Howdy everyone! This is my first time ever playing a pen and paper RPG. I let a friend at work finally talk me into joining a monthly game. My inexperience is causing me to have some difficulty understanding how to direct my character creation.

Here's what I'm looking for (if it's even possible). If anyone remembers, there is a scene in KotOR where you walk onto a bridge in an ancient Sith burial site. There are battle droids lining the walls. I had just gotten Master Defense, so I left my party behind and stood in the middle of the bridge by myself and took my hands off the keyboard and mouse just to see what would happen. The droids started firing, Revan activated his lightsabers and disappeared behind a blur of lightsabers and blaster bolts. When the smoke cleared all the droids were destroyed and Revan had taken 0 damage. He reflected back every bolt and destroyed them all without a single offensive move. I want that, or at least as close to it as I can get.

A little back story is in order I guess. The story takes place 8 years before IV and my character is 30 years old. My character (Streake) was the son of an Antarian Ranger. I had some Force Ability and my father leveraged his relationships to get me accepted into the temple. I had just been assigned a Jedi Master when the Clone Wars broke out. My master felt that spending some time with with the Antarian Rangers would be beneficial to me, the rangers, and to my Master so she could be free to do Black Ops missions without having to worry about my safety. Her intention was to resume my training after the war had been won. Unfortunately she was killed during the war, and when Order 66 was executed I was off world. My father found me and taught me how to hide from the Empire, and that's how I spent the next 8 years of my life.

My Brawn is 1, and my Cunning and Presence are 3. Everything else is 2. I have upgraded Force Push to silhouette 1, and range of medium. I'd like to get another FR as I'm currently only at 1, and pick up at least one more Power. Something for out of combat maybe. Everything else has gone into the Reflect side of the Shien Expert tree, althought I did pick up Side Step. Also, I intend to wield 2 lightsabers when I find some crystals. I currently only have a training saber because that's all our GM allowed us to have starting out. And I'm trying to play Light Side as well.

So, in summation, I'd like to wield 2 lightsabers, make sure anyone who shoots at me misses or regrets it, and I'd like to be able to throw an X-Wing at someone then convince them that I didn't do it. I'm very squishy right now, so I'm hoping that some modded gear will help me later on. Again, I've never played any pen and paper RPG before, so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks for any tips!

There's rules for dual wielding in the core book so you're covered there. Some people here think there's going to be a Spec specialising in dual wield for the Sentinel career when their splat book comes out, so that may be a boon for you in the future.

To increase the chance of your Improved Reflect going off you may want to get the Sense power and buy everything on the left hand side except the second Control upgrade. You will be very difficult to hit.

Shadow (also a Sentinel spec) allows you to buy a couple of ranks of Dodge, too.

Armour or attachments or gear that increases your ranged defence will help, if you can get it.

For "Force Push" I take it you mean Move? You're headed in the right direction - keep buying Strength upgrades. This won't help you until you get a higher Force Rating but keep in mind that all of your Strength upgrades can be triggered with a single Force Point and this can be done multiple times if you have the Force Points to do it.

As to keeping your Force use a secret, have a look at that Shadow spec. Shroud makes your powers undetectable.

The Misdirect and Influence powers could also help.

Failing that, if you have been noticed, Shadow's Now You See Me and Sleight of Mind talents can get you out of trouble.

Col. Orange has it pretty much spot-on. This game makes it pretty hard to stand up to a massive barrage of blaster fire, even with the Reflect Talent, but you can kind of get there with a lot of XP and narration. First, if your GM will let you, you might want to spend more points on your characteristics. I'm not sure what Race you're playing, but it looks like you've probably only spent about 30 of your starting XP to get something up to 3. Higher Brawn will raise both your Soak and your Wound Threshold, which are pretty important for surviving all those blasters.

I would also try to get some armor, particularly anything that raises your Ranged Defense. A lot of people neglect Setback Dice, which is understandable, but you absolutely want them, and any talents that make you harder to shoot, like Dodge or Side Step. You want your enemies to be rolling a lot of Threat and Despair, because that lets you smack them with their own blaster bolts. Definitely get Supreme Reflect, and talk to your GM about things you can do in a round to make yourself harder to hit. Perhaps make an Athletics or Coordination check instead of a Maneuver to Engage an enemy, spending any Advantage to impose Setback Dice. And remember that when you're Engaged with an enemy, everyone else shooting at you upgrades their difficulty, possibly hitting their friend.

Most of all, have fun. Remember that your character is a beginner, so he's gonna have it rough every now and then. I've been playing RPGs for years, and I've started enjoying it when bad things happen to my character. Seriously, I was actually a little disappointed recently when my D&D character survived being stabbed in the back by another member of the group on accident (yes, it was an accident). I was fighting a doppelganger that looked just like me, and the rogue decided to come to my rescue. He stabbed the wrong elf, and did so much damage that we had to stop and look up the rules to see if I died instantly. What a story that would have been! So, yes, when things go horribly wrong, have fun with it.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I'm prepared to be weak in the beginning. I'm expecting it to be a high turnaround type of thing. Hard time in the beginning and a force of nature at the end. What's the cheapest way to gain an extra Force die? I'm only rolling 1 right now, and more often than not I roll Dark Side, and I don't want to take the morality hit. In 2 game sessions I've used Force powers exactly twice.

Well, if you've started as a Shien Expert, you'll need to pick up a specialization with a Force Rating talent and make a beeline for it. Some are cheaper than others to reach, but stick with what works for the character.

Also, just using a dark point does not equate to taking a morality hit. It just means taking one or two points of conflict, which doesn't always mean lowering morality.

Allow yourself to use 1-3 dark side pips a session, it will slow your race to Light Side Paragon and let you do a bit more with the force.

The only way to get a higher Force rating than 1 is to buy down the talent trees to one of the "Force Rating" talents which allows you to gain +1 FR.

Any Force power or Talent that allows you to commit a force dice is the best bang for your buck as a starting PC. This system is designed so that starting Force Users are weak and always tempted by the Dark Side, but when patient they can often do more with the light side (the balance of pips on the d10 force dice).

Well, if you've started as a Shien Expert, you'll need to pick up a specialization with a Force Rating talent and make a beeline for it. Some are cheaper than others to reach, but stick with what works for the character.

Also, just using a dark point does not equate to taking a morality hit. It just means taking one or two points of conflict, which doesn't always mean lowering morality.

We (GM) just spoke about that. We had been neglecting the conflict mechanic because we got distracted with a PC revealing himself as a Force sensistive and going full dark side completely out of the blue.

I like that mechanic because now it makes Force Powers more viable for me. Before I would see the dread black pip and just decide not to Force Move anything.