Star Wars Conversions: Seperatist Droids

Hey all!!

Firstly, a very merry christmas to you all. I may not be religious, but there's nothing like spending time with family, with good food and drink and lots of presents :)

Secondly, here is another post from my star wars conversion series, where I convert things from the star wars universe to the mutants and masterminds RPG. This time, I have statted out some of the seperatist battle droids, as seen in Episodes I to III, as well as both clone wars TV series. As a guide, I used the stats as given in the star wars saga edition as well as greywulf's D&D conversion guide. I started off trying to convert things 1:1, but it was just taking too long and didn't seem to make much sense, so instead I chose an arbitrary PL rating for them, and statted them out to have approximately that number of power points. As for the weapons, I tried to just pick weapons of approximately similar power from the M&M equipment section and just made them energy weapons, with autofire. Ah, well...

Finally, a rant.

I've been watching a fair bit of star wars recently, particularly the recent clone wars movie and TV series (with the unique animation style, which I personally like; I know it drove a massive number of people up the wall). In general, I am really enjoying them as I feel they capture the feeling of star wars really well, and tell some pretty cool stories. However, there are a couple of things that I find just don't fit, and essentially just don't make sense. They both have to do with droids, which is why I bring them up here.

The first is that whenever two droids are talking to each other, they make stupid remarks, or act stupidly, or just generally act human. The fact is, the B1 series specifically is controlled by a remote processor (according to star wars canon), and the likelihood is that the remote processor that is controlling one of the droids is most likely controlling the other. There's absolutely no reason for them to say anything at all to each other, nevermind argue with each other or contradict each other in any way. Even with the B2 super battle droids which are somewhat independent, there is no reason they should say anything at all. It would be far more efficient and likely for them to communicate in droid speak, or even just wirelessly.

The second is the apparent accuracy of the droids. There are way too many scenes in the movies and the TV series where you see droids firing wildly at clones, and the clones find it possible to stand still and fire back. The fact is, droids should be able to improve their accuracy with every shot, especially at a stationary target. Any droid-builder worth their salt would have included programming that would take sensor information, process the placement of the shot, and improve it on the next shot. So, I would understand that the droids would miss for a few shots, but eventually, they should mow down anything that doesn't keep moving. The above theory notwithstanding, even if their accuracy were to remain the same, one of them should at least get a lucky shot in ... or why did the trade federation spend so much money on them? Before someone says it, I realise this is all dramatic license, and that lucas is just making the scene look tense for the clones, with laser fire all around them, and so on. I just think he's taken it a bit far, a bit too often...

Anyway, that's my rant over. Feel free to disagree with me.

Here are the stats I was talking about before. Well done to everyone that actually read my ravings. Please leave a comment, and tell me what you think.

B1 Series Battle Droid

Medium robot, PL 1 (15 points)

Str 14, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha -

Skills:

• notice 4 (+4)

Feats:

• equipment 4 (20 equipment points)

Powers:

• immunity 30 (fortitude)
• protection 1

Combat:

• attack +2 (base attack)
• damage +5 (blaster carbine), +2 (unarmed)
• defense +1
• initiative +0

Saves:

• toughness 2 (+3)
• fortitude --
• reflex 0 (+2)
• will 0 (+2)

Equipment:

• blaster carbine (damage +5, crit 20,  energy, autofire, range increment 50ft, large) 16 EP
• comlink 1 EP

Drawbacks:

• Limited: no on-board computer; requires a remote processor to operate (Uncommon, Major, 3 points)
• Vulnerable to electricity: double toughness save DC (Common, Major, 4 points)

Cost: Abilities -26 + Skills 1 + Feats 4 + Powers 31 + Combat 6 + Saves 6 - Drawbacks 7 = 15

B2 Series Super Battle Droid

Medium robot, PL 2 (34 points)

Str 16, Dex 10, Con -, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha -

Skills:

• Notice 8 (+8)

Feats:

• Power attack
• Equipment 4 (20 points)

Powers:

• immunity 30 (fortitude)
• protection 3

Combat:

• attack +3 (base attack)
• damage +5 (wrist blaster), +3 (unarmed)
• defense +1
• initiative +0

Saves:

• toughness 2 (+5)
• fortitude --
• reflex 0 (+2)
• will 0 (+2)

Equipment:

• wrist blaster (damage +5, crit 20,  energy, autofire, range increment 50ft) 16 EP
• commlink 1EP

Drawbacks:

• Vulnerable to electricity: double toughness save DC (Common, Major, 4 points)
  

Cost: Abilities -16 + Skills 2 + Feats 5 + Powers 33 + Combat 8 + Saves 6 - Drawbacks 4 = 34

Droideka Series Destroyer Droid

Large robot, PL 6 (90 points)

Str 16, Dex 14, Con --, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha --

Skills:

• notice 12 (+14)

Feats:

• Improved Initiative 2 (+8)
• Equipment 4 (20 points)

Powers:

• Immunity 30 (fortitude) [30]
• Growth 4 (Power feat: Innate; Flaw: Permanent) [13]
• Protection 1 [1]
• Force Field 8 (Extra: Impervious) [16]

Combat:

• attack 6 (+6)
• damage +8 (laser cannons)
• defense 5 (+4) (including -1 due to size)
• initiative +10

Saves:

• toughness 3 (+4)
• fortitude --
• reflex 3 (+5)
• will 3 (+5)

Equipment:

• 2 laser cannons (with blaster rifle stats + autofire capability):
• damage +8, crit 20, energy, autofire, range increment 80ft, size large)
• EP 16
• comlink; EP 1

Drawbacks:

• Vulnerable to electricity: double toughness save DC (Common, Major, 4 points)
  

Cost: Abilities -6 + Skills 3 + Feats 6 + Powers 60 + Combat 22 + Saves 9 - Drawbacks 4 = 90

Pictures are from the official Star Wars: Clone Wars site, and are their property. Everything else is also the property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm, and so on.