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Force powers questions and matrix ?
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lurker
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:52 pm    Post subject: Force powers questions and matrix ? Reply with quote

I’ve said it before and I’ll admit it again … Jedi and force powers are a weakness of mine. Back in the day I don’t remember ever playing one, at least not to a point where he had a significant force powers.

However, as I have played a Jedi in the Monday night one off game (that will be three nights worth of gaming. Go figure), and as things may change for Harris in the normal Monday night game … I’ve started digging into and thinking about force powers a bit more.

One thing I’ve noticed is that there are powers spread here and there across different books. Also, at first look some of the powers have similar effects. Soooooo ….. what powers would you all allow in your games and which would you cut (either for being duplicate powers &/or for being over powered)

Next, some of the powers have a metric ton of prerequisite powers the player must have in order to get the power. With that, it makes me think it is more important to choose the lower level powers very carefully than I first thought. This is bad enough as is, but considering the various books I need to dig through to find the basic powers … I quickly get lost in a maze of various powers.

With that, I assume that someone out there in the wide SW fan universe has put together a spread sheet or matrix of the powers and the prerequisite powers. If so, will anyone be willing to share it it with little ole me ….

Ok, now , for advice on making a Jedi. Do you or your players set out with a plan on what you want them to be, or is it a more organic process? Also, how does the SAGA/D20 Jedi ‘classes’ fit into the d6 Jedi. I kind of like the idea of a Jedi Sentinel, or Investigator. Of course I know d6 does not have classes (and the crunch of a ton of feats), but how would you build and grow a Jedi down those types of paths?
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, seriously, though...

I do recall seeing a flowchart showing what powers were required for what. I have a copy on my laptop, which I can't get to at the moment. I thought I got it from Cheshire's 4shared account but I just went looking and couldn't find it.

As far as picking the right powers, its important to be effect oriented, as in how will this power help my character do what they do. An investigator would likely need Sense powers to help guide them in their investigations, while a Sentinel might actually defer Force advancement in the pursuit of more mundane skills. Enhance Attribute could prove useful, as it can boost any skill, and Combat Sense can be applied to any form of combat, not just lightsabers.

That's just what I can think of off the top of my head.
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Force powers questions and matrix ? Reply with quote

lurker wrote:


One thing I’ve noticed is that there are powers spread here and there across different books. Also, at first look some of the powers have similar effects. Soooooo ….. what powers would you all allow in your games and which would you cut (either for being duplicate powers &/or for being over powered)

Official or fan made/converted? There are a few in each camp. I've got the Gry Sarth Force Powers book here.

Beast Languages, Predict Natural Disaster, and Weather sense I would possibly allow if it fit a character concept. It seems like an odd set to let just EVERYBODY have. However, if there was a specific character development point that made it significant, I could see letting it go. Much along the same line as Shift Sense.

I would highly discourage Projected Fighting and Lesser Force Shield. And I can't quite put my finger on why, but they just seem to be the start of something munchkiny that fit in with the comic books they came out of at the time, but don't seem to fit with any style of game that I've played thus far.

There are a lot of OCR/RCR converted powers that I would allow, and plenty I wouldn't. Force Shot seems a bit much, Force Light seems outside of the general feel that WEG had set, and Kinetic Combat would only be something I would put into an over-the-top scenario where the PCs were trying to topple the BBEG. I'm not ripping on the mechanics by which they were converted... heck, I think I may have even worked on Kinetic Combat back when Gry was putting the book together. It's just not in the flavor of my games.

From the Saga powers? Plenty I wouldn't allow. Balistikenesis, Pyrokinesis, Phase, Cloak, Detonate, Phase, Masquerade, Rend, Phase, Technometry.... hmm... there was one more... I think PHASE!

Now there are plenty of converted ones I would put in. Grenade defense (with a small tweak or two... and I know, yes, I AM the guy who wrote it originally... but still I'd change it if I were doing it again). Whirlwind might be fun if used SELECTIVELY. If Repulse was modded I might think about it.

Again, why would I take things out? Mostly because they don't fit the flavor of game I tend to run. Some of the powers (like Phase) just don't seem like the Star Wars I enjoy. I know that's just my cup of tea, and you can brew yours differently if you like.

lurker wrote:

Next, some of the powers have a metric ton of prerequisite powers the player must have in order to get the power. With that, it makes me think it is more important to choose the lower level powers very carefully than I first thought. This is bad enough as is, but considering the various books I need to dig through to find the basic powers … I quickly get lost in a maze of various powers.

