Dont know what happened to the previous submissions but it appears that the way I am reading it is correct, I submitted the question once again and got this reply from Max Brooke.

Hi Stuart,

Good question.

Rules as written, Precision Strike does work with blasters, and any other circumstances to which it could logically apply (per the GM’s discretion, as always).

Of course, as the GM is always the final arbiter of such matters, they can certainly rule that some weapons are just too indiscriminately destructive to effectively use with Precision Strike (grenades, missile tubes, vehicle weapons, etc), in which case the GM should inform the player beforehand if they decide that a weapon cannot work with this talent.

In some cases, a character who wishes to use this ability might have to stop themself before carrying out a particular action. For instance, a PC who successfully throws an NPC out an airlock and then decides to apply Precision Strike to this “attack" would be unable to actually throw the NPC into space (as doing so would assuredly kill the NPC). But if the GM sees fit, the threat of being thrown into space might get the NPC to surrender, pass out in shock, or otherwise be incapacitated.

Generally, I would personally encourage GMs to tend towards allowing PCs with this talent not to kill NPCs if they want to do so—after all, those NPCs can be useful story hooks for the GM, and can come back to trouble the PCs later!—but each GM has to decide what makes the most sense for their particular campaign.

I hope that this helps!

Im glad that they include the info about gunnery type weapons though because to me that was a step too far (although circumstances may even allow them to be used, GM permitting)

I'd just do what I'd feel the best as GM.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to say I don't agree with Max's answer, and for my games Precision Strike, especially the second part, will be limited to melee weapons.

Ranged attacks already have enough of an edge of close-quarters fighting, so for me restricting a talent from a spec that's focused on in-close fighting to melee attacks makes sense and gives those PCs that focus on non-lightsaber melee fighting something they can call their own.

I found this question interesting, so I tried to solve it myself. I have access to Keeping the Peace , I looked at page 31.

Since the OP asked about applications to ranged weapons. I wondered if Wardens could lob non-lethal thermal detonators, too.

Wardens access the brawl, melee, (but not lightsaber) skills. I suppose a Warden could get this skill in several ways, but this finding should underscore how the talent given to the Warden does not have to reflect their innate skill set.

I like the idea that there may be a future talent focused on ranged weapons, or perhaps more about explosives (although, with Dangerous Covenants already published, I doubt we will see much more of explosives) in nonlethal ways.

I could see how interpretations could apply to a variety of weapons, but why stop at weapons? The second paragraph of the talent literally states "defeats," so this talent could also apply to absurd situations, such as surviving a pod-racing crash in nonlethal, "impossible" ways after the PC defeats their non-Nemesis opponent.

How far do you want to open the door?

The original reason I asked the question is that people were reading it different ways. Personally my own credibility stopped at gunnery level weaponry or any use of blast, Max's answer seems to bear this out.

With regards to this making the talent overpowered , l don't see how this is the case, all you are doing is defeating an opponent, and this just puts more choice in the hand of player to choose if the NPC lives or dies as a result. It doesn't matter from a mechanical point of view (except perhaps as a morality issue) . It's really no different from having you group use stun where possible. Effectively it allows you to deal wound dmg and still have control over whether the NPC lives or dies,

Note that it only works on rivals and minions, this fits in with the wardens style of bring the target back alive. The warden seems to be a spec that has two main features , keeping your opponent alive is one of them. Keeping the immobile the other.

The only feature I would say is OP is the potential combo of using precision strike to flip destiny points and the using those DP points to feed other talents, baleful gaze being the obvious one, or to combo with other characters in your groups specs to provide a good source of DPs for your group. This is way more powerful of choosing how your rival and minion opponentanarw defeated.

With regards to how far you can take it , example the pod racer crash. Throwing someone out an airlock is way more dangerous and this was covered in the answer.

Edit to clarify if choosing to use this talent after someone was in q crash that was that bad they couldnt survive then reading max's answer the survival moment should happen before the crash at a point where they could have survived, choosing a point after is too late (see example in answer about airlock)