hi,

I'm new to this game, I would like to interpret a sith similar to palpatine. In order of importance based on: 1)Force Power, 2)Charisma, 3) LightSaber Ability

How would you build a sith like Palpatine?

Thanks!

Don't forget cunning. Were I to make this attempt after not looking at my books for months, I'd pick a light saber spec that allows me to switch from brawn to something else. Do my best to max cunning and presence, shovel as many ranks into light saber as I can (result being 5y 1gr pool). As many talents in parry as I can find. Likely a FR of 4 or 5 across multiple classes/specializations. Buckets of ranks in social skills, maxed out Force Enhance, the one that lets the user see the future, protect/unleash (narrative lightening) , bind (narrative choke), and move object. All in all Palps is likely a 1200 - 1800 xp char. If you search someone has run a game with the likes of Yoda and other really powerful Jedi and their abilities are redonks.

Also, any force power checks in his presence automatically add 5 pips to them. And they refresh with every incidental action and maneuver. But you take bonus conflict for using them. But they're free and he wants you to take them, really have them. Take them, they'll really help.

I'd give Palpatine a Willpower and a Presence of 6 each, and give him Adviser, Niman Disciple, Sage, Seer, and Shii-Cho Knight. This puts him at 7 Force die, three ranks of Reflect, seven ranks of Parry, and a lot of good social talents and skills. Maybe throw in Soresu or Shien if he needs added defense. For Force powers, I'd give him all of Bind, Protect/Unleash, Move, Enhance, Sense, Foresight, and Influence. Possibly Battle Meditation as well, as Legends implied Palpatine was influencing the battle of Endor with the Force. A ton of skill ranks into Charm, Coercion, Negotiation, Deception, Discipline, and Lightsaber, as well as some ranks into each of the Knowledge skills. I see Palpatine being well over 2,000+ experience, seeing as he's supposed to be the most powerful Sith Lord of all time.

If you want a somewhat toned-down version, go with Adviser, Niman Disciple, and Sage. He'll still have FR 5, Parry 3, and Reflect 3, along with some ranks of Defensive Training. Still put a lot of skill ranks into Charm, Coercion, Negotiation, Deception, Discipline, Lightsaber, and the knowledge skills though. Don't bother with Enhance, but still put XP into Bind, all of Protect/Unleash, the left side of Sense, and all of Foresight and Influence.

I question influence mostly because I haven't read the comics or books, he seems to achieve his goals with straight manipulation and personality than force use. I also haven't seen the use of battle meditation for the Battle of Endor, that's a big deal if there's stuff that suggests he was influencing things for that.

Just thought: He'd need suppress too, he's practically on top of the Jedi temple yet the Jedi never find it's him till Anni comes around and says so. I'd think based off how the force works in theory, that if he's actively using the force to do a tons of stuff he'd light up like a Christmas tree for the Jedi to track him down.

I'm pretty sure the question is about a player character in the style of a Force-using social manipulator, not about how to handle Palpatine as an NPC.

48 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

I'm pretty sure the question is about a player character in the style of a Force-using social manipulator, not about how to handle Palpatine as an NPC.

If that is the case, I'd go with Sage first, followed by Niman. Gets you up to FR 4 between those two trees, as well as some social talents from Sage. Take Protect/Unleash, Bind, Move, Sense, and Foresight for powers. Eventually take Adviser as well.

You said a sith like him? Do you mean you want to build a palpy feeling dude or you literally want to try and NPC him in your game?

Adversary 66. Other stats: None. The golden rule of "if it has stats, it is gonna die" applies here

28 minutes ago, SEApocalypse said:

Adversary 66. Other stats: None. The golden rule of "if it has stats, it is gonna die" applies here

Maybe that's the point

12 minutes ago, TheShard said:

Maybe that's the point

In that case fire away, council members should be around 2,000 xp, and those are little weaklings compared to Palpatine. So you end up with something like a 6,000 XP nemesis character, a literal master of the force, with all force powers max out, insane lightsaber skills, etc

Or just assume all stats except brawn max, hand out adversary 6+ and 15 ranks of parry and reflect. Palpatine really is a monster with unlimited power.

