I have played a few one shots, and am about to get into a campaign. I was looking at the Politico tree and after having used Improved Scathing Tirade to make Mara Jade drop her lightsaber by telling her that her outfit didn't match (in our most recent one shot) I thought Improved Rhetoric looked equally effective.

My questions are:

How often can I use it?

Do the boost dice stack?

Is it viable for me to stand back in combat and just inspire everyone, every turn?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

I'm not sure how Scathing Tirade did that unless it completely drained her Strain Threshold. I also don't see Mara Jade as a Barbie doll who cares that much about her outfit matching, particularly during an era where she's essentially a Sith aspirant like Aasajj Ventress before her. That would take a HELL of a Coercion check.

The way it worked was hitting for Strain on a success (and adding set back die), I rolled a ton of Advantage and a Triumph so the GM gave me a disarm. As for Mara Jade, when Princess Leia questions your wardrobe choices, you can't help but second guess yourself, lol.

Scathing Tirade is one of those things in this game that IMHO can be easily abused. It's for players who can really pull out all the stops when roleplaying their characters, otherwise it's pure cheese. The "yes, but..." philosophy requires a chance, but doing anything like that to Mara Jade would get a lot of difficulty upgrades and setback dice from me. Not that I'd ever host a game where these characters show up...

I guess the bigger point is, this kind of talent requires the player (again, IMHO) to actually deliver their character's inspiring or scathing lines. Otherwise it's in the wrong hands.

Scathing Tirade is one of those things in this game that IMHO can be easily abused. It's for players who can really pull out all the stops when roleplaying their characters, otherwise it's pure cheese. The "yes, but..." philosophy requires a chance, but doing anything like that to Mara Jade would get a lot of difficulty upgrades and setback dice from me. Not that I'd ever host a game where these characters show up...

I guess the bigger point is, this kind of talent requires the player (again, IMHO) to actually deliver their character's inspiring or scathing lines. Otherwise it's in the wrong hands.

Not all players are great actors. Although it's odd, I've had some socially awkward players take ranks in Charm/Diplomacy/etc and end up as the "voice" of the party, and although I might apply a penalty or two if they say something demonstrably stupid I always allow it in order to encourage roleplaying growth. Although a player may not say something brilliant to go along with her Scathing Tirade, we can assume that the character used better wording and voice inflections to get the same point across. No matter what a given individual's roleplaying skills might be, I never bar anyone from playing the kind of character they want to play.

No matter what a given individual's roleplaying skills might be, I never bar anyone from playing the kind of character they want to play.

Agreed, I stated it too harshly. I guess I reacted to two things. First, the idea of Mara Jade worrying about her clothing. If someone had tried to use that in a session, I'd encourage them to rethink it, unless they came up with a line so witty or cutting that the table cracked up.

Second, that because of game mechanics, somebody like Mara Jade would actually be disarmed by such a comment. This has come up on these boards before, and I'd have a hard time allowing it: it assumes a supreme level of mental and psychological control, and a reaction to that control that would be completely out of character for the NPC. Comparisons have been made to Wesley and Humperdink (Princess Bride)...that I could see, because Humperdink is essentially a coward at heart and, what with the leadup to the wedding and the panic in the castle, already in a state of doubt and panic. To get Mara Jade into the same state of compliance would require a lot of setup.

Basically, if the players wanted to use those talents on a nemesis (or even a rival in the right conditions), the context has to be right for the effect they want to achieve.

Basically, if the players wanted to use those talents on a nemesis (or even a rival in the right conditions), the context has to be right for the effect they want to achieve.

Humperdink is also a total b*tch compared to Mara Jade. ALL of her stats are likely higher, but in particular her Willpower. As for the context of a scene, you're spot-on. Princess Leia scolding Mara Jade with Scathing Tirade and getting a Triumph could mean many things, such as Mara Jade being afraid of Leia or demoralized to the point where she runs away or downgrades her checks, but she certainly wouldn't drop her lightsaber and give up. That would take AT LEAST two Triumphs, probably closer to three.

