I have a player that has asked if any of the force powers, and suggested career/spec, will give her the ability to create, control, enhance drones (as combat allies).

In her mind, she's thinking like "summoned creature".

Also, she's looking for ways to thematically use the force to:

• pull power from electronics around her to create temp shields (add difficulty to enemy attacks, or add defense).
• pull power from electronics around her to "shoot" bolts of energy at enemies.

I had told her, as an example, that she can thematically use the Push power to says she builds energy and then pushes an enemy away. So, we can thematically alter a lot of existing powers.

Is this at all possible in any way for a character with aprox 75 xp (beyond their initial creation and starting xp)?

Shooting bolts of energy and creating temporary shields fits the Protect/Unleash power to a T, it's just a matter of narrative description to make it be related to machines. Manipulate is another power that might make sense for the character as it largely pertains to mechanical things and Mechanics checks.

26 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Shooting bolts of energy and creating temporary shields fits the Protect/Unleash power to a T, it's just a matter of narrative description to make it be related to machines. Manipulate is another power that might make sense for the character as it largely pertains to mechanical things and Mechanics checks.

If not for requiring force rating 3, that works perfectly.

1 minute ago, Grungyape said:

If not for requiring force rating 3, that works perfectly.

Then maybe start with Manipulate and build up to Protect/Unleash. Not only is it a very powerful ability, but it takes a lot of Force Dice to pull it off well.

52 minutes ago, Grungyape said:

I have a player that has asked if any of the force powers, and suggested career/spec, will give her the ability to create, control, enhance drones (as combat allies).

In her mind, she's thinking like "summoned creature".

Also, she's looking for ways to thematically use the force to:

• pull power from electronics around her to create temp shields (add difficulty to enemy attacks, or add defense).
• pull power from electronics around her to "shoot" bolts of energy at enemies.

I had told her, as an example, that she can thematically use the Push power to says she builds energy and then pushes an enemy away. So, we can thematically alter a lot of existing powers.

Is this at all possible in any way for a character with aprox 75 xp (beyond their initial creation and starting xp)?

ummm I am not aware of any force powers to do what you are talking about.

1 hour ago, Grungyape said:

I have a player that has asked if any of the force powers, and suggested career/spec, will give her the ability to create, control, enhance drones (as combat allies).

In her mind, she's thinking like "summoned creature".

I'd say this works best to just use Manipulate or Conjure. The Conjure Mastery allows her to create a creature of object of silhouette 1 that mindlessly follows her orders. Manipulate would allow her to craft more effectively with the control upgrade that allows her to add Force Dice to the check, and it has other abilities that would be useful with and helpful for dealing with droids.

1 hour ago, Grungyape said:

the ability to create, control, enhance drones (as combat allies).

Manipulate can be used to augment Mechanics checks (with automatic success and advantage), which can facilitate her creating/crafting and enhancing any craftable, which would allow her to add modifications and Hard Points to things she crafts. That same power can be used to "heal" vehicles/droids and drones with Wound/Strain Thresholds.

There's probably some good Mechanics/crafting Talents out there too in mechanically-inclined Force Specs.

Battle Mediation can be used to buff and guide/direct/send orders to "friendly targets", which would include allied drones, IMO. But I think that's as close as you'll get to "controlling" drones with the Force.

2 hours ago, Grungyape said:

In her mind, she's thinking like "summoned creature"

Summoning creatures from nothing, specifically, would be Conjure with the Mastery upgrade. The power calls out "creatures" though, so not drones. I personally wouldn't see an issue with allowing a replica of a drone, though, it just wouldn't have any of it's non-physical drone-like/mechanical capabilities that weren't replicable by the Conjure adders.

2 hours ago, Grungyape said:

• pull power from electronics around her to create temp shields (add difficulty to enemy attacks, or add defense).
• pull power from electronics around her to "shoot" bolts of energy at enemies.

Agree with others, this is just a narrative flavoring of Protect/Unleash, or Harm, which can be used to siphon life from your target to heal yourself.

