Well, it's in HTML instead of PDF for starters. That's primarily to make it easier to update and maintain. However, there are a few other items of note:
This system was inspired by Wulf Ratbane's "Encounter Budget" system for Pathfinder; however, it has been reverse-engineered to work with Saga Edition. The Star Wars Roleplaying Game and all associated items are property of either Wizards of the Coast or Lucasfilm; this document is a fan utility only, designed for personal use, and is not intended to infringe on existing copyright.
| Saga Edition XP Budget By Level | ||
|---|---|---|
| Character Level | XP Budget | Party of 4 |
| ½ (nonheroic 1) | 75 | 300 |
| 1 | 150 | 600 |
| 2 | 300 | 1,200 |
| 3 | 450 | 1,800 |
| 4 | 600 | 2,400 |
| 5 | 750 | 3,000 |
| 6 | 900 | 3,600 |
| 7 | 1,050 | 4,200 |
| 8 | 1,200 | 4,800 |
| 9 | 1,350 | 5,400 |
| 10 | 1,500 | 6,000 |
| 11 | 1,650 | 6,600 |
| 12 | 1,800 | 7,200 |
| 13 | 1,950 | 7,800 |
| 14 | 2,100 | 8,400 |
| 15 | 2,250 | 9,000 |
| 16 | 2,400 | 9,600 |
| 17 | 2,550 | 10,200 |
| 18 | 2,700 | 10,800 |
| 19 | 2,850 | 11,400 |
| 20 | 3,000 | 12,000 |
| +1 | +150 | +600 |
For each character (including NPCs) in the party, look up their target XP on the XP Budget By Level Chart and add that number to your encounter total.
Example: For a party of three 3rd-level characters and one 2nd-level character, your total XP Budget for a normal encounter would be (450 + 450 + 450 + 300 =) 1,650 XP.
Use the multipliers listed on the Difficulty/Multiplier chart to move the encounters up or down in difficulty. It's generally a good idea to include a mixture of encounters in a given adventure -- easy encounters are quick and fun and give the players a sense of accomplishment, but get tiresome after two or three. Hard encounters make for good adventure climaxes, but too many and the players become frustrated and fearful.
| Desired Difficulty | Budget Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Very Easy (EL-2) | x½ |
| Easy (EL-1) | x2/3; |
| Standard | x1 |
| Challenging (EL+1) | x1½ |
| Hard (EL+2) | x2 |
| Epic (EL+3) | x3 |
There may be conditions that modify a party's CL for better or worse. These are typically significant equipment upgrades or loss (a party armed with powered battlesuits and an autocannon is much more dangerous than a naked party armed with just their bare fists) or situational modifiers (a party that has ten encounters without a break to heal and recover their abilities is at a significant disadvantage compared to the same party fresh as a daisy), and so on. In these situations, you need to ask yourself, "Is the character really as powerful (or as weakened) as if they had changed a whole level?" If the answer is yes, adjust the budget multiplier for a desired difficulty up or down a row for the purposes of determining your budget.
Example: A party of fantasy heroes has ridden all night to catch up with slavers that have their companions and are fatigued, putting them -1 persistent step down the condition track. This effectively makes everyone in the party one level lower, so for a "Hard" encounter, the multiplier should only be x1½ instead of x2.
| Saga Edition Encounter Element Costs | |
|---|---|
| Encounter Element CL | XP/Encounter Budget Cost |
| -5 (or 1/10) | 20 |
| -4 (or 1/8) | 25 |
| -3 (or 1/6) | 35 |
| -2 (or ¼) | 50 |
| -1 (or ⅓) | 65 |
| 0 (or ½) | 100 |
| 1 | 200 |
| 2 | 400 |
| 3 | 600 |
| 4 | 800 |
| 5 | 1,000 |
| 6 | 1,200 |
| 7 | 1,400 |
| 8 | 1,600 |
| 9 | 1,800 |
| 10 | 2,000 |
| 11 | 2,200 |
| 12 | 2,400 |
| 13 | 2,600 |
| 14 | 2,800 |
| 15 | 3,000 |
| 16 | 3,200 |
| 17 | 3,400 |
| 18 | 3,600 |
| 19 | 3,800 |
| 20 | 4,000 |
| 21 | 4,200 |
| 22 | 4,400 |
| 23 | 4,600 |
| 24 | 4,800 |
| 25 | 5,000 |
| 26 | 5,200 |
| 27 | 5,400 |
| 28 | 5,600 |
| 29 | 5,800 |
| 30 | 6,000 |
"Encounter elements" are creatures, traps, hazards, or skill challenges to overcome. "Overcoming" a creature doesn't necessarily mean killing it, just removing it as a threat. For instance, softening up a stubborn 5th level cop who wants to give you a traffic ticket still counts as "overcoming" a 5th level creature (although that would probably be done as a skill challenge).
