“Force Wizard” is my series on the Force & Destiny Careers’ Signature Abilities.
Welcome back to Force Wizard. As I mentioned a while back, I am now studying the Signature Abilities (SAs) for the Force & Destiny careers. Selecting an SA should take some time and thought, since you can only choose one for each career, and few campaigns will last long enough for you to gain a second.
As this is the first in the series, a few general notes. Like my Force powers, I’ll describe what the Base SA and its different upgrades do. Since your PC will have a lot of XP and SAs don’t use Force pips, there’s no suggestions on when to buy upgrades. But I do point out specs that are a good fit with specific SAs. Do think ahead on which SA you want in your career. Since they attach to different bottom row talents, you may need to plan ahead which 20-25XP talents to buy to get that SA.
All the Force & Destiny SAs have a few things in common. While XP costs in Force power trees were all over the place, SA costs are standardized — 30XP Base, 10XP top tier, 15XP lower tier. Activation cost is always 2 Destiny Points, absent a Destiny upgrade to lower it to one. As a rule, one career SA will aid/buff the party, while the other (named “Unmatched —-” ) primarily aids the Force user, although the second type may have upgrades that directly benefit the Force-user’s friends. Destiny and Duration upgrades (which decrease DP cost by 1 and increase effect time, respectively) are Must-Haves for any SA in my opinion.
Finally, once PCs begin to buy SAs, being mindful of the Destiny Pool and agreeing on plans become even more important. Using your SA requires flipping at least one DP. This means the Pool can become all Dark quickly if multiple players decide to use their SAs in quick succession. Of course, a good GM will be flipping Dark DPs for their purposes, so it shouldn’t stay that way for long periods. Still, the party needs to factor it in.
Now, let’s check out Much To Learn, the first Consular Signature Ability. Much to Learn (MTL) is Consular’s buffing SA. It allows you to grant an ally the use of any talent you have. Choose the talent to bestow, spend the 2 DPs and make a successful Hard Knowledge: Education check to give 1 ally any single talent you possess, at the same rank as you (if ranked).
Base MTL is generous, with Medium range & 1 encounter duration, probably why these aspects can’t be upgraded. Note that in the case of tiered talents (e. g., Basic/Improved/Supreme) the Base SA only lets you give an ally the Basic talent. But you can use Base MTL to let an ally who has the Basic tier of a given talent use a higher tier that you possess but they don’t.
It might be spectacular to give someone a lightsaber talent, but don’t overlook the mundane, like Grit, especially if you have 2+ ranks of it, as the target will have ranks equal to yours. “Loaning” Dedication should be possible. After all, there are a few Force power upgrades that up characteristics to 6 or even 7. I’d rule your target should up the same characteristic you did — but this is just my opinion, not RAW.
MTL has 1 Destiny and no Duration upgrades. It does offer a Reduce Difficulty upgrade, dropping the difficulty to Average. There are two instances of Increase Number. Each adds 2 allies to the number you can effect, so up to five. One is probably enough, given that most parties have 5 or less PCs.
Bottom tier has two Change Skill upgrades, the first below and linked to Reduce Difficulty. It lets you use ANY Knowledge skill. It’s not a one-time choice; pick the best skill or the one that makes the most sense each time you use MTL. Leftmost is the other Change Skill which lets you substitute a Leadership check — which could be narrated as encouragement.
Linked on the right middle is Improve Talent. Remember how an ally without the basic version of a tiered talent cannot be loaned a higher tier version? With this upgrade, if you own the Improved talent, your ally/ies can use the Improved version even without the basic. On the far right, Supreme Talent does the same for Supreme tier. Naturally, skip these if you don’t have any Improved/Supreme talents.
Is MTL for your PC? It seems tailor-made for the Sage (F&D) and Teacher (Disciples of Harmony) specs with its emphasis on Knowledge skills. But Healers may favor it as well, granting Rapid Recovery or Healing Trance to help their ally recover, or Grit to increase an ally’s staying power. Alternatively, gifting a healing/medical talent like Surgeon would be a blessing when there are many patients. Similarly, any PC with a padawan may want to buy it. Imagine a Niman Disciple bestowing a lightsaber talent or a few ranks of Parry or Reflect upon their apprentice — or the whole party. That would be epic!
I hope you enjoy this new path for Force Wizard. Next month we finish Consular with the Unmatched Negotiation SA. Until then, may the Force be with you!
Linda Whitson
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