Hey all,

I searched before I posted and didn't see any related specifically to this. In the game we are currently playing, I'm trying to go off the beaten path and as such have chosen the Colonist Marshal. I'm looking for ideas for a build that would fit the Marshal style of roleplaying, while also being combat oriented enough to hold his own in a fight. Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

The Marshal spec pretty much accomplishes that. Are you looking for what else to do or what other spec to go to?

You don't need a "build" to do that in this game. Just pick a few skilss that fit and the tree will give you a few triks up your sleeve if you want them. This isn't a build-system per say.

The Marshal combines well with a number of different other specs. If you like a bit of coercion then dipping into enforcer allows you to build up those ranks in bad cop. Force sensitive exile is quite handy as it gives access to force talents like overwhelm emotion which is good for some skills you also get the force abilities. This can also be a stepping stone to the warden spec from F&D giving benefits similar and in addition to both. These ideas tend to rely on high willpower

Going more for ranged combat moving into mercenary soldier give you an easy inroad to point blank and side step all sitting in the first two tiers, since you may have a reasonable presence this ties in with the leadership skills and talents as well. Presence is good here

Again if shouting at people is your bag, anything that gives scathing tirade, like politico is good. Wilpower, presence and cunning are good here

Moving into other territory to improve the gun talents their is gunslinger and another suggestion I liked from far horizons was the Marshal (for quick draw and good/bad cop) and scout for quick strike and disorient, to make a sector ranger character. Cunning again is good here

Take all the marshal talents and all the career skills? Build done? ;-)

edit: Though I agree that force-exile or force emergent are nice addition and then maybe the aggressor. What goes as well nicely with the marshal is the gunslinger("My jurisdiction is the whole sector and you are coming with me, dead or alive"), ambassador (Become the major of the town), advocate or some of the other colonist specs. Depends really on the campaign and group.

If you want a marshall who is a mediator/negotiator, the colonist career has a great range. Just add Politico to your Marshall at some point.

If you want a marshall who is "don't mess with me" type guy, with the dead-eyed stare to back it up, add Enforcer.

So there are 3 main characteristics your going to need; Agility for shooting, Willpower for Coercing/Vigilance, Presence for Charm/Negotiate. Cunning for Deception and Streetwise is important too, but depending on how you imagine your character acting it will determine which of those 4 to focus on.

The other thing to note with the Marshal is that it does very well as a Social Sidekick, softening up the target before the main Face character really takes over. They really have no talents to boost their own social checks. The only ones being Unrelenting Skeptic which are defensive instead of offensive.

Then there is the far right and far left of the tree, the left makes you super tough, while the right lets you lay down the hurt, both super useful.

The left hand side mixes very well with the left of Archeologist, making an excellent Toumb Robber Hunter! It also goes well with Enforcer for that gritty street cop who goes under cover.

The right side mixes well with quite a few specs, but Merc Soldier is a good one and so is Gunslinger.

For some social synergy then Charmer, Performer and Politico have some great uses of the characteristics your already going to have.

Don't forget cool. You want to be a good for showdown at high noon as marshall and the rules for a quick-draw showdown from Fly Casual are perfect for this (p.85), makes me really wonder why they did not add that to the colonist sourcebook as well, which has the whole western setting. Besides cool is anyway important for most characters, simply because shooting first is always better than not shooting first (Han shot first).

Besides cool is anyway important for most characters, simply because shooting first is always better than not shooting first (Han shot first).

It turns out that is not true. Strangely, reaction is faster than action, and drawing second is statistically desirable. But the main reason to draw second is to be able to claim self-defence rather than being branded a murderer. If you didn't care about the latter, you'd always shoot first.

As far as Han, Greedo already had drawn and was telegraphing his intent, so even if Han shot first, it was still self-defence.

Out of the characteristics I wouldnt boost Agility its more cost effective to just pump ranks of the Ranged light skill instead.

If your starting raace has 2 agility and you throw a free rank at ranged (light).

1 green 1 yellow 0 xp

2 yellow 10 xp

2 yellow 1 green 25 xp

2 yellow 2 green 45 xp

Now if you spend 30 of your starting xp on agility to raise it to 3

1 yellow 2 green 30xp

2 yellow 1 green 40xp

3 yellow 55 xp

3 yellow 1 green 75 xp

I know you get the extra yellow, but IMO unless you have at least one more skill that needs agility (none of your other career skills do) then you are better boosting willpower and presence (good cop) or cunning(bad cop). It very much hangs on the second spec you might move to, but there is nothing wrong with boosting all3 to 3 or if you choose the race carefully then 4 in 1 and 3 in 2. Good races would be anything that starts with a 3 in any of those three characteristics, the crown though has to go to the falleen.

Besides cool is anyway important for most characters, simply because shooting first is always better than not shooting first (Han shot first).

It turns out that is not true. Strangely, reaction is faster than action, and drawing second is statistically desirable. But the main reason to draw second is to be able to claim self-defence rather than being branded a murderer. If you didn't care about the latter, you'd always shoot first.

