So I came upon an interesting situation my last game session I was running when a player decided to use their newly acquired force power: bind.

This power's mechanical effects are left extremely vague and I was wondering if there is any official source that I am overlooking that may address this.

I wouldn't let it immobilize a vehicle. Maybe a small one with legs, and you keep those from moving properly. But when those ion drives ignite, I think at best you're just going for a ride with it.

My wife was GMing a game for us. I was playing a Drall Artisan. We were rounding up rancor-sized poultry birds so we could harvest their eggs. Because even Sith Lords crave an omelette. The giant space chickens were trying to run away, so I wanted to use bind on one of them so we could subdue it. My wife allowed it and I succeeded the roll. It made for a fun (and funny) scene. No problem there. I don't know how I would handle it if a character wanted to use it on a vehicle, but I think I would be within my right to need extra pips or oppose the check with plenty of red and black dice.

I'd be wary of using it on vehicles. Most of the effects imply a creature or person - "disorient", "wound", "stagger", "opposed check", "whenever target takes an action it suffers strain". These are things a vehicle can't do. You could bind the rider of a swoop, or the Pilot of a freighter, but not the vehicle itself, I'd say. You could also make an argument that bind is meant to constrict, so when it says a "target within short range", the WHOLE target must be within the range band. That stops people from binding larger vessels until they dump a bunch of XP into range upgrades, and some vehicles could never be bound. You could also argue that bind is standardized to Sil 1 or smaller targets, and activating Magnitude is required to bind anything larger. That might be pushing it, though.

Probably better using Move with the optional side bar on committing Force Dice to maintain the effects. Narrate it as fighting against the propulsion of the vehicle, holding it from escaping. Possibly an opposed Discipline vs Piloting for the check (reverse the handling so + becomes setback and - becomes Boost, it's easier to hold down a slow freighter than an a-wing!)

Probably better using Move with the optional side bar on committing Force Dice to maintain the effects. Narrate it as fighting against the propulsion of the vehicle, holding it from escaping. Possibly an opposed Discipline vs Piloting for the check (reverse the handling so + becomes setback and - becomes Boost, it's easier to hold down a slow freighter than an a-wing!)

I agree that Bind appears to be more for against living targets. I prefer the use of Move as stated above for this. As for difficulty, I would be tempted to use the same as piloting checks (Speed and Half Silhouette, the lower Upgraded by higher as usual).

That's a much better idea, although I like the idea the pilot has some effect. Perhaps add setback for each rank of Piloting that the Pilot has.

That's a much better idea, although I like the idea the pilot has some effect. Perhaps add setback for each rank of Piloting that the Pilot has.

Yeah, pilot input should influence this. Possibly as a Contested check, both sides using the Opposed difficulty set by the vehicle/starship? I know that's a bit of a mix of check types (Contested & Opposed), but I would consider allowing it.

these are all good replies and as a GM I would rule similarly like many of the suggestions, so thank you for that.

Of course this does not directly address whether there has been a post or podcast by FFG about this power's use.

I understand I can't have hard fast rules for every situation, but I think it is important to have a decent foundation for the players to know what to expect. Off the top of my head, these are the items that I can foresee slowing down the game or causing player irritation if I am forced to rule on them frequently:

Target - what are the 'normal legal targets for BInd? Are the considerations for other targets (vehicles/ships/blaster fire? How does the target effect the usage (force point cost etc..)?

Silhouette - what size can Bind effect? Does bind need to start at silhouette 0 or 1 like other powers? How does the silhouette effect the usage (force point cost etc..)?

Effect - If this power deals strain or wounds what can it affect? (This is largely dependent on what targets might be allowed.)

Your thoughts are appreciated.

So during one Order 66 podcast the Bind force power was discussed, I'll try to remember which one. During the conversation they discussed that Bind is for beings (and droids) while Move is for objects, but that there is room for cross over.

Well Kylo Ren used bind on a blaster bolt so....

While i think that bind could be used i think that it could also be a creative description of Protect too. While Kylo doesn't appear to have a high Discipline his willpower is probably quite substantial, and he seems to be strong in The Force so probably able to roll enough Pips to Protect from a blaster hit.

Well Kylo Ren used bind on a blaster bolt so....

Bind was used on Poe in this case, and the blaster bolt was frozen via narrative flair or a Destiny Point flip in my opinion.

Target - what are the 'normal legal targets for BInd? Are the considerations for other targets (vehicles/ships/blaster fire? How does the target effect the usage (force point cost etc..)?

By RAW while you can technically target a vehicle (see your third question), doing so won't really accomplish anything. Immobilized is a Character status condition... not a Vehicle status condition (see Tractor). If it's not a character, it's not immobilized. So no binding rockets, or laser bolts, or vehicles. When you roll for it, it's opposed, not an attack, so no aiming, which means no target a vehicles driver or occupant (not that doing so would accomplish a whole lot anyway considering vehicle rules).

Now as to the Kylo Ren blaster freeze.... simple: Kylo uses bind on Poe. Poe, who already had his blaster out, fires (immobilized just stop maneuvers, not all actions) GM spends a Dpoint to upgrade the shot (plus possible additional upgrades/setbacks from Kylo's opposed check against Poe) Poe fails the check with a despair, Kylo freezes the shot in mid-air and due to this awesome show of Force Poe must make an immediate fear check. So the frozen bolt was just really flashy narrative. Alternatively you could probably narrate an especially hot Protect check the same way.

