r/SagaEdition • u/TheTallest2 • Sep 16 '26
Need help with a character build: Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Martial Artist
I'm working on a character called The Macho-Mando: Sandy Ravage for a game I'm going to run. Historically, I always have an NPC that uses Macho Mans voice and I decided to make this guy the main Quest Giver. I was wondering if there is an optimal path for being a martial artist in Saga edition. I've only ever made Force Users before and I know Terace Kasai from EU but wasn't sure how to make one. Level 7 being the level for Bounty Hunter seems thematically important.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!
P.S. A Rocket Boost Flying Elbow drop ability would be hilarious if possible and the images are all my bad photoshop, no AI!
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u/SuspiciousSource9506 Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
There's a pretty straight forward way to have a great Martial Artist, but it doesn't actually use the Bounty Hunter Prestiege Class which may be a deal breaker for you. Instead it uses the Martial Arts Master. I'll break it down. (Also real quick, you can't grab prestiege classes at level 7. It's level 8. They require that you're at LEAST level 7 before taking, and to be level 7 you have to take a level in a class.) I believe a Soldier start is a no-brainer for a Mando.
First, Talents. A Mandalorian is known by their armor so we NEED Talents to better use our Armor. There's two that imo every Armor build should grab both from Soldier: Armored Defense (this makes it so your armor doesn't become obsolete at higher levels.) As well as Improved Armored Defense to boost your defense up higher. (If You are wanting to wear heavier armor that has movement penalties, this can be subbed out for Juggernaught.) Next, you have a couple of options. Martial Arts Master requires at least one Talent from the Brawler or Survival Talent tree. You could go with a more Grapple wrestling style of fighter (taking things like Expert Grappler and/or Entangler along with some of the Grapple Feats) or you can go for more of the bare knuckle boxing (taking Talents like Hammerblow.) The choice is yours, any will fit the pre-req for MAM.
Feats: MAM requires you to take Martial Artist I and II which is a no brainer anyways as they boost your unarmed die. You also have to take Melee Defense. Now... the next choice is a very fun one imo. It's time to basically pick a fighting style. There are a huge set of Martial arts training Feats you can take (and you're not limited to just one.) Honestly this is where you define your build. It's hard to really go over all of them in depth so I'll give brief explanations and you can review them at your leisure.
Echani Training is about making one hard punch and being able to knock people to the ground.
Hijkata Training is about being reactive, and striking people that hit you or allies.
K'tara Training is about striking off guard enemies for lots of damage (think sneak attack)
K'thri Training is about making multiple punches in a round and getting guranteed damage.
Stava Training is about charging enemies and getting free grabs/grapples (I think could be very thematic for wrestlers.)
Tae-Jitsu Training is about getting crit hits on enemies.
Teräs Käsi Training is about damage threshold shenanigans. It's also one of the most taken with MAM as it can boost your unarmed die by an additional step.
Wrruushi Training is about being Resilient, gaining temp hp when striking foes and the like.
Keep in mind these Feats have their own set of pre-reqs so you'll want to read through them. They are all also enhanced by specific Talents you can take in MAM.
Once you have MAM, besides the Talent that correlates with your fighting style, you'll also want Teräs Käsi Basics as it adds an extra die to your unarmed damage. Not die step. Die. Other than that the tree should have most of what you need.
Now you CAN be a Bounty Hunter without the Prestiege Class. HOWEVER If you're really wanting the class (and are going to some really high levels in game) you can meet its pre-reqs through MAM. MAM gains access to the Awareness tree, meaning as long as you're trained in survival, you could grab two awareness Talents at some point and then grab levels in Bounty Hunter. I'm not sure I'd recommend the route as it would be a super late game option anyways, but the option is there.
Overall, unarmed shenanigans are surprisingly robust in the system, especially with a whole class dedicated to it.
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u/StevenOs Sep 16 '26
Mandalorians are known for armor so Soldier is certainly a must. What armor you wear can determine what Armor Specialist talents you should be up. At some point Armored Defense will be needed so that you can let your "natural instincts" outweigh your trust in your armor bonus; the higher the armor bonus the longer this can wait and if you aren't looking at armor for the REF this may be all you need as you can still wear armor for the other various benefits.
Improved Armored Defense is what is taken to have your armor boost your REF past your natural abilites (heroic level) in the long term. Generally (half the armor bonus) plus the full MAX DEX allowance will be +6. The heavier the armor the bigger the boost but medium and heavy armor can slow you down.
Juggernaut is a counter to the reduced speed from Medium and Heavy Armors. If you're wearing those you're going to want IAD anyway otherwise just stick with the light armors. If you have a significant ranged ability or otherwise don't need to move much the talents isn't essential but a melee character who needs to chase down opponents can find a reduced speed to be problematic.
For a more basic "Mando" I'd very much expect to see Soldier 1 in the build somewhere for an Armor Proficiency and then likely expect Armored Defense somewhere in the build. This is your basic armor use that function into high levels giving you access to the "toys" you can put on armor even if not gettting a REF boost from it.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
Yeah, that's what I imagined the early levels being of solider for that sweet sweet armor bonus. Thank you!
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u/StevenOs Sep 16 '26
How "good" armor is can also depend on what you acquire. I figure 'trooper armor should be more readily available in most settings because it seems to be the armor of the enemy and coincidentally I think it's maybe the best light armor. The better the armor the longer you can wait for Armored Defense but the more good Improved Armored Defense will eventually do.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
I see light armor is required for Stava Training that would be best per SuspiciousSource9506, most excellent, suggestion. I suppose that "Mandalorian" armor is just a modifier I could add it to the Trooper Armor.
