So, in my campaign (thousand years after NJO, yadda yadda) one of the rules I liked from the Saga set was the Legacy destinies, which represented being part of a specific bloodline. I had a thought today about how to recreate that here, and while it's a bit of square-peg-in-round-hole for the CharGen program, I got a workable "short" specialization tree, with Talents that can be bought to represent the strengths of that particular Legacy.

What Legacy means is that you are descended from a great (probably, but not necessarily, Force-using) bloodline, and have some special abilities that others do not. Investing in the Legacy tree requires XP just like everything else, and they're considered Universal Specializations. Not every person in the family will have the Legacy, just those who have that extra touch of destiny or the Force about them (and out-of-character, the ones who decide to put XP in it). It's possible for a Skywalker to not even be Force-Sensitive, let alone have the Skywalker Legacy.

In practice there are four identical ranked talents at the top of the tree (really, just one talent that leads to all the others) and four identical ranked talents at the bottom of the tree (really, one talent that all the others lead to).

The First-Tier Talent is the defining aspect of that Legacy.

The Second Tier Talents are "Natural Aptitude," four skills which become class skills.

The Third Tier Talents are "Natural Mastery," which add Force Dice equal to Force Rating to the skill. Force Points can be spent for Success or Advantage.

The Fourth Tier Talent is the final, defining ability of the Legacy, usually directly involving what manner of Force use they are best at.

So, without further ado:

The Skywalker/Solo Legacy

Blood of the Chosen One
Your Force Rating increases by one.

Natural Aptitude: Piloting - Planetary -- Natural Aptitude: Piloting - Space -- Natural Aptitude: Gunnery -- Natural Aptitude: Mechanics

Natural Mastery: Piloting - Planetary -- Natural Mastery: Piloting - Space -- Natural Mastery: Gunnery -- Natural Mastery: Mechanics

Force Aptitude: Any Power
Select any one Force power. Your Force rating is considered one higher when using that power.

The Skywalker/Solo Legacy is still pretty similar, even if they have diverged. Anakin Skywalker's unusually strong Force potential still lives within them, giving them a leg up on everyone else early. In the novelization for A New Hope, Ben Kenobi points out that, while being a good pilot isn't really a matter of genetics, a lot of the reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and situational awareness that make for a good pilot are. And since every Force-Sensitive Skywalker and Solo we see in the films and EU is an exceptional pilot, yes, it seems Skywalkwers and Solos are just genetically predisposed to fly rings around everyone else. Lastly, the Skywalker/Solo strength in the Force manifests as flexibility, each individual one being more capable with a specific Force power. Anakin/Vader likely chose Move, Luke seemed to pick Enhance, Jaina Solo also likely took Enhance while Jacen picked. . . I dunno, Sense or something (note: I didn't bother with anything after the NJO, so to me, Darth Cadeus doesn't exist).

The Horn/Halcyon Legacy

Blood of Corellia
Once per encounter, after rolling a dice pool, you may reroll a number of dice in that pool equal to your Force rating.

Natural Aptitude: Piloting - Planetary -- Natural Aptitude: Piloting - Space -- Natural Aptitude: Gunnery -- Natural Aptitude: Streetwise

Natural Mastery: Piloting - Planetary -- Natural Mastery: Piloting - Space -- Natural Mastery: Gunnery -- Natural Mastery: Streetwise

Force Aptitude: Misdirect
Your Force rating is considered one higher when using the Misdirect power.

Corellians' hat seems to be getting by on luck and audacity, and Corran Horn is no exception. And like Luke Skywalker, he's an incredibly talented Force-assisted pilot. His Force skills also seem to help with his investigative abilities, and if I recall correctly, it was something else his bloodline was known for, and Streetwise seemed the best skill fit for that. Lastly, the Halcyon's were known to be very good with Force illusions, so adding a bonus to Misdirect was appropriate. I didn't include their inability to use telekinesis, because I figured that would be easy enough to do by just not spending points on the Move power, and if players and GM's were okay with breaking that piece of lore they could rationalize a way around it anyway.

