I’ve been in love with Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game since I first picked up the Edge of the Empire Beta book three years ago. In that time, it has rapidly become my favorite system to run a Star Wars game in.
But before that, there was an absolute gem of a roleplaying game by Wizards of the Coast. It was released after Episode III, when we believed the saga to be at its end. This game took the d20 engine and turned it into a sleek, sexy vehicle to drive Star Wars adventures to heights that I had not seen with their previous d20 offerings, of which I was not a fan.
Star Wars Saga Edition was what I had been waiting for in a Star Wars roleplaying game for a long time. Oftentimes lovingly referred to as Star Wars 3.75, the game did away with a lot of the problems that Ihad with the d20 system from my years of playing Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition and threw them by the wayside, tweaking many existing mechanics and even introducing several new ones that turned it into a system that I will still turn back to for inspiration long after I have stopped playing it. For a number of years, this game was Star Wars for me.
Instead of having different basic classes for every kind of character under the sun, Saga Edition instead gave you a choice of five basic classes – the Jedi, the Noble, the Scoundrel, the Scout, and the Soldier. Now, you might think that creating such broad character classes would get you very cookie cutter characters that all performed the same – but that is where you would be wrong. Instead of characters that all gained the same abilities at the same levels, the developers introduced the concept of “talent trees.”
At every odd level, a character selected a new ability from one of four different talent trees they each possessed. For example, instead of having different classes for the Jedi Consular, Guardian, and Sentinel, they each instead got their own talent trees that allowed a Jedi character to further specialize. Furthermore, they also possessed a Lightsaber Combat talent tree that allowed them to become more proficient with the chosen weapon of their order. Noble characters had a variety of options to allow them to throw their reputation (or credits) around to inspire allies or shake their enemies. Each class had four talent trees in the core book that they could select from. Some of these talents were simple one-off choices. Others were ranked talents that got better or could be used more times as they were selected multiple times. And then there were some that provided a pathway to better talents down the tree. At every even level they got to choose a bonus feat from a specific list based on their class. At first level and every third level they got their normal feat that could be selected from any feat they qualified for. So, as you can see, there really were any number of ways that a character could be built using just five basic classes.
Prestige classes got an overhaul as well. Gone were the days of classes with esoteric entry requirements. Instead, they were thematic expansions of one of the basic classes, usually requiring a combination of specific trained skills, feats, or talent tree selections. These prestige classes were similar in style to the basic classes. At each odd level they got to select a new talent from several new talent trees specific to the class. But instead of bonus feats, they instead received a special ability that was unique to the class.
The Force too got an overhaul. Instead of spending skill points or feats on various abilities you just needed to take the proper feats. First off you needed to take the Force Sensitivity feat, which allowed you to add Use the Force to your list of class skills. And then you took the Force Training feat as a character feat that gave you a suite of Force powers you could use once per encounter. These were your basic Force abilites – surge, move object, battlestrike – but potent dark side abilities like Force grip, dark lightning, and dark rage that you could use at your own peril were also included. Additionally, being Force Sensitive allowed the character to choose from several other Force talents that covered not only the basic Jedi traditions of Control, Sense, and Alter, but even let you delve into the Dark Side or several other Force traditions. Using these dark side powers, using the Force in anger or fear, or simply behaving in a way that was not heroic would cause your character to accrue dark side points. If you accrued enough of those, your character was lost to the dark side and became an NPC. It was a powerful check and balance for an ability that was quite powerful, especially if it was abused with the proper character build.
Gone were skill points. Instead you were either trained in a skill or you weren’t. If you were trained, you got a flat +5 bonus to the skill. Each class had a list of class skills and could choose a certain number that they were trained in at first level. Additionally, you could become trained in new class skills with feat selections. Gone were iterative attacks that would bog down a combat round. You got one attack a round, barring any feats or talents that let you make multiple attacks. Gone were saving throws. Instead you had three defenses that represented how hard you were to harm through various effects. Instead of rolling in reaction to the triggering effect, the effect needed to overcome your relevant defense. The concept of adding your character level to certain aspects of your character that became a hallmark of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons was being field tested in this game.
But I think my single favorite addition to the game was the Condition Track. This was actually linked to one of your defenses. If you took enough damage from a single attack to surpass your characters’s Fortitude Defense, they moved down a step on the Condition Track. This affected how well they were able to do things, levying increasing penalties on everything they tried to do until they hit the bottom of the track at which point they were taken out of the fight, the same as they would be if they were dropped to 0 hit points. Certain abilities allowed you to move the target multiple steps down the Condition Track in a single attack if the right conditions were met – making it a powerful resource that needed to be managed.
But, just like every d20 game I’ve ever played, it did have its problems. As quickly as the game moved at low levels, it still did bog down at the higher levels – which is to be expected somewhat – you could do lots more at higher levels of play and that took some thinking. And while the game ended with a decent number of books (fourteen), there was noticeable power creep with each release as they added new and more interesting options to each class and new Prestige class options. It was also still very possible to create a highly optimized character that could easily overshadow other characters. This became very apparent when proper character builds that used the Force showed up in play that were capable of making a lot of other characters irrelevant.
But all of that aside, I loved the game. I do think there are some things that could be done to further clean up the game, but it was easily my favorite d20 system to either run or play in, and even after finding a new system in Fantasy Flight Game’s Star Wars Roleplaying, I still have the Saga Edition books sitting on my gaming book shelf in a place of reverence and still have lessons that I keep firmly in mind when I do my own design work.
Ben Erickson
It’s funny, but I went back and started to look at the Saga Edition stuff due to its history with d20. I am so very impressed by the art style and the sourcebook variations. I love the FFG system, but I would eventually love to see what they could so with Era based sourcebooks that Saga Edition had.
Excellent write up. I’d love to pick these up just to look through them.
THE game that brought d20radio/Gamer Nation together will always hold a special place in my heart. I played in and/or ran three LIFE CHANGING campaigns in that system with some of the finest people I’ve ever met. People I consider friends and peers. Love this system.
Great review, Ben.
I would not be typing this reply to you know, on this website, if it weren’t for Saga Edition.
Without Saga Edition, there would be no Order 66 Podcast. I wouldn’t know who Chris and Dave were, and so I wouldn’t know who you were, I wouldn’t have become friends with you, and this site probably wouldn’t even exist.
Right? It’s absolutely crazy to think about. At this point, I honestly don’t even remember how I discovered the Order 66 podcast initially, but I remember chewing through all of the early episodes with a fervor to catch up. I literally can’t imagine what my life would be like without the existence of this game, melodramatic as that sounds. Connections, friendships, and career opportunities – all from a game. I love this hobby.