Bon dia! (Good morning)

Yesterday I was discussing with a friends about Jedi Careers and Specializations. The main idea we get in that moment that based on movies and TV shows, there isn't so much training differences between one Jedi and another.

Almost every Jedi uses the same powers, same skills, same knowledges... Seems that there isn't a big difference between one Jedi and another. They have a strict instruction and maybe almost the same. Only a few of them we can say that have something "special".

Differences to consider are mainly:

- Lightsaber form style like fast and strong.

- Some Jedi are a bit more focused on diplomatic skills.

- Some sentences where they say that "It's a great pilot".

One Jedi can be better warrior, pilot, diplomatic than another but, they have a REALLY close training between them. Maybe there isn't a real need to separate Jedis in the classical "consular, guardian, sentinel". Maybe some of them just pick up a few extra skills or a foreign Specialization from Commander to become a better tacticia, Pilot from Ace or Ambassador from Diplomatic.

By the way, I have to review the Clone Wars Series to have a more accurate references but the main impression its that almost all Jedi are the same, with differences mainly based on attitude, style and XP difference but not in "different classes" itself.

Opinions?

Honestly, I'm hoping that Force and Destiny isn't just for original trilogy Jedi.

I much prefer TOR Jedi, even though I'm not a fan of the bad writing, plot holes, and nonsense that seems rampant in the prequel trilogy. But TOR Comics, and KOTOR 1/2? Yes Please. 100 Years after the original trilogy was pretty good too.

And yes. I'm aware that all the parts I liked most about the star wars franchise are potentially no longer canon; which is really too bad. But those are still the time periods I am likely to want to run a game in, if/when I run a FFG Starwars game that's actually in the star wars universe rather than a homebrew mashup SciFi Setting.

As for how to balance playing a Jedi with a handful of cool powers and lightsabers against the characters in the other game lines? Seems straightforward to me.

1. All characters are starting with 10k+ in starting funds rather than 500. At least enough to buy a lightsaber and some other basic gear (maybe some armor, etc).

2. Have characters do regular character creation as per AoR/EotE.

3. Give all characters a bunch of extra exp that doesn't count as starting exp (maybe an extra 100-200?)

4. ???

5. Profit.

The trick is going to be: How balanced are force powers against a bunch of equally priced options? If you build two characters both with +300xp, one who is force focused, and one who is not, are the characters equally able to contribute to a party? The thing is: *They Should Be.*

The danger is: Did FFG do a good enough job balancing higher level play for that to be the case? I honestly don't know, but I hope so. If they didn't, then they need to adjust prices until that is the case, and if Force Powers aren't as good as buying ranks in skills & talents for the same number of xp, or if force powers are just better, fix the prices or power up/power down the powers. A good amount of number crunching with a wide variety of exp levels (say, 0-1300 [52 games at max xp]) should go into it, and -THEN- they should put it out and playtest it.

Canon means little to nothing as regards gameplay. The players are the stars, not Obi-Wan or Yoda or Luke. Therefore there needs to be character creation that allows for many types of characters. Most likely F&D will focus on creating Force-using characters where it is a primary factor, unlike EotE or AoR where it is a secondary factor. An they will want to give the tools to allow people to run games in any era, not just the OT. Just because they are using the OT as a reference does not mean they are only going to supply such narrowly focused rules.

F&D core rulebook will most likely focus on the original three movies (like EotE and AOR core rulebooks) and then move on to video game powers in supplements. Personally, I hope they do it this way, i find alot of the video game powers to be very camp.

The powers will be the five we've got so far plus a few new ones. Healing, injury, plus any other abilities deemed important to have its own power.

The powers will be the five we've got so far plus a few new ones. Healing, injury, plus any other abilities deemed important to have its own power.

That seems pretty limited doesn't it? I wonder what mechanism will exist to improve force rating.

Same as exists now, I presume through the talent trees that will be offered. I have a question as to whether we will see the traditional gamer class names for those various trees and whether they will function precisely the same as the careers do. I am sure we will see more than a single talent tree though beyond the first two books Exile/Emergent trees.

