The Star Wars universe is vast and spans millennia. An often-used macguffin for a campaign is an ancient artifact or device that carries some unusual quality that may not be present in a contemporary counterpart. Just as gear templates help make items and weapons unique enough to fit that description, these vehicle templates will help provide individuality to a vehicle, making it different from another of the same model. Unlike gear templates, these are not based on manufacturer or species, but time and situation.
Advanced Starship
Starships of the Galaxy, page 59.
An advanced ship is on the cutting edge of technology, one that includes numerous new systems and improvements to old systems. Individual prototypes of new ship classes, specially modified private vessels for the rich and powerful, and special ships built by cultures that have particularly advanced technology are all represented by adding this template to standard starships.
Advanced ships are rarely a class of vessel. Even the most cutting-edge culture can’t make more than a few of these vessels at a time. They require regular maintenance (taking 1 day and a DC 30 Mechanics check each week) or move −1 persistent step on the condition track until missed Mechanics checks are made.
Modifications
To create an advanced starship, make the following changes to an existing starship.
CL: The CL of an advanced ship is 125% its normal value (round up).
SR: Increase the ship’s SR by an amount based on its size: Huge +5, Gargantuan +10, Colossal +20, Colossal (frigate) +30, Colossal (cruiser) +40, Colossal (station) +50. If the base ship doesn’t have shields normally, give it shields with a total SR of double the given bonus + 10.
Hit Points: Increase by 25%.
Strength: Increase Strength by the following bonus based on size; Huge #43;2, Gargantuan #43;6, Colossal #43;10, Colossal (frigate) #43;16, Colossal (cruiser) #43;22, Colossal (station) #43;36. Increase Fortitude Defense, damage threshold, and Grapple to represent the new Strength modifier.
Dexterity: Increase the Dexterity of Huge and Gargantuan starships by 8, Colossal (station) ships by 2, and all others by 4. Increase Initiative, Reflex Defense, and Pilot check to represent the new Dexterity modifier.
Intelligence: Increase Intelligence by 4. Increase your weapon attack bonuses to represent your new Intelligence modifier.
Weapons: Increase the damage dealt by all weapons by 1 die.
Cost: Advanced ships are normally cutting-edge prototypes with project costs easily reaching millions of credits.
Archaic Ship
Starships of the Galaxy, page 62.
An archaic ship is one from a much earlier era of technology. Despite potentially having all the same basic technology as modern vessels (laser cannons, shields, hyperdrives, and so on), an archaic ship suffers some disadvantages when facing vessels from higher levels of technology. The archaic ship template can also be used to represent a starship built by a culture whose technology is less developed than the galactic norm.
Even extremely ancient starships can be sufficiently upgraded that they no longer suffer the disadvantages of the archaic template. This requires 1 week of work × the ship’s cost modifier and credits equal to 1/10 the ship’s original cost. For each week of work, you must succeed on a DC 25 Mechanics check, or that week’s effort is lost. If multiple characters work on upgrading an archaic ship, divide the total time required by the number of characters who succeed on the Mechanics check.
Modifications
All the modifications for the archaic ship template apply only when the ship is in combat with modern starships. If two archaic ships engage in combat, ignore all changes made by this template.
CL: The CL of an archaic ship is 2/3 its normal value.
Threshold: Against modern weapons, an archaic ship has only half its normal damage threshold.
SR: Any time the SR value of an archaic ship’s shields is exceeded, there is a 50% chance they fail entirely. They may be recharged normally.
Weapons: The weapons of an archaic ship can’t score critical hits against nonarchaic vessels.
All attack rolls made by archaic ships against modern vessels take a −2 penalty, since older scanners have difficulty tracking modern ships.
Cost: Archaic ships generally can be obtained on the black market for 50% of their original cost.
Junker Starship
Starships of the Galaxy, page 104.
The junker template represents starships (most often fighters and space transports, though a junker capital ship is certainly possible) that are badly put together. Many junkers are older starships that haven’t been properly maintained for so long that it’s simply not possible to bring them back to fully functional status. Junkers can also represent ships that are poorly designed, making them junkers right off the assembly line.
