Starship combat in the Star Wars universe is fast-paced and frantic: Starfighters clash in a void littered with obstacles ad debris, capital ships fire broadsides at one another, and transport ships run blockades while evading pursuit. All of these scenes are examples of the kind of excitement that starship combat generates
The rules set for starship combat presented in the Saga Edition core rulebook works for fast and cinematic space battles, but some players and Gamemasters might wish to add additional depth to their starship encounters. This section presents new rules as well as guidelines for including additional mechanics and options for starship combat.
Starship Maneuvers Overview
The starship maneuvers system provides new options for any character acting as pilot or a gunner during a starship-scale encounter. Similar to the system for using Force powers, the starship maneuvers system allows characters to perform incredible stunts or make use of advanced tactics in order to gain the upper hand in starship-scale combat. Except for maneuvers used by gunners, only pilots of starfighters and airspeeders may make use of the mechanics in this section—capital ships and space transports are too large and cumbersome. (However, see the combat thrusters modification.)
A starship maneuver is a special action that allows a pilot or gunner to do something beyond the bounds of the Pilot skill and the abilities provided by the Ace Pilot prestige class. Starship maneuvers enhance attacks, strengthen defenses, reduce damage, or produce other unique effects.
Learning New Maneuvers
A character who takes the Starship Tactics feat automatically learns a number of starship maneuvers equal to 1 + their Wisdom modifier (minimum one). A character can learn additional starship maneuvers by taking the Starship Tactics feat again or by increasing their Wisdom modifier.
For example, Syal Antilles is a 5th-level soldier with a Wisdom score of 13 (+1 modifier). When she advances to 6th level, she takes the Starship Tactics feat and immediately gains two starship maneuvers. She chooses attack pattern delta and Corellian slip. At 8th level, Syal raises her Wisdom score from 13 to 14, thereby increasing her ability modifier from +1 to +23; at that time, she gains an additional starship maneuver (since she has taken the Starship Tactics feat once); she chooses target lock. At 9th level, Syal selects the Starship Tactics feat again, granting her three new maneuvers. She chooses Tallon roll, angle deflector shields, and a second use of Corellian slip.
Using Starship Maneuvers
| Starship Role | Suggested Maneuvers |
|---|---|
| Bomber | angle deflector shields, attack pattern delta, devastating hit*, evasive action, explosive shot*, overwhelming assault, Segnor’s loop, shield hit*, skim the surface, strike formation |
| Superiority | attack pattern delta, attack formation zeta nine, Corellian slip, Darklighter spin, howlrunner formation, I have you now, shield hit*, Skywalker loop |
| Interceptor | Ackbar slash, afterburn, Corellian slip, counter, Darklighter spin, I have you now, intercept, Skywalker loop, snap roll, Tallon roll, target lock, thruster hit* |
| Scout | afterburn, attack formation zeta nine, counter, engine hit*, evasive action, snap roll, Wotan weave |
| Shuttle/Transport | Ackbar slash, angle deflector shields, engine hit*, evasive action, shield hit*, thruster hit, Wotan weave |
When your character uses a starship maneuver, make a Pilot check. The check result determines the starship maneuver’s result.
Most maneuvers have varying degrees of success, but some (including all maneuvers with the [attack pattern] descriptor) have an all-or-nothing effect. For those with multitiered effects, your check result determines the maximum effect you can achieve, though you can also choose a lesser effect. If your check is too low to activate the starship maneuver’s most basic effect, nothing happens, the starship maneuver is spent, and the action is wasted.
Your Starship Maneuver Suite: Your character’s starship maneuvers collectively form a suite. When your character uses a starship maneuver, that maneuver is spent and is no longer available for use by your character until it is recovered. you may have multiple uses of the same starship maneuver in your suite.
Regaining Starship Maneuvers: You have different ways to regain spent starship maneuvers, making them available to use once more.
When a starship combat sequence is over and you have a chance to rest for 1 minute, you regain all starship maneuvers.
If you roll a natural 20 on a pilot check to activate a starship maneuver (but not for any other uses of the Pilot skill), you regain all spent starship maneuvers at the end of your turn.