The Durron Legacy

Blood of the Innocent
At the end of a session, you may add or subtract one from amount of Conflict you gained that session.

Natural Aptitude: Charm -- Natural Aptitude: Coercion -- Natural Aptitude: Deception -- Natural Aptitude: Negotiation

Natural Mastery: Charm -- Natural Mastery: Coercion -- Natural Mastery: Deception -- Natural Mastery: Negotiation

Force Aptitude: Move
Your Force rating is considered one higher when using the Move power.

Ah, Kyp Durron. Remember when you blew up a sun? So does everyone else. Modulating Conflict seemed like a good fit for a bloodline of atoners, so. . . well, that's what I came up with. I'm not married to it. Now, because Kyp was quite the pilot in the NJO, you might have expected me to copy-past the Skywalker and Horn legacies here, but what actually struck me more about NJO Kyp was his presence. The more radical elements of the Jedi Order looked to him as a leader, he was placed in a number of positions of authority (even if he bungled just about every single one), and he was pretty good at manipulating Jaina Solo (mostly throughout Dark Journey). Even the very first time we see him, he's using the old Jedi Mind Trick. So Kyp can definitely be a smooth talker, it was just that whole "blew up a sun" thing that kept most people from even listening to what he had to say. Lastly, I have his descendants a boost to the Move power because Kyp seemed really good with that, even retrieving the Sun Crusher from the center of Yavin IV (granted, he was drunk on the Dark Side at the time, but still). Okay, now that I'm done with my Jedi Academy Trilogy flashbacks. . .

The Kristal Legacy

Blood of the Dark Side
You do not suffer strain when using Dark Side Pips to generate Force Points

Natural Aptitude: Piloting - Planetary -- Natural Aptitude: Piloting - Space -- Natural Aptitude: Gunnery -- Natural Aptitude: Leadership

Natural Mastery: Piloting - Planetary -- Natural Mastery: Piloting - Space -- Natural Mastery: Gunnery -- Natural Mastery: Leadership

Force Aptitude: Conflict
Once per encounter, when a Force power or Talent generates Conflict, you may reduce the Conflict generated by an amount equal to your Force rating.

Okay, this one is based off an original character, who was a bit of a Gary Stu. Hey, it was early in my GMing/Storytelling career, give me a break. I still think I managed to tell a pretty decent story around him, so his descendants have continued into my current campaign. Very long story as short as possible, his family were leaders of an order of Dark Jedi that split off from the Sith and stayed hidden, until one guy during the Rebellion got fed up with it and turned away. Couldn't completely escape being raised in the Dark Side, but did his best, and his descendants carry the sliver of that darkness, hence their first ability. No strain means a greater freedom to gain Force Points from Dark Side pips, which leads to more Conflict, which potentially leads to Morality loss. For skills, the original character was a good fighter pilot as well, becoming a squadron leader and eventually a leading Jedi in Luke's order -- okay, okay, I already admitted he was a Gary Stu, I'm sorry! Finally, the last ability, something a little different. With their "one toe in the Dark Side" nature, the individual members have to come to terms with it on their own. Being able to accept the darkness inside without giving it power over them lets them stray a touch deeper into those shadows without getting lost. Probably.

So, that's what I've got so far. Thoughts?

I like the idea behind this. No thoughts yet on their application. Looks interesting!

So are these meant to function in a vein similar to Force powers?

At first pass, these look more than a little power-gamery, especially the Skywalker/Solo Legacy, as an easy boost to Force Rating is a huge boon to low XP characters, as going from FR1 to FR2 is a substantial upswing in the character's Force proficiency.

My recommendation is that rather than coming up with entire trees, just decide on a small benefit, not unlike the Saga Edition Legacy options, that the PCs can trigger once per encounter (or once per session if the ability is really good) by flipping a Destiny Point. So for the Skywalker/Solo Legacy, have the ability simply be that once per encounter, the PC can flip a Destiny Point to roll one additional Force die when making a Force power check (this means that they can't then spend a Destiny Point to convert pips, as you only get to spend one Destiny Point per roll).

