Summer Vacations

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog.  It's summer time, and a lot happens away from the keyboard that tends to eat away at my time.  Work has also been pretty busy, which makes me forget about extraneous things like my blog.

It doesn't help that my normal work computer doesn't seem to like Blogger anymore.  I can get to the Post screen, but the out-of-date IE won't let me click on the text box to actually write anything.  That certainly slows me up.

Galactic Events

Let's talk about developments in the Star Wars gaming world.  GenCon just happened, and I didn't get to go.  Kinda sad, as I would have been able to pick up a copy of the Age of Rebellion Beta Rulebook.  Much to the surprise of everyone, FFG decided to move forward with a Beta for the next chapter/installment of their RPG.  New races, new careers, Rebellion Era ships, and even new Force Powers and Talents.  Thankfully, I've got a Fellow Legionnaire who was kind enough to pick me up a copy, and will be sending it to me Post Haste.

I'm sure this book will affect my Jedi trees somehow.  It also means that the possibility of a Force and Destiny Beta Rulebook is high, and should be at GenCon 2014.

I need to get my ass to Indy next year...

Galactic Warfare

 

War...war never changes...crap, wrong IP.

I spent last week on vacation.  Didn't really go anywhere (except to a water park and an amusement park on the same weekend).  Just me and the wife home alone for several days.  Fair amount of yardwork done, some relaxation, and a truckload of hours on Mechwarrior Online.  I'd "owned" the game with their Founder's Program for more than a year, but it wasn't until recently that I was really able to play the game.  Apparently my Graphics Processor couldn't handle the game.  Now, with an affordable upgrade, my machine can actually play the game on decent settings without it being a slideshow.

I'm having fun with it. Found a great guild to run with based on the Skye Rangers brigade; a Federated Commonwealth unit.  They're a large guild, divided up in a similar fashion to the actual brigade (3rd, 4th, 10th, 17th, 22nd, and 25th Skye Rangers).  They also have sub-groups for the Tamar Cavaliers, Kell Hounds, Grey Death Legion, and Snord's Irregulars.  After a few weeks of playing, I actually got invited to play in their competitive 12-man unit, the 1st Skye Jagers.  These are the top guys in the guild, running and practicing 12 man teams for tournaments.  With the next round of tournaments starting up soon for the "Run Hot Or Die" league, I might be able to get some actual competition in and see how I do.

 Galactic Isolation

But aside from that...I feel pretty cut off up here. I'm definitely feeling removed from not only my gaming community, but also my social community.  Sadly, this isolation is starting to really kill my creativity.  I've had many bouts of interesting ideas planted in my head that never germinated into anything.  I've got campaigns I want to run, stories I need to get back to but...nothing.  Can't keep focus on story-writing.  Can find the mental focus to stick with game writing.  I look at my gaming schedule and think "why bother, I can't get my PC party together for another 3 months".

This is why I really loved the Monday Night Clone Wars game I had going for a while, Brothers In Arms.  I had to create, because I was running every other Monday night.  I kept my skills sharp, ready for the PCs to tangent.

I keep saying I need to get back to that, to get playing RPGs on a bi-weekly basis, even if it's over Skype or G+.  I need to kick myself until I can get the momentum going to run something.

A bi-weekly Edge of the Empire game...or Age of Rebellion (when my copy arrives).

Yeah, I think it's time to make this happen.

Fantasy Flight Imports: Part 5, The Jedi Knights

I'm starting to write this on Tuesday night, July 23rd, listening to FFG Devs Jay Little and Sam Stewart on the Order 66 Podcast.  They're on talking rules, and taking rules questions.  I've got several in the mix, but I'm wondering if they'll get to them with all the commentary and tangenting.

It's Friday now, having completely missed Thursday.  I blame work, overtime, and a desire last night to watch giant robots beat the crap out of kaiju.  The week is still hectic, the phone at work is still ringing, but I'm on my lunch break and want to get this closer to done.

I've got two characters left to cover in my Saga-to-Edge conversion, both of them Jedi.  Both of them drawing exclusively from homebrewed rules for careers and talents.

Tycho Ventor (Skywalker)

It's an alternate universe, a galaxy different from the one George Lucas presented.  Late last year, this PC found out he's actually the son of Anakin Skywalker, and that padawan of Kenobi's that the group fought on Centerpoint station (and knocked out a bridge window and blew her into space to defeat) is his sister.  After a trip to Mortis, which no one remembers, it's time for him to start along the path of eliminating the greatest threat the Jedi Order has known in recent memory; Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi.

To anyone not following my Order 65 campaign, this may seem strange...

Like everyone else in the party, Tycho was converted on a 300xp award scale.  He's a Force Wizard, someone who's more skilled with Force attacks than lightsaber combat.  That actually doesn't translate too well to EotE, given the lack of any real offensive Force power other than Move.  Fortunately, most of Tycho's attacks were based on telekinesis, so we can replicate a lot of his Force Powers pretty well.

Here's a brief rundown on how Tycho looked...

Human Male Jedi 7, Jedi Knight 2
Str 10, Con 10, Dex 16, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Acrobatics, Galactic Lore, Perception, Pilot, Use the Force.
Talents: Telekinetic Savant, Telekinetic Prodigy, Dark Side Sense, Resist the Dark Side, Echoes in the Force.
Feats: Force Training x3, Skill Focus (Use the Force), Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Lightsabers), Unstoppable Force, Force Regimen Mastery.
Force Powers (14): Force Slam, Force Whirlwind, Mind Trick, Farseeing, Move Object x3, Force Shield x2, Rebuke x2, Vital Transfer, Negate Energy, Force Track.
Force Regimens (4): Quiet the Mind, Telekinetic Practice, Vo’ren’s First Cadence, Vo’Ren’s Fourth Cadence.
Force Techniques: Force Point Recovery

Anyone who's played or read through Edge of the Empire, and my Edge of the Jedi document can see where this is a challenge.  There is no Farseeing, no Force Track power.  His main defensive abilities, Rebuke, Negate Energy, and Force Shield, don't exist.  There are no Force Regimens in the game.  Doesn't matter; the focus of this Jedi is Force Use, so that's where I focused the spending of XP. 

Working with the player, we started in the Consular tree.  Tycho's aiming for as much Force Rating as he can get, so let's see how we got there.  I was still working with update 1.01 at this time, and hadn't moved Well Rounded to the 15pt row.  We started there and picked up Gunnery and Pilot-Space; he's playing Luke Skywalker, and he's supposed to be a hot pilot.  From there it's as straight a shot to Force Rating as we can get; Researcher, Grit, Nobody's Fool, Steely Nerves, Touch of Fate, and finally Force Rating.  From there we go to the Balanced Lightsaber Style tree starting at Side Step, and then taking Shii-Cho and Natural Duelist.  We skip Steely Nerves because he already bought it in Consular, and can go right to his second Force Rating talent, giving him a Force Rating of 3.

Tycho dove heavily into Move, taking 3 Magnitude Upgrades, 2 Strength Upgrades, 2 Range Upgrades, and the first Control Upgrade (able to deal damage with Move).  If he rolls well, Tycho can move 4 objects up to Silhouette 2 a distance of two range bands with enough force to deal damage.  He can also replicate Force Slam and Force Whirlwind with this spread.  To replicate the disorientation of Force Whirlwind, Tycho will want to spend Advantages and Triumphs rolled on the Discipline check to penalize his target.  Tycho has enough Influence to pull the occasional Mind Trick, and Sense to be able to upgrade the difficulty of two incoming attacks.  That's really the best we're going to get with his Force Defense at this juncture, until more Force Powers are released (or home-brewed).

