Brief Hiatus

Hey Everyone,

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Homebrew will be going on a brief hiatus from now until FFG releases the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook in the first week of July. Once the rulebook is out, I’m planning to go back through what has been posted so far and make sure everything is in line with the finalized, official rules. I’m also planning to post a set of PDF documents containing all of this site’s posts so readers can more easily use the content in their own games. Thanks for all your visits so far, and please look forward to more great content here in a few weeks!

Once More Into the Breach

Some call the Rebel Alliance a collection of naive fools while others call them noble heroes, but none question the courage and dedication with which the Rebellion’s soldiers combat the dread Empire. First among the Alliance’s infantry units are the daring marines. These soldiers are trained to perfection in order to serve as frontline fighters in ship to ship boardings and planetfall operations. However, for all their expertise and daring, a rebel marine is nothing without their armor.

Rebel Marine Armor

TYPE	DEFENSE	SOAK	COST	ENC	HP	RARITY
Rebel Marine Armor	0	3	6500(R)	6	5	6

Marines of the Rebel Alliance are known not only for their bravado but also for their ingenuity when faced with overwhelming odds. This is a fortunate trait as Rebel marines rarely, if ever, descend to a planet expecting a fair fight. The armor issued to Rebel marines reflects these characteristics and is designed to be durable, protective, and highly customizable.

Rebel marine armor is almost always greenish yellow in color and marked with the insignia of the Alliance. The armor is composed of a form-fitting body suit covered in a series of interlaced, shaped durasteel plates. The suit is articulated at all joints allowing for a reasonable freedom of movement without sacrificing too much defensive capability. The suit’s helmet is slightly conical in nature, coming to a point a few centimeters behind the crown of the head. The helmet’s appearance has led to marines being derisively called “squid-heads” by Imperial units.

Many Rebel marines take great pride in spending significant time and personal resources on customizing their armor to fit their tastes and unique skill set. These modifications are often the defining factor in conflicts fought with a razor-thin margin for victory. The Rebellion’s marines wouldn’t have it any other way.

Scout Trooper Armor

In the Outer Rim, even the secure and well protected supply lines of the Empire are not safe from the predations of pirates and raiders. Despite the Empire’s best efforts, such brigands are occasionally able to knock over a supply convoy and make off with its high quality wares to hock on thousands of black markets. One of the most prized pieces of this stolen stock is the specialized armor worn by Imperial scout troopers.

Scout Trooper Armor

TYPE	DEFENSE	SOAK	COST	ENC	HP	RARITY
Scout Trooper Armor	0	1	3300(R)	3	3	6

Click for more info about scout troopers

The armor worn by scout troopers is very similar in basic design to the plastoid laminate armor of the average stormtrooper. However, it does vary in several important ways. First, scout trooper armor is slightly lighter and provides less coverage; and, second, the former is fitted with an incredibly advanced suite of advanced optics, range finders, and firing solution computers. These modifications make scout troopers a deadly combination of speed, stealth, and accuracy when deployed to the field. They also makes the armor quite popular with assassins and wetworkers.

Like standard laminate armor, scout trooper armor is fitted over a body glove, and can be tailored to protect against exposure in a similar manner. The optics in the helmet act as if the armor had an enhanced optics suite attachment added to it, though this does not count against the armor’s HP limit. Furthermore, the wearer of scout trooper armor gains an additional Bonus die when using the Aim action when equipped with rifle-type weapons.

Image credit to Wookieepedia.

Slug Transducer

Slugthrower weapons are often considered inferior when compared to the many modern blaster arms available on the market, but slugthrowers’ relatively low cost of production and maintenance has kept them in continued production. Regardless of their fiscal sensibility, slugthrowers do lack capability when matched against armored or mechanical targets, such as droids. The slug transducer was designed to eliminate this weakness.

Slug Transducer

ATTACHMENT	COST	ENC	HP REQUIRED	RARITY
Slug Transducer	100	–	1	4

Slug transducers work by using a transducer to convert hydrogen from the environment into energy which is then transferred to any projectiles leaving the weapon. Transducers use a tightly controlled fissile process to produce this energy, making them quite dangerous if they are poorly maintained or damaged, but many beings still make use them. The super-charged nature of the projectile makes them extremely dangerous to electrical and mechanical targets. This weapon can be attached to any slugthrower weapon.

