So as the title states I am looking for some input on my Armorer character. The character concept revolves around him effectively integrating the force into his gear rather than force powers or techniques. I've nearly maxed out the tree and am trying to decide where to go from here.

I've noticed he lacks many defensive abilities other guardians have such as perry and reflect as well as things to protect allies like circle of shelter or body guard. Due to the high strain cost for most of his abilities I'm reluctant to grab another tree to try and pickup parry or reflect, although I've debated grabbing the fated duel signature ability for when sith and what not show up.

Does anyone have any tips for what might mesh well with this? Am I over thinking the strain cost? Would moving into something like protector or soresu defender be worth it?

Thanks.

Honestly I think the "Reinforce Item" talent is much better for you than trying to get some parry ranks. Your Soak is probably high already, and reinforce works against all attacks with Pierce or Breach, so you reduce damage on all hits of all attacks each turn. Parry and Reflect can be used on top of that, but a lot of XP will go into getting those ranks.

It does depend on what you're looking to do, also the Characteristics you have:

Sage can be a good option to increase FR and make use of that high Intelect.

Soresu is an obvious choice, with its a very defensive character with Defensive Stance and so many Parry/Reflect things to do, and if Intelect is indeed high then it can make use of that as well.

Navigator could be a good option, it can really make use of that Intelect, has a cheap FR and will broaden your character nicely.

Artisan is an obvious choice, if you want to make your gear even better.

Protect Force Power is the other great choice, it's so flexible in the way that it can be described, it would work very well for your purpose, this would probably combine best with the Sage since FR 4 gets you so many more force points to spend

Well my current characteristics are as follows | brawn 5 | agility 2 | intellect 3 | cunning 2 | willpower 2 | presence 1 |. He also has a force rating of 2. Protect might be a cheaper way to prevent damage but I worry about force die at that point.

One more left of field option, something that can mesh very very well with Armorer is Commando from AoR, in particular the Supreme Armour Master and Unstopable Tallents.

But if you just want to be a Wound absorber Soresu is the way to go, although with that Brawn so is Shi Cho

Yeah, I recommend Artisan. If you've got a nice GM, maybe he'll give you an XP discount on the non-ranked talents in there that are cheaper than in Armorer (like how Mental Tools only costs 5 in Artisan but 10 in Artisan). Even if not, you can skip those talents and get to the good ones faster. I'm currently running a Artisan/Armorer, and it's pretty great.

Heck, if you wanna expand to other books, something like Gadgeteer might work well too; I remember thinking it fit well with Artisan, don't remember how well it combos with Armorer.

I've been doing fairly well with my mechanics checks so far, only real issue there is coming up with credits for materials and such. Kind of hard to build or modify something when your wallet is empty . I know there are options for black market goods, but even that costs credits, are there any in game mechanics for poor characters to obtain goods without GM intervention? Mostly I need to shore up my defensive ability and possibly piloting but that just requires some ranks in skills.

As for other books I think that might be difficult to explain since we are basically doing old republic era with each of us playing Jedi knights so while not impossible it might seem a bit weird to do thematically.

Flipping Destiny Points to introduce facts is a neat way to add some raw material to an encounter.

Eg: Your buddies go into a shop to get stuff, you flip a DP to see the "chuck out bin", a container full of off cuts and broken items, you salvage a hundred or even a couple hundred credits worth of parts.

EG: your group just foiled the plot of some evil doers, flip a DP to find an old droid chassis with a bunch of missing parts, but what is there is salvageable.

Aside from being a good use of INT and source of force rating, Sage is also one of the better F&D trees for strain management, as it has three ranks of Grit and Balance for better post-battle recovery. That said, if you're really concerned about strain (which is reasonable, given how fast F&D characters can burn through it), you might just pick up a Biofeedback System for your armor. Spending 2 hard points increases your strain threshold by 4, with an optional mod to add a rank of Rapid Recovery.

Yours is very similar to my Armorer, though I've only progressed down to Tinkerer so far. If Reinforce Item does indeed help make up for lack of Parry/etc, which I don't know yet obviously, then I was thinking of taking Seer.

It probably seems a bit oddball but, much like Sage, it has 2 Force Rating increases, and 2 grits. However it also has 2 Tougheneds, and a Dodge (which I believe will stack with my upgraded Sense to upgrade attacks by 3). I also like the bonuses to Vigilance, Rapid Reaction, etc. I do wonder how much Strain is going to be an issue. Maybe I'll take Kaigen's advice and try to build a Biofeedback system into my armor.

Speaking of crafting armor, I really want to dip into Droid Tech for that Eye for Detail talent...

So many choices, so little XP...

Even without DPs, you can salvage anytime it would make sense. I often let my players salvage after say, a battle, or if they're on a junk world, or whatever.

What force powers does your character have? I've found the armourer works best when ending fights quickly, so took force leap and shio knight to saarlac sweep.

I may need to simply discuss procurement with my GM and figure something out. I'm already seen the biofeedback attachment and that's currently what I am saving for but 3500 is steep for Jedi who typically not doing things for money.

As for sage I can see the benefit although with only 1 presence it almost feels like some of those talents will be wasted, the seer has potential i think as I would have less wasted talents.

Armorer seems to have a higher strain cost than most simply because 2 of its signature abilities are a constant drain and you have to activate them on your turn which mean you might actually waste strain if you aren't targeted. The supreme armor master is nice but expensive, but at the very least it's reactionary, while Falling avalanche is very nice for extra damage. Basically depending on how a round goes I can end up spending anywhere between 1 - 8 strain which doesn't include any threat I roll taking off strain either.

I currently have no force powers as the Armorer abilities use up my force dice to activate

I may need to simply discuss procurement with my GM and figure something out. I'm already seen the biofeedback attachment and that's currently what I am saving for but 3500 is steep for Jedi who typically not doing things for money.

As for sage I can see the benefit although with only 1 presence it almost feels like some of those talents will be wasted, the seer has potential i think as I would have less wasted talents.

Armorer seems to have a higher strain cost than most simply because 2 of its signature abilities are a constant drain and you have to activate them on your turn which mean you might actually waste strain if you aren't targeted. The supreme armor master is nice but expensive, but at the very least it's reactionary, while Falling avalanche is very nice for extra damage. Basically depending on how a round goes I can end up spending anywhere between 1 - 8 strain which doesn't include any threat I roll taking off strain either.

I currently have no force powers as the Armorer abilities use up my force dice to activate

I'd say that you definitely need to get yourself some more Force Rating increase then. Even without them, I'd pick up at least a couple of basic powers if I were you. You don't need to use your Armorer Force talents all the time . Sometimes other abilities are more appropriate.

Unless your character exists in a vacuum, what other PCs compose your party? Say, a single Entrepreneur could help bankroll your armor/mechanical improvements, while most Smugglers may come across scrap metal or other rare materials. A salvage team may make sense, here, with the Force-user forced to take a traditional job that also masks their natural abilities without attracting too much attention (sans Lightsaber).

EDIT: spelling

We are playing an all Jedi party, we've got a warrior (shi'cho) who has a bit of peacekeeper, an artisian/shadow, and I believe the last one is a sage with some niman disciple.

So far I've actually helped out the party a ton with my mechanics, we just finished a session with pretty much everyone lining up to get me to build or mod equipment. My GM has let me start scavenging for scrap, tore apart an imperial computer for about 1000 credits in useful parts.

My main reason for avoiding force powers is that the character focuses his ability on enhancing tech, so the reasoning is more thematic than anything. I'm planning on grabbing fated duel once I get the exp, then I can just slap on reinforce item and tank the big baddy for 3+ turns.