[Star Wars] Force Skills
- Thread starter Pillsbury
- Start date
Scribe Ineti
Explorer
Here's my 2 credits as a some-time SWRPG player and sort-of DM.
The 1st SWRPG game in which I played was run by one of our gaming group. That DM is an excellent story-teller and uses an open thread style to drive the plot. My main complaint was that it turned into "D&D In Space." Our PCs flew around to exotic parts of the galaxy, met interesting & diverse people, killed them and took their stuff. Worse, it was set in the Rebellion Era; so there were no jedi because you have to be 3rd level to become a jedi. That era of play is cool, but the rules kept us from being jedi. To me, the whole point of the game is to be jedi. But, all the other classes have to "balance" against the jedi. This means Force powers come from vitality (hit) points. So, the force adpets and the scoundrels got us into "Bar Wars"--fun for a while but ultimately unsatisfying. In a way, I'm glad that game has been on a long hiatus. Force Adept Skills were at times handy in that game, but it was difficult to keep up with all the other "balanced" classes.
I next imported human jedi into my current D&D game. Since I was actually using hit points instead of vitality & wound points, I gave those PCs "force vitality points" to use their powers. If I ever run a SWRPG game, I would probably do the same. But, I want the players to play jedi characters. I would even consider making it the all-jedi campaign. It's okay to me for the jedi PCs to be more powerful than other characters in the world, and it seems to capture the feel of the movies for me. It has worked reasonably well in the D&D conversion, but a couple of jedi have perished. The one that is currently in the game does just fine, though. Incidentaly, there are a bunch of free modules at the WotC web site for the SWRPG. I would use them if I ever ran my all-jedi campaign, and you might check them out if you're DMing for your group. Also, check with your players to find out what kind of SW game they're willing to play. If they are receptive to the all-jedi idea, then don't hesitate to power-up the jedi classes. I wouldn't. Also, don't heistate to make SW work more like D&D if it's easier for you & yours--it's an easy conversion. Whatever makes the game fun for you & yours is the right thing to do.
Most recently, I've started play with the aforementioned DM and one other player in The Tempest Feud. We started off 2 9th level characters each. I immediately posed the all-jedi idea and luckily IT TOOK! The DM likes it beacuse it's an easy plot hook for the jeci council to send us on the module's various missions. The other player spent about 5 hours and determined that a 9th level jedi is the most powerful character option, so it wasn't tactically or strategically advantageous to play another character type. (Yes, I call him ENIAC for his savant-like ability to min/max any given game system.) He still made 1 PC with a couple levels in a non-jedi class to begin; but I think it may have been so that his other PC could be in the jedi master prestige class with the 1st PC as his padawan learner. Anyhow, I made a human jedi consular and a trandoshan jedi guardian because I have cool painted & customised figures for them. I took no "combat buff" Force Skills. The consular has some Force Skills that aid him in his other diplomatic skills. The guardian has no ranks in any Force Skills. To me, these classes get too few skill points to begin with. If combat erupts, they will go with Sunder & Great Cleave, respectively. Each also has Burst of Speed and Heroic Surge to help them get into or out of a situation. We haven't had any fights as we only played 1 session so far, but I think we'll be able to do well. I just still don't like the idea of using the Force draining my hit points, so I opted not to do it.
Bottom line: find out what kind of game your players want to play and go with it. I hope they want to play jedi so thay can run around & save the galaxy. If so, give them Force Vitality to make them more powerful. Like anything, it won't save them from that critical hit one of your countless hordes unleashes; but it will feel more heroic to even the most munchkin of the band.
The 1st SWRPG game in which I played was run by one of our gaming group. That DM is an excellent story-teller and uses an open thread style to drive the plot. My main complaint was that it turned into "D&D In Space." Our PCs flew around to exotic parts of the galaxy, met interesting & diverse people, killed them and took their stuff. Worse, it was set in the Rebellion Era; so there were no jedi because you have to be 3rd level to become a jedi. That era of play is cool, but the rules kept us from being jedi. To me, the whole point of the game is to be jedi. But, all the other classes have to "balance" against the jedi. This means Force powers come from vitality (hit) points. So, the force adpets and the scoundrels got us into "Bar Wars"--fun for a while but ultimately unsatisfying. In a way, I'm glad that game has been on a long hiatus. Force Adept Skills were at times handy in that game, but it was difficult to keep up with all the other "balanced" classes.