As far as Han, Greedo already had drawn and was telegraphing his intent, so even if Han shot first, it was still self-defence.

The showdown rules go the same way. The guy who wins the cool competitive check shoots first, but draws second, which allows you to claim self-defense. You can even use intimidating to provoke your enemy to draw first (and again) shoot second.

Besides cool is anyway important for most characters, simply because shooting first is always better than not shooting first (Han shot first).

It turns out that is not true. Strangely, reaction is faster than action, and drawing second is statistically desirable. But the main reason to draw second is to be able to claim self-defence rather than being branded a murderer. If you didn't care about the latter, you'd always shoot first.

As far as Han, Greedo already had drawn and was telegraphing his intent, so even if Han shot first, it was still self-defence.

The showdown rules go the same way. The guy who wins the cool competitive check shoots first, but draws second, which allows you to claim self-defense. You can even use intimidating to provoke your enemy to draw first (and again) shoot second.

And yet the perfectly valid reason to have an Agility 3 is to ensure a decent dice pool for all those non career skills. But I get your meaning, it all comes down to your preference for how the character will play. I like the spread of 4x3's but like you said you really a good Presence, Willpower and Cunning is all you need to cover all the bases. Doing that does let you focus more too, having a 4 in one of those with the right Species.

Marshal does stack with both social specs (to take advantage of Good Cop/Bad Cop), and with more combat-oriented specs, in particular, those that grant Discipline or additional Hard Headed (for the Marshal's own Hard Headed, because Marshal oddly doesn't get Discipline as a career skill)

For those looking for a sharper shot to go with the tongue, both Assassin and Sharp Shooter contain some really nice destiny point talents and deadly accuracy to make damage stick; though neither offer much social enhancement. I once shot a character with a duelling pistol for effectively 20 damage (including pierce), it was described as punching straight through his shield generator and taking him down in one, a very nice trick to employ on a rival.

The Marshal combines well with a number of different other specs. If you like a bit of coercion then dipping into enforcer allows you to build up those ranks in bad cop. Force sensitive exile is quite handy as it gives access to force talents like overwhelm emotion which is good for some skills you also get the force abilities. This can also be a stepping stone to the warden spec from F&D giving benefits similar and in addition to both. These ideas tend to rely on high willpower

Going more for ranged combat moving into mercenary soldier give you an easy inroad to point blank and side step all sitting in the first two tiers, since you may have a reasonable presence this ties in with the leadership skills and talents as well. Presence is good here

Again if shouting at people is your bag, anything that gives scathing tirade, like politico is good. Wilpower, presence and cunning are good here

Moving into other territory to improve the gun talents their is gunslinger and another suggestion I liked from far horizons was the Marshal (for quick draw and good/bad cop) and scout for quick strike and disorient, to make a sector ranger character. Cunning again is good here

Thanks, this gives me something to think on. I like the idea of having a gun-slinging Marshal.

Take all the marshal talents and all the career skills? Build done? ;-)

edit: Though I agree that force-exile or force emergent are nice addition and then maybe the aggressor. What goes as well nicely with the marshal is the gunslinger("My jurisdiction is the whole sector and you are coming with me, dead or alive"), ambassador (Become the major of the town), advocate or some of the other colonist specs. Depends really on the campaign and group.

Our group has started in a town on Tatooine (think Anchorhead from Kotor 1) but we will soon be moving on. "My jurisdiction is the whole sector" fits will with the plot.

Don't forget cool. You want to be a good for showdown at high noon as marshall and the rules for a quick-draw showdown from Fly Casual are perfect for this (p.85), makes me really wonder why they did not add that to the colonist sourcebook as well, which has the whole western setting. Besides cool is anyway important for most characters, simply because shooting first is always better than not shooting first (Han shot first).

I will have to check out the rules for that. Thanks

Thanks to everyone for your help! It is much appreciated.

All you guys claiming that "Han shot first" have it all wrong...

Han didn't shoot first. Nothing of the sort.

He shot.

Period.

Full stop.

Greedo didn't get off squat. He just got shot.

All you guys claiming that "Han shot first" have it all wrong...

Han didn't shoot first. Nothing of the sort.

He shot.

Period.

Full stop.

Greedo didn't get off squat. He just got shot.

True, and it didn't even matter that GM Lucas gave Greedo another roll. He still just got shot.

I've felt for awhile that Marshal combined with Warden (from the Guardian book) would be fun.

Remember though that if you go Marshal then warden you do not gain FR 1 so even if you get to the talent that gives you +1 to your force rating you will still not be FR 1 which then means you cannot benefit from talents like Baleful Gaze , No Escape, Sense Advantage and the aforementioned Force Rating.

So the best option if you want that is either Guardian / Warden first then Marshal. Alternatively the suggestion I made earlier was to go Marshal then Force Sensitive Exile to get FR 1 , theb take the Warden Spec. With these three it is then possible to get to a respectable FR 3

And as mentioned, the Marshal profits actually quite well from the universal force talent trees, so it is actually a cheap way to gain a force rating of 2. Both force emergent and exile work very good and enhance can make up for any lacks in brawn or agility. And so can implants as well.