Hey all,

I have a Force Sensitive Emergent PC in my group who will narratively be needing a mentor at some point. (He already possesses some texts that can help him along, but for story reasons a mentor would be cool).

We're just shy of 1/3 of the way into the campaign, and the 2nd Act will offer the character 2-3 choices of NPC mentors; none are traditional good-guy Jedi Masters, but rather a collection of disparate fringe Force Users leaning somewhere on the gray-to-dark scale of things. There will be the character's main nemesis, a fallen padawan of old, who may possibly become a teacher for a little while -- this one is pretty straight forward; an insightful wannabe Jedi. Next, there's a sort of Bendu-like "divine" voice-in-the-shadows kind of thing (a DarkStryder dream precense deep within an ancient mine) -- this one will be all narrative and easy to wing. The last one, however, is a Force Witch pirate queen, possibly a full-on Nightwitch exiled by her kin or alternatively an unaligned witch of some sort (but basically a Nightwitch in all but name) -- and she's the most challenging to pull off as a mentor, I feel.

My question to all y'all is, how would you do a Force Witch mentor to a self-thaught (from Jedi books) PC Force Sensitive, both from a narrative and a game mechanical perspective? Should my player, (who is a cassual SW fan, by the way), chose to bow to the witch and become her apprentice, what would be a good way to bring a witchcraft tradition of Force Use to life for my player and his character? (Btw, I'm not too up-to-date on the entire Force Witch thing, having read none of the novels/comics, but I have seen TCW, minus the final season, once, a decade ago; I'm looking forward to doing a TCW marathon when my country get D+ this Fall, however).

To specify, I could do with some atmosphere & lore advice on Force Witches (both the Dathomir kind and the unalingned kind that F&D briefly mentions), and also some suggestions on suitable witchy Force Powers & Talents, and possibly ways to tweak available powers & talents to better fit the witchcraft ways.

Finally, it might be useful to mention that my game is actually a AoR story and we will not do Ghosts of Dathomir in this campaign (as I'll reserve that for a later campaign). The game is set in the Kathol Sector, and there's also a lot of background dream weirdness and ancient (lost) Precursors/Old Ones hype running through the story. It is also our first campaign, so we are a bit shaky on the rules and everything.

Thanks for all your help 🙂

First of all, really love the concepts you're working with.

I'd really recommend leaning heavily on the talents in the Mystic trees - particularly the Alchemist talents - as they work really well with the idea of force witches. If you want to go down the route of Mind Witches, then I'd recommend giving them some hefty Heal/Harm, illusion, and Conjure. I'd also give them the Fearsome talent so that they are naturally good at inducing fear in opponents and to make them much more deadly in battle (you never know, your player may try to kill her outright).

It may be fun to give her some items like an amulet or holocron to explain her abilities too.

Because she's a pirate, I'd be interested to know what her motivations are as a character. Is she a pirate because she's easily lured by money and trinkets, or does she do it because she likes the power? Either one can have fun implications for an eager student of hers...

Thanks for your feedback, @SufficientlyAdvancedMoronics 🙂

A Mystic tree (or possibly Sentinel Shadow/Sentry) is something that I think would fit this character really well, and I have actually been glancing at Alchemist already (although I haven't read the alchemy rules yet), as well as Magus, to simulate a Force Witch apprenticeship. As for "Mind-Witch", I was not aware of this character/faction/thing; I'll definitelly look into this one! Thoughts?

Very good idea re the Fearsome talent. My players have been pretty pacifistic thus far, but a contingency plan in case they react violently towards the witch (which they might) is good. I should point out though that should they straight up (try and) kill her, that's all right too... if my player doesn't want this character for a mentor, then that's ok 🙂

Amulet : I thought about having the PC's mentor give him an amulet with a built-in Force Point (possibly a Dark Side pip) in it, to help him fuel his powers. He'll have a Force Rating of 2 coming out of the Force Sensitive Emergant tree at some point in the 2nd Act (depending on how the player spends his XP), but it is very unlikely that he will manage to reach Force Rating 3, and certainly not more than that, before the campaign is over, so a Force pip bonus of some sort might be of help here. I thought such an amulet might either have a straight "pay 2 Strain to charge the amulet with a Force pip (max 1 pip)" ability, or possibly a more powerful yet darker transference thing of "sacrifice 1 Wound of blood to the crystal for a Dark Side Force pip up to Force Rating times a day" <--I wonder, is blood magic a thing in Star Wars? I can't remember...

