Jedi Counseling 110

Dark Side Variant Rules

By Gary M. Sarli

Welcome to the 110th installment of "Jedi Counseling," our regular column in which we answer your rules questions about the Star Wars Miniatures Game and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. If you have a question, send it in through the link at the end of this column, and check back here for the official answer.

Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition

Q: I have a question about your ruling about using serenity in vehicles in Jedi Counseling 109. Is the "your attack" wording supposed to apply in every case? If so, wouldn't that make some feats no longer work with vehicles?

A: First, let me apologize for the way I wrote that answer because I made the issue far more confusing than it needed to be. I started by answering the question -- "The answer isn't clear in the text, but the answer is no" -- and I should have stopped at that point.

Instead, I went into the background of how things were in an earlier draft and what this "your attack" wording was originally supposed to mean. In other words, everything after that first sentence is supposed to explain how things got off track, but discussing the original wording isn't particularly helpful since we'd moved so far from it elsewhere. I further compounded the error by forgetting other cases where this wording would have applied but which had already been clarified to work (such as Careful Shot and Rapid Shot in Starships of the Galaxy).

Originally, I didn’t want to call it "errata" because I knew that the actual wording of such errata hadn't been determined for any future printings of the Saga Edition Core Rulebook. I didn’t want to confuse the issue by having errata that might be the subject of later errata. In retrospect, that would have been far less confusing. Given this, let's completely retract that clarification. Instead, we'll just call this errata:

When using a vehicle weapon, you cannot apply any effect that causes an automatic natural 20 or automatic critical hit (such as spending a Destiny Point or using serenity), unless a rule specifies that it can be used with vehicle weapons.

We still might rephrase this a bit, but the meaning shouldn't change substantially.

Q: Is there any real reason for a character to be tempted to go to the dark side? It doesn't seem as if it would happen other than by deliberate choice on the part of the player. Even if they get close to falling, they could always stop when their Dark Side Score is 1 less than their Wisdom.

A: There are several ways that you might gain a benefit by doing something that increases your Dark Side Score:

• You might gain a situational benefit from performing an evil act. For example, you might be tempted to kill an unconscious or captive enemy to avoid the complications of having a prisoner in tow or the dangers of leaving that enemy unattended.
• You might learn and use dark side Force powers.
• You might have the Corruption destiny, gaining the listed destiny bonus every time your Dark Side Score increases. (This gives you more of a reason to do both of the above.)
• You might face a Sith Lord who uses the temptation class feature. In this case, you might choose to accept an increase to your Dark Side Score instead of moving –1 step on the condition track.

All of these are tangible benefits, but I agree that many of these require prior planning, a deliberate effort to make the "wrong" choice, or the intervention of an enemy. If you want a game mechanic that provides a more spontaneous tangible benefit, I would suggest the following variant rule.

If you want to add the element of chance so that turning to the dark side might come as a surprise, you could also use either or both of the following variant rules.

Q: If you gain a temporary Force Point (such as with the Fringe Savant talent) and you also have the Force Point Recovery technique, can you gain a Force Point by "recovering" the temporary Force Point that you spent?

A: No. Temporary Force Points are just that -- temporary -- and they cannot be recovered by any means after the end of the encounter.

Star Wars Miniatures Questions

Q: I have a few questions about the Muun Tactics Broker (The Force Unleashed 54/60). Can a player turn Tactics Broker on and off in cases where he wants to give up that ability rather than remove a character from play?

A: No. Tactics Broker remains in play as long as the Muun Tactics Broker is in play. The player must remove one other character from play prior to determining initiative at the beginning of the round.

Q: When a character is removed from play by Tactics Broker, it is counted as defeated, but what happens with abilities that are triggered by being defeated, such as Avoid Defeat or Self Destruct?

A: Because the character is automatically removed from play, it cannot take advantage of any effect that would prevent it from being defeated (such as Avoid Defeat). However, any other effect that triggers when that character is defeated occurs normally. For example, Self Destruct would take effect, an allied character might be able to use Impulsive Shot, and so forth.

Q: How does Tactics Broker interact with Never Tell Me The Odds?

A: Never Tell Me The Odds completely suppresses any enemy special ability that modifies initiative, so Tactics Broker has no effect. Characters are not removed and the initiative roll is not modified.

Q: What happens if you have two Muun Tactics Brokers (or any two characters that have the Tactics Broker ability) in your squad?

A: Because two instances of the same ability don't stack (unless otherwise specified), Tactics Broker takes effect only once per round regardless of the number of characters in a squad with the ability. You remove only one other character from play and only one opponent's initiative roll is considered a 1.

Q: How does Tactics Broker interact with Recon or Anticipation?

A: Multiple rolls and rerolls still result in the selected final roll being considered a 1. Tactics Broker won't apply on tie-breakers, though, so if the squad with Tactics Broker rolls a 1, Recon and Anticipation can come into play normally.

Q: I have some questions about the Emplacement ability on the Golan Arms DF.9 Anti-Infantry Battery (The Force Unleashed 6/60). Does the character's entire space have to be on your side of the map?

A: Yes, the character's entire space must be in squares that are on the same half of the map that contains that player's setup area.

Q: If a map has an odd number of squares on its long axis (such as the map from the Revenge of the Sith Starter Set), one row of squares in the middle is equally close to both sides of the map. Can a character with Emplacement set up in this middle row?

A: No. Each individual square occupied by a character with Emplacement must be entirely on the same half of the map that contains that player's setup area. This "middle row" would be half on one side and half on the other side, so a character with Emplacement could not use those squares for setup.

Q: Can a character with Emplacement set up across a door?

A: No. Doors start the game closed and do not open until a character ends its turn adjacent to the door (or until some other special ability, such as Override, comes into play). Given this, the door is treated as a wall during setup, and a character cannot have its space divided by a wall.

Q: If playing with tournament or scenario rules that allow you to score points by occupying a particular area (such as in Gambit format), can a character with Emplacement set up in a scoring area?

A: Yes. The character will score points for being in the scoring area the same way and at the same time that any other character would.

About the Author

Gary M. Sarli is a freelance designer, developer, and editor whose credits include the Saga Edition rulebook, Starships of the Galaxy, and the Dawn of Defiance adventure path. When not making games, he moderates on the Gleemax forums as WizO the Hutt (cheerfully feeding Code of Conduct violators to the Sarlacc) and operates his store, GMSarli Games (an online shop specializing in nonrandom miniatures packs designed for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game and Dungeons & Dragons).