Starting with the highest CL element in the encounter, find the cost of the element on the Encounter Cost By CL chart and subtract its cost from your total encounter budget until you have no more to spend. If you have points left over, either discard them or purchase one more creature of the next highest allowable CL. Generally, you should not buy more than 10 of any single encounter element into a single encounter, as many low-powered creatures or easy skill checks are not likely to add much to the overall challenge of the encounter.
Regardless of the desired encounter difficulty, you should avoid including any single element that has a CL higher than the highest party member's level +2. For example, if you have a party of four 5th level characters in an epic encounter (budget of 3,000 XP), that doesn't mean you should send them up against a single CL 15 foe -- your party will be slaughtered. A much more exciting encounter would be a CL 6 boss (1,200 XP) backed up by two CL 3 henchmen (1,200 XP) and a CL 3 hazard in the middle of the room (600 XP).
Vehicles, especially spaceships in Star Wars, can seriously alter the effective threat of an enemy. If you're on foot, a foe in a speeder is much more dangerous than the same foe out of that speeder. On the other hand, if you're in an X-Wing fighter, the same foe in the speeder is hardly any threat at all.
So, for determining the CL of foes in vehicle combat, the party gets a vehicle difficulty modifier (or VDM) which is determined by the following formula:
(Ship's CL - crew quality modifier) / 2, rounded down
The crew quality should be listed in the vehicle stat block. If the party is in more than one vehicle, the VDM is based on the average CL of the vehicles (minus their crew quality).
| Crew Quality | CL Modifier |
|---|---|
| Untrained | -1 |
| Normal | +0 |
| Skilled | +1 |
| Expert | +2 |
| Ace | +4 |
Example: A party of smugglers are in a Theta-class shuttle, which has a CL of 11 and normally has a "skilled" crew (+1). The VDM for the party is (11 - 1 = 10; 10 / 2 =) 5.
Example: A party of rebel heroes are making an attack run on a Star Destroyer. They are flying a B-Wing fighter (CL 10, "skilled" crew +1, for a raw CL of 9, VDM 4) escorted by two A-Wings (CL 9, "skilled" crew +1, for a raw CL of 8, VDM 4) and an experimental E-Wing (CL 12, "expert" crew +2, for a raw CL of 10, VDM 5). The VDM therefore is ([4 + 4 + 4 + 5] / 4 ships =) 4.
Once you have determined the party VDM, this number is then subtracted from the CL of each opponent in the encounter. For example a TIE fighter usually has a CL of 7 and an encounter budget cost of 1,400. However, against the rebel party described above, the CL of the TIE fighter is reduced by their VDM of 4, giving each TIE fighter a final CL of 3 and an encounter budget cost of 600 XP.
This sounds complicated, but it looks worse on paper than it actually in in practice. For example, if your party is always flying around in the same ship, and you determine that ship has a VDM of 5, then you know that all enemies in a ship combat always have an effective CL of -5 from what's listed in the stat block.
A skill challenge, in the context of encounter design, is some kind of ability or skill check that must advance an important story goal and have a tangible penalty for failure. Thus, making a Persuasion check to haggle for equipment is not a "skill challenge," but making a Persuasion check to convince a hostile warlord not to attack you may very well be. Skill challenges should be built into the scenario just like any other challenge, and can be part of a larger encounter.
