So I want to use an NPC who is a jedi master of the Shard species, i.e, an immobile being that's basically a sentient crystal. She used to be encased in a robot, giving her mobility and speech, but no longer is; instead she has been meditating in the force vergencies of the strange planet Tython, and the PCs will initially hardly recognize her for what she is. She'll contact them through the force however, subtly guiding their uncertain steps on Tython, where they've been marooned as they lost their ship. But eventually I want to introduce her physically, and it -might- eventually come to a conflict, so I need proper stats for her. This creates some conundrums:

- How do one handle the soak, wound threshold and strain of a crystal? I was thinking very high soak but low wounds?

- Would a Shard even possess Brawn and Agility scores?

- Can she possess skills that require manual dexterity, or would those skills be based on whatever droid chassi she could be installed in?

- How to translate her electromagnetic pulses into speech? There could either be some mechanical device laying about, or it could be a challenge for the PCs to create one from their limited resources on Tython, or the Shard could just have found a way to "talk" through the Force. What do you guys think is the most interesting?

- As to her mobility, my idea is that she has actually fallen to the dark side, and learnt from the Force on Tython to create a kind of dark side ghost, a scary, shadowy shape that can carry her around and even wield a lightsaber. But how should this force ability work? I guess she has to commit some force dice to give the shadow various stat levels? The stats in themselves could maybe be based off the Moraband Sith Phantasms in Chronicles of the Gatekeeper.

however, before the Shard reveals herself to be evil, she need some less telling mode of locomotion. Would it be too corny if she just used the force to levitate herself? Alternatively, she could just try and talk the PCs into carrying her, which probably wouldn't be too hard because two of them idolizes the Jedi as a concept.



edit: I realize now this should have been in the Force & Destiny forum. But I guess it'll work here too!

How I'd stat the Shard?

Has a base Brawn and Agility of 0, which is amended by the droid chassis. To be able to roll any skills based of of those characteristics, you'd need skills and would only be rolling green.

Until the PCs find a way to communicate them, they only get images and emotions, similar to Influence. They initially feel called to the crystal and if they roll Sense then they get the sentience of the Shard. And you can have fun getting the players to interpret feelings and images over basic speech.

In terms of size, given how small a Shard probably is (smaller than most Sil 0 character races), they'll be hard to hit. Also, Protect as a Force Power can reduce a lot of damage if needed.

Maybe give a force illusion of a kindly old person to manipluate players into doing things, who has passed on but gives the impression that she/he wants the Jedi legecy to be passed on. Why would she know this information? She's likely skimming the force senstives minds to determine what their ideal Jedi would be.

Issue is however is what would the Shard be looking to gain out of the PC's? Is she looking to get off world? What is so evil about this shard that the PC's absolutely cannot let her enter the larger galaxy?

53 minutes ago, LordBritish said:

Maybe give a force illusion of a kindly old person to manipluate players into doing things, who has passed on but gives the impression that she/he wants the Jedi legecy to be passed on. Why would she know this information? She's likely skimming the force senstives minds to determine what their ideal Jedi would be.

Issue is however is what would the Shard be looking to gain out of the PC's? Is she looking to get off world? What is so evil about this shard that the PC's absolutely cannot let her enter the larger galaxy?

My idea is that she was the leader of an ill-fated jedi expedition to Tython just as the Republic fell. Their ship got seized by Flesh Raiders, the native, degenerate Rakata of Tython, one padawan was eaten by a Terentatek, and they were generally hit by misfortune. Realizing somehow what had happened to the Jedi, and disraught by the expedition's failures, the Shard, Ilum, despaired, and events somehow led her to kill the rest of her group, but her droid body was destroyed in the process. (The PCs will discover some hints of these events, of course). Ilum managed to slowly but surely force pull herself into the inner sanctum of one of Tython's jedi temples, where she meditated on what had transpired, thinking she could make things right. But the force vergences of Tython took a turn for the dark, maybe due to the whole galaxy now being influenced by the Sith, maybe due to some unfathomable event beyond time and space, and Ilum slowly went mad. She learnt to shape the force on Tython, projecting her consciousness over vast distances, but the only sentient beings left on this world were scattered groups of Flesh Raiders, who resisted her influences, so she was utterly alone.

Her primary goal for a long time was to somehow reach and activate the Gree Hypergate, far away in the Old City on Tython, and through it escape the wretched planet. So she immersed herself in the dark side, pondering in the silence for years until she learnt to create a makeshift body for herself, a dark side shadow. Maybe she had even begun moving towards the Old City when she detected a new presence; the PCs. Upon meeting them and learning from them what has transpired, she'll figure out the nature of the emperor and develop a new plan; to seize the PC's ship and return to Orax, her home, and save her species from the Empire. Ironically, the PCs would probably gladly help her with this (and I still ponder another option, of letting Ilum be lightsided, if a bit mad, until she reaches Orax and sees the destruction there, only then turning to the dark side and betraying the PCs), but she's too deluded to see it and probably won't hang on to the Orax plan for long, but rather develop a new and more sinister purpose. In that scenario, she'll leave the PCs and most of their crew to die on Tython, and they'll eventually wanna pursue her just to take their ship back and get some sweet revenge, but by then she'll have embarked on some greater and more sinister design that I haven't yet figured out, that'll make her maybe the campaign's primary villain.

1 hour ago, LordBritish said:

Maybe give a force illusion of a kindly old person to manipluate players into doing things, who has passed on but gives the impression that she/he wants the Jedi legecy to be passed on. Why would she know this information? She's likely skimming the force senstives minds to determine what their ideal Jedi would be.

I could totally see the shard trying to pass itself off as a holocron. At least until it learns more about the PC's.