I'm working on a campaign where a Jedi, a Clone Trooper, and another character are navigating the aftermath of the Jedi purge. The ARC trooper doesn't have an inhibitor chip so he didn't take part in Order 66, and both he and the Jedi faked their deaths, so they don't really have the Empire on their tails (though they might eventually) The clone has the Obligation Oath, as he has sworn to never kill clones, if he can avoid it, and the other character is accounted for, but what about the Jedi? I want him to have a Morality (for obvious reasons) but I think he should also have an Obligation. However, I do not think any of the Obligations in the CRB make sense (and I don't have any EotE supplements) because any of them that might would pertain to other PCs, so I was wondering about custom Obligation or Obligation from splat books, do you have any ideas? I don't think it makes a ton of sense for him to have something that, when triggered, would necessarily end with someone learning his secret or putting the Empire on his trail, as he is officially dead, and aside from that there wouldn't really be a way to pay it down or increase it.

If I were to do that, I would think that I give him a "persecuted" Obligation or whatever, and if it increases, he would be at greater risk for discovery, and if he can decrease it he becomes less at risk.
What are your ideas though? I've been struggling to figure this one out.

You jedi being jedi is not an obligation, it's the setting.

Obligation is something personal burden, that the character wants to shake off. It can be anything related to his backstory.

I think both the "Betrayal" and the "Oath" obligation could make sense for a Jedi post-Order 66.

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Betrayal: This Obligation can work in one of two ways: either the character is the target of a deep and personal betrayal, or the character is the one who betrayed others. Whether it's as simple as a betrayed confidence or broken promise or as serious as treason or mutiny, the betrayal eats away at the character and affects his everyday life. The target of the betrayal may seek answers, compensation, or simply revenge.

Some survivors of Order 66 could feel they were betrayed by the Clonetroopers. Others might feel they were betrayed by the Senate, or the Republic itself. The Jedi order was framed, and maybe they will try to pursue answers as to why. Buying down this obligation could happen by finding some of those answers.

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Oath: The character has sworn some sort of oath that dictates his thoughts and actions, shaping his moral view of the world. This could be an oath to a deity, a way of living (such as the Jedi Code), or a willingness to sacrifice for the betterment of some group or cause. Whatever the case, the Oath should be both serious and make life difficult in some ways for the character. It is a personal and deep undertaking, possibly without a truly obtainable end goal in sight. Characters who do not live up to this oath face an internal and moral struggle.

Does the Jedi character still try to live up to the Jedi teachings? That will certainly come into conflict with life on the fringes, and could be a source of friction.

Or, as @Rimsen suggests, look at other parts of the Jedi's experiences in the time after the order and before play begins. Maybe he owes someone a Favor for helping fake his death. Maybe, with the gaping hole left behind by the destruction of the Jedi order, he is filling that void with an Obsession or an Addiction.

Also, it is totally feasible for someone to learn his secret. He may be "officially dead" but if he is going to go around swinging a lightsaber and using Force powers, people could take notice. Some of them, the wrong kind of people. Even if no one know which specific Jedi he was, he could still end up with a Bounty out on him.

It's not completely up to date but...

Based only on the background we have - Criminal COULD work if you modify how it is played out.
Let's say he is thought to be dead - what are the biggest problems that could arise for him?

- He meets someone that knows him from some earlier encounter but is no big fan of the Order (maybe the "Diplomats" weren't on his side), but now they have to work for/with him, at least for a short time.
- They get caught on some Holonet News propaganda material thing (whatever), and we know that the Holonet is not Live over the whole Galaxy, but at some time someone could see this and wonder: "Shouldn't this guy be dead?!" - so how do they get rid of the recordings?
- Paranoia to some degree - what if HE thinks he knows someone from earlier and they could recognize him. When his Imagination is driving him into some sort of strange behavior.

It seems hard to pull it off every time it will trigger, but especially the "burry evidence" part of the Criminal Obligation could fit well. Moreso if he fails to do something about it, you could just start to treat it like a normal Criminal Obligation.

A variant on Witness Protection from Far Horizons would work if the Jedi in question is trying to lay low. At an appropriate time in the campaign swapping it for a variation on Criminal could be done once he outs himself.

13 hours ago, jendefer said:

I think both the "Betrayal" and the "Oath" obligation could make sense for a Jedi post-Order 66.