The complete rules for skill challenges are beyond the scope of this document; I recommend picking up the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 and referring to the skill challenge rules in there for more complete details. But here are the basics for Saga Edition:
A skill challenge is defined by two things: its level (or CL in Saga), and its complexity. Generally speaking, a skill challenge's level should be the same as the average party level, although you can raise or lower it by a level or two depending on the challenge you want to provide. You shouldn't raise or lower it by more than 2 levels, however, as that will make it either impossible to succeed or trivially easy.
The way a skill challenge works is that you present the party with a problem (airlock won't open, King Eebareebaveebeedee won't help you recover the parts you need, the hyperdrive motivator is damaged), and they have to achieve a certain number of successes — before achieving a certain number of failures — in order to overcome it. The number of success required before achieving three failures (think of it as "three strikes and you're out") determines the skill challenge's complexity:
| Success/Failure Ratio | Complexity |
|---|---|
| 4/3 | 1 |
| 6/3 | 2 |
| 8/3 | 3 |
| 10/3 | 4 |
| 12/3 | 5 |
What constitutes "achieving a success" depends on the challenge at hand, but there should be some wiggle-room. For instance, if you decide the only way to bypass a locked door is with three Use Computer checks, but none of your players are trained in Use Computer, they're out of luck. In the case of the locked door, perhaps Persuasion checks could fast-talk somebody on the other side into unlocking it, Climb could be used to get over the wall, or even Use the Force could be used to tumble the locks via telekinesis. In Star Wars particularly, allowing the characters to spend a Force Point to achieve an automatic success is a viable option. Let the players come up with neat and interesting uses for their skills, but obviously don't let them do stuff that makes no sense ("How exactly is a Jump check going to help you convince the stormtrooper that these aren't the droids he's looking for?").
The DC of a given CL skill challenge is an "Easy" check by that level (see Hazards, below). To figure out the XP budget of a given skill challenge, you multiply the XP budget of a challenge of that level by the complexity of the skill challenge. For instance, a CL 4 item has an XP value of 800. So a CL 4 skill challenge of complexity 3 has an XP value of (800 x 3 =) 2,400 XP.
NOTE: The adventure must go on! Skill checks should never be a chokepoint for the adventure, merely a decision point between a "good" result and a "bad" result. When planning your encounter, you need to come up with some way for things to progress forward, or at least sideways, even if the failed skill challenge puts the heroes at a major disadvantage. But think of how much more heroic they'll be for overcoming that handicap, right? Right?
Example: A party of 7th level heroes are sneaking into the detention area of a battlestation to rescue a captured noble. Besides the various officers and troopers they have to blast, they also have to overcome a complexity 2 skill challenge (2,800 XP, requires 6 successes at DC 17) to get back out again safely before reinforcements arrive. They start with a Deception check, putting on captured stormtrooper armor and putting binders on the Wookiee scout so he looks like prisoner. The DC for 7th level skill challenges is 17, and the GM rules that this is an easy deception (there are troopers moving prisoners around all the time), giving them a +5. The scoundrel makes that easily, giving them 1 success (1/0).
They march into the detention level unchallenged, but once they get there, they are faced with the officer in charge, who has no orders regarding a Wookiee prisoner. The scout attempts a DC 17 Deception check, but this one is moderate (the officer has no orders, but in the bureaucratic machine this kind of slip-up is common, so it's probably nothing). He just barely makes it (2/0) and so the officers orders his troops to go get the Wookiee.
The heroes take advantage of the troopers' gobsmackedness to take a surprise round, and combat breaks out! Unfortunately, the GM rules that blasting of any kind sets off all sorts of alarms, giving them one automatic failure (2/1). Whoops.
The GM then informs them that there are cameras all over the detention block watching this fight go on! The Wookiee player succeeds a Knowledge (Technology) DC 17 check and determines that blasting the cameras will buy them some time (3/1). They then go on a camera-killing rampage unparalleled since Danger! Death Ray.
