Force Powers

Many Force powers cost mental stress; this can be reduced by applying shifts to the cost instead of to the effect. Any biological character can be Force-sensitive, but they need a Force-related aspect in order to learn Force powers. Such aspects could be The Force is strong with this one!, Supernatural Luck, Potential Jedi, Padawan Learner, Sith Apprentice, Dark Side Acolyte, Jedi Knight, Jedi Master, Sith Lord, etc. Your Force-related aspect may change over time, like other aspects.

Some Feats I’m leaving out: Force Mastery and High Force Mastery reduce the time cost of Force powers. Lightsaber Defense, Improved Lightsaber Defense, Knight Defense, and Master Defense give bonuses to defense with a lightsaber. Force Mind, Improved Force Mind, Knight Mind, and Master Mind let you give bonuses to your allies’ ability scores. Sith Sword Defense, Sith Sword Expert Defense, Sith Sword Mastery are in the Dark Side Sourcebook.

My goals here are to make sure that there are just as many powers providing offensive bonuses in hand-to-hand combat as there are powers providing defensive bonuses, so an up-close-and-personal battle can be properly impressive. I want defensive bonuses in ranged combat to outweigh offensive bonuses so heroes can hold off large numbers of ordinary soldiers. Insight has Battle Precognition, which is both offensive and defensive. Body has Enhance Attribute, which is defensive and doesn’t require a stunt. Mind has Battlemind, which is offensive, and there should be a defensive one for reading your opponent’s intentions. Spirit has Force Armor, also without a stunt, to protect from force powers. Telekinesis and Energy have Battle Aura, a defensive stunt. Knight Deflection and Master Deflection improve lightsaber parries.

Skills

Insight • Body • Mind • Spirit • Telekinesis • Energy • Melee

Insight

Insight easily gets bonuses from the patient, calm emotions, but can be driven by curiosity and the burning need to know... or find a way out of a jam.

Intuition

Getting guidance from the Force. As long as you have a Force-related aspect, even if your Insight skill is 0, you can still roll against an opponent’s Resolve instead of their Stealth (or Good (3) difficulty if they’re a droid) to be able to defend normally against a surprise attack; this is in addition to the usual Alertness check against the Stealth of the attacker. Any Force Stealth in use by your opponent raises your difficulty, so it’s wise to spend on Alertness as well as Insight. (SWd20: Force-Sensitive [RCR p109], Force Perception [SECR p101].) You can also use Insight to notice whether someone is under the influence of a Force power (difficulty of their Resolve plus shifts their attacker spent on subtlety), and notice if the nature of an object does not match its appearance (difficulty of the Resolve of a concealed being).

A successful Insight roll can help to make choices in situations where you have no useful information. The difficulty is based on the desired outcome: finding a safe place to stay for the night by wandering around is Average, but finding the junk dealer with the right model of hyperdrive tucked away in his shop might require a Great roll. You need to get spin on the roll in order to have a clue how your choice might affect outcomes; picking the a significant card in a game of Sabacc usually requires a Good roll, but you have no way of knowing if it will let you win the pot, bankrupt you and force you to find other work, start a fight, or give someone the stake they need to get their family a new opportunity. Actually picking the winning card for just that purpose is usually a Fantastic feat. It is possible to pick the direction to the nearest city with this, but you need Intuitive Navigation if you want to find the best route to it.

Farsight

The most trivial application of Farsight is seeing what’s in front of your face, called Force Sight. (SWd20: Sense Surroundings [PotJ p29].) The talent can lead to unbidden visions of the past, the present, and even the future, usually on matters of great import to the character, and can be consciously invoked to gain fleeting impressions of any being you have already met (with a difficulty of their Resolve, or Superb if they’re dead); the impression is usually of their present, but it may be of near past or future. (SWd20: Farseeing [SECR p96].)

In KOTOR, Force Sight allows you to see the alignment of NPCs.

Stunts

Intuition

Intuitive Navigation

Usually requires Baran Do or Sith training, though some wild talents have developed it.

Intuitive Navigation is the art of following your intuition to lead you to where you need to go, which is usually (but not necessarily) where you want to go. This doesn’t tell you the endpoint of your journey; it is simply a matter of choosing the right direction to set out and the right turns to take when you reach a decision point. This is a cascade of individual Intuition checks, all building toward a goal; as with the normal Intuition trapping, getting spin may give you an idea of what you’re heading for.

Intuitive Astrogation

Requires Intuitive Navigation, Insight 2, Pilot 2, and usually Baran Do or Sith training, though some wild talents have developed it.

Intuitive Astrogation extends Intuitive Navigation to piloting a starship without a nav computer. Success finds a route that works this time; simply reversing your course may lead to all manner of trouble.

Intuitive Tracking

Requires Intuitive Navigation, Insight 3, and usually Sith training, though some wild talents have developed it.

You focus your will upon finding your target, and the steps to take become clear at each opportunity. Unlike Intuitive Navigation, this will let you focus on a particular target, whether it be a datapad or a person or a planet; if you lack a clear visualization of the target, it is much more difficult, and someone using Force Stealth may be so hard to find that you must target something that interests them instead. If you have Intuitive Astrogation, you can chart a course with your own starship; if you don’t, you may find yourself wandering to the ticket counter at a spaceport or showing up at a cargo bay just when a captain needs an extra spacer. (The ticket-counter stunt is not necessarily going to take you to the planet where your target is currently located; it may cause you to cross paths with someone who has information you need, or take you to a heavily trafficked space station where you can get a ride to the right place.)

This is a very skran stunt; it does not take bonuses from the calm emotions.

This is the stunt Darth Maul used to track Qui-Gon Jinn.

Precognitive Reactions

You can use your Insight for initiative checks in all combat situations. (SWd20: Foresight [SECR p101].)

Precognitive Paranoia

Requires Insight 3 and Sith training.

You have taken your feelings of fear and paranoia and isolation and hammered them on the anvil of your will to create a dark mirror. Without conscious effort, you use your Insight abilities to locate danger to you, and you avoid it without conscious awareness of it. Your allies and minions, however, will not necessarily be spared. Most Sith Lords have this power, and it makes it extremely difficult to harm them through indirect means such as poisoned food or preset explosives. It does lead to more of their minions getting shot, blown up, and eaten than Precognitive Vigilance does, but the Sith just aren’t good at the kind of passive listening required for that stunt. (This is Mara Jade’s danger sense power, which is considerably better than that of most Jedi.)

Intuitive Timing

Requires Insight 2.

You can choose just the right moment at which to make a move to further your course of action. This doesn’t tell you what to expect, but when you get that feeling of now, you can make your move and be sure that there will be an opportunity to exploit. This power often operates unconsciously, causing you to show up just when there’s a situation that would benefit by your attention, but you can actively roll your Insight to pick the right moment to do something that might appear absurd, such as jumping off a skyscraper with the expectation you’ll be able to grab a passing swoop or droid before you splatter all over the ground.

Farsight

Battle Precognition

Requires Insight 2 and usually Sith training, though some wild talents have developed it.

With Battle Precognition, you open your mind to the future and can react to things before they happen. This costs 2 stress and lasts for 1 minute. Base difficulty is Fair (2), which gives you a +1 on both offense and defense; an additional 3 shifts will give you a +2. This works in conjunction with Battlemind.

In KOTOR, this is a light-side power only; it adds your Wisdom bonus to your defense, and never needs activation.

Pilot’s Precognition

Requires Battle Precognition and usually Sith training, though some wild talents have developed it.

Bonuses from Battle Precognition apply to Drive and Pilot. You can react to obstacles as well as attacks. (SWd20: Force Dodge, Force Pilot [PotJ p15].)

Scrying

Requires Sith, Baran Do or Bendu training for straightforward scrying, though the Tapestry of Song can do it as an extemporaneous poetic or musical performance.

You are able to bring your visions under a degree of conscious control. You may enter a trance to see from afar (Fair, 1 stress), the past (Good, 2 stress), or a possible future (Great, 3 stress). Base time is 1 hour. Once per session, you may spend a fate point to have a preparation in place that your character foresaw in their meditations; it must be consistent with events up to the current moment. Repeated attempts at farseeing on the same topic are generally not very informative, unless there has been a radical change in the events that will lead up to it. (SWd20: Farseeing [RCR p86–7].) The more shifts you generate, the more information you get; making the roll exactly may give you a single sense impression or even just a feeling; getting spin may put you right in the scene.