Holocron : Actually, I'm a little bit adverse towards them as a concept. The Force used to be mysterious and rare in the post-Republic era, but once the holocrons were invented, suddenly these reservoires of power and knowledge popped up all over the SW franchise and setting. There was an instant Force lore inflation effect in Star Wars once the holocrons were introduced, and I don't much care for that -- the Force became too easy, IMHO. Also, I will run a proper F&D campaign at some point, based heavily on the published scenarios and campaigns, which already contain a handful of holocrons, so I'll keep off on those for now. (Did that even make sense?)

Just to clarify, I'm mostly in need of advice on how to witchify my player's character appropriately and wisely (should he chose the witch as his mentor). The witch itself I can largely hand-wave and wing, although any cultural & roleplay advice regarding her would be good, too. (I'll probably just use the Nightsister nemesis NPC from Collapse of the Republic , or similar, with added talents/powers/stuff as needed).

As for the witch being a pirate queen, my rationale here is that she's alone in the big bad Wild Space/Beyond, possibly due to being exiled from her coven/culture. As such, she latched on to/took over an existing pirate nation as her base of power, both to give her the means to comfortably continue her research and exploration efforts, but also simply as a way to survive. Secondarily, she is interested in the unique Force manifestation that exists in the Kathol Sector, known as Ta-Ree magic, a form of shamanistic spell-casting, or something (which I have no idea how to depict game mechanically yet [and might just keep as a background fluff with little explanation]), which might be why she chose the Kathol Outback as her headquarter in the first place.

For a force witch, consider making a limited selection of force power available as discounted as per the mentor section (for types of mentors) and alternative force-traditions section (for customising the learning/playing experience) in Disciples of Harmony. If you have the book. If not, I'd recommend getting it. It's a good book, one of my favourites (which has nothing to do with play-testing it )

Pick some powers, basic power and/or a limited number of specific upgrades, provide a XP-discount to that selection (5-10XP) and add a drawback (go by the book, or add a XP penalty to buying other powers - this drawback can be removed through XP expenditure).

These are not the most elegant of rules, but are useful if you're considering whether and how much you want to limit/specify the boon from having a mentor of a special kind.

Also, the force witch specialisation could be made available (but not at an additional discount, it is already a universal spec), as well as the force sensitive outcast or what its called in one of the new era books (Rise or Collapse? I can't recall.)

Force witches may use special talismans, incantations, and/or rituals for preparing or performing some or all force powers. Without these special requirements, performing force powers (learned from that mentor) may be impossible, or must succeed on a hard or daunting discipline check (or some other fitting skill).

Perhaps the force witch is part of a coven (a nice sub-plot on internal power-struggles, that could lead to discovery by the Empire [or power-that-be]), and has a hideout on a specific planet, or has several hideouts, all located on the Star Wars version of ley-lines, nexus points, or whatever you want to call it (check out Nexus of Power for tips and fun tricks). She can send the PC there to have "Dagobah-cave" encounters, perform rituals, get talismans, get tested (see various F&D books on trials), and in return learn new powers.

I'm in the process of making some of those now for my new campaign.

3 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

For a force witch, consider making a limited selection of force power available as discounted as per the mentor section (for types of mentors) and alternative force-traditions section (for customising the learning/playing experience) in Disciples of Harmony. If you have the book. If not, I'd recommend getting it. It's a good book, one of my favourites (which has nothing to do with play-testing it )

Pick some powers, basic power and/or a limited number of specific upgrades, provide a XP-discount to that selection (5-10XP) and add a drawback (go by the book, or add a XP penalty to buying other powers - this drawback can be removed through XP expenditure).