Bon dia! (Good morning)

Yesterday I was discussing with a friends about Jedi Careers and Specializations. The main idea we get in that moment that based on movies and TV shows, there isn't so much training differences between one Jedi and another.

Almost every Jedi uses the same powers, same skills, same knowledges... Seems that there isn't a big difference between one Jedi and another. They have a strict instruction and maybe almost the same. Only a few of them we can say that have something "special".

Differences to consider are mainly:

- Lightsaber form style like fast and strong.

- Some Jedi are a bit more focused on diplomatic skills.

- Some sentences where they say that "It's a great pilot".

One Jedi can be better warrior, pilot, diplomatic than another but, they have a REALLY close training between them. Maybe there isn't a real need to separate Jedis in the classical "consular, guardian, sentinel". Maybe some of them just pick up a few extra skills or a foreign Specialization from Commander to become a better tacticia, Pilot from Ace or Ambassador from Diplomatic.

By the way, I have to review the Clone Wars Series to have a more accurate references but the main impression its that almost all Jedi are the same, with differences mainly based on attitude, style and XP difference but not in "different classes" itself.

Opinions?

I would really have to agree with your thoughts. Someone mentioned the idea of Jedi not actually being a career but at least one specialization. In d20, there was this confined idea of sticking with your class. But that's not there in FFG Star Wars. I could definitely see Jedi coloring their abilities with other specializations, rather than needing to be divided and different from the start. With the idea of picking up other specializations not being an act of desertion of one's career, all of the d20 baggage about multi classing and advancing in non-Jedi classes goes out the window.

While I would't say that all Jedi are the same, I will further extrapolate on your point by saying that it was their other skills and abilities (as well as personalities) that made them differ. Perhaps that all Jedi basically do have the same powers, and it is those other advancements that make them different rather than some fabricated Jedi quality.

On the thought of lightsabers, I can maybe see this either being a later-game story mechanic or even an event triggered by a specialization tree. Instead of handing out 10 000 credits worth of gear (which any smart player would hock for a repeating blaster and some rad armor), Jedi still have to work for their glow rod. Perhaps they gain access to a talent that provides them with the knowledge to build lightsabers, thus allowing that action to take place. While Luke did have a lightsaber as soon as the blasters started firing in New Hope, he really didn't use it until Empire, and not terribly often until Cloud City and his fight with Vader. It wasn't until Jedi when Luke actually used his lightsaber with any frequency or skill. And we are still playing in the Empire, so waving that crap around is still a bad idea; you'll want to be an accomplished Jedi, with the Force as your ally, before daring to draw that much aggro.

@mouthymerc: I highly doubt there will be any tools for playing in other eras. Why? Because EoE and AoR have no such things. Unless F&D wildly deviates from what FFG is doing, the game will be set during the Rebellion Era. While that doesn't prevent GM's from changing the setting, it is pure and baseless wishlisting to say that there will be any discussion of other settings; it will be up to the GM, not FFG.

I'm honestly happy with other settings happening later or not at all. By hyper-focusing on the Rebellion Era, it keeps FFG focused instead of flying all over the place trying to please people and properly represent each setting. Rebellion works. And honestly, the Jedi are the most interesting when they are at risk and fighting against the odds, rather than being the metric everything is measured by.

@mouthymerc: I highly doubt there will be any tools for playing in other eras. Why? Because EoE and AoR have no such things. Unless F&D wildly deviates from what FFG is doing, the game will be set during the Rebellion Era. While that doesn't prevent GM's from changing the setting, it is pure and baseless wishlisting to say that there will be any discussion of other settings; it will be up to the GM, not FFG.

The tools I am referring to are the fact that while the EotE and AoR games are using the original trilogy as a reference, you could create and run characters in any era using those books. I believe the same will be for F&D. Which is why I say they are not beholden to the fact that canon says there are only these few Jedi around. They will have the tools to create a character that started as a Jedi, not that came to it later after being a fringer or a bounty hunter or a soldier. I also think they will stick to their 6 careers/18 specs design too. Having a singular Jedi career would be too limiting. And they are designing a book that can be used on its own, so they will not depend on people taking specs from other books to round out their character. They will have different careers and specs within the Jedi that you can cherry pick from.

