Jedi Counseling 2: AT-ATs

By JD Wiker

Star Wars Roleplaying Game designer JD Wiker is back with more answers to the rules questions that keep you awake at night. Whether you're a player or a Gamemaster, you're sure to learn something you didn't know that will make your Star Wars campaign even better! This month's column answers player questions about the damage of ion cannons, bacta tanks, mastercrafted lightsabers, spending Force Points on initiative rolls, how long it'd take someone armed with a blaster to destroy an AT-AT, and more!

Have a question for the counselor? See the link at the end of the column!

Q: The new starship combat rules in the revised core rulebook left out the actual effect of ion damage. It gives a small chart to tell you the level of ion damage but not the exact effect. So how much damage do ion cannons cause?

A: Light ion cannons deal 3d10x2 damage; a standard ion cannon deals 5d10x2 damage; and a heavy ion cannon deals 8d10x2 damage.

Q: We're a bit confused about the blast radius of grenades. When using miniatures on a Battlemat, how do you determine the grenade's blast radius? Considering the grenade has a blast radius of 4 meters (2 squares by 2 squares), should we count from the corner or the center of a square?

A: Calculate the blast radius from one corner of the target square.

Q: Starship stunts are listed as free actions -- of which you can perform as many as you like during your action. So does that mean you can perform an unlimited number of starship stunts during your action?

A: You may have missed the little note at the top of page 219 about performing stunts: "A pilot can perform only one stunt per move action." So you could get at best two stunts in a single round -- unless you have the Heroic Surge feat, in which case you could get one more.

Q: Avoiding a hazard is considered a stunt also. Does that mean you can avoid only one hazard for each move action?

A: Avoiding a hazard doesn't require an action; it's more of a reaction than anything else. So, you can avoid as many hazards in a single move as your ship passes through.

Q: I'd really like my Jedi guardian to have a mastercrafted lightsaber. Can a Jedi make one?

A: Not unless he has sufficient levels in the tech specialist class as well. Of course, if your Gamemaster allows it, a tech specialist could mastercraft the basic components for you, and your Jedi would simply have to prepare the crystals. In either case, assume that the various parts that go into creating a lightsaber cost 500 credits, not including the crystals.

Q: I have some questions about the Force skill Friendship. Can Friendship be used on an opponent in combat? If so, what's the effect -- does the opponent just stop attacking?

A: Yes, Friendship can be used in that way. The effect depends on the new attitude. An unfriendly character would certainly continue attacking but might be less inclined to take advantage of weaker opponents. An opponent would stop attacking if his attitude were changed to "friendly" or "helpful."

Q: I assume the effect would be canceled if the Jedi attacks the target. What about if another party member attacks him?

A: Yes, any party member attacking the "befriended" character would count as "a situation occurring to alter that state."

Q: According to the Equipment chapter, a bacta tank holds 300 liters of bacta. But the rules don't say how often you have to replace the bacta. Is there a rule for how long the bacta lasts?

A: Good question! For simplicity, a liter of bacta is good for one hour of treatment. So, healing 3 vitality points consumes one liter of bacta, as does healing 1 wound point.

Q: What is the intent for Improved Force Mind's prerequisites? The revised core rulebook does not explicitly say that Force Mind is a prerequisite for Improved Force Mind, but whenever the indented summary of feats appears, the Improved Force Mind seems to be indented below the Force Mind feat. To me, this implies that Force Mind is a prerequisite for Improved Force Mind. Can you tell me for sure?

A: Yes, Force Mind should be a prerequisite of Improved Force Mind. Sounds like one for the errata!

Q: Under Starship Combat, an attack run is a simple maneuver. Ram attacks are a part of an attack run. Under Vehicle Combat, an attack run is a stunt. A ram attack is a separate simple maneuver. Which one is correct?

