I've often railed against the idea of including a third universal specialization in FaD, on the grounds that Exile and Emergent didn't need a "capstone." I've been even more vitriolic in my dismissal of a "padawan" spec.

Now here's my contribution to the discussion.

Let's face it: when people become Force sensitive, most of the time they want to use a lightsaber. If this game is supposed to be about players having fun (and we all know it is) then a third universal Force sensitive spec would need to address that. Why not repurpose Shii-Cho for this?

It's described in various Star Wars media (okay, Wookieepedia) as a "tutorial form," the first form that students learn because it teaches them the basics of lightsaber combat. This would fit the idea of a novice lightsabreur (lightsaberist?) just starting out. The second tier talent in this tree could be something granting "lightsaber" as a career skill.

Now, pulling Shii-Cho out of the Warrior career would necessitate its replacement, which could be Juyo. Alternatively, this tree wouldn't need to be defined as "Shii-Cho Student" and could just be "Force Sensitive Acolyte" or something along those lines. The fluff might describe it as a person who actively studies the history of Force users in the galaxy and has found himself Force sensitive. That way, Shii-Cho remains in Warrior and keeps all its cool late-tier moves, and the players who want to get into lightsaber combat quickly have the opportunity to do so.

There are still a lot of holes to fill in, but I figured that's what this discussion is for. Also, though I did a quick search and didn't turn up any topics like this one, it's entirely possible that I might have missed it (I'm in somewhat of a rush at the moment) and a discussion is already ongoing. In that case, please link it and promptly ignore me while I go introduce my idea.

It's deja vu all over again!

The idea of "generalized" Force user is already covered by the Exile and the Emergent, so another "universal Force user" spec really isn't needed. Exile and Emergent made sense in their respective books since Force users were a side element in those games, where Force and Destiny has them as the primary focus.

As Lorne noted, this isn't a new idea, and a lot of the prior thought on having Shii-Cho be a "universal" spec was mostly a way to buy up more ranks of Parry and Reflect without paying the additional XP cost for buying a non-career specialization.

As for the "well everyone trains in Shii-Cho" angle, that's covered by simply having ranks in the Lightsaber skill but none of the Form Technique talents that provide the option for the PC to swap Brawn for another Characteristic. And since the Form Technique talents are optional to use, if the PC suffers a critical injury that debilitates their preferred Characteristic, they can always go back to using Brawn, which itself reflects the idea of "falling back" onto Shii-Cho when nothing else seems to work.

So no, there doesn't need to be a Shii-Cho "universal" specialization, particularly since there are bound to be PCs that want to make a Lightsaber-user that's focused on Shii-Cho. And since you can't take a universal specialization as your initial specialization, that means anyone want to start with just Shii-Cho has to shill out 20 XP to buy the universal spec, while those PCs that opt to focus on one of the other Forms don't have to.

I don't disagree with there being a universal talent tree like in the other books, however having it focus on light sabers would be wrong. It should give a basic Force Rating 1 like Emergent or Exile in case someone from one of those books wants to become Force Sensitive. I would say it should have a talent for light saber to become a class skill and mostly a lot of other general stuff that helps force users, particularly Durable being that right now only Shii-cho Knight really has ranks in it in the book and it's kind of an underrated talent for it's importance. I don't know about you guys but avoiding a gruesome injury permanently reducing my stats or death is kind of important.

It would be interesting to know of FFG's intentions with Form VII Juyo.

IMO there definitely should NOT be an option anywhere for Vaapad variant as there should be NO ONE around to teach it or holocron of it.

Juyo could be featured in a future supplement. IF Juyo was to be featured in Force and Destiny at all, then clearly the best fit for Juyo would be one of the three Specialisations of Warrior Career, thus replacing Shii-Cho Knight.

I would like to see a Universal Specialisation for Force and Destiny. I liked Force Sensitive Apprentice but Force Sensitive Acolyte works equally well. Either way should be a generalist Specialisation, Jack of all trades, Master of none. It should NOT be default choice, one too good not to take.

So I think Shii-Cho Knight would be perfect form for an Apprentice / Acolyte who has had good general training. It would make sense that only taught the most basic form. If it means tweaking Shii-Cho Knight so that not too good not to take, then so be it.

BUT that only works IF FFG want to include Juyo, rather than saving it for a future supplement.

I'd almost place Juyo as being a Signature Ability, most likely for the Warrior career, instead of being a specialization in and of itself.