Plus, having seen this from both a player and a GM perspective, being a Force user in this system is going to leave the majority of PCs incredibly hungry for XP, more so if they go the "Jedi" route and want to master both the Force and the lightsaber. Giving them yet another tree to spend XP on isn't really going to help, and will instead just make things worse in terms of begging for XP awards.

As for obtaining them, if all the PCs are going to have a Legacy of some sort, just hand it out for free at character creation since everybody's getting something. If only certain PCs are going to have the option, then I would say that instead of the usual Morality bonuses offered, they can opt instead to take a Legacy.

Oh, that last is a nice touch.

Legacies were an option when the campaign started (under Saga rules), but none of the players took advantage of them, so they're really for NPCs at this point. And yeah, it's an extra XP sink, but I think it's a more efficient way to build a character that would feel like a Skywalker than branching out into different specs for the right skills and such. I am concerned about the overall power levels, though.

9 hours ago, ErikModi said:

Oh, that last is a nice touch.

Legacies were an option when the campaign started (under Saga rules), but none of the players took advantage of them, so they're really for NPCs at this point. And yeah, it's an extra XP sink, but I think it's a more efficient way to build a character that would feel like a Skywalker than branching out into different specs for the right skills and such. I am concerned about the overall power levels, though.

Well, if this is for NPCs only, then you don't need to really worry about special talent trees, and you can just assign the NPCs whatever traits you want.

I think the problem you're running into here is the deciding of what "feels like a Skywalker" should mean. In terms of the films, we've only got Anakin and Luke, who were carbon copies of one another apart from the direction their moral decisions took them (Luke went Paragon where Anakin was more Renegade to put it in Mass Effect terms), and other authors over in Legends did much the same with the Solo kids, with them being by and large a reshuffling of traits of their parents. To say nothing of the Skywalker lineage by and large being walking plot devices (Luke in pre-prequel Legends could be especially bad for this) using their powers to get out of whatever corner the story had painted the author in. And the Luke in many of those stories was an experienced hero, the veteran of the Galactic Civil War, so he at least had some justification for being as powerful as he was.

Going back to the original films, Luke wasn't pulling off amazing feats of Force usage in the films until RotJ, by which point he'd be a PC with at least a few hundred XP under his belt to spend on talent trees, skill ranks, and Force powers (although even his Force power usage wasn't too extravagant). He likely started out as an Ace/Pilot from AoR, picked up Force Emergent with some of his beginning XP before branching out into F&D specs such as Shien Expert for lightsaber prowess.

It boils down to this game pretty much requiring that for a PC to become "powerful" that they're going to have to purchase more than one specialization; it's simply the nature of the beast; FFG designed their games to have the PCs start off as generally capable but not exceptionally so, and grow from there.

Well, yeah.

For starters: Skywalkers in Legends EU are pretty much defined by exceptional piloting skills. The super-Force-strength didn't come in until the prequels, but it's prevalent enough that I felt it was worthy of inclusion. Now, yes, branching out into different specializations is expected, I get that and actually really like that part of the system. But it kinda bothers me to pick up a spec just to give a Skywalker character piloting skills like I feel they should have. If I really want to make a great pilot, yes, the talents from a specialization to support that are necessary. If I just want to make a Skywalker with good piloting abilities, this is a bit more efficient. And hopefully something helpful, or at least interesting, for others. I don't rightly think these are balanced as-is, but maybe they can get to that point.

Maybe not.

Skywalkers being great pilots is covered by Enhance with the Control Upgrades to add their Force dice to Piloting (Planetary) and Piloting (Space) checks. This in addition to having a high Agility (at least a 3) as well as ranks in those skills makes for a highly skilled pilot.

This is very much not a "something for nothing" system. It's designed so that if a PC wants to be really awesome at something, it's not handed to them on a silver platter. To put it in Saga Edition terms, what you're suggesting would be akin to having one PC starting out at 3rd level with 45 points to buy attributes as well as three free bonus feats while the rest of the party start out as 1st level PCs with only 28 points to buy their attributes.

Uh, no. Not free.