A starship chassis is the base hull your party flies, fights, and lives out of — the YT-1300 freighter, the Lambda-class shuttle, the HWK-290 scout. Chassis are to starships what species are to characters: a base platform with built-in stats that you customize through upgrades (constructive: better shields, more weapons, stronger hyperdrive) and traits (narrative: jury-rigged, hot-shot, salvaged — characteristics that can have trade-offs).

New to SWURPG starships? Read the Starship Combat rules first for action economy, crew roles (Pilot / Gunner / Engineer / Commander), range bands, and the AC formula. This page assumes you understand the basics.

How chassis work

Every chassis has a stat block. The fields you'll see most often:

Class — Light Freighter, Patrol Craft, Transport Shuttle, Medium Freighter. The role the ship was designed for; doesn't restrict use.
Size — Small, Medium, Large. Smaller ships are harder to hit (+Size Modifier to AC); larger ships are easier to hit but carry more.
HP, Shields, Structural Integrity Bonus (SIB), Handling — the four numbers that drive starship combat. SIB is the chassis's damage-resistance rating; AC is fully derived: 10 + Handling + Size Modifier + SIB. See the Starship Combat rules for the full formula and size-modifier table.
Hardpoints — how many forward-fixed, turret, and missile-bay weapons the chassis can carry. The cap is set per chassis; players fill the slots from the weapons catalog (or with GM-approved custom weapons).
Crew Stations — how many Pilot, Gunner, Engineer, and Commander seats the ship has. Most light transports have 1 Pilot + 1 Gunner; bigger ships add more.
Hyperdrive class — Class 2.0 (civilian), Class 1.0 (military-spec), Class 0.5 (mil-spec, rare). Lower is faster.
Era — informational only. Each ship lists which Star Wars eras it appeared in canon; the system doesn't restrict you by campaign era.

How upgrades work

Upgrades are constructive improvements — you spend credits (in fiction; we track no pool) and your ship gets better:

Shields — Reinforced Shield Generator (+10), Backup Shield Generator (+20 plus an Engineer Reaction restore), Capital-Grade Shield Array (+30).
Armor — Reinforced Plating (+10 HP / +1 SIB), Heavy Armor Plating (+20 HP / +2 SIB / −1 Handling), Beskar Composite Inlays (resistance to one damage type).
Engines — Maneuvering Thrusters (+1 Handling), Combat Thrusters (+2 Handling / +1 speed band), Sublight Booster (+1 speed band).
Hyperdrive — Class 1.0 refit, Mil-Spec Class 0.5, Backup Hyperdrive, Astrogation Computer.
Weapons — Extra Hardpoint (+1 fixed or missile slot), Targeting Computer (+1 to all attack rolls), Linked Fire Control.
Sensors — Advanced Sensor Array, Sensor Mask, Decoy Launcher, Holographic ECM Suite.
Utility — Tractor Beam Installation, Repair Drone Bay, Escape Pods, Slave Circuit (remote pilot), Holocomm Suite, Astromech Docking Bay.

There are no ship levels. A ship gets better through the upgrades you install, not through XP. A stock YT-1300 is a different beast from a YT-1300 with seven upgrades — but no level number connects the two.

How traits work

Traits are narrative or trade-off characteristics — flavor that often has mechanical riders:

Jury-Rigged — −2 Handling, −10 Shields max, plus quirks like "on attack-roll 1–2, roll DC 12 Mechanics or a system shorts out." The classic budget chassis.
Hot-Shot — +1 speed band, +1 Handling, but takes extra damage on enemy critical hits.
Salvaged — −10 HP, −5 Shields, plus narrative baggage (the previous owner may still consider it theirs).
Veteran Crew — Advantage on Starship Initiative if a named NPC veteran rides along.
Modular Bays — +50% cargo, −1 SIB, plus reconfigurable bays once per session.
Smuggler's Special — A hidden compartment; Disadvantage on enemy contraband scans.

Some traits are pure flavor — Cursed, Showroom Condition — with no mechanical effect at all. Both pay off at the table, just in different ways.

How to pick a chassis

The clean two-step:

Pick a chassis whose hardpoints + crew stations fit your party. A solo bounty hunter wants a 1-pilot small ship like the HWK-290 or G9 Rigger. A four-person crew wants a Medium freighter with multiple crew stations like the YT-2400, VCX-100, or Lambda. A big party with cargo to move wants the Wayfarer-class.
Pick a chassis whose flavor matches the campaign. The YT-1300 is the legendary modifier — start stock and slowly transform it. The Firespray-31 is the heavy hitter in a small frame. The VCX-100 is the family-crew rebel cell ship. The Lambda is the Imperial captured-and-converted shuttle.

If you want to lead with the ship fantasy — "I want to fly a YT-1300" — that's totally valid. Every chassis is playable.

Three party-friendly starters

YT-1300 Light Freighter — the iconic Corellian light freighter. Medium size, 1 turret hardpoint, room for 6 passengers. Famous as the Millennium Falcon.
VCX-100 Light Freighter — twin turrets, 6 passengers, slightly tougher than the YT-1300. Famous as the Ghost.
Wayfarer-class Medium Transport — slow but tough, 500 metric tons of cargo. The hauler for cargo-running campaigns.

Custom equipment

Every category supports custom entry — custom weapons, custom upgrades, custom traits, custom flavor quirks. The catalog covers the canonical shipyard floor; custom slots cover the rest of the galaxy. All custom content is GM-approved; if it fits the campaign tone and balance, it goes on the sheet.

Prices are reference only

Every chassis, weapon, upgrade, and trait carries a reference price in credits. There is no credit pool to spend down. Prices exist so GMs and players can sanity-check feasibility — a brand-new YT-1300 with mil-spec hyperdrive, beskar inlays, and a backup shield generator costs about 280,000 credits, so the GM can decide if that's plausible for the campaign's economy. Whether the party can actually afford or acquire any item is a story-level decision.

Coming soon: the Starship Builder

The Starship Builder is in development — it will let you assemble, save, and share ship sheets the same way the Character Builder handles characters. For now, this catalog gives you stock chassis stats you can build sheets from by hand.