A: They're both correct. The two rules work differently because the effects of "terrain" are different between space combat and ground combat. Consider: If a ground vehicle traveling in a more or less straight line fails a Pilot check, the vehicle can, at the very least, interact with the ground -- the effects of which are detailed in the rules for losing control of a vehicle. Thus, you have to call for a Pilot check to determine whether that happens, and that makes it a stunt.

But what happens when a space vessel, traveling in a more or less straight line with no particular obstacles, fails a Pilot check? Not much, aside from perhaps plowing into an obstacle- -- which is covered by the Avoid Hazard rules. Therefore, you don't have to call for a Pilot check unless the vessel deliberately passes through an obstacle, and so, it's a simple maneuver.

Q: I noticed that the rules for spending a Force Point say you can spend one on any d20 roll. Well, the initiative roll is a d20 roll. Can I spend a Force Point on my initiative roll? And do I lose the bonus after the first round ends? Do I get to apply the effects of the Force Point on all my d20 rolls during the first round?

A: Yes, you can use a Force Point on initiative, but it's really a waste of a Force Point, unless you really, really want to act first on the first round. Your initiative doesn't change after the first round, though, any more than it would change how many points of damage you restored if you used a Force Point on a Heal Another check. The effects of the Force Point would last through your first round of actions, applying to any d20 rolls you make until your first action in the second round.

Q: In the revised core rulebook, Quarrens lack low-light vision. Why is this? The other amphibious species (Mon Calamari and Gungans) get it as a species trait, and the Quarrens have it in Alien Anthology. Is it an error?

A: I checked with the other designers, and it seems to be an error in the species entry. We'll add that to the errata.

Q: How do poison attacks from creatures work with vitality? If a poison attack hits vitality, do you roll the poison results? Or do you roll only if it hits wounds?

A: The rules on poison (in the first paragraph on the top of page 290 of the revised core rulebook) state that a character makes a Fortitude saving throw when he suffers wound damage from an attack with a poisoned weapon. This rule extends to venomous animals, as well.

Q: Why is the AT-AT's damage reduction so low? A character armed only with a blaster pistol can shoot holes in it!

A: An AT-AT has a DR of 15, meaning that an attack must cause 16 points of damage to do more than just scorch the paint. A blaster pistol deals 3d6 damage. With an upper limit of 18 points of damage, your observation seems to hold water.

But you're not taking probabilities into account. Even though the range of a blaster pistol's damage is 3 to 18, it doesn't hit all of those numbers equally. Totals of 10 and 11 occur a heck of a lot more than a total of 3 or 18, for example. Looking at how many combinations tally up to 16, 17, or 18, we have only 10 ways of coming up with that total -- as compared to 206 combinations that total up to the rest of the possibilities. That means that just under 5% of all 3d6 rolls come up 16, 17, or 18. In other words, fewer than 5% of all blaster pistol shots against an AT-AT are going to inflict any damage at all. Assuming that a character gets one hit on an AT-AT each round, and that only once in every twenty rounds does his blaster pistol do enough damage to scratch the AT-AT, and that he gets an average roll (16.5 points of damage, based on how often each combination occurs), it's going to take that character 2,400 rounds -- four hours -- to destroy the AT-AT. I'd say DR 15 is sufficient.

Q: I've got the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, and I'm thinking I might want to play a Tchuukthai Jedi. But I can't figure out which species in the illustrations are which! Can you provide some kind of guide?

A: Sure thing, and I'm sorry we didn't think to provide captions. The illustration on page 66 features, from left to right, an Anx, a Cathar, and a Khommite. On page 67, the aliens are an Arkanian, a Celegian, a Caamasi, and a Draethos (as shown in the image to the right). On page 69 is pictured a Myneyrsh, a Lannik, and a Nazzar. Page 70 features the Tchuukthai, a Krevaaki, a Kushiban (on the pedestal), and a Miraluka. The illustration on page 71 shows a Sarkan teacher (in the pit on the right) talking about holograms of (from left to right) a Tsil, a Neti, and a Tirrith.