Thank the Maker

"If only you had attached my legs, I wouldn’t be in this ridiculous position."
     –C-3PO

The Star Wars galaxy wouldn't be quite the same without its droids and blasters. And that means we owe a debt to the Technicians who made them all possible. Their efforts have literally redefined the nature of life among the stars. They gave rise to sentient machines, developed the hyperdrive, and altered the ways that wars are fought. From starfighters to blasters to shield generators and Death Stars, the things that Technicians create are every bit as critical to the Star Wars experience as the Rebellion, the Galactic Empire, and the Force.

Special Modifications spotlights the ways that these characters can enrich your Edge of the Empire™ roleplaying campaigns by introducing new specializations, signature abilities, gear, droids, and rules for slicing. More than that, though, it allows your Technician to better fulfill his or her destiny. Every Technician needs to tinker, and some of the most important things you can create at the edge of the galaxy are weapons and droids. In Special Modifications, you'll find detailed rules allowing for the satisfactory design and creation of a wide variety of weapons and droids.

Build a blaster, or build a friend. With Special Modifications, your Technician's powers of invention are limited only by your imagination!

Build a Better Blaster

No matter how wondrous existing technological marvels are, there is no replacement for good old-fashioned ingenuity. On the fringes of the Empire, Technicians must be as resourceful as they are brilliant to come up with solutions to the problems that they face…

One of the places you'll find that ingenuity embraced within Special Modifications is in the rules for creating custom weapons. Whether you find yourself completely without a weapon or you simply want a better one, your Technician can follow the steps outlined in this book to choose a template for a melee or ranged weapon, gather all the necessary materials, and then create it.

Going through the steps can be a simple formality, or it can be spread out over the course of a series of adventures. Either way, your Technician may be able to create the equivalent of a weapon you cannot afford to purchase, or that you cannot find on the market. You may even be able to improve upon existing weapons; charts for both melee and ranged weapons include a wide variety of ways you can spend your Advantages and Triumphs to imbue your weapons with certain beneficial qualities.

Beware your Threat, though! If you end up with Threat on your roll, you must choose from among the many downsides, flaws, and foibles listed on the charts. Some of these flaws are mechanical, such as increasing the weight or decreasing the precision of a weapon. Others are narrative effects—a blaster might have a secret flaw that the designer does not know about, but which the Game Master can spend a Destiny Point to trigger at the most inconvenient moment!

Design a Droid

Special Modifications also introduces rules for creating droids, which utilize the same three-step framework as those for creating weapons, but then allow you to add a personality to the hardware, complete with special talents and quirks. Plucky astromech? Sure. Prim and proper protocol droid? No problem. Enthusiastic, combat-ready assassin droid? It will certainly be more expensive and more challenging, but it can be done.

When you use the rules from Special Modification to craft a droid, you select one of the available chassis templates, program it with a set of directives, and spend any Advantages and Triumphs on the droid's personality. Of course, the Game Master then gets to spend any remaining Threat and Despair on the less savory parts of the droid’s personality. Though your droid's personality options are technically divided between categories for "positive" and "negative" traits, they're all beneficial in the sense that they help bring your droid to life as a character.

In the end, a droid that you design using the steps and charts from Special Modifications won't be just some useful contraption that you cobbled together; it will be a fully realized NPC and companion to your party. Of course, some droids are more loyal—and helpful—than others, so once you create this droid, you’ll have to learn to work alongside it as a character, flaws and all.

The Builders Behind the Galaxy

The rules for crafting weapons, droids, gadgets, and other tech are only one part of Special Modifications. As this book explores ways for you to more fully incorporate your Technician into your adventures at the Edge of the Empire, it also offers new specializations, signature abilities, and a wide range of new gear. Game Masters will find tips for getting the most from their Technician-focused encounters, as well as new takes on integrating slicing into your campaign. Moreover, if GMs truly wish to reward their Technicians, they can even follow the book's suggestions for the types of rewards that might best suit Technicians, and they can allow their Technicians to sell their wares and designs on the market.

The Star Wars galaxy is a large and fantastic place. And the technologies invented by Technicians run through almost all of it. Tap into those technologies and that sense of wonder with Special Modifications, coming soon to your local retailer!