I have only played a Scoundrel, a Hired Gun, and now another Scoundrel in FFG. I'm thinking of switching to a Force and Destiny character. I don't know if my group of lowlifes is a good fit, but I want to at least plan out how I would stat the character out. I'm looking at Sentinel: Shien Expert as a decent mix or useful skills and talents, and here's my version of him with 200 XP (including starting XP):

Human.

Characteristics: 3 2 2 2 3 2 (60 XP spent)

Side Step 5, Conditioned 5, Reflect 5

Parry 10, Toughened 10

Enhance 10, Control (leap) 10, Control (leap again) 10

Sense 10, Control (mind reading) 10, Control (commit die) 10.

... and that leaves 45 XP to spend on skills.

How am I doing? You folks who have played Jedi, what has worked for you?

A "Jedi" can be effective in SO many ways - but probably not ALL ways (like you might envision from the canon Jedi) with just 200 post-chargen-xp.

Accordingly, the answer to this question depends 100% on what you want to be effective at, right now.

Your above build doesn't strike me as particularly effective at any one thing, but rather more of a generalist. This isn't a bad thing, generalists do quite well in this system in my experience, but if that (a generalist) is not your goal, then you may want to consider looking for more synergy in the area(s) you want to be effective in.

8 minutes ago, emsquared said:

Your above build doesn't strike me as particularly effective at any one thing, but rather more of a generalist. This isn't a bad thing, generalists do quite well in this system in my experience, but if that (a generalist) is not your goal, then you may want to consider looking for more synergy in the area(s) you want to be effective in.

My group isn't really cut out for the more cerebral kind of games, so being a generally good survivor is kind of my priority here. And I don't like specialising in games; it always leaves you with huge blind spots.

10 minutes ago, Jeivar said:

And I don't like specialising in games; it always leaves you with huge blind spots.

In this game, a GM should not be exploiting deficiencies of a specialized character just because.

Anyway, if you stick with Shien Expert, my suggestion would be to raise Cunning to 3 as well.

I'm playing a character that will become a generalist, "average" Jedi in a campaign right now. I went with Seer to begin with. He's a Pau'an. I put 20 XP toward getting his Brawn up to 2, then the rest of my starting XP went toward getting him FR2 on the Seer tree, and the base power of Enhance along with a control upgrade leading to the Brawn-based control upgrade.

By the time he hits 150 XP, I will have spent:

5 XP for Enhance (Control - Brawl), 10 XP for Enhance (Control - Brawn commit), 5 XP for Knowledge Outer Rim 1, 10 XP for Sense (Base), 10 XP for Sense (Commit upgrade), 30 XP for Soresu Defender, 5 XP for Parry 1, 10 XP for Influence Base, 10 XP for Influence (Control - Mind trick), 10 XP for Move Base, 10 XP for Move Strength, 10 XP for Soresu Technique, 5 XP for Lightsaber 1, 10 XP for Lightsaber 2, and 10 XP for Reflect 1.

This gives him all of the basic powers we see virtually all Jedi have access to: The ability to enhance their physical capabilities through the Force, the ability to Sense the world around them with the Force, particularly for the sake of combat, the ability to influence the minds of others with the Force, and the ability to move objects with the Force. He'll also be able to parry and reflect incoming attacks. So at 150 XP, he'll pretty much be the definition of an average Jedi padawan. The only thing I'm thinking of changing in this is possibly going for the Leap upgrade for Enhance rather than a second rank of Lightsaber.

6 hours ago, Underachiever599 said:

I'm playing a character that will become a generalist, "average" Jedi in a campaign right now. I went with Seer to begin with. He's a Pau'an. I put 20 XP toward getting his Brawn up to 2, then the rest of my starting XP went toward getting him FR2 on the Seer tree, and the base power of Enhance along with a control upgrade leading to the Brawn-based control upgrade.

By the time he hits 150 XP, I will have spent:

5 XP for Enhance (Control - Brawl), 10 XP for Enhance (Control - Brawn commit), 5 XP for Knowledge Outer Rim 1, 10 XP for Sense (Base), 10 XP for Sense (Commit upgrade), 30 XP for Soresu Defender, 5 XP for Parry 1, 10 XP for Influence Base, 10 XP for Influence (Control - Mind trick), 10 XP for Move Base, 10 XP for Move Strength, 10 XP for Soresu Technique, 5 XP for Lightsaber 1, 10 XP for Lightsaber 2, and 10 XP for Reflect 1.

This gives him all of the basic powers we see virtually all Jedi have access to: The ability to enhance their physical capabilities through the Force, the ability to Sense the world around them with the Force, particularly for the sake of combat, the ability to influence the minds of others with the Force, and the ability to move objects with the Force. He'll also be able to parry and reflect incoming attacks. So at 150 XP, he'll pretty much be the definition of an average Jedi padawan. The only thing I'm thinking of changing in this is possibly going for the Leap upgrade for Enhance rather than a second rank of Lightsaber.

That looks like a solid plan, Underachiever599. I see it won't even take that much more for you to earn a THIRD Force rating. The whole business with the Force rating is one of the things that give me pause, given the low chance of actually succeeding with a power with only a single dot. I mean, yes, I can accept a Dark Side hit to my morality, but that also gives the ST dark destiny ammo to mess with the group.

It also looks like you'll be going a while before getting any good at fighting. And isn't the low Characteristics score a handicap?

13 minutes ago, Jeivar said:

That looks like a solid plan, Underachiever599. I see it won't even take that much more for you to earn a THIRD Force rating. The whole business with the Force rating is one of the things that give me pause, given the low chance of actually succeeding with a power with only a single dot. I mean, yes, I can accept a Dark Side hit to my morality, but that also gives the ST dark destiny ammo to mess with the group.

It also looks like you'll be going a while before getting any good at fighting. And isn't the low Characteristics score a handicap?

I won't be taking those skills in that exact order, necessarily. 30 XP in (Where my character is at the moment), I have access to Enhance's Brawn upgrade, so in combat, I can roll 4 green dice. Once I actually get a lightsaber with this character, I will start taking ranks into Lightsaber combat. Although, in general, this character isn't really meant to be combat focused. He's supposed to be a pure generalist, with a small amount of skill in a lot of different areas. (Pretty much doing the exact opposite of min-maxing)

The low characteristics are a handicap, yes. Though, that was intentional with this character. The idea behind this character was that he was an ordinary citizen with a higher than average connection to the Force. And of course, Enhance helps offset this during combat, essentially putting me at 4, 2, 2, 2, 3, 2, which isn't too shabby.

The problem with shine expert is the force rating (or lack thereof)

The only currenr way to make a 2 spec movie capable Jedi knight is by combining niman-disciple with sentry (in either order, order gives you different early game play experience). It will get you 5 reflect, improved reflect, 3 parry, 2 defensive stance, 2 dodge (you only need to pair with sense defense double upgrade), 2 dedication, force rating 3, take sense, enhance, move and optionally influence as force power.