Jedi Counseling 4: Friendship

By JD Wiker

"Jedi Counseling" is back with more answers to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game questions that keep you awake at night! In this fourth installment, read Star Wars Roleplaying Game designer JD Wiker's answers to questions about Shot on the Run, Friendship, Battle Influence, and why Force Light isn't a good way to cover up your dark side transgressions!

Have a question for the counselor? See the link at the end of the column!

Q: Does a failed disarm attempt on a character using a blaster provoke an attack of opportunity or not? Page 169 of the revised core rulebook describes how an attacker must attack the held blaster at 15 + Dex + Class bonus + size mod + possible +2 for the weapon being held two-handed (pg. 168). If this high DC isn't met, then "This kind of disarm attempt can provoke an attack of opportunity." Yet page 157 says, "You never get to make attacks of opportunity with ranged weapons, thrown weapons or heavy weapons". This seems to contradict page 169.

So, if I fail to disarm a goon with my lightsaber, does he get to blast me or not?

A: What that line on page 169 means is that if the character to be disarmed is also holding a melee weapon (or has the Martial Arts feat), he can attempt a melee attack as an attack of opportunity. The wording is a bit unclear, but it doesn't actually supercede the rule on page 157.

Q: Is it possible to use Force Strike against an opponent's weapon? It seems like you should be able to break weapons using Force Strike. In the campaign I play in, the GM doesn't use many droids, so we don't end up fighting them very often. Without droids to fight, Force Strike loses some of its utility -- particularly if we're trying to avoid gaining Dark Side Points by using the skill on living opponents.

A: Yes, you can use Force Strike on weapons and other items. The item in question would get a saving throw, which, in the case of weapons, would be the same as the wielder (as per the rules on saving throws for objects). As per the rules on attacking items, the item doesn't get a save if it's unattended, so it just takes the 3d4 damage.

Q: There's something a bit odd about the feat Shot on the Run. According to the text, "moving in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the defender you're attacking." Does that mean that I can stand next to a droid with a vibro axe, for example, back up so I'm out of its threatened squares, fire at it, then move back so I'm adjacent to it again -- all without provoking an attack of opportunity?

A: No. Shot on the Run seems to have some inadvertent and excess verbiage, and the last sentence of the feat will be dropped in a forthcoming errata.

Q: We've been wondering about the effects of ionization on starships. We know how much damage different types of ion cannons do, but in Table 11-11 on page 217 of the core rulebook, it lists different levels of ionization damage. So what's the difference between, say, a Minor and a Major Ionization?

A: "Superficial," "Minor," "System," "Major," and "Catastrophic" are all just descriptive text. The difference in effect is reflected in the Repair check DC.

Q: Do navigation computers come standard in hyperspace-capable starships, or do you have to buy them for an additional cost?

Q: On page 22 of the Arms & Equipment Guide, the Kelvarek Consolidated Arms Dissuader KD-30 states that it initially does 1d10 damage and then 1d4 each round after for 3 rounds or until washed off. I'm confused: Is the damage 1d10 only until the shooter gets through vitality and hit wounds for the acid damage to work? Or does the acid splash on them when they have vitality, therefore doing the extra damage even when they still have vitality?

A: Technically speaking, the ammunition should not deal additional damage unless it initially inflicted wound damage.

Q: Can the elite trooper's Deadly Strike ability be used for someone who has the Martial Arts, Improved Martial Arts, and Advanced Martial Arts feats (with a full threat range of 18-20) to give them a doubled threat range? And if so, what does the new threat range work out to?

A: Yes, that would work. The new threat range would be 15-20.

Q: For the purposes of qualifying for a prestige class with a Reputation requirement, do the Fame/Infamy feats count as part of the Reputation, or do you just look at the "base" Reputation?

Q: My players have taken to using the Force skill Friendship to get them out of any problem they might be involved in. Are we using it right? If so, it seems too powerful. For example, Darth Maul could jump a Jedi, and the Jedi could just use Friendship to calm Maul down, take his lightsaber away, and order the Sith Lord to lead the Jedi to Maul's secret master. Friendship seems pretty broken, if you can have a Sith Lord like Maul licking your boot without a save.

Let's you and me be pals!

A: Hm. Although Friendship requires a full-round action to use (meaning Darth Maul would have plenty of time to attack or leave the area), and "licking your boot" is something that a character like Maul would consider "a situation that alters that state," we've also been thinking that Friendship could stand a saving throw mechanism.

So consider this errata:

But also remember that while a Force-savvy character like Darth Maul might stop attacking the hero, he certainly isn't going to hang around, knowing that he can attempt a Will save once he's no longer in the hero's vicinity. And, in any case, not being around means he can't be made to lead his new "buddies" directly to Darth Sidious.

Finally, keep in mind that Friendship is not mind control. The user can issue instructions, but the target is under no particular compulsion to follow them; he just doesn't react with violence to being ordered around.

Q: The skill Battle Influence doesn't seem to do anything useful. Unless your targets fail their saves by 10 or more, they can still attack you -- and if you attack them back, the effect ends. Am I misreading this skill?

A: Battle Influence is designed to get opponents to fight each other, not to make it easier for you to kill them. So, if you attack someone under the effects of your Battle Influence, and they know it's you, then the effect ends on that person. The same thing happens if someone who is apparently one of your allies attacks the influenced character. If you want to continue attacking opponents under the effects of Battle Influence, make sure they have no idea it's you that's attacking them, either by using concealment, or by attacking through the Force.

Q: How long does a Survival check take when following tracks with the Track feat? I believe you can take 20 for this, so I need to know how long that will take.

A: That seems to be an omission in the feat description. Assume that each check to Track takes one minute, so taking 20 on the check takes 20 minutes.

Q: Does using the prolong Force ability provided by the Control feat cause the Force-user to become fatigued?

A: He'd still become fatigued. Whenever you lose wound points, you're risking fatigue. This is part of the reason why the prolong Force feat was changed to an ability of Control with the revised core rulebook. It wasn't very useful previously -- certainly not useful enough to be worth a feat slot.

Q: If a character becomes entangled with the Plant Surge skill, is that character considered helpless?

A: No. The effects of Plant Surge don't fulfill any of the conditions listed in the definition of "helpless."

Q: Can Force Light be used to leech Dark Side Points from willing participants? For example, could two Jedi use the skill on each other to drain any Dark Side Points that they have? I know that you can't voluntarily fail the saving throw, but since you always fail on a natural 1, the players could, during their downtime, use the skill over and over, until they'd rolled enough automatic failures to wipe away all of their Dark Side Points. Obviously, this is a blatant exploitation of the rules, but the rules do seem to allow it.

A: True, the rules do allow it, but as GM, I would only allow those two Jedi to do it once. Using it more often indicates that they have no real desire not to do evil; they've just found a convenient way to cover their transgressions. So, after the first time, I'd rule that the character using Force Light for this purpose gets a Dark Side Point, rather like the common transgression of performing a questionably evil act -- in this case, being an accomplice after the fact.