You can spend a Force Point as a reaction and immediately regain one spent starship maneuver.
Some unique abilities allow you to regain spent starship maneuvers in other ways.
Maneuver Descriptors
Some starship maneuvers fall into special categories that affect how they are used and who can use them. The following descriptors are applied to any relevant starship maneuvers mentioned in this section:
Attack Pattern: Maneuvers that have the [attack pattern] descriptor represent formations and flying patterns that form an overall starship combat strategy. An attack pattern maneuver differs from other maneuvers in that, once activated, its effects last until the end of the encounter. Additionally, you may gain the benefit from only one attack pattern maneuver at a time. and if you activate an attack pattern maneuver while already gaining the benefits of another, the second maneuver replaces the effects of the first.
Dogfight: Maneuvers that have the [dogfight] descriptor represent tactics and actions that apply only in close combat situations. A dogfight maneuver may be activated only while your ship is engaged in a dogfight with another starship or group of starships.
Force: A maneuver that has the [Force] descriptor is one that relies on the user’s connection to the Force for its benefit. Only characters who are trained in the Use the Force skill may make use of Force maneuvers, and activating a Force maneuver is considered using the Force.
Gunner: A maneuver that has the [gunner] descriptor does not require you to be the pilot of the ship in order to activate the maneuver. Any gunner maneuvers may be activated either by the pilot (using pilot-controlled weapons) or by a character serving as a gunner aboard a starship or airspeeder.
Starship Maneuvers List
The following starship maneuvers are available to any character who has the Starship Tactics feat. Each starship maneuver includes the following information:
Starship Maneuver Name [descriptor]
Starships of the Galaxy, page 24.
If a starship maneuver has a descriptor, it appears in square brackets after the starship maneuver’s name. The name of the starship maneuver is followed by which source book and page the starship maneuver can be found in followed by a brief description of the starship maneuver’s effect.
Time: The type of action needed to use or activate the starship maneuver.
Target: The target or targets affected by the starship maneuver.
Make a Pilot check OR Make an attack roll: The results of the Pilot check or attack roll are described here.
Special: Some starship maneuvers have special rules, which are covered here.
| [AP] = attack pattern; [D] = dogfight; [F] = Force; [G] = gunner | ||
| Ackbar Slash | Engine Hit [G] | Skim the Surface |
| Afterburn | Evasive Action [D] | Skywalker Loop [D] |
| Angle Deflector Shields [AP] | Explosive Shot [G] | Snap Roll |
| Attack Formation Zeta Nine [AP] | Howlrunner Formation [AP] | Strike Formation [AP] |
| Attack Pattern Delta [AP] | I Have You Now | Tallon Roll [D] |
| Corellian Slip | Intercept | Target Lock [D] |
| Counter [D] | Overwhelming Assault [AP] | Target Sense [F] |
| Darklighter Spin | Segnor’s Loop | Thruster Hit [G] |
| Devastating Hit [G] | Shield Hit [G] | Wotan Weave |
Making Starship Encounters Interesting
Many gamemasters avoid starship-based encounters for fear of boring (or overwhelming) some of their players. The fact is that starship combat works much the same way as character-scale combat, and it can be just as exciting. Neither the players nor the Gamemaster need to specialize in starship rules to add a few starfighter combat encounters to a campaign, but players who want to focus their characters on being ace pilots have plenty of ways to become more adept than a typical character trained in the Pilot skill.
For the Gamemaster, the key to starship-scale combat is tailoring encounters to fit the different roles of the heroes. A group that includes four ace pilot characters is going to be more interested in dogfights and skirmishes with numerous smaller craft, while a group using a single light freighter most likely expects fights to involve the whole crew working together against whatever foe threatens them. Although it’s a good idea to take the players out of their comfort zones at times, don’t overdo it: Any feat, talent, or starship maneuver taken to support a particular type of encounter is “wasted” if those encounters don’t show up at least occasionally.
