I'm sorry if this has already been covered; I did a search and did not find anything. The fluff in the Core Book seems to imply (though a bit contradictorily) that the FSE must be a survivor of the Jedi purge (but not a Jedi him/herself, only a paduan). Is that just an optional background or is that a necessary part of the specialization? If it is necessary; shouldn't the spec be bought at character creation?

I haven't GMed in 20 years and getting a game up for my children; I just want to start with clarity.

Thank you.

It's implied that they survived (hence exile in the name), but Force sensitivity is a naturally-occurring thing, and can develop at anytime during a creatures lifetime.

So no, it's not required. You can be a normal Joe Schmoe of your race and suddenly manifest your latent Force sensitivity.

-EF

I disagree a little with EldritchFire, above. Suddenly manifesting Force sensitivity is more the province of the Force Sensitive Emergent specialization in AoR (as far as I can tell, anyway). The Exile specialization sort of implies that your sensitivity has already manifested itself, you are aware of your potential and you are actively hiding from those who would hunt you. This doesn't mean you have to be a Padawan or in any way associated with the Jedi order, but it does imply (in my opinion) that you are deliberately avoiding Imperial attention.

An exile can have any origin story the player chooses (barring any GM vetoes). I think the fluff is implying that the Exile survived the purge in that the Empire never discovered her Force sensitivity. It could be that she was born in the years following Order 66, she was a Padawan who slipped through the cracks, or she developed her powers completely outside the Jedi tradition.

I think the "not a Jedi" part is just to demonstrate that this is a fairly "weak" Force user, at least until a good chunk of XP is spent on powers and talents.

And I agree with EldritchFire AND Krieger22. Latent sensitivity can be discovered mid-campaign, but as soon as it is, the character will realize she's an outlaw as far as the Empire is concerned.

I'm going to disagree with Spjork, EldritchFire and Krieger22 - the book is wrong, the template is wrong, the color text is wrong. Everybody is wrong. You know what's right? The needs of the concept. Does having the character spontaneously develop force abilities serve the story? Then jettison the color and go with that. Does the character concept work best with being an old Padawan that was drummed out of the Jedi order? Go with that. Is the character a full on Jedi Knight that was just never very good? Then canon be dammed.

A good story trumps all other considerations. Full stop.

There's nothing about the Exile (or the Emergent from Age of Rebellion for that matter) that says where your character learned to utilize the Force.

Sure, you could have a PC that's an Order 66 survivor, one that's kept a low profile in the years between then and when the campaign starts. But nothing says that's you're only option.

Remember that while all Jedi are Force-users, not all Force-users are Jedi. The EU has introduced a number of alternative Force traditions over the years, as well as presenting the occasional Force-user that's entirely self-taught with no formal training. In fact, that's largely what the Exile is, a self-taught Force-user that's figuring their abilities as they go.

I disagree a little with EldritchFire, above. Suddenly manifesting Force sensitivity is more the province of the Force Sensitive Emergent specialization in AoR (as far as I can tell, anyway). The Exile specialization sort of implies that your sensitivity has already manifested itself, you are aware of your potential and you are actively hiding from those who would hunt you.

I think you're reading too much into the name of the Specializations.

Also, Order 66 was 2 decades ago. It'd be ridiculous to "require" that as part of every Edge Force-Sensitive's background. It's certainly an option, but hardly "required."

Thanks all of you. That's what I was hoping. The texts that got me confused were the last two paragraphs on page 276. The first says the force ability can emerge anytime in play but the 2nd says:

"The Force Sensitive Exile is not just any Force-sensitive being; he is one who survived the purges. He may have been a young Padawan or even a minor Jedi who managed to flee the Empire and hide. He may also have been a child, hidden by friends or family. Whatever the case, he's spent the last decades in a hostile galaxy."

You see, I hope, the source of my confusion. But I'll follow Desslok and consider the book wrong at this point. Story first.

I suppose you could play a FSE that did not survive Order 66, but since we don't have rules for Force Ghosts yet, you're not likely to be very useful or fun to play.

Well, Force-users are constantly being hunted down during these times. The Great Jedi Purge is ongoing to hunt down the survivors of Order 66. New Force-users who are discovered are either converted to the Dark Side and join the massive Dark Side Adept bureaucracy the Emperor has under him, or are killed.

I suppose you could play a FSE that did not survive Order 66, but since we don't have rules for Force Ghosts yet, you're not likely to be very useful or fun to play.

This. Or, a person that's been dead for 20 years and isn't a Force Ghost. Just a corpse in a coffin.

Suddenly manifesting Force sensitivity is more the province of the Force Sensitive Emergent specialization in AoR (as far as I can tell, anyway).

Not really. There was an Order 66 podcast interview with one of the designers, they were playing an Exile character, and planned to enhance them with the Emergent specialization once AoR came out, to be followed by whatever comes to light with F&D. I think they're using the term "emergent" as "no longer completely hiding from the Empire"...it's a social description, not a power development mechanic.

And the Exile may not even know they're an exile (...Luke, anyone?...), which means you can save purchasing the specialization post-chargen. IOW, as Desslok suggested, the door is wide open for whatever tale you want to tell.

