I'm playing a guardian (soresu defender/protector) with 10 soak, 18 wounds, and 21 strain. So far, I have 4 ranks in parry, 1 rank in reflect, 2 ranks in defensive stance, 1 rank in body guard, 1 rank in force protection, 1 rank in center of being, and heightened awareness, as well as significant investment in enhance, move, and sense.

I'm very focused on being hard to hit, often committing a force die for the sense power in conjunction with using defensive stance, to supplement my already high defense rating. But my ultimate goal is to use my high defenses to also protect my friends; in short, to tank. I expect after next session to pick up Circle of Shelter, which will be the first real step toward that goal.

Unfortunately, I'm already dipping dangerously into my strain reserves as things are, and I'm looking for equipment or other xp-lite means of helping with this issue. My lightsabre already has a dantari crystal, a curved hilt, and superior hilt personalization and my armour already has a biofeedback system (included in my 21 strain above). These are the only things making my build possible at the moment, but I could still use more help recovering strain (or generating advantages to spend on recovering strain). Anyone have any ideas?

More ranks in discipline or cool so that you get more successes at the end of encounter roll to recover strain?

How much strain do you usually get per encounter? 15? 10? 5?

use your advantages to recover it

sometime its better to get your strain back then to get a few ify boost dice.

I'm definitely using my advantage to recover strain, but that means I'm frequently one or two unlucky rolls away from passing out. I want my character to be really defensive, but it seems pointless if the process of avoiding hits is so stressful it causes me to pass out. (: Against powerful NPCs, I've sometimes been reduced to 2 or 3 remaining strain within a few rounds. And that's better than taking vicious 5, crit 1 hits, mind you, but still not a safe place to be.

I mean are you being pepperred by stun weapons or something? Does your GM treat piles of threat as strain damage? Are you just parrying and reflecting -every- incoming attack?

Going from 21 to 2 just seems like its alot. It must just be a different GM style in the game I play in because I just don't see it happen that often.

Strain is always a major factor for force sensitive's. The only thing I can think of at the moment is to boost your Lightsaber and Intellect up. More positive dice rolled means more Advantages. Also, your party members can use 1 Advantage to pass a Boost die to another character. If you're protecting them by tanking, work with them to get a Boost die tossed your way every now and then!

I'm actually brawn-based, despite being a soresu defender. I'm in soresu for the defensive stance, parry, reflect, and improved parry and reflect, but have danced around the talents that require (or benefit from) high intellect. Right now, I'm brawn 6, agility 2, intellect 2, will 3, cunning 2, presence 1, with three ranks in lightsabre. My next stat-boost is going into will to get my dedication up so I can use move more effectively. But that means my lightsabre attacks are three green and three yellow, which feels pretty strong to me. I've had some really unlucky rolls and we've fought some really hard NPCs, but with three green, three yellow, and two automatic advantages (under ideal circumstances), it's still a struggle sometimes. Maybe I just need to be better about managing my resources, and strategically take hits when necessary.

My GM is definitely using most of my threat or enemies' advantages as strain damage because it's the most reliable way to challenge a character who tanks so hard he wears himself out. We honestly haven't dealt with many stun weapons, though. My discipline right now is one green and two yellow, and my cool is only a single yellow, so there's definitely room for improvement there.

I'd say the threats as strain damage is your problem them. Your GM is challenging you just a bit too hard. They really should lay off it and come up with more creative ways to challenge you than just punch you in the numbers.

My GM (and I think now my current philosophy if/when I GM this system next) is that strain damage from threats should largely come from a lack of any other interesting options for the threat. Certainly there may be times where its appropriate, but to utilize it as a way to challenge a player seems off.

I would say, it sounds a little like your expectations and goals may be a little high. If you are hoping to easily shrug off all damage and avoid all hits then you're aiming a little high. A guardian should absolutely be highly defensive and able to handle hits and it sounds like you can. But, if you aren't taking wounds then you should also absolutely expect it to be a taxing, challenging task in other ways.. most notably on your strain.

