Interesting combos

By syrath, in Star Wars: Force and Destiny RPG

If a talent were to be produced that said

When you cause a critical hit spend 1 strain and upgrade the next combat check against you from a maximum of medium range 5 times, most people who consider this very powerful and perhaps overpowered, yet it exists in the game

In Warden

Precision strike when you cause a crit with a brawl/melee/lightsaber spend 1 Strain to change result to an essy result , this has been confirmed to be able to overwrite other talents that adjust criticals - excepting disruptor weapons.

Choose the easy crit result to flip a destiny point to light side, then use it to fuel baleful gaze which upgrades a combat check from medium range or closer by ranks in coercion.

Given the ease of getting a crit 1 weapon (jury rigged, vibroweapon with monomolecular edge, lightsaber or morgukai cortosis staff all spring to mind) . Then as long as you are not critting a minion(where the result is not dependant on a roll and doesnt require you to amke one as its auto defeat to one minion. Precision Strike also works on the criticsl that occurs when you take a rivak or nemesis over wound threshold. Then its actually quite easy to pull this combo off.

Of course you dont have to use the Dp point with this talent , but I am pretty sure someone will have done this in play testing. So what other interesting combos have you come across that are interesting, ideally within one spec but cross spec answers welcome also.

Except doesn't precision strike work in a offensive capacity while baleful gaze is defensive? Meaning one works when you attack while the other is only useful if YOU ARE attacked?

Except doesn't precision strike work in a offensive capacity while baleful gaze is defensive? Meaning one works when you attack while the other is only useful if YOU ARE attacked?

That is correct. So the combo the OP laid out simply doesn't work.

Exactly. Using Precision Strike in this manner may help you prepare to use Baleful Gaze when next you are attacked, but if your buddies use up the new Destiny Point you've made available, then it doesn't matter. Besides, unless your team is really low on Destiny (say, if you've been hogging them all for yourself to use Baleful Gaze), you're most likely better off inflicting a different Critical Injury.

Sorry I dont think I perhaps made myself clear, I Am aware that the DP is not used up there and then, I am also aware that another player can use it (and pointed this out in the post) what I was pointing out that baleful gaze is an excellent defensive talent that requires a destiny point to use and precision strike is another talent that can be used to tie into this.

Ultimately I wasnt posting about how it works but how there is a nice synergy between both talents, within the same tree. So effectively you can use one to fuel the other, in fact for two strain if you overpower a rival and take them over wound threshold and crit him from advantage triumph you can flip 2 points.

Most talents with a destiny or strain cost dont have a means of "refilling the strain or DP pool mid combat that is self contained. There are others like inspiring rhetoric for example, so its tie ins like that I am interested in hearing about.

Edited by syrath

A high Soak PC, Supreme Armour Master, Durable and Unstopable. Basically Commando and Armour, with 8 Soak (not unreasonable for this character) once per round for the cost of 3 Strain you can completely ignore any Crit of 100 or less... Like completely, you don't get critted. It also makes enemies require a 240+ on their Crit roll to kill you, assuming you have the strain to spend.

Edit, the cost:

Minimum Human (for consistency, other races may be better choices) XP cost:

Br: 4, Int: 3 - 100xp

Armourer: Gearhead x 2, Grit, Armour Master, Improved AM, Inventor, Mental Tools, Supreme AM - 90xp

Commando Spec: 30xp

Commando: Physical Training, Toughened, Durable x 2, Heroic Fortitude, Unstoppable - 90xp (Armour Master is skipped due to already purchasing it)

Total: 120 starting & 190 earned XP

Equipment: at least 2000cr in custom built "tough" armour with soak 3.

Obviously this is minimum cost, at least skills would also be purchased too.

Edited by Richardbuxton

And if you have XP to burn and the inkling for it:

Gunner has 2 ranks of Enduring AND 2 ranks of Durable, so suddenly you have 10 Soak and 4 ranks of Durable... -140 off a single crit roll a turn is insane!

Jury rig that armour and its better again!

Edit - The cost:

Armourer/Commando cost: 190 earned xp

Gunner Spec: 40xp

Gunner talents: Durable x 2, Overwhelm Defences, Spare Clip, Jury Rigged, Brace x 2, Enduring x 2 - 115xp

Total earned xp for the ability to reduce Crits by 150 and ignore any that are reduced to 0? 345xp! sounds like a lot, but there are a lot of skills to add to that, and your still only FR 1, its a character for a long game. your also right next to 2 Dedications, so for 50xp your now Brawn 6... Minmaxed.

Edited by Richardbuxton

I've put effort into theorycrafting an 11+ soak character as a potential counter to lightsabers. It's surprisingly easy to do (if you're a Droid)... I think they just earned 25 XP? The problem was the (heaps of) credits, and getting a craftsman good enough to build the armor I used.