Also, it just occurred to me that the Scathing Tirade talent has nothing to do with any of this. It's all about a Triumph on a simple Coercion check, it would seem.

Basically, if the players wanted to use those talents on a nemesis (or even a rival in the right conditions), the context has to be right for the effect they want to achieve.

Humperdink is also a total b*tch compared to Mara Jade. ALL of her stats are likely higher, but in particular her Willpower. As for the context of a scene, you're spot-on. Princess Leia scolding Mara Jade with Scathing Tirade and getting a Triumph could mean many things, such as Mara Jade being afraid of Leia or demoralized to the point where she runs away or downgrades her checks, but she certainly wouldn't drop her lightsaber and give up. That would take AT LEAST two Triumphs, probably closer to three.

Also, it just occurred to me that the Scathing Tirade talent has nothing to do with any of this. It's all about a Triumph on a simple Coercion check, it would seem.

She didn't drop her lightsaber because she gave up, she dropped her lightsaber because she was making sure her armor was on straight and that her boots didn't make her look stupid. It's entirely plausible. Besides, the attempt was not to disarm here, merely to mock her for her poor fashion choices, it's not Leia's fault that Mara can't check a mirror and hold her lightsaber at the same time.

Also - don't let preconceived notions of characterization limit roleplay in the active game. Sure, Mara Jade would never go for that IN the Star Wars cannon, but this is an offshoot, where the universe is molded around the actions of the players engaged with it. To deny that possibility simply because it goes against what someone else wrote is limiting your players for no other reason than not wanting to deviate from the source material. If that were always the case, the game would be far too stringent in its scope and would become almost entirely unplayable.

By allowing players some flexibility you open up intricate and unexplored levels of character depth. In the aforementioned conflict, perhaps we have learned that Mara Jade was mocked as a child and that deep down she still fears such things, and that fear lead her to crave fulfillment in the dark side.

How often can I use it?

Do the boost dice stack?

Is it viable for me to stand back in combat and just inspire everyone, every turn?

1. As much as you want.

2. Stack with other Boost dice? Yes. Stack with Boost dice from other uses of Inspiring Rhetoric? I would say no, just like you can't give someone two Boost dice with 4 Advantage results.

3. If you had no ranks in Leadership, sure. Otherwise it lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Leadership score, thus giving 1-5 rounds where it would have no effect save on characters who haven't been Inspired by your Rhetoric yet. Same thing goes with Scathing Tirade.

As for Mara Jade dropping her lightsaber to see if her cloths fit, that doesn't fit with the context of ANY scene with Mara Jade, therefore I wouldn't allow it. For one thing Leia would never comment on someone's cloths like that; she's the biggest non-Jedi badass of the original trilogy party, with more kills than Chewie or even Han. (This is why I don't let people play established characters, but that's just personal taste talking.) For another, Mara Jade is a nemesis character, and thus above being bossed around by player characters with nothing but a simple Triumph.

Put the situation in reverse; imagine if Grand Moff Tarkin told Luke that his tunic looked stupid and his boots didn't match (using Scathing Tirade and rolling a Triumph, of course). Would Luke drop his lightsaber and check up on his outfit, or would Tarkin's Triumph result merely demoralize him, causing him to downgrade his next check...?

A lot of this also depends on the tone of your game, I should note. If it's light and non-serious, go for it. Otherwise you're breaking with the established themes of space fantasy for a joke that's completely out of context with the rest of the universe.

A lot of this also depends on the tone of your game, I should note. If it's light and non-serious, go for it. Otherwise you're breaking with the established themes of space fantasy for a joke that's completely out of context with the rest of the universe.

At this point I may just feel like I need to take your responses with a grain of salt. 'Space Fantasy' doesn't have acceptable and unacceptable tropes, that's the whole point of the 'fantasy' component, and the biggest problem in building around someone's pre-existing IP - the idea that things can't bring certain boundaries is game ruining.

