FFG Star Wars: Building a Jedi

[Jeivar]

My group played FFG Edge of the Empire some months back. The campaign itself didn't take off, but we all quite like the new system, and now a friend of mine has bought Force and Destiny, and will be GM-ing a game in the near future.

I would like to be ready with my character. I don't own any of the books myself, and I can find limited information online. I would appreciate some strategic advice on this one.

(I'm trying to create a decent all-rounder, with good combat survivability, as that's just how my group rolls)

I was planning to go with a Human, with starting characteristics...
Brawn 3, Agility 2, Intelligence 2, Cunning 3, Willpower 3, Presence 2.

...adding up to 90 XP spent, with 20 to go. The idea is to spend 10 on Talents and 10 on buying into a Force Power. I was thinking Sense, at it seems generally useful for living long enough to amass more XP.

I looked over the available classes, and sought out ones with Lightsabre proficiency and general swashbuckling badassery, and came up with:
*Guardian-Soresu Defender.
*Sentinel-Shien Expert.
*Warrior-Shii Cho Knight.

I guess the difference will be made by the Talents. How important is Reflect? It SEEMS really important to a character who will primarily be wielding a melee weapon, in a world in which most people use guns, but does the system allow closing for the kill relatively easily?

Also, I know how much XP it takes to build up the character, but how quickly does one amass XP? What is the suggested reward for an average session?

Finally, I'm a little confused as to lightsabre damage. The same source at once lists the damage as 10 (http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/weapons/category/3/), and also as 6. (http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/weapons/category/83/) Which is it?

(sorry if this post ran too long)

[Hopeless]

I'm assuming your gm is allowing your character to start off with a light sabre?

I thought that was the only weapon you'd need that Reflect talent for, but what force power are you thinking of picking up?

I'd recommend paying a visit to the Fantasy Games Forums where you should find plenty of help including downloadable resources especially if you check out the products page for the Star Wars Force & Destiny line.

They're also quite helpful so should be able to answer your questions there.

[Jeivar]

I'm assuming your gm is allowing your character to start off with a light sabre?

We actually hadn't discussed that yet. But at the very least it will be a long-term plan.

But can you resolve the Lightsabre damage issue?


I thought that was the only weapon you'd need that Reflect talent for, but what force power are you thinking of picking up?

I was thinking Sense, Influence, Foresee and possibly Move.


I'd recommend paying a visit to the Fantasy Games Forums where you should find plenty of help including downloadable resources especially if you check out the products page for the Star Wars Force & Destiny line.

They're also quite helpful so should be able to answer your questions there.

Thanks. Maybe I'll give them a look.

[Arctanaar]

Regarding the lightsabre damage: essentially, EotE and AoR have fully upgraded FaD lightsabres listed, while FaD only has the very basic ones.

Considering that your Force Rating is going to be low early on, the best powers at that stage are the ones that require you to commit dice instead of rolling for activation, and Sense provides a handful of such upgrades.

Among the specialisations, you probably should look at Guardian-Armorer from Keeping the Peace. They have lightsabre as a career skill, and are also able at making things and increasing their own survivability, although you might need a higher intelligence.
Among lightsabre specialisations there is also Consular-Niman Disciple which is lacking Improved Parry and Improved reflect, but has some social skills, Draw Closer, Force Assault and Force Rating (the only sabre tree with FR).
Ataru Striker can also deal a lot of damage up close, and has a good gap-closing tool - Hawk-Bat Swoop, but is not as good an all-rounder as Niman.

[Rakaydos]

Before you begin, take a moment to reset your expectations- a starting character Jedi is either ANH Luke or ANH Old Ben- Either you are semi competent at something else, taking your first steps into a larger world with the force but still cant reliably lift a sil 0 lightsaber from the snow, or you're an arthritic old mystic who has gotten FR2 and not much else.

If you want Return of the Jedi/Phantom Menace power levels, convince your GM that the group wants the advanced start rules, called "knight level play."

It gives you enough extra XP to be semi competant AND get FR2 and a few powers, and enough starting money to get a lightsaber... or if you spend it differently, enough XP to be really competent and a badass sent of Mandoirian-themed armor and weapns, but no force use.

This is how the game balances fighters and wizards. If you think you're going to be Darth Maul out the gate, you're going to have to let Jango Fett be badass too.

