I am currently playing a Jedi in a game based on the Return of the Jedi Infinities. I was looking for an agile striker that can take foes down as quickly as possible so I chose Ataru Striker, but I was encouraged to choose another specialization and since my first one has no force rating talent I tried to find another physical class and ended up going with Aggressor since inhibiting foes seemed preferable, as I am not a tank. I will also be playing against another group so any help on a good build would be preferable. Mainly what I want to know is what I should focus on.

Caveat: we have a house rule that allows us to purchase characteristic upgrades after character creation.

I am currently playing a Jedi in a game based on the Return of the Jedi Infinities. I was looking for an agile striker that can take foes down as quickly as possible so I chose Ataru Striker, but I was encouraged to choose another specialization and since my first one has no force rating talent I tried to find another physical class and ended up going with Aggressor since inhibiting foes seemed preferable, as I am not a tank. I will also be playing against another group so any help on a good build would be preferable. Mainly what I want to know is what I should focus on.

Caveat: we have a house rule that allows us to purchase characteristic upgrades after character creation.

Go Back, Select Ataru Striker Its a Great Damage Based Spec with amazing Abilities within it if your playing in a PvP style environment.

Now As For a Build What we need to know is how many XP are you starting with? if you are starting with Base XP then you will be severely hampered until you can garner enough XP to pull off the cool Stuff with Ataru.

But as for starting characteristics. I would Start with 4 Agility, and 3 Will. Get 2 Ranks in Lightsaber and Get Force Enhance on both the Far Left side and the Far right side. You should also Get the Sense Force power to enable you to add setback die to targets who are trying to hit you. Buy up Ataru until you have virtually the entire Tree Purchased. A great Subset Form you would love to have is Makashi or Soresu, Both offer additional Parry(Makashi is beautiful for this) or Soresu for the additional Deflect depending on the situations you are encountering.

But this is me looking at things from a Pure Combat perspective. Skill wise I would personally purchase as many ranks as possible of Lightsaber, Coordination, Resilience, and Discipline.

also, Invest in Guard Shoto Lightsabers, They are cool in concept and AMAZING in combat.

Yeah, your first choice is probably the best. And with Ataru striker, it is pretty obvious start you should focus on: Agility! That and Willpower, for an increased Strain Threshold.

I did start with Ataru Striker, Aggressor was just my secondary specialization. I have also started play so I can't redo anything. The main reason why I am here is that we already fought one member of the group and was taken out by a double-bladed lightsaber in a single turn, resulting in a loss of a hand. I started with 3 agility and everything else 2, as I am human. I currently have 2 ranks in Lightsaber and 1 rank in brawl. I have move basic power and that's it for force powers. I did see Sense and am planning on taking that all the way down on left side, except for last. Since I can't go back and have taken Aggressor about half way down or so should I abandon it or at least get the Dedication and FR? I have looked at getting another specialization and was looking for something more combat-oriented so Makashi sounds like it would be good. I had asked some people on other boards if parry and reflect are good and how many is the most effective while being not too cost heavy, but never got an answer. I could post a more complete layout of my character sheet if that would be helpful.

I have seen shotos in the book, but not guard shotos. Which book are they in? I was considering a shoto since they have "accurate".

Both specs are cool. Aggressor has a lot of debuffing things going on, plus the survival talents in the right column. Ataru is brutal damage. Parry and Reflect are fine, they just can be very strain heavy. Parry can negate a lot of the lightsaber damage that would otherwise be ignoring your soak. Biggest issue is that Ataru tends to be strain heavy so doing a lot of Parry will really burn you out quick.

Guard shotos are in Keeping the Peace.

Considering the PvP aspect of the game I would go down the left side of Sense ASAP.

Both specs are cool. Aggressor has a lot of debuffing things going on, plus the survival talents in the right column. Ataru is brutal damage. Parry and Reflect are fine, they just can be very strain heavy. Parry can negate a lot of the lightsaber damage that would otherwise be ignoring your soak. Biggest issue is that Ataru tends to be strain heavy so doing a lot of Parry will really burn you out quick.