Precognitive Vigilance

Requires Scrying, Insight 3, and Baran Do or Bendu training.

You make your mind a still, reflecting pool and open it to impressions from the future. Pick the amount of time you wish to spend on the Time Increments chart, and add your rolled effect; this is the horizon of warning you get. Thus, if you spend a few minutes meditating and roll Good, you can get a warning up to an hour ahead. If you are meditating for less than ½ minute, this costs 2 stress, which can be reduced by shifts as usual.

This is most useful for evading overwhelming force being directed at you or your allies, such as orbital kinetic strikes, an entire building rigged with thermal detonators, or an ambush by an armored division. It is less good at spotting problems that you can deal with through normal vigilance.

This power is best driven by emotions of calm and serenity, though brave loyalty is also effective. This power is not automatic, like Precognitive Paranoia, but it is better able to protect your friends and allies. The Baran Do and the Order of Dai Bendu are fond of this.

Prophecy

Requires Scrying, Insight 4, and Sith, Baran Do or Tapestry of Song training.

Composing long-range verbal prophecies.

Psychometry

Requires Kiffar heritage.

(SWd20: Psychometry [PotJ p17].)

Body

Control over the realm of flesh— your own, and others’.

Health

The straightforward Force Healing powers can be assisted by aspects related to peace and caring; more destructive powers that steal vitality are boosted by greed and hunger. The costs are in the table to the right. This trapping is known to the Quiet Circle, the Jarvashqiine, the Peacebringers, and the Numenists, though only the Quiet Circle know the advanced stunts. The Sith know how to heal themselves; if they need to heal someone else, they can always transfer vitality from a third party.

The base time is only 1 exchange (a few moments), but the healer needs total concentration and physical contact with their patient, so in combat they need to be either behind a barrier or under the protection of a third character. (The time increments table is on p227.) (SWd20: Heal Self, Heal Another [RCR p91].) Clearing boxes of stress and speeding recovery works as per Medical Attention on SotC p267: success means you can clear a level-1 box and every two shifts thereafter increases the level of box you can clear. Placing someone in a healing trance (SWd20: Force Trance [RCR p107], Healing Trance [PotJ p29]) turns all of their metabolic resources toward healing a wound, and often benefits from hooking up an IV drip of nutrients or getting broth down their throat; if you need to conserve oxygen, use a hibernation trance instead. Time improvements from medicine and Force Healing stack. The person inducing the trance can specify the stimulus that will wake a Force-sensitive character from a trance (the sound of voices, the cool of nightfall, the body demanding food); physical damage, shaking and yelling, an applied stimulant, or a good slap will also disturb a trance, and that kind of disturbance (or further use of the Force) are the only things that will wake a character who is not Force-sensitive.

Cure Disease and Cure Poison are feats, so they get stunts. Heal Self and Heal Another are skills that can be used untrained, so they’re just trappings. Force Trance normally comes with the Control feat and Healing Trance with Control and Alter.

The same control over flesh can be used to inflict pain, disease, and harm.

Metabolic control

Force-wielders have greater conscious control over their own life processes than most beings. They can adapt to changing light levels in seconds instead of half an hour, to changing air pressure in minutes instead of days, and suppress nausea in pitching seas or zero gravity. They can slow their metabolism to enter a hibernation trance (these are the slow-metabolism effects; improved healing takes place at normal metabolic speed), or speed it to stay warm or metabolize poisons more quickly (which effectively moves their effect down the time increments chart). (This can change a long buzz to a very short session of being reeling drunk.) They can also oxygenate their own tissues to be able to hold their breath longer: each shift increases the time increment or decreases the base time breathing to pick up more oxygen. A more impressive stunt is boosting the body to operate under high gravity as if it were normal; this lasts for ¼ hour and can be extended with shifts.

Enhance Attribute (SWd20: Enhance Ability [RCR p85]) is Fairly difficult (2), costs 1 stress, and improves either Might or Athletics by +1 (+2 with 3 shifts) for 1 minute.

In KOTOR, Force Valor gives +2 to all attributes and saving throws, affects everyone in your party and lasts 20 seconds. Knight Valor requires level 9 and gives +3 instead of +2 and also makes party immune to poison. Master Valor requires level 15 and gives +5 instead of +3. All these are light side powers.

At Fair skill, they can even fuel their Force powers from their physical stress track as well as their mental one, a talent called Force Body (SWd20: Prolong Force [RCR p107]). Applying any of these to another person (who must be willing or unconscious) increases the difficulty by 1, the base time by 1 level on the time increment chart, and the stress by 1; double all of these if the person is not force-sensitive.

In KOTOR, Force Body causes your costs to be split 50/50 between health and force points and lasts 30 seconds. Improved Force Body requires level 9: 40% of force powers cost comes from Force points, 40% comes from health, 20% is a synergistic bonus. Master Force Body requires level 15: 30% of force powers cost comes from Force points, 30% from health, 40% from synergy. Of course, in KOTOR, you can use medpacs in combat to restore health points, so this is a completely different balance...

The Sith and the Listeners are the experts in this trapping, though the Peacebringers know a few tricks like the hibernation trance, warming themselves, and Enhance Attribute.

Enhance Ability is usable untrained, so it’s controlled by the skill. Hibernation trance is not distinct from a healing trance in the default setting, but I’m clarifying it— you should be able to heal more quickly if you’re at full metabolic speed.

Lifeweb

The understanding of the world of physical living bodies also extends into what the Listeners call the Lifeweb, and they are the only group to have developed this understanding of the world.

(See Nature Affinity, CatCW p45.)

Stunts

Health

Cure Disease

Requires Body 2 and Quiet Circle training.

Roll your Body against the virulence of the disease; base time is 1 hour, base cost 2 stress. Success halts its progress for a day; 3 shifts terminates it entirely. (SWd20: Cure Disease [PotJ p15].)

Cure Poison

Requires Body 2 and Quiet Circle training.

Roll your Body against the potency of the poison; base time is 1 hour, base cost 2 stress. Success halts its progress for a day; 3 shifts terminates it entirely. (See also Detoxify Poison. SWd20: Cure Poison [PotJ p15].)

Combat Healer

Requires Body 3 and Quiet Circle training.

This is comparable to the Medic stunt on p191–2: every shift increases the level of stress you can clear, and you can even remove mild physical consequences in combat.

Luminous Being

Requires Body 4, Mind 4, Spirit 4. Currently undiscovered.

Your understanding has reached the level at which you perceive a continuum from spirit to flesh. You can spend a fate point to instantly heal physical consequences or mental stress. Need to ponder this some more; the power in d20 is limited by Force Points, which are much more precious than Fate Points, but it also does a complete fix-up job. Possibly spend 3 fate points for something more impressive? [d20: PotJ p21.]

Steal Vitality

Requires Body 2 and Sith training.

This is the power known as Force Drain: stealing life force from another to reduce your own physical stress. Roll your Body skill as an attack, defended by the other’s Resolve, at a range of up to 10m; this inflicts physical stress. Measure your success by the level of stress inflicted; if your target is a Force-sensitive sentient, you may clear a box of your own stress at that level; otherwise, subtract two from the level. You can also clear all boxes at three less than that level— so a Sith Lord inflicting level 5 stress on a Force-sensitive person can clear 1 box at 5 or two at 1 and 2, but a mundane victim can only clear a single box at level 3 or less. You can also just inflict damage (aka Force Diminish). This costs level 2 mental stress and receives bonuses from greed and the will to survive at all costs. (SWd20: Dark Healing [SECR p223].)

In KOTOR, Drain Life requires Level 9 and transfers 1d4 hit points per level. Death Field requires level 18 and affects all enemies within 10m. In Saga Edition, Dark Healing transfers 1d6 per level if you can beat the target’s Fortitude Defense, at a range of 6 squares. Improved Dark Healing does half damage even if you can’t beat their defense, and has range 12 squares.

Steal Health

Requires Body 3 and Steal Vitality.

By inflicting physical consequences using Steal Vitality, you can remove consequences one level lower for a Force-sensitive victim or two levels lower on a mundane one. You can cure your own illnesses if you have a helpless victim outside combat; the result will usually break the victim’s constitution for the long run. This costs level-3 mental stress.

Steal Youth

Requires Body 4 and Steal Health.