Base Modifiers: The weapon gains the Ion 1 Quality

Modification Options: 0-2 Damage + 1 Mods, Weapon Quality (Ion +1) Mod

Hard Points Required: One

Cost: 100 credits

The Sound and the Fury

All kinds of weapons from a host of manufacturers and makers find their way to the vast black markets of the Outer Rim. One of the more unconventional, and therefore expensive, such illegal arms is the Geonosian sonic blaster.

Geonosian Sonic Blaster

NAME	SKILL	DAM	CRIT	RANGE	ENC	HP
Geonosian Sonic Blaster	Ranged [Heavy]	9	2	Medium	4	3
	PRICE	RAR	SPECIAL
	900 (R)	7	Blast 2, Concussive 2, Disorient 2

Sound based technology has a long history on Geonosis, and the sonic blaster represents the pinnacle of such technology in its application as a being-portable infantry weapon. The mechanisms that actually produce the sonic projectile fired from the weapon are extremely complex and have not yet been replicated by any other species. Put simply, the cylindrical resonation chamber at the core of the weapon houses a matrix of perfectly aligned vibration engines. When these engines are activated, they produce an extraordinarily powerful sound bubble that is then fired from the weapon. On contact with a target, the bubble “bursts” and releases an incredibly loud, and deadly, shock wave affecting all nearby targets.

Targets struck directly by a sonic blaster are often shredded by the immense pressure of the sound waves. Those that survive the initial strike find themselves dazed and deafened by the piercing wail of the detonation.

The weapon’s gruesome nature makes sonic blasters decidedly hard to find, even in the lawless Outer Rim. However, those with a keen eye for less than above board arms dealers can probably get one for more than a bit of a markup.

At Least It’s Warm

Fortunate for fringers, not every creature they encounter is categorically deadly. Most of them just smell atrociously. Enter the useful but noxious tauntaun.

Tauntaun [Rival]

Though originally native to the ice world Hoth, tauntauns’ capacity as beasts of burden and mounts has seen them exported to cold worlds across the Outer Rim. The unique reptilio-mammalian physiology of tauntauns equips them to function in a number of environments, but they are most comfortable (and least irritable) in cold conditions similar to those of their homeworld. Though often temperamental and vociferous, a well trained tauntaun can still serve as a respectably fast and reliable form of transportation on worlds where technological means of locomotion are either scarce or undependable.

Tauntauns are not particularly dangerous foes and often flee rather than fight, but they can present a snarling, hissing menace when backed into a corner.

Click for more info.

Brawn: 4 Cunning: 2 Presence: 1

Agility: 3 Intellect: 1 Willpower: 1

Skills: Brawl 1, Perception 2

Talents: None

Soak / Defense: 1 / 0

Thresholds: Wound: 8

Abilities: Beast of Burden (Tauntauns outfitted with appropriate baggage can carry up to their Encumbrance in gear for the group), Heat Sink (Tauntauns maintain their internal body temperature for an unusually long time after death, and this could potentially be put to grisly use by the desperate)

Equipment: Claws and teeth (Brawl; Damage 6; Critical 5; Range[Engaged])

Image credit to Wookieepedia.

E-11 Arc Caster

The E-11 blaster rifle is the mainline weapon of the Empire’s grunt infantry. The weapon’s reputation for reliability, portability, and ease of repair have made it a common sight across the galaxy, even in the Outer Rim. One of the darker positives of the E-11 is the ease with which it can be modified to be even more deadly. One such variant is the infamous E-11 Arc Caster used by the Empire’s dreaded Dark Troopers.

E-11 Arc Caster

NAME	SKILL	DAM	CRIT	RANGE	ENC	HP
E-11 Arc Caster	Ranged [Heavy]	7	3	Medium	4	4
	PRICE	RAR	SPECIAL
	3000 (R)	7	Stun 5

The arc caster is built on the frame of a standard E-11, but most of its internal components, especially its energy cycling elements, are quite different from factory models. Trading a blast charging chamber for an incredibly high powered electromagnetic compressor, arc casters are able to spit a blast of electricity at a target.

