The Order 66 Podcast is excited to have RPG Manager Sam Stewart back to the show to discuss the release of another fantastic FFG sourcebook; Disciples of Harmony - A Career Book for Consulars!

As we have done before, the Order 66 Podcast is collecting questions from you, the listeners, for any queries you have about the book. Got a production question? A rules dispute about a talent? A piece of gear that doesn't make sense? Looking for insight on the Consular's Signature Abilities, or want to ask about something in the Diplomacy or Mentor section of the book?

We'll take questions until Wednesday night, July19th. The show will be on July 23rd at 8pm Central, and we'd love to have you join us in our chatroom, Echo Base, for the show!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/d20radio

As usual, we are only taking and fielding questions about this book, Disciples of Harmony . We won't really have time to ask about any questions relating to other books, and of course Sam can't answer questions about products that have not been announced yet.

Finally, please limit replies in this thread to questions for the Devs only. If you would like to discuss something brought up in this thread, please start a new thread elsewhere and discuss the matter there.

Thanks for your time and your questions!

Questions about Ebb/Flow:

1.) What is the mechanical design philosophy regarding this power? It feels that it can mechanically replicate many Force Powers and Talents that already exist for a significant savings in XP.

2.) How exactly does the 10 XP control talent in the 5th rank of the tree (commit FD, gain FD rolls to all checks for remainder of encounter) work? I presume you can commit up to your Force Rating? If you are a Dark Side force user is the effects of this power "flipped"? I also presume that committing Force Dice to this upgrade would reduce a character's Force Rating when using any other Force Powers or Talents?

I'd like to know more about the Crucible and how we could build other Jedi training ships, particularly with what other possible options we can have, such as libraries and training facilities for lightsaber combat, such as those available with bases. What's allowable?

13 minutes ago, Magnus Arcanus said:

2.) How exactly does the 10 XP control talent in the 5th rank of the tree (commit FD, gain FD rolls to all checks for remainder of encounter) work? I presume you can commit up to your Force Rating? If you are a Dark Side force user is the effects of this power "flipped"? I also presume that committing Force Dice to this upgrade would reducing a character's Force Rating for using any other Force Powers or Talents?

I have to echo this, as to if this is flipped to being a darksider using the ability the how does the ability work. Does it cause strain to use dark side , or does it cost strain to use light side or does the dark sider pay for both shade of pip. If you think that this last suggestion is outlandish think about it, excepting the strain cost the dark sider has less to lose by gaining conflcit from the dark side pips , if he wholly commits to the dark side, where as the light sider gets the additional penalty of conflict , and signifcant conflcit at that. So a dark sider would seem to get penalised less for using this if it is either but if they pay strain for all of it the, it becomes less attractive and evens it out (perhaps too much)

I noticed that the talent list doesn't include Respected Scholar. It's not a talent found in the Force and Destiny Core Rulebook. Not a question, just pointing out an apparent error.

The stun blaster attachment seems to cover the same ground the pistol hilt from Endless Vigil does. They both seem to describe Ezra's first lightsaber. Was this just a 'ruh roh' moment, or are these intended to be different from each other?

If I wanted to to play a Nu-Cosian, I'm assuming I'd just use the Cosian stats, with the book implying the two are pretty closely related enough to be almost indistinct from one another?

Speaking of species, are the Arkanian stats supposed to cover both them and the Arkanian Offshoots, or was there a conscious decision to exclude them from the profile other than a mentioning?

1. When activating the Success/Failure or Advantage/Threat control upgrades of Ebb/Flow must the base power be activated first?

2. When activating the Failure and Threat control upgrades of Ebb should those apply to all Engaged characters including allies, like the base power? Or are they definitely only intended to apply to opponents?

3. When Much to Learn is activated does the target loose the Talent if they move outside of the range of the signature ability?

4. No crunchy rules on a PC run Training Academy in the vein of Bases/Business/Farmsteads? I'm surprised!

I would also like to send a shout out to whoever wrote the opening bit of fiction on page 4. I read it after going over the rest of the book, and was impressed. I was wondering of examples of Aggressive Negotiations would be, and this provides a perfect one. So, props.