After playing for 4-5 hours (without a single combat encounter, I might add), the player marveled at how tricky it was to be a Force Wizard in EotE.  Force Rating 3 sounds like a lot, but the few times he rolled the player only drew one Light Side point.  According to Anydice, you've got a 63% chance to roll 2 Force Points or more.  Only a 32% chance to roll 3 or more Force Points.  More often than not, Tycho is going to have to choose upgrading range, magnitude, or strength.  That could be real problematic for combat.  Force Rating 4 is slightly better, giving him just about even-odds to get three Force Points that he can use.  While the player's initial impression is that his Force Wizard concept is now broken, he seems willing to see where it goes.

Nicaela Euripedies

Oh, Nicaela; my lovely, darling Jedi Amazon.  Have you been reading up on the latest incarnations of Wonder Woman?  Because there are many similarities here.  Strong, sword-wielding women, both are characters willing to tread on the edge of darkness in the pursuit of justice.

My difficulties for Nicaela were vast.  First, not only was she a custom career, she's also a custom race.  no one, not even the Unofficial Species Menagerie, had done a conversion for Miraluka.  There's just so much to her character, that with the way I made the home-brewed Jedi Career makes her build go off sideways in some areas.  If I had an extra 50-100xp, she'd be perfect (more on this later).  So, more so than any other character, I had to go with what "best fit" and "felt right".

Here's what I'm working with.

Miraluka Female Jedi 7/Jedi Knight 3
Str 16, Con 12, Dex 10, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 14
Defenses: Fort 22, Ref 21, Will 24
Skills: Acrobatics, Perception, Use the Force
Talents: Block, Deflect, Weapon Spec (Lightsaber), Shii-Cho
Feats: Force Training x2, Weapon Focus (Lightsaber), Skill Focus (UtF), Instinctive Attack, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave
Force Powers (8): Battle strike, Kinetic combat, Draw Closer, Negate Energy, Surge, Assured Strike
Force Techniques: Force Point Recovery

Let's get the race problem out of the way.  Through many ideas and incarnations, I ended up going with the suggestion of a couple folks on the D20 Radio Forums;

• All Stats at Base 2
• Force Sight: Removes one Setback die caused by low-light conditions
• Free Skill Rank in Perception or Vigilance
• 100 starting XP

With that as a base line, my first issue was her starting XP.  I spent 30xp into Willpower and 70xp into Brawn to get it to 3 and 4 respectively.  4 is a little high for her Saga version, closer to an 18 than a 16, but giving her such a high Brawn makes her more of a tank and melee monster.  This definitely fit her playstyle over the years.

She's a combat Jedi, so naturally she started with the Guardian tree.  With the Shii-Cho talent and the Draw Closer lightsaber power (Niman), the next tree for her is the Balanced Lightsaber Style tree.  To cover the cost of buying another rank of Discipline (to qualify for the Balanced tree), I needed to give her a total of 15 starting Obligation (everyone else has 5, except Lucas who had 10).  Based on her role-playing choices and backstory, I found a couple good fits.  Nicaela likes to use the Force; a lot,. to the point that it's actually a minor addiction (that she can try to work off through game play, if she wants to).  This has caused the Jedi Order to become a bit more strict and is "keeping an eye on her".  This can cause some stress to her and the rest of the party as it affects Nicaela's mood.

No one likes being around a moody Jedi.  Well...maybe, Padme; but look what happened to her.

Talents! Two ranks of Uncanny Reactions makes her Vigilance checks all kinds of interesting, rolling 3 green Ability Dice and 2 blue Boost dice. Precise Aim replicates her Assured Strike power, and Shii Cho Master takes care of her "mass mook killing" feats (Cleave/Great Cleave).  Shii Cho, Deflection Training, and Deflect Blasters covers her Lightsaber defense powers.  Niman allows for some "Saber and Force" combo that she had in Saga Edition, except that now she has Pushing Slash instead of Draw Closer (which is what my Niman Mastery talent covers).

With Force powers, I had to shave points some more.  She has enough Move to grab a Silhouette 1 target (person-sized) and move them around.  She can also rip items off of mountings or out of people's hands, and manipulate objects as if she were handling them.  That last one covers her Kinetic Combat power, except that its now a little bit better.  Now she can technically use her talents as if she were wielding the lightsaber.  As a consequence to all this, Nicalea also now effectively has Move Object, allowing her to move things around even to the point of being able to deal damage with them.

So, as I said, it's really a best fit solution, but I think she found it to be a fun one.

Final Thoughts

I finally ran my first Order 65 game while using the Edge of the Empire ruleset.  It was a solid 5 hours of recap and plot reveals.  Finding out and deciding where to go in the campaign.  They had opportunities to have or avoid combat, and ended up avoiding all of it.  It was solid and fun.

Sadly, I didn't get much of a chance to test my combat talents from my Edge of the Jedi document.  I may not get a chance to before October, either.  A consequence of gaming with many folks with many interests and obligations is that entire months are booked solid well in advance.  We are talking about running these characters and stats through an old combat encounter over Roll20.  I'd certainly like to do that, if only to see how my talents play out.

One thing that surprised me is how unreliable Force Rating 3 is for generating enough Force Points to run powers without the Jedi having to draw on the Dark Side.  Out of three rolls, I think Tycho had one roll that could activate the power he wanted.  Nicalea had a similar issue, except that her character said "ta hell with it" and flipped that Destiny Point and took that strain and activated her Move power.  It was awesome, and an aspect of her character that never came out before because the player kept thinking more tactically, not narratively.  She was really pleased with this, and I think we're going to see a lot more of Nicaela's dark side.

Literally.

I built all these characters (from my Fantasy Flight Imports articles) on 300 awarded points, and only dipped into bonus XP from taking on more starting Obligation where it fit and was desperately needed (Nicaela).  That was based on the Beta Rulebook, where the award per session was 15 for a good session, with occasional bonuses for major milestones.  Now the official Core Rulebook lists the session award at 20xp plus the occasional bonus 5xp for milestones.  Jay Little also went so far as to say (on the Order 66 podcast) that a good measure is "5xp per hour of meaningful gaming, where the story is moving along".  He states that your average game session is 75% actual gaming, 25% people BS-ing around and having out-of-game commentary. 

Assuming these numbers, the Order 65 characters are probably closer to 375-400xp.  I'm probably going to end up awarding these additional XP, but not yet.  Not until I get a chance to see how the cahracters play with the stats they have.  I'll let the PCs get used to what they've got and then give them this extra XP to buy what they want.  I may give suggestions if I just couldn't fit in something (like Nicaela's Draw Closer/Niman Mastery ability), but ultimately I'll let them spend it where they want it. 

Man, this post took a lot longer to get out there than I thought.  It's Monday the 29th now; one week after I started working on this document.  Maybe I'll change gears and go into ranty banter on the First of August.  Or maybe I'll do something else entirely.  We'll have to see.

Fantasy Flight Imports: Part 4, Zen and Zorro

Time to move on my conversions of the more difficult, and highly customized, characters from my Order 65 Campaign.  The character group includes a couple pretty colorful characters, but no more so than these next to.  One is a light-foil wielding duelist cut from the cloth of pulp-fiction.  The other is pink.

Hey, you define colorful on your own time, I'll define it on mine. 

Once again, I'll start with a comment to check out the first article in this series to read about my conversion theory.  Today I'm focusing purely on the results of moving characters from Saga Edition Star Wars RPGs to FFG's Star Wars RPG Edge of the Empire.

 So,without further ado, let's talk conversions.