Guard shotos are in Keeping the Peace.

Considering the PvP aspect of the game I would go down the left side of Sense ASAP.

That was what I was thinking regarding the specs. Yeah, Parry being strain heavy seemed like it could be a problem.

I found out where guard shotos are so I should have edited that part. They seem really good since they help with my defense, plus if I just use a standard Ilum crystal, get the critical rating down once, and add the superior specialization I can automatically do crits, as long as I succeed.

I saw that, too for Sense so I will be doing that as soon as I can, but need the extra FR from Aggressor so that I'm not committing all my force dice for it.

"3 Agility and everything else 2" is a pretty suboptimal stat configuration. You'll want to put a lot more into characteristics; a single 5, a 4/3 (4/4 if you're an alien), or 3/3/3/3 would be better, depending on whether you want to be a specialist or not. Most starting XP should be going into stats.

With that houserule, it's not going to be as much of a concern, but low starting stats are still going to be a problem for the character. It's a very unbalancing houserule, too, so I wouldn't count on it staying in. Letting PCs increase their starting stats directly after character creation is going to lead to some serious and nasty power creep. If I were there, I'd advise the GM to drop that aspect.

"3 Agility and everything else 2" is a pretty suboptimal stat configuration. You'll want to put a lot more into characteristics; a single 5, a 4/3 (4/4 if you're an alien), or 3/3/3/3 would be better, depending on whether you want to be a specialist or not. Most starting XP should be going into stats.

With that houserule, it's not going to be as much of a concern, but low starting stats are still going to be a problem for the character. It's a very unbalancing houserule, too, so I wouldn't count on it staying in. Letting PCs increase their starting stats directly after character creation is going to lead to some serious and nasty power creep. If I were there, I'd advise the GM to drop that aspect.

Well, I haven't played before and I don't believe anyone else has either so I'm not sure if others have a better characteristic configuration. The campaign has started so I will not be able to change anything, all I can do is increase them from now and I am planning on getting Agility to 4, using dedication to get it to 6, then later I'll work on some Willpower, though I doubt I'll take it beyond 4 since it's expensive after that, in fact I am having to save just to get to 4 since I try to at least buy one thing per session.

It may be unbalancing, but our GM is new to the system, as well. Besides, many rpgs tend to become unbalancing at high-level, anyway. One of the main focuses is pvp since we have 2 groups so I suppose it isn't that unbalanced since some of our major enemies are other players who get the same thing.

So, Since I was Late to the Party Here is my Reasoning for telling you to get Both Ataru and Makashi, I suggest also getting Shadow as well as Sense.

Get your Agility up to at least 4 or 5, and Be sure to Maximize all the defensive skills you can.

By getting Ataru, Makashi, and Shadow, You will be making your Enemies Roll Against 3 Red Dice and 1 black die so long as you get all 4 ranks of Dodge and Defensive Training. You want to make it HARD to hit you, Make them work for it. Sense make it even harder by adding more and more black die. allowing you to capitalize on Improved Parry. Be sure to Also try to NEVER use your advantage for anything other than Strain Recovery and Maybe Hawkbat Swoop.

So, Since I was Late to the Party Here is my Reasoning for telling you to get Both Ataru and Makashi, I suggest also getting Shadow as well as Sense.

Get your Agility up to at least 4 or 5, and Be sure to Maximize all the defensive skills you can.

By getting Ataru, Makashi, and Shadow, You will be making your Enemies Roll Against 3 Red Dice and 1 black die so long as you get all 4 ranks of Dodge and Defensive Training. You want to make it HARD to hit you, Make them work for it. Sense make it even harder by adding more and more black die. allowing you to capitalize on Improved Parry. Be sure to Also try to NEVER use your advantage for anything other than Strain Recovery and Maybe Hawkbat Swoop.