2 hours ago, Grungyape said:

the Push power

Just pointing out here, there is no such thing as a Force Power called "Push". That would be the Move Power (or a weird flavoring and properly upgraded Bind).

2 hours ago, Grungyape said:

Is this at all possible in any way for a character with aprox 75 xp

Sounds like the two Powers at the core of her "Technomancer" concept are Manipulate and Battle Mediation.

Assuming a human start, and the +10 XP for 50 Morality, with her starting XP she could spend 100 of it on boosting Intellect to 4 and Presence to 3. That would set get up to be a passable Computers/Mechanic person, and to get some use out of Battle Med.

If she starts with the Padawn Spec, she can spend the remaining 20 XP from chargen to work toward the Force Rating Talent.

With her 75 "in-play" she can spend 20 of that too get her Force Rating 2.

Then if she purchases Manipulate with her "in-play" XP AND can get the Mentor Discount, she can get to the Mechanics Control upgrade (left side) for 20 XP.

If she purchases Battle Meditation with her "in-play" XP AND can get the Mentor Discount, she can get to the basic power and the Range upgrade that leads into the "give commands" Control upgrade for 25 XP.

She'd have 10 XP left over to do whatever with. Skill rank (s), Force Power upgrade(s) - like putting another Range Band in Battle Mediation, another basic Power, whatever.

She would be able to craft things pretty well (start on a custom drone? modify drones, craft weapons and armor, repair ships, heal droids, whatever). She could Slice (with the proper gear: Slider Gear and Data Spike). She could use Battle Mediation to buff and command up to 3 drones (or other friendlies).

Sound close to what she wants?

I don't think Battle Meditation would work in this case. Droids are specifically immune to mind-altering force powers such as Influence, and I think Battle Meditation would count.

Yea, you're totally right.

Was too focused on the end-goal. Overlooked silly little details, like "droids are immune to mind affecting Force powers"

In light of this "development" it would probably make the most sense for your player to just go HEAVY into Manipulate.

Her focus would shift from controlling drones with the Force, to: enhancing her Mechanics and Computer Skills with the Force, so that she may crafting and modifying/enhance drones really well... Under that paradigm, you could look to the Computers Skill as a kind of analogue for commanding and buffing them.

I don't have Special Modifications, so I'm not too well versed on the advanced droid rules. But to my knowledge, there aren't really any rules for the remote "piloting" of a droid/remote/drone like a Rigger might do in Shadowrun, or something. So what I'd envisioning doing if I were her, as a part of my character's "play cycle", would be to ask for a Computers check prior to deploying a droid or remote. For combat, or recon, or whatever it's " Directive " is.

I'd say, "I want to update this droid/remote's Directive with more specific commands and details, for this specific task/mission." And roll the Computers check, assuming the GM allows it. Then use the (hopefully available) narrative symbols - Advantage, Triumph - to create some kind of mechanical or narrative benefit for the thing. If it's taking action/making checks immediately, that could be as simple as passing it Boost(s), or upgrading it's next check, or whatever. Or it could be a highly narrative thing to work out with the GM: "For those two Advantage, can I issue a specific set of commands once in the next encounter?", "For that Triumph, can I assume control of it for the entire encounter?", so on...

Basically, it's a cool concept. As GM, I'd want to work with my player to do something cool with it. And all of those suggestions above would fall within the realm of just using RAW adaptively.

Heck, you could even develop "jumped-in" droid/remote/drone piloting rules. Maybe gear or cyberware to support (and counter) it?

Anyway, as for the actual build, in truth, the concept, if executed as above, would probably be best pulled off by a non-Force user. The concept as above really comes down to Skills and Talents, and so non-Force users just have more XP for that stuff. But ignoring that fact! ... Well, it's hard for me to make a Force User now that doesn't start with Padawan, so I'd still recommend that, if it's an option (use Well Rounded to make Computers and Gunnery Career Skills). And if Padawan doesn't fit in the campaign, then probably Artisan. Heck, under Artisan, maybe you could even spin the "Imbue Item" Talent, to confer complete control over the "item"/remote for as long as the Force die is committed as the "improvement"? They could then control as many drones as they had Force Rating die to commit. Spin the narrative as a constant modification of the droids code/Directive. I dunno...