Sir Lucas Paddox

Lucas is perhaps one of my favorite characters, of all time.  He's a pulp hero in Star Wars; an alter-ego super-hero.  Much like the Green Hornet, Zorro, and Batman; Lucas is a costumed crusader who fights for the down-trodden, protects the innocent from the shadows, and instills fear in those who would prey upon them..

This is what I have to work with.
 

Lucas Paddox                                                     CL 10

Medium Human noble 3/scoundrel 1/Jedi 4/crime lord 2

Init +13; Senses Perception +11

Languages Basic, 5 unassigned

Defenses Ref 25 (flat-footed 22), Fort 22, Will 25; Block, Elusive Target

hp 78; Threshold 22

Speed  6 squares

Melee archaic lightfoil +9 (2d8+6) or

Melee archaic lightfoil +9 (2d8+7) with both hands

Ranged sporting blaster pistol +10 (3d4+5)

Base Atk +7; Grp +10

Atk Options Acrobatic Strike, Improved Disarm, Melee Defense, Point Blank Shot, Sneak Attack +1d6

Special Actions Presence

Force Powers Known (Use The Force +17) battle strike, cloak, mind trick, surge

Abilities Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 15

Special Qualities build lightsaber, command cover +1

Talents Block, Elusive Target, Inspire Fear I, Inspire Fear II, Noble Fencing Style, Presence, Sneak Attack

Feats Acrobatic Strike, Force Sensitivity, Force Training (2), Improved Disarm, Linguist, Melee Defense, Point Blank Shot, Skill Focus (Use the Force), Weapon Proficiency (lightsabers, pistols, simple weapons)

Skills Acrobatics +13, Deception +12, Initiative +13, Perception +11, Persuasion +12, Stealth +13, Use the Force +17

Possessions archaic lightfoil, sporting blaster pistol, utility belt (3 day food supply, medpac, tool kit, power pack, energy cell, glow rod, comlink, liquid cable dispenser)

Lucas was a difficult conversion for me; given the option I'd have him draw from Scoundrel, Thief, Marauder, Force Sensitive Exile, Politic, and my Fast Lightsaber Style tree from my Edge of the Jedi doc.  Since that would be a prohibitive amount of his 300xp limit, I set about trying to find the "best fit" in as few trees as possible.  Looking over my options, I need two trees that give Lucas talents to be like the pulp heroes that inspired him.  Maybe because I always thought of him as more of a Zorro analogue than anything else, I wanted him to be able to taunt his foes like any good, dashing swordsman with his rapier would.  He needed to be sneaky, because these vigilante heroes work in the shadows.  He needs to be able to keep his alter-ego separate from his heroic persona, and be convincing about it.  Finally, he needs the Force, because that's where this hero gets his "Super Powers".

I settled on starting Lucas as a Smuggler/Thief, as that gave me a lot of skills and highly useful talents.  Jumping over to the Politico and buying into the Scathing Tirade path gives Lucas the chance to really degrade and fluster his opponents into making mistakes.  Finally, jumping into the Force Exile tree gets Lucas some really useful talents.  I got him invested all the way up to Superior Reflexes to get a bump to his Melee Defense, which helps replicate his Block talent from Saga.

We've always envisioned The Stratt as wearing protective armor, at the very least a full face-mask to hide his identity.  It was never really armor in Saga Edition, though; Lucas could never spare the feats on Armor Proficiency.  Now, in EotE, The Stratt can finally get his armor.  Looking at the image for it, it's probably most like "Armored Clothing", giving him a little Soak value boost and a good Defense base.

His weapon of choice was another custom job.  Much like Marin's Targeting Rifle, I needed to home-brew his ancient Light-foil.  I made it a base 7 damage weapon, 3 less than lightsabers.  I also reduced the Vicious rating to 1, instead of 2.  These weapons are supposed to have thinner blades.  The ancient ones made by the Mecosia artisans are exceptionally balanced, granting it a base Accuracy quality of 1.  Adding in the Superior quality bumps up the damage 1, and gives the weapon an additional Advantage point on every attack.

The Stratt also has a high Obligation, due to him broadcasting his firing of the Centerpoint Station gravity cannon at the Death Star, killing Supreme Chancellor Mon Motha after she used the Death Star to destroy Corellia (...hey, it's an Alternate Universe Game; these things happen).  The Stratt is still wanted by the Republic, and while the heat has cooled off some, it's still hanging over his head.  If the public makes the connection between Lucas Paddox, bad-boy noble from the Taipani Sector and The Stratt, vigilante hero wanted for killing hundreds of thousands of Republic Soldiers and the insane Supreme Chancellor, things may get real interesting for him and the rest of the party...

Glendora

The first of the true Jedi character conversions.  A zeltron taught at an isolated Jedi Temple, she doesn't quite comprehend the effect she has on others due to her being an incredibly attractive zeltron.  She's innocent, and inexperienced when it comes to the larger galaxy.  The biggest problem I faced is that some abilities were taken by the Jedi based on game mechanics issues.  No Jedi worth his salt lacks Rebuke, and Negate Energy is effectively a once-per-encounter heal.  Ataru is a common Talent to take for any Jedi that invested in Dexterity over Brawn.  These are choices that, given the current system, may not have been made.

Glendora                                                             CL 10

Medium Zeltron Jedi 7/Jedi Knight 3

Init +7; Senses Perception +7
Languages Basic, 1 unassigned
Defenses Ref 24 (flat-footed 22), Fort 22, Will 24
hp 96; Threshold 22
Speed  6 squares
Melee double-bladed lightsaber +12 (2d8+7) or
Melee double-bladed lightsaber +12 (2d8+9) with both hands or
Melee double-bladed lightsaber +10 (2d8+9) and double-bladed lightsaber +10 (2d8+9)
Ranged  by weapon +12
Base Atk +10; Grp +12
Atk Options Dual Weapon Mastery

Special Actions Force Fortification, Master Negotiator, Skilled Advisor

Force Powers Known (Use The Force +18) enlighten, mind trick, move object, negate energy, rebuke, surge, vital transfer (2), Shien deflection

Force Techniques Force Point Recovery
Abilities Str 12, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16
Special Qualities build lightsaber, zeltron pheromones
Talents Adept Negotiator, Ataru, Force Fortification, Force Persuasion, Master Negotiator, Skilled Advisor
Feats Dual Weapon Mastery I, Dual Weapon Mastery II, Force Boon, Force Sensitivity, Force Training (3), Skill Focus (Use the Force), Weapon Proficiency (lightsabers, simple weapons)
Skills Acrobatics +12, Knowledge (life sciences) +11, Perception +7 (+10 to sense deception or sense influence), Persuasion +8 (+13 to change attitudes of non-Zeltron creatures; may Use the Force +18 instead), Use the Force +18 

Possessions double-bladed lightsaber

For Glendora, the task was taking the character that had been played and portrayed more-so than the stats had presented.  She's a Zeltron, so to recreate her I need to tap into the Unofficial Species Menagerie from the Gaming Security Agency website.  

Glendora is a support character; with Force healing, Enlighten, and Force Persuasion.  She was specialized in talking her opponents down (in the case of Saga Edition, "down" meant "the condition track").  I'd considered using the Influence Force power to help replicate this, but looking over my options I feel that the Overwhelm Emotions talent was is a better fit for how she handled herself in combat and situations, using Charm and Negotiate.  This game is so much a better fit for the Jedi who talks his opponents out of fighting, where as in Saga it was a cheap combat tactic to wear down an opponent so the beat-stick in the party could get to attack an opponent suffering -10 to every Defense and d20 check.