Your latest statement sounds about right, be strategic and tactical about it. Manage your resources, take a hit here and there and then get patched up later. With your defense, soak and wound threshold you should be able to take it. Break out the powers to defend your weaker buddies or when you think you can gain a distinct advantage from it (you've taken a few wounds and need to start mitigating more of the damage, you can activate improved reflect or parry to deal some damage back on them instead, etc)

Challenging combat is supposed to be about using your resources strategically and is supposed to present difficulties. If you aren't feeling a good bit of pain or taxing yourself close to the limit, then you weren't really challenged, you were more thrown a minor inconvenience.

I would say, it sounds a little like your expectations and goals may be a little high. If you are hoping to easily shrug off all damage and avoid all hits then you're aiming a little high. A guardian should absolutely be highly defensive and able to handle hits and it sounds like you can. But, if you aren't taking wounds then you should also absolutely expect it to be a taxing, challenging task in other ways.. most notably on your strain.

Your latest statement sounds about right, be strategic and tactical about it. Manage your resources, take a hit here and there and then get patched up later. With your defense, soak and wound threshold you should be able to take it. Break out the powers to defend your weaker buddies or when you think you can gain a distinct advantage from it (you've taken a few wounds and need to start mitigating more of the damage, you can activate improved reflect or parry to deal some damage back on them instead, etc)

Challenging combat is supposed to be about using your resources strategically and is supposed to present difficulties. If you aren't feeling a good bit of pain or taxing yourself close to the limit, then you weren't really challenged, you were more thrown a minor inconvenience.

The problem is still that their GM is giving them strain due to their own actions. Even if the player does choose to suffer damage instead of strain through using reflect/parry, their GM is still likely to try to "challenge" the player by maintaining this stream of strain damage. They're hitting 2 strain not because they're using their talents, but because the GM is using the threat system poorly. The problem is the GM sees knocking the PC down as a more desirable outcome than to put the PC in dramatic and difficult situations.

Threat should be used to produce dire situations even in the face of success, not as a secondary damage stream to a target. For example, 3 threat should cause a stray enemy shot to hit the control panel of the door and cuts you off from your friends, not have you suffer 3 strain. Again, I can see maybe in a situation with 4 threat, that its 3 threat to cut the PC off, and 1 strain due to the ensuing dread caused by the outcome, but I certainly don't think 4 strain is the proper outcome.

Not to pick on your GM (I feel his pain, having to deal with a combat monster like your character) but he can't actually use Advantage generated by NPCs to inflict strain on your character(s). Only the Threat you yourself generate can cause strain.

The problem is still that their GM is giving them strain due to their own actions. Even if the player does choose to suffer damage instead of strain through using reflect/parry, their GM is still likely to try to "challenge" the player by maintaining this stream of strain damage. They're hitting 2 strain not because they're using their talents, but because the GM is using the threat system poorly. The problem is the GM sees knocking the PC down as a more desirable outcome than to put the PC in dramatic and difficult situations.

Threat should be used to produce dire situations even in the face of success, not as a secondary damage stream to a target. For example, 3 threat should cause a stray enemy shot to hit the control panel of the door and cuts you off from your friends, not have you suffer 3 strain. Again, I can see maybe in a situation with 4 threat, that its 3 threat to cut the PC off, and 1 strain due to the ensuing dread caused by the outcome, but I certainly don't think 4 strain is the proper outcome.

Threat should be used to create difficulties and challenges for the players. This can come in many forms and strain is an absolutely valid way of doing this. In this case, since we don't have the full story from both sides, it's possible the strain is just being done because it's a quick, easy way to resolve those threat results without a lot of narrative to the situation. It is equally possible that the use of it to hit this character with strain is an attempt to force him to be more strategic and to choose to conserve his strain for when he needs it rather than using parry and reflect against every incoming attack (which this player may or may not actually be doing).