These are not the most elegant of rules, but are useful if you're considering whether and how much you want to limit/specify the boon from having a mentor of a special kind.

I have the book, but had hardly leafed through it yet since Consular aren't on my radar at the moment. But this very simple rules add-on looks great! I like it 😄 I'm going to try to write up a Force Witch Mentor section and have you all comment on that. (Or, if anyone with better understanding of Nightsisters/Force Witches want to have a go at making one, please do!).

3 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

Also, the force witch specialisation could be made available (but not at an additional discount, it is already a universal spec), as well as the force sensitive outcast or what its called in one of the new era books (Rise or Collapse? I can't recall.)

By the Whills! I didn't even consider offering the PC a Nightsister tree! That makes all kinds of sense 🙂 Thanks! (And it's Collapse of the Republic , btw).

3 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

Force witches may use special talismans, incantations, and/or rituals for preparing or performing some or all force powers. Without these special requirements, performing force powers (learned from that mentor) may be impossible, or must succeed on a hard or daunting discipline check (or some other fitting skill).

Good point. "Spells" requiring special rites and fetishes feels really witchy.

3 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

Perhaps the force witch is part of a coven (a nice sub-plot on internal power-struggles, that could lead to discovery by the Empire [or power-that-be]), and has a hideout on a specific planet, or has several hideouts, all located on the Star Wars version of ley-lines, nexus points, or whatever you want to call it (check out Nexus of Power for tips and fun tricks). She can send the PC there to have "Dagobah-cave" encounters, perform rituals, get talismans, get tested (see various F&D books on trials), and in return learn new powers.

I'm in the process of making some of those now for my new campaign.

Interesting... I was seeing "my" witch as a solitary practitioner, which is why she might be interested in investing time and energy in an outsider pupil. But a small coven might be interesting too (at the very least it might give me a back-up if the PCs slaughter the first witch they encounter). I'm intrigued; what are you making for your campaign? Covens? Space ley-lines? Encounters? New Powers? Please share 😄

This discussion inspires further questions. What exactly, other than a loyal henchman troubleshooter, does a mentor get out of making the effort to teach someone? Are there any mentor benefits I don't know about (akin to the XP discounts for students, for instance); after all, a teacher learns just as much as the students they teach 😉

Finally, I might mention that I decided to have the witch (which the PCs haven't met yet) be foreshadows by pirate lieutenants infused with dark powers (not unlike, although not consciously inspired by, the Palpatine's Dark Side infused advisors from Dark Empire). So far, the PCs have encountered a vicious Aqualish pirate blessed (cursed?) by the witch who can activate a +3/+3 defense bonus for 2 Strain/round (which I know is totally bonkers broken, but whatever 😛 ) ; how do people feel about such game effects? Are they too fantasy for Star Wars?

6 hours ago, angelman2 said:

Holocron : Actually, I'm a little bit adverse towards them as a concept. The Force used to be mysterious and rare in the post-Republic era, but once the holocrons were invented, suddenly these reservoires of power and knowledge popped up all over the SW franchise and setting. There was an instant Force lore inflation effect in Star Wars once the holocrons were introduced, and I don't much care for that -- the Force became too easy, IMHO.

That's a fair criticism. I liked the mystery of it and the idea that wielding the power of the force was a rare and difficult thing, hadn't ever attributed it to the sudden plot-hole of "hey, here's a magic box that tells you how it's done" before. I often ensure that any holocron I introduce requires a user to prove they can be trusted with the knowledge inside, because it's no fun if it's too easy.

53 minutes ago, angelman2 said:

Good point. "Spells" requiring special rites and fetishes feels really witchy

Some of the old republic literature in the extended universe does a good job of some of these rituals, and group rituals were a thing too. Some of my favorites examples are the Thought Bomb and Lightning Storms in the Darth Bane books. Could be fun for the mentor to include the PC in a ritual she wants to perform that requires more than one force user; then you can give loads of witchy narrative for not just what she's doing, but how it feels in the force. " You feel the power swirling with the motions of her hands and you join in the flow, until it feels like a tempest of invisible energy fills the room. She marks her skin with intricate patterns using her sivrin spider-fetish, and you are joined to her and her emotion that fuels the ritual; an ice-cold rage that burns within her and the feeling of staring into the eyes of a predator that's looking at its next meal. It's hard not to get caught up in the anticipation..." and so on.

