So I noticed something wile reading through FaD en detail.

None of the specializations have written "Gain Force Rating 1" above them, as do force sensitive exile and emergent.

The book writes in every career entry, that the starting force rating of 1 is gained through the career, not the Spec.

So if I understand this correctly RAW when you take one of the FaD Specs after first building a EotE or AoR build, you don't get any force rating, only when you come to the talent in the tree. You can buy the force talents, but because of the lack of force rating there is no benefit from them.

Emergent and Exile are different things here, because they give you a force rating of 1 when you buy them with XP.

So if you play after RAW with this it is always wiser to start with any of those two careers when you want to add force to your character later in the game, before taking any of the other FaD specs. That is very interesting and a nice narrative way FFG did it imo.

It works better in showing how someone learns the force basics instead of already having a very distinct set of abilities in it. Sure I allow FaD careers in my Rebel campaign that starts today, but only those without Lightsaber skill and no force powers. I understand those as force sensitives, who are not aware of their connection to the force, but use it subconsciously to aid their main focus of skills. A Warrior Starfighter Ace becomes a Rebel pilot who is exceptionally gifted, but only because he used the force to help him, but he never noticed. He just thinks it to be Adrenaline or something, his colleagues think it's mad skill.

But why doesn't he have to take the Emergent tree in my campaign you may ask? Well he did this stuff for a while and it sorta came to be and focused in these abilities. while the force sensitive emergent/exile trees showcase a more broader awakening to the force, the starting FaD's are very focused.

What are your thoughts and rulings on this?

I have no problem with it. It is a feature for me. So no rulings on it other than going with the RAW.

From the FFG Developer Answered Questions thread:

From the FFG Developer Answered Questions thread:

You are correct, none of the specializations in Force and Destiny give you Force Rating 1. So if your career does not make you Force Sensitive (as Force and Destiny's careers do) you must take Exile or Emergent to become Force Sensitive. Note, this does not stop you from taking Healer as a tree, but you will be unable to use any Force talents (including talents that increase your Force Rating; those will be "dormant" until you gain Force Rating 1).

Hope this helps!

Sam Stewart

Senior RPG Producer

Fantasy Flight Games

I should really get around on reading all of these .

If as a player you are planning on being a Force user as a major focus of your character, then mechanically it behooves you to start with a FaD career so that you get Force Rating 1. You're losing roughly 15 XP in the form of not as many starting skill ranks (and not as many available career skills), where you'd need to spend 20 XP if using an AoR/EotE career if you wanted to start out as Force sensitive, so it does work out to be a bit of a cost savings if you go FaD, with that savings pretty much carrying over to picking up a basic Force power.

Over in Legends, there's been instances of folks not discovering their ability with the Force until much later in life, such as Kyle Katarn who started out as an ex-stormtrooper turned Rebel commando that after his first adventure learned he had the potential to become a Jedi. So he'd be an example of a PC that started out under a non-FaD career (Soldier in his case) and that later picked up Emergent before branching out into FaD specs.

Also from Legends, you've got most of the crew from KOTOR2, who can "discover" their latent Force-sensitivity and then multiclass into being a Jedi, with most of those people having had little clue or signs that they ever had such potential until they met the Exile.

If the fan speculation about Finn being Force-sensitive is correct, then he'd be another example of someone that discovers this ability much later in his life (Visual Guide puts him at 23 years old as of TFA).

Aye ,there is indeed two ways of going about it. You either start off being aware of it or you don't. Your analogy is more or less spot on.

The only other thing to notice is that starting off not force sensitive makes going force sensitive significantly more expensive. As you would have to buy an general career tree before you get what you want and thus, would cost the character 20 then 40, likely 60 exp worth of talents to get into a force and destiny tree. This mightn't be a huge problem particularly, it just means that the argument of starting off with it and being unaware of it as apposed to starting without and picking up on it is a very important decision for a character.

My character started without as a machanic bounty hunter, we only had Edge, picked up assassin for 20, force emergent for 30 and artisan for 50. This puts me at an awkward situation that it would cost me 60 to develop any further. So likely artisan is where my journey will end as far as careers go, even if armourer looks really good for what I'm planning for. So it's always worth running the maths as to whether you want that character to be force sensitive or not. It really isn't worth the effort unless your character is in this journey for the long haul.

A Warrior Starfighter Ace becomes a Rebel pilot who is exceptionally gifted, but only because he used the force to help him, but he never noticed. He just thinks it to be Adrenaline or something, his colleagues think it's mad skill.

But why doesn't he have to take the Emergent tree in my campaign you may ask? Well he did this stuff for a while and it sorta came to be and focused in these abilities. while the force sensitive emergent/exile trees showcase a more broader awakening to the force, the starting FaD's are very focused.

What are your thoughts and rulings on this?

Your reasoning, from a narative point of view, is sound. But, with FaD comes Morality. I wouldn't ever alllow a FaD career without it. (I know there are people who think all Force users should be subjected to Morality, but I disagree whole-heartedly.)

And, when one character is Moral and the others aren't, things get complicated, as the whole company will be bound by the moral code, implicitly. You might be able to pull it of in an AoR campaign, but hardly in EotE. The Forcie in my campaign, he would go yellow-eyes within five sessions or be marooned by his associates. It's like having a Paladin in a Mob-campaign.

The Forcie in my campaign, he would go yellow-eyes within five sessions or be marooned by his associates.

Heh heh. Or he pulls out his red lightsaber. If there is one thing that will never happen with any character in my games is some physical attribute or anything similar that puts us, the reader or watcher of the medium, on to the fact that he/she is dark side, but that everyone in universe ignores. All that tells me is that in universe that these aspects are so far removed and unheard of that no one realizes their meaning. Except for us playing because we are so familiar with the subject.

Something else to consider is that the Force may choose to remain quiet and in the background, manipulating events and choosing when, and who, to manifest itself in. There is no reason Finn, or anyone for that matter, has to have latent force abilities at all until it's necessary for them to have them.