On the subject of Aggressive Negotiations: This talent is pretty impressive, but it seems like a talent that could invoke conflict. Any thoughts on how this talent may interact with awarding conflict?

4 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:

I would also like to send a shout out to whoever wrote the opening bit of fiction on page 4. I read it after going over the rest of the book, and was impressed. I was wondering of examples of Aggressive Negotiations would be, and this provides a perfect one. So, props.

On the subject of Aggressive Negotiations: This talent is pretty impressive, but it seems like a talent that could invoke conflict. Any thoughts on how this talent may interact with awarding conflict?

Agreed. How is using this talent supposed to be viewed in-game? Is it just about brandishing your weapon in a "make a deal or I'm gonna cut you down" manner? Why can't this be done with other types of weapons?

11 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Agreed. How is using this talent supposed to be viewed in-game? Is it just about brandishing your weapon in a "make a deal or I'm gonna cut you down" manner? Why can't this be done with other types of weapons?

Quote

"No, and they never will again." Urma wasn't speaking any louder, but everyone could hear her as clearly as if she were standing by their side. "It is time for you to cease your predations, Captain Arra."

The captain laughed harshly. "Or what? You'll try and stop me?"

Urma didn't move, but suddenly a glowing blade of energy ignited from the top of her staff, bathing everyone in cold, blue light. "I will not try."

Disciples of Harmony p. 4.

I have a pretty good idea on how it works, I want to know how to handle it with conflict, as it is aggressive.

5 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:

Disciples of Harmony p. 4.

I have a pretty good idea on how it works, I want to know how to handle it with conflict, as it is aggressive.

How would this be any different from racking the slide on a shotgun/scatter blaster or activating the generator on a vibroblade? Why is this talent lightsaber-specific?

1 minute ago, HappyDaze said:

How would this be any different from racking the slide on a shotgun/scatter blaster or activating the generator on a vibroblade? Why is this talent lightsaber-specific?

Well, we've got different questions. I've got an idea on what it does and what it looks like, but I'm more interested in the morality and conflict interaction.

Another Ebb/Flow question: do the Failure/Disadvantage effects of the power apply to enemies who are in range of the power when it's used, but then move out of range? What about enemies who start out out of range but then move into range?

For the Hilt-Masking Kit it say pricing varies based on item used to create kit, Does that count when I already have the Item I want to create the Kit with, and does the Kit's initial item's properties still work? I have a doctor who would like to hide his lightsaber in his Physician's Pack can I still use it as Physician's Pack?

The Stun Blaster Attachment is listed as requiring 3 hard points on the table on p. 52, but the text on p. 51 says it requires 2 hard points. Which is correct?

On 6/30/2017 at 7:51 PM, Bronther said:

For the Hilt-Masking Kit it say pricing varies based on item used to create kit, Does that count when I already have the Item I want to create the Kit with, and does the Kit's initial item's properties still work? I have a doctor who would like to hide his lightsaber in his Physician's Pack can I still use it as Physician's Pack?

I'm 100% certain the designer of that item did not intend for the piece of equipment to be usable as that piece of equipment after being used to mask the hilt without some time/and or money being spent to reassemble the said item into a working form again. Some sort of modification to the original item would have been needed which will have cost something to do and to reverse. Credits, significant time, parts, etc. I know people can and will think of exceptions and that's fine. Ultimately though, your table discussion will help you decide.

Or Sam, of course.

Why does Aggressive Negotiations not become a coercion check, as that's what threatening in negotiations does?

Another Ebb/Flow question: Can you still spend Force pips on the power if the skill check fails?

Im curious if Ebb is used on a player does the opposed skill check side bar from the core book come into play here, the reason I ask this, is because I wondered how the basic suppress would work with this.

