When I look at the offensive force powers (especially move), it seems like a force user with a rating 3 or 4 could cripple or kill another force user easily if he gets initiative, because there is no real defences against the force powers, other than spending your attack on protect.

In the movies, we don't see most of the powers being used against the force user, unless the target allows it, or is distracted or injured. The closest you see is Vader vs. Luke in Empire with Vader throwing things at Luke. But at that point Vader dramatically outclassed Luke.

So am I missing a mechanic somewhere?

yup. page 283 resisting force powers. Important NPC and PCs can resist force powers.

Don't neglect your Willpower stat or Discipline skill!

You don't even need a Force rating to resist force powers. Personally if a player tries to resist a Force power I usually use discipline unless another skill fits better. I also let a Force user use force rating as well.

In addition to what the others have already said, you may want to limit Force resistance to Nemesis and significant Rivals only. I wouldn't roll resistance for a minion or nameless rival.

Agreed would also not have resistance when it makes good narative as well

yeah the box says significant NPCs and PCs can resist. which should usually be just important rivals and nemesis.

On p.283 it´s says that resisting is an opposed check. Does it mean that we spend advantages, threats, despairs and triumphs normally? Or because it is a special case of resisting the Force, we ignore them and only are interested in a success and whether the force power was successfully used or not?

When I look at the offensive force powers (especially move), it seems like a force user with a rating 3 or 4 could cripple or kill another force user easily if he gets initiative, because there is no real defences against the force powers, other than spending your attack on protect.

In the movies, we don't see most of the powers being used against the force user, unless the target allows it, or is distracted or injured. The closest you see is Vader vs. Luke in Empire with Vader throwing things at Luke. But at that point Vader dramatically outclassed Luke.

So am I missing a mechanic somewhere?

Well for one, the rules specify that if a power is being used against a PC, (using your Move example), they would have to roll their Discipline to see if they actually hit. And since this basically makes it a ranged attack, all the basic rules for ranged combat would apply. Meaning things like Defense, cover, talents the PC has triggered to make them harder to hit, range (I think), etc. So, the target still might be hard to hit, the number of force pips you roll doesn't help your chance to hit at all.

Plus, there is a very easy force power a player could get from character creation that could hep negate this problem: Suppress. It doesn't have the high FR requirement that Protect/Unleash has, and it can seriously cripple a force user without too much effort. The force power can be found in the Guardian splatbook : Keeping the Peace. I highly suggest checking it out.

On p.283 it´s says that resisting is an opposed check. Does it mean that we spend advantages, threats, despairs and triumphs normally? Or because it is a special case of resisting the Force, we ignore them and only are interested in a success and whether the force power was successfully used or not?

It's still a skill check, so all the normal rules about advantages, threats, triumphs, and despairs would apply.

Could I use harm on a PC/nemesis without an opposed check? Not where I inflict a crit, but rather, the basic power where I inflict 4 or 5 damage.

Could I use harm on a PC/nemesis without an opposed check? Not where I inflict a crit, but rather, the basic power where I inflict 4 or 5 damage.

Not per the RAW no. The PC's and Nemesis are by design, supposed to be tougher than your average mook. So for them, there is an opposed check. It's so that someone like Luke can survive near constant bombardment by the Emperor with Unleash, where as a group of Stormtroopers hit with the same blast would all be crispy kebabs in a can.

I mean, you can do it if you want, but it's going against RAW technically. Here's the problem with this plan though. Given you have to have an FR of 3 to get this power, it pretty much guarantees that you will always be able to activate it, which means any and every round, your person hurling this power is going to be inflicting the damage, guaranteed. No defense, no dodging it, no resisting it, just flat out 4-5 damage every turn. That's kind of OP in my book.

I might be wrong, as I haven't read Unleash too closely, but doesn't that base damage ignore soak?

Unleash has a flat difficulty of average to use it, which means it would be affected by Adversary. Harm doesn't have a skill check associated with it, but should be opposed by high level adversaries. And neither power specifically says anything about how soak affects them, which I would take to mean apply soak as normal.

Unleash has a flat difficulty of average to use it, which means it would be affected by Adversary. Harm doesn't have a skill check associated with it, but should be opposed by high level adversaries. And neither power specifically says anything about how soak affects them, which I would take to mean apply soak as normal.

I could've sworn Harm said it ignores soak.

When I look at the offensive force powers (especially move), it seems like a force user with a rating 3 or 4 could cripple or kill another force user easily if he gets initiative, because there is no real defences against the force powers, other than spending your attack on protect.

In the movies, we don't see most of the powers being used against the force user, unless the target allows it, or is distracted or injured. The closest you see is Vader vs. Luke in Empire with Vader throwing things at Luke. But at that point Vader dramatically outclassed Luke.

So am I missing a mechanic somewhere?

