I'm quite new to the Star Wars system, and need some help. In Force and Destiny Core on p 283, it explains that you can use opposed checks with force powers that don't normally require skill rolls. I'm trying to figure out how you handle extra Successes and Advantages on a Harm opposed check. Do I treat them the same as if it was a normal combat check, adding bonus damage equal to the net Successes and such, or do I treat it like some other kind of skill check, where it couldn't directly effect the power's result beyond whether the attack succeeds? It feels like it shouldn't add to the damage and such, since the base power doesn't require the opposed roll vs minions and weak rivals, making the opposed roll separate from the power's effects. If the successes did add to damage, then I expect players would want to use an opposed roll vs minions nearly every time, since the minions probably have a low Discipline and Will, making it easy to generate lots of free damage and advantages. I don't think the power is intended to be used that way based on it's design.

Also, would Defense or a protective talent like Dodge be able to apply to this opposed check? I expect not, since I don't think it's a combat check in the same way Melee or Ranged (Light) is.

Have there been any official statements on this, or is it explained somewhere in the rules that I missed?

The sidebar on opposed checks are for situations where force powers are used against players or players are using the powers against key rivals/nemesis that the Gm judges to be important enough to justify it.

This check is used to determine if the power works against the opponent. Example if the q PC attempts to use the sense basic power against a nemesis to try and sense the nemesis current mental state, the GM should ask for an opposed check where the PC pits his discipline against the nemesis , if the check fails then the force power doesnt work, the force power is still triggered but the PC fails to gain info. Against a minion and non key rivals , this would automatically work, assuming the Pc rolls enough force pips.

If the force power does damage it will often call that it requires some form of combat check in it's description and the description tells you the damage , example unleash has a range of short and requires a discipline check with a difficulty the same as a ranged attack. The damage is willpower + successes on this roll but can also have strength upgrades added to this damage, if you have those upgrades and roll extra pips (or they can be used to increase range). If they fail to gain enough pips or they fail the check, the attack fails, as this is a combat check, talents can be used to upgrade it , like dodge and side step.

Bind however is an automatic force power(assuming you roll enough pips) that causes damage if you use dark side pips, it doesnt require an attack roll, however again, if a character uses it against PC or a key NPC then it requires an opposed roll, however in this case success doesnt not cause extra damage. Unlike unleash this opposed check is not a combat check so cannot be upgraded lkke combat checks can. The damage caused is described in the power.

Id also recommend having a listen to episode 83 of the order66 podcast which goes into detail about how to use force powers. Although this covers Move specifically, as it was the first time the covered powers they covered a lot about the force powers in general. To answer specifically about Harm, you do damage = intellect and that is it for the basic power which unlike , unleash, as it is not a combat check, again does not get to add success to the damage, the only way to add damage to this is to buy the strength upgrade , which costs 1 additional pip to trigger.

So if you have an intellect of 5 and you trigger the base power with just enough force pips to trigger the base power , you do 5 dmg automatically, against a nemesis or key npc you also need to succeed the opposed check.

If you have the strength upgrade you can add 1 dmg to this for every pip you spend on upgrading the strength. so in this example if you rolled an additonal 3 force pips its 8 dmg , and against a PC/key NPC you also need to succeed the opposed check, which is commonly, but not always, Discipline vs Discipline. (for harm one of the upgrades, to cause a critical injury, specifies using an opposed check for medicine vs resilience but only if there wasnt an opposed check already, so the GM could use those skills instead)

If harm had 2 strength upgrades available and you bought both it would add 2 dmg per pip spent on strength upgrades. It is important to check if the power or upgrades can be activated multiple times. Example the base power for harm can only be triggered once, stopping characters from multiplying up their Intelligence by triggering the base power more than once, however the strength upgrade can be triggered multiple times.

So the dmg for harm is only Intelligence+1 per pip used fo trigger strength upgrade, hope that helps.

Okay, so I’m a neophyte looking into perhaps getting onboard with FFG’s F&D game; how would someone handle the situation where Palpatine used his lightning against Yoda and Yoda (initially) defended against it?

2 hours ago, MJEdens said:

Okay, so I’m a neophyte looking into perhaps getting onboard with FFG’s F&D game; how would someone handle the situation where Palpatine used his lightning against Yoda and Yoda (initially) defended against it?

The Protect power.

On 6/29/2017 at 8:22 PM, syrath said:

The sidebar on opposed checks are for situations where force powers are used against players or players are using the powers against key rivals/nemesis that the Gm judges to be important enough to justify it.

This check is used to determine if the power works against the opponent. Example if the q PC attempts to use the sense basic power against a nemesis to try and sense the nemesis current mental state, the GM should ask for an opposed check where the PC pits his discipline against the nemesis , if the check fails then the force power doesnt work, the force power is still triggered but the PC fails to gain info. Against a minion and non key rivals , this would automatically work, assuming the Pc rolls enough force pips.

If the force power does damage it will often call that it requires some form of combat check in it's description and the description tells you the damage , example unleash has a range of short and requires a discipline check with a difficulty the same as a ranged attack. The damage is willpower + successes on this roll but can also have strength upgrades added to this damage, if you have those upgrades and roll extra pips (or they can be used to increase range). If they fail to gain enough pips or they fail the check, the attack fails, as this is a combat check, talents can be used to upgrade it , like dodge and side step.

Bind however is an automatic force power(assuming you roll enough pips) that causes damage if you use dark side pips, it doesnt require an attack roll, however again, if a character uses it against PC or a key NPC then it requires an opposed roll, however in this case success doesnt not cause extra damage. Unlike unleash this opposed check is not a combat check so cannot be upgraded lkke combat checks can. The damage caused is described in the power.

Page 283 is where this side bar is.