Hello!

Finally I got the rule book. As I read the chapter regarding The Force first, as our next session is in just a few days and I will not finish the book in its entirety before that date, I could not find any hint how to raise Force Rating. Did I overlook something? Is that covered anywhere else in the book?

In the specialization tree, there are boxes that say Force Rating: Gain +1 Force Rating. Of course, those boxes are on the bottom of the tree and expensive.

Thanks!

Edit: So, the Ataru Striker can't raise his Force Rating?

40 minutes ago, Seam said:

Thanks!

Edit: So, the Ataru Striker can't raise his Force Rating?

only one lightsaber specialization does-niman. There are a few hybrids, armorer / Protector/ Sentry and the new one from the consular book whose name escapes me for now, but the forms so fat only have niman (which makes sense if you think about it). 2 specializations have 2 , Sage and Seer, but they dont get dedication, and Ascetic gets a pseudo 2nd FR with empty soul.

1 hour ago, Seam said:

Edit: So, the Ataru Striker can't raise his Force Rating?

He can if he buys another specialization with the Force Rating talent

The Navigator spec from the Seeker book (so in-career for a Striker) has a FR talent in the fourth row.

4 hours ago, Edgehawk said:

The Navigator spec from the Seeker book (so in-career for a Striker) has a FR talent in the fourth row.

Don't the other 2 classes that are tied to Seeker? I thought all of the non-saber classes gave you at least 1 (+1 Force Rating) Talent. Navigator isn't the only one is it? Don't have my books handy.

7 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

Navigator isn't the only one is it?

Nah, just the cheapest. It's a straight shot down to the 20xp talent, in that tree.

19 minutes ago, Edgehawk said:

Nah, just the cheapest. It's a straight shot down to the 20xp talent, in that tree.

Ah, ok, you're wording kind of implied that was the only one to provide the increase. And my brain was like "bwuh?"

I never read deeply into the Seeker specs, as they just didn't fit any concepts I currently had bouncing in my brain, so I might've overlooked something.

The nice thing about all the supplement lightsaber specializations (Arbiter, Armorer, etc) is that they all provide +1 Force Rating. The tradeoff is that you don't get any of those "Technique" talents that allow you to substitute an alternate characteristic for your Brawn when making Lightsaber skill checks.

46 minutes ago, awayputurwpn said:

The nice thing about all the supplement lightsaber specializations (Arbiter, Armorer, etc) is that they all provide +1 Force Rating. The tradeoff is that you don't get any of those "Technique" talents that allow you to substitute an alternate characteristic for your Brawn when making Lightsaber skill checks.

True, but if they are a "supplement" lightsaber tree, it does imply that you've already picked up one of those other trees, and thus have already had access to that Technique talent. Thus, there's no real reason to replicate it.

Which makes sense really. If you are trying to be a lightsaber focused character, you're probably not going to start with the talent tree with the fewer amount of lightsaber focused talents. You'd start with Niman, or Ataru, etc, and then branch into one that still helped your saber skills a bit, while giving you more variety in your abilities.

13 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

True, but if they are a "supplement" lightsaber tree, it does imply that you've already picked up one of those other trees, and thus have already had access to that Technique talent. Thus, there's no real reason to replicate it.

Which makes sense really. If you are trying to be a lightsaber focused character, you're probably not going to start with the talent tree with the fewer amount of lightsaber focused talents. You'd start with Niman, or Ataru, etc, and then branch into one that still helped your saber skills a bit, while giving you more variety in your abilities.

Totally. What I was getting at was that you get a FR talent instead of the "Technique" talent.

And those lightsaber technique talents can be a boon, but they're not a make-it-or-break-it thing. Often times a character will have a high, or at least respectable, Brawn rating, so much so that spending 20 XP for a specialization and then dipping down 15 more XP just for the technique talent isn't worth it. There could be plenty of reasons for a PC to start as a Guardian with the Armorer spec, and then purchase the Sentry spec, all the while being focused on mechanics with 4 Intellect and 3 Brawn, and never touch the Soresu Defender specialization. It'd be the same XP for that character to just purchase 3 ranks in the Lightsaber skill (after getting one for free at character creation) and get a way better dice pool than if he did a dip for Soresu Technique.

Just for example It's unorthodox, but still valid and possibly very effective at getting your particular concept across.

Oh I know what you mean, I'm just saying, the example you gave, isn't a character concept that's heavily focused on being lightsaber bada$$ right out the gate of creation. Sure they would start with say, Armor, but they likely are interested in doing, you know, Armorer stuff. I'm just saying that it's a good decision to not duplicate the Technique, since the trees in question aren't saber heavy trees. For someone who IS wanting to be a saber focused character, Armorer is probably not their starting spec, and the saber specs are the ones that would give them that Technique. It would be something that is, from top to bottom, saber related stuff. But for the non-saber focused character, they probably have more evenly distributed stats, and likely aren't as hyper focused, so having that Technique isn't that useful to them right away. As they aren't planning on hurling themselves bodily into every encounter, twirling a glowstick of death. But down the road, if they do decide to become more martially oriented, they can always dip into whichever spec tree is most fitting, and then buy that talent if they need it, to give them a mechanical boost.

I know for my non combat jedi sage I made a long time ago, if/when he went Niman, he was most definitely going to pick up that talent, because he had like 1 Brawn, so his saber attack pool was abysmal. But he had a LOT of other things he was going to be spending points on first. Like Force powers.