Once the shooting is done, a quick DC 17 Computer Use check easily reveals the location of the captured noble (4/1) and sends the scout of scurrying. Meanwhile, the comm is beeping, security calling to find out what the heck is going on down there. The scoundrel attempts another Deception check to stall them -- at -5 for a difficult situation this time (c'mon, blaster fire in the detention block?) -- and blows it bigtime. Weapons malfuntion? Seriously? (4/2)
The security officer says he's going to send a squad down to check it out and the player frantically attempts a DC 17 Mechanics check to come up with a better explanation. Unfortunately, the Force is not with the scoundrel's player, who rolls 1 and comes up with a "very dangerous reactor leak" (4/3). The GM winces, tells the players they've failed the skill challenge, gaining no experience points for it, and that an infinite number of stormtroopers will be there in 1d6 rounds. The scoundrel blasts the panel in frustration and says it was a boring conversation anyway. However, the GM had come up with an "out" for this: once the noble is released from her cell, she blasts open a handy garbage chute and sends them all off into the trash compactor ... which just happens to be a CL 10 hazard...
The Skill Challenge game mechanics in d20 are still somewhat "experimental." For more detailed information and guidelines to creating skill challenges, refer to the Dungeon Master's Guide 2. Note that not every call for a skill check in an adventure counts as a "skill challenge" -- a skill challenge is an element specifically put into the encounter by the GM.
Traps or hazards can easily be added to an encounter; you simply determine their CL and spend the appropriate amount from your XP budget. Of course, figuring the CL is usually the tricky part. Published sources can provide some CL values (such as the CL 10 trash compactor listed in SWSE, which costs 2,000 XP from your encounter budget). However, when creating your own hazards, the easiest way to go is to use the "Battlestation by CL" rules from Galaxy at War, which I've taken and elaborated on for this system. You use the "Low Damage" column for any attack that automatically affects somebody in the square (such as wading through lava), the "Normal Damage" column for a hazard that can attack again and again, or that has an area effect. You only use the "High Damage" column for a hazard that attacks one character once and is done. Note that the High Damage column may kill more fragile characters outright, so be wary of using this option. If the trap or hazard has some method of bypassing it with a skill check (such as Use Computer to turn off an electrified floor), choose the DC from the appropriate column, modifying the CL of the trap or hazard accordingly. If a trap or hazard attacks Fort or Will instead of Ref, it gets +1 CL.
| CL | Attack | Low Damage | Normal Damage | High Damage | Easy DC (CL -1) | Medium DC (CL +0) | Moderate DC (CL +1) | Hard DC (CL +2) | Heroic DC (CL +3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ½ | +2 | 1d6+2 | 3d6 | 4d6+2 | 12 | 16 | 21 | 24 | 29 |
| 1 | +3 | 1d6+2 | 3d6 | 4d6+2 | 13 | 18 | 23 | 26 | 31 |
| 2-3 | +3/+4 | 2d6 | 3d6+1 | 4d6+2 | 14 | 19 | 24 | 27 | 32 |
| 4-5 | +6/+7 | 2d6 | 3d6+2 | 5d6 | 16 | 21 | 26 | 29 | 34 |
| 6-7 | +8/+9 | 2d6+2 | 4d6 | 5d6+1 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 35 |
| 8-9 | +10/+11 | 2d6+2 | 4d6 | 5d6+2 | 18 | 23 | 28 | 32 | 37 |
| 10-11 | +12/+13 | 3d6 | 4d6+2 | 6d6 | 19 | 24 | 29 | 33 | 38 |
| 12-13 | +14/+15 | 3d6+1 | 4d6+2 | 6d6 | 21 | 26 | 31 | 35 | 40 |
| 14 | +16 | 3d6+2 | 5d6 | 6d6+1 | 22 | 27 | 32 | 36 | 41 |
| 15 | +17 | 3d6+2 | 5d6 | 6d6+2 | 22 | 27 | 32 | 37 | 42 |
| 16-17 | +18/+19 | 4d6 | 5d6+1 | 6d6+2 | 23 | 28 | 33 | 38 | 43 |
| 18-19 | +20/+21 | 4d6 | 5d6+2 | 7d6 | 24 | 29 | 34 | 39 | 44 |
| 20 | +22 | 4d6+1 | 5d6+2 | 7d6 | 26 | 31 | 36 | 41 | 46 |
Example: An Imperial outpost is guarded by turrets that drop down out of the ceiling and attack any creatures not carrying a valid ID transponder. The GM wants the turrets to be a CL 3 hazard, so the turrets have an attack of +4 and do 3d6+1 damage. If the GM wanted to allow a Stealth check to bypass the turret, the DC would probably be in the 14 - 24 range. Each turret costs 600 XP from the encounter budget.