Silhouette - what size can Bind effect? Does bind need to start at silhouette 0 or 1 like other powers? How does the silhouette effect the usage (force point cost etc..)?

Technically, as far as I can tell, anything that's classified as a character. So if it's Sil 10 and has six ability ratings and a Wound Threshold it's viable. Of course most creatures over Sil 2 are Nemesis, have ranged attacks of some kind, or both. So you're looking at opposed checks, and a likelihood they hit you anyway if you don't run. Again, Immobilized just stops the use of Maneuvers, not Actions, So congrats, you Bound Galactus, he can still spend an action to shoot eye beams, or consume your life force/planet, I dunno, whatever Galactus does. He does that. Unless of course you're able to do the opposed thing with the upgrade that also applies staggered... In which case, Galactus just kinda... stands there.... I mean he can still perform incidentals, so parry, reflect ect. is still good, but... yeah....

Effect - If this power deals strain or wounds what can it affect? (This is largely dependent on what targets might be allowed.)

Bingo. It deals strain and wounds. If you don't have strain and wounds... it doesn't do anything. I suppose.. hypothetically... you could still technically target a vehicle, and convince your GM to allow those wounds to translate to hull trauma... but since you're still looking at the 10:1 damage adjustment you'd need to be seriously into bondage to make that do anything at all...note however that upgrades like the one that inflicts a Crit specifies it's an Injury, not a hit, so no good vs vehicles.

Well Kylo Ren used bind on a blaster bolt so....

Bind was used on Poe in this case, and the blaster bolt was frozen via narrative flair or a Destiny Point flip in my opinion.

And/or "because he's the BBEG and those ignore the rules, especially when pesky PCs surprise the GM and might otherwise kill him". Like the one time my DnD party orchestrated a clever plan to kill the BBEG by pushing him to his death - thoroughly baffling the GM and beating his "unbeatable" scenario - so it turns out "SURPRISE" the BBEG can fly and he just hovers away after we throw him from the ledge. Such an *******, that guy.

Well Kylo Ren used bind on a blaster bolt so....

Bind was used on Poe in this case, and the blaster bolt was frozen via narrative flair or a Destiny Point flip in my opinion.

And/or "because he's the BBEG and those ignore the rules, especially when pesky PCs surprise the GM and might otherwise kill him". Like the one time my DnD party orchestrated a clever plan to kill the BBEG by pushing him to his death - thoroughly baffling the GM and beating his "unbeatable" scenario - so it turns out "SURPRISE" the BBEG can fly and he just hovers away after we throw him from the ledge. Such an *******, that guy.

The good old days when it was 'The players versus the guy behind the screen, who knew all the rules, hated it when the players bought the rules ('What do you need the game for? I'M THE GM!') had the biggest dice/miniatures/sourcebook/fantasy novel collection, was a control freak, hated losing, GM'ed to win, would get a rulebook and 'just check' something to stall whenever you threw something at him which he didn't like.... oh the joys, I miss those days... NOT!

I just thought it was funny.

I mean, really, how well is a story served when you build to a huge final confrontation and then your PCs just quickly despatch the BBEG with a flick of the wrist?

It's one thing if they battle the BBEG and slowly maneuver him into a slick trap, all the while struggling with the fight in order to get them into position ....

It's another thing entirely if they try to button press their way out of the final confrontation.

It's a GM's responsibility to make the scene have significance, and so provided it's done with the story's best interests in mind, I totally support preventing a cheap and insignificant death.

I mean, we did organize a way to use our push/pull/root mechanics to get everyone out of my character's way to bypass every opponent in our way, rush out into the balcony where the BBEG was doing his ritual - that was protected by a magical shield blocking ranged attacks and magic - and use bull rush to push him over the edge before he could actually do anything. It was clever and amazing, and I think we were rewarded in some way. But it certainly wasn't an "ah, I see, you beat the campaign. Well done. The crisis is solved. Have fun, who wants to GM next?" that it could have been. We didn't even really know he was the BBEG, we thought he was a highly trusted mook.

We weren't mad, though. We thought it was awesome. It definitely offered a great KHAAAAAAAAAN moment. And it was a pretty excellent way to reveal the BBEG, since he responded by pinning us to the wall with the sheer magic/otherworldly force he commanded and delivered an appropriately menacing monologue.

Probably better using Move with the optional side bar on committing Force Dice to maintain the effects. Narrate it as fighting against the propulsion of the vehicle, holding it from escaping. Possibly an opposed Discipline vs Piloting for the check (reverse the handling so + becomes setback and - becomes Boost, it's easier to hold down a slow freighter than an a-wing!)

It's easier to stop a train than a sports car too. ;-)

SCNR.

Against a vehicle or something larger than a human there should always be a Force resistance check. For a vehicle it should be like trying to shoot the vehicle with a weapon, talking silhouette and speed adding to difficulty. For huge creature probably the creature's Strength plus Silhouette. Same if you are trying to use Move on a Vehicle or huge creature too, except you are not trying to make it suddenly dead stop but change its trajectory or toss it off a cliff.