Ok so my character who has pretty much NO CLUE about most things to do with the Empire might have just got pounced on by an Inquisitor

He actually has VERY little clue as to what the Inquisitors are, however this guy is wearing black with a black cloak and a domed helmet and just jumped 10m, got out a red glowing stick of doom and triggered fearsome - good news he’s not sounding like an asthmatic needing his inhaler- and is shorter - of course I decided that failingvthe fear check would be a good idea! So I have 1 black die for the rest of the encounter.

Now before I was feared I was prepared to see if a conversation was possible (my guy is 100 light paragon and doesn’t fight out of hand but doesn’t shy if needed)

However now I feel like just stabbing him ASAP and the way the initiative system works I’ll get 2 actions before he gets his next (unless the rest of the group don’t see the logic of me taking 4.5)

Is this a massive conflict risk do you guys feel or a reasonable response

to be fair we were in the process of saving 30 slaves and blowing up an imperial compound at the time

He jumped you, took out an energy weapon and mean-mugged you. That's absolutely 100% a declaration of "I'm gonna kick your ***", and you should have all the reasons in the world to try and prevent having your *** kicked.

11 minutes ago, EpicTed said:

He jumped you, took out an energy weapon and mean-mugged you. That's absolutely 100% a declaration of "I'm gonna kick your ***", and you should have all the reasons in the world to try and prevent having your *** kicked.

Pretty much this.

OP: Though if your guy is under the effects of a failed Fear check, you could have him trigger his Flight response, instead of Fight. And he just turns tail and runs away as fast as possible. That's a perfectly normal response to a terrifying thing jumping out of nowhere and menacing you. Then you could have a chase scene, maybe escape, and if not, have a "cornered his prey" kind of conversation.

I think your main issue is whether or not the Inquisitor is feeling chatty really. The fact that YOU might want to talk to him, doesn't mean he's going to have anything to say. He might just pull a Darth Maul and leap off his bike and start wailing at you. But if you do try and initiate conversation, with a failed fear check, I'd try and start things with phrases like "Who are you?!" "What do you want!?" "I don't have any money !?" or conversely "Here! Take all of my credits! Just leave me alone!" If your guy is as clueless as you say he is about the Empire, he's not going to know why this guy is after him, so he probably wouldn't ask anything plot relevant. It'd likely be nothing but things like I said above. At least on his end anyway. The Inquisitor might decide to Menacingly Exposition at your PC, which could then open up some actual plot dialogue.

This is how I run games: if an NPC initiates combat, I narrate to that effect.

If a dude jumps at you with a lightsaber, then he is starting the combat. "He goes to attack you—roll initiative."

However, if a GM had me roll initiative and just describe the scene as "this guy is just standing there with his lightsaber out, he isn't threatening you or attacking you yet," then I would draw my own lightsaber and go into a defensive stance...even if I failed my fear check. The setback is enough for narrative purposes to describe the fear that my character feels.

However, if my Weakness was Fear (from the Morality trait), I might have my character attack purely out of fear. And yeah, there's conflict there.

Just now, awayputurwpn said:

This is how I run games: if an NPC initiates combat, I narrate to that effect.

If a dude jumps at you with a lightsaber, then he is starting the combat. "He goes to attack you—roll initiative."

However, if a GM had me roll initiative and just describe the scene as "this guy is just standing there with his lightsaber out, he isn't threatening you or attacking you yet," then I would draw my own lightsaber and go into a defensive stance...even if I failed my fear check. The setback is enough for narrative purposes to describe the fear that my character feels.

Yeah, the only variation I'd make to this, is the opening one-liner the villain might make right before jumping you. They don't always do it silently, so it can allow for some conversation while fighting, if you start it. You can have it be like in Phantom Menace, when Maul leaps off his speeder, and just goes straight into wailing on Qui-Gon, or you can do the same thing, but have him say something first, like "You will pay for what you did to my family Jedi!!" Which can start a fun fight/talk as the scene progresses.

Very often the roll for initiative means the gloves are off and combat has started if the players started it with I attack and the gm calls for initiative, they started the fight. If the GM calls for initiative and the players rollhigher than their attacker it doesnt mean they tried to hit first, it just means the effects of their action are felt first, there could have been 2 or 3 attacks a number of parries before the players action even started.

