I am running a game of Star Wars Saga Edition and one of my players is insisting that force damage, which is done only by a few force powers (e.g. force lighting), completely bypasses damage reduction. The issue is that I can't seem to find his rule stated anywhere and have no idea where he is getting this from. I think he might be thinking that force damage is like magical weapons in D&D which as far as I can tell isn't that case in Saga Edition. Any help clearing this up would be great.
[RPG] Does Force damage bypass DR
damage-resistancestar-wars-saga-edition
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First off: If you want to be iconic Jedi, I'd say emphasize your lightsaber prowess. Problem is, with that 7 crippling you, it won't be easy as Jedi more-or-less need all stats.
However, here's another idea: Keep the 7 STR, and instead, become a Force-focused Jedi.
The Force powers can be massively powerful, and you should take full advantage of them. I suggest changing your stats to the following:
STR 7 DEX 12 CON 10 INT 12 WIS 16 CHA 16
Now, at levels 1 and 3, take Force Training as your feats. Bonus feat should be Skill Focus (Use The Force), maybe more skill trainings, or Force Boon (extra force point) Also talk with your GM about making Diplomacy a class skill for Jedi, since I see no good reason why it isn't. Be trained in that.
Next, talents. Force Focus is AMAZING. As a full-round action, recover a spent force power. So useful, both in and out of combat. Skilled Advisor grants any ally a +5 on a skill check, if you spend a full-round action. Very useful. The Telekinetic tree (telekinetic Power, TK Savant, TK Prodigy, etc) are also pretty good.
Alternatively: Dip noble for a level, pick Exceptional Skill for UTF. If you ever roll between 2 and 7 on a UTF check, it's now treated as an 8. Every time. It's stupid useful.
Powers: Move Object is a must. Negate Energy is a must. Force Grip restricts enemies to a minor action. Useful. Force Shield is wonderful in a pinch. Enlighten is maybe the most useful thing of all. Roll a UTF check. Congrats, you or an ally can use that roll in the place of something - attack roll, skill check, or defense, as a one-time switch. If your UTF modifier is high, it's a godsend. Sensitive, one-time thing, such as a diplomacy check, or disarming a bomb? Roll Enlighten, and give it to the person. If they roll better, great. If not, they use your result. Combine this with the above mentioned Force Focus and you are immediately one of the most useful party members.
With this, you've got a pretty damn powerful Jedi. Iconic? Not as much. But useful to the party? Hell. Yes.
As an alternate idea, but you'll need to start it now. Renew Vision + lots of Farseeing uses + Prepared for Danger. Prep For Danger lets you spend a Farseeing use and regain any already used power as a swift action. Renew Vision lets you regain all spent uses of Farseeing. The other WatchCircle talents (see the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide) are also immensely useful, but that combo right there? you can't do it until level 8 at the earlier (as Prepared For Danger is a Jedi Knight talent), but when you can...hooo boy.
Also, if you reeeeally wanna optimize? Drop Zabrak, become a Miraluka. Free Force Training at first level if you're trained in UTF, which you will be as a Jedi.
Also also: Someone on the Wizards forums went and made indicies. So, so, SO very helpful. Here's the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?w7mlg0lq70gnd90
Wizards hasn't shut down the thread yet, so they seem okay with it, as the indicies don't contain all the specifics - just general stuff and tags.
I hope this helps! I've made lots of Force Users in Saga Edition, so this is my area of expertise.
EDIT: Since you asked, here you go:
Iconic Jedi are proficient in both Force Powers and Lightsaber ability - Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were both accomplished duelists as well as Force masters.
The problem here is that without being very high level, your character cannot be good at both, especially with those stats.
If you want to maximize your ability for both, however, here's what I suggest. Assuming level 4 Jedi, with the stat build I gave you.
Talents: Deflect & Force Focus. Deflect will protect you from ranged fire, and you can work your way to the Praetoria Ishu talent which is from the Imperial Knight prestige class in the Legacy book. That talent lets you use it on others.
Force Focus has many uses outside of combat, and is a good emergency talent to have in combat in case you really need is.
Feats: Force Training, twice. This gives you 8 Force powers to choose from.