Example: A treasure chest is guarded by a cunning trap that sprays incredibly corrosive acid at any person who attempts to open the chest without engaging a secret lock first. The GM wants this to be a CL 5 hazard, and since it only fires once at the single person opening the chest, the GM uses the "High Damage" column. However, the acid attacks the Fort defense of the target instead of the Ref defense, giving it a CL adjustment of +1, so he uses the CL 4 values. The final trap has an attack at +6 against the target's Fort defense, which does 5d6 damage. The trap has a disabling DC of 21 and costs 1,000 XP from the encounter budget.
| Level/CL | BAB | Damage | Defenses | Hit Points | Skill Checks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ±4 | ±3 | ±2 | ±4 | ±20 | ±2 |
| ±3 | ±2 | ±1 | ±3 | ±15 | ±1 |
| ±2 | ±1 | ±1 | ±2 | ±10 | ±1 |
| ±1 | ±0 | ±0 | ±1 | ±5 | ±0 |
| Noncombatant | -1* | +0 | +0 | -5** | +0 |
| Combat Spec. | +1 | +0 | +1 | +5 | +0 |
| *At +1 level, this should be +0 rather than -1. **This does not stack with other negative HP values. |
|||||
There is a vast array of creatures and NPC foes for your players, but no rogues gallery can ever be completely comprehensive, so there may be times when you want to shift an existing enemy's CL up or down a few notches without having to completely refigure the stat block from scratch. Such tweaks are actually very simple, using the values shown.
These levels, as indicated, are "quickies," designed to give you a working stat block that's "close enough" for a workable encounter. Note that they only go +/-4 levels in either direction: this is intentional, because once you start getting that far off from the basic stat block, you end up with NPCs that have either a major surplus or shortage of feats and talents for the amount of challenge they're intended to provide. When you get to that disparate a level, you should either look for another base stat block, or do it "the long way" by hand.
If desired, it probably won't be an "encounter breaker" if you add a feat or a talent of your choice at +2 and +4. However, it's probably not worth taking away any feats or talents at -2 and -4 — most NPCs and/or creatures won't get to use all of their abilities in any single encounter anyway, so it's not worth the time to figure out which one(s) to strip.
Once your adjustments are made, you'll probably want to go back and make sure there's nothing too out-of-whack about it, as these levels are not the end-all be-all of character advancement. This process definitely works better for beasts or support characters than it does for important ("named") NPCs.
Example: Here is a CL 5 bounty hunter, made by taking the bounty hunter stat block from page 283 of SWSE and applying a -2 CL adjustment.
Bounty Hunter (CL 5)
Medium Human nonheroic 4/scout 3/bounty hunter 3/CL adjustment -2
Force 2; Dark Side 4
Init +12; Senses low-light vision; Perception +13
Languages Basic
Defenses Ref 21 (flat-footed 19), Fort 18, Will 16
hp 54; Threshold 18
Speed 4 squares
Melee vibrobayonet +9 (2d6+5) or
Melee vibrobayonet +9 (3d6+7) with Mighty Swing
Ranged blaster carbine +10 (3d8+2) or
Ranged blaster carbine +8 (4d8+2) with Rapid Shot or
Ranged stun grenade +8 (4d6+2 stun, 2-square burst)
Base Atk +7; Grp +10
Atk Options Hunter's Mark, Mighty Swing, Rapid Shot
Special Actions familiar foe +1, Hunter's Target, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Abilities Str 15, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10
Talents Acute Senses, Expert Tracker, Hunter's Mark, Hunter's Target
Feats Armor Proficiency (light, medium), Mighty Swing, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Proficiency (advanced melee weapons, pistols, rifles, simple weapons)
Skills Initiative +12, Endurance +11, Perception +13, Survival +11
Possessions Corellian powersuit (+7 armor) with helmet package, blaster carbine, vibrobayonet, 2 stun grenades, utlity belt with medpac, bounty hunter's license, datapad
Note that if I were actually going to use this guy, I'd probably remove the Corellian Powersuit, as that's a pretty hefty piece of gear for a CL 5 foe. Consider replacing it with an armored flight suit, which would further reduce his Ref defense to 19 and his Strength to 13, which in turn reduces his melee attacks and damage by a further -1. With that quick change, he's ready to go!