This power only works on helpless Force-sensitive sentients whose physical age is less than your effective one. By inflicting a number of years of aging on them equal to the ratio of your ages relative to your species’ lifespan, you can remove one year of your own physical aging. This costs level-5 mental stress.

Force Slow

Requires Body 2 and Sith training.

Force Slow is a technique of projecting a sense of exhaustion at another being within 10m, inflicting mental stress to tire them out.

In KOTOR, Force Slow slows the target for 30 seconds: –2 to defense, reflexes and attack rolls.

Force Affliction

Requires Body 3 and Force Slow.

Force Affliction involves projecting destructive emotion at your victim, inflicting bruises and nosebleeds on the way up the track of physical stress. It’s more effective at inflicting damage than Steal Vitality.

In KOTOR, Force Affliction requires level 6: the target seems to be poisoned, and has –7 to all physical attributes for 21 seconds.

Force Plague

Requires Body 4 and Force Affliction.

Force Plague is the ultimate refinement of Force Affliction, where you project the fervent wish for another’s death and cripple their body’s ability to recover.

In KOTOR, Force Plague requires level 12 and causes –12, no save.

Deadly Sight

Requires Body 4 and Sith training.

Deadly Sight causes a being’s body to begin burning up its own energy reserves at an unnatural rate, causing flesh to smoke and smolder and catch fire. It is an expensive attack, but very impressive.

Metabolic Control

Force Speed

Requires Peacebringer training.

You can coax supernatural performance from your muscles and drastically increase your running spead and jumping distance. Sprinting (p62, p91) normally lets you move one zone per shift on an Athletics check against a difficulty of Mediocre (0). With Force Speed, you may (as a free action at the beginning of your sprint) roll your Body against a difficulty you choose; this is both the level of stress you must take and adds to the multiplier for your Athletics shifts for a sprinting or jumping action (so choosing Fair (2) difficulty costs 2 stress and multiplies your shifts by 3×). The huge number of Athletics shifts can be used to cover distance or bypass borders as usual. Extra shifts may be used to reduce stress as usual. (SWd20: Burst of Speed [RCR p106: 10× base speed, 5× jump, 5 vitality], Force Speed [RCR p109: 20× base speed, 10× jump, 8 vitality] aka Knight Speed, Master Speed [RCR p113: 30× base speed, 15× jump, 12 vitality].) Take a look at the movement rules for d20 and see if this is comparable.

Force Rage

Usually requires Sith training, though some wild talents have developed it.

You unleash your pent-up fury and enter a berserker rage for 1 minute. Calculation and strategy go out the window, along with any possibility of using any skills that require patience or concentration. You gain 2 levels of Might, 1 each of Fortitude and Resolve (and an extra box of stress for each), and a –1 penalty on defense. When the Rage runs out, you immediately take Mild physical and mental consequences of Exhausted. (SWd20: Rage [RCR p114, DSS p18].)

In KOTOR, the powers are Force Fury, Improved Fury, and Master Fury; they boost attributes.

Force Blow

Requires Melee 3, Body 2, Telekinesis 2, and (currently) Sith training.

You channel the Force through your body or chosen weapon, letting you hit harder and survive strikes that would break your hands; you no longer need nor benefit from brass knuckles or combat gloves. Your unarmed strike damage improves by 1; this stacks with Lethal Weapon, Fists of Death, and bonuses from Heavy Hitter or [Weapon] Finesse.

The Force Warrior gets +1d6 unarmed damage at 2nd level, +2d6 at 5th, +3d6 at 8th. The Jedi Weapon Master gets +1d8 with a chosen weapon at 2nd, 5th, and 9th levels, and can choose to have them stack or not.

Breaking Blow

Requires Force Blow, Melee 4, Body 3, Telekinesis 3.

Your strike damage improves by 1 more, and can now break through hard-shelled armor: if you land a good hit, you may choose to spend 3 shifts to inflict consequences like chink in their armor instead of on straight damage. (These consequences do not count toward your opponent being Taken Out, but they will persist until repaired.)

Shattering Blow

Requires Breaking Blow, Melee 5, Body 4, Telekinesis 4.

Your unarmed strike damage improves by 1 more, and now does structural damage; you only need 2 shifts to inflict consequences on their armor. Punching your way through a duracrete wall is a matter of time and endurance.

So if you have Heavy Hitter [or Unarmed Finesse] for +1, Lethal Weapon for +1, Fists of Death for +1, and Shattering Blow for +3, you have a net damage of 6, same as a heavy blaster pistol or vibrogreatsword.

Control Pain

Allows you to temporarily negate physical consequences— they’re still there, but they cannot be compelled, tagged, or invoked— though they still count toward your reaching Taken Out. Roll Body against Fair to negate mild consequences, Good for moderate and mild consequences, and Great for all consequences through serious. The base time is 1 minute and can be increased on the time increment chart with shifts; it costs 1 stress. Control Pain, Crucitorn, Remain Conscious.

Breath Control

Requires Spirit 1 and Sith or Listener training.

You draw energy directly from the Force to sustain your metabolism instead of breathing the air.

Malacia

Requires Body 2 and Quiet Circle training.

This technique allows attacking with your Body skill (defended by Resolve) to disrupt your opponent’s sense of balance, causing dizziness and fainting; it has no effect on nonbiological beings. Mild consequences are typically Wobbly, moderate consequences Dizzy, severe consequences Reeling, and being Taken Out puts someone in a faint from which they can recover in a few minutes. At a range of up to 10 meters, it requires an attack action and 2 stress; at ranges up to line of sight, it requires an exclusive action and 3 stress. (SWd20: Malacia [PotJ p13].)

Morichro

Requires Malacia and Body 3.

As Malacia, but inflicts physical stress that manifests as exhausted. Mild consequences are typically Winded, Moderate consequences Weary, Severe consequences Exhausted, and being Taken Out can leave someone in need of a full night’s sleep or in involuntary suspended animation. If your target is willing, you can place them (or yourself) in an extremely deep hibernation trance that can last safely for up to (10+Endurance) months while using negligible life support, and can specify the stimulus that will wake them (though any wound, injected stimulant, or disruption to the Force pattern holding the trance will also do the trick). If they never waken, they can slowly waste away and die. (SWd20: Morichro [PotJ p16].)

Resist Stun

Requires Body 2 and Quiet Circle training.

Resist Stun metabolically prepares the body for an incoming stun attack in the next exchange; this requires an attack action. Roll Body against a difficulty of Mediocre (0); each shift can be used to subtract from stun damage taken in the next exchange. If the stun attack is delayed, you lose one shift each exchange. Level 2 stress.

Lifeweb

Plant Surge

Requires Body 2 and Listener training.

Causes plants in a radius of your effect in meters to grow suddenly, wrapping and twisting around creatures, entangling them; roll your Body as an attack, Athletics to dodge out of it. Entangled creatures take a –1 on attack rolls and need to make an Athletics, Escape Artist, or Melee check (cutting through vegetation) to escape, with a base time of (4 time shifts). It also raises a barrier equal to your effect to travel through the area. (SWd20: Plant Surge [PotJ p14].)

Yank the Food Chain

Requires Body 2, Mind 2, and Listener training.

You direct the attention of a high-level predator toward something that it would reasonably perceive as prey. This can be useful to keep the local fauna busy so they leave you alone, introduce your pursuit to a really bad day, or cause a mugger to pick that guy who’s been shadowing you as his next victim. Qui-Gon Jinn uses this in Attack of the Clones when on Naboo.

Mind

Self-Control

Taking charge of your own mental state. If your Mind is better than your Resolve, you may defend against Mind attacks using Mind instead.

A straightforward application is enhancing your senses by placing yourself into a highly attentive state. This costs 2 stress and lasts 15 minutes; it gives you a +1 to such things as Investigation, Alertness, Empathy, and using Survival for tracking. Base difficulty is Average. (SWd20: Enhance Senses [RCR p85].)

Empathy

Contacting a mind at the level of raw animal feeling. Simply reading another’s emotions is a conflict against their Resolve; if you get a shift, you gain a +1 with social skills, +2 if you get 3 shifts. Costs 1 stress. (SWd20: Empathy [RCR p84].)

