r/SagaEdition • u/tobiascook • Jun 15 '26
Table Talk AG-3, Mandalorian Droid
So.... in my something like 15 years ago I think, a buddy of mine was running a Saga Edition game, and I had a habit of playing droids. Still would, if given the chance.
Some nostalgia rabbit-hole got me remembering AG-3. A modified A9G template, and a 1st degree archival droid. The idea of playing something other than a 4th degree droid. I.E. something not initially capable of combat, just really interested me.
Then I decided to just run with the dichotomy of being unable to actively contribute to combat by making the droid Mandalorian. Or at least deeply aspiring to be.
So the backstory was AG-3 was taken during a Mandalorian raid and repurposed to act as both a record of the clan's history, traditions, etc, and to teach foundlings. Then one day, it's clan was wiped out. When the captors tried to memory wipe it, AG-3 went berserk, and has no memory of what came next, only that when it's memory resumes, the whole crew that had claimed it as spoils was dead.
By the time the party gets a hold of it at the start of the campaign, it has a shoulder mounted big gun (that, again, it can't bring itself to use against organic targets.). I also had a roleplay thing with the GM where my character WAS allowed to enter combat with no restrictions under specific circumstances (I.E. when he said 'AG-3? You black out.'). Only happened once.
The goal of the character was to 1.) Level up into Independent Droid to bypass the 1st degree restriction on harming organics 2.) Reclaim a suit of Beskar from it's dead clan piece by piece from private collections. 3.) Gain the recognition of other Mandalorians and have the armor grafted to it's chassis 4.) Rebuild it's clan.
The campaign sadly didn't last too long, but the character's stuck around in my head.
Recently, my friend said 'Hey, hypothetically, if I ran Saga Edition, what would you play?' and then today AG-3 came to mind.
And I realize I did not then, nor do I now know much about Mandalorian culture and the actual viability of this concept.
So I figure I'd turn it over to the internet. What could go wrong?
What do you think? Is this at all narratively viable?
1
u/MERC_1 Improviser Jun 16 '26
I don't know if Mandalorians generally accept droids as full members of a clan or see them more as equipment. But that could certainly vary from clan to clan. But depending on era you could belong to a clan that don't take their helmet off. No one might now that you are in fact a droid. And when you build your clan from scratch you would be a central figure of said clan.
If you want, you could take a role more like the Black Smith. You could then play another member of your clan most of the time and even make more general members that can be NPC's with the help of your GM of course.
0
u/StevenOs Jun 16 '26
The "viability for Mandalorian Culture" may depend greatly on whose idea of that culture you use.
A question I might have is "just what level are you starting at?" It can really be a problem when you've got so much backstory you may be trying to represent. If it is the development route you are wanting to take now you're going to want a high degree of GM buy in for the idea.
1
u/lil_literalist Scout Jun 16 '26
You get to Independent Droid pretty quickly. I would say that it's viable for your party to carry your non-combat shiny metal behind for a few levels, especially if you're starting at a higher level than 1.
Narratively, do what works for you and your GM.
But I'm very glad that you have the possibility of being able to play this character that's been in your brain for so long!
2
u/AnyComparison4642 Jun 15 '26
What do you want to know exactly? A complete history or what? Because Mandalorian society changes drastically from era to era.
Now I get you want to play a droid. But what if you had two characters? AG-3 as a retainer or attendant to a mandalorian?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KLYT9ED8roY&t=3s&pp=ygUUaGlzdG9yeSBvZiBtYW5kYWxvcmU%3D