Warden has a lot of good synergies, especially with Soresu Defender. If you Scathing Tirade on an enemy (group of enemies, if you're good) and use that to proc No Retreat, then move to engaged (causing everyone to take Fear checks if 1) they haven't against you yet 2) you have one or more ranks in... Fearsome? Intimidating? I forget) and burn strain to activate Grapple for a second maneuver, basically no one can leave engaged with you. Why? It takes 2 maneuvers to leave engaged due to grapple, and everyone has lost their free maneuver. Yes, Rivals can do it... at the cost of 2 wounds. And a Nemesis can more easily do it, but it's all they can do. Then, if you're a Soresu Defender, you get Boost die to play with and a fun target for Sarlaac Sweep since - as a Warden doing this combo - you've moved to engaged with a whole pile of enemies.

My other Interesting Combo is Hunter/Hermit (or Seer): 4 Force Dice and Intuitive Shot is so over powered it should be banned. It combines nicely with a low crit weapon, especially if its got Vicious such as a Disruptor. But this combo should also get Enhance, Foresee and Influence

Add 4 force dice to these checks:

  • Vigilance (initiative only)
  • Cool (initiative only)
  • Athletics
  • Coordination
  • Resilience
  • Brawl
  • Piloting (Planetary)
  • Piloting (Space)
  • Survival
  • Knowledge Xenology
  • Ranged (Heavy)
  • Ranged (Light)
  • Coercion
  • Charm
  • Deception
  • Negotiation
  • Leadership

Its crazy how hard it is to fail with that many force dice.

Edit - The Cost:

Hunter Human, Agility 3, Cunning 3, Presence 3 (just coz, im not trying to break the game!) - 90xp

Hunter Talents; Expert Tracker, Hunter, Natural Hunter, Uncanny Reactions, Rapid Recovery, Force Rating, Intuitive Shot - 115xp

Enhance & 5 control upgrades - 35xp

Foresee & Control - 20xp

Influence & Magnitude & Control - 30xp

Hermit Spec - 20xp

Hermit Talents - One with Nature, Animal Bond, Soothing Tone, Grit x 2, Conditioned, Improved AB, Natural Outdoorsman, Force Rating x 2 - 160xp

Total - Starting xp of 120, earned xp of 350xp - expensive, but cool.

I spent an unnecessary 15xp on Animal Bond, to make use of Improved AB

Interestingly you can get the 2 FR Talents from Pathfinder and Navigator for only 185, 5xp more than Hermit, including the Spec costs, but you cant use FR with Survival or Xenology.

The total cost could be lowered with Sage (335xp) or Seer (340xp)

If we went for a completely base Human, 2's in all Characteristics, we could reduce the cost of build to 260 earned xp.

Again another build that would do well with some Skill ranks, and there is a bit of potential in the Force Powers, but this is actually a very broad character for a longer campaign.

Edited by Richardbuxton

I think people should really tally up the XP they spend on a combo to ascertain how overpowered something is...

That being said, Quermian Scholar with Intense Focus and Stroke of Genius, upgrades any skill twice and uses a maxed out Intelligence as a base... (90 starting XP in Intelligence, 110 XP for Talents)

Edited by GranSolo

Not that it's "overpowered", but a Zabrak is an excellent choice for a Warden/Agitator/anything that uses Coercion frequently. Especially nice for that Warden combo of Scathing Tirade/No Escape since ST can cause actual wounds to rivals in combat and the free Coercion advantage from Zabrak is useful to then activate No Escape. Also means that Bad Cop procs more often.

Scathing tirade and intimidsting dont work scathing tirade is a fixed difficulty of 2 purple dice, so intimidating only works if the gm spends a dp to add a red dice.

Scathing tirade and intimidsting dont work scathing tirade is a fixed difficulty of 2 purple dice, so intimidating only works if the gm spends a dp to add a red dice.

Right, so it is Fearsome. Both are apt descriptions for the talent I was talking about. (Cause Fear check when an o becomes engaged with you, difficulty = ranks in Fearsome).

I think people should really tally up the XP they spend on a combo to ascertain how overpowered something is...

That being said, Quermian Scholar with Intense Focus and Stroke of Genius, upgrades any skill twice and uses a maxed out Intelligence as a base... (90 starting XP in Intelligence, 110 XP for Talents)

Added costings to my builds, that was a good idea, i used Humans as a base for consistency.

True Aim is an amazing talent all on its own, 6 ranks exist currently across 3 Specs; Gunner, Sharpshooter and Merc Soldier:

Starting in Gunner its 75xp for 2

Moving to Sharpshooter for 2 more costs another 75xp.

Merc Soldier gets expensive, the first rank will cost 115xp, another 50xp for the final rank.

So thats 315xp to be able to perform a single maneuver prior to ANY combat check to get 6 UPGRADES and 1 boost... just do whatever you want, combat skill ranks are basically unnecessary.