You can also project emotions at living beings, inflicting an aspect on them (which can be freely tagged) for the rest of the scene if you can beat their Resolve; at 1 shift, it is the same as Mild mental consequences, at 3 it’s Moderate, and at 5 it’s Severe; minions will often simply concede by running away. A character may take an attack action to roll their Resolve against your number of shifts in order to shake it off. You cannot project something that you cannot make yourself feel; fear is easy, but it is also possible to dissuade predators (sentient and not) by making them peaceful, bored, or dismissive when they regard you— you can also distract them by projecting greed or hunger when they regard your choice of target. If you have projected a skran emotion, you will need to take a Resolve action to clear your mind before you can draw on chur. (SWd20: Fear [RCR p87].) Costs 1 stress.

In KOTOR, Force Fear causes the target to be scared for 6 seconds, taking –4 to defense. Beast Trick will get animals to ignore you.

The projection can also be an aura around you (an aura of uneasiness is a good way to get people and animals to edge out of your way, while an aura of peace is a good way to avoid fights); roll against Average (1) difficulty and you can use shifts to move up the time chart from 1 minute; cost is 1 stress.

Telepathy

Contacting at the level of sentient thought. Exchanging brief messages and emotional and sense impressions costs 2 stress. Holding a conversation requires both sides to be in a meditative trance. Monitoring a being’s thoughts requires beating their Resolve; with 1 shift, you can sense the complexity of their thoughts but not the contents (which is usually enough to figure out if someone is actively confabulating); with 3 shifts, you can get flashes of words and images; and with 5 shifts you can get their detailed inner narrative. (SWd20: Telepathy [RCR p100].)

Influence

Alter Perception (aka Force Persuasion) is a matter of causing misdirection or subtracting from a person’s perceptions. Implant suggestion is the classic Mind Trick; it can adjust perceptions and create rationalizations, but cannot go against deep motivations. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for is within the scope of this. (SWd20: Affect Mind [RCR p76].) A more advanced use of the Mind Trick is to cause people to rethink their motivations or review the significant events in their life; it is subtle, but can be useful in persuasion, and with enough successes can get a sense of someone’s character from a glimpse of their surface thoughts. You can also overwhelm the enemy’s senses, potentially dazing or stunning them; this is an attack against their Resolve, causing mental stress. (SWd20: Force Stun [SECR p98.]) If you want to override deep motivations, you need the Dominate Mind stunt. Excess shifts make it hard for other Force users to notice your meddling.

In KOTOR, these are all light side powers. Force Stun stuns an opponent for 9 seconds, or slows them for the same time if they make their save. Force Stasis requires level 9 and extends that to 12 seconds. Force Stasis Field requires level 12 and has a 10m radius of effect. Mind Trick can distract a target, but will be canceled if the character gets too close to or interacts with the target; lasts 30 seconds. Force Confusion requires level 12 and will make the target fight for the player for 30 seconds.

In KOTOR, Crush Opposition 1–6 cause the target to suffer that level of penalty to their attack rolls and will saves and require being a Sith Lord of level 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, and 21 respectively. On the light side, Inspire Followers 1–3 require leves 1, 5, and 9 of being a Jedi Master and add the bonus to attack rolls, damage, and will saves of everyone in the party for 45 seconds.

Invasion

Trespassing on another’s mind.

Stunts

Self-Control

Battlemind

Placing your mind in a focused state for combat, balancing bravery and clarity: costs 2 stress, lasts 1 minute. Base difficulty is Fair (2), which gives you a +1 on attacks; an additional 3 shifts will give you a +2. (Concentration. SWd20: Battlemind [RCR p77].) This works in conjunction with Battle Precognition.

Force Reflex

Requires Body 3, Mind 3, Spirit 3.

Force Reflex is an extremely advanced technique for speeding up in general.

Empathy

Friendship

You have excellent nuance with empathy and empathic projection and can help to nudge the attitudes of people and animals to be more favorable to you. Roll your Mind against their Resolve; the number of shifts to affect their attitude is below:

If you fail to beat their Resolve, an unfriendly being will become hostile and a hostile one will become combative. They can reroll their resolve after you leave and shake it off if they get a Good result; otherwise, the effect fades after an hour. Costs 1 stress; it is only useful one time in a being’s waking period. (SWd20: Friendship [RCR p89].)

This is a trained-only skill in d20, so it’s a stunt.

Animal Communication

You can communicate with an animal (including sentient beings) at its best level of understanding short of verbal thought; this includes exchanging sense impressions and behavioral ideas like a sense of territory. Most creatures with the brains of at least a mouse can get the notion of here is a treat; go [here] and [perform a simple action like looking at something or gnawing on something], come back and receive another one. If a creature only has the brains of a flatworm, you’re lucky to convey food this way or threat that way. (SWd20: Beast Language [PotJ p15].)

Share Senses

Requires Animal Communication.

You can experience an animal’s point of view, already processed by their understanding of their environment. This means that if it knows a smell, you’ll receive an impression of their understanding of the smell, but if they’re looking at written text, you’ll need a feat of mental agility to convert those funny shapes to words in your mind.

Borrowing

Requires Share Senses.

You enter a friendly animal’s mind, sharing its senses and communicating with it using Animal Communication. This makes it possible to guide an animal on very complex tasks and perform detailed reconnaissance. Any stress the animal takes will show up as mental stress for you (so you can get Taken Out by an animal taking enough on both tracks to add up for you, but not even give it consequences).

Empathic Wave

Your skill in projecting emotion is so great that you can inflict stress with it. Stress caused by peaceful emotions evaporates immediately with adrenaline; stress caused by violent passions disrupts thinking as people reel from the onslaught. Roll your Mind skill; anyone within 10m defends against your roll with their Resolve. Costs level-2 stress. (SWd20: Hatred [DSS p18].)

Force Horror

With Force Horror, your ability to project fear is so refined that you can inflict fear on everyone in a 5m radius, with Mild consequences at 1 shift, Moderate at 2, Severe at 3, and any further shifts causing the targets to simply cower in place for one exchange per excess shift. The consequences can be defeated with a Resolve attack as usual. Level 2 stress.

In KOTOR, Force Horror requires Force Fear and level 6. All enemies within 5m of the target are frightened for 12 seconds and take –4 to their defense.

Force Insanity

Requires Force Horror.

Force Insanity allows you to tap into your own seething cauldron of emotion and overwhelm beings with paranoia, fear, anger, and panic; it operates as Force Horror out to 10m, and causes unthinking violence in place of cowering. Out of combat, this can be used to break a being’s mind so that they lash out at anyone. Level 3 stress.

In KOTOR, Force Insanity requires Force Horror and level 12. It just has a 10m radius.

Combat Empathy

Sensing the intentions of your opponent. Useless against droids, and diminished by range, so only rarely useful against snipers. An opponent with sufficiently good no-mind in combat cannot be read. Bonuses from chur and insight.

Sense Corruption

If someone is sufficiently corrupt that they are expecting a bribe or planning to betray someone with whom they are dealing, this will usually show up in their surface thoughts, as will pride in one’s own integrity. This allows the Force user to sense what’s in the top of their mind in this particular emotional situation. It detects the person’s intention or desire, not the minimum bribe that is sufficient to get the desired behavior out of them.

Combat Projection

Disrupting your opponent’s mental equilibrium in combat, inflicting a temporary aspect on them which they can shake by taking an action to use Resolve.

Influence

Force Stasis

Force Stasis is an improvement on Force Stun.

Force Stasis Field

Force Stasis Field

Conceal Presence

Requires Mind 3.

You edit the perceptions of those around you so they fail to notice something to which they would otherwise react. This involves a good deal of subtlety: sometimes it is a matter of inducing someone to ignore something by subconsciously dismissing it, sometimes it involves injecting a rationalization into their mind (the classic somebody else’s problem field: They could never have gotten those weapons past the checkpoint if they weren’t authorized.), and sometimes causing an actual misperception (What are you talking about? That was no Zeltron, that was a Human with a sunburn!). Clever use of disguises and props can make it much easier to use this power— it is much easier to make someone see an expired ID badge as valid than to make them assume you belong there. Come up with a list of examples.

Force Subjugate

Force Subjugate inflicts mental stress.

Dominate Mind

The upgraded version of the Mind Trick, which goes beyond implanting suggestions. It can wrench a character’s mind around and coerce them into acting against their deepest motivations.