Combined Encounters
There’s no requirement that an encounter deal only with starships. Often, having an encounter combine starship-scale and character-scale elements creates a more interesting result. While the heroes most interested in starship activities are dealing with attacking raiders or flying though an asteroid field, other characters might have to deal with more typical character-level threats. Since the initiative system is capable of keeping track of both starship scale and character scale at once, there’s no reason an encounter can’t have TIE fighters, X-wings, stormtroopers, and Rebel commandos all in action at the same time. Although range is different in starship scale and character scale, the time frame is the same for both.
There are two basic ways to create combined encounters: split-screen encounters, and character-scale encounters on board starships that are already engaged in space combat. The split-screen method assumes that action is taking place at different locations and different scales at the same time. The end of Return of the Jedi is a perfect example of this: Luke fights Vader on the Death Star while Lando fights a few TIE fighters inside the station’s superstructure, Admiral Ackbar engages in fleet combat, and Han, Leia, and Chewbacca battle stormtroopers around the Imperial deflector shield station.
Encounters on starships engaged in combat work the same way, except the two scales can more directly affect one another. If pirates have boarded the heroes’ Corellian Corvette as it flies through a blockade, the heroes might be engaged in fighting a holding action to keep the pirates from rushing the ship’s bridge while shooting down starfighters swarming around the outside of the ship.
Start Small
If the idea of running a starship-scale battle worries you, start on a very small scale, both in the number of ships and the risk to the heroes. Allow the players and yourself to get used to the rules with a battle with the heroes, on a large capital ship, fighting two or three starfighters. Not only will the smaller number of ships make things easier, the fact that the heroes are in little danger allows everyone to grow comfortable with starship battles.
When the heroes get ships of their own, use the same basic idea. Set up the first few hostile starship-scale encounters against ships of a much lower Challenge Level than typical for the heroes’ level. Once you get a feel for what kinds of encounters the heroes deal with easily, you can begin giving them grater challenges.
Proportional Battles
An epic battle that features thousands of starships on a side is clearly going to be difficult to run, and it will likely involve players waiting for long stretches between turns as dozens or hundreds of GM characters shoot at each other. Although that much action looks great on a movie screen, it can bog down a roleplaying game.
Instead, try to keep each encounter down to a size at which the heroes, their nearby allies, and a few noteworthy enemies are the main focus. If an adventure calls for a massive star battle with the Rebellion trying to defeat a squadron of Star Destroyers before they can jump to hyperspace, don’t try to run the whole fight. Tell the players that the heroes are assigned to stop one of the Star Destroyers, and run only that part of th battle.
Handling Large Battles
Even when you follow the advice above, there are still times when you’all want to have a large number of opponents in a single battle. At such times, use tips in this section to keep large battles running smoothly.
Weapon Batteries: Capital ships should use weapon batteries to keep things moving along—no one wants to make attack rolls for the dozens of weapons on a Star Destroyer. There are two ways you can use weapon batteries:
Narrow Salvo: This method, the default use of a weapon battery, is ideal for capital ships that are attacking other capital ships and space stations because it brackets the target while concentrating fire, dealing significant damage to targets that have a high SR or DR.
Proximity Spread: Instead of trying to land multiple hits, a weapon battery can spread its fire in a way that maximizes the chance that one will hit (ideal for attacking starfighters). A proximity spread is resolved as an area attack, but it affects only t starship-scale square on the battle grid. As with autofire, the weapon battery takes a −5 penalty on its attack roll.
Tactical Fire: If a ship has a tactical fire ability, use it in any situation where it might apply. Tactical fire greatly speeds up large battles, especially when capital ships are present.
Fighter Groups: Fighter groups are formations of two to six starfighters or air speeders that act almost as a single unit, greatly speeding up large battles. Anyone trained in the Pilot skill can join a fighter group by moving into the same space as a willing allied vehicle of the same size. The fighter group then acts on the initiative count of the last pilot to join, occupying the same space on the battle grid. the fighter group’s leader (designated by mutual consent) makes all decisions nd actions for the group. (A pilot can leave a fighter group at any time by delaying their initiative count until immediately after the group’s turn.)