[Jeivar]

Before you begin, take a moment to reset your expectations- a starting character Jedi is either ANH Luke or ANH Old Ben- Either you are semi competent at something else, taking your first steps into a larger world with the force but still cant reliably lift a sil 0 lightsaber from the snow, or you're an arthritic old mystic who has gotten FR2 and not much else.

If you want Return of the Jedi/Phantom Menace power levels, convince your GM that the group wants the advanced start rules, called "knight level play."

Yes, I know. Awesomeness must be earned. And as goals go, it is a fun one.

[Rakaydos]

I question the utility of makig a saber spec your first free, then. how did you learn the secrets of lightsaber combat while being about as force sensitive as the Gank Warrior General Grevius?

[Jeivar]

I question the utility of makig a saber spec your first free, then. how did you learn the secrets of lightsaber combat while being about as force sensitive as the Gank Warrior General Grevius?

Because I want to? And I have a backstory in mind to justify it?

[BlueHerring]

I question the utility of makig a saber spec your first free, then. how did you learn the secrets of lightsaber combat while being about as force sensitive as the Gank Warrior General Grevius?This is pretty important. I'd seriously recommend picking a non-saber spec as your first option. Instead of being forced to somehow tie in your character to the Jedi, you have a much more open and personal backstory. From there, you can evolve into your saber style as a natural extension of your character's skill set. Plus, it also means that you'll almost-always pick up competency in some non-Lightsaber combat skill, which is handy if you don't have your saber for some reason.

If you're looking for a general purpose combat specialization, Seeker's the one I recommend. Starting off with Hunter gives you good offense against animals, as well as some other useful stuff (Sixth Sense, Side Step), and all of its passives complement Ataru Striker quite well. Pathfinder is considerably more oriented to utility, and even gives you excellent scouting options in the form of Animal Bond + Mental Bond. It's also the only spec available to Seekers that have Grit as a talent, which is pretty important, considering how Ataru Striker can burn through Strain. Plus, all of the career skills are essentially useful for adventuring.

As for Ataru Striker, you're pretty well-rounded as a fighter, but you will destroy enemies in close range - so long as you don't use one saber*. You've got options to dodge, decent Parry/Reflect (If you picked Hunter, Sixth Sense ups your ranged defense). Hawk Bat Swoop lets you close in from Short range, and a Range-boosted Force Leap can get you in from Medium range. Saber Swarm gives you way too many Linked to actually be reliable, but it's incredibly amusing to score four or five hits on an enemy. Enhance is a good choice for Ataru, because of the Agility boost in the left tree, and the Force Leap in the right tree. Sense is also solid for ensuring that you don't get hit, as is Foresee for better Initiative results.

*Generally, I recommend either a double-bladed lightsaber or two shotos. A double-bladed lightsaber is almost identical to two lightsabers, but it's actually objectively better because your combat checks are going to be less difficult, and you only have to get one good crystal to upgrade it.

[Arctanaar]

It is worth noting that acquiring two lightsabres or a double-bladed one may be rather hard, depending on the campaign. Also, Ataru Striker's Saber Swarm does not synergise with either of those options, compared to a single glowing stick.

Also, with Agility 2 you will have harder time using the double-bladed version.

[Dizlag]

My group played FFG Edge of the Empire some months back. The campaign itself didn't take off, but we all quite like the new system, and now a friend of mine has bought Force and Destiny, and will be GM-ing a game in the near future.

I would like to be ready with my character. I don't own any of the books myself, and I can find limited information online. I would appreciate some strategic advice on this one.

(I'm trying to create a decent all-rounder, with good combat survivability, as that's just how my group rolls)

I was planning to go with a Human, with starting characteristics...
Brawn 3, Agility 2, Intelligence 2, Cunning 3, Willpower 3, Presence 2.

...adding up to 90 XP spent, with 20 to go. The idea is to spend 10 on Talents and 10 on buying into a Force Power. I was thinking Sense, at it seems generally useful for living long enough to amass more XP.

I looked over the available classes, and sought out ones with Lightsabre proficiency and general swashbuckling badassery, and came up with:
*Guardian-Soresu Defender.
*Sentinel-Shien Expert.
*Warrior-Shii Cho Knight.

I guess the difference will be made by the Talents. How important is Reflect? It SEEMS really important to a character who will primarily be wielding a melee weapon, in a world in which most people use guns, but does the system allow closing for the kill relatively easily?