A key Imperial defector was caught attempting to flee to the Alliance, and is being held on an Imperial transport. The transport is passing through a nebula attempting to rendezvous with a Star Destroyer on the far side. If it reaches the Star Destroyer, the defector is as good as lost, so before that happens a band of three 6th level rebel heroes accompanied by their 4th level NPC droid (i.e., the party) must fight their way through the transport's escorts, dock, get through the troops inside to the detention area, then escape with the defector. All in a day's work.
| Encounter Budget | |
|---|---|
| Three 6th level heroes | 2,700 XP (900 XP each) |
| One 4th level ally (the droid) | 600 XP |
| BASELINE XP VALUE: | 3,300 XP |
| Highest Recommended Single Foe: | CL 8 (1,600 XP) |
| Very Easy (EL -2): | 1,650 XP |
| Easy (EL -1): | 2,200 XP |
| Challenging (EL+1): | 4,950 XP |
| Hard (EL+2) | 6,600 XP |
| Epic (EL+3) | 9,900 XP |
The heroes have been given a Lambda-class shuttle (CL 12, -1 for "skilled" crew gives a raw ship value of CL 11, VDM 5) and two A-Wing fighters (CL 9, -1 for "skilled" crew gives a raw ship value of CL 8, VDM 4). For starship encounters, this gives the heroes an average VDM of ([5 + 4 + 4]/3 =) 4.
This is just a "warm up," so the GM decides for a "very easy" encounter (1,650 XP) and opts for some TIE fighters. Without any modification, a TIE fighter is CL 7, but this is reduced by the party's VDM to (7 - 4 =) 3, or 900 XP. A pair of TIE fighters costs 1,800 XP, which is already more than the "very easy" budget, but well below the "easy" budget. Adding a third would bump the XP cost up to 2,700 XP, which is much closer to a standard encounter and more than he wants for this opener, so he sticks with two. Two A-Wings and a Lambda should have no trouble with two TIEs.
The GM decides that the transport itself is going to be more of a piece of scenery than an actual part of the fight. The real threat is the fighter escort -- plus the fact that the droid has to go EVA in the middle of the fight and forcibly activate the docking rings to enable the heroes to board the transport. The GM figures this should be a pretty challenging fight, and sets an XP budget of 4,850 XP.
First, he knows that the docking procedure is going to be a skill challenge, and decides to give it a complexity of 1 -- four successes before three failures. The makeup of that is pretty straightforward: a Use Computer check on the part of the droid, and one Pilot check each from each PC to dock. The party's average CL is ([6 + 6 + 6 + 4] / 4 =) 6, setting the skill challenge DC to 17. The GM decides that the penalty for failure at this challenge is that the transport will have more time to set up defenses inside, bumping the next encounter from "standard" to "challenging." The XP budget cost for this skill challenge is 1,200, leaving the GM with 3,650 to spend.
He could spend all of that just on a swarm of more TIE fighters, but as the PCs fought those in the Sentry Ships encounter, he doesn't want to do that. He decides that the Star Destroyer, responding to the distress calls of the transport, has dispatched a TIE bomber and some TIE interceptor escorts to take out the shuttle. The VDM-modified CL of a TIE bomber is (9 - 4 =) 5 (1,000 XP); the VDM-modified CL of each TIE interceptor is (8 - 4 =) 4 (800 XP). The final encounter looks like this:
| Skill Challenge complexity 1 | 1,200 XP |
| TIE bomber | 1,000 XP |
| 3 TIE interceptors | 2,400 XP |
| Total Encounter Cost: | 4,600 XP |
This is a little lower than he was aiming for, but should still make an exciting encounter. He decides that if it goes too fast, he'll have the sentry ships from the other side of the ship show up in the middle of the fight, bringing two more TIE fighters to the mix (and adding another 1,800 XP to the total encounter). To give the encounter some "shape," he rules that the skill challenge segment cannot begin until all incoming fighters are destroyed (as the docking maneuver leaves you too vulnerable to defend yourself), and that the TIE bomber will ignore all targets other than the Lambda shuttle until one or the other of them is destroyed, unless one of the A-Wings can force the bomber into a dogfight.