Another aspect of her character that wasn't really exploited was her proficiency with a double-bladed lightsaber.  Her stats were decent for using the lightsaber, but it wasn't until she picked up Ataru that she had any luck with hitting with it, even with one attack.  Even then, Ataru felt more like a mechanical choice for a mechanical benefit, rather than Glendora actually fighting with Force-fueled acrobatics.  She seemed like a more basic fighter, skilled with the basics of Shii Cho and likely drifted towards Niman to learn Jar'Kai (the art of two-blade fighting).

The Healing power mentioned here was borrowed from Dono's Ways of the Force document.  It's solid, and makes Force Healing awesome but not overpowered.

And that's that.  Two characters left to cover, both Jedi.  I've actually got them converted already but I haven't written them up like these past reviews.  I've got other things on my plate, like getting the write-up completed for the game session they're all in on Sunday. 

It should be good.  And fun.  And completely bonkers.  This will be the first live playtest of the work I've done, both in this conversion and in my Edge of the Jedi doc.  Let's see how broken it all is.

But enough of this.  Time to stop theorizing, grab some friends, grab some Mt. Dew Code Red, and roll some frikkin' dice.

Edge of the Jedi v1.01

Now that the Edge of the Empire core rulebook has been released, I've gone back and cleaned up a lot of the data, fixed some talents, and put some polish on my Edge of the Jedi document.  I've also incorporated several changes based on feedback from others, especially Jon Stevens and Brett Bowen.

Now, we playtest some more and take notes for version 1.02...

Enjoy!

Edge of the Jedi v1.01

Fantasy Flight Imports: Part 3, Vandals and Updates

Betcha thought I was going to miss another week, didn't you?

I'm giving myself a bye last week; it was a crazy week at work, which included a holiday that stretches far beyond the actual holiday itself.  Multiple days of cookouts, fireworks, family, friends, and late nights of people setting off cannons around my town while I'm trying to relax in bed.

Yes, I said "cannons".

Frikkin' awesome to hear, actually.  Mostly because they weren't aimed at my house.

In the midst of all this, Christmas in July happened and FFG's Core Rulebook for the Edge of the Empire game was released.  448 pages of awesomeness in a 5 pound tome. There are a few corrections I have to make between the Beta and the Core Rulebook versions of my Order 65 PCs. Nothing too drastic, and some interesting changes in some cases.

In an effort not to bore the crap out of my readership, I'm going to do brief snip-its of my PCs before and after conversion.  I'm going to start with the easier ones, and move on to the hardest ones that require the most custom work.  I'm also going to share the look of Donovan Morningfire's latest version of the character sheet, which includes a column to show exactly what dice the character is rolling for each skill.

Barret

The only real change I see comes from Scholar, where his Toughened talent is replaced with a rank in Brace.  A neat change, which will help in in a lot of situations to remove a black SetBack die caused by environmental conditions (not just attacks either, it's any action).  No real changes other than that.

Marin

Thankfully, there's no change it Marin.  Everything is the same for our team pilot.

Vandal

We move on to a new member, one that I haven't shown here.  Vandal is an HK Series Assassin droid who used to belong to a mercenary group called The Brotherhood.  He's something of a walking tank, able to take a severe amount of punishment and deal out death with his blaster rifle.  He's a droid, so he's built for a specific role, and his build reflects that.

Vandal                                                  CL 9

Medium droid (4^th-degree) soldier 6/independent droid 1/gunslinger 1/elite trooper 1

Destiny 2; Force 9

Init +14; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12

Languages Basic, Binary, 1 unassigned

Defenses Ref 30 (flat-footed 24), Fort 26, Will 25

hp 89; Threshold 26

Immune droid traits

Speed  6 squares (walking)

Melee unarmed +10 (1d6+6)

Ranged blaster rifle +16 (3d8+4) or

Ranged blaster rifle +11 (3d8+4) with autofire or

Ranged blaster rifle +16 (4d8+4) with Rapid Shot or

Ranged blaster pistol +13 (3d6+4) or

Ranged blaster pistol +13 (4d6+4) with Rapid Shot

Fighting Space 1 square; Reach 1 square

Base Atk +8; Grp +13

Atk Options autofire (blaster rifle), Careful Shot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Trigger Work

Special Actions Ambush Specialist, Just a Droid, Keep It Going, Quick Draw, Tough as Nails

Abilities Str 14, Dex 21, Con -, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10

Special Qualities delay damage

Talents Ambush Specialist, Greater Weapon Focus (rifles), Just a Droid, Keep It Going, Tough as Nails, Trigger Work

Feats Armor Proficiency (light, medium), Careful Shot, Martial Arts I, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (rifles), Weapon Proficiency (heavy weapons, pistols, rifles, simple weapons)

Skills Initiative +14, Mechanics +10, Perception +12, Use Computer +10

Systems walking locomotion, heuristic processor, 2 hand appendages, 2 tool appendages, improved sensor package, translator unit (DC 5), vocabulator, durasteel battle armor (+8 armor)

Possessions blaster pistol, blaster rifle (tech specialist mod; +1 attack) with Double trigger, comlink, Improved Sensor Package, Internal Storage, 2 Tool Mounts (empty), Translator Unit (DC 5)

Czerka Corporation - May use Intelligence or Wisdom modifier instead of Charisma to determine Persuasion modifier

Here's how he looks in Edge of the Empire, as a Bodyguard/Gadgetter.  Bodyguard is a great specialization if you're looking to make a "meat-wall", or in this cased just a "wall".

That's really all I have time for right now.  I'm still working on Lucas, Tycho, Glendora, and Nicaela; our for overt Force Users.  I have some problems converting over Tycho because while Nicaela's defense is based a lot on her Lightsaber, Tycho's defense is based on his use of the Force.  None of my custom work takes such defenses into consideration.

Might be time for me to build a new Force Power...a "Protection" power...

Fantasy Flight Imports: Part 2- Marin and The Thranta

Another week, another conversion.  With the first character conversion from Saga Edition to Edge of the Empire out of the way, I'm able to move on from design theory and method explanation to a discussion of conversion on another character.  I'm going to try churning these out pretty quickly from here on, because my current game is sorta on hold until I complete these.


I was indirectly asked in a different board why I don't just wrap-up the current campaign and start a new one.  The simple reason is because it would be like wrapping up the Lord of the Rings just after the Battle of Helms Deep.  Or Star Wars just after The Empire Strikes Back.  The characters just turned a corner, and have a good 4-7 sessions left to get to a point where I could end the campaign on a good note.

So my work continues...

Marin Zycolik

Next up on the conversion list is Barret's business partner and pilot, Marin Zycolik.  Just like Barret,

Art by Phil Maiewski

I'll be building him on 300xp after starting character creation.  Let's see what we have to work with.