Also, I know how much XP it takes to build up the character, but how quickly does one amass XP? What is the suggested reward for an average session?

Finally, I'm a little confused as to lightsabre damage. The same source at once lists the damage as 10 (http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/weapons/category/3/), and also as 6. (http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/weapons/category/83/) Which is it?

(sorry if this post ran too long)

First off, you might want to get Ogg Dude's Character Generator (https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/89135-another-character-generator/) over from the FFG Forums. It's a very nice tool I use sometimes.

Now, to answer your questions. I think the Lightsaber damage question was answered, but I'll give you a little more detail. As mentioned, in EotE and AoR corebooks, the lightsaber damage is a fully modded out lightsaber from the FaD corebook. In the FaD corebook you can select from different hilts, then select a lightsaber crystal to fill up 2 hard points on the lightsaber hilt. Then, based on our crystal, you can modify it up with damage or lessen the crit value or add defensive or deflect properties. Just have to see what modifications for the type of crystal chosen.

Regarding XP rewards every session, well it depends. For our 3 hour sessions, I tended to hand out 15 - 20 XP depending on how much was accomplished and maybe 10 XP more if a major story milestone was hit or "end of an episode".

Also, if you start with 50 Morality, you can choose to start with either 10 XP more or 5 XP/1000 credits or 2500 credits. I would select 10 more XP.

What do you mean by "decent all-rounder"? Good at slicing, piloting, medicine, social skills, and combat? If so, I would spend 90 XP on raising your Agility, Intelligence, and Presence to 3. Without ranks, you'll have a dice pool of 3 greens on all ranged combat skills, Charm/Cool/Leadership/Negotiation, Astrogation/Computers/Mechanics/Medicine, and Piloting Planetary/Space. Not to mention Coordination, Stealth and all Knowledge skills. That doesn't suck, yo!

Think about the character concept. Where would you want him/her to especially shine? What does he do? What does he love to do? Does he tinker in a mechanics shop? Does he have his head down in books doing research on Jedi and Sith artifacts (my current character does =)? Is he a hot shot pilot? Is he a gunslinger? Does he want to protect his buddies? What is his moral strength and weakness?

I'd be interested in hearing your backstory you mentioned. That could help me suggest more for you.

I would reiterate what someone else mentioned before. A character with 0 earned XP in this game is a Padawan. Not a Jedi. Probably has a Force Power ... Sense, btw, is a very nice one!

I'm loving this system! And actually on my way to my Star Wars game in here in a half hour. =)

Enjoy!

Dizlag

[Jeivar]

Also, if you start with 50 Morality, you can choose to start with either 10 XP more or 5 XP/1000 credits or 2500 credits. I would select 10 more XP.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the extra starting XP thing.


What do you mean by "decent all-rounder"? Good at slicing, piloting, medicine, social skills, and combat? If so, I would spend 90 XP on raising your Agility, Intelligence, and Presence to 3. Without ranks, you'll have a dice pool of 3 greens on all ranged combat skills, Charm/Cool/Leadership/Negotiation, Astrogation/Computers/Mechanics/Medicine, and Piloting Planetary/Space. Not to mention Coordination, Stealth and all Knowledge skills. That doesn't suck, yo!

I guess I meant a character that doesn't have a particular glaring weakness. I suppose I'm still thinking of the one character I played those months ago... a fragile speedster Twi'lek gunslinger in next to no armour. Get shot at was... fun. It made me nervous about having low Brawn.


Think about the character concept. Where would you want him/her to especially shine? What does he do? What does he love to do? Does he tinker in a mechanics shop? Does he have his head down in books doing research on Jedi and Sith artifacts (my current character does =)? Is he a hot shot pilot? Is he a gunslinger? Does he want to protect his buddies? What is his moral strength and weakness?

I'd be interested in hearing your backstory you mentioned. That could help me suggest more for you.

When I said backstory I was thinking of a way to justify the character having some basic Padawan skills in the Rebellion era. The idea is, an old Jedi was hiding from the Empire on some nasty backwater, and took in a Force-sensitive urchin and taught him some basics. Eventually Imperial agents came and killed the Jedi, and the urchin fled into the shadows of the galaxy, looking to hone these strange new powers, and deciding whether to finally empower himself and be someone special, or whether to try to shed some light in a dark era.

Part of what draws me to Sentinel is that it seems to fit far better than the other classes when the Empire is actively hunting Force users.