The truly awe-inspiring feature of the arc caster variant is its projectile’s ability to “arc” from one target to another. The electrical charge emitted by the caster will jump from the original target to up to four targets within engaged or short range, including allies. The charge deals the same damage even after jumping. The electrical nature of the arc caster’s projectile is especially dangerous to unshielded electronics, especially droids. If a droid is struck by an arc caster, it takes 10 damage as opposed to the listed 7.

Full Spectrum Uplink

Well funded mercenary groups in the Outer Rim often equip themselves with not only the most advanced weaponry, but also the latest in communications gear. Chief among this equipment is the full spectrum uplink.

Full Spectrum Uplink

ATTACHMENT	COST	ENC	HP REQUIRED	RARITY
Full Spectrum Uplink	1750	–	1	3

This armor attachment may be installed on any armor and acts as a basic comlink in addition to its more advanced functions. A full spectrum uplink kit includes a comlink receiver and transmitter component, a mounted camera, and an advanced optical HUD. In general, the HUD component takes the form of an eyepiece worn over one or both (or some other configuration depending on species) eyes. All of these elements are linked to an advanced tactical processing unit near the back of the neck. The processing unit takes information fed from the camera and quickly scours the images for important information that it then feeds to the HUD. This includes threat highlighting and warnings.

A single individual with a full spectrum uplink presents an above average threat, but the real utility of this attachment comes when multiple individuals use them in tandem. Uplinks that are connected together are able to work as a group to sort threat information and display potential targets. The units triangulate their individual positions and use information from other vantages to show targets that might otherwise be out of line of sight.

Full spectrum uplinks are very often integrated into combat-grade helmets, but it is also possible to wear them without any kind of headgear.

Base Modifiers: Single: Removes up to one Setback die from any Perception, Surveillance, Vigilance, or combat checks due to target having cover. Linked: As single, and users are able to see all highlighted targets on the network, even those they do not have line of sight on.

Modification Options: None

Hard Points Required: One

Cost: 1,750 credits

Surprise

Some beings in the Outer Rim like their weapons to have not only killing power but also versatility. One surefire way to adapt to a “dynamic CQC situation” is a surprise blast from an under-barrel shotgun.

Under-Barrel Shotgun

ATTACHMENT	COST	ENC	HP REQUIRED	RARITY
Under-Barrel Shotgun	2500	–	2	5

This attachment adds a short barrel under the main barrel of the weapon. This barrel can be manually loaded with a 40mm buckshot shell. When fired, the weapon unleashes a devastating short range blast capable of eviscerating lightly armored targets. This attachment can only be applied to rifle-sized weapons (Ranged [Heavy] weapons).

Base Modifiers: Enables the weapon to fire using the following profile at the user’s choice: (Ranged [Heavy]; Damage 12; Critical 3; Range [Short]; Blast 4). Adds Cumbersome 1 to the weapon. The under-barrel shotgun must be reloaded after each use which requires the specialized 40mm shells and a maneuver to complete.

Modification Options: None

Hard Points Required: Two

Cost: 2,500 credits

Healing Hand

In the course of their careers, a few fringers find that it sometimes helps to heal rather than harm. If the whole group needs a pick-up, then there is no better substitute than a bacta grenade.

Bacta Grenade

ITEM	COST	ENC	RARITY
Bacta Grenade	100	1	2

“Grenade” is something of a misnomer as this item has no explosive components, but its wide area of dispersion does invite the comparison. A bacta grenade is shaped like a slim cylinder about 12 centimeters in length and covered in a grid of small holes. A simple safety and activator button on the top of the weapon are depressed to engage the grenade. Once engaged, an automatic four second timer starts allowing the user some time to deploy it either by dropping it or throwing it. Once the countdown finishes, a burst of vaporized bacta-stimulant mix is ejected to cover an area with a radius of several meters.

Simply dropping a bacta grenade requires no check, but accurately throwing one needs a successful Ranged [Light] check which varies with range. The ejected vapor has the same effect as a stimpack on everyone, including enemies of the user, within short range of the deployment point. Like a regular stimpack, this effect has diminishing returns across multiple uses and stacks with normal stimpack injections. Like all medical devices, a bacta grenade has no effect on droids or other non-organic lifeforms.