What I've been wondering is what if you had a section where each career and their specialties had the choice of 3 force powers which career would have access to what force power?

I've been tinkering with the idea that if I ever ran Force & Destiny I'd include a 20xp deduction from starting experience to cover the cost of 2 force powers.

But they would have to be from a group of three force powers with the possibility that some are repeated from their main career so you'd have three force powers set out like for the Force Exile and the Force Emergent that the player can select from.

My reasoning is that this is supposed to be the Force Users Core Book Beta and yet the characters you create here don't start off with Force Powers which to me doesn't make sense.

What would you choose if you could select the three force powers a player could select from, from each of the careers and specialty careers mentioned in the Force & Destiny Beta?

Edit: Should have put which career rather than each career in the title!

Well, the characters can definitely start with Force powers. They just need to spend XP on them.

Also, remember that the Force talents inside each of the F&D specialization trees each represent applied Force training for a specific purpose. Even if an F&D character starts with none of the major Force powers, they may have mastered some of these more directed applications.

So, I wouldn't give any discounts personally (especially if you also have muggles in your group that aren't getting bonus XP), but you're the GM. I'm sure your players won't complain about free stuff.

You could possibly give them the mentor resource and allow them to apply the discount during character creation.

Nobody started off with powers in EotE or AoR without purchasing them as it is in F&D.

Much like Alatar1313 mentioned, most talent trees have some form of special use talents that act similarly to force powers already. And besides that, it's sort of odd to try to narrow a person's path to certain force powers. I mean, I know that even with the free force powers how you're proposing it, they can still buy into whatever they want with their other experience or whatever, but that sort of idea seems to more of make sense to me if you were implementing it into a Clone Wars-era type thing - where each force user is being specifically taught in a certain manner, as opposed to in the Rebellion-era where force users learn and pick up what they can.

My recommendation, if you feel they need to have powers, would just to just toss a certain amount of XP at players and tell them they can use it specifically for Force Powers and let them pick and choose what they want.

My reasoning is that this is supposed to be the Force Users Core Book Beta and yet the characters you create here don't start off with Force Powers which to me doesn't make sense.

Have to agree with this basic sentiment. Even the pregens that come with F&D, after 100 extra XP they only have one base Force Power.

However, I wouldn't limit it by career. Agree with Lathrop, if you want the PCs to start with Force powers, grant 20XP for it and be done, though they should still have to stick with the prerequisites (e.g.: minimum Force rating).

My reasoning is that this is supposed to be the Force Users Core Book Beta and yet the characters you create here don't start off with Force Powers which to me doesn't make sense.

Have to agree with this basic sentiment. Even the pregens that come with F&D, after 100 extra XP they only have one base Force Power.

However, I wouldn't limit it by career. Agree with Lathrop, if you want the PCs to start with Force powers, grant 20XP for it and be done, though they should still have to stick with the prerequisites (e.g.: minimum Force rating).

Totally agree here, and i'll start and suggest some powers that IMO can suit the careers:

Consular: Sense, Influence, Heal/Harm

Guardian: Sense, Enhance, Move

Mystic: Sense, Forsee, Influence

Seeker: Sense, Seek, Bind

Sentinel: Sense, Misdirect, Influence

Warrior: Sense, influence, Enhance

I used Sense in all careers because from both the canon and the rulebook description i have the impression that it's the most basic power that would be useful to every Jedi.

I used Sense in all careers because from both the canon and the rulebook description i have the impression that it's the most basic power that would be useful to every Jedi.

I've had a similar thought, that Sense should almost be a prereq for all the others.

