The Force is the mystic side of the action game, and is usually possessed only by Jedi. Alien cultures (human or not) may have different approaches to the Force that might correspond to arcanowave technology or fu powers.
Some aspects of the Force correspond to Sorcery, and are bought as sorcery Spheres. These Spheres do not integrate extremely well in combat: they are usually of the “concentrate and produce an effect” variety rather than the reflexive “do it as part of my combat action” sort. The latter type are bought as Fu powers.
Dark side points add +2 to your Jedi AV for each point and make it very easy to become corrupted; you may take a –3 to your Jedi AV instead if you are resisting the temptation. Whenever you gain a Dark Side point or burn a Force point, roll your Force against your Dark Side points; you cannot use Fortune on this roll! If your Outcome is negative, you turn to the Dark Side of the Force.
In addition, Dark Side points function as extra Fortune dice the GM may use to subtract from your important activities for the Light Side of the Force or add to activities that could benefit the Dark Side of the Force. They refresh at the same time your Fortune dice do.
Jedi can develop these Spheres without instruction, but it is difficult. Some techniques in a Sphere must be taught or learned from instructional materials; this does not require experience points. Others can be developed on the fly. The gamemaster should apply the equivalent of juncture modifiers when a character uses a significantly new application of a Force sphere (–4 the first time, –2 the second, –3 the third, none thereafter).
Note that whenever possible, any sphere has Dark Side applications. This is an improved temptation level over the original RPG. :-)
Danger Sense. As a continuing action, gain one schtick in Hair-Trigger Neck Hairs for each (5? 7?) points of Action Result. Regular use of this power is a good excuse for buying Hair-Trigger Neck Hairs.
Farseeing. Covers clairvoyance, precognition, and retrocognition.
Intuitive Navigation/Astrogation. Ignore that computer and let the Force guide you, on land, at sea, underwater, or in space. This may take you out of the way from the perspective of a business traveller, but your journey will always be consonant with the flow of the Force.
Life Detection. Sense all living beings within 10 meters. May be maintained as a continuous action. Roll against their Perception or Force (whichever is higher); if you beat it by x, you can determine if they have Force skills, are Force-sensitive, and who they are (if you’ve met them before).
Life Sense. You can seek a person you know by their unique life-signature; can be kept up as a continuous action in order to track them. You can sense their current physical condition. A person with Force skill can hide from this power by adding their own skill to the difficulty.
Magnify Senses. Requires three sequences to use; enhances senses beyond normal limits of detection, but does not extend them outside normal modes (such as wavelength).
Postcognition. Take from one to five minutes (the shorter, the harder the difficulty) to perform a psychometric reading on a place or object.
Sense Force. Sense the ambient Force in a place, such as the amount of life and alignment with the Dark Side. This can also give premonitions.
Absorb/Dissipate Energy. Deals with everything from sunburn on up to blaster bolts. Difficulty = damage of bolt + 7.
Create Light. A benign use of the same ability that manifests as force lightning.
Force Lightning. Do Force + 2 base damage to someone (against their Force, not Toughness) as a 3-shot action and earn a Dark Side point.
Force Scream. A Dark Jedi losing control can release a wave of energy formed of their negative emotions.
Light Illusions. With sufficient practice, a Jedi’s command of energy can create phantasms made of light.
Accelerate Healing. (Normally lets you make two healing rolls a day instead of waiting several days to a month.) Requires a minute of concentration to bring on. Heals a number of Wound Points equal to the Action Result of the Jedi check, taking a number of hours equal to the points healed divided by three.
Accelerate Another’s Healing.
Control Disease. Takes regular 30-minute sessions.
Control Another’s Disease.
Detoxify Poison. Change a poison chemically or flush it out of your system immediately. Takes five minutes.
Enhance Attribute. Temporarily boost a secondary stat.
Fade Away. Requires Mind. When it comes time to die, a Jedi can become a being of pure spirit, able to aid and counsel others for a few years before called on to the next level of existence.
Inflict Poison. Change normal biochemicals into poisons in a person’s body. Earn a Dark Side point.
Injure/Kill. Make physical contact and inflict base Force + 2 damage on someone that is resisted only with Force, not Toughness. Have a Dark Side point while you’re at it.
Hibernation Trance. Drop to minimal life functions, requiring only 1/10 as much air as a person who is merely sleeping.
Place Another in Hibernation Trance.
Reduce Constitution. Lower someone’s Constitution for purposes of resisting disease and poisons. Earn a Dark Side point.
Reduce Injury. Burn a Force Point to recover from a wound that would cause Impairment or death.
Transfer Force. Spend a Force Point and bring a character up from Shuffling Off the Mortal Coil to hibernation trance.
Transfer Life. Requires Mind. Place your mind within another body when your old one dies. Usually used by Dark Jedi to transfer themselves to prepared clones.
