[Version 0.8] The Old Republic

Homebrew & House Rules
#1

Greetings everybody!

This is a port from the old FFG community forums. The following is a custom Era Book for the Old Republic era.
Similar to Genesys content I create, I’ve tried to match FFG’s visuals, formatting and phrasing as best as I possibly can, to create some homebrew that feels as close as possible to “the real deal”!

[Latest Release 2020/08/30]

Currently the document features 5 new species (Dashade, Echani, Miraluka, Rattataki, Sith Pureblood), an all new Sith Career (which generates a lot of conflict =P) and four universal specializations. It also features a chapter of weapons & armor (some from existing material, some newly added) and attachments (including two new lightsaber crystals).

I have hopes of working on this in the future, but currently other interests take my priorities. I can’t yet say when I next work on it, but I’m hoping to do some playtesting of this era throughout the year =)

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Changelog

Version 0.8

  • Made title all caps
  • Fix table backgrounds
  • Acolyte: Replace “Prey on the Weak” with “Renegade Form”
  • Lord: Replaced “Enhanced Leader” with “Nobody’s Fool (Improved)”, replaced “Fear the Shadows” with “Master of the Order”
  • Sorcerer: Replaced “Intense Focus” with “Natural Mystic”
  • Gladiator: Adjust connection in the tree (D2-D3)
  • Mandalorian Crusader: Completely redesigned the tree
  • Cartel Dealer: Added this new tree
  • Imperial Loyalist: Added this new tree
  • Removed conflict from certain talents
  • Made all conflict talents force talents as well
  • Added the Dart Launcher weapons, inspired by Bounty Hunter & Imperial Agent skills in TOR
  • Fixed styling & colours
  • Added credits for all known artwork

Version 0.7

  • Initial release

Hope you folks enjoy :smiley:
May the 4th be with you (in a few months, anyway)

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16 Likes
#2

Glad you made the move! Welcome. I look forward to seeing this further developed.

#3

Oh, my! That sith career is awesome!

#4

I would agree to that one. Really looking forward to either letting my players use this or using it myself as a player. It’ll be really fun to play as a Sith Pureblood.

#5

This is a great book.

Are you going to need help with the ships? I mean, there are plenty of ships in the game - not too many cap ships, but there are PLENTY of starfighters, and that’s not counting the ships the PCs travel in in SWTOR.

2 Likes
#6

Please don’t put Vintians in as a Species option, there’s only so much standing quietly and being stoic I’d let a player get away with. :rofl:

#7

This is for Legends, KotOR/SWtOR, not The High Republic, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about there.

2 Likes
#8

This is awesome. Thanks for doing that.

@P-47Thunderbolt You’re a little more informed when it comes to balanced Spec Trees. What are your thoughts on these?

#9

Hmm, I gave a lot of feedback when this first came up back on the old forum, but I can’t remember it all that well. I’ll take another look at these trees and get back to you.

#10

All the universal trees are good. At most, I’d suggest swapping Scathing Tirade (B1) and Intimidating (A1) on the Imperial Loyalist tree.

The Sith trees aren’t really in my area of expertise, but they look good. I have reservations about how heavy they go on Conflict talents, the Lord tree in particular, but it’s avoidable if you want to keep your options for redemption open.

But there’s nothing that sticks out and concerns me.

1 Like
#11

In the Sith trees, especially Lord, I like how there’s a path that basically follows the Sith Code:

“Peace is a lie, there is only Passion” = Passion over Piece

“Through Passion, I gain Strength” = Strength from Passion

“Through Strength, I gain Power” = (No Talent for this step, but it fits Strength from Passion, too)

“Through Power, I gain Victory” = Victory from Strength

“Through Victory, my chains are broken” = Freedom in Victory

“The Force shall set me free” = “The Force is my Ally”

#12

Thanks @P-47Thunderbolt

I’m actually interested in playing a Pureblood in the next Campaign that my friend will be running (I get to take a break from being GM!). The only issue I have though is the Pureblood’s Willpower being 1. That doesn’t seem to sit right with me :thinking:

Also, the Victory From Strength Talent in the Lord tree:

Force talent. Once per session, before rolling the dice
for a non-combat check, the character may spend 1
Destiny Point to automatically succeed at the check
with one success and no other results.

This seems to me like it could be abused, especially on near impossible checks. It would give that player a free pass on something he may not be skilled at, where those skilled at have a decent chance at failure. That means this player would have a potential spotlight on them every single session. Would this talent be more balanced if it was capped at checks made with a Hard or Daunting difficulty. Or perhaps be accompanied by Threat along with the 1 Success?

#13

His idea behind it was that Sith lack control since they give into the dark side so easily. That’s the reasoning in a nutshell. And honestly, I’m not what you’d drop.

I think there’s a very similar RAW talent… I’m not sure. At a scan, I didn’t see anything.