9 minutes ago, SufficientlyAdvancedMoronics said:

I often ensure that any holocron I introduce requires a user to prove they can be trusted with the knowledge inside, because it's no fun if it's too easy.

That's a good point! When I ever get around to doing a F&D campaign, I might let the players have a holocron only to make the opening of it the actual quest, thereby reversing, in a way, the typical quest plot. (I.e. "get the McGuffin then do the questing so that you can finally do the research" rather than the traidtional "do the research so that you can go on the quest to get the McGuffin"; very interesting!)

9 minutes ago, SufficientlyAdvancedMoronics said:

Some of the old republic literature in the extended universe does a good job of some of these rituals, and group rituals were a thing too. Some of my favorites examples are the Thought Bomb and Lightning Storms in the Darth Bane books. Could be fun for the mentor to include the PC in a ritual she wants to perform that requires more than one force user; then you can give loads of witchy narrative for not just what she's doing, but how it feels in the force. " You feel the power swirling with the motions of her hands and you join in the flow, until it feels like a tempest of invisible energy fills the room. She marks her skin with intricate patterns using her sivrin spider-fetish, and you are joined to her and her emotion that fuels the ritual; an ice-cold rage that burns within her and the feeling of staring into the eyes of a predator that's looking at its next meal. It's hard not to get caught up in the anticipation..." and so on.

I like that a lot. I don't know the Old Republic stuff much, but it is something I might want to read up on. In any case, the witch mentor forcing her apprentice to help out with a rite to gain insight works very well with the Kathol Outback/Cthulhu-esque themes and tropes.

Hm... I'm now starting to hope my player will eventually go for the witch mentor option... Better watch out so I don't railroad him too much! 😉

If you are looking for a learning way for your PC try this.

Darth Revan's mask

must be force sensitive to use

allows PC to learn a force power from the dark side

also hides identity, great for hiding from the Inquisitors

homebrew, so don't judge

6 hours ago, angelman2 said:

Hm... I'm now starting to hope my player will eventually go for the witch mentor option... Better watch out so I don't railroad him too much! 😉

You can go through the same exercise with the other mentors too you know 😉 It's a lot of work, but could also be very rewarding - and useful for future games.

8 hours ago, angelman2 said:

what are you making for your campaign? Covens? Space ley-lines? Encounters? New Powers? Please share

I have a group of three: a droid modder, a human scientist, and a togruta pathfinder (former padawan, went kind of "feral" after order 66). It is set 8 months after the clone wars.

So I need to set up a plot that involves all three on some level. Currently it's all about repairing a ship, on an unknown planet, and getting the characters to know each other - and trust each other. Story-wise I know the pathfinder seeks the mysteries of the Force (she had an Ezra-moment with some predators last session, controlling the adolescents to scare off their mother - it was dark ), and perhaps to reclaim some Jediness. The scientist is on the run from the newly minted Empire (she designed some bio-agent, that the Empire could use (perhaps already used?) to wipe out the population somewhere, she took the designs and escaped). The droid is an older model, originally stolen from Czerka corporation, spend the last few decades as a mechanic in a shadowport-like thing on the planet they're on. Been alone for the last year, now in need of batteries (and a ship to mod and tinker with), so it has ventured outside into the world.

It's still early days.

But I have looked a bit in Nexus of Power, to find a suitable place or inspiration for a temple or such like for the planet they are on, as well as planning some potential tension increases by introducing an imperial presence in the area ... with perhaps some Czerka assistance ... we'll see what happens on Saturday when we play again. My plan is simple: a dream/vision, some imperials (clone troopers still, just because), and a Czerka operation. Yup. Let's see what the paranoiacs that are my players do then It's usually grand, fun, and intriguing.

7 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

So I need to set up a plot that involves all three on some level. Currently it's all about repairing a ship, on an unknown planet, and getting the characters to know each other - and trust each other.

