This page guides players through the process of acquiring a starship, as described in the Buying a Starship section of the houserules page.
Are you buying a starship mid-campaign, or choosing a starship that your party is assumed to already have at the start of the campaign?
Are you choosing a preexisting model of starship to buy, or are you making up a new custom starship model?
Choose a starship model from the list of All Starships, or use the "Starships by Type" lists on the Rules Compendium page.
A starship model's listed base cost is for a lightly used ship (see "Ship Condition" below), and does not include the cost of licensing and permits (see "Licenses and Permits" below).
By default, each starship model is installed with the emplacements (systems and weapons) listed in its vehicle sheet or SWSE statblock, with the cost of these emplacements included in the starship's base cost. When buying a ship, you can choose to have the ship come preinstalled with additional emplacements (adding the cost of the emplacements to the ship's base cost) or to have default emplacements be absent (subtracting half the cost of the the emplacement from the base cost), so long as the adjustments are within the bounds of the ship's unused Emplacement Points. See Starship Emplacements for a list of available ship systems, and Starship Weapons for a list of weapons.
The cost of some emplacements is multiplied by the ship's Cost Modifier, which is determined by the ship's size as given in the table below:
| Vehicle Size | Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| Huge or smaller | x1 |
| Gargantuan | x2 |
| Colossal | x5 |
| Colossal (Frigate) | x50 |
| Colossal (Cruiser) | x500 |
| Colossal (Station) | x5000 |
When choosing to add or remove emplacements while buying a starship, these modifications require no additional time or Mechanics checks, since the ship is assumed to be for sale in the shipyard with the character's chosen emplacements already installed. Note that the option to alter a ship's emplacements may not be available if ship stock is limited. For example, if a dealer has only a few specific ships for sale, those ships can only be sold "as is", with their current emplacements.
Note: The process described here for designing a custom starship is the meta out-of-character process by which a player can create a new model of starship which is then assumed to already exist in the Star Wars universe for the player's character to purchase. The non-meta process, whereby a player has their character act in-character to design and build an entirely new model of starship, requires the Starship Designer feat (part of the Tech Specialist feat tree), along with either training in the Craft (Starship) skill or (for larger ships) access to a construction shipyard.
Choose one of the twelve Standard Templates for Custom Starships as the basis for your custom ship. The chosen template determines the ship's basic statistics and base cost.
For custom ships that don't fit nicely into one of the standard templates, it is possible to create statistics for the custom ship from scratch. In that case, however, the GM determines the base cost for the custom ship.
The base cost for a standard template includes the listed sublight engines, cargo space, and passenger space, as well as things like life support, basic sensors, and other essential equipment and systems required for a ship to function. Hyperdrives, navicomputers, shields, weapons, and any other desired systems add their costs to the custom ship's base cost. See Starship Emplacements for a list of available ship systems, and Starship Weapons for a list of weapons.
The cost of some emplacements is multiplied by the ship's Cost Modifier, which is determined by the ship's size as given in the table below:
| Vehicle Size | Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| Huge or smaller | x1 |
| Gargantuan | x2 |
| Colossal | x5 |
| Colossal (Frigate) | x50 |
| Colossal (Cruiser) | x500 |
| Colossal (Station) | x5000 |
Choose one of the following four options for your starship's condition at the time of purchase:
The four conditions are summarized in the following table:
| Condition | Price | Starting HP | Quirks | Damaged Systems | Hooks | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Used | x1 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heavily Used | x0.75 | 75% | 2 | 1 | 1 | Possibly stolen |
| Junker | x0.5 | 50% | 3 | 3 | 1 | Possibly stolen |
| New | x2.5 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | Warranty and maintenance |
At this point, the cost of your starship is the ship's base cost, plus or minus the cost of any added or removed emplacements, multiplied by a factor of x1, x0.75, x0.5, or x2.5 depending on the ship's condition.
You can choose either to pay this full cost immediately in order to have full ownership of the starship, or you can use a financing plan as described below.
If using financing, you pay 20% of the ship's cost as an initial downpayment, and then pay 2% of the cost of the ship every month for 5 years, after which time you will have full ownership of the starship.
