The Rancor Pit Forum Index
Welcome to The Rancor Pit forums!

The Rancor Pit Forum Index
FAQ   ::   Search   ::   Memberlist   ::   Usergroups   ::   Register   ::   Profile   ::   Log in to check your private messages   ::   Log in

Use of the Force in combat - back then and now
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters -> Use of the Force in combat - back then and now Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Yora
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 29 Jun 2018
Posts: 184
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been thinking about how I want to use the Force. And I think Yoda's words that a Jedi never uses the Force to attack comes from the idea that doing so always has the risk of getting carried away and starting to draw on the Dark Side without noticing it.
Not all attacks with the Force will lead a Jedi down the Dark Side, but when it happens you won't even realize it. And so you should just never do it.

I think the mechanic for Dark Side Point is backwards: The player declares an action and the GM says it will cause a DSP. The player does the action, automatically gets a DSP and then rolls 1d6 to see if he falls to the Dark Side.

What I think should be happening instead is that the player declares an action, the GM says it could lead to the Dark Side, the player performs the action, then makes a roll, and if the roll fails gets another DSP. And once seven DSP are reached, the character falls to the Dark Side.
(If the character does something undoubtedly evil, there is no roll and it's automatically 1 DSP.)

As it is, a single evil action can make a Jedi instantly fall to the Dark Side. I think the Dark Side is that powerful. The Dark Side is not the devil. It's the gradual erosion of compassion and mercy. (I don't consider there to be such a thing as a light side.)
When Jedi fall to the Dark Side, they are not surprised by it. At that point, they just no longer care.

By making it somewhat random if a character gets DSP or not for any given action, you get that situation that the players are not really in control of it, and that they might do slightly dodgy things because they think "oh, it will be fine. I'm still far from being corrupted by the Dark Side". And the higher your DSP are, the more often you fail the roll to get another one. A player got used to doing a lot of shady things before getting to 2 and 3 DSP, but then the fourth, fifth, and sixth start coming quicker and quicker.
Under such a system, I could see being really pedantic about every offensive use of the Force requiring a Dark Side roll.
Doing a quick mental statistical estimate (which almost always are wrong, because human brain's have no sense of probability), a character would on average take 21 offensive actions to reach 7 DSP. Which I think is not that bad.

I also really don't like the rule that characters with Dark Side Points get 1D per DSP to using Force skills or have the difficulty of the checks increased by one step.
Yoda says explicitly that the Dark Side is not stronger, just easier and faster. This bonus seems very much to make the character more powerful in the Force. And that the bonus disappears once a character falls fully to the Dark Side doesn't seem to make any sense.
_________________
"Adventure? Eh... Excitement? Eh... A Jedi does not crave these things."

Iridium Moons Retro-futuristic Space Opera
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Rancor Pit Forum Index -> Gamemasters All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
Page 3 of 3

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


v2.0