I disagree. Unless it’s a part of the campaign that you all really enjoy, I’d say that a very important part of character creation is group cohesion. Challenge your players to come up with overlapping pasts, hooks for why they are working together, ties for their commitment to a similar cause.

If your players buy in before the game starts, then you don’t have to try to heard cats and can just open with a great adventure.

I mean, your plot should have stuff for all three of them, but it’s not your responsibility to keep the party together. It’s the party’s responsibility. If one character can’t stand the others and walks away from the group, then that player should make a character who doesn’t want to walk away from the group.

1 hour ago, yoink101 said:

I disagree. Unless it’s a part of the campaign that you all really enjoy, I’d say that a very important part of character creation is group cohesion. Challenge your players to come up with overlapping pasts, hooks for why they are working together, ties for their commitment to a similar cause.

If your players buy in before the game starts, then you don’t have to try to heard cats and can just open with a great adventure.

I mean, your plot should have stuff for all three of them, but it’s not your responsibility to keep the party together. It’s the party’s responsibility. If one character can’t stand the others and walks away from the group, then that player should make a character who doesn’t want to walk away from the group.

Thanks for the 101. 😉

Just thinking out loud here, but for a Force Witch Tradition mentor effect, what about this:

Benefit : Reduce the cost to purchase the Conjure, Heal/Harm, and Misdirect basic Force powers by 5 XP, to a minimum of 5 XP. If the Mentor possesses the Coven talent, the student counts as an "ally with Coven" for the Mentor (regardless of whether the student actually has that Coven talent). <--this last effect is supposed to invoce an acolyte funciton in rituals.

Drawback (15 XP) : Force Witch rituals requires elaborate preparations, and each Conjure, Heal/Harm, Misdirect Force check takes a number of additional maneuvers to perform equal to the Force Dice rolled. (The Witch can chose to roll fewer dice than her Force Rank).

How is this for a start?

5 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

Thanks for the 101. 😉

Sorry if it came across as condescending. I just thought I saw a moment where you were going to be doing too much work...

@angelman2 That's a fitting selection of Force powers. I can't recall what Conjure does (at work so not in front of books), but it sounds very fitting. Imbue is another that could work, but I'd pick either one, not both. Heal/harm makes sense. Misdirect too. So, yeah. Nice selection there. The discount is low. I'd consider giving them a 10XP discount - as this gives it a slightly more bang for the bucks, as the selection is more limited than a standard-issue mentor. But five is great too.

Coven, I've overlooked that talent. This is a nice boon - whatever it actually means.

Concerning the drawback: I'm not entirely sure, but the choice to roll fewer force dice than force rating (not counting committed force dice), is this normally an option? If not, this drawback is also a benefit. Just saying I mean, not necessarily a very useful benefit besides in this one case. It is an interesting drawback. It is perhaps a tad too mechanical for my taste, but hey, if it ends up working in play, all power to you - and if not, adapt and move forward. I'd consider that this drawback applies to more than these force powers too (like Imbue?) - at GM's discretion perhaps - but then this additional manoeuvre per force dice rolled-thing can become an obstacle. Because the drawback basically means: 1 action to do the force check and then a number of manoeuvres. Are these additional manoeuvres after or before making the check? I think the order matters. What does your gut feeling say?

Also, some force powers performed as a ritual could take longer than Action + X manoeuvres, perhaps hours of chanting and stuff - and perhaps in some cases the ritual could require a specific focus, like a crystal ball, and in other instances, perhaps the powers could be performed as part of a larger ritual, including requiring other witches - the coven talent may come into play in this? I don't know.

But basically, I like your idea. It's cool and evocative.

12 minutes ago, yoink101 said:

Sorry if it came across as condescending. I just thought I saw a moment where you were going to be doing too much work...