Oh, I saw a list of those... now where did I put that? Ah... right...

http://www.4shared.com/office/_k2dO81cce/Force_Power_Tree.html

there! It was on my hard drive, and I just uploaded for your enjoyment. I think it only covers WEG powers. Nothing converted or fan-made, IIRC.

lurker wrote:


Ok, now , for advice on making a Jedi. Do you or your players set out with a plan on what you want them to be, or is it a more organic process? Also, how does the SAGA/D20 Jedi ‘classes’ fit into the d6 Jedi. I kind of like the idea of a Jedi Sentinel, or Investigator. Of course I know d6 does not have classes (and the crunch of a ton of feats), but how would you build and grow a Jedi down those types of paths?


Organic for me... definitely organic. It winds up being a process of years of discover of who the characters are and how they want to explore their path in the Force. The classes, IMO don't really "fit." Now, they may provide some inspiration for how you want to envision your Jedi. And if that inspiration guides you into good roleplaying, then that's awesome. Though I just can't stand the times when someone said, "Well... I want to get the x bonus of being a consular," and then they spend the whole rest of their journey running it like a murder hobo. Find a path that works, and don't let the crunch of other systems overwhelm your freedom.

How would I build them if I wanted to? I would ask myself what skills I thought a Jedi of that mindset might invest in. Granted, I'd have to go back and do some more digging on the class types, but IIRC a Sentinel would have a broad skill base, being a jack of all trades who could use the Force. But I wouldn't have a specific build to go along with it.

crmcneill wrote:

Okay, now THAT is funny.
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lurker
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

crmcneill wrote:


Yeah that is funny!!!! And, it is what I was thinking when I first started to try and look at the force powers ....

I figured so on growing a Jedi organically, it is what I do with my other characters, so I should have assumed the same would be true for a Jedi.

Quote:


Though I just can't stand the times when someone said, "Well... I want to get the x bonus of being a consular," and then they spend the whole rest of their journey running it like a murder hobo. Find a path that works, and don't let the crunch of other systems overwhelm your freedom.


Rgr that on making a character just to get a bonus but then playing him 180 degrees out of why the have the bonus ...

I guess I let the crunch overwhelm me when looking at it ...

Oh yeah, thanks for hanging the 'force power tree' it helps a lot.

You know, if we had a general list of accepted powers in addition to those on the tree, I might be able to rebuild it to include them ... of course given time and having a day or 2 of cadets that are not pains ...
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DougRed4
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We've found that Jedi/Sith are the area that WEG d6 struggles with the most. We've completely done away with Lightsaber Combat, and have heavily modded Danger Sense as well.

One book that is helpful (in compiling most of it into one place) is the Tales of the Jedi Sourcebook.

Most of what cheshire wrote I generally feel the same way; I go more for what feels right. The only power he spelled out that I've allowed is Lesser Force Shield, which our Jedi Knight has used (so far) only to protect his Padawan. Seems pretty legit, but I do have to wonder if that's something we ever saw in one of the films (the only force field I remember is the one the Destroyer Droids used).
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 4:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Based on what we see in the prequels and the Clone Wars, I'd rather see Lesser Force Shield folded into an expanded version of Absorb/Dissipate Energy.
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lurker
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2014 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, my cadets were surprisingly well behaved this week. Except for the rampant computer issues here at work - our IT guy has made someone somewhere mad at him and for the last 3 weeks the Academy here has been under a spam and malicious program attack with the worst of it being Tuesday - everything here went well. Soooooo I've had time to think about my original post, and my volunteering to put together a more inclusive 'force powers tree'.

As such, first I need the ok from Cheshire to use your tree as the starting point and me just add on to it as needed.

After that, do we want all powers on it, or should I cull the heard of some of the ones that most, if not all of us, dislike and don't think fit the SW d6 idea of the game.

For that, I found the force guide from Gry Sarth. Also, I found the 'lost knights rpg' wiki, the wookiepedia force powers list, & the d6 holocron force powers list. As they are net based - and I know little to nothing about the 'lost knights' site - there may be errors in them that I may need to watch out for. However, with a thumbs up for you all here I'll use them as an idea mine too. (I like the lost knight's tier inclusion that way nobs like me don't bite off something to powerful - with too high a difficulty for a low level novice in the force to actually use)


http://www.lostknightsrpg.org/wiki/index.php?title=SWR:Force_Powers

http://www.d6holocron.com/wiki/index.php?title=Force_Powers

http://theguild.tripod.com/starwarsjedipowers.html


From the extended list, I have the following that more than likely don't fit

Projected Fighting
Force Shot
Force Light
Balistikenesis,
Pyrokinesis,
Phase, - Yes this one is WAY out of what I picture as being a SW force
Cloak,
Detonate,
Masquerade,
Rend,
Phase,
Technometry

Include these but adjust/mod them (and use them with a grain of salt)
Kinetic Combat
Grenade defense
Repulse
Lesser Force Shield

As I scan through the holocron site, there are more that I don't see fitting either, at least from my limited experience with the EU and how I feel the force fits in the universe. Thins like Fold space, reshape material, etc. Also a lot of them seem to be too crunchy and just d20 bleed over. Things like some of the sense powers (direction, time and others) to me seem like they should be just an effect of having sense and not being a specific power in and of themselves ...