Meanwhile, 500 XP later...

So, Since I was Late to the Party Here is my Reasoning for telling you to get Both Ataru and Makashi, I suggest also getting Shadow as well as Sense.

Get your Agility up to at least 4 or 5, and Be sure to Maximize all the defensive skills you can.

By getting Ataru, Makashi, and Shadow, You will be making your Enemies Roll Against 3 Red Dice and 1 black die so long as you get all 4 ranks of Dodge and Defensive Training. You want to make it HARD to hit you, Make them work for it. Sense make it even harder by adding more and more black die. allowing you to capitalize on Improved Parry. Be sure to Also try to NEVER use your advantage for anything other than Strain Recovery and Maybe Hawkbat Swoop.

Sense upgrades checks, not adds Setback dice to them. Which is kind of about as good when upgrading from Difficulty dice to Challenge dice and is better when the difficulty is increased.

If one aims for higher expected value of Threats, it's better to increase the amount of Setback dice on the attacker's check (8/12 for a Challenge Die, and 6/8+1/3 = 13/12 for 1eD+1eS in orokos notation). If one aims to increase the expected value of Failures rolled, it is, again, better to increase the amount of black dice your opponent rolls (9/12 (Despair included) vs 4/8+1/3 = 5/6).

However, each red die brings +1/12 to the expected value of Despairs rolled, allowing for an easy counter attack. And it is indeed better to upgrade one's check if the aim is to rely on counter attacks, but is worse than adding black dice if you want to not get hit.

There is a problem with the tactic described, as it robs Ataru of utilising its main strengths, as well as requiring a huge XP investiture, as was pointed out. Instead, you probably could get Defensive mods and attachments for your lightsaber (I am too lazy right now to check the books for them) or buy a single-handed weapon that already does have Defensive and use it along with your saber.

So, Since I was Late to the Party Here is my Reasoning for telling you to get Both Ataru and Makashi, I suggest also getting Shadow as well as Sense.

Get your Agility up to at least 4 or 5, and Be sure to Maximize all the defensive skills you can.

By getting Ataru, Makashi, and Shadow, You will be making your Enemies Roll Against 3 Red Dice and 1 black die so long as you get all 4 ranks of Dodge and Defensive Training. You want to make it HARD to hit you, Make them work for it. Sense make it even harder by adding more and more black die. allowing you to capitalize on Improved Parry. Be sure to Also try to NEVER use your advantage for anything other than Strain Recovery and Maybe Hawkbat Swoop.

Sense upgrades checks, not adds Setback dice to them. Which is kind of about as good when upgrading from Difficulty dice to Challenge dice and is better when the difficulty is increased.

If one aims for higher expected value of Threats, it's better to increase the amount of Setback dice on the attacker's check (8/12 for a Challenge Die, and 6/8+1/3 = 13/12 for 1eD+1eS in orokos notation). If one aims to increase the expected value of Failures rolled, it is, again, better to increase the amount of black dice your opponent rolls (9/12 (Despair included) vs 4/8+1/3 = 5/6).

However, each red die brings +1/12 to the expected value of Despairs rolled, allowing for an easy counter attack. And it is indeed better to upgrade one's check if the aim is to rely on counter attacks, but is worse than adding black dice if you want to not get hit.

There is a problem with the tactic described, as it robs Ataru of utilising its main strengths, as well as requiring a huge XP investiture, as was pointed out. Instead, you probably could get Defensive mods and attachments for your lightsaber (I am too lazy right now to check the books for them) or buy a single-handed weapon that already does have Defensive and use it along with your saber.

I have been looking into attachments and mods for lightsabers, though what I'm thinking is simply getting a guard shoto, then simply reducing the critical rating on it and getting vicious mods since I am supposed to be more of an offensive character. I might go with some two-weapon combat, maybe either a shoto and a guard shoto. Do item qualities, such as defensive and deflection, of different weapons stack? If that's the case going with two guard shotos would give me two defensive and 4 deflection. Also, I wouldn't be able to do too much for a while because my current lightsaber is considered loaned by Anakin.