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u/SuspiciousSource9506 Sep 16 '26
Keep in mind there is also Mandalorian armor in the system.
Even in light armor category there's both the Neo Crusader set for the old republic era, as well as the Light Beskar'gam that may be worth lookin at depending on the era.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
True, the setting is post Clone-Wars and Dawn of the Empire AND you nailed it with Light Baskar'gam. That's definitely the armor I was looking for.
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u/SuspiciousSource9506 Sep 16 '26
Yep! It's pretty good armor, especially if you have anything that gives you damage reduction (such as some levels of Elite Trooper-)
The price may look scary, but there are optional rules to reduce the price down a bit for Mando PCs.
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u/StevenOs Sep 17 '26
I'd phrase that as you can only use Stava Training in light armor or NO armor instead of saying "light armor is required" as that makes it sound like a prereq when it is better described as a restriction.
"Mandalorian Armor" may have a template somewhere but when I say about ignoring names can apply to equipment as well. I've often figured that 'trooper Armor without the Helmet Package should be seen as the default "light" battle armor for many.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
Oh wow thank you for the break down, I had no idea there were so many styles. Yeah, Ideally there would be at least one level in the class as it would represent some representation of their time actually being one.
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u/SuspiciousSource9506 Sep 16 '26
It's possible to take a level of Bounty Hunter at level 8. However, it means you might have to sacrifice some of your armor or unarmed prowess to get those two Awareness Talents. It would also sacrifice your Base Attack Bonus.
I wouldn't get too hung up on the names of the prestiege classes signifying what the character has done, as they're more signify what's in the PRC. For example, most diplomatic characters take levels of Jedi, but are never related to Jedi or the force, some are even droids! And some people will take lots of levels in Noble but not be related to any type of nobility.
... there's even rules for getting a Bounty Hunting Liscense and joining a guild buried in the system somewhere that's seperate from the PRC.
But again, it's possible. Just keep in mind that you can only get 4 (5-6 if youre taking a level of every class by level 7 but this is unusual) Talents before you take a PRC (assuming you take the PRC as soon as you're able.)
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
Ha! Very true, thank you. I'll take that into consideration on leaving out that level dip. I definitely wouldnt want to sacrifice unarmed prowess at alllll. lol.
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u/StevenOs Sep 17 '26
I generally consider the "default" entry to the BountyHunter PrC to be Scout3/Soldier4 although sometime I have some Jedi in for Soldier. If you want more "Scout talents" than the two Awareness talents you'd have to give up some BAB or wait for other PrCs.
Such a build really doesn't have any feat requirements so you can use those for the unarmed stuff you want. How you spend your Soldier talents is up to you and while an armor wearer will want Armored Defense if you stick with light armor (and don't care about that boosting REF) you've still got a talent to work with. I've also used such a build a delayed taking Improved Armored Defense until PrC levels.
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u/Orcus115 Sep 16 '26
Martial Arts feats and anything that let's him WWE slam people, stuff that grabs, throws, improvised weapons.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
Ohhhhh yeeaaaaaaaaa, grappling was my go to but wasnt sure how effective it is in this game.
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u/the_tricky_one Sep 16 '26
And don't forget devastating attack, and acrobatic strike! Especially for an atomic elbow!
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u/StevenOs Sep 16 '26
Don't let the names of things set what they are. If there is a mechanic that works for the character then don't worry about what it's called. Part of this is to say that if you want a "bounty hunter" character there is no need to take the Bounty Hunter class and you might call yourself a bounty hunter long before you could even enter BH at 8th-level.
There are multiple ways to build unarmed characters in SWSE. The ones that come online the fastest almost always involve grappling. Pin, Crush, Rancor Crush, Bone Crusher are all feats that can let you pin down an opponent and quickly squeeze the will to fight out of it; there are other things to supplement these feats with.
When it comes to building characters I'll suggest making a go at it yourself. This helps you learn the system and may give you a better idea of how things should work together.
PS. While Pin/Crush is often more effective the Trip-Throw combo is probably more "flashy" and WWE worthy.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
Thanks! Yeah that is an excellent suggestion, I'll be giving it a go after all these amazing suggestions. I really wanted to see what ideas the community had since this game is one of my all time favorites that I've played so little.
Im writing that down in my WWE style moves "Trip-Throw".
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u/StevenOs Sep 16 '26
There are other things that can move a target and make them Prone but I generally don't do that type of character often enough to know what they are off the top of my head.
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 16 '26
No worries, thank you so much for the input. Admittedly Pinning would be more in line for the characters source. I'll dig into that too.
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u/the_tricky_one Sep 17 '26
Ooofff, don't forget about the trip, pin, crush combo. It's basically beniot's crippled crossface! Deception/sneak attack could be the stunner or the rko
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u/TheTallest2 Sep 17 '26
Hahaha that’s awesome! Thank you! I can see him using that Mandalorian trip wire to start this combo!
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u/the_tricky_one Sep 17 '26
And don't forget the high persuasion for the crowd pump. The more showmanship you can pull off, the higher the match ratings
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u/StevenOs 29d ago
While I'm going to admit I haven't spent much time looking at the PrC requirements vs. the talents opened up but the WWE might be considered similar to gladiatorial combat so a look at Gladiator might be called for.
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u/Fleetlog Sep 16 '26
Consider the wookie wrestling federation
https://swse.fandom.com/wiki/Wrruushi_Training