The fighter group uses the group leader’s attack bonus and skill modifiers, but the worst defenses and damage for each weapon type in the group. When attacked, the group leader may either designate a vehicle operated by a generic crew as the target or determine the target randomly. On the group’s turn, the group leader can gain one of these benefits:
- Act as a weapon battery (+2 on attacks per additional vehicle, plus narrow salvo or proximity spread, as above).
- Gain a +2 circumstance bonus per additional vehicle on either opposed Pilot checks for dogfighting, Use Computer checks to operate sensors, or Perception checks.
Joining a fighter wing ends your actions for the round; any unused actions (including readied actions) are lost. If you choose to delay on the fighter group’s turn, you automatically leave the group.
Once the leader of a fighter group is chosen, it can be changed only once per round on the group’s turn. When the first fighter joins another to form the wing, the first leader is chosen at that time.
Fighter groups can use starship maneuvers only if every member of the fighter group has that maneuver. When the maneuver is used, every member of the fighter group uses it. If a member of the group has an attack pattern maneuver active when it joins the group, its effects are lost (the fighter group is, itself, like an attack pattern).
Connect Space to the Adventure
In most Star Wars campaigns, characters end up on starships quite often. Any time they travel between worlds, visit stations, or even go long distances on the same planet, they’re likely to do it in a starship. These are natural opportunities for starship-scale conflict and good times for foes to make themselves known. After all, tracking down four diplomats on the surface of a whole planet is a lot harder than waiting for their ship to fly out of the atmosphere.
Similarly, setting up certain kinds of challenges almost guarantees some starship-scale encounters in an adventure. If a Hutt crime lord has a fleet of pirate ships he uses to extort merchants and miners, and he never leaves his own star yacht, the heroes are going to have to deal with those ships at some point. Just set up a situation that calls for some starfighter dogfighting, and the players will seek out the encounters for you.
But I’m Not a Pilot!
Despite what Han Solo might think, being a starship pilot in the Star Wars universe isn’t as specialized a skill as being a fighter pilot in the real world. Although ace pilots are certainly a rare breed—and highly valued by any military that can recruit them—most individuals can fly a starship well enough to be of some use in starship-scale combat scenes. There might be a few exceptions—an Ewok fresh off the forest moon of Endor, for example—but as a general rule, unless you have a good reason to assume that a group of characters can’t fly starfighters, they probably can. Obi-Wan Kenobi didn’t fly a fighter in the opening sequence of Revenge of the Sith because he was a master pilot: He flew one because there was a fight going on in space, and he needed to be a part of it.
In many ways, starship-scale combat is the same as any other arena in which characters can specialize. Not everyone is a sniper, but that doesn’t stop diplomats and engineers from picking up a blaster when things get rough. It makes no more sense for a consular to refuse to get involved in starship combat than it does for a mercenary to refuse to negotiate when the fighting stops. Even if whizzing around in starfighters and space transports isn’t the focus of your character, there’s no reason not to be involved in those scenes when they take center stage. Whatever your character’s area of expertise is, it will come along soon enough. When the situation called for it, Leia was able to copilot the Millennium Falcon through an asteroid field, and Anakin Skywalker found that his experience with podracers was enough to be familiar with the basic controls of a starfighter. In fact, characters who haven’t focused on starship-scale combat might find that they have talents and skills the ace pilots don’t, and these can still be useful in a starship-scale scene. Given this, you shouldn’t fear space battles just because you’re out of your element; instead, look at them as a change of pace, an opportunity to find a new way to meet a challenge.
Designing Starship Combat Encounters
Creating interesting starship encounters can be a challenging task. Unlike in character-based encounters, Gamemasters are limited by the more constrained nature of starship combat: The heroes are confined to an environment that might limit their abilities, and coming up with encounters that do more than just pit two squads of starfighters against one another takes more work. Despite this, creating an exciting starship combat encounter can make an adventure much more memorable,encouraging players to become just as involved as they would in ground-based encounters.
One of the most important elements of a good starship encounter is giving each player something to do. Gunners should have plenty of targets, a goal that is relatively easy to accomplish. Pilots should have plenty of obstacles to maneuver around and ships to fly past, making the environment of th encounter very important. Engineers and system operators should be engaged in interacting with both the pilot and the gunners, providing bonuses to attack rolls or detecting hazards before this ship flies through them. Character combat holds players’interests because each player has something to do in very round. Engaging players in the same manner during a starship combat encounter requires the Gamemaster to design aspects of the encounter that give every player something to do in every round.