You can also choose to finance your ship through a loan shark, in which case you pay no downpayment, but must pay at least 2% of the loan amount every month until the loan is paid off, with steep interest rates that generally increase the remaining debt owed by as much as 10% each month. Financing from loan sharks is somewhat expected to spiral out of control. The option of financing a ship through a loan shark is mostly used by purchasers with a background that prevents them from taking out a legitimate loan.
Every starship is legally required to have a Ship's License to certify its legitimacy, which costs 1000 credits.
A ship's captain is also legally required to have a Captain's License, which costs 200 credits and requires that the captain be trained (or equivalently skilled) in the Pilot skill.
Additionally, a ship that has any emplacements with an availability of Licensed, Restricted, or Military is also legally required to have Emplacement Permits for those emplacements, which cost 5% of the emplacement's cost for Licensed emplacements, 10% for Restricted emplacements, and 20% for Military emplacements. Note that military permits generally cannot be obtained legitimately except by members of a government or military organization, and that it is not possible to obtain a permit for emplacements with an availability of Illegal. For simplicity, the cost of emplacement permits is calculated automatically on the Emplacements page of vehicle sheet spreadsheets.
Licensing and permits are legally required, and are highly recommended for ships operating in more civilized parts of the galaxy, but it is ultimately your decision whether to pay for them, or forge them, or simply not bother with them. See the Licensing and Legality section of the houserules page for the potential consequences of not having proper permits.
If your starship is being bought in Heavily Used or Junker condition, after finalizing the purchase you will roll on the tables below to determine the ship's quirks, system damage, and hooks. Heavily Used ships have 2 quirks, 1 damaged system, and 1 hook. Junkers have 3 quirks, 3 damaged systems, and 1 hook.
Quirks are minor inconveniences that add flavor to a used starship, and generally cannot be removed without special effort or equipment.
the Ship Quirks table is as follows:
| 1d12 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ship looks visibly unsafe |
| 2 | Garish paint job |
| 3 | Blood stains that won't come out |
| 4 | Bad climate control (too hot or cold for comfort) |
| 5 | Interior lights flicker, or come and go |
| 6 | Interior lights are unusual color |
| 7 | Distinctive stench |
| 8 | Infested with some sort of pest |
| 9 | Ceilings too low for medium-size characters |
| 10 | Fitted for non-humanoid species |
| 11 | Ship's computer/systems are not in basic |
| 12 | Ship's computer has bad attitude |
System Damage is damage to parts of the ship that reduces its effectiveness, but can (and should) be repaired after purchase. If a system is rolled twice on the System Damage table, that system starts out disabled rather than damaged.
the Starting System Damage table is as follows:
| 1d10 | Damaged System | Effect | Fixable From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine | Maximum speed reduced by 1 step | Engine Room |
| 2 | Engine Controls | –2 to all Pilot checks | Engine Room |
| 3 | Hyperdrive | Hyperspace transit takes 3x longer | Engine Room |
| 4 | Shields | Maximum SR reduced by 10 | Engine Room |
| 5 | Armor Plating | –1 to ship's Reflex defense | Outside |
| 6 | Weapon | One random weapon deals half damage | Outside |
| 7 | Targeting Computer | –2 to all attack checks | Computer Room |
| 8 | Navicomputer | –10 to astrogation checks, no opportunity for checks to notice astrogation failure | Computer Room |
| 9 | Sensors | –5 to Perception checks and sensor-related Use Computer checks | Outside |
| 10 | Artificial Gravity | No artificial gravity | Engine Room |
Hooks are surprise features or cargo that could potentially constitute plot hooks or may otherwise have some relevance to the campaign.
the Ship Hooks table is as follows:
| 1d10 | Ship Hook |
|---|---|
| 1 | Disguised Transponder (original code registered as stolen) |
| 2 | Ship Banned from Several Spaceports (according to ship log) |
| 3 | Ship's Computer contains Hidden Data Bank or Secret Logs |
| 4 | Extra Smuggling Compartment (may contain unexpected cargo) |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Disabled Swoop Bike |
| 7 | Disabled Droid |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Exotic Weapon or Armor |
| 10 | Deteriorated Corpse |
The following information doesn't have any mechanical affect on your ship, but is linked to your ship's transponder code and is available to the public.