Oops, found it. “There is No Try” on the Master tree allows the character to flip a Destiny Point to allow the ally to count as automatically succeeding at the check with 1 Success.
I see your concern, however. Most I’d suggest actually adding is a restriction on Social checks against characters who would have a chance to resist Force power checks.
Other than that, I’d simply urge GMs to be willing to say no under extreme circumstances.
There’s also the fact that it won’t allow the character to pass Impossible checks because you can only spend 1 Destiny Point per check, and you’d have to spend a DP to make the check in the first place, then a DP to pass with 1 Success.

1 Like
#14

Fair enough.

Hmm, I’m not sure about that. Do Sith Purebloods “give in” to the darkside or do they embrace it as is the norm and something revered in their culture. Plus the 1 hinders the use of Force Powers, which they seem very proficient at in general.

Personally, I would put them at a flat 22222.

#15

Yeah that was a very deliberate design choice in naming them =P

#16

I realize it’s not a popular choice, I made it partly for lore and fluff reasons and partly as a game balance decision. I remembered that a good amount of the purebloods in TOR are displayed as very manipulative, favoring subterfuge over direct threats. I wanted them to have Cunning to represent this, and I didn’t want to dump Presence to achieve it, since Leadership is an important social skill for a species that frequently holds positions of power and office.
On the other hand, Willpower is also used for the Strain threshold, so by starting them lower, but with an increased base threshold they start on equal footing but can actually bump it up for cheaper. Humans start with 10+2, takes them 30 XP to hit the 13, whereas purebloods start with 11+1, takes them 20 XP to get to 13. They start behind on the curve for dice, but gain a more direct bump to Strain.

Feel free to make them 2s across the board if you will, I don’t think it’ll negatively affect your game at all, but I hope I could shed some light on my design decisions ^^"

As a quick update, since this thread has suddenly gained traction again:
I’ve not done any work on this since its last release, a lot of my recent focus has been Genesys, haha. I can’t yet say when or if I’ll get back to it. The recent High Republic comics have also really enamored me with that new era, because the idea of running a campaign in a setting that doesn’t have a giant war for once is pretty attractive.

#17

Yes! It was directly designed after the talent from Master. I wanted Sith Lords to have a similar power fantasy but focused much more on egoism and self-centered features instead of aiding allies. Looking back, it might be a bit too powerful, adding a limit in regards to social checks might be a good idea. I’ll consider that for the next time I work on it!

That said, bear in mind that Sith Lord - like Jedi Master - requires the user to have a Force Rating of 3 to even be picked up. Even if you optimize within this career, it takes 40 XP to get to FR2 from Acolyte, 20 XP to get Sorcerer, 75 XP to get FR3 from there, 30 XP to pick up Lord and then another 45 XP to get Victory. That’s 210 XP to get to that if you focus entirely on that, pick up no skills, other talents or Force Powers. If you don’t have meta-monsters in your games, it’s probably a pretty late game ability =P

2 Likes
#18

The sourcebook looks interesting, and I’m glad to see some Legends material from the KotOR/SWtOR periods. :slight_smile:

Naming the new Sith talents according to the Sith code is a great idea!

I’m not so glad to see some of the unique/near unique talents taken from other trees and dropped into the Sith trees. For example, the Shroud talent (from the Sentinel’s Shadow tree and the Seeker’s Hermit tree) and various talents from the Jedi trees. I understand that it’s easier (quicker, more seductive …) to do it that way, but each tree should have some talents which are (near-)unique to it alone, and be allowed to keep them as unique/near-unique talents.

If a Sith character wants the Shroud talent, then he should buy the Shadow tree if wants to play the evil Sith undercover agent (or the Hermit tree if he wants to play the evil Sith madman/hermit), instead of finding it so conveniently on a Sith career tree. After all, “Shadow” is just another term for “Force-enhanced secret agent”.

The following comments are based on the assumption that the Sith trees are meant for players who want to play dark siders.

I also have some thoughts about all the Conflict talents (those which force a player to gain Conflict at the start of the session just because they have that talent). Unlike Jedi/light siders who don’t want to fall to the dark side, accruing Conflict actually benefits Sith/dark siders. They gain mechanical benefits when they go full dark sider at Morality thresholds 29, 19, and 9.

When the Morality scale is turned upside down like that, should there be so many Conflict-accruing talents, particularly when just playing a dark sider (with all the associated betrayal, murder, etc.) will also accrue Conflict? After all, light siders don’t get any talents which give them bonus “boosts” towards their light sider thresholds of 71, 81, and 91.

I know that you said that you wouldn’t be working on the sourcebook in the near future, but I am looking forward to next version. :slight_smile:

#19

By the way, did you ever get Donovan Morningfire or some of the other experts to look at the trees? They tend to have a good idea of what a balanced tree looks like.

#20

Thanks so much for stuff like this… I have a prison/cryo ship deck plan sitting on the back burner, species from long ago are always welcome…