Certainly, designing a starship encounter that keeps several players active on every turn can be daunting. An alternative solution is to create encounters that encourage several characters to fly their own starship. For example, in a party of four characters, one character might serve as the pilot of the party’s transport, one might serve as the gunner aboard that transport, and the two others would pilot starfighters in the same encounter. This give three players—the three pilots—the ability to move and attack in each round, just as they would in character combat. Even characters untrained in the Pilot skill can perform basic movement and actions, and trained pilots can help protect those untrained pilots during starship combat.
To simulate larger battles and more significant space combat sequences, Gamemasters should consider stringing together a series of encounters that act as plot sequences of their own. Though individual encounters are great for simulating events like fast getaways—such as when the Millennium Falcon flees the first Death Star—sometimes the story can call for a longer scenario better played as a series of encounters rather than one long encounter. An individual encounter should have a clearly defined goal—whether it’s simply the destruction of all enemies or something more complex—and as that goal is accomplished, the heroes should move on to the next encounter in the sequence. Each encounter then brings with it new foes, new obstacles, new objectives, new environments effects, and even a new battlefield. Large-scale conflicts, such as the Battle of Yavin, are actually composed of multiple smaller encounters strung together into a sequence that tells an ongoing story (in this case, that of Luke Skywalker’s discovery of his faith in the Force and the destruction of the Death Star).
The following section provides hints and guidelines for Gamemasters looking to create more compelling and engaging starship combat encounters.
Give Objectives Other than Destruction
One of the best ways to make a starship combat encounter more engaging is to give the players an objective other than simply eradicating the opposition. Although destroying one’s opponents can certainly be a key component in accomplishing that objective, it doesn’t necessarily have to be all of it (and, in fact, it rarely is). When designing an encounter, try to pick an objective that still allows the heroes to engage their enemy in combat (though stealth encounters can work, they are much more difficult to execute aboard starships) while giving them some other goals to focus on. A goal other than all-out destruction also encourages the heroes to be more cautious and think tactically rather than going in with blaster bolts flying. Just as you might not have character combat just for combat’s sake, starship combat encounters should serve the purpose of moving the plot forward.
One option for an alternative objective is an encounter in which the heroes are required to protect something or someone. Escort missions are common among starship pilots in the Star Wars setting, and providing the heroes with the goal of protecting something from coming to harm means that the players will have to do more than unleash their weapons. Protecting something requires the heroes to think tactically (they do not want to be too far away from their charge at any time) while still allowing for the high action and dogfighting that makes space combat exciting. The encounter might require he heroes to escort a ship through dangerous territory, fend off attackers as escaping Rebels board transport ships, or keep enemy vessels from getting close enough to detect a secret base.
Alternatively, the heroes might simply be trying to get from one place to another through an encounter or series of encounters. the heroes of the Star Wars movies experience several encounters trying to get to a particular location. For example, Obi-Wan and Anakin try to get to the Invisible Hand during the Battle of Coruscant, and Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian attempt to penetrate the core of the second death Star so that they can destroy it at the Battle of Endor. Other encounters might involve the heroes trying to get to a safe place to make a jump to lightspeed, while others might involve running a blockade or dashing to obtain sensor readings before being captured or destroyed, Getting from point A to point B might seem like a simple goal, but with the tight combination of obstacles and enemies, it can be both challenging and exciting.
Finally, the heroes might have the task of obtaining something during a starship encounter. This could be a job as simple as using a tractor beam to drag away a derelict ship, or it might involve the heroes actually landing somewhere, obtaining an item, and rejoining combat. In some cases, the object in question might be another starship, requiring the heroes to disable the ship with ion weapons rather than simply destroying it. Encounters of this kind are very similar to encounters in which the heroes need to protect something, but in this case they are protecting it only so they can take it for their own.
