SW5e Starships of the Galaxy 2.0 Quick Combat Reference
Intent and Assumptions
This guide is intended to be a quick summary of what the players and the GM need to know to jump into space combat with the SW5e Starships of the Galaxy (2.0) module. This guide assumes that you have already made ships, or are using premade ones from the SotG2 Shipyard or other shipyards, and assumes that you have read through the PDF (or the website version) of Starships of the Galaxy AND the Errata. Do not forget to read the Errata! This guide will frequently reference where values are on the starship Google Sheets one can find in the SotG2 Shipyard, but if you’re using the form-fillable PDF, don’t fret, as everything you need should be somewhere in the PDF as well.
Proficient or Not?
If a character does not have a Deployment Rank of at least 1 in any deployment, they cannot add their proficiency bonus to ANY ship-related checks, saving throws, or attack rolls.
Deployments
While a ship may be crewed by hundreds of individuals, the number that participates in combat is significantly smaller. The number of deployed crewmembers a ship can have is dependent on its size and type. For example, an X-wing has a single pilot that can access all deployment stations from their seat, whereas a larger ship such as an Executor I-class Star Dreadnought has dedicated positions for a pilot, a coordinator, a mechanic, a technician, an operator, and multiple gunners. One person must be deployed as the pilot. You can have no more than one person deployed as a pilot, a coordinator, a mechanic, a technician, or an operator, but you can have multiple deployed gunners.
Taking Initiative
Space combat in SotG is very similar to ground combat in SW5e. Just like in the ground game, when a combat encounter begins, the GM decides if any combatants are surprised. Next, the GM decides where the combatants’ ships are located. Next, we determine initiative for the ships involved. To determine initiative for a ship, all of the ship’s deployed player characters roll initiative as they would in the ground game, and compare the rolls. Their ship’s initiative is equal to the initiative of the player character that rolled the lowest. For example, the Millenium Falcon comes under attack by Imperial TIE/LNs, so Han, Luke, and Chewbacca roll initiative. Han’s initiative is 17, Luke’s is 13, and Chewbacca’s is 14. Luke rolled the lowest, so the Millennium Falcon’s initiative becomes 13. Once the initiative order for ships is determined, their crew members decide what order they wish to act in on their ship’s turn. For example, Han chooses to go first, Chewbacca chooses to go second, and Luke chooses to go last. If there are any disputes over the turn order, the ship’s pilot has the final say. Crewmembers can change their turn order each round if they wish. Each ship takes their turn in initiative order with each of the ship’s deployed crew members taking their turns during their ship’s turn. When everyone involved in combat has had a turn, the round ends.
For the GM using NPC ships, you may find it significantly easier to just roll a single die for each NPC ship’s initiative, but the choice is yours.
Alternatively, a new rule for initiative rolls has been floated in the SW5e Discord: This rule mirrors the ground game rule in which one crewmember from each ship rolls initiative using their ship’s Dexterity modifier. If you want to have the crewmembers all rolling and playing a part, you can have them make a group initiative check with their characters. The DCs are 1-10=Disadvantage, 11-19=Normal Roll, and 20+=Advantage. Then, pick a person to roll initiative for the ship using the ship’s Dexterity modifier with disadvantage or advantage or neither depending on how the group rolled. All ships in combat should use the same initiative rolling rule for the sake of fairness.
Power Dice
Power Dice fuel deployment features, and are stored in your ship’s power coupling. Your ship begins combat with its maximum amount of Power Dice available to it. Power Dice can be stored centrally, or in one of 5 ship systems (communications, engines, sensors, shields, and weapons). Power Dice stored centrally can be accessed by any system, while Power Dice stored in specific systems can only be used by the same system. For example, a power needing a weapons power die can pull from centrally stored Power Dice or from Power Dice stored in the weapons system, but not from anywhere else. Your ship’s Power Dice increase in size based on your ship’s tier, from a d1 to a d12.
Starting a Turn
There’s a few things that happen at the start of a ship’s turn that require no action: Your ship can choose to regenerate shield points, up to its shield capacity, equal to the shield Regeneration Rate found in cell B13 by expending a shield die, and your ship recovers Power Dice based on the type of Reactor your ship has installed.