Your group sits and the table and the game scenario begins - everything you think you know is entirely on pause at that point and pre-existing outcomes are up for grabs. If my group wanted to play a 'blow up the Death Star' scenario, Luke wouldn't automatically succeed on his attack roll just because he does in the movies. That would make the entire thing pointless. And what fun would it be to exist in such a rich universe if you didn't have the chance to interact with, and impact events already in motion.

However, this is entirely off topic, and I appreciate the response about Rhetoric. My goal is a relatively non-combative character who still has ways of impacting conflicts.

To deny that possibility simply because it goes against what someone else wrote is limiting your players for no other reason than not wanting to deviate from the source material.

No, that's not why. It's a matter of flavour, I'm just not into that sort of campaign or play. But sorry, don't mean to dump on it.

I guess that's why I'm not exactly breaking down the door to get the Rhetoric talents with my Politico - The Game Mechanics say roll the dice, every enemy in range takes strain. On the other hand, the role player in me has to justify that strain - but how do I insult stormtroopers? "Your mothers should have taught you better than to be so mean! Oh - wait, sorry clones!" only works for so long.

Now if I was, in real life, a Don Rickles or Groucho, I'd be able to use my sardonic wit to destroy the enemy's moral But I'm not - so I have trouble justifying the skill's use.

For one thing Leia would never comment on someone's cloths like that; she's the biggest non-Jedi badass of the original trilogy party, with more kills than Chewie or even Han.

Hey, she can't take all the credit. She needed Tarkin's help to really push her numbers up!

It sounds like the tone was entirely comedic. A comedy one-shot with players as goofy versions of the main trilogy characters? Having Mara Jade get so mad that she throws her weapon on the ground or so upset that she drops it sounds fine (feel free to roll your eyes at the sexist humour, though ).

"How often can I use it?"

You can use it every round, but given that it lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Leadership rank, you shouldn't need to.

"Do the boost dice stack?"

We've house ruled that multiple boost dice from the same source do not stack (with the exception of Aim, and that's limited to 2). I don't know if this is the "correct" way to do things, but it keeps things from getting too silly.

"Is it viable for me to stand back in combat and just inspire everyone, every turn?"

Viable, but not really useful. You're sacrificing the chance of removing an enemy for the chance to recover some strain and hand out some Boost dice, after all.

Sorry, hadn't read JonahHex's post (making mine completely redundant ).

"Is it viable for me to stand back in combat and just inspire everyone, every turn?"

Viable, but not really useful. You're sacrificing the chance of removing an enemy for the chance to recover some strain and hand out some Boost dice, after all.

OTOH, alternating between Inspiring your allies and Scathing your enemies is a viable combat tactic. Once you get the ability to do them as Maneuvers, you can throw some fighting/shooting in at the same time. Now you're the Star Wars equivalent of Spider-Man's wise-ass fighting style.

I guess that's why I'm not exactly breaking down the door to get the Rhetoric talents with my Politico - The Game Mechanics say roll the dice, every enemy in range takes strain. On the other hand, the role player in me has to justify that strain - but how do I insult stormtroopers? "Your mothers should have taught you better than to be so mean! Oh - wait, sorry clones!" only works for so long.

As for what to yell at Storm Troopers, my politico usually does his Inspiring and Scathing with the same lines, "Shoot them in the face." Or some variation on that theme. My politico stands in the middle of combat yelling at people like it ain't no thang. A guy in a nice suit leaning on a cane (gaffii stick) barking orders to kill can be quite intimidating and/or inspiring depending on which side you're on. Well, he's not being intimidating so much as he is providing the verbal reminders that the rest of the party are viscious killers.

BTW: I was so happy when I finally killed someone with Scathing. For some reason I can roll nothing but successes and my force die never works. As for how we played out the kill, we ruled my shouting took place during the last shot that almost killed the guy, so it was actually the blaster that killed.