Project Illusion

This is the big scaled-up version of Alter Perception. It can cause people to perceive something that isn’t there, or misperceive something that is there. It will cause people to hallucinate that their instruments are telling them what they expect, though people doing active scans get a chance to reroll their Resolve to try and beat your effect. If someone points out that it’s an illusion, everyone can reroll at +2. Art skill is complementary to this. It will not fool droids. Stress cost per exchange: 1 in the same melee, 2 @ 10 km, 3 @ 100km, 4 @ 1000km. (Force Illusion, Force Projection, Alter Image; SWd20: Illusion [RCR p92, DSS p15].)

Coordinate Minds

This stunt can manifest in a variety of ways.

Battle Coordination: Focuses the minds of your minions on a battle, giving them a +1 bonus (+2 if you spend 3 shifts) to attack rolls, defense rolls, and skill checks, and gives them the Obsessed aspect. The coordinator can spend a Fate point to give a +2 bonus to one tactical action per exchange (e.g. send a wing of starfighters on a strafing run). As soon as the coordinator stops, they take Severe consequences, leaving them Exhausted. (SWd20: Control Mind [DSS p13].) This is something that should work well with a hierarchy of Sith pumping power into the whole thing. It should also make it possible to inflict penalties on opponents, making them sick with fear or making their beasts run wild.

Battle Meditation: (requires Good Insight) You visualize the battle and its successful outcome, and give your allies the insight to see the right thing to do. Gives them a +1 bonus (+2 if you spend 3 shifts) to attack rolls, defense rolls, and skill checks, and gives them the Inspired aspect. You can spend a Fate point to give a +2 bonus to one tactical action per exchange. (SWd20: Battle Meditation [PotJ p15], Inspire [PotJ p13]). Force Meld, Force Valor, Ner Yan, Jeswandi. Ponder this a whole bunch more. Battle Meditation should make it possible to spend shifts on different things: aspects for allies, aspects for enemies, bonuses for allies, penalties for enemies. It can be used to convince animals to attack each other or sow dissension among opponents. This is something that should work well with lots of light side Jedi who share a vision.

Zone of Truce: targets must make a Resolve check against your rolled effect. If they fail, they take the a –2 to attack you and your allies as long as none of you take hostile action against them. If they fail by 3, they fall to attacking each other at –2; if they fail by 6, they take no penalty attacking each other. Costs 3 stress to activate, lasts 10 exhanges. (SWd20: Battle Influence [PotJ p12].)

Telepathy

Comprehend Speech

Comprehend Speech allows you to comprehend what a sentient being (who is physically present) is saying. A Mediocre result will get you the crudest ideas, Average will get the general gist, Fair will handle straightforward ideas, Good will get details, and Great will get nuances.

Drain Knowledge

Reading a person’s mind at all is tricky; reading something they’re not currently thinking about requires wresting control of their thoughts to read information. This is extremely disruptive, and tends to leave that area of the person’s mind disorganized for some while afterward. (SWd20: Drain Knowledge [DSS p15].)

Memory Rub

The memory rub technique can be used to disrupt a person’s memory, making it extremely difficult to recover.

Mindhealing

Removing mental stress and consequences, including some of the malign mental effects of other Force powers. Come up with mechanics...

Inner Torment

Calling up painful memories from a victim’s mind, as in torture by chagrin.

Improved Memory

short-term memory enhancement

Force Call

Requires Spirit 2.

Force cry

Spirit

Entering the pure realm of the Force.

Sensing

Anyone open to the realm of Spirit gains the basic unconscious Force Sense that tells them of disturbances in the Force, the immediate presence of Force energies (such as a place strong in a particular aspect), and of danger to those with whom you have a strong connection. (SWd20: Sense Force [RCR p115].) You may use your Spirit score for initiative in reacting to Force powers.

You may actively sense the presence of the Force in a person or locate someone strong in the Force. This acts much like Alertness for spotting active use of the Force; costs 1 stress to detect if someone else is strong in the force, 2 stress to extend your awareness to feel if there are any Force-users nearby. (SWd20: See Force [RCR p98], Gauge Force Potential [SECR p101].)

Projection

Projecting the power of the Force. Force Scream. Force Light: projects your flavor of force energy as radiant energy; force spirits with incompatible aspects are diminished by it (attack with Spirit, defend with Resolve or Spirit), and at Epic levels it can even degrade a Force aspect on a location if you are at the heart of the site. You must possess an aspect (such as calm, malevolence) in order to radiate it. 3 stress. (SWd20: Force Light [PotJ p12]), Force Harmony. Force Armor: your effect (minus shifts spent to reduce stress) is a bonus to resisting Force-based attacks for the next minute. Setting it up is equivalent to a full defense action. 2 stress. (SWd20: Force Defense [RCR p87].) Base difficulty is Average. With TK and Energy: Force Protection, Force Barrier, Protection Bubble, Force Resistance, Force Immunity.

In KOTOR, Force Scream does 3d6 to all enemies in 10m. Improved Force Scream requires level 9 and does 5d6. Master Force Scream requires level 15 and does 7d6.

Attunement

Interacting with Force-sensitive objects. Most of these are crystals with a complex structure; diamonds and corundum are simple, gaudy stones that can be mass produced and are not useful in the Force. Force-sensitive crystals are usually formed by geological processes, but some are formed biologically (such as Krayt dragon pearls).

Contact

Contacting spirits in the Force to communicate with them and convey energy to them.

Suppression

Force Stealth: meditate and lose yourself in the force, or wrap it tightly into a secret buried coal within yourself. If someone attempts to locate you using Sense Force, they must beat your roll, and your roll acts as a penalty on the use of Intuitive Tracking to find you. 1 stress for 10 minutes. (SWd20: Force Stealth [RCR p88].) Force concealment, Force immersion, Qey’tek.

You may defend against any Force power using Spirit. If you get spin on the roll, you may turn the power back on your attacker; any shifts in excess of 3 go toward intensifying the rebound. If your attacker does the same thing, you may both bid for who suffers the attack by spending fate points. (SWd20: Rebuke [SECR p100].)

Stunts

Attunement

Sith Sorcery

(SWd20: Sith Sorcery [DSS p18].)

Sith Alchemy

Requires Sith Sorcery.

(SWd20: Sith Alchemy [DSS p13]. Mask.)

Mechu-deru

Mechu-deru

Enchantment

Enchantment is the art of instilling a resonance into a Force-sensitive crystal. Enchantments can be used by an untrained Force-sensitive, can be studied by a trained one to learn a technique, and can provide a bonus to a Force skill as long as the skill of the user is lower than the quality of the enchantment, which is in turn limited by the quality of the crystal.

Contact

Blessing

Give a supplicant a temporary aspect associated with the spirit you are contacting. The stronger the supplicant’s belief, the longer the temporary aspect lasts.

Guiding Spirit

Requires Insight 1 or Spirit 1.

A Force spirit of some sort has taken an interest in you, and shows up in your life offering aid, advice, and information. It may be your dear departed mentor, a ghost that has decided that you’re important to completing its destiny, a being worshiped by the Numenists, or the shade of a Sith who thinks that his living brethren are getting complacent. (SWd20: Guiding Spirit [PotJ p15–6].)

Voice of the World-Spirit

Requires Spirit 2, Mind 2, Body 2 and understanding of the Lifeweb trapping. Your awareness melts into that of the world-spirit in an area based on your Spirit roll: Fair shows you the local microclimate for Fair, Good gets your nearby biome, Great gets a subcontinent or large island, Superb gets an entire continent, and Fantastic gets the entire planet. This allows you to spot disruptions in the ecosystem, such as pollution, starship crash sites, and hunting parties that don’t take pains to tread lightly on the world.

Transfer Essence

Contacting is the art of reaching to the level of spirits; the flip side of it is moving to the level of spirits. With Transfer Essence, it is possible to leave your own body and occupy another one, which must be reduced to helplessness before you enter it. This can be done temporarily or permanently. The consciousness of the host can fight you for control, and a wily one will wait until you are in dire straits and willing to Concede by accepting one of its aspects to replace one of your own rather than face enemies within and without; whenever it begins one of these struggles, it opens itself to the possibility of defeat, and each time it is Taken Out you neutralize one of its aspects (which cannot recover without a Concession from you). If you neutralize all of its aspects other than species, the body is yours; if it replaces all of your aspects with its own, your identity is lost and it gains all your knowledge. (SWd20: Transfer Essence [DSS p16].) Concessions can include changing an aspect to being something new to either host or possessor.

