So my regular gaming group is looking to expand in the Star Wars universe. One of our group is a SW Mega-nerd (who isn't right?) and wants to try their hand at GM. Looking through the various source books I have chosen to play a Jedi Sentinel / Sentry. While reading the various forum threads I continue to see references to Padawan Survivor, Jedi Knight, Master, General. I do not see anything in the Core Rulebook that this listed except Jedi Knight which is an additional 150xp to invest at character creation. Are the other profiles/names also a generic xp value status that I am simply not aware of OR is Padawan Survivor indeed a starting class?

Additionally, I see the various force powers and while I understand that you must have force rating (X) before you can invest into the force powers tree. How do you earn additional Force Rating? I see that you can purchase the skills under your class talents that have "Increase Force rating +1". So I am assuming that you have to invest xp into other specialty class talents and purchase those talents to increase Force Rating.

Thanks for your time, and help.

Welcome to SW RPG, friend It's a cool place to be!

Padawan, Force Sensitive Outcast, etc. are new Universal Specialities found in the PT sourcebooks ( Rise of the Separatists & Collapse of the Republic ), and there is a separate Jedi Career there too, for those who want to play classical jedi during the PT era. For "ordinary" SWRPG you typically use the careers and specialities found in the F&D books (like your Jedi Sentinel: Sentry, for instance). If you have the books, however, the GM might allow you to expand into those alternative careers & specialities, too, if they feel it fits your game and gaming group. (Although, there are some possible balance issues there, especially regarding whether or not one should be allowed to pick up certain Universal Specialities post-character generation; some Universal Specializations might work best as starting-specializations only).

As for Force Rating, you typically gain your first rank when you buy your first Force-Career Specialization/Force-Unviersal Specialization. After that, you must buy into your specialization trees deep enough to purchase the Force Rating talent of those trees; some Force trees have one such talents (typically at/near the bottom of the tree), one or two trees have more than one Force Rating increases (Mystic specializataions), and quite a few have no Force Rating increases (typically the more combat-oriented specializations).

On 10/6/2020 at 4:52 PM, AshofOoE said:

So my regular gaming group is looking to expand in the Star Wars universe. One of our group is a SW Mega-nerd (who isn't right?) and wants to try their hand at GM. Looking through the various source books I have chosen to play a Jedi Sentinel / Sentry. While reading the various forum threads I continue to see references to Padawan Survivor, Jedi Knight, Master, General. I do not see anything in the Core Rulebook that this listed except Jedi Knight which is an additional 150xp to invest at character creation. Are the other profiles/names also a generic xp value status that I am simply not aware of OR is Padawan Survivor indeed a starting class?

Welcome to the party!

A minor clarification (as some may split this particular hair...and, it's also useful for keeping the perspective of the "default" setting in mind): the Force and Destiny careers and specializations aren't, strictly speaking, Jedi. They're meant as GCW-era people carrying on Jedi traditions. With that out of the way....

Padawan Survivor is a universal specialization in the Dawn of Rebellion era sourcebook. As a universal spec, unless you're dealing with house rules that allow it, it can't be used as your starting spec, but can be purchased as a secondary spec at character creation (or any other time).

The Jedi career, proper, was introduced in Rise of the Separatists , the first of two Clone Wars era books, along with Padawan and Knight as specializations. Collapse of the Republic , the second Clone Wars era book, added the Master and General specializations to the mix.

What you're seeing in the Core Rulebook isn't a "jedi Knight," but rather what's termed "Knight Level" play, which provides additional XP and starting credits or resources to allow you to start with a more "seasoned" character.

On 10/6/2020 at 4:52 PM, AshofOoE said:

Additionally, I see the various force powers and while I understand that you must have force rating (X) before you can invest into the force powers tree. How do you earn additional Force Rating? I see that you can purchase the skills under your class talents that have "Increase Force rating +1". So I am assuming that you have to invest xp into other specialty class talents and purchase those talents to increase Force Rating.

Starting with a Force and Destiny career grants you a Force Rating of 1 at character creation.

Most of the Force-related specialization trees have one (or, rarely, more) boxes of the Force Rating talent that adds 1 to your Force Rating.

@angelman2 and @Nytwyng Thank you both for the greetings and response as I was not aware of these 2 sourcebooks. Much appreciated.

If the clone wars books are not allowed in the game the combination of niman-disciple and sentry (in either order) get you a reasonable approximation of a jedi in just 2 specs. With force powers and skills of course... as a piece of advice put all (as much as possible) of your species (110 for humans) and morality (10 if you choose it) xp into attributes because it's the only time you can spend xp to raise stats... otherwise you have to go through the trees to get to the dedication talent.

7 hours ago, EliasWindrider said:

as a piece of advice put all (as much as possible) of your species... and morality... xp into attributes because it's the only time you can spend xp to raise stats

@AshofOoE this. This is the single most useful piece of advice for building new characters you will ever get. Do this, and you'll have a character that is well spec'd and which has a long life on it.

Welcome to the game, and may the force be with you.

4 hours ago, SufficientlyAdvancedMoronics said:

and may the force be with you.

*Pernicious dice gods.

It's important to note that if any character starts in a non-FaD or non-Jedi career and later wants to become/be revealed as a Force-user, then they need to buy a universal specialization after character creation in order to gain Force sensitivity. The current options are Force-Sensitive Exile (EotE CRB), Force-Sensitive Emergent (AoR CRB), Padawan Survivor (Dawn of Rebellion), and Force-Sensitive Outcast (Rise of the Separatists). (Other universal specializations do exist, but they don't give Force sensitivity to non-Force sensitives simply from buying access to the tree.)

Technically, the Nightsister universal specialization (Collapse of the Republic) would also work if one purchases it plus one particular 5 XP talent on it. However, that universal specialization works best for the inhabitants of Dathomir. (And if using Legends source material, for other Dathomiri witch clans too, not just the Nightsisters. This sort "double duty" is similar to how the Death Watch Warrior universal specialization also works for True Mandalorians.)

@AshofOoE

It's been hard to find the clone wars books, particularly collapse of the republic at a reasonable price.... however yesterday was able to buy both (as a Dec birthday and Christmas present for @Tramp Graphics , I know, I know, hope springs eternal) at reasonable price ($39.95 each I think) from asmodee's online store. So if you're looking for them that's where they are, padawan survivor is in dawn of rebellion which they also have in stock.