Canon means little to nothing as regards gameplay. The players are the stars, not Obi-Wan or Yoda or Luke. Therefore there needs to be character creation that allows for many types of characters. Most likely F&D will focus on creating Force-using characters where it is a primary factor, unlike EotE or AoR where it is a secondary factor. An they will want to give the tools to allow people to run games in any era, not just the OT. Just because they are using the OT as a reference does not mean they are only going to supply such narrowly focused rules.

The powers will be the five we've got so far plus a few new ones. Healing, injury, plus any other abilities deemed important to have its own power.

That seems pretty limited doesn't it? I wonder what mechanism will exist to improve force rating.

There already is a mechanism to improve fore rating. The Force Ratings talents, lol. As for being limited? Only powers we don't have access to from the movies currently, is the choke and the lightning

The powers will be the five we've got so far plus a few new ones. Healing, injury, plus any other abilities deemed important to have its own power.

That seems pretty limited doesn't it? I wonder what mechanism will exist to improve force rating.

There already is a mechanism to improve force rating. The Force Ratings talents, lol. As for being limited? Only powers we don't have access to from the movies currently, is the choke and the lightning.

Im playing in a weekly game been running many months now. Hired Gun (mercenary soldier), force sensitive exile, and just bought access to force sensitive emergent. I've gotten sense, all down the left side for all the commit upgrades, and a range upgrade and the thoughts upgrade for basic sense. Also have the enhance power having bought the coordination skill upgrade and the first of the force leaps. 1 rank in lightsaber at 50xp per rank. Plan on picking up forsee and influence soon. Get the mind trick and inititiave boosts at least. The powers aren't as limiting as they seem. IMO, this is the best RPG system so far for repesenting the force, both its subtlness and its power.

Hey all, I've been lurking here for a while so I don't expect anyone to take me seriously but the book has been leaked. It's been interesting rereading the speculation here and seeing what speculation turned out to be accurate.

So apparently there are 6 Careers all of which are Force Sensitive to start. No, there are no 'Jedi' careers in the sense that people have been talking about. The Jedi Order is an organization and they've basically been wiped out, nor are there any "Sith" carreers. That said the careers are generic archtypes that can apply to any Force Sensitive tradition. The Careers are; Consular, Guardian, Mystic, Seeker, Sentinal, Warrior. Each Career has 3 specializations and 1 of those specialization in each career is dedicated to a Lightsaber Combat Form.

Speaking of Lightsabers it is true that they are moddable but the base Lightsaber isn't as powerful as the one presented in the EoE book.

The book also adds 6 more powers to the game.

I think it'll be fine if PCs get Lightsabers right off the bat, they are after all the only PCs in that particular game universe that has them. The balance will come from the fact they are super illegal and hard to not notice when used, the Morality mechanic, and likely having to spread EXP around a lot to get a really effective PC. I imagine even if you go all combat specs you're still going to have to spend a lot on several different attributes, skills, talents, and Force powers to get a truly powerful PC.

A Lightsaber is a powerful weapon, but then so is a Heavy Blaster Rifle with Auto-fire. I remain optimistic.

It wasn't leaked, it was released. The trick is it's only available at GenCon for the moment; us muggles will have to wait. (Longer, for those of us who aren't planning on buying the beta.)

From everything I've heard, the lightsabers as presented in the book are fairly well-balanced. The default saber is basically a training model, but it doesn't take much to tool it into a lethal version.

It wasn't leaked, it was released. The trick is it's only available at GenCon for the moment; us muggles will have to wait. (Longer, for those of us who aren't planning on buying the beta.)

From everything I've heard, the lightsabers as presented in the book are fairly well-balanced. The default saber is basically a training model, but it doesn't take much to tool it into a lethal version.

Actually the alpha playtest draft PDF (it's the beta without any art) was leaked. A quick web search will find it. Likely the only PDF we ever will see of the rules.

-EF

The default saber isn't a training version is a less powerrful version of the one we saw in the other 2 books, and can be easily modded to that level of lethality. Definitely a dangerus weapon but not op compared to a regular blaster.

