I have to agree on the better soak 1 more brawn and 1 better armod is like having an always on 2/3 (base)reflect that doesnt cost strain, there are a few more options, get a spec with coordination dodge with 5 ranks of coordination , 5 failure added to a roll turns a 5yellow/1 green vs 2 purple from 95% chance to hit to approx 20% to hit, which i this game is a **** of z swing.

A similar talent is one I wouldnt recommend is Baleful Gaze, it seems similar but doesn't massively help with avoiding being bit (still drops the above check to75%, but does add a lot more threat/despair, given that its similar to 5 ranks of dodge or side step, you can see just how effective coordination dodge is at avoiding being hit, yes it costs a destiny point but 5 ranks of dodge costs 5 strain each time you use it to max. These work better for triggering overbalance/improved parry and improved reflect.

So my first character will start out in Juyo.

Would Shien or Soresu be a better spec for defense, or should I go all-out murder hobo with an Assassin spec?

Just now, StriderZessei said:

So my first character will start out in Juyo.

Would Shien or Soresu be a better spec for defense, or should I go all-out murder hobo with an Assassin spec?

I would go for Sentry if you want reflect, on top of that Sentry has some other pretty **** awesome skills and talents. You really don't want to be stuck on 1 force rating, it makes force powers way too random. You can find the specc in the Sentinel book.

14 minutes ago, Darth Revenant said:

I would go for Sentry if you want reflect, on top of that Sentry has some other pretty **** awesome skills and talents. You really don't want to be stuck on 1 force rating, it makes force powers way too random. You can find the specc in the Sentinel book.

Thanks, but I'm really not too impressed with many of the force powers as much as blade mastery. Otherwise I might take Niman.

Some of the powers are pretty nice, Endure can be pretty neat for staying in the fight, Alter can be good for taking control of the battlefield, Enhance is awesome for boosting yourself and moving around quickly. There are also some pretty decent force talents that lets you add force dice to various skill tests. But if you want a secondary lightsaber specc, then it's hard to go wrong with Niman. It's got some really nice defensive talents and lets you pull people into range if you have decent willpower, which also lets you add successes to the lightsaber skill test with force dice.

1 hour ago, Darth Revenant said:

Some of the powers are pretty nice, Endure can be pretty neat for staying in the fight, Alter can be good for taking control of the battlefield, Enhance is awesome for boosting yourself and moving around quickly. There are also some pretty decent force talents that lets you add force dice to various skill tests. But if you want a secondary lightsaber specc, then it's hard to go wrong with Niman. It's got some really nice defensive talents and lets you pull people into range if you have decent willpower, which also lets you add successes to the lightsaber skill test with force dice.

AND it gives both Force Rating and a dedication point!