Junkers can also be used to represent “uglies,” starships constructed from parts of different ship designs. The most common uglies are TYE-wings, which combine the ball cockpit of a TIE fighter with the engines of a Y-wing. TYE-wings are slower than TIEs and lack the increased durability of Y-wings, but because spare parts for those two models are so common, combining them into clunky, ugly hybrid starfighters sometimes makes sense.
Modifications
CL: Reduce the CL of a junker by 20% (round down).
Initiative: Reduce a junker’s Initiative by 5 after all other modifications.
Abilities: Reduce Strength by 4, Dexterity by 2 and Intelligence by 2 (all minimum 10). Recalculate all statistics derived from these abilities’ modifiers.
System Failure: A junker is always on the verge of falling apart, and sometimes does so in the middle of combat. Every time a junker moves down −1 step on its condition track, one of its systems fails. A failed system is totally nonfunctional and remains that way until the junker moves back up the condition track. Roll percentile dice to see what system fails (see below). If you roll a system your junker does not have (such as rolling a hyperdrive malf unction on a ship lacking a hyperdrive). simply ignore the result—you got lucky.
| D% | Failed System |
|---|---|
| 01-30 | Hyperdrive |
| 31-60 | Engines (reduce starship-scale speed by 1 square, and characterscale movement by the same percentage) |
| 61-85 | Oneweapon or weapon battery (determine which randomly) |
| 86-95 | Computer core (−5 to all Perception and Use Computer checks made with the starship’s equipment) |
| 96-100 | Shields |
Patchwork: The one benefit of a junker is that its cobbled-together systems are easier to patch back together into the semifunctional state they normally operate in. Reduce the DC of any Mechanics check made on a junker by 2.
Prototype Ship
Starships of the Galaxy, page 123.
The prototype template represents the model of a starship that is used to find any hidden flaws and test new systems before the starship goes into production. A prototype is lovingly hand-built by teams of engineers, since no mass-production line exists to churn it out yet. Some classes of ships are always built as prototypes, and then have the prototype template removed as a final construction stage.
The prototype temp late can also be used to represent a unique ship built by a small group that has no intention of ever turning it into a mass-produced starship. Some pirates and rich traders have custom ships hand-crafted for their use, and occasionally a ship is so extensively rebuilt that it qualifies as a prototype of a new class of ship. Some Rebel Alliance capital ships built from older vessels fall into this last category.
A ship can have the prototype template removed by a massive overhaul that reengineers all its systems to normal tolerances. This is a time-consuming and expensive proposition. It has a base cost of 50,000 credits modified by the starship’s cost modifier based on size, and takes 1 day per 5,000 credits of that cost.
Modifications
Threshold: A prototype isn’t quite as resistant to incoming damage, since it doesn’t have the benefit of being redesigned after every bad design element has been discovered. Lower its damage threshold by an amount equal to its size modifier (−1 Large, −2 Huge, −5 Gargantuan, −10 for Colossal and larger).
Abilities: Increase Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence by 2. Prototypes have the advantage of having their systems double-checked, fine-tuned, and carefully recalibrated, and they enjoy a level of precision engineering impossible to maintain on a production line. Recalculate all statistics derived from these abilities' modifiers.
Speed: The careful tuning of a prototype’s engines gives it a +1-square bonus to starship-scale movement.
Random Benefit/Drawback: A prototype always has at least one benefit and one drawback over standard starships of its class, which are lost in mass production. (Some prototypes have two benefits and drawbacks.) Roll randomly to see which statistic increases and which is reduced: armor (+2 / −2), hit points (+10% / −10%), SR (+25% / −25%), starshipscale speed (+1 square / −1 square), crew (−70% / +30%), passengers (+50% total / −50% total), cargo (+50% total / −50% total), carried craft (−75% / +25%), or weapons (double number of one weapon type, half number of one weapon type), You can’t have a benefit and drawback in the same category.
Maintenance Requirement: A prototype manages to maintain its high precision tuning only if it is regularly given good maintenance. A prototype requires 8 hours of maintenance a month and a DC 20 Mechanics check to keep it running smoothly. If the maintenance isn’t kept up, or the Mechanics check for doing so fails, the prototype loses its +2 ability increases and its random benefit (but not its random drawback), and moves −1 step down its condition track.