Build Interesting Battlefields
Starship encounters and the starship maneuvers system add rich and epic components to adventures. The rules for hazards presented in the Starships of the Galaxy source book are much more customizable and fluid compared to the ones provided in the Unknown Regions source book. As such, Gamemasters who have chosen to run more starship-based adventures may wish to use those more customizable rules in their campaigns. If the Gamemaster and players are less interested in starship encounters, or want something quicker and simpler, then they can use the hazard rules from the Unknown Regions source book.
As always, the Gamemaster and players should choose whichever system they feel would provide the most enjoyment to their game.
Another key element of good space combat encounters is creating combat arenas that are interesting. Certainly, encounters involving two groups of ships engaging one another in open space can be fun, but adding a certain element of environmental challenge to the encounter makes it that much more memorable. For example, the Millennium Falcon’s daring escape from the forces of the Empire is made far more interesting by the fact that it flees through an asteroid belt wrought with peril, and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s dogfight with Jango Fett in Slave I is made more exciting by the hazards found in the rings of Geonosis. Just as in character-scale combat, adding terrain features to space battles creates more lively combat sequences that require creativity and tactical thinking on the parts of the heroes.
The presence of environmental obstacles also creates a more dynamic battlefield, adding another dimension to the placement and movement of starships. Terrain challenges in space combat necessitate movement and encourage players to be more creative in their actions. The following terrain hazards can be part of any space combat sequence.
Asteroids, Debris, or Other Objects
Space is a lot less empty than one might think, and a square that contains asteroids, debris, or other objects is difficult to move through and can potentially damage a starship. It requires 2 squares of movement to enter a square that contains an object hazard. Additionally, any vehicle passing through asteroids or debris must succeed on a Pilot check or take collision damage, as given on the table below. Finally, a square that contains asteroids or debris provides cover (+5 cover bonus to Reflex Defense) against any attacks passing through or into the square.
| Hazard | Pilot Check DC | Collision Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Sparse objects | 15 | 4d6+20 |
| Moderate objects | 25 | 6d6+30 |
| Dense objects | 35 | 8d6+40 |
Vehicle Traffic: Vehicle traffic functions the same as any other object hazard, but such squares of traffic are usually arranged in straight lines with a single designated direction of movement. Generally, these squares are sparse if you move with traffic, moderate if you move through traffic, and heavy if you move against traffic. In addition, if you move with the flow of traffic at the same speed (usually no more than 2 squares per round), you gain a +10 circumstance bonus on your Pilot check to avoid a collision.
Unless a particular vehicle in a line of traffic is significant for some reason, it is generally not necessary to use normal vehicle combat statistics to represent their movement or the effects of a collision.
Damaging Environment
Though most space combat takes place in a vacuum, some battles might take place in thick dust clouds, the upper atmosphere of a corrosive gas giant, electromagnetically charges nebulae, or even in close proximity to a star—and any of these features can damage a vehicle. If a vehicle is in a damaging environment square at any point during the pilot’s turn, the hazard makes an attack roll using the modifier given in the table below. If the attack equals or exceeds the target’s Fortitude Defense, the vehicle takes full damage. If the attack roll fails, the vehicle takes half damage. Specific guidelines for different environments are described below.
| Intensity | Attack Bonus | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Light | +15 | 2d10×2 |
| Moderate | +30 | 4d10×2 |
| Heavy | +45 | 6d10×2 |
Corrosive Gases: Occasionally encountered in planetary atmospheres and some nebulae, corrosive gases can also be the result of a massive industrial accident (such as a fuel tanker spilling antimatter, hypermatter, or large amounts of radioactive fuel in orbit). Corrosive gases ignore the target’s SR (but not DR) when dealing damage. Corrosive gases might also provide poor visibility.
Dust Clouds: Usually encountered as a part of an asteroid field or as part of a planetary ring system, light nd moderate dust clouds provide poor visibility while heavy dust clouds provide very poor visibility. Dust clouds deal no damage if a vehicle doesn’t move, but they deal +1 die of damage for every square of movement during the pilot’s turn.
Iconic Discharges: Some nebulae (and a few planetary atmospheres) produce nearly continuous discharges of highly ionized particles, dealing ion damage to all vehicles within affected squares.