Moving Your Ship
Only a ship’s pilot can move the ship. A ship has two speeds: flying speed and turning speed. These are located in cells B15 and B16. Flying speed denotes how far a ship can move in a round, and turning speed denotes how much flying speed you need to spend to turn your ship 90 degrees to port or starboard. Multiply or divide the turning speed value based on how far you want to turn. For example: You can turn 45 degrees by dividing the turning speed value by 2 and spending that much of your flying speed. If you’re playing on a grid, remember that each square represents 50ft.
Actions
Combat in space offers different actions than those of the ground game, so make sure you read through them. Note that, unless otherwise specified, each ship action can only be taken once per round. Also, some actions can only be taken by a ship’s pilot.
Weaponry
Attacking with ship weapons is normally done by taking the Fire action. Pilots have disadvantage on attacks made with primary or secondary weapons unless they take the Attack Run action before taking the Fire action. Each weapon can only be fired once per round, and the maximum number of weapons a ship can fire per round is denoted in cell A19. Note that point-defense weapons on (Large, with the tier 2 Picket Ship feature) Huge and Gargantuan ships cannot be fired, so they do not count against this limit. Weapons that aren’t mounted onto turret mountings can only fire in specific directions, as noted in the Weapons section of the Google Sheet, so your ship’s orientation is very important. These directions are denoted by firing arcs, which are 90-degree arcs with radii equal to the firing ranges of each particular weapon. Pay close attention to which weapons your ship is equipped with! Some weapons have features that make them function in unique ways compared to most other weapons of a particular type.
Attacking
When you want to attack an enemy ship on your turn, and there is a weapon available that can fire at that target, take the Fire action (or the Attack Run action if playing the pilot) and if you’re firing a Primary or Secondary weapon, make an attack roll, otherwise the target has to make a Dexterity saving throw. Each weapon’s Attack Modifier or Save DC is listed in the Weapons section of the Google Sheet. Remember that ships are always proficiently equipped for their ship weapons. Add the Attack Modifier and your Proficiency Bonus, if applicable, to your d20 roll if making an attack roll, or add your Proficiency Bonus to the Save DC, if applicable, depending on which weapon type you used. As noted earlier, some weapon features make them function in unique ways, for example you can make a normal attack roll with a Twin Laser Cannon as it’s a Primary Weapon, or you can use its Rapid feature, and attempt to damage your target via a Dexterity saving throw instead. If you hit your target, or they fail their saving throw against your weapon, you roll damage against them, which is listed in the Weapons section of the Google Sheet.
Taking Damage
So you’ve hit a target and dealt damage to them, or you’ve been hit and are taking damage, now what do you do? The first value you should consult is Damage Reduction. This value varies based on your ship’s armor type, and is listed in cell B8. Note that Damage Reduction only applies to damage taken from being hit by an attack roll, and if it would reduce the damage you would take to 0, you instead take 1 point of damage. When your ship takes damage from an attack roll, whether it’s to your shields or your hull, you subtract your Damage Reduction value from the initial damage amount, and then you apply resistance or vulnerability, if applicable. Hull points naturally resist Ion damage, and shield points naturally resist Fire damage. Once you’ve figured out the adjusted damage amount, subtract that amount from your shield points. If the damage would reduce your shield points to 0, any remaining damage is dealt to your hull points. Remember that when your ship’s shield points are reduced to 0, they can no longer regenerate unless a mod or feature says otherwise, such as the Emergency Generator mod. For example, suppose our ship has a Damage Reduction of 3, we have 10 shield points, and 10 hull points, and we’ve just been dealt 16 points of energy damage from being hit by an attack roll. The 16 damage is reduced by 3 to a new value of 13 thanks to our Damage Reduction. Our shields can only take 10 points of damage, so our shields drop to 0 shield points, and our hull takes the remaining 3 points of damage, leaving our ship with 7 hull points and 0 shield points.
Huge and Gargantuan
Huge and Gargantuan ships function identically to Large and smaller ships in combat, save for their weapons. Huge and Gargantuan ships have a different selection of weapons available to them than those of Large and smaller ships. For such ships, they’ll mainly be armed with Secondary Weapons, which have long engagement ranges, but poor close-range capability. Additionally, attacks made with these weapons against Medium and Large ships have disadvantage, and they cannot hit Tiny or Small ships at all with them. Primary Weapons on Huge and Gargantuan ships are point-defense weapons. You cannot make attacks with these weapons; instead, when they’re enabled as an action (and remain enabled until deactivated, which does not require an action), they protect the parent ship from other ships and incoming ordinance.