Some survivors of Order 66 could feel they were betrayed by the Clonetroopers. Others might feel they were betrayed by the Senate, or the Republic itself. The Jedi order was framed, and maybe they will try to pursue answers as to why. Buying down this obligation could happen by finding some of those answers.

Does the Jedi character still try to live up to the Jedi teachings? That will certainly come into conflict with life on the fringes, and could be a source of friction.

Or, as @Rimsen suggests, look at other parts of the Jedi's experiences in the time after the order and before play begins. Maybe he owes someone a Favor for helping fake his death. Maybe, with the gaping hole left behind by the destruction of the Jedi order, he is filling that void with an Obsession or an Addiction.

Also, it is totally feasible for someone to learn his secret. He may be "officially dead" but if he is going to go around swinging a lightsaber and using Force powers, people could take notice. Some of them, the wrong kind of people. Even if no one know which specific Jedi he was, he could still end up with a Bounty out on him.

I thought about Betrayal, but I had ruled it out because the ARC trooper was the one to help him fake his death (also ruling out Favor as a result of it being an obligation to a PC). However, looking at it from a different perspective now, I see that it might work.

As far as Oath goes, I think that that part of it might be better covered by the Morality system or by a Motivation.

My point was not that no one would discover his secret at some point, it was that I don't want the campaign to morph into always being on the run from the Empire, because that is not what we want to focus on so much.

3 minutes ago, Ghostofman said:

A variant on Witness Protection from Far Horizons would work if the Jedi in question is trying to lay low. At an appropriate time in the campaign swapping it for a variation on Criminal could be done once he outs himself.

Would you please describe Witness Protection?

I'm thinking that I'll start out with Betrayal and/or Witness Protection, and then maybe sub it out for Criminal at some point.

Mortality is supposed to be a replacement for Obligation (obviously). Consider that it's best used as a very real restriction on their options on how they can respond to any given challenge (if you as GM utilize it properly), if your PC is truly going to act as a Jedi. It's far "worse" than either Obligation or Duty in my experience.

Making them have both is not a very fair thing to do, unless you give them the Obligation XP or creds.

There are plenty of narrative-driven hindrances to being a Jedi that already act as Obligation anyway (like conspicuous used of the Force or a Lightsaber likely getting reported to the Empire, and thereby an Inquisitor on your tail). Making it an even more jerk-move.

I would recommend your don't give them Obligation.

16 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Would you please describe Witness Protection?

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Witness Protection: Some Colonists never would have chosen life on a distant backwater, but authorities have deemed it necessary to hide them in the witness protection program. The Colonist is being hunted by the Hutt Cartels, Black Sun, the Tenloss Syndicate, or some other galactic-scale criminal organization as a material witness. The Colonist was given a new identity and sent to an obscure planet to safely await trial, but the syndicate won't stop looking for him.

Doesn't take much to reword that to be "In Hiding," which would cover a Jedi laying low and hoping the Empire doesn't find out and off them.

Just now, emsquared said:

Mortality is supposed to be a replacement for Obligation (obviously).

Not really. The two are both secondary narrative mechanics, but one is not meant to be a replacement for the other 1:1.

The real question is: Is the Player going to actually engage and use their Morality? If they aren't then ditch it. If that character falling to the dark side is a realistic story element and the player is seriously interested in going there... It's on.

Unlike Obligation or Duty that the GM can force-feed when needed, Morality really requires the player to play to a character and not a mechanic.

3 minutes ago, Ghostofman said:

Doesn't take much to reword that to be "In Hiding," which would cover a Jedi laying low and hoping the Empire doesn't find out and off them.

Okay, thanks! I think I'll use that.

4 minutes ago, emsquared said:

Mortality is supposed to be a replacement for Obligation (obviously). Consider that it's best used as a very real restriction on their options on how they can respond to any given challenge (if you as GM utilize it properly), if your PC is truly going to act as a Jedi. It's far "worse" than either Obligation or Duty in my experience.

Making them have both is not a very fair thing to do, unless you give them the Obligation XP or creds.

There are plenty of narrative-driven hindrances to being a Jedi that already act as Obligation anyway (like conspicuous used of the Force or a Lightsaber likely getting reported to the Empire, and thereby an Inquisitor on your tail). Making it an even more jerk-move.

I would recommend your don't give them Obligation.

I'm actually a PC working closely with the GM to craft the story together, so I'm not foisting this on someone else, I'm playing the character myself.