Radiation: In close proximity to a star or other source of intense electromagnetic radiation, a vehicle can take substantial damage. Generally, these hazards will extend to all squares on the battle grid, but you might designate some squares as being in the shadow of a planet or moon, thus avoiding the effects of radiation.
Enclosed Terrain
The Star Wars universe is full of examples of space combat that take place within an enclosed environment, such as the trench run on the Death Star. Any time a vehicle is in a square that is adjacent to enclosed terrain, that vehicle runs the risk of catastrophic collision. If a pilot in such a square fails a Pilot check by 5 or more, that pilot’s ship has a collision with the wall taking damage as though colliding with a Colossal (station) object; unlike most collisions at starship scale, the vehicle still takes half damage even after a successful Pilot check to avoid the collision. Additionally, some enclosed terrain squares have protrusions or other hazardous elements, increasing the DC of all Pilot checks mad in adjacent squares by 5.
Periodic Damage
Some hazards in combat produce periodic effects that happen intermittently. These hazards typically affect only certain squares and generally do not take effect in every round. For example, a nebula charged with static might produce a burst of electricity along a certain path every 1d4+1 rounds, or an automated cargo hauler might pass through the middle of the battle grid every other round on a regular delivery schedule.
When a periodic damage hazard is present on a battlefield, it affects only certain squares and automatically damages any target within 1 square of those squares. Periodic damage hazards always occur on an initiative count of 10. Since such hazards can vary widely in form and effect, the following guidelines should provide Gamemasters with a general idea of how much damage the hazard should do, and how often.
| Hazard | Frequency | Damage Dealt |
|---|---|---|
| Rare and light | Every 1d4+1 rounds | 3d10×2 |
| Often and light | Every other round | 3d10×2 |
| Frequent and light | Every round | 3d10×2 |
| Rare and moderate | Every 1d4+1 rounds | 6d10×2 |
| Often and moderate | Every other round | 6d10×2 |
| Frequent and moderate | Every round | 6d10×2 |
| Rare and severe | Every 1d4+1 rounds | 3d10×5 |
| Often and severe | Every other round | 3d10×5 |
| Frequent and severe | Every round | 3d10×5 |
Visibility
Clouds, storms, nebulae, and dust can all obscure the visibility of any targets inside, creating natural hiding places for pirates or starfighters wishing to spring an ambush. In conditions of poor visibility, all nonadjacent targets have concealment. In very poor visibility, adjacent targets have concealment and nonadjacent targets have total concealment. Specific guidelines for different environments are described below.
Clouds, Fog, Vapor: Ordinary clouds, fog, or vapor normally provides poor visibility, but very thick clouds (such as just before a major storm or in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption) might provide very poor visibility. Volcanic eruptions might also be corrosive (see above).
Nebulae: Gaseous nebulae usually provide poor visibility, but the thicker gases of a very young nebula might provide very poor visibility. In addition, some nebulae might be corrosive or create ionic discharges (see above).
Storms: Ordinary storms (heavy rain, snowfall, dust storms, and so forth) provide poor visibility and impose a −2 penalty on Pilot checks. Severe storms (tropical storms, hurricanes, blizzards, and the like) provide very poor visibility and impose a −5 penalty on Pilot checks.
Create Exciting Scenarios with Complications
One of the best ways to create tension in a space combat sequence is to present complications that affect the way combat takes place. Although battles in which starships simply square off against one another are fine, a battle with some larger complication can increase the level of tension and excitement. Complications are factors that affect combat without affecting the battlefield itself.
One of the most often-used complications is a time limit. Placing a limit on the amount of time—in rounds or otherwise—that the heroes have to complete their task creates a sense of urgency that makes space combat more exciting. For example, the attack of the Death Star in A New Hope became all the more desperate because they had to stop the battle station before it destroyed Yavin 4. A variant of the time limit is having a space limit, a sort of “finish line” for the encounter: Perhaps the heroes must reach a certain point to escape to the safety of hyperspace, or perhaps they must stop a shuttle carrying an Imperial governor before it reaches a Star Destroyer in orbit.
