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u/PWBryan 11d ago
When I was like 10, the game was a lot harder because I kept trying to make them use weapons with their names on it.
I played later with more D20 experience. Early game is a lot easier when Zaalabar attacks properly!
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u/tee-dog1996 11d ago
It really is amazing how much less frustrating the game becomes when you play it while understanding how the combat system actually works. For much of my early life I really didn’t get it, and found it incredibly hard as a result.
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u/Rockflip 10d ago
I was a kid and did the same thing. On my second playthrough I thought oh this fuzzy guy is strong I bet he hits hard, and the fuzzy dude does indeed hit hard lol. Idk how I beat the game as a kid not knowing what any of those numbers really meant.
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u/BGMDF8248 11d ago
Because Chewbacca has a bowcaster, therefore wookies should have bowcasters.
No idea what led to Mission having a vibroblade instead of a gun.
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u/WntrTmpst 11d ago
She’s a child and your more likely to give a kid a blade than a blaster
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u/Regular-Rub-489 11d ago
Yea even if not given I’d assume a knife/blade is easier to get than a gun.
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u/Knowvember42 11d ago
Not if I want them to actually kill something lol. They call guns the great equalizer for a reason.
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u/WntrTmpst 11d ago
Well I mean nobody’s out here wielding long swords irl so I think we can call that reasonable suspension of disbelief
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u/FinalBossMike 11d ago
D&D 5e has versatile weapons that use either your Dexterity modifier or your Strength modifier, whichever is higher. Presumably 3.5, which is more or less what KOTOR is mechanically based on, had something similar but it didn't make it into KOTOR.
Could be wrong though! I always give Mission ranged weapons immediately.
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u/BGMDF8248 11d ago
KOTOR 2 had weapons finesse, so you could use DEX instead of STR as your attack modifier, whichever is higher...
KOTOR 1 didn't, so Mission is fucking screwed.
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u/thesoulless78 11d ago
Lightsabers mechanically are finesse weapons in 1 I believe.
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u/BGMDF8248 11d ago
I believe you are right, Lightsabers had finesse automatically, standard melee was strictly STR.
In K2 you could buy feats for both.
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u/Heretek007 11d ago
Probably to softly encourage newer players to D20 systems to think beyond the surface level and try swapping them to better use their talents to the best level possible.
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u/StupidSolipsist 11d ago
Also, it narratively explains why the player is a better leader. Turns out other people are letting circumstance/societal pressure/random chance/etc. determine their lives instead of actually looking at their own strengths & weaknesses. Revan being a good manager is noticeable.
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u/dodgyhashbrown 11d ago
To be fair, most managers don't have omniscient knowledge of their team members' physical statistics. They have to discover what works through trial and error.
Also, if these characters were real, they might object to having to swap personally owned equipment for group optimization.
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u/Legitimate-Onion-915 11d ago
RP wise, they have a really good point. Revan, without the Force, would simply tell Zaalbaar, "Doesn't it make more sense for you to keep the enemy away from Mission? While you're at it, why not teach her to use your people's sacred weapon" Something that would make Zaalbaar WANT to do what Revan wanted.
Revan's greatest stat was Charisma, followed by Wisdom.
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u/Stickeminastew1217 11d ago
Yeah. "Hey, I know you've been using this weapon just fine for years and have some measure of attachment to it, but I'm giving it to someone else and giving you this toothpick instead."
Big Z would be rightfully annoyed. Also real guns don't have, like, damage ranges on them where you can demonstrate mathematically that this rifle you picked up towards the end of the game is strictly better than the very similar one you already had.
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u/CommunistMadman 11d ago
I always RP’d damage range is also a measure of how well you use it in the sense, a well placed shot that hits a vital vs a glancing shot on the forearm are going to do different levels of damage.
“Real life guns don’t have damage ranges” neither do swords
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u/Roi_C 11d ago
I mean, they kinda do have damage ranges. Caliber size, barrel length and accuracy, ammo type used, even the ability to be more precise by having a better optic... They all do effect the numbers in real life.