I disagree a little with EldritchFire, above. Suddenly manifesting Force sensitivity is more the province of the Force Sensitive Emergent specialization in AoR (as far as I can tell, anyway). The Exile specialization sort of implies that your sensitivity has already manifested itself, you are aware of your potential and you are actively hiding from those who would hunt you.

I think you're reading too much into the name of the Specializations.

Also, Order 66 was 2 decades ago. It'd be ridiculous to "require" that as part of every Edge Force-Sensitive's background. It's certainly an option, but hardly "required."

I've had similar discussions with my players. During d20, a friend wanted to have an officer type (using a Prestige Class). The shortest route to meeting the prerequisites was to take a few levels in Noble. He argued that his character wasn't from a noble family or anything. Well, in that case, it turned out he was trying to stay in classes with higher combat stats.

What I pointed out was that the stats can work regardless of what you call it.

In Edge of the Empire, a "Politico" can be a street swindler who is very good at getting people to do what he wants. He doesn't need to have any connection to politics.

Explorer/Scout and Smuggler/Scoundrel might both actually be law enforcement or an undercover cop respectively.

Now having said that, I wouldn't let players change the descriptions to let a Smuggler buy "Swindler" (Politico) as a Smuggler Specialization.

Order 66 never happened in my game, so I'd say 'no'.

I like to think of the Force in this era as a flower growing up through concrete. It wants to grow wild, and its emergence can't totally be stopped.

Right now in my game, I have a swoop jockey on Tatooine whose sensitivity was awakened by a vision when he passed through the Valley of the Spirits. He may at some point seek out ways to hone his abilities, but for now he's just realizing a sudden sharpness in his reflexes and senses--a good thing for a young jockey on the make, I think.

In the wake of Force & Destiny, I'm inclined to think that the F/S Exile and F/S Emergent will be the "self-taught savants" of the Force-user community (such as it is), with the F&D characters being those that have undergone some degree of formal training.

In a sense, Exile is the "playing around with these weird powers" and developing various uses for them, where the Exile in contrast is more the "this power of mine makes me better" with more of a focus on being physically tough and capable.

I've been wondering about this and thinking that the Empire has been trying to locate any force potentials with a few of those aware of what's really going on have been either trying to thwart the recruitment or aiding it.

No they don't have to be the Padawan of a Jedi survivor, they could be a member of the same family line as one slain during Order 66 and then there's the possibility that like Anakin they've come out of nowhere (well at least there's no evidence of any Jedi or Sith in their ancestry)...

There was a fan film as well as a couple of Cad Bane episodes in the Clone Wars series where they dealt with a list of force sensitive children known to the Jedi Order but I always assumed it took someone trained to sense their presence and even then they ran a blood check up to confirm their suspicions.

Actually remembering Yoda from Empires and the start of ROTJ it could easily be explained by an unusually high force emanation in the area that might be why they develop such a potential.

Ultimately you decide how that works, me I'd like to see what the player would like to see but make it clear that not every such character can be the padawan of a Jedi whether Order 66 killed their Master or they turned to the darkside ala Dark Times comic for example.

In a sense, Exile is the "playing around with these weird powers" and developing various uses for them, where the Exile in contrast is more the "this power of mine makes me better" with more of a focus on being physically tough and capable.

That may be the intent, but the Exile's powers and even Talent trees clearly do a better job of making them more combat-effective than the Emergent's. Even the Force powers each gets in their respective books.

In a sense, Exile is the "playing around with these weird powers" and developing various uses for them, where the Exile in contrast is more the "this power of mine makes me better" with more of a focus on being physically tough and capable.

That may be the intent, but the Exile's powers and even Talent trees clearly do a better job of making them more combat-effective than the Emergent's. Even the Force powers each gets in their respective books.

I never said anything about combat, though an Emergent would probably have better survivability due to ranks in Toughened and Grit, things the Exile doesn't get. Yeah, the Exile can add a setback die on attacks, but I've noticed that setback die doesn't really make that much of a difference in combat unless it's in multiples.

I'm going to disagree with Spjork, EldritchFire and Krieger22 - the book is wrong, the template is wrong, the color text is wrong. Everybody is wrong. You know what's right? The needs of the concept. Does having the character spontaneously develop force abilities serve the story? Then jettison the color and go with that. Does the character concept work best with being an old Padawan that was drummed out of the Jedi order? Go with that. Is the character a full on Jedi Knight that was just never very good? Then canon be dammed.

A good story trumps all other considerations. Full stop.

This. Despite the name "Exile" or flavor text in the book, however your character came about his discovery to the force is what you go with. Make him Luke from ANH discovering powers for the first time, or an ex-Jedi that fought in the clone wars. This class serves any of that if you want it to.

Ignore the fluff and figure out how you want to work it into the story line. It's just a narration element.

Our Marauder is a FSE. His story line is that he has a high midichlorian count (obligation:arrest) and the empire was experimenting on him to turn him into a weapon. His pals freed him with the aid of a Bothan Spy (lots of group obligation for the ship), who is in the service of the Rebellion.

To start I made my player buy FSE and Force Sense at the beginning. This is very draining on the character. He's effective, but his skills aren't developing as well as the other characters.