Fwurg

[Brend]

I have observed a tendency of Jedis to take with them a few choice pieces of gear when heading out. I am not opposed to such things, and can understand the desire to take on a mission well-equiped. There are however some things that bother me about this approach.

In most of the star wars canon Jedi make do with very little special gadgets, while people like Bobba Fett actually need such gadgets to keep up with the awesome-ness of the Jedi. Of course, everyone should play their character as they want, but while I might indulge in gadgetery from time to time (such as with the Onyx Series 5) I try to keep the number of tools to a minimum. This is just personal preference of course, but I urge others to think about how their character would think about such things.

A second thing I have noted is that some people have gadgets that seem to be either a) an 'every-thing tool', or b) ill-defined in what they actually do. Examples of this are things like 'x-ray' goggles, the 'small tracking devices' or the 'S4 Science Droid'.

It seems to me that some things, like the 'look through a wall' power of the x-ray goggles is just very un-star wars-y, while the tracking devices just need a more clear definition in my opinion (the range on which they work, for example). The science droid is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, as it started out as a 'Spiderdroid assistant (has tools like screwdrivers etc. can lift and handle small objects)' but now it seems this nifty little droid has everything ever necessary, from hacking aids to biological probes for looking around without every getting noticed, to great stealth skills and now it also has sensors to detect life forms; all next to the actual science functions (by now it has sign language as well, and it basically seems like an extra character).

I would like to suggest that equipment taken along should have a clearly defined function, or set of functions. What do others think of this?

[Elmer]

I agree a jedi should have as less stuff as possible. This also is really beneficial for the roleplay, as characters really needs to think and be creative to solve issues instead of: I take tool X and viola, another impossible obstacle solved. Of course they can take some stuff to be more awesome. (Using night goggles to execute a covert night mission is cool.)

I also have the opinion that when you post your equipment at the beginning, you shouldn't change it for the mission. (Given you don't have the opportunity to do so, and don't explicitly say you changes your equipment.) I have the feeling some people sometimes forget that they didn't brought stuff and let magically appear a tracking device out of their pocket or something like that. Although the jedi shouldn't worry about generic stupid uncool things like food (or in my case also power) in missions, as long this is not a very important part of this mission.

And last: I try to let the equipment of my cyborg be logical. He has a big empty head, so enough space for some decent optical stuff, but no X-ray... how does that even work?

But goggles are way smaller, so 'all-in-one' goggles are either illogical (and thus not allowed) or big and rather impractical.

It is also one of the jobs of the story teller to prevent players let taking to much equipment, and abusing equipment in my opinions.

[Brend]

I realized part of the source of my peeve with the science droid is: it is bascially a better, stronger, and smarter animal companion, without having to invest in the Befriend Animal force power.

Anyone has other ideas about this?

[Elmer]

I agree with Brend, the droid shouldn't have spy droids, stealth, hacking, x-ray, bio lab, and more stuff I don't know it has. because then I should build the same stuff in my cyborg, but that is lame.

So the simplest way to solve the 'S4' issue is by making it less batman and more a moving tool.

[Stuiter]

S4 as a science droid is good is making observation by using various detector/sensor, perform simple tasks and analyze the result. He therefore uses various tools and has room to store small stuff.

I give that it is high tech gadget and I am willing to pay for that as he can do more than a animal companion (maybe with a force level).

[Brend]

I give that it is high tech gadget and I am willing to pay for that as he can do more than a animal companion (maybe with a force level).

That was not directly what I was getting at. And I certainly think a whole force level is way to much for such a droid. I don't think equipment should ever impact the other attributes of your character, as the jedi order is perfectly capable of supplying you with gear.

My point is that it seems some pieces of gear magically gain more and more features, and this makes it a bit of an 'arms' race. I would like players to actually state what the features of their equipment are instead of vague statements like 'various detector/sensors'. But S4 is not the only piece of gear that is guilty of such things, and this is why I made a broader statment about equipment as a whole.

[Stuiter]

The point was that as that with the high tech that quite some analyses equipment can fit (lab-on chip, some external units etc.)
And I am not planning on naming them all.
By combining them you can detect various things, lifeform is just combination of heat(IR) with motion and visual sensors).
So that is magic?
And I have upgraded him with extra datamemory (aka library) and put some spy stuff in storage.

So what do you want to limit precisely?
Do you want us to bookkeep everything? or not allow certain things?

[Brend]

By combining them you can detect various things, lifeform is just combination of heat(IR) with motion and visual sensors).
So that is magic?

Well, this is veering a bit off-topic, but I'll explain. As it seems T'Sal and the Hiocan's are roughly based on the Vulcan's in Star Trek, it is not unlogical to assume that your other ideas are based on Star Trek is well (even more so since T'Sal's first pick of equipment contained the 'scanner'.)

And Star Trek life form scans usually ignore rocks, buildings and other obstacles because they are magic. So I assumed that S4 had magical life forms sensors. If you actually want to combine some basic scans into this, than say so. Heat, motion and visuals are plausible and possible (but are probably worse than the eyesight of the average padawan).

Done with off-topic. Would like some more opinions on equipment in general. We have a lot of Jedi players, surely you peeps have an opinion on this?

[Gerben]

I agree that equipment used in the missions sometimes seems a bit too much, however the actual usage of equipment, is very limited. I would be for a better description of the equipment and its functions and limitations. I understand that Darones' bringing a engineering kit seems a bit vague, but it is meant to have some basic tools, some spare wires or small parts such as bolts or rubbers for isolation, nothing fancier then that.

Same would go for a medical field kit, which is meant for first aid, and holds nothing more then a few supplies and no diagnostic equipment. Therefore I would say that the equipment Jedi bring on mission should be up to them, however the argument that it would improve roleplay if it would be as little as possible is true in my opinion.

[Mercury]

I think the problem underlying this is a rather fundamental one so I'm going to take my time and think carefully about it. In the meantime, please continue the discussion as your insights are very helpful in helping me think about it ^_^