The heroes are out of their ships now and onboard the transport. This encounter could go two ways, depending on whether the heroes succeeded or failed at the skill challenge in the Docking Maneuver encounter. If they succeeded at the skill challenge, the resistance will be a hurried collection of imperial navy troops and officers (from The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide) with a budget of 3,300 XP. If they failed the skill check, the GM decides that the Imperials have also set up a pair of E-Web blasters creating a crossfire and some automated sentry guns (from Galaxy at War), bringing the total budget up to 4,950 XP.
However, there's a slight hitch in the plan, in that Imperial Navy Troopers are not exactly tough customers. In fact, at CL 1, they're only worth 200 XP each and not much challenge for a 6th level hero. So he decides he will bump them up to CL 3 by adding 2 CL adjustment levels, giving them a new stat block:
Imperial Navy Trooper, Elite (CL 3 / 600 XP)
Medium Human nonheroic 3/CL adjustment 2
Dark Side 1
Init +3; Senses Perception +7
Languages Basic
Defenses Ref 15 (flat-footed 14), Fort 13, Will 12
hp 18; Threshold 13
Speed 6 squares
Melee baton +3 (1d6+1)
Ranged blaster pistol +4 (3d6+1)
Base Atk +3; Grp +4
Atk Options Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Abilities Str 11, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Feats Armor Proficiency (light), Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Proficiency (pistols, rifles, simple weapons)
Skills Mechanics +7, Perception +7
Possessions baton, blaster pistol, comlink, utility belt, blast helmet and vest
With those in place, the encounter looks like this:
| One Imperial Officer | 1,000 XP |
| Four Imperial Navy Troopers | 2,400 XP (600 XP ea.) |
| Total Encounter Cost: | 3,400 XP |
And here's what's added if the players failed the skill challenge in the previous encounter:
| Four stormtroopers manning two E-Webs (effectively +1 CL) | 1,000 XP |
| Two Automated Sentry Guns | 800 XP |
| Additional Encounter Cost: | +1,800 XP |
| Total Encounter Cost: | 5,200 XP |
Of course, you'll want to set this encounter up with some interesting terrain effects (troops behind crates, open loading bay pits, etc.), but that shouldn't effect the numbers any.
The GM decides to keep this one a standard encounter, figuring that the main defenders of the ship were the ones the party fought in the Shipboard Defenses encounter -- all that's left now are the people who were specifically ordered to defend the detention area, consisting of an Imperial Officer and several stormtroopers. As an added wrinkle, the detention area has a section of electrified floor between the entrance and the control area, enabling the defenders to crouch behind control panels (providing them with cover) and blaze away at the unprotected heroes, forcing them to either stand and take it, or run across the electrified area to get to the troopers. The damage is automatic to anyone who enters the 5 x 4 square area in the middle of the chamber, and does damage to them again every time they begin a turn in the trapped area, so the GM uses the "low damage" column, determining that low damage for a CL 6 hazard is 2d6+2. The final encounter breakdown:
| Trapped floor (CL 6) | 1,200 XP |
| One Imperial Officer | 1,000 XP |
| Six Stormtroopers (CL 1) | 1,200 XP (200 XP ea.) |
| Total Encounter Cost: | 3,400 XP |
The GM rules that the electrified floor can be turned off by a DC 22 Use Computer check (the Medium DC for a CL 6 trap), but that this can only be done from the control panels the troopers are crouched behind. Once the detention area guards fall, releasing the defector is easy, as there are only three cells, and the Imperial Officer is carrying the key. Once the heroes have the defector, they can easily get back to their ships and flee. If they linger for some strange reason, such as deciding they want to capture the whole ship instead of just rescuing the defector, the GM will have overheard broadcast commos indicate that the Star Destroyer has scrambled fighters and is itself now coming to assist -- or destroy -- the transport.
I hope you find this guide useful. I am always interested in comments or feedback, via thegneech@gmail.com.