STAR WARS
DARTH VADER
Dark Lord of the Sith
Val CHA Cost Roll Notes 30 STR 20 15- Lift 1600 kg; 6d6 HTH Damage [3] 21 DEX 33 13- OCV: 7/DCV: 7 23 CON 26 14- 15 BODY 10 12- 15 INT 5 12- PER Roll 12- 23 EGO 26 14- ECV: 8 30 PRE 20 15- PRE Attack: 6d6 6 COM -2 10- 8/14 PD 2 Total: 8/14 PD (0/6 rPD) 7/13 ED 2 Total: 7/13 ED (0/6 rED) 4 SPD 9 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 11 REC 0 46 END 0 50 STUN 8 Total Characteristics Cost: 159 Movement: Running: 6"/12" Leaping: 6"/12" Swimming: 2"/4" Cost Powers & Skills 330 Force Manipulation: Variable Power Pool, 150 base + 180 control cost, Powers Can Be Changed As A Zero-Phase Action (+1), No Skill Roll Required (+1); Limited Class Of Powers Available (Force powers only; -1/4) Martial Arts: Lightsaber Dueling Maneuver OCV DCV Damage 4 Cut +0 +2 Weapon +2 DC Strike 4 Disarm -1 +1 Disarm; 40 STR to Disarm roll 4 Parry +2 +2 Block, Abort 5 Thrust +1 +3 Weapon Strike 5 Slash -2 +1 Weapon +4 DC Strike 0 Weapon Element: Lightsaber 60 Lightsaber: HKA 2d6 (2d6+1 w/STR), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Does BODY (+1), AVLD (energy force fields, hardened armors, parrying with another lightsaber, and so on; +1 1/2); OAF (-1) 18 Armored Costume: Armor (6 PD/6 ED) 33 Force Sensitive: Detect Force Activity A Class Of Things 15- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Range, Sense, Telescopic: +16 8 Force Sensitive: Mental Awareness, +3 to PER Roll 3 Helmet Rebreather: LS (Expanded Breathing); OIF (helmet/face mask; -1/2) Perks 10 Fringe Benefit: Right Hand Of The Emperor 12 Reputation: Right Hand Of The Emperor (galaxy-wide) 14-, +4/+4d6 Talents 18 In Tune With the Force: Combat Sense 15- Skills 32 +4 with All Combat 3 Acrobatics 13- 2 AK: The Known Galaxy 11- 0 AK: Tatooine 8- 3 Breakfall 13- 0 Climbing 8- 7 Combat Piloting 15- 0 Concealment 8- 3 Interrogation 15- 5 KS: History and Code of the Jedi Knights 14- 5 KS: The Force 14- 0 Language: Galactic Standard (idiomatic; literate) 2 Navigation (Space) 12- 2 PS: Jedi Knight 11- 2 PS: Right Hand of the Emperor 11- 3 Shadowing 12- 3 Stealth 13- 6 Systems Operation (Communications Systems, Environmental Systems, Air/Space Traffic Control Systems, FTL Sensors) 12- 2 TF: Science Fiction & Space Vehicles 6 WF: Beam Weapons, Energy Weapons, Lightsabers, TIE Fighter Weapons 2 Weaponsmith (Lightsaber) 12- 602 Total Powers & Skills Cost 761 Total Character Cost 200+ Disadvantages 30 Dependence: helmet/internal life support mechanisms or some form of external life support mechanism Takes 1d6 Damage (Very Common, 1 Phase) 5 Distinctive Features: Force Signature (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses) 25 Distinctive Features: Armored Costume (Not Concealable; Extreme Reaction (fear); Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 15 Hunted: Emperor Palpatine 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Watching) 10 Psychological Limitation: Loyal to Emperor Palpatine (Common, Moderate) 20 Psychological Limitation: Megalomaniac (Very Common, Strong) 20 Psychological Limitation: Ruthless (Very Common, Strong) 20 Reputation: Darth Vader, the Emperor's right-hand man, 14- (Extreme) 15 Social Limitation: Subject To Orders (Frequently, Major) 401 Dark Lord of the Sith Bonus 761 Total Disadvantage Points
Background/History: As far as I know, Vader's history runs like this: Darth Vader was born Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine. He showed a powerful gift for the Force from an early age and eventually became the student of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight. Eventually, he went on to train under Yoda and was made a full-fledged Jedi. At some point, Anakin was seduced by the power and the promise of the Dark Side and turned against his fellow Jedi. He betrayed them to the Emperor, and helped to hunt down and destroy the once-proud Knighthood. During these events, he had a final battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi, during which he was grievously injured (reports vary) and was only able to survive the experience by being rebuilt as a virtual cyborg. Now, given the title Darth Vader, the man formally known as Anakin Skywalker is now the Emperor's righthand-man, enforcing the Emperor's will across the galaxy.
Note: This history was written before Lucas released his three prequels. While (obviously) canon, I really have no interest (or intent) of re-watching those films to further fill out this character sheet.
