Jedi Counseling 105

By Gary M. Sarli

Welcome to the 105th installment of "Jedi Counseling," our regular column in which we answer your rules questions about the Star Wars Miniatures Game and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. If you have a question, send it in through the link at the end of this column, and check back here for the official answer.

Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition

Saga Edition is out, and we have our first batch of questions about the new system.

Q: It seems to me that area attacks might be too good. Even if you miss, you're still dealing at least half damage unless the target has Evasion or improved cover. Doesn't this make things like autofire (which you can do even with a run-of-the-mill blaster rifle) a no-brainer unless your attack bonus greatly exceeds the target's Reflex Defense?

A: A few details were left out of the area attack rules. They're in the first set of errata, but they're worth covering here:

First, when making an area attack, your modified attack roll (after subtracting penalties for range, concealment, and so on) must be a 10 or higher for the attack to have any effect. If that condition is met, you compare the result to the Reflex Defense of everyone in the area for half or full damage. Given this, it's possible to make such a poor attack that no one is affected at all. In these cases, the idea is that your throw lands somewhere harmless, you shot over the target's heads (in the case of autofire), or maybe you even forgot to arm the grenade before throwing.

Second, if you make an area attack against a target that has cover (not just improved cover), the target takes no damage if the attack misses. Just as in real life, the best defense against explosives or bursts of autofire is to get in a trench or behind an obstacle. To determine if a target has cover, draw a line from the center of the burst or splash radius (for explosives and the like) or from the attacker (for autofire).

Third, you can't aim when making an area attack, so you never get to ignore the target's cover.

Together, these details make area attacks and autofire incredibly effective against a target at relatively close range on open terrain. Such a target is in big, big trouble. In contrast, area attacks and autofire are almost worthless against a target that has cover or concealment or that is at great range. For example, don't bother trying it against a hidden sniper shooting from hundreds of meters away.

Q: The Deflect talent can reduce the damage from an autofire attack. Can Block reduce the damage from Whirlwind Attack (which is also resolved as an area attack)?

A: Block versus Whirlwind Attack (or any other melee area attack that might exist in the future) is supposed to work the same as Deflect versus autofire. If your Use the Force check equals or exceeds the attack roll, you take half damage if the attack was a hit, and you take no damage if the attack was a miss. If your Use the Force check is less than the attack roll, resolve the area attack normally.

Q: I'm curious as to the perceived balance factor of Dual Weapon Mastery versus Double Attack. Dual Weapon Mastery I is available sooner, and you can offset its penalties by taking more feats. Double Attack works for only one type of weapon, and you can reduce its penalties only with prestige class talents. Since both grant an extra attack, why would you want Double Attack?

A: The balancing factor is that Dual Weapon Mastery works only with one-handed weapons (that is, weapons that do less damage), but Double/Triple Attack works with two-handed weapons (but only one type of them). For example:

This also means that Double Attack can be used with much larger weapons, such as those on a vehicle, while a pilot or gunner would have no particular reason to use Dual Weapon Mastery because such weapons can't be operated with one hand.

Finally, don't forget that someone can use both Dual Weapon Mastery and Double/Triple Attack. So even if Dual Weapon Mastery appears more attractive at first, you might want to take Double/Triple Attack later.

Q: Can you use Double Attack or Triple Attack to attack the same target multiple times in the same round, or do you have to attack different targets?

A: The extra attacks from Double Attack, Triple Attack, and fighting with multiple weapons can be directed at the same target or at different targets, in any combination and any order that you choose.

Q: It is possible to use Double Attack with Rapid Strike?

A: Yes. Rapid Strike, Rapid Shot, and Burst Fire all can be used when making multiple attacks, regardless of their source (Double Attack, Triple Attack, or fighting with multiple weapons).

Q: I think the prerequisites for Rapid Shot and Rapid Strike were swapped accidentally. Wouldn't it make more sense for Rapid Strike, a melee feat, to have the Strength requirement, and for Rapid Shot, a ranged feat, to have the Dexterity requirement?

A: No, this is intentional. For Rapid Shot, you need the higher Strength to control the recoil of firing multiple shots so quickly. For Rapid Strike, you need the higher Dexterity to have the agility necessary to get two swings for the price of one -- catching your target a second time on the backswing, spinning to come around a second time, and so on.

For balance purposes, this also has the effect of giving characters some tough decisions. A ranged specialist won't always want to neglect his Strength, and a melee specialist won't want to neglect her Dexterity. (Sure, such a character could neglect Strength if he has Weapon Finesse, but he's spending an extra feat and restricting himself to certain weapons for that privilege.)