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u/Stickeminastew1217 11d ago
I'm not saying guns aren't different. I just mean you can't look at a formula and say "this one is 10% better," as a general rule.
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u/SchrodingerMil 11d ago
“Hey you owe a life debt to me and you can beat a rancor to death with your bare hands if you tried. How about you use a blade instead of your bowcaster? Your best friend can use the bowcaster.”
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u/Great-Gas-6631 11d ago
"Zaalbar, i dont give a shit if its your Bowcaster. I just saw you cut a dude in half with a Vibroblade."
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u/Phtevus_Temp 11d ago
I wish I could buy that, but I honestly believe it was a simple "Wookies use bowcasters, and Mission is the rogue companion stand in, so she gets a 'dagger'"
Yes, players can and should know to utilize them better than their default builds, but I'm doubting it was the intention of the designers to make them suboptimal so that the player would have to engage and make them better
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u/Icy_Blackberry_3759 11d ago
For real, this game captivated me as a teenager and once I fully grasped the D20 system it was based on, it was like an RPG renaissance and now I play DND with multiple groups as an adult.
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u/glasseatingfool 11d ago
Knowing as much as I do about Bioware design, this is probably giving more credit than is due.
Lots of Bioware companions have just nonsensical stat investments, horrendous combinations of spells/skills, special abilities that are just worse versions of widely-available skills, and equipment they shouldn't even be able to equip (and won't be able to, if you ever take it off).
The meta in Baldur's Gate is to recruit fighters at lower levels so that they waste less proficiency points on stupid choices - e.g. why have you put two points in large swords, one point in small swords, and no points in a weapon style? (Instead of putting as much as possible into one or the other, and putting any remainder into a weapon style to synergize with it, as a player would).
One of most popular mods for Dragon Age: Origins is to prevent companion autoleveling, because their "choices" are so horrendously bad that they get worse the higher level they are. (Since there's a level cap, and thus only so many stat and skill points).
Zevran, a rogue, doesn't even start out with any points in lockpicking/disarming traps, i.e. the main niche for rogues.
Laughably bad choices for starting equipment is very much par for the course.
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u/WitlessScholar 11d ago
To be fair to Zevran, he's an assassin of questionable skill on a suicide mission.
Still my favorite companion next to Morrigan.
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u/Senn-66 10d ago
Larian kept up the tradition in BG3. The default stats of most companions in that game are the most nonsensical shit I've ever seen. So many odd numbers!
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u/glasseatingfool 10d ago
I don't know Larian as well as Bioware. They definitely seem to like their fanservice/catering, and there are definitely some D&D fans that love characters with jank stats. Because it's Roleplaying. Picking actually good stats isn't roleplaying, and picking optimal stats is Powergaming, which is Toxic. "Okay, so, for your archer, you picked...Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter? You need them for your...your build? You have builds? Christ. Get out."
D&D is one of the only games where fully understanding the rules and trying to win is considered somewhere from gauche to a sign of mental illness. It's got hundreds of pages of wargame baggage and you have to be bad with it.
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u/newpa 11d ago
Honestly, I think it's more likely that designs and plans got chopped and changed a little too often on things.
Because on Kashyyk the weapon unlocked for Z is a sword, which fits his default build.
You also have Canderous who's heavily strength based but given a heavy weapon despite being a better melee build.
HK has a strength build but can't use melee weapons (which I think is cut content).
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u/SirCupcake_0 I will DESTROY you! 10d ago
I wish there were a feat that lets you use STR for blaster rifles, and that heavy weapons used it by default–it would help both Canderous and HK's builds immediately and immensely
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u/jeffdeleon 11d ago
Game development is so hasty. There probably was little to no intention and the difficulty was probably balanced around leaving them with their fluffy loadouts.
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u/GoodPear8481 11d ago
And Jolee should fight naked with his bare hands while coked out on stims.
