I'm building a force wizard as my first character, and I was wondering if there's any major mechanical difference to recommend starting as a mystic over a consular. I think I'm good with general flavour differences, but not the real game effects of talents etc.

Realistically no, they both have a primary focus on Social and Knowledge skills, both have a combat option. The Mystic supplement could make the difference a little wider though, they typically do with new Specialisations and Signature Abilities.

But what do you want to play? You mentioned Force Wizard and Sage/Seer. The main difference there is Sage is Knowledgeable and Social while Seer sees the future much better.

Edit: don’t forget Seekers can be Wizards (or perhaps Druids) too, Hermit is excellent even if a little more xp expensive for the third Force Rating, but they offer an outdoors type with an animal companion (I suggest something small for fun narrative without overtaking combat encounters with extra complexity... unless you have FR4 and can ride your Silhouette 2 pet!)

We've banned supplement books for our first campaign, mostly for simplicity.

I want a character that relies on force powers for combat, with a lightsaber almost purely for defence.

Apart from the +2 FR, the seer and sage also give the GM easy story hooks, through research and visions. Prior experience tells me I'm likely to end up the group healer, which is why the consular is currently my preferred option. I'm hoping I don't end up the primary social character as well.

A force wizard who attacks with the force and has a Saber for Defence? Niman Disciple is your only choice unless the game will last more than 12 months (the xp cost of multiple spec specs is high, so are Force Powers)

my suggestion is choose either the Saber or the Force Powers.

how often do you play?

For Move, FR 2, and a few Defensive Saber Talents you need between 150 and 170xp. You can do it with or without Sage

The saber isn't a big deal, I only brought it up to show my reliance on the force for offence At this stage at least half the group will be combat focussed characters, so I figure I can take a step back in that department for now.

Go for Sage then, it has the social and knowledge skills to support your group outside combat, grab basic Influence or Misdirect as well as Move, then dive straight for the first Force Rating. You will quickly find that FR1 is really weak and unreliable, FR2 is also to an extent.

If Social is perhaps an area you would like to be good at the Advisor can also be excellent, the Knowledge is Power Talent can let you do at least something insane with the Force each session.

6 hours ago, Cm60854 said:

We've banned supplement books for our first campaign, mostly for simplicity.

I want a character that relies on force powers for combat, with a lightsaber almost purely for defence.

Apart from the +2 FR, the seer and sage also give the GM easy story hooks, through research and visions. Prior experience tells me I'm likely to end up the group healer, which is why the consular is currently my preferred option. I'm hoping I don't end up the primary social character as well.

Then I would go with the sage because it makes it a little cheaper to get niman disciple as a second spec.

Is there any point getting move off the bat?

Move isn’t just about hurting your enemies, you can achieve a lot by moving a Silhouette 0 object

3 hours ago, Cm60854 said:

Is there any point getting move off the bat?

Yes, as it can be a very nice utility power, even if you're not able to attack with it right away. And it's only 15XP to get the ability to hurl objects, which while it may not be all that impressive with a silhouette 0 object (5 damage + uncancelled successes), it is a Simple difficulty, meaning it's easy to succeed at and odds are with a decent Discipline (Willpower 3 and at least 1 skill rank) you'll generate advantages which can be used to hinder the target with setback dice and/or pass boost dice to your allies.

Thanks, I wasn't sure if even the utility aspect was useful at FR1. I might still stick with sense and influence, for the thematics if nothing else

Seeing as this idea was pretty much exactly a concept I had in a previous campaign, I too suggest you pick Sage. It allows you cheaper access to Niman disciple, which is a very defensive focused saber style (for if/when you invest more into that), and it's the only one that also gives you +1 Force Rating. And, it's got a really sweet talent that lets you use Force Move to pull targets closer to you for attack, or, if they are already close enough for attack, the check gives you extra damage on the attack.

So for 2 talent trees that are within the same career, you can have the potential to get Force Rating 4, have a saber tree that is heavily focused on defensive stuff, with a little good offense sprinkled in, and talents in the other tree that mostly focus on mental/social related skills, not shooting and stabbing things. Plus, if you decide to further branch into Healer, that is also within Career, and thus cheaper as well.

It's about as Force Wizardy as you can get in my book, for the cheapest cost. Seer is a pretty close second, from a purely mechanical standpoint, but the XP penalty from branching out of Career does make it slightly less optimal based on what you are looking for.

Also, it feels more "wizardy" to me too. The Sage is all about gathering knowledge, learning secrets and uncovering lost information, which is very Gandalfy. The Seer is more the prophet/mystic type trope, more focused on visions of the future through the Force, etc. Which is still wizardy, but it's a different flavor of wizardy than your usual archetype.

If sourcebooks open up, Sage also gives cheaper access to the Ascetic. If you are willing to put up with the lack of gear, that is an amazing spec for a Force Wizard.

2 hours ago, TheSapient said:

If sourcebooks open up, Sage also gives cheaper access to the Ascetic. If you are willing to put up with the lack of gear, that is an amazing spec for a Force Wizard.

While it is true that the Ascetic is a great spec for a Force wizard, I will note that "Magus" literally means wizard (well, mage), and is coming, hopefully in the next month-and-a-half, in the Mystic book .

18 hours ago, Absol197 said:

While it is true that the Ascetic is a great spec for a Force wizard, I will note that "Magus" literally means wizard (well, mage), and is coming, hopefully in the next month-and-a-half, in the Mystic book .

Unlimited Power could definitely change the math, but right now, Consular is the best career for a Force Wizard. Between Sage, Niman, and Ascetic, you have tons of Force-focused talents, and the guaranteed two pips (one of each color) from Empty Soul in Ascetic with potentially a third guaranteed pip from Sage's One with the Universe talent means you can pull off some really boss Force tricks, even if you only have Force rating 1! The Ascetic is probably one of my top favorite specs right now just because of Intense Focus, Iron Soul, and Empty Soul.

If you are just using a lightsaber and the Force, you could almost stick with just Niman Disciple and Ascetic, as long as you dive for Empty Soul as quickly as possible. If you would prefer to go more heavy into the Force, then I would vote Sage/Ascetic with Move (and Bind when you get to Force Rating 2 for defense). One of my characters in an accelerated Knight-level campaign is Niman/Sage/Ascetic, and it's awesome to be able to take some strain and upgrade my Discipline check, then pretty much be guaranteed to Force disarm a bunch of troopers with the Move power at range :-)