When you have a talent in a spec such as defensive circle which says bake a hard Lightsaber (intellect) check.

Does this mean I have to make the lightsaber check with intellect as opposed to brawn? This is in S.Defender and I'm not planning to take the soresu technique talent

I would say intellect since that's what it says in the talent. If it didn't use intellect it would probably just say make a light-saber check, then any technique form would apply.

12 minutes ago, TheShard said:

When you have a talent in a spec such as defensive circle which says bake a hard Lightsaber (intellect) check.

Does this mean I have to make the lightsaber check with intellect as opposed to brawn? This is in S.Defender and I'm not planning to take the soresu technique talent

You must make this test with Intellect. If you do not have Soresu Technique, you cannot do so at all.

I'd say use Lightsaber and Intellect. If it were only for Soresu Technique it'd say that instead.

14 hours ago, TheShard said:

When you have a talent in a spec such as defensive circle which says bake a hard Lightsaber (intellect) check.

Does this mean I have to make the lightsaber check with intellect as opposed to brawn? This is in S.Defender and I'm not planning to take the soresu technique talent

Yes, that's what it means. If you don't have Soresu Technique, you can't make a Lightsaber (Intellect) check, which means you can't use Defensive Circle.

Edit: Or Strategic Form. IIRC, every lightsaber specialization with a Technique form has two talents that require making Lightsaber checks with that technique's alternate characteristic.

Yup, you'll need the correct "technique" to make any special technique talent checks.

but you are not ristricted to use the techniques skill for any other lightsaber attack (except for those that specificaly mention the different skill)

So you still may attack with Lightsaber Brawn on any other ocassion than the special talents

Remember that even if you don't really need the "Technique" Talent, it can still be good to have. Critical Injuries might reduce your Brawn or increase the difficulty of any Brawn rolls, so having Soresu Technique would let you sidestep that penalty. Of course, if you have Brawn 4 and Intellect 1, it ain't gonna help that much.

Yeah I just took it I was trying to build a brawn/will soresu but abandoned it... Will be a hermit/soresu shistavanen, with 4 int and 3s in wil and agil