If you're gonna do that with Imbue Item, though, why wouldn't you just do it for Battle Med. So maybe that doesn't work...

But anyway, pretty much the same build as above 4 Intellect, but maybe 3 in Agility for the Piloting and Gunnery/Ranged, instead? Again, go for that Force Rating Talent to get FR2. Dump as much XP as you want into Manipulate, though probably drilling down to the Mechanics and Computer control upgrade...

I dunno, probably gonna be on you, GM, to find a way to make it work and be cool/useful.

Droids and remotes are expensive, and usually not that great at stuff for the affordable ones. So I don't think you're gonna break anything by working with your player here. The challenge will just be finding something that isn't too far outside what is already there in the mechanics and lore of Star Wars.

Crafting-focused PCs are fun, and can really be a great boon to the group. Really they can contribute to significant power-creep in long term play. A Manipulate specialist is something I've had on my list of character types to play for a long time, so I don't think your player can go wrong just by seeing what comes of it anyway. Even if she can't quite do ALL the things.

Good luck!

5 minutes ago, emsquared said:

I don't have Special Modifications, so I'm not too well versed on the advanced droid rules. But to my knowledge, there aren't really any rules for the remote "piloting" of a droid/remote/drone like a Rigger might do in Shadowrun, or something. So what I'd envisioning doing if I were her, as a part of my character's "play cycle", would be to ask for a Computers check prior to deploying a droid or remote. For combat, or recon, or whatever it's " Directive " is.

I'm actually playing a Droid Spy: Slicer that is using the Generic Remote from Special Modifications. The way we're handling it is that I can either control it myself, spending Maneuvers/Actions as per usual, just through the droid, and using my skills and characteristics (at GM discretion as to what applies, what would be assisted, or what would just be the remote). Or, I can set it up as an NPC and it uses its own stats. It then does its thing as ordered to, but I can "program" it to use the PC's ranks in a mental skill of the PC's choice (usually Computers) to buff its stats. We don't require a check for that, just enough time.

9 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

The way we're handling it is that I can either control it myself, spending Maneuvers/Actions as per usual

Yea that makes sense. Basically starting from a place of mount/animal companion rules.

Th at gets me thinking, for a Force sensitive tech user...

There's some interesting analogues that could be drawn from the Pathfinder chain of Talents like Animal Empathy, Animal Bond (+Improved AB), and Mental Bond ... You could develop a set like that around droids/remotes.

This all makes me want to create a Force Techno-savant Spec...

14 minutes ago, emsquared said:

Yea that makes sense. Basically starting from a place of mount/animal companion rules.

I think we're on the same page, but to make it completely clear, it's a 1:1 exchange, the PC spending an Action to have the remote spend an Action, the PC spending a Maneuver to have the remote spend a Maneuver. I realized what I said may have been a bit ambiguous.

15 minutes ago, emsquared said:

There's some interesting analogues that could be drawn from the Pathfinder chain of Talents like Animal Empathy, Animal Bond (+Improved AB), and Mental Bond ... You could develop a set like that around droids/remotes.

This all makes me want to create a Force Techno-savant Spec...

If you do end up doing this, I would be glad to help and provide feedback. That is something that could be quite interesting.

19 minutes ago, emsquared said:

There's some interesting analogues that could be drawn from the Pathfinder chain of Talents like Animal Empathy, Animal Bond (+Improved AB), and Mental Bond ... You could develop a set like that around droids/remotes.

This all makes me want to create a Force Techno-savant Spec...