Well for one, the rules specify that if a power is being used against a PC, (using your Move example), they would have to roll their Discipline to see if they actually hit. And since this basically makes it a ranged attack, all the basic rules for ranged combat would apply. Meaning things like Defense, cover, talents the PC has triggered to make them harder to hit, range (I think), etc. So, the target still might be hard to hit, the number of force pips you roll doesn't help your chance to hit at all.

Eh, this depends on the power and how it's used. If you use Move to throw a speeder bike at a character, it's a ranged attack, and the usual defensive talents apply. If you use Move to pick up the PC and slam him into the wall, it's an opposed Discipline vs Discipline check (though the GM should be flexible in what skill the player resists with). In the first case, the usual combat talents and such would apply. Dodge, Side Step, cover, and all that. In the second case, I'm pretty sure those are ignored, but a Force-user should really have some Discipline and a healthy Willpower. So if you're facing a Jedi Consular, throw things at him. If you're facing a Shii-Cho Knight, throw him at things. If you're facing both, throw the Knight at the Consular.

When I look at the offensive force powers (especially move), it seems like a force user with a rating 3 or 4 could cripple or kill another force user easily if he gets initiative, because there is no real defences against the force powers, other than spending your attack on protect.

In the movies, we don't see most of the powers being used against the force user, unless the target allows it, or is distracted or injured. The closest you see is Vader vs. Luke in Empire with Vader throwing things at Luke. But at that point Vader dramatically outclassed Luke.

So am I missing a mechanic somewhere?

Well for one, the rules specify that if a power is being used against a PC, (using your Move example), they would have to roll their Discipline to see if they actually hit. And since this basically makes it a ranged attack, all the basic rules for ranged combat would apply. Meaning things like Defense, cover, talents the PC has triggered to make them harder to hit, range (I think), etc. So, the target still might be hard to hit, the number of force pips you roll doesn't help your chance to hit at all.

Eh, this depends on the power and how it's used. If you use Move to throw a speeder bike at a character, it's a ranged attack, and the usual defensive talents apply. If you use Move to pick up the PC and slam him into the wall, it's an opposed Discipline vs Discipline check (though the GM should be flexible in what skill the player resists with). In the first case, the usual combat talents and such would apply. Dodge, Side Step, cover, and all that. In the second case, I'm pretty sure those are ignored, but a Force-user should really have some Discipline and a healthy Willpower. So if you're facing a Jedi Consular, throw things at him. If you're facing a Shii-Cho Knight, throw him at things. If you're facing both, throw the Knight at the Consular.

True, there is a distinction between Discipline vs Discipline, and Discipline vs Ranged Defense, depending on what is being Moved at what. But the basic premise is sound, that's my point. Move isn't the all powerful attack action that the OP thought it was, based on the writeup. And also the fact that the Force Rating doesn't help you hit the target any easier, it just lets you hurl something bigger, or hurl the person farther.

In fact, another rule you could factor in to help mitigate the destruction of Move, is to use the combat rules for space combat, regarding difference in Silhouette sizes. The smaller the silhouette of the target in relation to the object attacking (in this example, the Silhouette 3 X-Wing you are Moving at someone), the harder it is to actually hit them. Your accuracy with throwing it would be off more, and thus you would suffer additional Setback to the attack. Seems reasonable to me, if you're trying to hit them with an object, to factor in the cumbersomeness of the thing you are trying to hit them with. Like trying to hit a mouse with a claymore sword. It's just too big and unwieldy to accomplish the job easily.

Now with picking the person up directly and throwing them at the wall, sure, that works, but would be Discipline vs Discipline. But the extra Force rating wouldn't make the hit any harder. It's still just the damage of a Sil 1 target, plus successes on the Discipline roll. So, a FR 1 person, would do the same damage that an FR 3-4 person would do, by flinging a person at a wall/ground. Assuming their Discipline ranks are the same.

Unleash has a flat difficulty of average to use it, which means it would be affected by Adversary. Harm doesn't have a skill check associated with it, but should be opposed by high level adversaries. And neither power specifically says anything about how soak affects them, which I would take to mean apply soak as normal.

I could've sworn Harm said it ignores soak.

You are correct. Harm does damage based of Int and bypasses soak. Unleash on the other hand does damage based on Will and does not bypass soak. As per the core book.

Meet Supress and Calming Aura.

Supress allows you to defend against force attacks pretty well by giving automatic failures or even negating force pips.

When combined with a high discipline and Willpower you can effectively neuter opposing force users.

Calming Aura and Improved Calming Aura knock a force pip off of any force power used against the player and in the case of improved calming aura his allies.

Supress is a power that while seemingly less then useful is incredibly helpful at defending against other force users when applied properly in specific situations it can be used to greater effect then protect especially when combined with Improved Calming Aura.