Depending your era on what sources you consider, note that some sources say that Initiates are first taught Control powers, padawans focus on Sense powers, and then they learn Alter powers. I might start any of them off with Enhance, Heal/Harm, and Sense to represent that regimented training. Of course, that's not applicable if they have no such training.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_Powers

Hmmm. Not sure what is being got at here. Something for nothing? Or something for something? If the former, I don't think so. No interest there. If the latter, isn't that already there in that you must buy your powers? And I like that no powers are tied to specific careers. It allows people to build their Force-users the way they want to. With or without powers. Maybe someone wants to build a Force-user focusing only talents. Or maybe another wants to build one focusing on powers and minimal talents. There can always be a fluff piece pointing out certain powers that are more useful or complimentary to certain careers. I don't want certain powers discounted for certain careers or anything similar. Leave it open so people can build the characters they want or imagine.

My reasoning is that this is supposed to be the Force Users Core Book Beta and yet the characters you create here don't start off with Force Powers which to me doesn't make sense.

Have to agree with this basic sentiment. Even the pregens that come with F&D, after 100 extra XP they only have one base Force Power.

However, I wouldn't limit it by career. Agree with Lathrop, if you want the PCs to start with Force powers, grant 20XP for it and be done, though they should still have to stick with the prerequisites (e.g.: minimum Force rating).

Totally agree here, and i'll start and suggest some powers that IMO can suit the careers:

Consular: Sense, Influence, Heal/Harm

Guardian: Sense, Enhance, Move

Mystic: Sense, Forsee, Influence

Seeker: Sense, Seek, Bind

Sentinel: Sense, Misdirect, Influence

Warrior: Sense, influence, Enhance

I used Sense in all careers because from both the canon and the rulebook description i have the impression that it's the most basic power that would be useful to every Jedi.

Why wouldn't Battle Meditation or Unleash/Protect fall under Guardian, which has one specialization focused on being a commander, and another focused on protecting others? How about Move for Consular, which has one specialization with a distinct emphasis on Move? Given Seek's strong combat applications, shouldn't it come up in Warrior?

I think there are just too many things that make sense to e drawing arbitrary lines for something like this.

Good point a bout Battle meditation and unleash/protect, i simply forgot about them

Well that list are the powers i feel a class would find useful, and your mileage may vary. Also some powers (like Move ) can be useful to every class so it's often a matter of personal preference and idea about the class.

I admit i overlooked the combat application of Seek as it seemed a more intellectual power, but it could work with warrior, even if i still feel it's more appropriate to seeker.

Unleash/protect for me is more appropriate for a Sage/Seer, as it requires a high FR, but i admit i am influenced by Yoda using it, however I agree it could fit a Guardian:Protector.

That's the beauty of the system almost all Force powers can be useful to all classes i one way or another.

I have to ask why are you trying to create pigeonholes in a system that intentionally tries to avoid pigeonholing people?

My reasoning is that this is supposed to be the Force Users Core Book Beta and yet the characters you create here don't start off with Force Powers which to me doesn't make sense.

Have to agree with this basic sentiment. Even the pregens that come with F&D, after 100 extra XP they only have one base Force Power.

However, I wouldn't limit it by career. Agree with Lathrop, if you want the PCs to start with Force powers, grant 20XP for it and be done, though they should still have to stick with the prerequisites (e.g.: minimum Force rating).

Totally agree here, and i'll start and suggest some powers that IMO can suit the careers:

Consular: Sense, Influence, Heal/Harm

Guardian: Sense, Enhance, Move

Mystic: Sense, Forsee, Influence

Seeker: Sense, Seek, Bind

Sentinel: Sense, Misdirect, Influence

Warrior: Sense, influence, Enhance

I used Sense in all careers because from both the canon and the rulebook description i have the impression that it's the most basic power that would be useful to every Jedi.

I would take Influence away from the Warrior and put Bind in its place.

I would just like to point out you don't start out with talents either. You pick and choose how you spend XP. You could spend it on force powers, talents, stats, etc.

I have to ask why are you trying to create pigeonholes in a system that intentionally tries to avoid pigeonholing people?

