M&M/SWSE Crossover - Races (Part 1)

Firstly, credit where credit is due. Greywulf, over at his lair, inspired me with his series of D&D/M&M crossover articles to do a few articles of my own. Since I am quite a fan of Star Wars Saga Edition, I thought "let's see what M&M can do with that". So, with that in mind, here are the first 8 races out of the core rulebook (there are a massive 17 races in the core game for some reason) as racial templates. Also, thanks go to to Greywulf for helping me work out a few issues with these.

Humans

• Enhanced Trait (+4 in any skill) [1]
• Any feat [1]
• Total 2PP

Bothans

• +2 Dex [2]
• -2 Con [-2]
• Enhanced Trait (+4 Gather Information) [1]
• Total = 1PP

Cereans

• +2 Int [2]
• +2 Wis [2]
• -2 Dex [-2]
• Second Chance 1 (reroll any Initiative check) [1]
• Improved Initiative 1 (+4 to Initiative) [1]
• Total = 4PP

Duros

• +2 Dex [2]
• +2 Int [2]
• -2 Con [-2]
• Second Chance 1 (reroll any Pilot check) [1]
• Total = 3PP

Ewok

• +2 Dex [2]
• -2 Str [-2]
• Small size: Shrinking 4 (Normal strength, Permanent) [4]
• Super-senses (accurate and radius smell) [3]
• Second Chance 1 (reroll any Stealth check) [1]
• Enhanced Trait (+4 Survival) [1]
• Drawback: Language: Ewokese (speak only) (very common, moderate) [-4]
• Drawback: Primitive (-5 to attack rolls with blasters, rifles and heavy weapons) (common, minor) [-2]
• Total = 3PP

Primitive is an interesting little mechanic. In SWSE game terms, it takes away whatever weapon proficiency you have with blasters, rifles and heavy weapons, whether your class gives it to you or not. This means that you take a -5 to attacks with these weapons. The only way I could think of to emulate this was to make this a character drawback. I'm not sure how common it is (depends on roleplaying), and how serious it is depends on whether you're trying to use those weapons anyway (so I went for moderate).

Gamorreans

• +2 Str [2]
• -2 Dex [-2]
• -2 Int [-2]
• Drawback: Primitive (-5 to attack rolls with blasters, rifles and heavy weapons) (common, minor) [-2]
• Enhanced Trait (+2 Fort save) [2]
• Protection 2 [2]
• Total = 0PP

Damage threshold is another mechanic which SWSE introduced, and I think it's pretty cool. It opens up some pretty cool tactics and talents. In game terms, if you take damage greater than your damage threshold (which is usually your Con score), you move one position down the "condition track". This track has 5 levels, which give you penalties to pretty much all rolls, up to a maximum of -10 followed by unconsciousness. Improved damage threshold basically makes this number higher. So, to emulate their ability to roll with the punches (so to speak), I gave gamorreans a little free protection. This means they are less likely to be bruised/battered and take penalties to toughness.

Gungans

• +2 Dex [2]
• -2 Int [-2]
• -2 Cha [-2]
• Enhanced Trait (+4 Swim) [1]
• Second Chance 1 (reroll any Swim check) [1]
• Immunity (underwater suffocation); Limited (works for 25 x Con score rounds before normal conditions apply) [1]
• Enhanced Trait (+2 Reflex save) [2]
• Super-senses (low-light vision) [1]
• Total = 4PP

I love how flexible M&M is here. For instance, Gungans get a weird mechanic where they can hold their breathe for 25 X Con score round before they drown (for a character with 10 Con, this is an impressive 25 minutes). Without making up new mechanics, you can simply state that this is the case as a limitation of the power.

Ithorians

• +2 Wis [2]
• +2 Cha [2]
• -2 Dex [-2]
• Bellow: Blast 3 (sonic energy, area: 30ft cone, tiring) [6]
• Second Chance 1 (reroll any Survival check) [1]
• Enhanced Trait (+4 Knowledge: Life Sciences) [1]
• Total = 10PP

For any of you that have seen the Clone Wars animated series (the first one a few years ago), you might remember the power Bellow. Again, another example of the flexibility of M&M that it can emulate all aspects of this power (energy type, area, tiring). The only thing I was a little unsure of was the power. This will do +3 damage to anyone in the area. The original power does 3d6 damage, so I don't know if this stacks up.

I hope you enjoyed these. I tried to comment where I could on why I chose certain things. Part 2 to follow.