How do you rule Bind and incidentals?

By GroggyGolem, in Game Masters

The base power of Bind restricts the target from taking maneuvers. Obviously the power is intended to represent the Force Choke ability, especially if you are using Dark Side pips to fuel the power.

That said, it seems the RAW would allow you to take a Dodge Incidental or Quick-Draw or any other non-maneuver movement of the body. Speaking is an Incidental, for instance and is usually shown to be impossible while one is suffering from a Force Choke effect. By RAW, one could use the talent called "Preemptive Avoidance" to move while suffering from Bind, since it is an Out-of-Turn incidental, or the one from the Demolitionist spec that lets you escape the range of a blast. To me it doesn't make narrative sense to allow incidentals, something that is supposed to be rapid and quick when your normal movements are restricted.

That said, the rules are written how they are written.

Do you allow players to perform Dodge or any other incidental while they are suffering from Bind?

If they have a talent they should gain the use of that talent, with some caveats.

A character with quick draw should be able to draw a weapon. That PC has honed their reflexes to the point of it being a matter of muscle memory. I don't think it's beyond reasonable for such an exceptional individual to be able to get a weapon out as the chock begins, and it would be no different from a Force User binding someone who was walking around with a blaster in hand.

For preemptive avoidance, I would let the character move from Engaged to Short range (I'm AFB but I believe that is what the power states), and allow the character using Bind to still hit the PC if they have the range to do so.

Dodge makes you harder to hit, but it's a bit of a misnomer in that you do not actually need to move (in the sense of changing range bands or otherwise maneuvering). In this case, it is mechanically identical to Adversary. If you would allow Adversary to increase a difficulty in using a force power on an NPC, the PC should get a similar benefit from Dodge. As most force power checks are specifically Discipline vs Discipline, I would say no to both, but every table is different.

That's a long way of saying "yes, but" to what PCs are trying to do. Go with it, but keep in mind that a single talent is unlikely to overcome a dedicated force user that has built up skill in a force power. If you find your PCs arguing because they don't want anything bad to happen to their characters, just remind them they should trust you and you are not treating them unfairly.

Oh this is entirely a scenario I thought of myself. The power is thematically odd but mechanically sound.