SWG Idea: Fixing the Fixer, Part II

From a story and character development perspective, most characters in the Star Wars universe keep the same droids throughout their experience. Though old Ben may not seem to remember owning a droid, he kept his basic model during the closing moments of the Clone Wars even after it lost its head!

And so it goes for characters elsewhere, leading to droids who are often some of the most beloved characters in the Star Wars stories.

In Part II of our "Fixing the Fixer" SWG Idea feature, we propose that Engineers gain the ability to overhaul existing droids to take on new characteristics. This could include anything from upgrading (or even downgrading) combat capabilities, removing crafting stations in favor of new ones, personality chip replacements, turning a harvest droid into an entertainer droid and more!

Of course such modifications do not come without a price. No, not just the credits that the engineer might charge for their services, but a potential change in the droid itself. Perhaps it develops a power fluctuation that makes it burn through batteries at variable rates, or its personality changes without anyones provocation. It may also develop erratic movement features - slower, a limp, shifting from foot-to-foot (all on the premise that droid movement is fixed in the first place!).

Once a droid develops these quirks, there is no turning back. Owners either learn to deal with these unexpected (and hopefully fun) features, or they will be calling their engineer for that latest model at long last. Each modification increases the chance of the droid developing a new trait.