Marin Zycolik                                                    CL 10

Medium Human scout 5/scoundrel 2/gunslinger 2/vanguard 1

Destiny 4; Force 11

Init +9; Senses Perception +11

Languages Basic, Bocce, Durese, Sullustese

Defenses Ref 28 (flat-footed 24), Fort 27, Will 23; Vehicular Combat

hp 95; Threshold 27

Speed  6 squares

Melee  by weapon +7

Ranged targeting blaster rifle +13 (3d6+5) or

Ranged blaster pistol +11 (3d6+6)

Base Atk +7; Grp +11

Atk Options Deadeye, Extended Ambush, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Soften the Target

Special Actions Quick Draw, Shake it Off

Abilities Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 10

Special Qualities trusty sidearm +1

Talents Extended Ambush, Hyperspace Savant, Improved Stealth, Snap Shot, Soften the Target, Spacehound

Feats Deadeye, Force Sensitivity, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Shake it Off, Skill Focus (Pilot), Skill Training (Use the Force), Vehicular Combat, Weapon Focus (rifles), Weapon Proficiency (pistols, rifles, simple weapons)

Skills Climb +10, Endurance +12, Knowledge (galactic lore) +13, Knowledge (physical sciences) +13, Mechanics +13, Perception +11, Pilot +19, Stealth +14 (may reroll but must keep the result of the reroll even if worse), Survival +11, Treat Injury +6 (no penalty to heal self), Use the Force +10

Possessions blaster pistol, flight suit (+0 armor, +1 equipment), comlink, energy cell, glow rod, liquid cable dispenser, medpac, power pack, 2 rolls of mesh tape, security kit, tool kit, utility belt, targeting blaster rifle (tech specialist mod; +1 attack)

Marin was passed over for Jedi training as a youth, and instead found his way into the Republic Astrological Survey Team, and working with the Jedi Explorer Corps.  He's a wonder at the controls of the group's transport ship, a YT-1930 transport named The Thranta.  He's also a great shot with is slightly more "socially-acceptable" Targeting Blaster Rifle, as well as having a good amount of proficiency with stealth.

As we did with Barret, we start by looking at Marin's stats.  Ironically we're looking a lot like we did with Barret, except that I put Agility at 4 and Intellect at 3.  All other stats are at 2, because I've just burned 100 of his starting 110xp and can't afford to raise any more Characteristics.

My biggest conundrum was where to start Marin.  Explorer/Fringer fit.  Smuggler/Pilot fit.  Heck, even Bounty Hunter/Assassin fit.  After a long car ride and discussion with Marin's player, we decided that a split between Fringer and Assassin made the most sense.  Looking at the Career skill lists for Bounty Hunter and Explorer, and the Specialization skill lists for Assassin and Fringer, I decide to have Marin start in Assassin.  He's not really an assassin, more of a hunter and exploration party protector when on uncharted worlds.

Initial skill selections from Bounty Hunter are Athletics, Perception, Piloting-Space, and Ranged-Heavy.  From Assassin we'll put a point into Coordination and Stealth.  This covers Marin's athletic ability, his sneakiness, his piloting skill, and his rifle proficiency. I'm going to bypass Marin's bonus human skills for now.  I want to see where the rest of the character goes and fill in any holes.  I will put the last 10xp from character creation into Ranged-Heavy, bumping it up to 2.

Let's start spending XP.  I'm going to bump up Piloting-Space to Rank 3 for 25xp.  I'm also going to pick up a couple Knowledge Skills for Marin, those being Lore and Outer Rim for 10xp each.  That should cover Marin's Galactic Lore skill from Saga.  It won't cover much from the Core Worlds, but it will cover the Outer Rim and the Obscure, which fits why Marin had it in the first place.  I think at this point I'll declare one of his Human skills for Education, which will cover Physical Sciences but can also help him out in other areas.  Ironic, he loses something from Galactic Lore, but gains more than Physical Sciences gave him. 

I know I'm going to take Fringer which will cost 30xp thanks to it being Marin's second Tree from a different Career.  I'll buy up Marin's Astrogation skill at this time.  He's a good Astrogator, thanks to his Hyperspace Savant talent in Saga.  I might need the points elsewhere so I'll only buy it up to Rank 2 for 15xp, total.  I see Marin won't get access to Mechanics as a Career skill, so I'll make that the other Human skill.

Total Spent for Skills: 90xp

Moving on to Assassin Talents; I took this tree for it's great list of talents for a sniper build.  With Dead-Eye, Careful Aim, Extend Ambush, and a rifle that is designed to be used with an aim action this is where Marin's specialty in combat lies.  The first column in the Assassin tree is calling for Marin to dump XP into it.  Grit for 5xp is where we start, moving on to Precise Aim for 10xp.  Targeted Blow is great for Marin's Agility of 4; he'll be able to flip a Destiny Point to deal +4 damage with a successful attack.  I'll hold up there, even though going through Stalker will get him a second Precise Aim an a pair of Sniper Shot talents.  I do like Stalker though, with it's Boost die to Stealth and Coordination.  Fortunately, we can snag it back on Row 1 for 5xp.  I see that Quick Draw (a feat Marin had in Saga) is a short hop down from Dodge at 5xp, which is a nice defensive talent to have.  Plus, between Fringer and Assassin Marin could end up with 4 ranks in Dodge.  I'm also going to take Jump-Up, branching off from Precise Aim.  It's handy, allowing Marin to get up from a prone firing position quickly.  Looking in Fringer, it'll also allow him to bypass that same talent in a 20xp slot and get that much closer to a Dedication talent.

Total Spent in Assassin: 60xp

Time to move back over to Fringer (which I paid for back in the Skills area).  There's a great cluster of talents perfect for galactic travel and exploration.  We start with a rank of Galactic Mapper for 5xp, move down to a rank of Skilled Jockey for 10xp.  Now Marin's taking off a black Setback die from Astrogation and Piloting checks.  Master Starhopper at 15xp allows him to decrease the difficulty of Astrogation checks, which fits in nicely to replicate the Hyperspace Savant talent.  Now his Astrogation really could be as good as his piloting skills.  I like Defensive Driving, adding 1 Defense to a vehicle Marin pilots.  It's only 15xp, and is a good replicator for the defensive aspect of the Vehicular Combat feat.  

Moving on from there, Marin's a hardy individual.  The life of being a scout will do that.  I want to put some points into toughening up Marin, so I slide over a couple columns to take Rapid Recovery for 5xp, another rank of Grit for 10xp, a second rank of Rapid Recovery for 15xp, and move over from Grit to take a rank of Toughened.  Now Marin can take a little more damage, suffer a little more strain, and recover more strain after an encounter.

Total Spent in Fringer: 85xp

Last area of Marin's backstory is his connection to the Force.  He's not trained, not really.  At best he goes off hunches, sometimes weighing the outcome against what his gut is telling him.  He has learned to be better at going with his gut, thanks to Skill Training in Use the Force in Saga Edition.  We'll start with taking the Force Sensitive Exile specialization tree for 30xp (3rd Tree, and a Universal tree).  I like the look of Uncanny Reactions, and Uncanny Senses at 5xp each.  Ironically, going into Exile gets Marin access to a Talent that touches on his Survival skill training in Saga; Forager.  This talent will make it easier for Marin to scrounge food and water in the wilds, something that Survival allowed him to do.  It's a great fit.

Now, I like the idea of Marin having some Force ability, but have it be explained as a more passive, instinctive manifestation.  We have Marin take the Sense Force power for 10xp.  We then spend another 10xp to get the first Control Upgrade.  This will allow Marin to dedicate his one Force Rating die to a defensive ability; once per round he can upgrade the difficulty of an incoming attack.  It has been clarified that this upgrade works in vehicles as well as personal combat (unlike the Dodge talent), so this is another way for Marin to display his piloting ability.

Total Spent in Force Sensitive Exile: 65xp

Total Spent overall: 300xp

Equipment time!  Marin's got this hot Targeting Blaster Rifle.  In Saga Edition, this was a weapon that was a Licensed weapon, as opposed to a Blaster Rifle which is Restricted.  Base damage was that of a Blaster Pistol, but if you aimed with it the base damage went from 3d6 up to 3d8 (standard Blaster Rifle Damage).  I could just say "to hell with it, it's a Blaster Rifle" and call it a day, but I like where this is going so I'm going to work with it. I'll take the Blaster Rifle skill (Ranged-Heavy), Critical Rating (3), Range (Long), and Hardpoints (4).  I lower the base damage to that of a Blaster Pistol (6), and the Rarity to 4.  These weapons are supposed to be pretty sizable too, bigger than a Blaster Rifle, so the Encumbrance is 5.  It keeps the Stun-Setting quality, and gains the Cumbersome 2 quality (meaning you need a Brawn of 2 to use it without penalty).  

