Survival +16, Use the Force +18
*can reroll
Possessions: lightsaber (self-built, eralam crystal, blue, attuned, empowered), combat gloves (attuned, empowered), utility belt, spacer's outfit, Keetael talisman

You'll never find a more wretched hive

The Rebellion Era Campaign Guide is now set for July.  That makes Scum and Villainy in 2 weeks, Legacy Era in January, Clone Wars in March, Jedi Academy Training Manual in May, and Rebellion Era in July.

Also, someone on the Star Wars RPG forums has already got their copy of Scum and Villainy.  The book has some new races — Blood Carver, Clawdite, Falleen, Gand, Jawa, Ryn, Toydarian, and Ubese — and a whole lot of new talents and feats.  The Jedi gets a single talent — the book offers extremely little for Force users — but everybody else gets something.  The Noble gets the new Disgrace talent tree, among others.  A bunch of talent trees get new talents — Brawler, Weapon Specialist, Fortune, Misfortune, Camouflage, Fringer, Inspiration, Slicer, and Spacer.

On the prestige class side, Ace Pilot, Bounty Hunter, Crime Lord, Master Privateer and Gunslinger get new talents, some of them getting new trees.  There are three new prestige classes: Assassin (with a Genoharadan tree), Charlatan (with a Trickery tree), and Outlaw.

The book also contains an equipment chapter that includes lots of new gear, new ways to improve gear (which was hinted at in the KotOR book), as well as new stuff for starships and extended ship upgrade rules that can result in some Millennium Falcon-style unreliable systems.

ADDENDUM 1: 

•The book also includes species stats for the Balosar, Barabel, Houk and Wroonian.

•The single Jedi talent in the book is Persistent Haze, a Jedi Sentinel talent.

•The Superior Tech feat lets you add more bonuses with the Tech Specialist feat (I'm vague on the details); prereqs are the Tech Specialist feat and Int 17.

•The Noble's Disgrace talent tree consists of Ambush, Castigate, Dirty Tactics, Misplaced Loyalty, Two-faced, and Unreadable.

•The new Crime Lord talents in the Mastermind tree are Bodyguard I, Bodyguard II, Bodyguard III, Impel Ally III, Inspire Wrath, Shelter, Tactical Superiority, Tactical Withdrawal, Urgency, and Wealth of Allies.

•The Bounty Hunter gets the Gand Findsman tree, which consists of Findsman's Ceremonies, Findsman's Foresight, Omens, Target Visions, and Temporal Awareness.  The tree requires the bounty hunter to be a Force user and a Gand, though it says that the DM may allow a non-Gand to take these talents.

•There is a feat called Burst of Speed, which will increase your speed but move you down the condition track.

•The Blood Carver species has a racial ability similar to Sneak Attack called Deathstrike.

•The Falleen species' pheromones ability targets Fortitude and does condition track damage, though a target reduced to the bottom of the track becomes friendly instead of unconscious.

Character Composites: Feln

One of the ways I'm going to keep updating this blog is by posting stats for characters — both new stats for those who haven't been statted out in any of the books, and stats for older characters who would benefit from the newer sourcebooks.

The first entry is Feln, a Feeorin Jedi Master who participated in the Padawan Massacre of Taris. Feln helped track down Zayne Carrick on behalf of Lucien Draay and the Jedi Covenant in the Knights of the Old Republic comic series.

Because Feeorin Jedi are rare and they're not particularly strong in the Force (we don't really see Feln use any Force powers in his fight with Zayne), I emphasized his martial abilities and his proficiency with the lightsaber, which puts him on even ground with Zayne when he must fight without his prized weapon in the Exalted storyline. He still has his farseeing-based abilities, as all members of the First WatchCircle do, but most of his talents and feats emphasize lightsaber use. And since Feln became Elder of his tribe before he was discovered and trained by Krynda Draay, he has a few levels of Scout. And characters can be Jedi Masters without having levels in the Jedi Master prestige class, just as they can be Jedi Knights without levels of Jedi Knight, so Feln has mostly just Jedi levels to focus on his Consular abilities.

Feln, Exalted of Odryn
Male Feeorin Scout 2/Jedi 10/Jedi Knight 1
Destiny: 0; Force: 4; Dark Side: 3
Init: +12; Senses: +12; low-light vision
Languages: Basic, Feeorin
-
Defenses: Ref 28 (flat-footed 26); Fort 30; Will 27
HP: 145; Threshold: 35
-
Speed: 6 squares
Melee: +16 unarmed (1d6+10)
or +18 lightsaber (2d8+10/x3)
or +15/15 lightsaber (2d8+10/x3) with Double Attack
Ranged: +13 by weapon
Base Atk: +12; Grp: +16
Atk Options: Advantageous Attack, Forceful Warrior, Powerful Charge, Savage Attack
Special Actions: Collective Visions, Visionary Defense, WatchCircle Initiate
Encounter Powers: brutal
Force Powers Known: Use the Force +12; battle strike (2), farseeing (2), negate energy, surge
-
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12
Special Qualities: brutal, inborn resilience, stronger by age
Talents: Collective Visions, Forceful Warrior, Force Perception, Multiattack Proficiency (lightsabers), Visionary Defense, Visions, WatchCircle Initiate
Feats: Advantageous Attack, Double Attack (lightsabers), Force Sensitivity, Force Training (2), Improved Damage Threshold, Improved Defenses, Martial Arts I, Powerful Charge, Savage Attack (lightsabers), Shake It Off, Triple Crit (lightsabers), Weapon Focus (lightsabers), Weapon Groups (lightsabers, pistols, rifles, simple)
Skills: Endurance +14, Initiative +12, Jump +15, Ride +12, Use the Force +12 (can use in place of Perception)
Possessions: lightsaber (self-built, green), Exalted robes, khadarak mount

The long winter

So I've sent out an e-mail to everybody letting them know that I don't have any more Sundays off until 2009, on account of every single weekend from now through December, somebody is on vacation where I work.

Since two months is a long time between games, I am wondering if people are interested in starting a new campaign with new characters at the end of the break instead of resuming our current campaign.  I am neither in favor of nor opposed to the idea — I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility.

If we did have a new game, I would basically have everybody build a new character with their current amount of XP, and I would still use Myzil V in a future adventure.

(My current thought, alternate-campaign-wise, is that it would be set during the Mandalorian Wars, with the players working for Revan and Alek on the side of the Revanchists.)

Any thoughts?