The Path Less Traveled is a regular series in which I’ll be examining a single specialization from the Star Wars/Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny lines of games. The purpose and hope is to take a look at a specialization that perhaps many players might overlook or ones that are somewhat new to the game lines. We will look at strengths and weaknesses, synergies with other species and specializations, roles in a party, how to incorporate them into a campaign, and perhaps some uses which are not always obvious at first glance.
Today we’ll take a look at one of the Force and Destiny specializations that, I must admit, I’ve not seen yet at the table or heard someone playing. It’s a Force-sensitive specialization that speaks to the old, traditional Jedi lore, and is less focused on combat and more focused on the character’s connection to the Force. The specialization is the Seer. The Seer is part of the Mystic career and represents a character who maintains a constant connection to the Force at all times. The Seer understands the Force is involved in even the smallest events that go on around us, and it is that awareness that connects the PC to the living Force more so than other Force-sensitive types. Because Seers usually have an influx of Force information coming at all times, they often choose to live in isolation or in small groups, perhaps on the outskirts of a city.
Species
For a Seer, Willpower should be the primary characteristic you’re focused on. Beyond Willpower, it’s a tossup between Cunning, Presence, and Intelligence, depending on the focus you want for your character. The Seer has a mix of skills that branch across many characteristics. So, which species sport a high Willpower with a decent Intelligence, Cunning, and Presence? The Polis Massan has a 3 in Intelligence and Willpower, and is the only Species that does. The Arcona, Chagrian, Dressellian, Gand, Hutt, Iktotchi, Ithorian, and Kel Dor are also fantastic possibilities. If you want to dive into the Makashi Duelist, the lightsaber fighting style of the Mystic, you need to make sure that Presence is a characteristic you focus on. If that’s the case, add Toydarian, Bardottan, Caamsi, and Quarren to your list.
Skills and Talents
Skills for the Mystic Seer are quite vast and varied. The Mystic first off gets Charm, Coercion, Knowledge (Lore), Knowledge (Outer Rim), Perception, and Vigilance. If you get into the Seer, you have access to Discipline, another rank of Knowledge (Lore), Survival, and Vigilance. There are a variety of Characteristics that one must focus on if all these skills are going to be something you invest in. Willpower, Presence, Cunning, and Intelligence are all represented here. That’s a very wide range of skills to try and focus on. If I were running a Seer I would make Brawn and Agility my dump stats, and then if I felt I needed some combat skills I would eat the extra XP to get them. With this system, you can have the same dice pool whether you have a high characteristic or good skill ranks, which is a good thing.
The talent tree of the Seer has two basic paths, although the left three columns are very connected at each row. We will start with the right-hand column. This column has talents that will help keep your non-combat Seer alive if the shooting starts for the most part. Expert Tracker is the exception. But Toughened, and Dodge are in this column to help stay away from and take damage more efficiently. The best talent in this column is Preemptive Avoidance. With this talent you get to flip a Destiny Point and you can disengage from an engaged enemy as an out-of-turn incidental. That’s extremely handy as you likely won’t be a meat-shield, and standing toe-to-toe with a melee monster isn’t a good idea!
The other three columns are all linked at every row, making it look like a checkerboard of choices. You can avoid talents you don’t want, and head right for the ones you do. Let’s look at the highlights here. Uncanny Reaction has two ranks here, and that gives your PC value in combat because you can add a boost die per rank to all Vigilance checks. Add to that the talent Forewarning, and you can increase defense for all allies in medium range with an action. Keen Eyed lets you remove setback dice from Perception and Vigilance also playing to that initiative theme. Also in that vein is Sense Advantage, which lets you add two setbacks to any NPC’s skill check once per session, and Rapid Reaction lets you add successes to your initiative checks.
The first Force Rating talent is a bit further up the tree than most, and this is one of the few trees with a second rank of Force Rating. The Seer can get you to Force Rating 3 without needing to purchase additional trees. Along the aspect of the Force, the talent The Force Is My Ally allows you to perform a Force Power action as a maneuver, which is quite potent in the middle of a hairy situation. Also, Natural Mystic will let you re-roll any Force Power check once a session, which is a very rare ability in the game.
Specialization Synergy
Connecting the Seer up with other specializations creates some fantastic character concepts. So again, instead of examining all possible combinations, let’s look at the ones that might not be too obvious. As usual I will not talk about specs inside the Mystic career, nor any of the lightsaber fighting styles. Before diving in, remember, the Seer plus any other Force and Destiny specialization can get you to Force Rating 4 at least, or if you go after something like the Hermit, you can get to Force Rating 5!
In my last The Path Less Traveled column I examined the Vanguard. An Age of Rebellion specialization, the Vanguard is a soldier who specializes in attacking first and controlling Initiative in combat. Well, the Seer is not normally a combat-oriented spec, but combine it with the Vanguard, and you get to add two specs of Initiative-based talents together, while gaining the ability to handle yourself in a fight. True, the Vanguard’s true specialty is Ranged (Light or Heavy) but I think this would make a fun build. All the Initiative talents stacked up and your group will very rarely be surprised or unable to act before their opponents.
I think that the Force and Destiny’s Starfighter Ace would be a fantastic, fun build with a Seer. The ability of a great, Force-talented pilot, combined with a Seer who can anticipate when and how the enemy is coming, you could be a powerful fighter in the sky. Combining the Initiative-based talents of the Seer, and the strong connection to the Force of the Seer, talents like Intuitive Strike for the Starfighter Ace can become quite powerful, more so than other combinations.
The Shadow from Force and Destiny could also be quite fun to combine with a Seer. The Seer isn’t a combat spec by nature, and neither is the Shadow, but the Shadow has a lot of talents and abilities to keep one out of harm’s way and stay hidden. With two more ranks of Dodge, Indistinguishable, Shroud, Now You See Me, and Master of Shadows, you not only will be hard to hit, but hard to find at all. This would allow you to sneak around the battlefield and use your Force powers from a distance.
Those are just a handful of a few fun builds the Seer could make when combined with other Specs.
Have you ever had a Seer on the field? Ever build anything creative with one as your main specialization?
Scott Alden
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Preemptive Avoidance: You are contractually obligated to do the Curly Howard/Zoidberg ‘woopwoopwoop’ whenever you use this talent.
But seriously, this is the go-to spec if you want a force wizard (just about tied with the Sage), and if you’re in this tree, your combat skill is really Discipline (via Move), but that’s if you even need a combat skill. With force rating 3 you can probably avoid getting involved in combat entirely with any of several powers (some are even pretty subtle).