If the total of all your Force skills is higher than that of your host body, your power may have a debilitating effect on the body. After any scene in which you use your powers in earnest (any power with a base stress of 3 or higher, or actually racking up that third point of stress using lesser powers), take the difference in those totals and roll it as an attack; defend with the body’s Fortitude. This will show up as physical stress and may inflict consequences.

Create Force Wraith

Create Force Wraith

Projection

Extended Aura

Extension of your personal aura into a tool or melee weapon. If you have any skill in Insight, it becomes part of your awareness; if you have any skill in Telekinesis, it becomes more powerful (+1 damage rating); if you have any skill in Energy, it becomes more resilient. Peacebringers use this to project their Breath into weapons to cut through substances that would normally destroy the weapon. Academicians use it to extend their senses into the tools they use, so they can feel through a hydrospanner as if they were gripping a bolt with their own hand. (Force Weapon.) Difficulty is Average for a hand tool or small weapon, Fair for a staff or longsword, Good for a greatsword or tetsubo; 2 stress, lasts 1 scene.

Force Weapon [RCR p55–6] takes a round and 3 vitality for +1d8 and later +2d8 damage.

...

Force Burst, Bolt of Hatred, Spear of Midnight Black.

Continuum Storm

Continuum Storm

Feeding Upon the Force

Feeding upon the Force

Taint

Taint

Force Absorb

Force Absorb is used to absorb the energy of physical attacks made using the Force; it is very effective against Force Lightning.

Suppression

Suppress Force Power

Suppress a single force power. This can be used as a block action. Force Suppression, Force Breach.

In KOTOR, Force Suppression requires level 9 and cancels the first and second level powers. Force Breach requires level 15 and cancels any powers active on the target.

Suppress Force Use

Prevent someone from calling on the Force. This can be used as an attack and defended with any Force skill, or used as a block action. Consequences interfere with the use of the Force and heal at the same rate as physical consequences; the only equivalent to medical attention is for the target to meditate in an area strong in their familiar area of power. If someone is Taken Out by this, their connection to the Force is severed for the long term (years to decades to the rest of their life). (SWd20: Sever Force [PotJ p14, SECR p100]. Force Web.)

This is a light side power in the d20 books.

Telekinesis

Manipulation

Simply moving an object through telekinesis is fairly straightforward. Roll against the difficulty to move the object; each shift can be used to move it 1 zone or reduce stress. Stress is paid for each exchange; you only need to reroll if your concentration is challenged (such as by having to dodge an attack). This is an attack action. The damage rating given is that used to attack with the object (using the same roll as that to lift the object). (SWd20: Move Object [RCR p94, SECR p98]. Force Pull.)

You can also put up a mild deflection aura that will keep out raindrops, stinging insects, and most plant thorns. Costs 1 stress, lasts ¼ hour (which can be lengthened by spending shifts).

Combat

All telekinetic attacks take bonuses from skran emotions.

The power can also be used to hurl objects; this allows using your Telekinesis skill as if it were Weapons for purposes of throwing objects, which can start 1 zone away and be thrown into an adjacent zone. Your Weapons stunts do not affect this. 1 stress. (Force Throw.) Alternatively, you can disarm them by ripping their weapons from their hands; this is opposed by their Might+2. Range is 10m. If you achieve spin on the roll, you can damage their weapon in the process. (SWd20: SECR p97.)

You can also use telekinesis directly on other beings. You can use it to strike a blow on up to 4 adjacent targets up to 1 zone away; your targets use Athletics to dodge or roll with your Telekinesis or Might to stand their ground. Costs 2 stress; damage rating is 6 (resisted by armor as usual), and any target against which you achieve 3 shifts (before considering damage rating and armor) is knocked down. (SWd20: Force Strike [RCR p88], Force Slam: 4d6, save ½ [SECR p97].) Alternatively, you can knock people off their feet or push them into different zones, in which case they must defend with Might. You can spend shifts to move them as if they were taking an involuntary sprint action, or to increase the difficulty (Good) of the Athletics check to land on their feet. (Force Push; SWd20: Force Thrust [SECR p98])

In KOTOR, Force Push pushes the enemy back 5 meters; they are stunned, and suffer damage equal to the attacker’s level.

You can also focus your telekinesis on the innards of an opponent. This costs 2 stress and has a damage rating of 4 (opposed by any extra stress boxes granted by high Endurance instead of armor), and requires a deep desire to see them suffer. The attack is resisted with Resolve. Range is 10m. (SWd20: Force Grip [RCR p87, SECR p97: 2d6–6d6 damage].)

Stunts

Manipulation

Force Leap

Force Leap uses telekinesis to boost your jumping. The difficulty is log₂ of the distance you wish to jump, so 2 meters is Average, 4 meters is Fair, 16 meters is Great, etc., or the number of zones you want to jump (bypassing border ratings that only apply to people on the ground). 2 stress. (Force Jump. SWd20: Surge [SECR p100].)

Force Flight

Force Flight is continuous telekinetic flight through the air as a movement action. Flying 5m is Average, 10m is Fair, 15m is Good, 20m is Great, or just use 1 zone per shift and ignore border ratings that only apply to people on the ground. Costs 2 stress.

Force Tread

You telekinetically lift your weight just enough that you no longer exert pressure on the floor; this is not impossible with raw move object, but with Light Tread you have internalized the practice enough that you can simply use this as a movement action; it gives you perfect traction. If your mind is flexible enough, you can walk off a cliff like a cartoon character or descend and ascend imaginary ramps and stairs. Cost is 2 stress per minute; difficulty is Average for walking on a surface, Fair for walking up walls, and Good for walking on the air. (Up the Walls.)

Deeptouch

Requires Insight 1, Energy 1 and knowledge from the Hidden Academy. You can extend your tactile senses into a material to examine its configuration and stress and the energies stored within it or moving through it, and even change them; this can aid in discovering secret panels and setting demolition charges.

Material Manipulation

Detecting flaws, expanding flaws (crystallizing metal to make it brittle, shorting out connections)...

Combat

Force Wave

Force Wave

In KOTOR, this requires level 15 and Force Whirlwind. All enemies within 15m are pushed back 5m, stunned for 6 seconds, and suffer damage of 1.5× the attacker’s level.

Force Maelstrom

Requires Force Wave and Force Whirlwind.

Force Maelstrom

Force Choke

Force Choke is a refinement of Force Grip. It has a damage rating of 8 and can be used on anyone with whom you have a real-time connection, even over a viewscreen. Level 2 stress.

Force Crush

Requires Force Choke.

Force Crush applies telekinetic pressure from all sides to crush a person or small vehicle: they rise into the air and crumple.

In KOTOR, this does 1d6/level, bypassing armor.

Force Wound

Force Wound is a refinement of Force Strike that requires impressive focus of will and malice, narrowing the applied force down to a razor-thin edge. It costs 1 stress and has a damage rating of 5.

Force Wound chokes the target for 6 seconds; they take ²/3 of the attacker’s level every two seconds. Force Choke requires Force Wound and level 9; lasts 24 seconds. Force Kill requires Force Choke and level 12; lasts 6 seconds, total damage is equal to half the target’s maximum health points.

Force Orb

Force Orb, Kinetite, Force Destruction...

Force Whirlwind

Requires Telekinesis 3.

2 stress, roll against Good, create a 4m radius whirlwind of small objects; it inflicts level 2 physical stress, reduced by armor and Athletics, to all within, and applies a –2 penalty to non-defensive checks. Lasts 3 exchanges; reroll and spend to maintain for 3 more. Range 50m. (SWd20: Force Whirlwind [RCR p110].)

In KOTOR, this requires level 9 and Force Push. The target is floating helplessly for 12 seconds, and takes 1/3 of the attacking character’s level in damage every 2 seconds. That would be far too gross for a non-computer RPG.

Force Deflection

Requires Telekinesis 2 and/or Energy 2.

Force Deflection allows using Telekinesis to defend against physical attacks and Energy to defend against energy attacks. No stress. Is this sufficiently better than just using Athletics to dodge?

In KOTOR, Force Deflection requires level 6 and allows Jedi to deflect blaster bolts without a lightsaber; the power is always in effect. Force Redirection requires level 12 and allows reflecting at enemies.

Battle Aura

Requires Force Deflection, Telekinesis 2, Energy 2.

By erecting a Battle Aura, you subtly deflect incoming attacks as they approach you. This costs 2 stress and lasts 1 minute. Base difficulty is Fair (2), which gives you 1 level of armor; an additional 3 shifts will give you a total of 2 levels of armor.