Affect Mind. Meddle with senses and memories, creating hallucinations (up to the level of full illusions) and introducing foreign ideas. Difficulty is based on the target’s Willpower.
Concentration. Roll against a difficulty based on your current emotional state to add your Force stat as an AV bonus on one specific task; you cannot be performing any other actions than the one, including passive dodges (your defensive AV drops to 0).
Control Mind. Use someone as a psychic puppet and earn a Dark Side point.
Control Pain. Ignore Impairment.
Control Another’s Pain. Help someone else ignore Impairment.
Emptiness. Requires Life. Meditate to obliviousness and become one with the Force; you become hard to sense or affect with the Force. Requires a roll to get out.
Enhance Coordination. Coordinate troops for synchronized attacks. Requires continuous concentration throughout the entire engagement.
Inflict Pain. Do your Force + 2 base damage to someone else, resisted by Willpower rather than Toughness, and earn a Dark Side point. It wears off in minutes to hours; you can cancel it with a trivial exertion of the Force, and another Jedi can use Control Pain as to instantly “heal” the illusory damage, removing their Action Result in virtual Wound Points.
Projective Telepathy. Send thoughts to another person; difficulty is based on distance and familiararity.
Receptive Telepathy. Read surface thoughts and emotions if you can beat their Willpower or Force skill; probe memories up to 24 hours old if you can beat double their Willpower or Force skill.
Remain Conscious. Stay up while you ought to be shuffling off the mortal coil. Once your shuffle-off time elapses, you are dead anyway.
Return Another to Consciousness.
Resist Stun. Prepare to resist stun damage.
Short-Term Memory Enhancement. A Jedi can attain eidetic recall through a given time period— the longer the time, the higher the target number.
Shatter. Creating vibrations can cause some materials to shatter.
Sound Illusions. Fine control over movement will allow the Jedi to create vibrations and even recognizable sounds.
Telekinetic Kill. Close of someone’s windpipe or stir their brains up and earn a Dark Side point. Does Force + 2 damage against the target’s Force rather than Toughness.
Telekinesis. Very Easy for <= 1kg, Easy for <= 10kg, Moderate for <=100kg, Difficult for <= 1000kg, Very Difficult for <=10000kg, Heroic for <=100000kg. Extra difficulty for movement more complicated than simple, straight lines. (Levitated lightsaber attacks are quite tricky.) Attacking with the power gives you a Dark Side Point.
Other aspects of the Force correspond to Fu schticks. Fu paths with blatantly unusual effects such as the Path of the Lightsaber and the Path of the Leaping Storm are available only to trained Jedi. Intuitive Jedi— those who are strong in the Force but not trained in its use— may still purchase the more subtle Fu paths such as the Sharpened Scales, Hands of Light, Passive Wings, Clever Eye, and Tightening Coils. (You do not need formal martial arts training to have these schticks.) The Path of the Healthy Tiger, the Path of the Storm Turtle, the Path of the Immutable Clay, and the Path of Darkness are not available in this game. The Path of the Brilliant Flame can only be used by trained Jedi and earns Dark Side points when used against living beings.
The Path of the Sharpened Scales can be bought specially for use with a different skill, representing a person’s talent for becoming attuned with the Force. The damage bonuses can be applied when the talent is used to do damage (such as piloting a starfighter) or at half their level (round up) for improving the Action Result of a task check that succeeds. The AV bonus works as normal.
The Path of the Lightsaber
Lightsaber |
Deflect Ranged Attack |
Anticipate Attack |
Reflect Ranged Attack |
| Lightsaber | Chi Cost: 0 | Shot Cost: 0 |
You can wield a lightsaber without serious danger of killing yourself. If you do not possess this schtick, you risk botching any time you roll equal numbers on both dice. (Resolve the botch risk with a second roll as in the case of boxcars; if the result is positive, treat it normally.) A lightsaber already functions as a sort of Signature Weapon: it will not be permanently lost or destroyed except in highly dramatic circumstances. If you possess the Lightsaber schtick, you can— given time, materials, and workspace— construct a new lightsaber for yourself if an old one is lost. You cannot take the Signature Weapon schtick to get extra damage with a lightsaber.
| Deflect Ranged Attack | Chi Cost: 1 | Shot Cost: 1 |
You can deflect blaster bolt attacks as a defensive action. Add +5 to your Martial Arts AV and compare to the Action Result of the shot made at you; if your Outcome is nonnegative, you have deflected the blaster bolt.
| Anticipate Attack | Chi Cost: 3 | Shot Cost: 1 |
As Deflect Ranged Attack, but you can use it after it has been determined that you are hit by the attack. (This represents seeing a very short time into the future to determine whether you will be hit.)
| Reflect Ranged Attack | Chi Cost: 3 | Shot Cost: 3 |
Make a Martial Arts check when someone shoots at you. If you can beat their Action Result with your own, you may target anyone you can see with the other person’s blaster bolt, using your Action Result to hit them.