I next imported human jedi into my current D&D game. Since I was actually using hit points instead of vitality & wound points, I gave those PCs "force vitality points" to use their powers. If I ever run a SWRPG game, I would probably do the same. But, I want the players to play jedi characters. I would even consider making it the all-jedi campaign. It's okay to me for the jedi PCs to be more powerful than other characters in the world, and it seems to capture the feel of the movies for me. It has worked reasonably well in the D&D conversion, but a couple of jedi have perished. The one that is currently in the game does just fine, though. Incidentaly, there are a bunch of free modules at the WotC web site for the SWRPG. I would use them if I ever ran my all-jedi campaign, and you might check them out if you're DMing for your group. Also, check with your players to find out what kind of SW game they're willing to play. If they are receptive to the all-jedi idea, then don't hesitate to power-up the jedi classes. I wouldn't. Also, don't heistate to make SW work more like D&D if it's easier for you & yours--it's an easy conversion. Whatever makes the game fun for you & yours is the right thing to do.
Most recently, I've started play with the aforementioned DM and one other player in The Tempest Feud. We started off 2 9th level characters each. I immediately posed the all-jedi idea and luckily IT TOOK! The DM likes it beacuse it's an easy plot hook for the jeci council to send us on the module's various missions. The other player spent about 5 hours and determined that a 9th level jedi is the most powerful character option, so it wasn't tactically or strategically advantageous to play another character type. (Yes, I call him ENIAC for his savant-like ability to min/max any given game system.) He still made 1 PC with a couple levels in a non-jedi class to begin; but I think it may have been so that his other PC could be in the jedi master prestige class with the 1st PC as his padawan learner. Anyhow, I made a human jedi consular and a trandoshan jedi guardian because I have cool painted & customised figures for them. I took no "combat buff" Force Skills. The consular has some Force Skills that aid him in his other diplomatic skills. The guardian has no ranks in any Force Skills. To me, these classes get too few skill points to begin with. If combat erupts, they will go with Sunder & Great Cleave, respectively. Each also has Burst of Speed and Heroic Surge to help them get into or out of a situation. We haven't had any fights as we only played 1 session so far, but I think we'll be able to do well. I just still don't like the idea of using the Force draining my hit points, so I opted not to do it.
Bottom line: find out what kind of game your players want to play and go with it. I hope they want to play jedi so thay can run around & save the galaxy. If so, give them Force Vitality to make them more powerful. Like anything, it won't save them from that critical hit one of your countless hordes unleashes; but it will feel more heroic to even the most munchkin of the band.
Pillsbury
First Post
Thanks for all the input folks. I'm going to get togther with the group tonight and ask them what they think, but right now I'm leaning towards will be rules as written. If after a few sessions the players decide that the VP cost is too much, i'm thinking of creating force points, which will basicly be the same as VP except maybe modified by Wis or CHA. That way they'll still be limited in the amount of Force powers they fling around, but not have to worry about knocking themselves out. Of course this will apply to any Dark Force Adepts they meet up with along the way, which might encourage a return to the rules as written.
Henry
Autoexreginated
Skywalker said:
If it's based on a Will save VS. 10+1/2 the force rank, you're still failing close to half the time for characters, worse if you have a mediocre wisdom. Now, as for some powers not causing fatigue, that's something I wasn't aware of. In d20 SW, all force skills except for healing ones cost vitality to use; the ones that don't are usually feats of some sort.
Skywalker
Adventurer
Henry said:
I thought the idea of making some force skills not fatiguing an interesting idea. BR magic has equivalents for most of the force skills that it would be a useful guide.
Another interesting feature in BR is that an Adept need not use the maximum rank when using Arcana. In other words, he can cast a spell at a lower level to acheive the same result (if the result need not be the maximum) but not risk fatigue. This could be another interesting idea for SW.
Henry
Autoexreginated
Since that has precedent in Star Wars anyway (like how you can choose any result up to what you rolled) it might fit pretty well.
Looks like I will probably pick up Blue Rose in the future, because I keep hearing some good things about the mechanics. The setting isn't my thing, but the mechanics are such that I might simplify things greatly for new gamers and those who tire of the way d20 does its classes and abilities.
Looks like I will probably pick up Blue Rose in the future, because I keep hearing some good things about the mechanics. The setting isn't my thing, but the mechanics are such that I might simplify things greatly for new gamers and those who tire of the way d20 does its classes and abilities.
ledded
Herder of monkies
Our group enjoyed WP/VP and force skills so much in a short SW campaign I ran a couple years ago that OldDrewId refined it and based his magic system on it for his long running d20 Modern capaign that we have loved every second of (Medallions, story hour in my sig).
Personally, there is nothing worth the look on a powerful Jedi player's face when he spends a huge chunk of Vitality on a very nice big boom force power, only to realize that's *exactly* what the bad guys were waiting for him to to...
. Also, force powers and the mechanic for them are a lot of fun for players to use in role-playing situations where those being acted upon arent that familiar with or resistant to them.
Personally, there is nothing worth the look on a powerful Jedi player's face when he spends a huge chunk of Vitality on a very nice big boom force power, only to realize that's *exactly* what the bad guys were waiting for him to to...
. Also, force powers and the mechanic for them are a lot of fun for players to use in role-playing situations where those being acted upon arent that familiar with or resistant to them.Similar Threads