Whay would vader be started as to survive max force lightening long enough to pick the emperor up and toss him?

Palps was 'Sideous' not 'Brawnicus.' He outsmarted everyone, played to their weaknesses, and had a few really good tricks. A 9 quadrillion XP monster he is not. I mean like it or not he died in the end, by being thrown in a hole. Even Maul survived that kinda wimpy crap AFTER being cut in half, and being force lightninged for an unknown amount of time. Does this mean Maul > Sideous? O.o

6 hours ago, ASCI Blue said:

Palps was 'Sideous' not 'Brawnicus.' He outsmarted everyone, played to their weaknesses, and had a few really good tricks. A 9 quadrillion XP monster he is not. I mean like it or not he died in the end, by being thrown in a hole. Even Maul survived that kinda wimpy crap AFTER being cut in half, and being force lightninged for an unknown amount of time. Does this mean Maul > Sideous? O.o

Stunning news, fight of the century, Maul vs Sidious. Spoilers: Sidious is a combat monster, but Maul has an ace in his sleeve. His brother.

After seeing this post my wife and I decided to create a 2100xp nemesis of Sheeve. Lots of social skills, nemesis 5, high willpower and lightsaber skills, etc. Then we put 4 1000xp (our party) characters against him in a mock battle. 3 rounds later all four where down and Sheeve was criticaled twice and still handed out a butt kicking. Force lighting and improved reflect pulled it out for the old Darth. Good fun.

1 hour ago, TEK said:

After seeing this post my wife and I decided to create a 2100xp nemesis of Sheeve. Lots of social skills, nemesis 5, high willpower and lightsaber skills, etc. Then we put 4 1000xp (our party) characters against him in a mock battle. 3 rounds later all four where down and Sheeve was criticaled twice and still handed out a butt kicking. Force lighting and improved reflect pulled it out for the old Darth. Good fun.

And in Revenge of the Sith Sheev actually deals with 4 Council members at once. Alone. Kills two of them right away, stabby stabby Palpatine style, Kid Fisto lasts only little longer and Mace Windu is literally the only jedi in existence who can challenge Sheev Palpatine's abilities with the lightsaber. And even he needs quite some time with his Vaapad and Shatterpoint ability to get the upper hand in their duell … just to be screwed over by Palpatine's foresee ability who was stalling for Anakin's arrival. Palp kicks Yoda still after that fight with Mace Windu …

Palpatine really is the most powerful Sith and peak of 1,000 years of refinement.

Sheeve is a power house. In game terms a brawn 2 whirlwind of death .

My advice to the op is use the unleash control upgrade to use force lighting as a maneuver, the force is my ally talent to preform a force power action as maneuver, unleash again and of course unleash as an action on his first turn. He can then clean up on his next turn with his light saber (use either draw closer or salecc sweep), also add niman technique and deadly accuracy lightsaber to up his damage to Jedi council dies really fast levels. This in addition to all of the parry, reflect, improved version of each, adversary 5 and a really high strain, etc. Look at the inquisitor rules as a starting point.

Palpatine is very hard to make because he is so capable, so you might have to manage your expectations.

Race : Human

Obligation : Addiction (to power), and select +10XP

Starting Stats : Br 2, Ag 2, In 3, Cn 3, Wp 3, Pr 3. This will allow you to be great with all the social/force abilities.

Career : Mystic

Specialisation : Seer first since it has Force Rating +1 twice. Then Advisor , so you can gain more social skills and an additional Force Rating. Note the seer take a long time to "get good" but it will give you access to early Force ratings so you can slowly build up your force powers.

Skills : Whatever you like.

Talents : Aim to get to your first force Rating +1 early, and then buy some force powers so you're not totally gimped. Or, if you are playing knight level (+150XP), you can spend all your XP and get to Force Rating +1, twice. You will need to wait a few games to build up your powers, but you will be rolling lots of dice to activate your abilities.

Final words : That's about it really. From there, you can take it where you like. I do offer a word of caution - a "pure mage" Force user will take time to get good, so be warned. Unless your GM is throwing XP at you in droves, you will be walking around being an XP leech until you can get your skills up.