Does the force user use another opposed check after the combined check to see if they overcome the PC/important Npc or does the failure apply to the combined check , potentially causing the skill check to fail, thereby causing the force power to also fail. If it is the former you need two dice rolls the initial combined and the second opposed. If it is the latter then it ultimately affects the other people who are affected even though they may not be under the effects of suppress.

Lastly there is the other option that it does not interact at all , because it doesnt target anyone in particular, which seems to be a bit of a nerf to those with suppress as it then becomes a force effect an opponent can use with impunity against a force power designed to combat offensive force powers.

The ascetic has three (iron soul, empty soul and I think mind bleed, basically the primary game mechanical incentives for taking ascetic) talents that require an encumbrance total of 2 or less after reductions (e.g. wearing armor instead of carrying it) are applied. The Jedi utility belt from "keeping the peace" comes with a bit of gear (emergency medpack, Jedi multitool, a99 aquatic breather, glow rod, etc.) for zero encumbrance. Is that gear a "flat zero" or does each item on the belt count as separate 0 encumbrance item, this relevant because 10 zero encumbrance items count as 1 encumbrance.

Basically the question is would reinforced clothing, a Jedi utility belt, lightsaber, an encumbrance 1 blaster pistol, 5 stim packs, and 2 field rations, prevent a character from using the super cool ascetic talents with the 2 encumbrance limit?

For the purpose of a comical oxymoronic build, how do the "utility belt" and "spare clip" talents interact with ascetic's 2 encumbrance limit talents.

On 6/30/2017 at 3:58 PM, Tramp Graphics said:

I'd like to know more about the Crucible and how we could build other Jedi training ships, particularly with what other possible options we can have, such as libraries and training facilities for lightsaber combat, such as those available with bases. What's allowable?

I will like to know this as well. Designing an adventure to Florrum to investigate and salvage the Crucible could be an excellent starting adventure. Plus how we can build a mobile Jedi trading will help my current group a lot.

The Individual Field Disruptor (IFD) is a nasty piece of work! I had some questions as to the intent of its design.

1. The description says that the 2-meter disruptor field "obscures visibility of the wearer" when active. Does this mean that it obscures the wearer from view, or that it obscures the wearer's view? I can imagine that the former is reflected in the 1 Defense rating, but can also imagine that the latter is in effect as a sort of balancing factor against the field's awesomeness.
2. The description mentions that the IFD is a smaller version of regular field disruptor, which is used to disable shields & electronic systems on starships. My question is, does this IFD work against any starship's shields or, any other vehicle systems? A freighter's navicomputer? An X-wing's shields? A speeder bike's repulsors? Or is it simply not powerful enough to affect vehicles?
3. Droids suffering "5 Stun damage." Is this as if from the Stun quality, thereby bypassing soak?
4. "If the field enters engaged range with any other electronic device, the device shorts out..." So...is the IFD capable of disabling my opponent's lightsaber, or a laser sight on his blaster rifle, or the datapad he's holding? Or is worn/held gear off-limits for this device, and it is only meant to work against unattended electronic devices (or perhaps if I was able to wrest such a device from my opponent's hands)? For that matter, do weapons qualify as "electronic devices" for the purposes of this IFD? What about cybernetics? Can I just walk up to Boba Fett and stop all his gear from working, or walk up to General Grievous and make him collapse into a pile of useless metal?
5. The question we all really want an answer to: What would happen if I took the IFD off my belt, and tried to use it as a tech-disabling bowling ball with the Move force power?

Given the image of Kanan teaching Ezra mean he has taken the Teacher career specialisation or just an example?

Is Imbue a "mind-altering Force power," per the rules for Droid PCs in the Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion core rulebooks? In other words, can I Imbue my Droid ally with this Force power?

I have a question similar to @DaverWattra regarding the Ebb/Flow power, but wanted to clarify: The two Control upgrades in the middle of the tree each have an Ebb effect that allow you to add Threat and/or Failure to "all checks made by engaged opponents until the end of the Force user's next turn."

That being the case, when activated, are these control upgrades centered around the Force user like an "aura," where the effect is constantly on, but only applies against targets that are currently within the power's range when they make their skill checks?