My point is, if the player is attempting to use abilities in every round to shrug off or cancel out all attacks and damage coming at him then he should expect that one of his other resources will be taxed by this effort, in this case that appears to be strain. It could similarly be medpacks through extraneous use of stim packs during a fight. Or he could be gaining larger than average amounts of conflict through frequent use of dark pips to ensure his force powers are successful. Based on this player's own post however, it seems likely they are likely using their abilities with high frequency to avoid almost all attacks given they admitted they may have to consider taking a few strategic hits to help manager their resources.. and that seems pretty reasonable. At least in an encounter meant to be challenging. If it is meant to be a fairly easy encounter that is a different story of course.

• Use advantages generated by yourself to recover as much as possible.
• Other players can give you bonus dice to help generate those advantages.
• Pick and choose where you use your abilities.
• Take the Second Wind Talent as much as is able with the specs chosen.
• Weapon modifications that generate advantages.

Many of these have been mentioned. In combination they should help a lot. But keep in mind, as already mentioned, the point is not to make yourself immune to strain depletion, just more resistant so you can keep up your schtick. It's all right to fail sometimes. It can be very heroic too.

My intention with this thread was definitely not to place blame on my GM. Everyone in my game is new to the system and we're all making occasional mistakes, but I think he's generally doing a great job crafting a story with challenging plot points and memorable characters. I may be mis-remembering that he used advantage generated by NPCs to give me strain. I know I take strain from the dice fairly regularly, but I can't swear to the details.

I'm also fully willing to hear that I'm being too reckless with my abilities. I certainly don't expect to be able to shrug off every attack for a sustained period of time with no repercussions. What I've been finding, however, is that even trying to shrug off every attack for what seem like very short periods of time is dangerously taxing, and that's only trying to shrug off attacks against me. After next session I'm hoping to actually be reasonably effective at protecting my allies too, but it just seems like it's going to knock me out after a couple of rounds. If I spend two rounds in a defensive stance, parrying two attacks per round against my allies, I've already spent 16 strain without my GM having to spend a single threat. I should reasonably be able to recover some of that back each round, rolling six dice for my attacks and ideally getting two automatic advantage from my blinged-out hilt, but I'm still very quickly losing the race.

I understand and accept that the concept for my character is difficult to implement, and that I could be choosier about when to use my abilities. I was mostly just wondering if anyone knew of equipment I was missing to help pursue my character goals. I already have a curved hilt with superior personalization, I already have a Dantari crystal, and I already have a biofeedback system in my armour. I just didn't know if there was anything I was missing. For instance, are there any pieces of equipment that give ranks in Second Wind? I also think I can rely more heavily on my soak when I'm not fighting sith, but most of our epic fights so far have been against lightsabre wielding foes, and I don't have a cortosis weave yet.

I will say that I think attempting to parry multiple attacks incoming to allies before having supreme parry is reckless. Maybe do it for attacks that will certainly put an ally on the ground. But not just for any attack that might occur.

Is Supreme Parry worth it? I have a lot of eggs in the "attacking with a lightsabre" basket, and I realize spending 1 strain is better than spending 3 strain and maybe recovering some of it, but I'm definitely part of our offense machine as well. If nothing else, a large part of my combat role seems to be "get up in their faces and keep them distracted". I don't have the books on me at the moment, and I admit I don't remember if Supreme Parry still works if I've used Improved Parry or Reflect earlier in the turn. If so, maybe it's something I should consider. As it stands, it was a pretty low priority for me, because I tend to be attacking more times than I'm not.

With a Soak of 10 and a WT of 18, I wouldn't be scared of letting a few attacks hit you, which would let you save some strain for the dangerous ones. But don't think you're actually playing your character wrong. Strain is a constant problem for Force sensitives, and while some high tier talents will help you mitigate that to some degree, this problem will never fully go away.

I have to admit, I'm saying Supreme Parry on the basis of spotty memory. I thought the improved parry talent was the one that did require you to do a defensive action, whereas supreme just reduced the strain cost. Yes, if it decreases your combat effectiveness, you probably shouldn't be doing that either.

Arguably a far better way to stop getting so much strain is to reduce the number of attacks the enemies get each turn.