Personality/Motivation: As a man consumed by the Dark Side, Vader is also consumed with anger. His is not a volatile anger, but one that seethes below the surface and issues forth in more subtle ways. Vader is very ruthless, he kills a number of Admirals (or starts to) several times in the series, usually in response to failures or disobedience on the part of these Admirals. He rules by fear, fear of him and fear of the Emperor. On the other hand, he is willing to overthrow the Emperor, as witnessed by his attempts to persuade Luke in The Empire Strikes Back (although he could have been lying, you never know). Another aspect of his ruthlessness is the fact he is willing to see his own daughter tortured and killed, virtually before his eyes, and not show any sign of emotion of this fact (although one could argue that he many not have known that Leia was his daughter at that time). Vader is also very much a megalomaniac, wanting nothing more than to crush the rebellion (and if his taunts to Luke are true) depose the Emperor and gain control of the Empire for himself (with Luke replacing Vader's place?). Interestingly enough, Vader is still rather loyal to the Emperor, at least, right up until the end, where he returns to the Light and literally overthrows Palpatine (tossing him down the air shaft).
Quote: "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you have constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force"
Powers/Tactics: Vader is a master of the Force and a former Jedi Knight. Thus, even though he has turned to the Dark Side, he has not lost his control of the Force, in fact, he might have even gained a little more power (but, at what cost?).
Some of Vader's Force Powers include:
- Missile Deflection: All Jedi can deflect energy weapons with their lightsabers. Vader goes one step further. In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader hold out his hand and effortlessly stop's Han's blaster shots. This is obviously Missile Deflection, with the special effect being the shots don't "deflect" anywhere, they just vanish. Vader than yanks the blaster out of Han's hand, which brings to the next of Vader's powers --
- Telekinesis: Vader can move objects with is mind. Based on the size of the objects he hurled in The Empire Strikes Back, as well as how far he threw them he looks to have about a 40 to 50 Telekinetic STR. This TK has the Advantages of "Invisible Power Effects: Sight" and "Indirect". One may want to use the BOECV Advantage as well, since TK is inherently "Indirect" in some ways. As 50 STR of TK bought with these advantages comes to about 150 Active Points, that is how I came up with the size of Vader's Power Pool.
- Telekinetic Choke: There are several ways to do this. One is a simple application of TK. Another would be a NND EB with Invisible Effects. If using this power, the Game Master would need to use the choking rules from The Ultimate Martial Artist, in which a character will take BODY once all of their STUN is gone. A final way is to buy Vader a Ego Attack that "Does BODY" for an extra +1 advantage. In order to choke someone on another starship, Vader would need to find the offending party with Mind Scan, and then attack with an Ego Attack. It is highly likely this power requires Concentration, which is why Vader doesn't use it in combat.
Other, possible, powers for Vader's power pool include: Precognition (he knew the Rebels were on Hoth), Mind Control (witness Obi-Wan's trick with the storm troopers in Mos Eisley), Telepathy, Levitation (i.e. Flight) and Spatial Awareness.
Other, non-Power Pool Force powers include:
- Force Sensitive: Vader is very aware of other users of the Force and of the flow of the Force itself. He states "The Force is strong in this one" when pursuing Luke Skywalker at the end of Star Wars, and he knows Obi-Wan is on the Death Star. This exact range is open to speculation, since Obi-Wan felt the death of Alderann from light-years away.
- Mental Awareness: This ties into his Force Sensitive abilities.
- Combat Sense: Since Luke was able to fight blindfolded (if only for a short moment), there is no reason why Vader can't do likewise.
Vader's armor provides some defense versus weapons, as well allowing him to breath normally. His helmet may (or may not) have extra devices built into it, such as IR Vision, UV Vision or Flash Defense.
The lightsaber is built to cut through most anything. I gave it the AVLD advantage, specifying several different defenses that can stop a 'saber. A lightsaber blade cannot cut through another 'saber blade. Since this is so, logic states that you can't cut through a deflector shield with a 'saber either. It also seems likely that "hardened" defenses will be far more resistant to a lightsaber blade. Thus, hardened armor would work as normally versus a lightsaber, rather than providing no defense.
As there is no one true way to define a lightsaber (at least, the Star Wars version), Game Masters should feel free to tinker with the design. Other methods include HKAs, No Range RKAs, NND RKAs and RKAs with large amounts of Penetrating or Armor Piercing.
Appearance: Vader is over 2 meters tall, which makes him a good 6'6" in height (at least). He dresses in a solid black suit of "armor," that he might not be able to take off. On his chest is a control panel for his life support systems, and on his head he wears a helmet and breath mask that bears some resemblance to helmets worn by samurai (which is deliberate). Black gloves, boots, and a long, flowing black cape complete the image.
Designer's Notes: This write-up represents Darth Vader based on the only "true" source of information about the character; the original Star Wars trilogy (i.e. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return Of The Jedi). I used information from those movies, as well as the scripts from the movies (via my three Art Of... books) as well as input from the Hero Mailing List, to create this character sheet.
Darth Vader's Hero Designer File
(Darth Vader created by George Lucas, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook and the Hero Mailing List)
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