(no subject)

[johnstonmr]

Q: In the Star Wars Roleplaying Game revised core rulebook, the Quickness feat grants +3 vitality points, and the Toughness feat grants +3 wound points. Since each burns a feat, and therefore has the same cost, shouldn't Quickness receive more vitality points?

A: Quickness is tempting to 1st-level characters with low vitality dice, because it often increases their vitality points by 150 percent. But, in the long run, Toughness is generally more useful. The drawback to Toughness, though, is that it only works when you're taking wound damage -- and thus, risking failing the Fort save for having taken wound damage, and possibly being knocked out.



Q: I recently put my group into a starship combat situation, and I was wondering about the limits of starship sensors. Can they sense life signs? Species? Power sources? What's the story?

A: We know that starship sensors can sense life signs from Star Wars: A New Hope. As Artoo and Threepio flee the Tantive IV aboard the escape pod, the Imperials prepare to fire on it. But then an officer tells them to hold their fire, because no life forms were detected aboard the pod. And when Luke heads toward Dagobah in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, he points out to Artoo that there are "massive life form readings."

Plainly, then, detecting life forms is possible, and a sensor operator can probably get an idea of the overall size of any given reading. For example, four Medium-size life forms might register as a "huge concentration" of life forms -- but then, so would eight small life forms. So the operator can't get specific numbers, except by inference. This sort of check would be a Computer Use check (DC 15). Regardless, ship sensors probably aren't finely tuned enough to pick out species.

Sensors can also detect the size of ships, their relative speeds (docking, cruising, ramming, and so on), and the type of ship. A successful Computer Use check (DC 10) would reveal this information. Learning if a ship's shields and weapons are powered up or how much damage it has sustained is slightly more difficult and requires a Computer Use check against DC 15.

Sensors can pick up similar information about planets. Luke does so while he's scanning Dagobah, arriving at the conclusion that there aren't any cities or settlements. Checking for the presence of technology is a Computer Use check (DC 15).

Scanning for any one thing (life forms, basic ship information, specific ship information, or the presence or absence of technology) takes a move action, but a character can gain a +2 competence bonus for taking a full round to perform the scan.

The Gamemaster should use these examples as guidelines for other kinds of scans.