Oh we were right in the middle when this guy jumped me

Well, he was looking for the reported 'Jedi' and you were waving a glow stick around !

6 minutes ago, Darzil said:

Well, he was looking for the reported 'Jedi' and you were waving a glow stick around !

I’m no Jedi!

Sadly most Inquisitors will actually talk before swinging. They have the whole turn if possible, capture alive for more enhanced turning and kill only if absolutely required.

If you are really Morality 100 then why do you need to ask the question. You should be disarming him and neutralising the Threat with as little bloodshed as possible. When he is tied up you go about your business and get out of there.

but you should be taking conflict for the failure of a fear check, and that failure should guide your characters choices. What is your weakness? What would being frightened do to you? Would you lash out in anger?

At Morality 100 you can afford to have the occasional outburst, its the flaw of the Morality system.

Stab the Sith. Stab the slaves. Stab your friends too. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(I have been advised to specify "Stab your friends characters" as actual murder is frowned upon in some places.)

Just in case you are interested

I disarmed him, gave him his light sabre back and told him to leave <insert cheesy dialogue here >

this happen three times and he didn’t get the hint

at that point he SMASHED me a good one, I stabbed him back and he died (by falling off the platform unconscious) and then our combat medic ran him over in an APC by accident

i finished on both my wound AND strain thresholds

ouchie

On 3/6/2018 at 1:24 AM, Random Bystander said:

and then our combat medic ran him over in an APC by accident

Yes.... "Accident"

At the time I was flat on my back going owwwwwww

To be fair he’s a rubbish driver - all natural skill no training - so if he did it deliberately it would be impressive!!!

Okay I understand not killing him, but why return the saber?

The concept is see you aren't a threat to me so I'm giving you your glow stick back, because I can kill you even if you have it.

I didn’t want to kill him, I wanted him to retreat - so showing disdain would help

plus I’m a dualist - we have style!!

On 2/26/2018 at 9:31 PM, Random Bystander said:

I’m no Jedi!

I’m sure you could have just explained that in a reasonable, civil tone and have avoided this whole mess.

11 hours ago, nameless ronin said:

I’m sure you could have just explained that in a reasonable, civil tone and have avoided this whole mess.

Funny you should say that - I did try life coach mentoring on him, but he ignored me.

it also didn’t help that the rest of my group who had heard on imperial comms that I was a Jedi never told me that fact... I’d have got right on that imperial comms and corrected them!!!!

Or indeed if the computer guy who was in the ship with the jammer when you performed the ambush had used the jammer . . .

3 hours ago, Darzil said:

Or indeed if the computer guy who was in the ship with the jammer when you performed the ambush had used the jammer . . .

Would have helped!

On 2018-02-26 at 12:28 PM, syrath said:

Very often the roll for initiative means the gloves are off and combat has started if the players started it with I attack and the gm calls for initiative, they started the fight. If the GM calls for initiative and the players rollhigher than their attacker it doesnt mean they tried to hit first, it just means the effects of their action are felt first, there could have been 2 or 3 attacks a number of parries before the players action even started.

^ this. It's like a gun duel: the guy who pulls first is the initiator (and then, by law, the attempting murderer); whereas the guy who reacts is acting in self defense. But the reacting person might still be quicker and get the first real shot...and isn't going to wait while the first guy is still bringing his weapon to bear.

I'd like to pose a similar question and this seems like the best place to put it.

What is the most appropriate action for a morale, well-meaning, Force user being shaken down by corrupt Imperials who have boarded his ship asking for hundreds of credits before they depart? They are armed and clearly coercing the group. The party has the money to pay. Assume there are no shenanigans available like mind trick and/or you've fail your negotiation check.

Scenario 1: If the Force user declined, the conflict escalated and the shady Imperials were cut down, would conflict be awarded? Or...

Scenario 2: If the party had the money to pay, and the Force user payed it, sending them on their merry way, how do we know the GM won't continue to abuse their good graces?

I’d say yes, award conflict in scenario 1. In scenario two you have a bigger issue if gm is abusing party rather than building a story with them.