Force power and creativity

By Ceodryn, in Star Wars: Force and Destiny RPG

Force powers often apply to a given skill, however could the player argue to apply them to another?

For example, foresee benefits initiative, but could it benefits instead a ranged or melee attack, with the narrative that foresee allow to see where the opponent moves?

Thanks

There is no clear response to that but, use the cinematic effect and always, the common sense.

In generals therms you can always add Boosts or give situational extra information or modify the scene "cinematically".

I'm not sure. The RAW says that Foresee only affects Initiative. The Talent "Intuitive Shot" allows you to add Force dice equivalent to your Force rating to the dice. You would spend any pips generated, Light or Dark, to add additional Hits or Advantages. So I'm not sure I would let a PC use Foresee to bolster a combat check. But that is only for the Hunter Specialization.

For me as a GM, if the Foresee check generates a Triumph, then maybe I would allow a Boost to be applied to the next immediate attack roll of the PC using Foresee. But only if the rest of the roll is a true success without any negative effects. Otherwise I would rule that it only applies to Initiative.

During an initiative check, you could definitely fluff a triumph out as saying a player gets a Boost or two because they know how everything is set out due to Foresee.

Otherwise... I guess you could use the general picking things out portion as an Action while in combat. Depends on what the player is picking out, could possibly be used to inflict Setback on an enemy attacking because you can anticipate an attack, Boost because you'll know when and where to aim, and so on and so forth, depending on the way it's used. I'd be careful not to let it be too powerful though. You are spending an entire action to use it, but things like Seek are meant to specifically pinpoint weaknesses and has a high cost to gain those bonuses (both XP-wise and Force Point expenditure-wise), so I wouldn't let the mechanical bonuses get too out of control.

I would let someone with a Triumph win any initiative draw, no matter how many advantages the oponent has (or let the Triumph count as 3 advantages, that's what we do in our current game).

Alternatively, a B on his roll this turn. Maybe the possibility of turning a B into an Upgrade, or a difficulty downgrade if he has no B to exchange (technically, difficulty downgrades are not as good as skill upgrades, though only technically).

EDIT: What about rolling a Triumph in initiative lets you split your Force pips between hits to initiative and hits to your action later in the round? Choosing between ensuring you act first or using your time advantage to focus on your action. Just occured to me.

EDIT2: Sorry, B=Blue die

Edited by Jereru

I'd say either settle on Sense, which can upgrade your attacks through committed dice, or, if you want Enhance to do it, maybe have your GM add a new column to the Force power. As it is, though, the game SEEMS to try very hard to blunt efforts to blatantly increase some attacks or damage. The only real way to increase your abilities is the spendy Dedication, once you spend your way to it, and raising Skills isn't so bad, but it can only go so far, so to have a power easily raise your whole attack value, I think is something they were maybe intentionally NOT doing. Mostly my opinion, of course, but if Force users can raise their attack, and "mundanes" can't, it starts to sort of power creep back into "Jedi are better, and you should've played that; now suck it." Here's hoping I'm not just going off inti stupid land ;) , or misinterpreting what you meant.

Initiative is nice, and if you can go before the bad guy, that's nice, but totally upping your combat abilities? Thinking no.

I'd be careful about expanding what skills various Force powers can affect, simply because it can really skew the balance of power in this game, something that FFG has done their best to maintain.

It may not seem like allowing Foresee to provide a benefit to Ranged combat checks is too bad at first, but the fact there's a high-tier talent in the Hunter specialization whose entire purpose is to allow the character to add their Force dice to Ranged combat checks makes that houserule to Foresee become a lot more powerful. Plus, there's the Sense power which has a Control Upgrade that's sole purpose is to bolster your combat checks.

Force powers in this system aren't meant to be end-all and be-all effects like they were in prior Star Wars RPGs. If anything, FFG has generally dialed the effectiveness of Force powers down so that Force users don't wind up ruling the roost the way they had a tendency to do in those prior Star Wars RPGs.

Yeah, you're right... But still rolling a Triumph in initiative I feel like wasting it... I must come up with an idea to use it for something useful which can be done by anyone, Force and non-Force users.

Can they be used for the feats listed in the chart, like strain recovery, adding B to team mates and so on?

Yeah, you're right... But still rolling a Triumph in initiative I feel like wasting it... I must come up with an idea to use it for something useful which can be done by anyone, Force and non-Force users.

Can they be used for the feats listed in the chart, like strain recovery, adding B to team mates and so on?

Triumphs also count as 3 Advantage, so I would say yes you could spent it for the feats listed.

Personally, I allow a PC that rolls a Triumph on an initiative check to have the option of either upgrading the next check they or an ally make or to take a free bonus maneuver (still capped at 2 per turn) when their turn comes up in the first round of combat.

Nowhere in the rules does it say that a Triumph is ever "discarded" or has "zero effect." Especially at lower levels of play where the PCs might only be rolling one or two proficiency die on Initiative checks, a Triumph should always mean something interesting has happened.

If you get a great roll on an attack, you could definitely narrate it that your character perceived with the Force and took a great shot as a result.

I think that's more in line with the intent of this narrative system.

Edited by progressions

I've let players "spend" things on Initiative rolls. This alters their initial slot, but lets them take advantage of a good roll.

Say they rolled 1:2:3 (1 Triumph, 2 successes...including the one from the Triumph, and 3 Advantages). They could spend their Triumph to upgrade their next skill check, and 2 Advantages to take a maneuver. This would leave them with 0:2:1 (2 successes and 1 advantage) to determine their initiative slot.

I will say I don't really offer it unless they ask, because it's somewhat interruptive and takes more time to deal with. On the flip side, my players don't ask unless they feel they have a real need for it, so it works out.