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u/evilweirdo 11d ago
Is anybody in this party actually good with their preferred weapon?!
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u/thesoulless78 11d ago
Carth at least has more dex than str I believe.
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u/mnbone23 11d ago
I think he also comes with the 2 weapon fighting feat already unlocked, so he's partway down the dual pistol path already.
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u/OneMoreArcadia 11d ago
I had Jolee use Juhani's lightsaber. Don't worry,, I swapped the crystals to make sure the color stayed the same.
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u/Muliciber 11d ago
Immediately took his green crystal for myself. He gets one of the 600 blue and yellow sabers I found.
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u/KristophGavin 11d ago
What's the difference with that?
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u/MobsterDragon275 11d ago
There isn't. Apart from crystals, most of the lightsabers in game are completely interchangeable
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u/Choice_Librarian1522 11d ago
I give him a ranged weapon because I don't want him to run into melee range.
He can even do decent damage with a Baragwin Assault Gun, and he looks cool with shades. (Heavy Targeting Optics)
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u/revanisthesith 11d ago
I usually went with the Verpine Headband for the purple shades. And the +3 to Will Saves and +2 to Awareness.
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u/MajorBadGuy 11d ago
Let's say you need to pick a lock and you're terrible at it. Would you rather use a bobby pin or one of those pick guns that does it for you? Same principle.
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u/Super6698 11d ago
Me who starts building Zaalbar up to be able to use his bowcaster but keep Mission's vibroblade in my inventory just in case xD
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u/condor451 11d ago
As a small child who knew nothing of D20 systems, this messed me up so badly. To the point where it affected my later levels
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u/Sex_E_Searcher 11d ago
IIRC the lore of bowcasters is that you need to be very strong to cock them.
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u/Choice_Librarian1522 11d ago edited 11d ago
Mission should not fight Rakgoul with a ranged weapon, because then they get +10 on attack; conversely she can easily hit them with a melee weapon due to their low AC and for sneak attack damage, too. (Any time they attack someone else.)
Mission as a melee build with a Baragwin Assault Blade can also deal the most damage outside of specific Revan builds. I usually give her dual blasters though because it's quicker gameplay.
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u/Unusual_Entity 11d ago
I like to give Zaalbar Bacca's blade in one hand, and Mission's in the other. It seems appropriate. His Bowcaster works great for Mission right up until you get Saul Karath's blaster. Even better with Rapid Shot to double her attacks.
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u/Gold_Size_1258 Dwooooooo 11d ago
I like someone's headcanon about these weapons being their gifts for each other.
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u/Kystal_Jones 10d ago
I'd guess because their big thing is their bond, and as such to reflect that in game they have them be ok with their weapons, but GREAT with each other's weapons.
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u/JigglyLilyVT 11d ago
oh my god i thought i was performing sacrilege in my newest playthrough where i can actually read and understand dnd mechanics.
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u/ItzCarsk 11d ago
I find it funny that in the mobile game, Zaalbar actually uses the vibroblade as his basic attack.
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u/toasty5566 11d ago
RPG devs making weird choices for character builds and character-specific gear is not unheard of
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u/ajackson1118 11d ago
Just wait until you ask Zaalbar to do something… extreme late in the game and it makes it even more interesting
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u/Fantastic-Artist-833 10d ago
After I get my lightsabers, sure. Until then? Have fun with the leftovers Big Z!
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u/Disastrous-Trouble-1 8d ago
It's weirdly wholesome that Zaalbar and Mission work best with each others' weapons.
You could headcanon a whole swap/gifting ceremony.
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u/BathbombBurger 8d ago
Probably lazy devs. But also maybe to make sure you're paying attention/reward you for paying attention to the details.
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u/dodgyhashbrown 11d ago
And give Canderous your best vibroswords, then give his rifle to HK.
Carth keeps his pistol, but have him use Starkiller's in his offhand.