Unlimited Power (UP) was finally released last month, and I have spent a good bit of time since reading, re-reading, and mulling it over. While I eagerly anticipated this book, since the Makashi Duelist is a favorite character type and my current character is a Seer, it wasn’t quite what I expected and I wasn’t as thrilled with some of the content as I’d thought I’d be. But this is a valuable book for any F&D or mixed game with Force-using PCs, especially Chapter III. One thing to be aware of is that this book has more Darkside content than many F&D career books.
Like all the career books, UP starts with an overview of various backgrounds for PCs of the six old and new specifications. The backgrounds are Artist, Augur, Con Artist, Economist, Political Expert, and Religious Ecstatic. Usually, this section is where I find things I can use for characters of any SW line (or even non-SW games), but not this time. To be honest, the only thing that got even a smile out of me was the description of Makashi Duelist artists as dancers, since a favorite NPC of mine from the Prequel Era was a lightsaber instructor who favored Form II and loved to dance. Most of the other fluff here was “meh” to me, at best. A number of them would probably be a fit for campaign styles I don’t care for. Several–like Augur, Political Expert and Economist–would be of interest to players who like political campaigns, which might be either part of a darksider F&D game or a diplomatic AoR game.
As I mentioned above, there’s a lot of Darkside content in this book. It starts with the three new specs, 2 of which have auto-Conflict talents. Magus, in fact, has four(!), one of which is second tier, making it much harder–but not impossible–to avoid than the 20 and 25 XP auto-Conflict talents which are on spurs not in the middle of the tree. Three of these are instances of Channel Agony, a ranked talent with a mechanic for taking wounds in exchange for Dark Force Pips. (Yeah, that’s pretty dark.) The 25 XP talent is Power of Darkness, which is appropriately very tempting to both buy and use–up your strain and wound thresholds by the number of Dark Destiny Points in the pool at this time! For the rest of the encounter! Pick your moment carefully.
Perhaps as a sort of balance, most of the other talents are utility talents, like Resolve and Confidence. Others affect Knowledge checks or are instances of Healing Trance and Improved Healing Trance. (We all know that I am not a big fan of Healing Trance, so enough said.) This spec, as is clear from the text, is the least suitable if you want a Jedi type character, even aside from those auto-Conflicts. Whether the PC is trying to live up to the legends during the Galactic Civil War or operating in an era with an active Order, this probably isn’t the spec you’re looking for. (This is true to some degree of all 3 new ones.)
Prophet also has an auto-Conflict, Improved Overwhelming Aura, another 25 XP talent. I don’t find it nearly as tempting as Power of Darkness, although it does add a Failure to Fear checks you cause, or a Success to other Fear checks. As expected for a spec based on speeches and preaching, many of the talents are for use with social skills. Some are familiar talents like Inspiring Rhetoric, Plausible Deniability, and Scathing Tirade; others are new like Twisted Words. This 15 XP talent allows you to spend Despair or 2 Threat and suffer 1 strain to inflict strain equal to an opponent’s Coercion on them when they target you with a social check.
Ironically, since the Jedi considered it practically a guaranteed path to the Dark Side, Alchemist is the only tree without auto-Conflict talents, and therefore the most suitable for a PC trying to live up to what they know of the ideals of the Jedi Order. After all, PCs in the default era aren’t likely to know alchemy was a Forbidden Art. In addition to talents used in making potions or Force-imbued objects, many of the talents are related to Healing, making this an alternative, or additional, spec for latter-day Jedi Healers–Stim Application (and Improved) and Stimpack Specialization, which are high-value talents. For crafting, Transmogrify adds Success/Advantage to checks, while Alchemical Arts add Force pips. The 25 XP talents are Identify Ingredients (does just what it says) and Improvised Concoction (poison/drug creation on the fly).
Morality and Motivations are two of my favorite parts of F&D career books (as well as Duties and Obligations in the sister lines) and the ones here are no exception. The new Motivation category is Mysteries and, aside from The Jedi and Other Force Traditions, all are THE great mysteries of life in the Galaxy Far, Far Away–Death, Life, Balance, the Force, Suffering, Happiness, etc. Some of these may appeal to more introspective non-Mystic PCs but are the kinds of things you’d expect a Mystic to question. Likewise, the Strengths and Weaknesses in the earlier Morality section. Some, Like Compassion and Obstinance, have been around since the F&D core book; others are new, but all take the view of a mystical, less worldly-focused character. All could be easily adopted by other F&D PCs.
We get 3 new species, all of which were used for Prequel Trilogy Jedi–Vurk, Thisspiasians, and Tholothians. All seem to be decent but not spectacular choices for characters–but have the extensive cultural and physiological background material we have come to expect. As might be expected, given the new specs, they are best for social-oriented PCs, but, aside from having a free rank in a social skill or Xenology, they aren’t particularly optimized for it, so could work for just about any career/spec combination. Thisspiasians, with their backgrounds of Republic military service and monastic-warrior traditions, are a better choice for martial specs than the other two.