No worries man. 🙂 I'm doing less work than I would like. My idea is basically what you read there. Nothing more. That's the extent of my prep work (in addition I tend to more or less randomly pick some adversary cards to throw at them if things get too boring or they do some terribly stupid stuff). But it is basically only a couple of sentences. Then I wing it, and let my players control the show. With prodding and nudging if they are struggling. My perspective on the task or role of a GM is coloured by a local free newspaper article's definition from about 20 years ago, when they were observing me running a session of Rolemaster Standard System at a local gaming club: God, Oracle, and Crisis Psychologist. The rest is up to the players.

Quick reply (I'm gearing up for a game in two hours).

Discount : Looking at the example Alternative Traditions Mentor benefits, I'm considering perhaps doing an additional 5XP upgrade discount to for certain things (like how the Dagoyan Masters granting 5XP discount to Control upgrades for their powers of choice) but I don't want to overdo it either. We'll see.

Coven : This talent grants a number of Force dice re-rolls equal to allies with the Coven talent within Short range. Quite cool and quite powerful! And if I work the Mentor's bonus into the deal, it becomes a powerful incentive for a witch to train a random Force Sensitive Emergant who happens to stumble by.

Drawback : I just assumed you could roll up to your Force Rating number of dice, but I haven't actually checked. I'll look it up later.

Super long Rituals : I agree, full on witch's mass ceremonies are cool, however... if it takes an hour to perform a Force power effect, then it almost becomes useless in game play. The way I see it, ceremonies are for narrative Force effects not covered by the straight-forward Force Power trees.

Thanks for the feedback! This is really good 🙂

Fair points on all accounts.

Have fun gaming!

I'm grading exams ...

42 minutes ago, Jegergryte said:

Fair points on all accounts.

Have fun gaming!

I'm grading exams ...

You too? Practically all my friends are teachers. I have the education to be one, too, but I opted for poverty 'cause your job sux, mate! 😛

As for game night, I'm gonna run a tweaked version of "Debts to Pay", which should be all kinds of fun! 😄

32 minutes ago, angelman2 said:

You too? Practically all my friends are teachers. I have the education to be one, too, but I opted for poverty 'cause your job sux, mate! 😛

I'm a lecturer, not a teacher. Almost negligible difference, but I work at a university. So my main work isn't teaching, but research. 😛

I've considered that adventure, I'll probably have to tweak it, significantly. Have fun!

You've inspired me @angelman2 . You and the Fallen Order computer game.

I will also be introducing a witch, probably dathomiri, as a potential mentor. 😈 ...or.... nemesis...

22 hours ago, Jegergryte said:

You've inspired me @angelman2 . You and the Fallen Order computer game.

Fallen Order has been a great source of ideas for me too. I also feel like it's the best Star Wars computer game that's come out for years... but that's one for another thread.

Fallen Order has greatly inspired me as well... and I haven't even played it yet! (I'm too poor to own a PS4)

My Force Sensitive Emergent's first real trial on his Force journey is going to be a tense encounter with an aging Purge Trooper who has survived in the wilderness of an upopulated planet for a decade. 'Tis gonna be great!

Here's another noob question I'm pondering.

So, my Force Sensitive Emergant is paired in my campaign with a fallen padawan (well, fallen youngling-all-grown-up, really), and both of them are searching for clues to what happened to the members of the Jedi Chapterhouse that once stood in the Kathol Sector. As such, their paths will cross (they've already had some minor telepathic contact) and their personal goals (getting their hands on lores and a lightsaber) will clash. Now, I want to structure these encounters like a boxing movie climactic match; first the hero (PC) will have an early success, then the bad guy (the fallen padawan NPC) will come back with a vengeance, before the hero (PC) finally turns the tide and scores the victory against all odds.

The first encounter/PC victory is easy: he's going to find a collapsed cave into which a Purge Trooper chased another Jedi padawan during an Inquisitor attack ca. 10BBY (current year ca.1ABY); the cave collapsed, the padawan was killed and the Purge Trooper seriously injured (broken leg), and since then the Purge Trooper has been trapped in the dark, loosing his mind and talking to the padawan's corpse (who is sealed off in a different chamber where the PT can just make him out). Our hero will enter the padawan cave and find a lightsaber, and will then (probably - 'cause my players are all good-guys and big softies) try to rescue the PT trapped further in. The hero will beat the aging, limping clone and win a lightsaber... something the fallen padawan nemesis will be gollum-level furious about; "Mine! It trixtes us!" <--Initial encounter covered.

