Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Sean-Khan]

I'm thinking of throwing a Galactica/SW game, but centurions cause me a bit of a headache. I've seen from Holger's BSG conversion/additions that he keeps centurions as extras (with Nerves of Steel and autofire penalty reduced to -1). This seems a bit weak for a glance with regular mook stats. I think that concept of easily killable extras is in conflict vs. Galactica's theme; A group of marines in the series ambush a few Cylon scouts and they barely can make them turn back...

The centurions in the series are extremely tough, and deadly to extras to the least. How would you stat them?

[kreider204]

Maybe not make them full fledged Wild Cards, but perhaps give them a wound level or two? Or a free soak roll each?
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"It only takes an extra second to be courteous."
- Constable Benton Fraser

[Mylon]

They don't have to be wild cards to be tough. Construct edge (+2 to recover from being shaken) and high natural toughness and/or shooting skill will make these guys scary and difficult to take down. Shoot one's arm off? It shakes it off and keeps firing with the other one.

That said, as extras they should still be defeatable. The tension should come from the fact that combat in Savage Worlds is dangerous, as even a mook can get some explosions on the damage dice, or get an ace on the attack roll for a higher chance of some nasty damage.

Oh, and try and remember some of the other benefits Centurions's have: Numbers, since they can be manufactured rather than grown and trained, no need to sleep so they can chose when to fight, lack of fear, and more. I mean, you can't just hide behind cover and take advantage of an opponent's fear of death to take a break, these guys will just rush your cover while you're reloading. Send some Centurions in at night while the PCs are at a penalty but the centurions are not. Have them harass the PCs and keep them from sleeping. Go for the full BSG experience and team the PCs up with an equal number of NPCs, except one is secretly a Cylon.

[Rachan]

Give them the Hardy property from the Game Master's section. How's that work again? I don't have my book handy ...

Hardy means you actually have to raise on your damage to give them a Wound. A second shaken result does NOT become a Wound, like it normally does.

That by itself could make these guys pretty tough, without having to actually change any rules, or give them Wound levels (more bookkeeping! Not FFF!).
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[quote="77IM"]… it's not specifically allowed by the rules, but the GM is specifically allowed to allow it. [/quote]

[Dylan S]

I agree with everything that Mylon said: Construct, high Toughness, high Armour, and double machine-guns will make these guys seriously hard to take down, extras notwithstanding. Need some more? How about Rock & Roll (no penalty to full-auto), Fleet-Footed (faster Pace), Quick (faster initiative), Hardy (shaken result while already shaken doesn't wound), or Marksman? Ouch! In some episodes, it was mentioned that bullets were incapable of piercing Centurions' armour, so how about Invulnerable with a Weakness: Explosives? Now we're talkin'! Give all your Centurions double grenade launchers and Ambi/Two-Fisted, and then ask the players whether they felt that these extras went down too easily.

Remember that Wild Card is usually a title given to someone crucial to the story, a recurring character around whom part of the plot revolves; someone 'more special' than their common companions. I don't think a single Centurion fit that bill throughout the entire run of the show. Doesn't mean you can't have a Wild Card Centurion in your game, but you might want to consider giving it some special significance if you do.

[Sean-Khan]

Lol, they are getting tough lots of good ideas, thanks! Offensive power should be maybe better than with regular mook, but not too much - toughness is the thing. If pc's aren't in good position, multiple centurions closing should make them retreat.

Seems like they are good in almost every way, advanced mooks (d8 everything)? or even d10, reducing need of extra edges/abilities? Smarts should perhaps be lower, although they might ignore most smarts tricks, so maybe it shouldn't be dropped either.

Hm, hardy which doesn't work against explosives?

I could see a wild card centurion for example in circumstances where a single centurion gets in the pcs' ship and starts stalking them; but other than that, I agree that centurions shouldn't be wild cards.

[ValhallaGH]

[Dylan S]

Good call on Heavy Armour. I've never used it before, and forgot all about it.

[Mylon]

[ValhallaGH]

[razorwise]

[ValhallaGH]

[Rachan]

Granted, I don't know Battlestar Galactica that well, but aren't Cylons pretty common?

If they are common, you want them:

A) Simple, so you can remember all their stats without having to look them up. This speeds gameplay.

B) To go down RELATIVELY easy. Sure, they're tough … but if they're nigh-unstoppable, then every session will devolve into a never-ending Cylon brawl. And that gets stale quick.


If they're common to the setting, but you don't plan to have them show up a lot in the game, then it's safe to make them meaner.



They're a construct? That +2 to recover from Shaken is by itself a pretty serious advantage—it basically means they will almost NEVER lose their action in combat. You simply can't rattle them.

Doubling it up with Hardy means even on the rare chance they do get Shaken, it STILL doesn't help you take them out.

And if you do decide to make one Cylon in the platoon a Commander, he's now a Wild Card, with wound levels and a Wild Die. And since Constructs don't suffer from wound penalties, he's already a much harder hitter than an otherwise identical Wild Card who's NOT a construct, withough changing ANYTHING.

So that's where I would stop. Construct and Hardy. Maybe an extra die of Strength. I think anything more would be overkill.

More overkill than you want, anyway.
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[quote="77IM"]… it's not specifically allowed by the rules, but the GM is specifically allowed to allow it. [/quote]

[Sean-Khan]

Centurions in the show aren't fought that often, so if the game will be true to the show, there won't be that much combat against them. Defeatable, but such that players prefer to avoid straight conflict if possible.

The old Galactica cylons are quite different chapter