If I'm remembering correctly, supreme parry reduces the strain cost for parrying to 1 only if you didn't make an attack on your previous turn, which is still useful if I have to spend a turn moving up to someone or if they get to me before I get to them. Improved parry lets you take an out-of-turn attack by spending threat or despair from attacks you parry. The latter is a priority for me, but the former still has its uses and I may have to do more research into whether out-of-turn attacks still allow for supreme parry.

My plan at the moment is to take circle of shelter next, followed by heading left across the 20-point row of soresu defender to pick up more ranks in reflect and to get to improved parry, improved reflect, and my next stat bump. Then, I was going to add armourer as a third specialization to try to get my force rating to 3 (so I can start taking protect/unleash) and set myself up for fated duel.

With a Soak of 10 and a WT of 18, I wouldn't be scared of letting a few attacks hit you, which would let you save some strain for the dangerous ones. But don't think you're actually playing your character wrong. Strain is a constant problem for Force sensitives, and while some high tier talents will help you mitigate that to some degree, this problem will never fully go away.

You're right, of course. We've just been fighting a lot of lightsabre-wielding sith, so that soak hasn't amounted to much. Our game is set during Knights of the Old Republic, so almost all of our big fights have been against force-sensitives. I have a lot of equipment needs, and haven't found the money for cortosis in my armour yet. (:

After looking at your characteristics, I have one question. Is this a min/max group? I mean, 6 Brawn with only one stat a 3 and 1 presence makes me think the group went min/max.

It's a mixed bag. I'm obviously heavy on brawn, but I'm more interested in having a 4 in will than a 7 in brawn, and I'll probably bump my agility a little at some point too. One of the other players has built his character almost entirely around having a 7 intellect and using intellect to do basically everything, another one of the players has either a 6 or 7 agility, and then our remaining two players are more well-rounded with a variety of 3s and 4s. This is our first campaign with this system, so we're all still learning the system, but to be honest we actually started off as a well-rounded group and the system pushed several of us toward more min-maxing. My starting stats were the same as they are now, only my brawn was 4. The 7 intellect player started with a more well-rounded character, but after getting a few sessions under his belt asked the GM to let him rebuild. And the agility player built this character after her first more well-rounded character died. We were all just failing at everything way too often when we were relying on 3s and 4s. Of the two remaining well-rounded characters, one of them still fairly reliably botches things he's built to do, and the other is a new player who has only played two sessions so far, so we'll see how she feels after a few more.

It's a mixed bag. I'm obviously heavy on brawn, but I'm more interested in having a 4 in will than a 7 in brawn, and I'll probably bump my agility a little at some point too. One of the other players has built his character almost entirely around having a 7 intellect and using intellect to do basically everything, another one of the players has either a 6 or 7 agility, and then our remaining two players are more well-rounded with a variety of 3s and 4s. This is our first campaign with this system, so we're all still learning the system, but to be honest we actually started off as a well-rounded group and the system pushed several of us toward more min-maxing. My starting stats were the same as they are now, only my brawn was 4. The 7 intellect player started with a more well-rounded character, but after getting a few sessions under his belt asked the GM to let him rebuild. And the agility player built this character after her first more well-rounded character died. We were all just failing at everything way too often when we were relying on 3s and 4s. Of the two remaining well-rounded characters, one of them still fairly reliably botches things he's built to do, and the other is a new player who has only played two sessions so far, so we'll see how she feels after a few more.

My curiosity is peaked. What are the average difficulties you are being pitted against?

When I GM, I usually stick to average (2 purple dice) and Hard (3 Purple dice) and only throw a daunting or formidable challenge whenever the situation calls for it.

I gotta say, that's a lot of talk of 6-7 in a characteristic. When you say 7, are you speaking of characters with cybernetics? The highest the stat can get to naturally is 6. And 5 is the cap at character creation. And you're using dedications to buy up these stats to 6?

I'm a bit surprised that you felt pushed to min-maxing. What exactly was occurring? Too many early game enemies with auto-fire weapons? I mean sure, the system can be rough, but the PCs are also quite effective.