Here's where we work in the unique quality from Saga.  I'd thought about things like "when you take an Aim maneuver, you get an extra Boost die", but that would affect the ability to hit as well.  Successes equal damage, but the targeting rifle is supposed to hit harder when you aim, not be easier to hit with in the first place.  So I need a way to increase the damage when aiming and came up with this; when the character uses the Aim maneuver, the rifle gains the Pierce 3 quality for the next attack.  That effectively brings the base damage of the rifle back up to that of a Blaster Rifle.  I could also say that instead of Pierce 3, the rifle's base damage increases to 9, instead of 6.  Two ways of doing the same thing, really.  I just feel that gaining "Pierce 3" sounds cooler and conveys how deadly the rifle can be in the right hands.

I'm tempted to dial it back so that to gain the Pierce 3 quality you need to have used 2 consecutive Aim maneuvers.  We'll see how it playtests like this.  I might just say "to hell with it, it's a blaster rifle with the long-barrel modification".  We'll see.  Other than that, toss in a blaster pistol, add in some standard gear, some Padded Armor for protection, and Marin's good to go.

We move on to Obligations and Motivations.  I had all my PCs answer the Three Questions by GM Chris, so I've got a great place to start.  Based on his character backstory, his Obligation is the same as Barret's, the loan on their ship.  They've kept ahead of their payments, so the Obligation is only a 5.  His motivation is also similar to Barret's; Ambition-Wanderlust.  Marin loves exploring, and would be happy just pointing his ship in a direction, throwing the hypersapce levers, and ending up wherever the Force takes him.

Not To Be Confused With "Benny and the Jet"

As mentioned, Barret and Marin own a YT-1930 called The Thranta.  It's the party's ship, their main transport, and has brought them through many tough scrapes and close calls. The party has made some extensive modifications to the stock model.  Guns have been added, shield systems and hyperdrives upgraded, a cryogenic hold added to the storage by, and even a special "fighter cradle" that allows the ship to transport a small fighter with them in hyperspace.

The Thranta; Modified YT-1930 Light Freighter
Defense Ref 16 (flat-footed 14), Fort 28; +14 armor
hp 150; DR 15; SR 45; Threshold 78

——————————————————
Speed fly 12 squares (max. velocity 950 km/h), fly 3 squares (starship scale)
Ranged medium laser cannon +2
Ranged quad ion cannon +2
Ranged laser cannons +2

——————————————————
Abilities Str 46, Dex 14, Con -, Int 14
Crew 2; Passengers 6
Cargo 130 tons; Consumables 4 months; Carried Craft 1 starfighter
Hyperdrive x1 (backup x12), navicomputer
Emplacement Points (10 base) -14 (-70 tons to Cargo)
Quad Medium Laser Cannon (pilot)
Dmg 6d10x2

——————————————————-
Double Medium Laser Cannon (copilot)
Dmg 5d10x2

——————————————————-
Quad Medium Ion Cannons (gunner)
Improved Accuracy (+1)
*Dmg 7d10x2 Ion
Upgrades

• x1 Hyperdrive (replaced x2)
• Maneuvering Jets +2 (2 EPs)
• Armor +1 (2 EPs)
• Shields, SR 45 (replaced SR 15)
• Cryogenic Chambers (2)(4 EPs)
• Sensor Array Computer +2 (1 EPs)
• Fighter Cradle (10 EPs)
• Quad Medium Ion Cannons (2 EPs)
• Quad Medium Laser Cannons (2 Eps)

This is not a ship that FFG has done stats for, yet.  Thankfully, Donovan Morningfire wrote up some stats for it for the GSA.  After some modifications, here's how she looks Edge of the Empire style.

The Thranta; Modified YT-1930 Light Freighter

Hull Type: Freighter
Ship Class: YT-1930
Manufacturer: Corellian Engineering Corporation
Hyperdrive: Primary: Class 1, Backup: Class 12
Navicomputer: Yes
Ship’s Complement: One pilot, one co-pilot/engineer

Starfighter Complement: One starfighter
Passenger Capacity: 6
Encumbrance Capacity: 180
Consumables: 4 months
Silhouette: 4
Sensor Range: Short
Speed: 3
Handling: -1 (-2 when carrying a starfighter)
Defense: 3/3

Armor: 5
Hull Integrity: 25
Strain Threshold: 18
Customization Hardpoints: 0 (Reinforced Shield Generator +3, Hyperdrive Generator Upgrade, add Quad Laser Cannon, add "Quad" Ion Cannon)

Weapons
Dorsal Turret Mounted Twin Laser Cannon (Fire Arc All; Range Close, Damage 6, Critical Hit 3, Linked [1]) 

Forward Mounted Quad Laser Cannon (Fire Arc Front; Range Close, Damage 5, Critical Hit 3, Accurate, Linked [3])

Ventral Turret Mounted "Quad" Ion Cannon (Fire Arc All; Range Short, Damage 6, Critical 4, Ion, Linked [3])

Yes, the hardpoints are likely fudged and "hand-waived", especially the ship's ability to transport a fighter it it's storage bays, but it fits the work the players have done to the ship.  The Shield Modification fits because the PCs got the biggest shield generator they could fit in a space transport, and installed it.  I had to make my own Quad Ion Cannon, which should work out pretty well as a foursome of medium ion cannons fire-linked.  It's not accurate like a true quad-cannon, but it should do just fine. 

Finally, while there's no modification listed for a "fighter launch" or "shuttle clamps", I wanted this ship to still be able to haul along a Jedi Starfighter when the need arose.  I figured losing a point of Handling while carrying a starfighter in the hold would be good compensation.

Like everything else, I'll be testng this to see how it flies.  *ba-dum crash*

Fantasy Flight Imports: Pt 1- Barret Taliff

Everyone loves "New Hotness".

With the presentation of the Beta Rulebook, and the impending arrival of the Core Rulebook, Star Wars Gamers around the world are drooling over the prospects of playing with the Edge of the Empire system.  We've been devouring the free adventures, picking up the Beginner's Boxed set (with official dice!  Yay!), and grabbing every chance we've had to get experienced with the way Fantasy Flight's system works and feels.

We're all considered new to Edge of the Empire, but a large number of us are long time Star Wars table-top gamers. Whether you got involved with Wizards of the Coast's editions of the game, or went all the way back to the beginning with West End Games, many of us have put countless hours into adventures in that galaxy far, far away.

And for many of us, we're still adventuring there now.

We are faced with a common problem; we want to use the new rules set, but we want to use it with our old characters.  We want to convert over our current campaigns to Edge of the Empire.  We want to play our old faves with the new hotness. It is work, a lot of work, but it's work that can be fun, rewarding, and worth doing.  Today, I'm going to share with you my experiences with the process, and share with you my successes, failures, triumphs, and despairs.

Is This Trip Really Necessary?

The first step is to figure out if you need to convert the characters over in the first place.  That statement sort of goes against the whole notion of this article to begin with, but it's true.  I've had a lot of fun playing the pre-gen characters in the modules that are out there, as have my PCs when I ran them through what's available.  If you're not ready to convert over your entire campaign to the new system, including the highly probable need to homebrew certain classes and vehicles, then don't do it.  Put your campaign on the back-burner and run a new Edge of the Empire game until there's enough material out there that you feel comfortable converting.  It'll also give you and your players practice earning and using their talents and skills, and can make the jump from the previous edition to Edge a lot smoother.