I'm not, but I think it would be useful to be able to discern what force powers would be considered Basic and what would be considered advanced so you can avoid a player trying to break your game straight out of the gate (a little harsh but I'm not conversant enough with the Force side of this game to understand how to prevent that).

The Beta doesn't come across as well as these replies have.

I started off thinking having them start off with 20 less starting experience so they can have access to 2 force powers instead of in at least one instance no force powers in regards to the pre-generated characters provided with the Beta.

I'm still more inclined to limiting access to the two universal force sensitive specialties from the Edge and AoR books if I ever get to run this again, but I couldn't help feeling something was missing.

That's why your replies have been more helpful to me.

I generally find the best way to ensure characters don't break the game is to tell the players not to make characters to break the game. Usually, I'm cool with the PCs throwing whatever they want at me; I've been doing this long enough that I'll just adjust. But sometimes, the best course is to just tell them to go easy on you (especially in this system - it's crazy compared to almost all other systems). If they end up breaking the game, compensate for it on your end or talk to them directly to have them knock it off. Most players don't want to lose a game they like playing just to hold on to their game-breaking character.

That being said, I'm also fine limiting the options for a while just while you get used to the system and feel you can better handle all the crazy stuff they'll get later. It's not a wrong approach; I'm just saying there are other ways too.

I have to ask why are you trying to create pigeonholes in a system that intentionally tries to avoid pigeonholing people?

I'm not, but I think it would be useful to be able to discern what force powers would be considered Basic and what would be considered advanced so you can avoid a player trying to break your game straight out of the gate (a little harsh but I'm not conversant enough with the Force side of this game to understand how to prevent that).

The Beta doesn't come across as well as these replies have.

I started off thinking having them start off with 20 less starting experience so they can have access to 2 force powers instead of in at least one instance no force powers in regards to the pre-generated characters provided with the Beta.

I'm still more inclined to limiting access to the two universal force sensitive specialties from the Edge and AoR books if I ever get to run this again, but I couldn't help feeling something was missing.

That's why your replies have been more helpful to me.

That is already handled by some force powers have a minimum force rating required. And in this system there is no basic versus advanced other than requiring prerequisites.

That's the beauty of the system almost all Force powers can be useful to all classes i one way or another.

Looks like a good argument for not pigeonholing careers with preselected Force suites.

But would that mean designing the Mentor so you have an idea of what they could have learned?

Or go the way of access to Enhance, Sense and Move?

But would that mean designing the Mentor so you have an idea of what they could have learned?

Or go the way of access to Enhance, Sense and Move?

Really depends. If you want, you can just give them a small bundle of powers - lets you keep a smaller stat block for them, and you can say the XP discount given by the Mentor for powers they don't have is more of just from advanced techniques in reaching out to the force or something. Giving the mentor every power is also an option, I guess, but they aren't even really supposed to help out the PCs too much (lest the players become too reliant on them), so it would probably be better to boil it down to some essential powers and call it a day.

In terms of what powers to give them, it really depends on what you want to possibly show off to the players. The EotE powers, or basically everything Obi-Wan shows off in A New Hope, is a pretty nice varied set of powers: Influence, Move, and Sense. Foresee is a decent one to consider, but that can also just be narrative. The Jewel of Yavin jedi

The mentor knows whatever powers the pc wants to learn. It's more of a plot hook than an NPC. Of course you can build him like an NPC but that is not required, and can actually be limiting to the players

The mentor knows whatever powers the pc wants to learn. It's more of a plot hook than an NPC. Of course you can build him like an NPC but that is not required, and can actually be limiting to the players

Yeah...it is perfectly reasonable to have theoretical/practical knowledge of a technique while still having little to no ability. Huyang the droid artisan, for example; he couldn't use the Force to build a lightsaber, but he had no trouble directing his students and telling them exactly what they should be feeling and doing on a "mystical" level (and what they were doing wrong!).

Sometimes it's easiest to teach by showing, but then sometimes with the right teacher you can get there just by their instruction and encouragement alone.