Choose a name for your ship.
Your ship's manufacturer is determined by what model you chose. For a custom ship, you can choose the name for the model and choose whether the manufacturer is a canonical starship company or a new made-up company.
Specify your ship's nominal use or occupation. Typical designations for an RPG party's ship might include Freighter, Passenger, Merchant, Salvager, Surveyor, Law Enforcement (e.g. for a party of bounty hunters), Diplomatic, Mercenary, Military, or if you like you can simply choose to list your ship's designation as Personal, Other, or Unspecified.
Choose a location as your ship's home port or base of operations.
Ships that operate as part of a larger organization are typically owned by a goverment or military department or by a corporation or other collective. For tramp freighters and personal transports, though, the owner and captain are often the same person.
The captain is the person in charge of the ship's operation, and is not necessarily the person responsible for actually piloting the ship, especially for larger ships.
For a party that begins a new campaign with a small transport or freighter, the GM determines the price range for the starting ship based on the number of players and the party's financial means. The following example budgets can serve as a guideline for determining starting ship budgets:
| Party Size | Beginning Starship Budget | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Medium | High | |
| Small (2-3) | 30,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 |
| Medium (3-4) | 40,000 | 55,000 | 75,000 |
| Large (4-6) | 50,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
The starting ship budget should be used entirely on the party's ship, additional emplacements, licensing, carried craft, and possibly the repair costs associated with a heavily used ship or a junker. Money from the starting ship budget cannot be used for personal equipment, droids, or other purchases, and cannot be put into party savings, though party savings and/or starting credits can be put towards the party's ship.
Choose a starship model from the list of All Starships, or use the "Starships by Type" lists on the Rules Compendium page.
When choosing a party's starting freighter or transport for a new campaign, I would highly prefer that players choose from among the homebrew ship designs in the Tobor Starship Company Catalogue.
A starship model's listed base cost is for a lightly used ship (see "Ship Condition" below), and does not include the cost of licensing and permits (see "Licenses and Permits" below).
By default, each starship model is installed with the emplacements (systems and weapons) listed in its vehicle sheet or SWSE statblock, with the cost of these emplacements included in the starship's base cost. When selecting your starting ship, you can choose to have the ship come preinstalled with additional emplacements (adding the cost of the emplacements to the ship's base cost) or to have default emplacements be absent (subtracting half the cost of the the emplacement from the base cost), so long as the adjustments are within the bounds of the ship's unused Emplacement Points. See Starship Emplacements for a list of available ship systems, and Starship Weapons for a list of weapons.
The cost of some emplacements is multiplied by the ship's Cost Modifier, which is determined by the ship's size as given in the table below:
| Vehicle Size | Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| Huge or smaller | x1 |
| Gargantuan | x2 |
| Colossal | x5 |
| Colossal (Frigate) | x50 |
| Colossal (Cruiser) | x500 |
| Colossal (Station) | x5000 |
Choose one of the following four options for your starship's condition at the start of the campaign:
The four conditions are summarized in the following table:
| Condition | Price | Starting HP | Quirks | Damaged Systems | Hooks | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Used | x1 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heavily Used | x0.75 | 75% | 2 | 1 | 1 | Possibly stolen |
| Junker | x0.5 | 50% | 3 | 3 | 1 | Possibly stolen |
| New | x2.5 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | Warranty and maintenance |
Every starship is legally required to have a Ship's License to certify its legitimacy, which costs 1000 credits.
A ship's captain is also legally required to have a Captain's License, which costs 200 credits and requires that the captain be trained (or equivalently skilled) in the Pilot skill.
Additionally, a ship that has any emplacements with an availability of Licensed, Restricted, or Military is also legally required to have Emplacement Permits for those emplacements, which cost 5% of the emplacement's cost for Licensed emplacements, 10% for Restricted emplacements, and 20% for Military emplacements. Note that military permits generally cannot be obtained legitimately except by members of a government or military organization, and that it is not possible to obtain a permit for emplacements with an availability of Illegal. For simplicity, the cost of emplacement permits is calculated automatically on the Emplacements page of vehicle sheet spreadsheets.