And here come's the tricky part - the second encounter where the nemesis win: I want to set up a showdown where (the more experienced and better trained hard-as-nails survivalist) fallen padawan wins a confrontation with the PC. Now, I CAN just flip a Dark Destiny and narratively describe how the Nemesis escapes, or whatever, but it would be more fun if the NPC actually trashes the PC and leaves him humiliated and in a state from which he can bounce back from in the 3rd/finale confrontation. So... this was a long set-up for my question... Sorry 'bout that. My question is: What is, mechanically, the easiest way for an NPC to defeat without killing a PC? I assume we'll be (ab)using the Strain mechanics for this, and a perhaps more accurate question would be; what powers, tallents, lightsaber upgrade (cause the fallen padawan will have found herself a lightsaber at this point), whathaveyou can best drain a PC's Strain?

DANG! I'm rambling! 😛

17 minutes ago, angelman2 said:

How is, mechanically, the easiest way for an NPC to defeat without killing a PC?

Easy. Exceed their wound or strain threshold.

Exceeding either of these thresholds does not mean death, it means that the player loses consciousness. The only way to kill a player is to crit them to death, or to narratively write them out (if they decide to crash a ship into a planet or something like that). If you want the NPC to beat down the player, then go ahead and just do it.

Narrative note: It should be clear to the player that this is a hard fight going into it, so use lots of flavour text to describe the kind of opponent they're against and the fact that they are clearly more skilled. This will only make it more satisfying when the final victory comes around.

Mechanical Note: The outcome of Lightsaber combat is difficult to predict, so make sure the Nemesis has all kinds of tricks up his sleeve to sway the fight in his favour other than Lightsaber combat skills. Ideally, you should never put the nemesis in a fair fight with them if you intend for the nemesis to win. Use minions, environment, and narrative to sway the fight. Misdirect is a great Force-power to give Nemeses because very little can deal with their illusions in early gameplay, and it leaves your PC wanting to defeat them even more because they feel like they only lost because the nemesis used cheap tricks (even though mechanically they may not be the better swordsman).

Edit: Ooh, also, land a nasty crit on the player while you're at it. Physical scars that remind them of the beat-down are useful plot mechanics to tempt the player to the dark side. Good for Morality conundrums.

Marvelous reply, @SufficientlyAdvancedMoronics 😄

I didn't consider Misdirect, but that's a very good point. I was thinking, perhaps something like Harm or Bind but causing Strain rather than Wounds... but Misdirect is even better as that's more narrative and roleplaying-ly. I like it! And you're right, weeing off the PC both narratively (playing mindtricks on them) and mechancially (scoring a vicious Critical Hit), is more effective than the bad-gall simply stunning the PC and running off.

So, thinking out loud... I need to corner the PC (so that they can't simply run off), set up just how much of an underdog they are, run a dirty fight that benefits the NPC, work in some contingencies for the NPC in case things go south, and hold nothing back. I can do that! I should also make sure that the stakes are as high as realistically possible, making the fellow PCs and/or friends well-being/mission success dependent on how well the Force Sensitive Emergant does in the confrontation, somehow.

For the record, neither character are very strong with the Force (FR 1-2 for my PC hero and probably about 2-3 for the NPC nemesis -- just two noobs doing their best) and neither are they very skilled with the lightsaber (probably 0-1 skill rank for the PC and 1-2 for the NPC), but the PC is quite strong (Braw 3+1 for cybernetic arm) so they'll be able to hold their own relatively well, I assume. The bad-gall is very tough, though, having lived hard and survived alone against the odds since she was a young teenager, so I'll let that compensate for the PC's superior strength.

It may be useful for you to know that in Legends there are non-Nightsister Witches of Dathomir, indeed they are the majority in those stories, though at the time that they were first introduced (in the Courtship of Princess Leia), their dominance was being challenged by the Nightsisters.