Force Wizard – Farther Into a Much Larger Galaxy

As I write this, it’s shortly after two ongoing Force & Destiny journeys I undertook came to their ends. As D20 Radio’s Force Wizard, I wrote my last few articles on the Force power trees. Within the same week, my group played the amazing finale of my good friend Jon “Donovan Morningfire” Stevens’ F&D campaign, in which my PC Zara Bran was our four person band’s Force Wizard. At the end, she specialized in Move and Battle Meditation with several other Force powers. Most of the firsthand knowledge I shared in Force Wizard came from playing her and also observing my friends using their PCs’ powers, notably Ebb/Flow, Seek, and Sense.

I have been thinking for a while about the fate of this feature, once I clicked “Submit to Editor” on the last Force power article. I could have ended it. But I enjoyed it and it seemed to be popular. There were several possibilities to move to, such as all those F&D specs; Force talents and Universal specs from the other 2 lines; etc. I settled on the F&D Signature Abilities (SAs). Jon encouraged me to look at them, since they “don’t see a lot of use,” often due to how long and how much XP it takes to get them. I haven’t decided whether I will do both (for those Careers that have 2) SAs for 1 Career in the same article, but am leaning that way. Each SA only has a maximum of 6 upgrades; the rest are duplicate instances. I may do Force talents, either after the SAs or for a change-of-pace. If I opt for talents, it will be several per article.

I also learned a few things on my 2 journeys, some applicable beyond Force powers. First, I have several times warned that you want to make sure there’s enough campaign time left to enjoy using upgrades you’re considering. During the last few sessions of Jon’s epic, I realized that a session or 2 of use for a few recent buys gained me enough fun and entertainment to be worth all the time, XP, and Stuff Not Taken. So if you really, really want X Mastery upgrade, FR 4, or whatever, and the endgame is coming up, go for it!

On the other hand, sometimes a power you’ve worked towards for a long time, turns out to not be as fun or cool as you expected. Maybe it doesn’t work quite how you (or even your GM!) thought it did; you just can’t seem to roll enough pips to do what you want; or you realized it isn’t as helpful as doing Y or Z instead. I had that happen with a power I’d wanted to try since the F&D beta book. Jon offered to let me trade it for another when he saw I wasn’t having fun with it. The result? I loved Battle Meditation, the party loved the buffs, and the game was better. Players, don’t hesitate, like I did, to talk to the GM if an ability isn’t working. GMs, if you sense this happening, offer a partial re-spec or other remedy.

Finally, going over the Force powers thoroughly has, I hope, made me a better GM, and just as I start running a game again. One of my GMing problems is worrying that “I’m not good enough, my players deserve better.” But writing Force Wizard has given me more confidence in my judgment and knowledge of SWRPG and other game mechanics. Especially useful when I ought to just say, “Yeah, this is how I am doing it” to keep the session, and the fun, going.

Until November, when we begin with the Consular SAs, may the Force be with you!