If you lost an arm, work towards getting a cybernetic replacement with +1 agility.

Special Modifications allows you to build it for half the price you buy a new one for.

You'll need a mechanically inclined party member though.

Caveat: we have a house rule that allows us to purchase characteristic upgrades after character creation.

Not tryna rain on your parade, but do not do this.

You will obliterate any chance of game balance.

This isn't a system where the heroes are maxed out every stat, and allowing this will essentially be running your game in Cheat Mode.

If you listen to no other advice, listen to this.

Caveat: we have a house rule that allows us to purchase characteristic upgrades after character creation.

Not tryna rain on your parade, but do not do this.

You will obliterate any chance of game balance.

This isn't a system where the heroes are maxed out every stat, and allowing this will essentially be running your game in Cheat Mode.

If you listen to no other advice, listen to this.

This guy is definitely right. You should ABSOLUTELY NOT increase attributes with experience post character creation. It pretty much fracks up the whole game system.

The game works great the way it is.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that.

Not tryna rain on your parade, but do not do this.

You will obliterate any chance of game balance.

This isn't a system where the heroes are maxed out every stat, and allowing this will essentially be running your game in Cheat Mode.

If you listen to no other advice, listen to this.

This awesome lady is definitely right. You should ABSOLUTELY NOT increase attributes with experience post character creation. It pretty much fracks up the whole game system.

The game works great the way it is.

Assuming you're from a D&D background, like myself and many others, a comparable houserule for 3.5 would be: add your level to all ability scores. Early on it might not seem so bad, but it'll get quickly or of hand. There's a reason permanently boosting ability scores is hard in D&D, just like there's a reason permanently boosting characteristics is hard in this system.

EDIT: Shy, what are you doing?!? You can't just go changing your avatar like that! There are forms you need to file, and a five-day notice! I didn't get the notice >_< !!!

Also to answer a question, generally defense from different sources do not stack. There are some cases such as Improved Armor master where it is implied that the defense you get from the armor is increased.

For example, melee Defense +2 from a souped up lightsaber is not meant to stack with +2 defense on a shield or on armor or from cover.

(also "guy" can be gender neutral for at least 30 years where I come from, lol)

This guy is definitely right.

Star Wars hipster chick, not a guy! Thanks Phee

I got 'yo back! *fistbumps*

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*Does the totes adorbs Baymax "explosion"* I am totally hardcore and not at all five years old >_< !!!

Not tryna rain on your parade, but do not do this.

You will obliterate any chance of game balance.

This isn't a system where the heroes are maxed out every stat, and allowing this will essentially be running your game in Cheat Mode.

If you listen to no other advice, listen to this.

This awesome lady is definitely right. You should ABSOLUTELY NOT increase attributes with experience post character creation. It pretty much fracks up the whole game system.

The game works great the way it is.

Fixed that for you ! But the awesome lady is right: buying characteristics after character creation is going to wreck everything. An extra point in a characteristic adds an extra die to EVERY roll based on that characteristic. Which, for certain traits, is 6+ different rolls. And extra dice are a BIG DEAL.

Assuming you're from a D&D background, like myself and many others, a comparable houserule for 3.5 would be: add your level to all ability scores. Early on it might not seem so bad, but it'll get quickly or of hand. There's a reason permanently boosting ability scores is hard in D&D, just like there's a reason permanently boosting characteristics is hard in this system.

EDIT: Shy, what are you doing?!? You can't just go changing your avatar like that! There are forms you need to file, and a five-day notice! I didn't get the notice >_< !!!

Sorry! I just didn't want to be Sentinel Lady anymore because it was causing me to confuse my own posts with other people with that avatar. >_>

Aww. *blush*

The SW RPG Forums... now with more girly flirting!

(P.S. can I join in?)

Why, please do, Miss!