The training saber is the cheapest saber obtainable and can be bought with the starting credits. No saber given out at charcter creatin but there an esy way to find a crysatl in the adventure, and hilts are cheap to create. A gm can essily decide to hand out a saber for free though.

It's also possible to play at "Knight Level" which means 150 xp given after creation and a basic lightsaber (or 10k credits)

Morality mechanic is very well thought.

Is FaD considered officially 'released' yet? Or do we have to wait for it to start shipping before I can start talking? D:

Edit: Also, to whoever released their copy of the Alpha test book, I hope FFG nails you to the wall.

Those alpha copies are usually watermarked with identifiers. Interesting to see if FFG puts other ID markings on the doc.

Is FaD considered officially 'released' yet? Or do we have to wait for it to start shipping before I can start talking? D:

Edit: Also, to whoever released their copy of the Alpha test book, I hope FFG nails you to the wall.

Yes its released, so you can tell everyone about your sith murderbot now.

Edit: Also, to whoever released their copy of the Alpha test book, I hope FFG nails you to the wall.

Edit: Also, to whoever released their copy of the Alpha test book, I hope FFG nails you to the wall.

It's in the wild? I'll have to go hunt it down.

Someone over on the G+ community posted a download link of the alpha PDF.

-EF

Edit: Also, to whoever released their copy of the Alpha test book, I hope FFG nails you to the wall.

It's in the wild? I'll have to go hunt it down.

Someone over on the G+ community posted a download link of the alpha PDF.

-EF

And whoever did it is going to be in big trouble.

Is FaD considered officially 'released' yet? Or do we have to wait for it to start shipping before I can start talking? D:

Yes its released, so you can tell everyone about your sith murderbot now.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce my Zabrak Sith Assassin, Vramo.

Or, as I like to affectionately refer to him as, Darth **** That Guy.

Vramo was only very recently named, as I created him during the testing period. Between the changes provided in the Beta (as well as accidentally deleting him) he was recreated into this particular brand of '**** you don't want to **** with'.

He is more than capable of dealing with Nemesis level enemies single-handedly, as well as several squads of badies. At the same time.

In the time that I've know him, he has had a droid destroyed for telling him that something was broken beyond repair, cut off a Clone Troopers arm for not telling him what he wanted to know, killed a Hutt's guard, then used Force Power: Move to throw one of his attendants against the wall beside him (could have chucked the Hutt, but I needed him alive), killed a Jedi, his Apprentice, as well as the Clone Trooper sent ahead as a forward scout, taken the bodies for no particular reason, then used the bodies to scare the crap out of an urchin who was hedging around actually being useful, killed the urchin upon a failed roll to enlist his assistance (literally, told the GM [Ghostofman] that if I failed, I was going to kill the kid. Failed, and immediately rolled my combat skill), then set out to kill two four-man squads of Clone Troopers, an ARC Sargent, and an ARC Captain, as well as the two pilots aboard the ship we were 'borrowing' to link back up with our fleet.

That's been across only two sessions.

My thoughts on how Force and Destiny came out? Anyone who complains about it deserves to be forced to go toe-to-toe with Darth **** That Guy.

EDIT: Before any of my group jumps in, yes DFTG had help during these two missions, but the bulk of the kill strokes belong to me, so my point still stands.

The beta test for Force and Destiny was for sale at GenCon, I have a copy in my hand.

Is FaD considered officially 'released' yet? Or do we have to wait for it to start shipping before I can start talking? D:

Yes its released, so you can tell everyone about your sith murderbot now.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce my Zabrak Sith Assassin, Vramo.

Or, as I like to affectionately refer to him as, Darth **** That Guy.

[Atrocities truncated.]

My thoughts on how Force and Destiny came out? Anyone who complains about it deserves to be forced to go toe-to-toe with Darth **** That Guy.

EDIT: Before any of my group jumps in, yes DFTG had help during these two missions, but the bulk of the kill strokes belong to me, so my point still stands.

So I'm guessing your assignment was to create a Dark side character? Or was that personal initiative on your part?