Star Wars Miniatures Questions

Q: Lord Vader's Overwhelming Force refers to preventing or redirecting attacks, but it doesn't actually provide a complete list of such special abilities and Force powers. For example, it mentions that "Bodyguard cannot force this character to attack a different target." However, Bodyguard doesn't change the target of the attack (as Draw Fire does); it only changes the recipient of the damage. Given this, I'm not sure how to interpret Overwhelming Force when it interacts with any special ability or Force power that isn't listed.

A: Because dealing damage is one of the steps in the attack sequence, the precise distinction isn't worded as carefully as it could be. In this case, the wording is intended to be read as ". . . attacks (or damage from attacks) cannot be prevented or redirected this turn . . ." and ". . . Draw Fire or Bodyguard cannot force this character to attack (or damage) a different character." (Emphasis added for clarity.)

To determine if Overwhelming Force overrides a particular special ability or Force power, use this guideline: When Overwhelming Force is used, the attack cannot be prevented (Pheromones), the attack cannot be forced to reroll (Force Alter), the target cannot be changed (Draw Fire), the damage dealt cannot be reduced (Evade, Parry, Shields, Lightsaber Block, Lightsaber Parry, Lightsaber Reflect, Damage Reduction, Dark Armor, Vonduun Crab Armor), and the damage cannot be dealt to a different character (Bodyguard, Molecular Shields). This isn't a comprehensive list, but it should give you enough examples for comparison to other abilities.

Q: Does Penetration (as on the Commerce Guild Homing Spider Droid) work against anything besides Damage Reduction, such as Dark Armor, Shields, or Vonduun Crab Armor?

A: No. If it applied to those special abilities, either we'd name the abilities individually, or we'd describe Penetration in more general terms (as we did with Overwhelming Force, above).

Q: How does the Black Sun special ability interact with Prince Xizor's commander effect? Does the commander effect apply, granting the character Grenades 20, or does the commander effect require that the character actually have the Grenades 10 special ability on their stat card?

A: The character with Black Sun gains Grenades 20. An effect such as this (that is, contingent on a given character having some special ability) applies as long as the character has the ability in question at the moment, regardless of whether the ability is actually printed on the stat card or gained from some other ability or effect.

Q: The rules for determining if a character has a lightsaber say, "It's usually easy to tell whether or not a character has a lightsaber by examining its miniature," but I'm curious about the Mistryl Shadow Guard. Does its light whip (which is long and translucent, like a lightsaber) count as a lightsaber for this purpose?

A: No. While long and translucent, the light whip isn't straight and therefore doesn't count as a lightsaber.

I can see how this might be confusing given that the lightsaber on a miniature might become bent while shipping, but when in doubt you can always look at the character's illustration on the stat card to see that the lightsaber is supposed to be straight.

Q: Komari Vosa apparently only has lightsabers, but she doesn't have the Melee Attack ability like most such characters. Is this correct?

A: No, Komari Vosa should have Melee Attack. (This is in the Bounty Hunters section of the Star Wars Miniatures errata.)

A miniature's visible weapons are usually -- but not always -- indicative of that character's abilities. Therefore, whenever you see a mismatch like this, it's always good to ask.

Q: The ISP Speeder appears to be operated by clone troopers. Should it have Order 66, like other clone-operated vehicles such as the AT-RT?

A: Yes, the ISP Speeder should have Order 66. (This is in the Bounty Hunters section of the Star Wars Miniatures errata.)

As with Komari Vosa, visual inspection of a miniature is not always sufficient to know what abilities it should or shouldn't have. So it's always worth asking when you see a mismatch.

Q: I have a question about the Sniper ability. The stat card says that it applies on attacks, but the glossary says that it works when targeting. That being the case, can Jango Fett, Bounty Hunter benefit from Sniper when using Missiles?

A: No. Don't forget that the card text and the glossary text apply at the same time. Thus, since the card refers to "attacks" and the glossary refers to "targeting," Sniper applies only to targeted attacks.

Q: Nym's Rapport ability says that it applies to "characters with Mercenary." Does that mean characters with Mercenary in their names, or characters with the Mercenary special ability?

A: It means characters with the Mercenary special ability. If we had wanted Rapport to apply to characters with "Mercenary" in their names, we would have used the "named/name contains" language introduced in Champions of the Force.

About the Author

Gary M. Sarli is a freelance designer, developer, and editor whose credits include the Saga Edition rulebook and Ultimate Adversaries (for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game) and Power of Faerûn and Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (for Dungeons & Dragons). He also moderates on the Wizards.COMmunity message boards as WizO the Hutt, cheerfully feeding Code of Conduct violators to the Sarlacc. Gary recently opened GMSarli Games, an online retailer specializing in making non-random miniatures packs designed for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.