Licensing and permits are legally required, and are highly recommended for ships operating in more civilized parts of the galaxy, but it is ultimately your decision whether to pay for them, or forge them, or simply not bother with them. See the Licensing and Legality section of the houserules page for the potential consequences of not having proper permits.
If your starship is starting out in Heavily Used or Junker condition, roll on the tables below to determine the ship's quirks, system damage, and hooks. Heavily Used ships have 2 quirks, 1 damaged system, and 1 hook. Junkers have 3 quirks, 3 damaged systems, and 1 hook.
Quirks are minor inconveniences that add flavor to a used starship, and generally cannot be removed without special effort or equipment.
the Ship Quirks table is as follows:
| 1d12 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ship looks visibly unsafe |
| 2 | Garish paint job |
| 3 | Blood stains that won't come out |
| 4 | Bad climate control (too hot or cold for comfort) |
| 5 | Interior lights flicker, or come and go |
| 6 | Interior lights are unusual color |
| 7 | Distinctive stench |
| 8 | Infested with some sort of pest |
| 9 | Ceilings too low for medium-size characters |
| 10 | Fitted for non-humanoid species |
| 11 | Ship's computer/systems are not in basic |
| 12 | Ship's computer has bad attitude |
System Damage is damage to parts of the ship that reduces its effectiveness, but can (and should) be repaired. If a system is rolled twice on the System Damage table, that system starts out disabled rather than damaged.
the Starting System Damage table is as follows:
| 1d10 | Damaged System | Effect | Fixable From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine | Maximum speed reduced by 1 step | Engine Room |
| 2 | Engine Controls | –2 to all Pilot checks | Engine Room |
| 3 | Hyperdrive | Hyperspace transit takes 3x longer | Engine Room |
| 4 | Shields | Maximum SR reduced by 10 | Engine Room |
| 5 | Armor Plating | –1 to ship's Reflex defense | Outside |
| 6 | Weapon | One random weapon deals half damage | Outside |
| 7 | Targeting Computer | –2 to all attack checks | Computer Room |
| 8 | Navicomputer | –10 to astrogation checks, no opportunity for checks to notice astrogation failure | Computer Room |
| 9 | Sensors | –5 to Perception checks and sensor-related Use Computer checks | Outside |
| 10 | Artificial Gravity | No artificial gravity | Engine Room |
Hooks are surprise features or cargo that could potentially constitute plot hooks or may otherwise have some relevance to the campaign.
the Ship Hooks table is as follows:
| 1d10 | Ship Hook |
|---|---|
| 1 | Disguised Transponder (original code registered as stolen) |
| 2 | Ship Banned from Several Spaceports (according to ship log) |
| 3 | Ship's Computer contains Hidden Data Bank or Secret Logs |
| 4 | Extra Smuggling Compartment (may contain unexpected cargo) |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Disabled Swoop Bike |
| 7 | Disabled Droid |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Exotic Weapon or Armor |
| 10 | Deteriorated Corpse |
The following information doesn't have any mechanical affect on your ship, but is linked to your ship's transponder code and is available to the public.
Choose a name for your ship.
Your ship's manufacturer is determined by what model you chose. For a custom ship, you can choose the name for the model and choose whether the manufacturer is a canonical starship company or a new made-up company.
Specify your ship's nominal use or occupation. Typical designations for an RPG party's ship might include Freighter, Passenger, Merchant, Salvager, Surveyor, Law Enforcement (e.g. for a party of bounty hunters), Diplomatic, Mercenary, Military, or if you like you can simply choose to list your ship's designation as Personal, Other, or Unspecified.
Choose a location as your ship's home port or base of operations.
Ships that operate as part of a larger organization are typically owned by a goverment or military department or by a corporation or other collective. For tramp freighters and personal transports, though, the owner and captain are often the same person.
The captain is the person in charge of the ship's operation, and is not necessarily the person responsible for actually piloting the ship, especially for larger ships.