My character is a 19 year old Niman Disxiple from Nar Shaddaa. His father was kind of a grey Jedi,in the vein of Qui Gon Jinn. He didn't always follow the code and frequently didn't see eye to eye with the council. Particularly when it came to attachments. He fell in love with an officer from the Sector Rangers. Eventually she gave birth to an illegitimate child and he left the order to be with his family.

With his father as his teacher my character learned the ways of the Force. His father didn't adhere to the strict Jedi code. He thought his son the value of love and family.

His parents were killed during the Great Jedi Purge. He spent about a year on the streets of Nar Shaddaa before joining the Sector Rangers as a cadet.

His commanding officer is a former clone who fought closely with the Jedi and deeply regrets his actions during Order 66. After seeing my character's performance during training he was able to recognize his abilities and identify him a Force Sensitive. Rather than report him to the Empire he kept the information to himself. However, with the Sector Ranger's impending absorption into the Imperial Military, he was forced to discharge my character in order to protect him.

My character then hooked up with a couple dishonorably discharged recruits from the Sector Rangers turned bounty hunters on Nar Shaddaa. During his first mission he received a distress call from his partner and on again off again lover. They were being arrested by the Imperials.

My character is conceptually similar to Luke Skywalker. Instead of learning about the Force he's learning to accept it again after rejecting and blaming it for his hard life. He's young heroic and has much to learn. He's also very emotional and prone to attachment so there is potential for dark side stuff too.

I'm really torn between two different secondary career concepts.

The first is the Advisor. Our party doesn't have a terribly competant face and I tend to step up to that department with my roleplaying. Also, being the party face is something I tend to enjoy quite a bit.

The second is Star Fighter Ace. Since my character is based on Luke this kind of feels right. Unfortunately our party all ready has a Mechanic/Pilot.

I'd be grateful for any opinions on personal tastes, mechanical advantages and synergies, as well as any other insights people may have.

Hmmm. the background you describe makes him sound like a Marshal. There are a few social talents in there, but they aren't intended to be a primary social specialization. Granted, you won't see any Force Rating if you go that route, but the background certainly suggests as much.

Another idea could be Peacekeeper. They're tough and social (leaning mostly on leadership rather than presence), and you get some nice leadership-styled talents as well.

His time on Nar Shadaa could lend itself well to the Shadow specialization. Lets of street-level talents and flavor there. Mostly dodge and evade style talents, but you do what you got to on the Smuggler's Moon.

Well, you don't reveal what Characteristics you have so I'm only going to guess you have a 3 on Willpower.

If there's a pilot in the group, I'd strongly advise against taking any pilot tree. But then it's your PC, not mine.

If you want to go Face, then you might consider the Sage. It may not have as many social talents as other trees, but that's not necessarily bad - the rest of the talents are knowledge oriented, which can be a good asset for your group, plus purchasing the Influence power will help your social skill checks a lot without the need of tons of talents. And it's in career, saving you 10 xp (not much, but sometimes every bit counts).

Also, what kaosoe said - Shadow or other stealth/streetwise oriented tree (Sensitive Emergent, e.g.) fits perfectly your life in Nar Shaddaa.

My characteristics are Brawn 2, Agility 3, Intellect 2, Cunning 3, Willpower 3, and Presence 3.

I considered going Sage because its 10 points in-career, it has Charm, and has two +1 Force Talents. However, its talents are more knowledge based than face based.

Advisor provides Charm, Deception, and Streetwise, as well as a slew of great talents that synergize well with Niman Disciple. (Speaking of which, does Sense Emotions Stack?)

Sage, personally, focus on the left side of the tree, then shoot across the bottom. Essentially avoid 2 of the Knowledge Specialisation talents if Knowledge isn't your characters forte.

But you need to be making use of Force Powers for this.

If you want to be more of a talker and just be supporting your Skill checks with the Force then go Advisor.

If you want a completely out there suggestion go with Charmer

After looking over Advisor a second time, I can't really see what I was thinking. The Talents are actually pretty mediocre. The only real perk is it's skill selection. As cool as having access to Deception and Streetwise would be for my character, Having good scores in Negotiation, Leadership, and Charm should be more than enough to get me buy and make me stand out.

I think Sage is probably the way to go.

There's Warleader in Keeping the Peace. Check that tree out. It is a Guardian tree so 10 extra xp.

There's Warleader in Keeping the Peace. Check that tree out. It is a Guardian tree so 10 extra xp.

No can do. Charm is mandatory.

Taking Force Sensitive Exile would get you a bunch of sneaky low-key talents and I'm pretty sure there's a second tier ability to make 2 skills class skills.

Am I wrong in thinking that Advisor is one of the lousiest trees in F&D; at least in terms of the raw talents in it? Neither of the two 25 point talents are that strong, and many of the social talents are retreads that other classes get for fewer points. Something like Sense Advantage is a 10 point talent for Aggressors or a 20 point talent for seers (advisors get it in lieu of an actual unique ability at the 25 point level).

Advisor is exactly the kind of class that I'd typically be drawn to, but I have to agree with your assessment. It just seems mechanically more interesting to play a class that has unique abilities that have some sort of thematic 'oomf' to them.

Advisor is great tree for players wanting to focus more on Skill Ranks. it also makes a dam good 2nd Spec for any face character, although i do agree most would not be aiming to purchase every talent in the tree.

Knowledge is Power is amazing, especially to those with FR 1, as i gives you a chance to get something done at the most critical moment of an adventure.

Smooth Talker is great too. I suspect that Sense Advantage will be required if a player wants to attach a Signature Ability, otherwise its not good value, but picking it up cheaper in another Mystic Tree would be sensible. In fact Seer & Advisor work well together. As do Advisor and Makashi, with a decent Cunning & Presence, the 2 strain recovering talents and 5 possible Grit talents there is monster of a close combat specialist in there. You don't even need a lightsaber, an ancient Sword would be just as effective.

For some crazy Nobody's Fool and Smooth Talker builds this is a great 2nd Tree as well.

Its also a tree very light on for Force Talents, making it a more viable option for AoR/EotE Face characters, in particular Diplomats and Colonists, as there would be no unusable Talents all the way to the Force Rating talent, pick up Exile/Emergent along the way (60XP to have a total of 3 Specs) and a FR of 2, with 3 possible and a very well rounded social character.

If you're staying inside F&D, then Advisor is the Face Spec you want. I suppose you could always go Shadow and use Well Rounded to get 2 social skills you want.

But don't forget the Influence Control upgrade. That can help a lot for just 30 XP.

The strength of Sage for a Face character is the combination of two +1 Force Rating talents and the use of the Influence upgrade that lets you add your Force dice to all social rolls. Adding Charm to your career skill list doesn't hurt either, and the social talents in the tree are either along the way to getting the Force Rating talents (Kill With Kindness, Smooth Talker), or sit adjacent to it (Natural Negotiator).

It's also worth bearing in mind that, while the knowledge-related talents may not boost your social skill checks directly, solid Lore and Education skills can go a long way toward getting access to the people you want to deal with.