MS

23 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

And in Revenge of the Sith Sheev actually deals with 4 Council members at once. Alone. Kills two of them right away, stabby stabby Palpatine style, Kid Fisto lasts only little longer and Mace Windu is literally the only jedi in existence who can challenge Sheev Palpatine's abilities with the lightsaber. And even he needs quite some time with his Vaapad and Shatterpoint ability to get the upper hand in their duell … just to be screwed over by Palpatine's foresee ability who was stalling for Anakin's arrival. Palp kicks Yoda still after that fight with Mace Windu …

In the story business we call this plot armour , so I wouldn't base your evaluation on this alone. Remember, Palapatine's plot armour failed him despite unleashing God mode on the Jedi in EPIII.

For example:

MS

1 minute ago, masterstrider said:

In the story business we call this plot armour , so I wouldn't base your evaluation on this alone. Remember, Palapatine's plot armour failed him despite unleashing God mode on the Jedi in EPIII.

I would not dream to base this on single occurrences. I literally posted his fight with Maul before and there are several other occurrences in canon when Palp gets unleashed. Calling it plot armor in that regard just doesn't fit. It does not fit either if you are specific about this foresee force ability, because he shows in canon dozen of times who precise his predictions are. They are not without fail, his own end took him by complete surprise after all, and some events during the clone wars did not played out like he planned either, but he had a pretty solid success rate and adapted quickly when things did not move like planned. And he had a failsafe plan on top.

19 minutes ago, SEApocalypse said:

I would not dream to base this on single occurrences. I literally posted his fight with Maul before and there are several other occurrences in canon when Palp gets unleashed. Calling it plot armor in that regard just doesn't fit. It does not fit either if you are specific about this foresee force ability, because he shows in canon dozen of times who precise his predictions are. They are not without fail, his own end took him by complete surprise after all, and some events during the clone wars did not played out like he planned either, but he had a pretty solid success rate and adapted quickly when things did not move like planned. And he had a failsafe plan on top.

I understand what you mean. Still, what you have just described is a kind of reverse plot armour; since we know how Palpatine ends in EPVI, proving he is not invincible, despite all the prior cannon making him appear so. To be even more frank, you could almost argue anything about Palpatine's power since Disney is treating Star Wars like the Marvel universe, invoking the power to ebb and flow individual abilities as the plot (or their sales margins and appeal to fanboys) requires. Very lame.

Palpatine was "da bomb" up until he was thrown into a pit by Robo-dad.

MS

By that logic the Balrog of Moria was a wimp, just because by coincidence, some player rolled a 680 on a d100 and slayed him on that bridge in out game. ;-)
Palpatine's skills and powers are shown on screen, repeatability. Getting surprised once does not negate that. At all. It is a one time occurrence. Just giving him stats accounts for that already as he might die based on a lucky roll when you give him stats.

Maybe Poppa Vader manged to win a athletics vs athletics check with his master taking advantage of his weakness. After all Palps is not a very physical guy and was busy frying up baby boy luck.

Palps was the final product of Bane's plan to defeat the jedi and gain power however he foolishly believed his control over his apprentices was compete which lead to his down fall or he got the shaft (puns ?)

8 hours ago, TEK said:

Maybe Poppa Vader manged to win a athletics vs athletics check with his master taking advantage of his weakness. After all Palps is not a very physical guy and was busy frying up baby boy luck.

Palps was the final product of Bane's plan to defeat the jedi and gain power however he foolishly believed his control over his apprentices was compete which lead to his down fall or he got the shaft (puns ?)

Palp was staggered. Stupid Obi-Wan, teaching Anakin Precision Strike. Everything else was indeed just a simple Athletics check, literally, because a staggered target does not resist. Ironically warden is an actual fitting spec für late Anakin Skywalker, because he was drifting off to the dark side exactly that way. Using Intimidation and strong arm methods against separatists.

Ugh, thank you all for reminding me how much I hate retconning dead characters back to life. First the emperor and the overrated Bobba Fett and now Maul. And now the last one is Canon because of an awful cartoon? Seriously am I the only one who could not make it the the first season because of the slap stick droids that make Jar Jar Binks blush, anger management issues Grevious, and emo Ani?