If you decide that you are ready for this undertaking, then let's proceed.

Establishing a Baseline

For this article I'm going to focus on converting characters from a Saga Edition game to Edge of the Empire.  We'll be using that rules set as a base for abilities, and be the target mark for what we're trying to replicate with EotE.

One thing to remember is that in Saga, the character has many opportunities to increase stats; 2 ability scores increase by 1 every 4 levels.  In addition, characters can bump up a score or two if they complete certain destinies.  In Edge of the Empire, you can increase your stats after game start only by taking the Dedication talent, and only one characteristic gets the increase.  These talents are buried deep in every Specialization tree, and take over 100xp to get to.  Because of this, take a look at what your character's ability scores are in Saga Edition, and spend your starting XP getting as close as you can to those numbers.

As a general guideline, try using this as a guide; make the Characteristic value in EotE as close as you can get it to the ability modifier in Saga.  So if someone has a 14 Dexterity (which generates a +2 Ability Modifier), their Agility should be 2.  18 Intelligence (+4 Ability Modifier) should be an Intellect of 4.  There's a lot of push and pull here.  I can see 15s generating Characteristics of 3.  13s converting to 2s.   It's all about what looks right, in the end. 

Now, where to put those points. Brawn is your combination of Strength and Constitution, so if your character had high marks in one of those areas, that's where you want to reflect that.  Dexterity to Agility is a direct conversion, as is Intelligence to Intellect.  The last two require some consideration of your character and what they did with the stats they had.  Wisdom is a good translation to Willpower, but because perception is Cunning based I could see points going in there.  Charisma is split between Cunning for deception and creativity and Presence for raw personality and charm.  Figur out what your character did with those Abilities and you'll have an idea where to apply that with characteristics.



Today's Example: Barret Talif



Art by Phil Maiewski

With the completion (for now) of my Jedi Career and Lightsaber Forms document, I can continue to work on the primary purpose I created those custom rules in the first place; updating my Order 65 Campaign to the Edge of the Empire rules set.  Thanks to the diligent work of my PCs and the handiness of Obsidian Portal, I know approximately how many sessions I've run, and can approximate how much XP I should be working with.  Looking through the adventure posts and my own list of chapters, I see that we've run about 18-19 game sessions.  That puts us just shy of 300xp.  For argument's sake, I round that off to 300xp.  It might make the characters a little over-powered.  If it does, I can always dial it back.

As a base-line example, I started with the most mundane character in the party; Barret Taliff.  Barret's a techno-genius from Fondor and loves hauling around a blaster cannon in combat (even if he hasn't been that successful a shot with it).  He repairs what he needs, and improvises the rest.  He's also become the party's font of information, having taken several talents that allow him to maximize his Knowledge skills.

Let's show you what I'm working with.

Barret Talif                                                         CL 10

Medium Human noble 7/improviser 3

Destiny 6; Force 10

Init +12; Senses Perception +10

Languages Basic, Binary, Bocce, Durese, High Galactic, Huttese, Mon Calamarian, Rodese, Shyriiwook, Sluissese, Verpine

Defenses Ref 24 (flat-footed 22), Fort 21, Will 24

hp 67; Threshold 21

Speed  6 squares

Melee survival knife +8 (1d6+6) or

Melee survival knife +8 (1d6+6)

Ranged blaster cannon +10 (3d12+5, 1-square splash) or

Ranged blaster pistol +9 (3d6+7) or

Ranged rotary blaster cannon -1 (3d10+5) with autofire or

Ranged rotary blaster cannon +7 (3d10+5) when braced

Base Atk +7; Grp +9

Atk Options Assured Attack, autofire (rotary blaster cannon)

Special Actions brace (rotary blaster cannon), Personalized Modifications, Right Gear for the Job, Stand Tall

Abilities Str 13, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 12

Special Qualities contraband (2000 credits)

Talents Educated, Exceptional Skill (Mechanics), Leading Skill, Personalized Modifications, Right Gear for the Job, Wealth

Feats Assured Attack, Droidcraft, Linguist, Skill Focus (Mechanics), Stand Tall, Superior Tech, Surgical Expertise, Tech Specialist, Weapon Proficiency (heavy weapons, pistols, simple weapons)

Skills Deception +11, Gather Information +11, Initiative +12, Knowledge (physical sciences) +14, Knowledge (technology) +14, Mechanics +19 (treat die rolls of 2-7 as 8), Perception +10, Persuasion +11, Pilot +12, Treat Injury +10, Use Computer +14

Possessions blaster cannon (tech specialist mod; +1 attack), blaster pistol (tech specialist mod; +2 damage), 56530 credits, rotary blaster cannon, survival knife, survival knife, utility belt (3 day food supply, medpac, tool kit, power pack, energy cell, glow rod, comlink, liquid cable dispenser), cybernetic prosthesis (left leg), datapad, 2 hip holsters, medical kit, 4 medpacs

To begin, I started building him as a new character, spending XP where appropriate, and then went cherry picking for talents and skill upgrades that fit.  Humans start with 2s in everything. Barret, as the resident smartie and tech-god needed a high Intellect, so I dropped 70 of his starting 110xp into buying up Intellect to 4. Barret has also improved his Dexterity a bit over his adventuring career, so I spent 30xp to get that to 3. I know a Dexterity of 14 has a +2 Ability Modifier, but with so many of his other abilities between 10 and 13, this fits where Barret has gone in his adventuring career.

Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 4, Cunning 2, Willpower 2, Presence 2

That uses 100 of the starting 110xp for Humans.  We'll use the last 10 to pick up a second rank of Mechanics.

For Careers, Barret is the techie so Technician is a natural choice. He has been more cultured in his upbringing and more focused on machines than computers, so his initial specialization is Mechanic rather than Outlaw Tech or Slicer. Starting skills are Astrogation, Computers, Mechanics, Perception, Skulduggery, and Pilot-Space. Humans get 1 rank in two non-career skills at start, so I selected Medicine and Gunnery.  Barret has that blaster cannon he loves to lug around, and has turned into the unofficial party paramedic.

I did have Barret pick up Outlaw Tech as a second Specialization, as well as branching out and buying access to the Scholar Talent Tree in the Colonist Career. I'll go into why later.

Let's start with Mechanic; I'm looking for talents that fit Barrel's abilities in Saga Edition.  Gearhead is a great start point.  That connects to Redundant Systems which encapsulates Barret's nature of scavenging parts and making ad hoc repairs when needed.  Looking down the chart, I see that I'm in a column that ends with Natural Tinkerer.  In between is Solid Repairs (which fits great because Barret is, first, the ship's mechanic) and Contraption.  Contraption is perfect for Barret's Improviser Prestige Class.  I'll take the entire column.  

Time to buy up some skills.  Astrogation at 1 is fine, Barret's got a high Use Computers skill in Saga Edition, but Astrogateing was secondary in his role.  We'll bump up Computers to 2.  Coordination really isn't Barret's forte, so let's skip it.  Same with Discipline.  Mechanics, however, is another story.  Let's get that up to 3.  Pilot-Planet fits, so I put a rank in that for 5xp, along with a rank in Knowledge-Outer Rim for another 5. 

Spent XP thus far is 110.