In KOTOR, Force Aura adds +2 to defence and Saving Throws and lasts 20 seconds; Force Shield requires 6th Level and adds +4 to defense and Saving Throws and lasts 20 seconds; Force Armor requires 12th level and adds +6 to defense and Saving Throws and also lasts 20 seconds. Force Barrier absorbs 15 points of bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage and evaporates after 30 seconds regardless. Improved Force Barrier requires level 9 and absorbs 30 points of damage and lasts 45 seconds. Master Force Barrier requires level 15 and absorbs 60 points of damage and lasts 1 minute. These are all light side powers. On the other hand, there are also universal powers: Energy Resistance absorbs 10 points of cold, electricity, energy, fire, and sonic, or evaporates after 120 seconds. Improved Energy resistance requires level 9 and handles 15 points of damage. Master Energy Resistance requires level 17 and handles 20 points.

Force Rebound

Requires Force Deflection, and Telekinesis 3 and/or Energy 3.

If you choose to take a hold action, you may use your Telekinesis or Energy to redirect an incoming projectile or bolt at a target of your choosing; the damage rating is that of the weapon fired at you. This can be used cooperatively with other members of your party; an ally with a heavy blaster can pitch you a softball that’s an easy catch by shooting just over your hand.

Force Catch

Requires Force Rebound, and Telekinesis 4 and/or Energy 4.

You may choose to simply catch an incoming projectile or bolt and store its kinetic energy for later use; holding a glowing blaster bolt in your hand is extremely good for Intimidation! You may throw it again at any time (rolling Telekinesis or Energy in place of the appropriate weapon skill and using the original damage rating of the weapon from which it first came), or choose to drop it (projectiles fall on the floor, blaster bolts evaporate in a puff of light). This can be used cooperatively with other members of your party; your pal with the heavy blaster can pitch you a softball that’s an easy catch by shooting just over your hand.

Throw Weapon

Requires Telekinesis 2.

You hurl your melee weapon up to 1 zone away and strike an enemy as if you had done so up close an personal; attack using your Weapons skill, not Telekinesis. Your weapon returns to your hand afterward, like a boomerang. Roll against Fair; 2 stress. (Saber throw.) While your weapon is in the air, you must dodge incoming attacks instead of parrying.

Flying Weapon

Requires Telekinesis 3 and Throw Weapon.

As Throw Weapon, but your weapon can travel up to 2 zones away and attacks for 3 exchanges.

Dancing Weapon

Requires Telekinesis 4 and Flying Weapon.

Your weapon can fly around attacking up to 2 zones away from you. Cost is 2 stress per 3 exchanges.

Weapon Barrier

Requires Telekinesis 4 and Flying Weapon.

Saber barrier.

Energy

Moving energy around, as telekinesis commands matter.

Sensing

You can sense whether a device is powered up or inert, and even spot the buildup of charge in time to avoid a lightning bolt during a thunderstorm.

Manipulation

You can put up a mild energy aura that will decrease energy transfer, making it easier to stay warm or cool. It costs 1 stress to deal with winter cold and desert heat via convection, an extra level of stress to deal with arctic cold and lava heat, and another extra level to deal with conduction from something with specific heat near that of water. (So swimming in arctic waters costs 3 stress.) Lasts ¼ hour (which can be lengthened by spending shifts).

Redirection

People have a habit of binding energy into dense forms for use in their tools; letting it go can be a very effective way to throw a wrench into their plans. With command of Energy, it is possible to quietly leak that energy back into the environment. An unattended device typically has a difficulty of Mediocre to drain; a device attended by a living being (worn by them, manned by them, or a droid standing next to a being that perceives the droid as part of their team) is protected by the Resolve of the living creature. (SWd20: Drain Energy [RCR p84, DSS p15].)

You can also defend against energy attacks (such as those of a blaster or plasma scourge) by simply dissipating the incoming attack, using Energy in place of some other skill for defense. (SWd20: Negate Energy [SECR p99].)

Absorption

Projection

Calling up energy directly. Summoning energy directly from the Force can keep you warm in a chilly environment without taxing your rations as the equivalent Body trick; you can also keep your comrades warm as well. Greater amounts of energy can call up light, fire, and lightning. Shifts can increase duration or reduce stress. Attracting a lightning bolt requires that you have a thunderstorm handy, that no lightning bolt has struck nearby recently, and an opponent who is staying in one place.

If you also have at least 1 level of Spirit, you can call upon Force Lightning, which is a lightning bolt suffused with the power of the Force. Force Lightning costs 3 stress and has a range of 10m; it can spread out to 6m width for a damage rating of 5 or concentrated to a single target for a damage rating of 7. It bypasses armor and is dodged with Athletics. When it is charged with anger, hatred, or loathing, it is violet and does burning, painful damage with serious Consequences, and the damage rating is increased by 1 (to 6 or 8); when charged with calm or serenity, it is emerald green and causes physical exhaustion that can be recovered with a good night’s sleep. (SWd20: Force Lightning [RCR p87, SECR p97].)

In KOTOR, Force Shock does 1d6/level. Force Lightning requires level 9 and affects all enemies up to 16m in front of the character. Force Storm requires level 18 and affects all enemies in 10m, and does equal damage to their force points.

Stunts

Manipulation

Malfunction

An Academician with good understanding of the workings of a device can disrupt its operation. Depending on the success level, this could bollix a device from clear the jam to several hours in the repair shop. (Force Flash.)

Disrupt Electronics

In the absence of a good understanding of the workings of a device, an Academician can send random low-level voltages through its electronics. This is usually bad for anything with sensitive electronics inside. This can make blasters misfire and vibroblades stutter.

Bend Physics

This is the art of using force-sensitive crystals to bend the laws of physics, and is central to the weird science of the Hidden Academy.

Redirection

Force Deflection, Battle Aura, Force Rebound, and Force Catch work for both Telekinesis and Energy; you only need to buy one of each stunt.

Liberate Energy

A more sudden form of Drain Energy that simply unleashes all the stored power at once. A simple device will deliver a nasty shock to its owner, an exploding blaster power pack will frag everything in 2 meters, and blowing up a heavy weapon will usually kill the crew.

Force Camouflage

Requires Energy 3.

Force Camouflage involves bending light around a stationary creature, object, or grouping to render it effectively invisible. With minimal success, there is a blur of the background colors— obvious in a well-lit room, but often sufficient to stay hidden in a dark alley or forest. Shifts can be spent to reduce the stress (2), increase the base time (1 minute), or improve the quality of the camouflage. Look at the Alertness/Investigation system and come up with mechanics. (Glowball.)

In KOTOR, requires the Sith Assassin or Jedi Watchman prestige class. Force Camouflage allows character to be in stealth mode without the use of a stealth field generator. Improved Force Camouflage requires level 7 and adds +4 to stealth. Master Force Camouflage requires level 13 and adds +8 to stealth.

Force Cloak

Requires Force Camouflage and Energy 4.

Force Cloak operates as Force Camouflage for moving creatures and objects. With minimal success, this looks like the camouflage system in Predator. Stress 3. Figure out the base difficulty per size.

Absorption

Absorb Energy

Absorb Energy allows you to defend against energy attacks (such as blaster bolts) using your Energy instead of a dodge or parry. If you reduce the damage to nothing, you may clear a box of mental stress (resulting from fatigue— this will not clear social stress) at a level lower than the amount of physical stress you would have taken from just getting hit (so if the shot would have caused Consequences, you can clear any box of stress). (SWd20: Dissipate Energy [RCR p107].) You can also double the effectiveness of your meditation to recover from fatigue by sticking your finger in a power socket, but your comrades will look somewhat askance at the St. Elmo’s Fire radiating from you. Your friends can shoot at you to help you charge up, but there’s always the risk that they will roll well and you won’t; if you have Force Catch, you can Intimidate people by absorbing a blaster bolt you just plucked out of the air, clearing any stress box up and including to the damage rating of the bolt.

Projection

Chain Lightning

Requires Energy 3 and Spirit 3.

Chain Lightning is highly focused Force Lightning; it costs 2 stress, strikes a single target, and has a damage rating of 4. If it causes any stress to its first target, lower your effect by 1 shift and apply it to the next applicable target within 5m, and repeat until someone takes no stress. It will not come around to strike the same person again, nor will it target anyone you don’t wish it to.

