Thrawn: Alliances (spoilers)

By ErikModi, in Star Wars: Force and Destiny RPG

So, for those who've read Thrawn: Alliances, some queries to pose:

Cortosis: Zahn credits cortosis in the new continuity with an enhanced ability to absorb blasterfire, something it never possessed in Legends. How might this be statted up in-game?

Instinctive Astrogation: Way back from the West End Games RPG, Instinctive Astrogation let Force users plot hyperspace jumps with the Force. Turns out, in the "new canon," this ability is critical to the Chiss ability to navigate the near-unnavigable Unknown Regions. Would this need to be a new Force Power tree, or is it already covered somewhere?

Chiss Force-Sensitives: Related to the above, Thrawn states that the Chiss have a small number of Force-Sensitives, who only have Precognitive abilities, thus allowing them to use the Force to navigate hyperspace. Moreover, their Force Sensitivity wanes as they age, forcing the Chiss to utilize them when they're just children, as by the time they reach adulthood they can no longer feel the Force. How would one stat that in-game? And on a speculative note, is this a flaw in Chiss ability to adequately train their Force-Sensitives, and if they had access to, say, proper Jedi (or Sith) training, would they be better able to retain their abilities? Or is there some genetic quirk of the Chiss species that causes them to actually lose contact with the Force as they age?

Cortosis already sort of have that trait in the game. It blocks out both pierce and breach if it's used on armour. While it doesn't cut down on alpha damage, the ability to cut down on pierce and breach damage does lead to less damage being done.

As for Third Sight and the peculiarities of Chiss Force sensitivity, I think it can be chalked up to a cultural thing. The widespread belief that Third Sight functions in one particular way might have an effect on Force users—see Weik from Force and Destiny , where people view the Force as magic that requires incantations and components to work. If they don't have those things, they actually can't use the Force . They were trained to do it a certain way, and not following through on that way meant their abilities were blocked to them. So these kids hear that they shouldn't be able to use Third Sight past a certain age, and they instinctively close down their own connection to the Force.

But maybe some of them realize they can actually retain that power and pretend they can't, so they can get out from under the Ascendancy's thumb. And maybe some of those kids get hints that there's more to Third Sight than precognition.

3 hours ago, ErikModi said:

Instinctive Astrogation: Way back from the West End Games RPG, Instinctive Astrogation let Force users plot hyperspace jumps with the Force. Turns out, in the "new canon," this ability is critical to the Chiss ability to navigate the near-unnavigable Unknown Regions. Would this need to be a new Force Power tree, or is it already covered somewhere?

I ntuitive Navigation and Holistic Navigation talents in the Seer - Navigator specialization are the closest things I'm aware of. Unless you want to count the force power Ebb/Flow's ability to add successes to skill rolls.

18 hours ago, ErikModi said:

So, for those who've read Thrawn: Alliances, some queries to pose:

Cortosis: Zahn credits cortosis in the new continuity with an enhanced ability to absorb blasterfire, something it never possessed in Legends. How might this be statted up in-game?

Instinctive Astrogation: Way back from the West End Games RPG, Instinctive Astrogation let Force users plot hyperspace jumps with the Force. Turns out, in the "new canon," this ability is critical to the Chiss ability to navigate the near-unnavigable Unknown Regions. Would this need to be a new Force Power tree, or is it already covered somewhere?

Chiss Force-Sensitives: Related to the above, Thrawn states that the Chiss have a small number of Force-Sensitives, who only have Precognitive abilities, thus allowing them to use the Force to navigate hyperspace. Moreover, their Force Sensitivity wanes as they age, forcing the Chiss to utilize them when they're just children, as by the time they reach adulthood they can no longer feel the Force. How would one stat that in-game? And on a speculative note, is this a flaw in Chiss ability to adequately train their Force-Sensitives, and if they had access to, say, proper Jedi (or Sith) training, would they be better able to retain their abilities? Or is there some genetic quirk of the Chiss species that causes them to actually lose contact with the Force as they age?

15 hours ago, JorArns said:

I ntuitive Navigation and Holistic Navigation talents in the Seer - Navigator specialization are the closest things I'm aware of. Unless you want to count the force power Ebb/Flow's ability to add successes to skill rolls.

@JorArns is correct. the Intuitive Navigation and Holistic Navigation talents cover Instinctive Astrogation . In particular, Intuitive Navigation allows you to add your Force dice to your Astrogation roll and spend the Force pips generated as either Successes or Advantages. Holistic Navigation allows you to flip a Destiny Point to remove a number of Threat equal to your Presence . Both are passive talents too.

Nice.

Are the Thrawn's books canon ? I thought everything in those became Legends like the rest of the Extended Universe after Disney put its greedy hands on Star Wars.

1 minute ago, WolfRider said:

Are the Thrawn's books canon ? I thought everything in those became Legends like the rest of the Extended Universe after Disney put its greedy hands on Star Wars.

There are old Thrawn which are Legends and new Thrawn which are crap, er... sorry, canon.

The original Thrawn Trilogy is Legends canon, so separate from the new Disney timeline. Thrawn the character was imported to the new canon as of Season 3 of Rebels, and Timothy Zahn has written two novels ( Thrawn and Thrawn: Alliances ) that are set in the new canon before the events of Episode IV.

And they're actually really good, up to Zahn's usual standard.

See here for more information.