Moving on; I have Barret buy into Outlaw Tech for 20xp as his first extra Specialization, and from the same Career.  While he's an educated man, Barret's also had a tendency to fiddle with technology and has been able to squeeze maximum performance out of his machines.  This is reflected in the Tech Specialist feats from Saga.  Tinkerer is perfect for this, so we start there.  But with two Tinkerer talents at the top of the Talent Tree, we have options where to start.  I look at the first column and see that mid-way down is the Utility Belt talent.  This is another skill that is great for replicating the "I have a tool for that!" nature of the Improviser.  Plus in between those talents is a second hit of Solid Repairs.  Come to think of it, this entire row is perfect for Barret, so we also take the next talent after Utility Belt; Jury Rigged.  I'm going to hold off on the last talent in the column, Inventor.  It's a good talent for Barret, but I've got to be running low on XP.  I look at the skills he now has access to and put a Rank into the Knowledge skills Education and Underworld.  More Knowledge skills for "the professor".

With that, I've spent 80 xp here.  From my 300, I'm left with 110.

I mentioned that Barret is educated, formally in fact.  This screams for Scholar, so we pick up that specialization.  Sadly, because it's his third specialization, and a non-Career one, it eats a whopping 40xp to access. Barret's Education talent from Saga let him roll every Knowledge skill as if it was trained.  I want to mimic that here.  Scholar gets him Knowledge-Outer Rim and Xenology.  We'll put a rank into both of those with a rank for 10xp.  That leaves him with two Knowledge skills he doesn't have at Career skills.  Fortunately, there's a way to fix that in Scholar.  Well Rounded is a Scholar talent that Barret can take and unlock Core Worlds and Lore.  Plus it gets him Toughened and Researcher along the way.

But are two Knowledge skills the best use of Well Rounded for Barret?  Sure, he'd have all Knowledge skills as career skills, but with an Intellect of 4, is the player likely to buy up those skills anymore?  I think he's better served by picking up Core Worlds and Lore as his bonus Human Skills, and take Well Rounded to make Gunnery and Ranged-Heavy as Career skills to give him some combat offense.  Barret loves his blaster cannon, as well as the rotary blaster cannon he picked up in his travels.  Plus when he's not fixing the party's spaceship he's manning one of the turrets.  So we go back to the beginning, make the two Knowledge skills the bonus Human skills, and spend 15xp on Ranged-Heavy 2 and 5xp Gunnery 1.  

Total XP in Scholar, 90.  Total XP over-all, 280.

Let's see if there's anything I'm missing.  Barret's a Linguist, but there's really no Language skill or ability in Edge of the Empire. I remember that I've now edited out Barret's one rank of Medicine, so we buy that back for 10xp.  Looking over my options, I feel dropping another 10xp into Outlaw Tech Talents is the way to go, snagging another Tinkerer for 5xp, and Speaks Binary to give Barret some proficiency with directing NPC droids (he did have Droidcraft, and there are NPC droids aboard his ship)..

And with that, I've spent 300xp.  

That's it for Stats and Abilities, let's look at equipment.  Barret has a blaster pistol for back up, and a blaster cannon as his main weapon.  Closest analogue to the blaster cannon is the Light Repeating Blaster, which could replicate his Rotary Blaster Cannon anyway.  It has a Cumbersome 4 rating, meaning Barret with his Brawn of 2 would add two difficulty dice to his rolls.  Remember that Barret is a mechanic, and a modification expert.  With the application of the Weapon Harness modification, he lowers that Cumbersome quality to 2, which he can easily handle.  Due to Barret's Superior Tech feat from Saga, and the fact he modified his weapons extensively, we'll also give this cannon the Superior Weapon Customization.

For armor, Barret never had Armor Feats in Saga, so he is mostly wearing basic clothing.  Let's give him Padded Armor, though, because he needs all the protection he can get.  When you carry a big cannon, you draw a lot of heat.  Because of this, Barret will apply his Jury-Rigged talent to the Padded Armor, giving it a Ranged Defense bonus of +1.

We port over the usual gear you'd expect someone to have in Star Wars; Utility Belt, Stimpacks, Comlink, Climbing Gear, Datapad, Glow Rod, and extra Power Packs.  Because of his medical training we give him a Medpac on the ship, and Emergency Medpac in the field, and 10 doses of Synthskin.  For his Mechanics checks, he's got a Tool Kit and 3 Emergency Repair Kits.  Finally after an unfortunate encounter with a Sith, Barret lost his left leg to a lightsaber cut.  He's got a cybernetic leg to replace it, but doesn't receive any specific bonuses due to having it (because he's still got his original right leg).

The final touches are the tricky ones; Obligation and Motivation.  Lucky for me, Barret has a big obligation thanks to his character origins; Debt.  He took out a bank loan to buy the ship he and his partner, Marin Zycolik, map the galaxy in.  It's not a criminal organization, but a reputable lender, so a 5 point Obligation is probably sufficient enough (especially because Barret and Marin have worked to stay ahead of the payments).

I actually lucked out for Motivations too, because I subscribed to GM Chris's "Three Questions" and made all my PCs answer the following questions.

What does your character Love?: Kind of abstract, but his love of tech and anything new keeps Barrett going. He knows the next great breakthrough could just be around the next star system and he wants to be the one to discover it. Plus he loves working to music. Be it actual music or the pulsing hum of a well-tuned engine, it’s all love to his ears.
What does your character Hate?: He has a weird distrust of anyone who doubted him and his dreams back on his home world. Sort of like he’s out to prove them wrong. There is also an irrational doubt when dealing with anyone from a low-tech world.
Why is he working for the Republic? Barrett may be from a noble background with some income, but it doesn’t pay all the bills. If he had his way, Barrett would be tooling around the galaxy on the lookout for the latest and greatest tech toy. But there is no income in that. So he’s working with Marin and the rest of the group to help pay for his way across the stars.

So Barret has the following Motivations; Ambition-Technophile and Wanderlust.  His "hate" is a good one, but is hard to fit into the "Ambition/Cause/Relationships" framework.  It's sort of a part of his Technophile Motivation, as he distrusts and dislikes those who are afraid of or refuse to use technology to improve their lives.

And here's what Barret Taliff looks like, Edge of the Empire style...

Final Thoughts

When I did this conversion, I was surprised how quickly experience points were eaten up.  Trying to capture the feel of this Saga character required me to buy into two extra Specializations, one of them a non-Career one.  That ate up a lot of points, almost a quarter of them.  I likely could have cut one of them, and been happy with a more focused character (300 xp and not one purchase of Dedication...?), but I don't think it would be Barret.  He needs those Specializations to round out the various skills and abilities he's picked up in over three years of gaming.

This is the first of seven PCs I have to convert, and he's the easiest.  Next is Vandal the former HK-Assassin Droid, Marin the Explorer Corps scout, Lucas the criminal hero (think Zorro with Force Powers), Glendora the Zeltron Jedi Healer, Nicaela the Miraluka Jedi Duelist, and Tycho the Jedi Sage.  Those last three are going to require a fair bit of custom work.  Fortunately, there are people out there who have home-brewed resources for folks to use while we eagerly await for Fantasy Flight Games to fill in the gaps.

Custom Resources

Odds are pretty good that you're not going to be able to port over your characters directly to Edge of the Empire.  Like me, you'll need to either come up with some custom house-rules, or find someone online who's done the work for you.  There are many great resources over at the D20 Radio Forums from folks who have made custom races, ships, and Careers and Talent Trees for those pesky Force users.

Unofficial Species Menagerie, by Agent 94 and Agent 66

Ways of the Force, Force Character options for the Rebellion Era and several new Force Powers by Donovan Morningfire 

Jedi Career by Awaypturwpn, another take on the Jedi Career by one of the Gamer Nation

Edge of the Jedi, My custom Jedi Career and Lightsaber Style Specialization trees