Force Storm

Requires Energy 3 and Spirit 3.

Force Storm is a specialized aspect of Force Lightning.

Force Blinding

Force Blinding refines the summoning of light to a blinding flash. Someone using Force Sight can ignore this.

Disable Droid

Disable Droid conjures randomized electrical potentials throughout a droid’s body, blowing circuit breakers and damaging components.

In KOTOR, these are light side powers. Stun Droid stuns a droid for 12 seconds and inflicts some damage. Disable Droid requires level 6 and has a 5m radius around the target droid. Destroy Droid requires level 12 and a 6m radius and 1d6 points of damage per characters level.

Combustion

Combustion involves setting objects and people on fire in combat, sometimes simply causing them to explode.

Shockwave

Creating a wave of concussive energy, with a thunderclap or amplification of a sound (e.g. Force Bellow).

Weather Eye

Requires Insight 2, Energy 2.

You can sense the flow of energy within the environment, feeling the presence of breezes and updrafts. This gives you a +2 on Piloting checks to fly gliders, Drive checks with sail-powered craft, and many Athletics checks involving flying with wings, and allows you to ignore scene aspects like Windy or Turbulent when using archery or using winged aircraft. You can also roll your Insight to predict the upcoming weather (costs 2 stress), starting with the next hour and improving on the time increment chart with shifts.

Alter Environment

Requires Energy 4 and Weather Eye.

Alter Environment allows you to meddle with the weather in your vicinity; it cannot directly affect an entire region, but it may precipitate effects that will spread to cover one. It can be used to whistle a wind into the sails of a seagoing craft, call up fog from a nearby body of water to hide the infrared signature of a cluster of troops, or get those leaden clouds to start raining. (SWd20: Summon Storm [DSS p19].)

Force Thunderstorm

Requires Alter Environment and Spirit 4.

Force Thunderstorm requires incredible depths of passion to summon power from the Force and turn it loose in the local weather system.

Melee

Lightsabers and plasma scourges can only be effectively wielded by someone with Force abilities.

Dun Möch

This is one of the most important mechanisms contributing to the stability of Sith society. Dun Möch is used to disrupt an opponent’s concentration and sway them to your vision. The only use of Force powers is to create a brief space in combat that provides the opportunity to deliver your social attack; the actual battle takes place using mundane social skills, which no Force powers can help. (The defender can always use Resolve to attempt to ignore the social attack.) The social damage is on the mental track, exactly where Force powers draw, and Consequences can be deadly. If you are Doubtful, Confused, or Vacillating, you can draw on neither skran nor chur to boost your powers; if you become Angry or Afraid, you lose access to chur and become subject to compels, and calling on those skran emotions can come back to haunt you later. This can be used on someone who has fallen from their former ideals as well. If you are Taken Out by Dun Möch, one of your personality aspects changes. (SWd20: Temptation [SECR p225].)

Stunts

Lightsabers

Lightsaber Deflection

Requires Insight 1.

You can defend against blaster bolts using Melee skill and your lightsaber. You may use movement as a supplemental action while deflecting, but cannot sprint.

Knight Deflection

Requires Lightsaber Deflection and Insight 3.

You have a +1 bonus to lightsaber deflection.

Master Deflection

Requires Knight Deflection and Insight 4.

You have a net +2 bonus to lightsaber deflection.

Lightsaber Reflection

Requires Lightsaber Deflection and Insight 2.

If you are on full defense and gain spin on deflecting a blaster bolt, you may use your effect – 4 (including the +2 for being on full defense) as an attack, with the original damage rating of the blaster bolt; you may do this a number of times per exchange equal to lesser of your Insight and your Melee.

Master Reflection

Requires Lightsaber Reflection and Insight 4.

You only subtract 3 from your effect when reflecting blaster bolts.

Extended Deflection

Requires Deflection and Insight 2.

You can use deflection and reflection on blaster bolts to defend anyone within two meters of you.

Knight Strike

Requires Melee 3, Energy 2, Telekinesis 2.

Your lightsaber damage rating moves from 5 to 6. This also applies to double-bladed lightsabers.

Jedi Guardians get +1d8 lightsaber damage at 5th level. Jedi Consular get it at 6th level. Technically 7th level makes a Jedi Knight.

Master Strike

Requires Knight Strike, Melee 4, Energy 3, Telekinesis 3.

Your lightsaber damage rating moves from 6 to 7.

Jedi Guardians get another +1d8 lightsaber damage at 10th level; Consular get it at 12th.

Guardian Strike

Requires Master Strike, Melee 5, Energy 4, Telekinesis 4.

Your lightsaber damage rating moves from 7 to 8.

Jedi Guardians get another +1d8 lightsaber damage at 15th level, and at 20th level have 6d8, same as an E-Web Repeating Blaster. Consular max out at 5d8 at 18th level.

Diplomat’s Strike

Requires Insight 2, Body 2 and Energy 2.

You can choose to diffuse the damage from your lightsaber strikes so they occur as first-degree burns and physical exhaustion instead of third-degree burns, cauterized gouges, and missing limbs. This changes the way in which people are Taken Out by your lightsaber strikes. (Alter Damage.)

Lightning Blade

Requires Spirit 3 and Energy 3.

You can parry Force Lightning with your blade using your Melee skill— and if you generate spin on your parry, you can catch the lightning on your blade, which will develop a crackling aura. You may ground it out as a free action, or change its flavor with a (possibly supplemental action) roll of Energy against Fair, no stress cost. You can then hurl the lightning from your blade as per a normal Force Lightning attack with no stress cost, or simply strike an opponent. The next time you hit, you will do 2 extra shifts of damage, with your sword’s damage rating improved by 2.

Sith Swords

Creating Sith-forged steel requires Sith Alchemy. Such steel acts like an excellent steel weapon in the hands of someone who is not strong in the Force, but becomes unnaturally sharp even if an untrained Force-sensitive picks it up. In addition, one trained in the Force can coax greater feats out of a Sith sword.

Stunts involving blaster deflection and reflection can be performed with a Sith sword, though you have to have at least as high a score in Energy as you do in Insight.

Plasma Scourges

Scourge Finesse

Your skill in Energy increases the Damage Rating of an melee weapon by +1 for Average–Fair, +2 for Good–Great, or +3 for Superb–Fantastic.

Force-Sensitive Crystals

Simple crystals like diamonds and corundum may sparkle well, but they lack an affinity for the Force. Force-sensitive crystals are complex accretions of silicates and organics, often formed from living processes.

Kinrath spiders contain crystals nestled in their ganglia; the queens consume small crystals that grow in the caverns, and lay them in their eggs. Kinrath still in the egg are a reliable source of red crystals; hungry larvae, already dangerous, produce other colors as they grow and accrete more minerals to their crystals, and as they grow larger and more dangerous, the crystals become more complex. Rangers theorize that the Kinrath use the crystals for their uncanny hunting senses.

Metaforce Commlink

Piezoelectric force crystals can be carefully split and used to pass signals via the Force. It’s not as reliable as subspace communication, it passes only analog signals (usually audio, though a large, flawless crystal can be used for video), and the sender has to be Force-sensitive in order to transmit, but it’s very, very hard to tap.

Holocrons

The Academicians have gleaned enough hints about the holocrons used by the Sith that they can manufacture their own. (Another inspirational image for how a holocron’s frame could look.)

While holocrons are technically information technology, they are more properly a knowledge technology; they can only be operated by a Force-sensitive being, and they cannot be backed up. The personality of the gatekeeper, which acts as a tutor for the knowledge represented in the holocron, is an imprint of the original creator’s. If the gatekeeper evaluates a user as worthy, it can assimilate knowledge taught it by the user, and will pick up personality details from the user as well. One of the best ways to get access to the deepest secrets of a holocron is to teach it things it doesn’t know.

Programming holocrons takes a long time; most Academicians find it wearying to attempt to teach more than one at a time. The easiest way is to turn it on while teaching someone else; developed holocrons can even assimilate information while the user is being taught. One can also sit and explain things to the gatekeeper, either as a direct tutorial or as a running commentary while doing work as if an apprentice were present. It is most common for an Academician to keep one as a lifelong lab notebook, and pass it on to their apprentice when they retire or if the apprentice is leaving on a difficult task. Holocrons can store data that is more intricate than the use can hold in their head at one time, but that data is usually in a format more as it is in the mind (e.g. lines and curves) rather than in a computer (pixels).

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