My player has chosen the force exile tree and has decided to invest all his experience points into his powers instead of b-lining to the force rating 2 talent, so he has to sometimes use dark side points.

My question is how do I weave consequences for his actions into the narrative? I'm unsure what to do without taking his character's actions sometimes out of his hands.

Has anyone dealt with a player that frequently uses dark side points when rolling the force die/dice? If so, how to you use this to affect their story line?

Well, one subtle way (but may involve a bit more work on your part) would be to make slight edits to how you describe people and situations to that player. The Dark Side makes one rash and impatient with others (part of that whole "faster, easier" seductive quality it has). It's addictive - why talk things out and pretend the NPC merchant has free will when you could just mind trick and take the info you want? Why bother putting up with excuses and just force choke a fool who's in your way, etc. Patient dark siders are rare and tend to be very strong willed (your Darth Banes, Sidious', etc). How to do this? When describing actions put a slightly whiny/bored spin on reactions. The other PCs, if they ask, don't pick up on this - sure the Rebel informant isn't being totally forthcoming with the info, that's because he's being cautious and not immediately trusting you on safe words and coded signals alone and - "Biff, what the hell dude! put him down, what the hell do you think you are doing?! I don't care how bored you are, or how much easier this would be - we need this guy to trust us".

As the force user's reputation grows, some people may not always be quite so willing to help him directly - or, like Vader, they fall over themselves to appear as helpful as possible when within choking/mind trick distance and try to remove themselves as soon as possible. Allies and higher-ups (your patron crime lord, a Rebel contact, etc) may pull the other characters aside and talk to them about Mr. Choke-y and how everyone would be much happier if they kept Mr. Short-Temper on a leash.

Of course there is also the threat of increased Imperial attentions. Not just in the usual bounty hunter/inquisitor, but also from the Emperor and Dark Side cultists as well who can feel this individual with dark potential lurking at the edges of their awareness. Suddenly things may start going the team's way, doors opened, obstacles melt away, but then the sales pitch comes in - promises of knowledge, power, riches, the ability to walk away from Obligations without penalty ("that Hutt? With a word I could make him and his whole cartel vanish overnight - it's amazing what a few calls into the Oversector Governor can do, but then maybe you could do something for me in return..." In essence, the group's Obligations would be swapped for new unwanted ones).

Don't be heavy handed about it, but these things do happen. I'd try and keep it thematic - the Dark Side is seductive, it rewards up front and makes you dependent on it, slowly cutting you off from more positive ways of acting, and eventually thinking. Friends, family, even enemies cease to be people at some point and simply become things - things that obey or die.

How about using something like the Obligation mechanic (something I've been pondering myself for a little while).

Perhaps for each darkside pip your player uses, his "Darkside" Obligation increases by 1 or 2? Then, at the start of the session, you add it to the Obligation group table and roll as normal for the start of the session. If it comes up, he and his colleagues suffer Strain as normal. Also, keep track fo the number of times it IS rolled. If it reaches 10 times, the Darkside consumes him and he either must play as a full Darksider or his character is lost and he must make a new one (depending on GM).

Maybe, for each 10 points accumulated, roll on some random table to determine how he changes? Some effects could be:

Upgrade your Fear level (or gain Minimally Afraid if you don't yet cause Fear).

Eyes turn yellow/red/white/black.

Social check difficulties are given a Setback dice.

Intimidation checks are given a Boost dice.

Dark thoughts fill you. You must commit some unkind act once per session (you threaten a shop owner, or knock over a small child's ice-cream).

Just some ideas

I agree with working it into Obligation somehow, but it's best if you're good at playing that part up narratively. I've considered a house rule that allows the character to ignore the Strain of calling on the Dark Side, but at the cost of Dark Side obligation. This is the tipping point at which the character is no longer just influenced by, or flirting with the Dark Side, but is willingly embracing it. Consider a character who uses Move to slam an enemy into a wall. With white pips, he's trying to defend himself and his friends. He strikes out of necessity, 'cause sometimes you just gotta do that. With black pips, in most cases, anger washes over him, and he slams the enemy out of fury, and then has a moment of, "What the hell was that?!" His friends may not notice any difference, but he's winded by the dark emotions that flow through him. Now if the Force User has had a rough day, and is already suffering a lot of Strain, he may take those Dark pips and say, "Aw yeah, we are DOIN' THIS!" and embrace the anger to slam the enemy around. In the last case, the player chose not to suffer Strain, but takes a few points of Dark Side obligation.

Soon, this Obligation will add up. When it's rolled during a session, the character is in a foul mood, and his friends are uneasy around him. The lowered strain threshold means he may need to Embrace the Dark Side yet again, increasing his obligation and, well... you see where this is going.

If doubles come up, it's time for a test of his mettle. The character should face a significant challenge that threatens to turn him fully. If he can go the whole session without using Dark Side pips and still has some sort of success, he can reduce his Obligation. If not, he may Fall. It's up to the GM and the group to determine exactly what that means.

Thanks all! I greatly appreciate the ideas and advice.

I will finally give my player reason to think twice about taking the short, easy way to power, not to mention the other players will not be happy if he does.

One important bit: You and the group need to be clear with each other about what kind of moral grey area is acceptable. A lot of games have some sort of corruption mechanic for evil characters. As the character becomes more corrupt, he begins taking penalties. However, at the end, it is often assumed that the character is taken away and becomes an NPC, because he's completely fallen to Evil.

This is a often a mistake. If you provide mechanics for the path to Evil, you're saying, "This is acceptable in the game, but there are consequences." The conversation needs to happen long before that point is reached. If you want a "good-guys" game, you need to make that clear up front. The same goes for various levels of evil, and really, it should be in-game actions that are the threshold, not points on an "Evil-O-Meter." If one of my players wants his character to become a powerful Sith Lord or dark Necromancer or something, in most cases I'll be fine with that attempt. If he wants to play a madman who ***** his way across the countryside and murders babies, there's not going to be an "evil track," I'm just going to tell the player that he can't play such a character. Tywin Lannister is welcome at my table, The Mountain That Rides is not.

I apologize if I'm making assumptions, but I wasn't sure if you were trying to prevent him from courting the Dark Side, or just give him a hard time for it. The latter can be handled in-game, the former should be handled out of it.

Tywin Lannister is welcome at my table, The Mountain That Rides is not.

I guess the middle ground would be Sandor Clegane.

I kind of like the evil meter in a sense. Like make dark side an obligation but lets day his was rolled. Roll the force die to see just how it affects him. So on a light side roll he may start to calm and lose some anger but if he wants to call on the dark side hell recieve a set back dice. And vicea verssa. But have a chart labeling maybe how high his obligation is so maybe at 20 his eyes change. 40 skin get pail and gets those physical appearences like was said up top. But if you want to negotiate a setback since you will be terrifying. But maybe instead you can threaten for better stuff....

But I would have it affect the group as well little by little. The dark side is strong and powerful it only makes sense it affect the party as well

What do you all think?

Yes, when you use the dark side a lot, you create a disturbance in the force. Disturbance in the force = Darth Vader and his minions start taking an interest in you. Remember, exiles are only a lives because they are in hiding and not using the force, so if a player is running around constantly using the force he will get noticed.

Heres the best part it's not like a crime; meaning no witnesses no one knows. When you use the force you create ripples in the fabric of the force.

But with the dark side luckily if you do create waves there not coming to kill you. If anything recruit you. Which gives you a separate obligation to the empire. And quite possibly better stuff depending. It can make for an interesting story ark. Or a strong nemisis