Similarly, limiting the perception or communication of space combatants can add an air of the unknown to a combat encounter. In addition to terrain that impairs visibility (see above), other examples might include a wide-area jamming field that makes it impossible for heroes to communicate with one another or a sensor-scrambling field that imposes penalties on Pilot checks as the ship’s onboard computers struggle to clear out the interference.
Challenge Level Adjustments for Starship Disparities
Gamemasters might wish to consider altering the experience rewards for heroes aboard starships that are clearly superior ot their enemies’ ships. For example, heroes aboard a Corellian Corvette clearly outgun enemies aboard a Lambda-class shuttle; as such, they have a distinct advantage over their foes. Rather than awarding full experience points for such a mismatched encounter, a Gamemaster can optionally alter the effective Challenge Level of the enemies to account for the disparity.
First, calculate the Challenge Level value of the heroes’ vehicle (or average value for multiple vehicles). Unless the heroes have the aid of a generic crew—such as when on board a capital ship—subtract the CL modifier for the crew’s quality from the given CL for the vehicle. Second, take that number and divide by 2 (rounding down), then subtract the result from the CL of all opponents in the encounter. The new result is the enemy’s adjusted CL. Use this adjusted CL when determining both the difficulty and the rewards (experience or credits) of an encounter.
Example: Four 5th-level heroes flying X-wings (CL 10) clearly outmatch enemies in TIE fighters (CL 7). The CL value of an X-wing is 9 (CL 10, minus 1 for skilled crew); dividing 9 by 2 and rounding down yields a result of 4. Subtracting 4 from the CL of the TIE fighters gives them an adjusted CL of 3. Thus, two to four TIE fighters would be an appropriate challenge for the heroes.
If the same heroes were flying a lone YT-1300 (CL 6), the disparity is not quite so great. The CL value of a YT-1300 is 6 (no adjustment for a normal crew); dividing by 2 yields a result of 3. Subtracting 3 from the CL of the TIE fighters gives them an adjusted CL of 4. Thus, one to two TIE fighters would be an appropriate challenge for the heroes.
Capital Ship Firing Options
The following two subsections were originally written in Chapter IV: Starship Codex of Starships of the Galaxy rule book. However, since the starship codex has been integrated with the master vehicle codex, it seemed most appropriate to place these subsections here as they deal with starship combat.
Tactical Fire
A number of capital ships in the codex have a tactical fire option, an alternate ability that allows them to function more like commanders than like individual ships. Each tactical fire option produces an “aura” around the ship that affects the battlefield, replacing all of the capital ship’s normal attacks in a given round. When engaged in combat against other capital ships, a capital ship is better off using its normal attacks because they have the greatest chance of dealing the most damage.
The tactical fire option is provided as a means of using capital-scale ships in space combat scenarios without making them another enemy that the heroes need to defeat. In essence, using the tactical fire option transforms a capital ship from an opponent into an obstacle or complication. This should allow you to include capital ships in a combat scenario, adding an interesting element to the fight without the danger of blowing the heroes out of the sky with a lucky shot.
Focused Fire
All capital ships have the ability to focus their weapons on a large area of space, allowing the vessel to make a starship-scale area attack. Essentially, focused fire creates dangerous “terrain” in space by filling large areas of the battlefield with a hail of weapons fire. Much like the tactical fire option, this allows Gamemasters to use capital ships in a new way without making the ship into a direct combatant. A Colossal (frigate) size ship can attack a single square with focused fire, a Colossal (cruise) size ship can attack a 2×2-square area, and a Colossal (station) ship can attack a 3×3-square area.
The capital ship selects a single laser, turbolaser, or ion cannon system as its primary source of focused fire. The capital ship must forgo all other attacks in the round it uses focused fire, making an attack roll against a Reflex Defense of 10 (range penalties apply). If successful, that area is targeted by focused fire. If a starship ends its turn in an area targeted by focused fire, compare the result of the attack roll to the starship’s Reflex Defense. If the attack roll is higher, the target takes normal damage from the chosen weapon system; if the target’s Reflex Defense is higher, the target takes half damage.