Bonus feats: Skill Focus (Use The Force) and Weapon Finesse, if you want. Take advantage of your DEX mod for your lightsaber, if or when you need it.
Powers:
- Move Object - no brainer
- Vital Transfer - good for healing, but have medpacs on hand as well
- Enlighten - the ultimate in helping the party. Use it often, recover as a full round when outside of combat (or in combat).
- Negate Energy - just in case.
- Mind Trick - Another classic Jedi power.
- Force Grip - can more-or-less disable on enemy in a round, plus decent damage at lower levels.
- Force Slam - a good area effect power.
- Surge - the movement bonuses can be very, very handy to have
This answer by gomad and the link to the wikipedia article it contains may be useful to you. While that question is about the diferences between Star Wars D20 and saga, the similarities between AD&D 3.5 and Star Wars D20 could make that a valid answer.
ok, I managed to find somebody with a rulebook from saga to borrow, so I'll try to adress your questions.
Force Points: Every character has a pool of force points with size equal to 5 plus has half his character level (rounded down), regardless of class. Certain feats and prestige classes increase the size of this pool. A level 1 character start with its pool full of points. When you gain a level, your pool refills, but if you have force points over your maximum, the excess points are lost. Force points can be used the following ways:
- You can spend a force point as a free action to gain 1D6 to a skill check, ability check or attack roll. Going up in levels increase the number of extra dice granted by force points(2D6 at 8, 3D6 at 15), but you can keep only the one with the higher result when rolling them.
- You can spend a force point a swift action when receiving damage that could kill you. You instead end with 0 hit points and unconscious.
- You can spend a force point a swift action to lower your dark side score by 1 permanently.
- Also, you need force points to activate or enhance certain force powers, if you are a force user.
Usually, you can only spend a force point per round.
Destiny Points: Destiny points is part of a optional system in the game. If the DM allows it, you may choose a destiny for your character (or the DM chooses one, and he does not have to tell you which one). This does not have to happen at level one. A destiny is a long term goal for your character, and it gives you temporal but substantial benefits when your actions follows the path marked by your destiny, temporal but substantial penalties when your actions oppose your destiny, and a permanent benefit when it is finally fulfilled. Those benefits and penalties are the only clue that a character to discover his destiny if the DM choose to keep it secret. Also, having a destiny grants you the ability to gain and spend destiny points. Destiny points are gained at a one per level gain (including level 1, if the character starts with a destiny). Destiny points can be spent to gain benefits like: turn attack checks into automatic critical attacks,turn received attacks into missed attacks,change your initiative, shielding others from damage, partly refilling your force pool and empowering certain force powers.
Improving Skills: Skill now are either trained or untrained. At first level You select any number of skills from you class list equal to your intelligence modifier plus class modifier, which become trained. Later in their career, the character must take the feat Skill training to be able to select a skill from his class list(or lists, if he has more than one class ) and make it a trained skill. Note that a skill check is D20 + ability score modifier + training bonus if applicable (+5) + half your character level. So apart from taking the feat to gain new trained skills, you improve all your skills just by levelling.
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Best Answer
This is likely the result of confusion based on previous Star Wars RPG editions.
In all of the Star Wars D20 RPGs (including Saga; see page 119 of the Core Rulebook), lightsabers have bypassed damage reduction granted by personal body armor. In the original D20 and Revised D20, Force Lightning dealt energy damage which is the same type of damage dealt by lightsabers and it was often argued that this allowed it to bypass DR just like a lightsaber. However, the change to force damage effectively invalidates this argument.
Nowhere in the Core Rulebook does it state that force damage bypasses damage reduction.
However, in some cases this definitely makes sense; for example, Force Grip allows a force user to crush bones or organs in a target (the classic Force Choke used by Vader is accomplished by crushing the target's larynx) and it's reasonable that no amount of armor worn by a target can protect bones or organs from being crushed.
In summary, take it on a case by case basis and apply your own ruling that makes sense according to the situation at hand.
You are the GM, and what you say goes. Lay out your ruling, justify it if you feel generous, but stick to your guns and don't let your players guilt you into changing your position.