As for just sitting in back and leading the team. My politico has yet to actually fight. He carries a cane (gaffi stick) for the +1 defense, and a holdout blaster, but he has never attacked. The rest of the party doesn't know he carries the gun, it's just there for just in case. The trick with playing a politico is not to be too worried about not killing anything in combat. Your chance to shine is out of combat when you're trying to convince the guards into letting you through instead of just killing them. One of my favorite combats so far has been when the politico and pilot found the security room with banks of monitors. We found some snacks and watched the rest of the party fight their way through a large combat. We took bets on which party member would kill the most droids and yelled things over the PA system. Sure, we could've helped end the fight that much quicker, but it was more in our characters to be sitting back and watch. Even though we didn't do anything, it was one of the most fun nights of gaming I've had in a long time.

So, yes it is viable to just lead from the back. Role play your character as you see fit and as a player, don't worry about comparing your character to others. A politico will shine in ways no other character can. I hope this helps.

This came up during our game yesterday. How does this talent work outside of combat? Our Politico wanted to use it before every action someone else was going to take. Our slicer was going to hack the security feeds from a main terminal. "Come on, you can do it!" Some time later, our slicer was going to try to disable the alarm system before it triggered. "Come on, you can do it!".

Does it really work like that? For now, we've just decided that, outside of combat, it can only be used once per scene (this also causes the Politico to actually think about when he wants to use it)... but I don't want to take someone's toys away if he's using them correctly.

This came up during our game yesterday. How does this talent work outside of combat? Our Politico wanted to use it before every action someone else was going to take. Our slicer was going to hack the security feeds from a main terminal. "Come on, you can do it!" Some time later, our slicer was going to try to disable the alarm system before it triggered. "Come on, you can do it!".

Does it really work like that? For now, we've just decided that, outside of combat, it can only be used once per scene (this also causes the Politico to actually think about when he wants to use it)... but I don't want to take someone's toys away if he's using them correctly.

It works whenever the individual has time. A big part my game involves the Doctor/Politico (the princess of a clan of nomad healers from Ryloth) using Supreme Stim Application and Supreme Inspiring Rhetoric to buff pretty much every action taken. The important thing I keep in mind with both is A) how much time a given task might take and B) whether or not she and the player in question remembers to get buffed first.

If the party Mechanic is repairing the ship, there's plenty of time for her to inspire and drug anyone who's helping out. If the party Scoundrel needs to quickly make a Deception check against a s customs agent, there's no way she would have time to inspire/drug the guy. If the party Trader is making a slick Negotiation check to buy some gear, she might have time to inspire, but I'm going to require a Stealth check for her to use Stim Application without looking very, very strange and adding Setback dice to the Trader's check.

So on and so forth.

Hmm, that's an excellent point of view. So in the first example, being our slicer trying to hack the security cameras, she would have more time and thus letting our Politico inspire her to do her best. In the other example: having her race to disable the alarm before an adversary can trigger it, it wouldn't really work. Would it be wrong to think that, for the last example, she would actually gain a setback (and no boost die) because she has to focus on the job... but the Politico keeps on encouraging her (distraction)?

Hmm, that's an excellent point of view. So in the first example, being our slicer trying to hack the security cameras, she would have more time and thus letting our Politico inspire her to do her best. In the other example: having her race to disable the alarm before an adversary can trigger it, it wouldn't really work. Would it be wrong to think that, for the last example, she would actually gain a setback (and no boost die) because she has to focus on the job... but the Politico keeps on encouraging her (distraction)?

Kinda harsh. The Politico has paid points to do his thing, having it do the opposite of it's function is a little mean. Having the Politico suffer Setback or upgraded Difficulty because he's under the gun is fair game though.

Sorry for the off topic, but whenever I see people talk about someone boosting their skill checks I just can't help but think of Elan the bard from Order of the Stick. I just picture him standing behind them, strumming his lute, and singing "slice, slice, slice the computer".