So I have been running four different campaigns now and the way Dark Side destiny points are supposed to be used as described in the Core Rulebook started to feel cheap. (as in just a way to give points back to the players instead of being story enhancing tools.)

Light Side points are frequently spent to create epic situations where players perform heroic feats because three out of four are Age of Rebellion campaigns and are heavily focused on combat!

Needless to say this thread isn't about combat, non-combat balance, its about a way I have discovered to use Dark Side destiny to create just as epic situations for my villains, nemesis', and groups.

For example, one rule I use for my groups (and it works extraordinarily well) is that in order to use a destiny point, you have to say a line! It can be simply, "the Force is with me" or "It is destiny!" or it can be anything! It honestly creates a LOT of depth to the game and helps PCs to get into character and become more epic PCs.

However same rule applies for me (the GM).

Secondly, I don't want to just spend DS destiny on upgrading Stormtrooper's combat checks and say lines like "It's them! Blast them!" Instead I have created a system where I can use DS destiny to trigger very scary and captivating encounters for my players.

I'll use an example from my last game.

The Destiny pool was six tokens. They players used ALL their light side destiny points to get to through very difficult parts of the mission. And you know the saying, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire?" I like to take advantage of having all the DS points. I flip them all over to Light all at once to trigger a very scary and menacing situation.

In the last session, they had just blasted there way through waves of stormtroopers and Imperials who were trying to prevent this Rebellion elite strike force from stealing Incom's prototype X-wings. They had used all their destiny points performing very epic actions and feats and that is when I like to "balance the force" and flip all of them back over.

In this instance, a carrier dropped an AT-ST off. This scared the wits out of my PCs. They were ALL low health and it was as real as it gets in the movies.

I've used the entire Dark Side pool to trigger a boss' ultimate move, a powerful rival

(or nemesis) encounter (like the AT-ST), or a very realistic, powerful negative situation to arise.

Aside from all this, I still like to use DS destiny to upgrade checks of a nemesis or rival encounter. But I don't like to use it on minions.

Tell me what you all think of this idea!

I am pretty sure the RAW says you only use 1 destiny point at a time, so flipping them all at once seems to ignore this.

For the RAW in Edge it is page 27, in AoR it is page 35.

Is it a house rule that allows you to do more than one? That seems to ignore the point of the destiny pool. It is extremely limited on purpose.

The rules also say pretty much to do what makes the story the most fun.

It sounds like SirRogan is doing just that. In my opinion it's perfectly valid to represent something dramatic and severe happening by flipping some or all Dark Side points to Light.

It says "BOOM HERE IS A DRAMATIC THING HAPPENING!"

And it also gives the players a resource to improve their rolls in response.

This is obviously different than, for example, flipping six Dark Side points to Light and upgrading an NPC's attack roll six times. That would be ridiculous.

We use them liberally between us and the GM so the DPs are flipping hither and yon regularly during the course of play to allow both sides some to use almost always.

This past session I've started being a bit more aggressive in using them. I like the idea of them providing an extra initiative slot or a double-action for a Big Bad, especially if said Big Bad is outnumbered by the PCs.

I'm trying to get my group more used to them, so in some respects having me flinging the dark ones around, they're more comfortable flinging the light side ones around.

I use the DS points like a gauge of the adventure. THe more Dark the worse it gets,, the lighter it is.. the more favorable it is in feel and atmosphere.

I need to be better about using the Destiny points. I think this is a great way to do so, sort of heighten the narrative and make it more than game mechanic - which, really if you spend the game embroiled in game mechanism it can get boring fast. Flipping it back also helps the players do heroics to get out if a situation and thus feel more, well, like destiny. I like all the ideas here.

Saving them up for a big spend sounds a great habit to get into. Firstly, just playing *** for tat by upgrading enemies just leads for a boring back and forth between players and GM where both sides either just keep boosting their odds back at each other, or one side hordes and neither does. In either case, it's not exciting or narrative, it's just the same game with slightly skewed dice odds (which technically balance each other out anyway).

But if each time the PCs boost their odds slightly, they edge slightly more toward unleashing the ne big twist, NOW you have some excitement, some tension and an actual metagame for the players to weigh the pros and cons of.

I like it. I don't only think this is viable, I think it is by far preferable.

EDIT: Huh - the filter here thinks 't-i-t' is a rude word! : / Aside from never having known it was "rude", the expression "t-i-t for tat" has nothing to do with breasts. It's just an English figure of speech meaning low value exchange. Same spelling, different word.

I like the idea, my group use them as written but I may start saving them up at cerain parts of the story, the lack of LS would start to worry certain players and a mass flip would scare the crap out of the whole table

Destiny Points are supposed to represent a certain ebb-and-flow. You're supposed to spend them quite liberally, it's meant to be like one of these high-action films where the hero does something amazing and then something bad happens.

I guess you could 'save them all up' to do some big Deus Ex Machina, but I wonder if that would discourage the PCs from spending them, if they know the GM is going to hoard them for something big?

The idea is supposed to be that both sides use them pretty frequently and ideally neither players nor PCs hoard them.

I don't think it would be a case where the PCs could hoard them and 'prevent' this thing from happening.

A couple of sessions ago I was inspired by this post and I wanted to flip all the dark side destiny points to light to make a dramatic statement, just as the PCs were ambushed by Stormtroopers.

However at that point in the game, I think there was one dark side point. So I just flipped it and the PCs were ambushed by Stormtroopers.

It's not like I would just wait and have that not happen because there weren't enough dark side points or something.

Also, what kind of players would 'hoard' destiny points so the GM 'couldn't' do something dramatic to them? Did they want their characters to maybe be sitting at home knitting shawls or something?

I don't require narration for every flip of a DP or for it to be a pivotal moment all the time. Sometimes I flip them because I want that Despair possibility and when it does occur then I will lay out some spectacular persnickety boondoggle has just occurred.

I also don't just upgrade, or have bonuses only for the flip of a DP. When one of my guys announced he wanted to launch a Jim Kirk flying drop kick at the rival shadowclan leader on top of the speeding grav train to knock him off of it, that was a boost die just cause it sounded awesome...........he missed.............so bonus points for comedic effect.

The PCs gotta be willing to accept tougher challenges along the way to their heroic climax