The more I look into it, the more I think there are too many powers and we DO need to cut some out ... however, there are some that are not old d6 powers that I do see fitting.


Ok, to chase a rabbit, which power(s) were used in episode 1 when Qui-Gon and Obi-Won when they dropped down from the air vent to the landing bay floor (it looked like a good 30 - 40 ft) ...
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2014 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw that jump as part of a Super Leap (and in my game we've adopted two powers regularly seen in the Prequels: Force Push and Super Leap). Also, to clarify what I said earlier - we did away with Lightsaber Combat and Combat Sense and modified Danger Sense.

@crmcneill: I'm going to start up a new thread so as not to monopolize this one, to talk about Lesser Force Shield and Absorb/Dissipate Energy.
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2014 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have used force push rules from the d6holocron in a number of games, but it still needs something more, and I cannot seem to put my finger on it.
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2014 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DougRed4 wrote:
I saw that jump as part of a Super Leap (and in my game we've adopted two powers regularly seen in the Prequels: Force Push and Super Leap). Also, to clarify what I said earlier - we did away with Lightsaber Combat and Combat Sense and modified Danger Sense.

I dropped Lightsaber Combat as well; it works okay at lower levels, but escalates too quickly, IMO. I folded it in with Combat Sense, but the version I came up with strikes me as too complicated. My current thought is to combine Combat Sense with aspects of Enhance Attribute, in that the bonus it provides to combat skills is based on how well you rolled Sense when you brought the power up.

As far as Force Push, I've always felt it would be better if folded into Projected Fighting; it is, in essence, a physical shove projected through the Force via Telekinesis.

IMO, Super Leap would be an Alter power, instead of Control, and based on Telekinesis. In I, Jedi, Corran Horn specifically ties the Horn family trait's inability to use Telekinesis with his inability to perform Force Jumps.

Quote:
@crmcneill: I'm going to start up a new thread so as not to monopolize this one, to talk about Lesser Force Shield and Absorb/Dissipate Energy.

See you there.
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lurker
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PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2014 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

crmcneill wrote:


DougRed4 wrote:
...
Also, to clarify what I said earlier - we did away with Lightsaber Combat and Combat Sense and modified Danger Sense.


I dropped Lightsaber Combat as well; it works okay at lower levels, but escalates too quickly, IMO. I folded it in with Combat Sense, but the version I came up with strikes me as too complicated. My current thought is to combine Combat Sense with aspects of Enhance Attribute, in that the bonus it provides to combat skills is based on how well you rolled Sense when you brought the power up.

....


Rgr on needing to modify/change LS Combat.

The more I look at this, the more I think Crmcneill's original 'can of worms' reply is correct ... Because it will quickly get out of hand or lost on this thread, I think I'll need to start another thread (probably in the house rules section) to hash out which force powers are common enough in most games to justify adding them to the force powers matrix. Once we have a concise list that makes common sense to most of us here, I work the force powers tree and then hang it here
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PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2014 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate admitting defeat, but ... with my background and love of history, I know how important it is to admit when a thing is "A Bridge too Far" ...

I spent the last 2 hours playing around with making the matrix for this. No joy on getting a thing that has all of the force powers (even our trimmed down list from the other thread), isn't a jumbled mess, and is large enough to be readable.

The sheer number of the powers is prohibitive, and then with some of the powers having a string of toooo many prerequisites to keep the chain concise.

There may be better tools to use (I tried Excel & PowerPoint) but the ones I have used in the past (Mind map type things) will result in something I can see but not easily publish for everyone to see or use.

I still think there is a place for a tool like this, but .... the GM will have to cut out all the powers he disallows for his player, and think about what prerequisites are truly needed for a power. With that, it will be a specific HR tool and not one for general all user use ...

Sorry I couldn't pull it off ...
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, you put it to the test and found out what wouldn't work. That's often a valuable piece of knowledge in itself.

Thanks for all your hard work and sharing the results.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

crmcneill wrote:
Actually, I think it's okay to have one open, you're just not supposed to open another one. You'd think it was a procreation thing or something, but worms are hermaphroditic. Maybe there's threat of cannibalism...
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