UP has more Force goodies–not just 2 Signature Abilities, but 2 new Force Powers! I don’t really care for the Prophecy Signature Ability, which allows the PC to “Foretell” what will happen to/around them in a scene. Similar to the AoR Diplomat Signature Ability Diplomatic Solution, I feel it may put control of everyone’s actions in at least one encounter in the hands of 1 player. The GM does have some control, up to and including declaring the prophecy doesn’t come to pass by flipping the Destiny Pool to all Light.
Unmatched Destiny, on the other hand, I like a lot–and not just because my GM thinks it would be a good fit for my Mystic PC, and I agree. It is pretty powerful. The base lets you spend 2 DPs to re-roll up to 2 Force dice on a Force power check–for double Conflict. Upgrades allow you to re-roll up to 5 dice in a single pool, up to 3 times per session. There’s also an Unleashed upgrade which adds a Light pip for every 2 Light pips rolled, and a Dark pip for every 2 Dark rolled. Shared Destiny allows you to do this on behalf of another PC, and there’s a similar upgrade for Prophecy.
Surprisingly, UP has a pretty wide selection of gear and vehicles, especially the latter. Much of the weapons and armor come from the new species, such as the Vurks’ Semblan Obsidian Dagger and the Tholothian Tmber Cuirass, but there’s also a Lucky Blaster, that I could see in any scoundrel’s holster. There are also stats for the Lasan’s Bo-rifle and Ashla staff. The 2 new lightsaber crystals continue the Dark theme with the Tainted Nightsister Crystal and–for Kylo fans, among others–the Unstable Kyber Crystal.
I think the vehicles have the most appeal for the widest variety of campaigns. There’s the Bongo sub. Say what you will about the annoyance level of Gungans, they had some cool tech and this is my favorite. Space vessels include a Nubian yacht, the Mandalorian Fang snubfighter, the Steathipede-class, and an Ithorian herdship.
Chapter III, “Guided by the Force,” takes up the last third of the book. Apologies for my comments being relatively limited on many parts, but I am still absorbing the information; that’s how much there is. This isn’t limited to GM advice on campaigns either centering around or including Mystic PCs, plus appropriate themes and adventure seeds. Additional GM guidance is given on Visions, the Will of the Force and the Force as Magic.
Here is where you’ll find the rules for Alchemy Crafting, both potions and talismans. The mechanics are similar to earlier crafting rules, with a few differences to account for the Force. First, of course, only characters of FR 1+ can successfully craft these things. Second, the Spending (narrative results) tables include Light and Dark Force pip costs as well as the standard Advantage/Triumph/Threat/Despair costs. There are templates for a number of potions and talismans with difficulties ranging from Easy to Formidable. Several sidebars in these sections have advice on materials, whether/how GMs should make obtaining materials/templates an adventure, and poisoning.
One of the sections I am still studying is “Expanded Force Powers,” which starts off with a discussion of something a lot of players and GMs do (including my own group): using the Force in narrating non-Force checks. There is good advice on when and how to add Boost/Setback based on PCs narrating use of the Force. Another GM suggestion is spending Threat/Despair to add Conflict to represent the “temptation of the dark side.” My own GM has done this once or twice and at the right moment it can be very dramatic.
There are also guidelines for flexible and freeform Force powers, which aren’t as game-breaking or chaotic as you might think. Flexible mainly covers results. The example given is making an opponent drop a weapon vs. pulling it into your own grasp. Freeform use is a new way to either “try out” powers you don’t have (rarely, with a Hard or higher check) or use the Force in ways not covered by current powers. The latter uses a combined Force power check with a relevant skill. The final 2 parts are things I bet many players have wanted all along.
First, Force Duel rules. They look relatively easy to include in combat encounters that include characters uninvolved in the duel. The duelists use the same initiative slot and each round make a competitive Force power check, with inflicting strain substituted for the normal effects of the power/s used. The duel may continue as long as both combatants are below their strain thresholds. I am looking forward to trying this out when one of my group’s Star Wars campaigns resumes.
The book concludes with something we’ve been needing ever since we learned in the beta core book that Darksider PCs were allowed, as opposed to previous SWRPG systems where it was either RAW or assumed that a fallen character would immediately become an NPC. One of the most important bits in “Dark Side Player Characters” is that it is clear that this is up to the GM to decide, the earlier in the campaign the better, whether or not a fallen PC will continue as a PC. Other considerations discussed include whether and how the player and GM may conceal the PC’s Darkside bent, if they decide to go this route as well as handling the possibility of PCs opposing each other. This is a chance for great drama in-game–but risks inter-player problems if not handled well. This leads into some uses of Morality including the rare situations where a GM might consider adjusting Morality outright, rather than rolling.
Unlimited Power, I think, delves more into the Force than any of the F&D sourcebooks since Nexus of Power. GMs especially will want if for Chapter III if they have Force users in any type of game.
Linda Whitson
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- Astral Projections – The Ripperdoc Is In - May 8, 2023
to clarify I liked the Unlimited Power book better than most. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The article was a great read.
Thanks for the article… I liked it better than most apparently.