Other than that, I concur with:

1 minute ago, Ghostofman said:

Not really. The two are both secondary narrative mechanics, but one is not meant to be a replacement for the other 1:1.

The real question is: Is the Player going to actually engage and use their Morality? If they aren't then ditch it. If that character falling to the dark side is a realistic story element and the player is seriously interested in going there... It's on.

Unlike Obligation or Duty that the GM can force-feed when needed, Morality really requires the player to play to a character and not a mechanic.

The plan would be to not fall to the dark side, but I really like the Morality system and like the behavioral limitations imposed by use of the system.

3 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

I'm actually a PC working closely with the GM to craft the story together, so I'm not foisting this on someone else, I'm playing the character myself.

Other than that, I concur with...

The plan would be to not fall to the dark side, but I really like the Morality system and like the behavioral limitations imposed by use of the system.

You're welcome to throw all the hindrances upon yourself that you want, of course. I was just giving a balance/fairness-based recommendation.

And given that both mechanics sit in the same "place" in character creation, and that they're both "worth" the same XP and/or cred bonuses, they clearly are meant to be 1:1.

Saying "Not really." with no greater refutation changes absolutely nothing about that blatant fact.

Whether they are successfully implemented as a 1:1 narrative burden is 100% dependent on the GM. That is true. And it's true, lots of GMs seem to struggle with implementing Morality/Conflict effectively. But if it is as you say, and you do intend to restrict your behavior accordingly, your most certainly doubling up the narrative burdens on yourself, if not tripling due to the internet narrative issues facing Jedi, as I mentioned.

1 minute ago, emsquared said:

You're welcome to throw all the hindrances upon yourself that you want, of course. I was just giving a balance/fairness-based recommendation.

And given that both mechanics sit in the same "place" in character creation, and that they're both "worth" the same XP and/or cred bonuses, they clearly are meant to be 1:1.

Saying "Not really." with no greater refutation changes absolutely nothing about that blatant fact.

Whether they are successfully implemented as a 1:1 narrative burden is 100% dependent on the GM. That is true. And it's true, lots of GMs seem to struggle with implementing Morality/Conflict effectively. But if it is as you say, and you do intend to restrict your behavior accordingly, your most certainly doubling up the narrative burdens on yourself, if not tripling due to the internet narrative issues facing Jedi, as I mentioned.

A character can have both Morality and Obligation. In fact he can have all three if he wants. However, he can only gain extra starting XP, or extra starting Credits, from one of the three mechanics.

10 minutes ago, emsquared said:

You're welcome to throw all the hindrances upon yourself that you want, of course.

Each system does something different, Duty doesn't even really have penalties it just measures your contribution to whatever organization you are a part of, Morality is well... your morality, how good or bad your character is, with pseudo penalties for doing "bad" things, and Obligation measures your well... obligations, what you have to do, and who you owe etc.

You know, these are all pretty literal names.

1 hour ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

My point was not that no one would discover his secret at some point, it was that I don't want the campaign to morph into always being on the run from the Empire, because that is not what we want to focus on so much.

That's pretty easy to do. The movies and tv shows are filled with examples of the party being hunted by the Empire's hound dogs, but getting away for an extended period of time. Like, escaping from Inquisitors at the end of a season, and having the first half of the next season be Inquisitor-Free, but eventually, they do find them again, and the conflict escalates.

It's pretty easy to play that out in a campaign. They hyperspace away, and the Empire troops hunting them can't track them, and thus have to start the slow investigation process again. The PC's take steps to actively throw off their pursuers, perhaps slicing records in a base they snuck into, to throw them off the scent, or staging a fake death situation like you mentioned. This would be a great way to use Triumphs if the players are at a loss for what to do with Triumphs during some of the more abstract skill checks.

You could also, use various Despairs that they might roll, when appropriate, to have them accidentally do things that help the hunters catch their scent again. For example, in a later slicing check, they trigger some subroutine that sends up a red flag in the Imperial sectors, like, a search result for "Super Awesome Jedi Power Manuals Yo!" was flagged in Imperial-Google to notify the Inquisitors. And this time, that PC slicer, just wasn't as slick as he thought he was when cutting through the security. They don't actually KNOW this is what's happened, but it is the result of the Despair. You can keep it to yourself, and just check a little box in your GM list marked "Imperial Rivals will show back up in a few sessions as a result of this action, plan accordingly." Then, you can still have a few sessions without them being directly involved, and just plug them in when it's dramatically appropriate.