So this is how we've been thinking. For example, earlier you mentioned Battle Meditation, but does that path really break if you remove the "living" ally aspect, and replace it with ally droid? Same with your comment above, if the Pathfinder works specifically with droid instead of a beast, does it still work?

We also looked at Harm (thematically) being electricity... and when you but range, it becomes a bolt of electricity. If it simply does the damage mentioned, does it really matter what you pretend it is?

17 minutes ago, Grungyape said:

So this is how we've been thinking. For example, earlier you mentioned Battle Meditation, but does that path really break if you remove the "living" ally aspect, and replace it with ally droid? Same with your comment above, if the Pathfinder works specifically with droid instead of a beast, does it still work?

We also looked at Harm (thematically) being electricity... and when you but range, it becomes a bolt of electricity. If it simply does the damage mentioned, does it really matter what you pretend it is?

I mean really the only consideration for trading Battle Med's ability to affect living things for droids-only is gonna be your level of concern/respect for Star Wars lore.

If it doesn't bother your soul to let the Force affect the minds of mechanical constructs, then by all means proceed, because if anything it's a weakening/narrowing of the Power's range of effect UNLESS you're playing as a Separatist unit with B1s and Droideka's everywhere around you. Even then it's probably just a lateral move...

You may have to exempt droid-brain ships from the range of effect on some technicality, but that's about the only complication I could see there.

RE: the Pathfinder Spec and Talents, it is very outdoorsy themed of course, and so that's particularly what would make me want to do a revamped tech version. Beyond that though, droids are more common and more acceptable to have with you basically anywhere in Galactic Society than random creatures. So there is some power-creep there in just porting that Talent over to droid-only.

I've done the Animal Bond thing, and a big restriction on the awesomeness of that Talent was I couldn't ride my Rancor anywhere without ppl whining at me, " Waaah, your rancor is gonna eat my kid! Waaah! Get it out of here! " 🙄 (just kidding, I didn't ever get a rancor, but that was my goal, game ended before I could get to FR 6). But you see my point, it's very easy as a GM to say, " You can't bring your Nexu in here. " and to thereby narratively restrict the Talent's usefulness in that way.

You're gonna have a hard time restricting a droid from going everywhere with your PC, unless that droid is loaded out with obvious weapons and armor or something. And furthermore, whereas creatures generally get more powerful as you get a larger Silhouette, with droids there's no correlation there. If you can find or build an awesome Sil 1 droid, to Bond with, you're gonna have an awesome companion early on in play and for the entire length of the campaign. That's another point of power-creep to be aware of...

Maybe it's significant, maybe not. But those were two "limiters" I identified in playing a PC with Animal Bond that wouldn't apply to "Droid Bond".

And as for re-skinning the narrative of the mechanics for something like Harm or Unleash, yea, go wild. That's part of the massive allure of this system's approach to Force Powers, the non-specificity of it's fluff overlaying the mechanics.

Again, good luck!

9 minutes ago, emsquared said:

You're gonna have a hard time restricting a droid from going everywhere with your PC, unless that droid is loaded out with obvious weapons and armor or something.

Wuher begs to differ.

I think Battle Meditation should be restricted to minds. Telepathy doesn't make much sense when it's organic to droid.

Now, if the character had a cybernetic brain implant and maybe Manipulate, then I might consider it as appropriately thematic, though I probably wouldn't allow it to apply to both at once for balance reasons.

If we were to make a "droid companion" tree and associated talents, we would need to rebalance it and probably scrap the Silhouette scaling (though I'd suggest limiting it to Sil 2 to restrict droid vehicles).

In the Collapse of the Republic sourcebook you can find the Separatist Commander universal specialization. They specialise in using droids. Just re-skin it so that it's not necessarily from the CIS (just like the Death Watch Warrior universal specialization in the same book doesn't necessarily represent the Death Watch, but any jetpack-using Mandalorian instead).

The Sentinel career's Artisan tree might be of interest for starting (lots of tech-related stuff there), possibly also the Guardian's Armourer tree.