TheSagaContinues

I could see a scenario like this:
Like some engines in real life, the jet-pack might be more fuel efficient at high speeds, but also harder to control. So maybe it takes longer to expend the charge at those speeds, but you have to make checks to stay in control, decelerate, etc., and like a condition in Pathfinder, you might have to expend an action to reduce the DC to normal. You could choose not to in order to try some complex action, but you take a greater risk of losing control at high speed. That way there would be a significant trade off for sustained flight. In the Mandalorian, I don't think we see anyone taking any complex actions while attempting to go full speed over distance, they always seem to be arriving or departing, so maybe making it an action that could be utilized only when entering or exiting rounds would be better, and just have a charge cost depending on the total distance to be traveled in sustained flight would be easier. It's been a while since I looked at the rules for Saga, so I might be way off base here.

What becomes of Vader?  Is he imprisoned or does Luke manage to get him free (via smuggling him out or pulling privilege)?  What of Leia’s reaction?

What about him (Vader) resuming his life as Anakin Skywalker? From the looks of it, it was a tightly guarded secret in the Empire. It wouldn't be a lie to say he was gravely injured during the Purge, and he only returned after discovering that he had a son. With his scars, I doubt anyone would push too hard for more details, but he would have to find a way to survive without the suit, or something heavily modified to be observably different from Vader's set up. It might even be a nice way of having Luke come to some new understanding of Obi-Wan's "certain point of view" rationalization. As for Leia, she'd definitely confront him, and it could create a temporary distance between her and Luke as she tries to reconcile the fact that "Anakin" survives, when so many good people she's known haven't. Bail comes to mind immediately. And this exchange just popped into my head (not Bail related):

Leia: "Darth Vader."
Anakin: "That name no longer holds any meaning for me."
Leia: "It doesn't? Really? Well, it still holds quite a bit of meaning for your victims. Just as you were never able to fully rid yourself of the spectre of Anakin Skywalker, you can't shed the onus
of having been Darth Vader any more easily than that armor you wear."

I'd agree that it probably is suppose to be Adapt and Survive, given the fact that it's in the same book as the Queen Jool entry and is likely meant to showcase the new talents from the same book.

Having said that, I do see where, just maybe, it could have been meant as a noble talent, and something got wildly screwed up. So I thought I'd do a text search and just see if that turned up anything interesting. The only other instance I could find of "social engineering" anywhere, in any of the books, was on page 10 of GoI, under Species, in the very first paragraph:

"Given the multitude of beings and cultures that inhabit the galaxy, many species rely on manipulation and diplomacy to advance their causes and do the best for their people. Certain species use intrigue and social engineering for noble pursuits, such as to maintain pacifist societies. Some, however, excel at pulling the strings of others for the sake of financial or political gain, or merely for the enjoyment of being in control."

I don't believe that the fact that "noble pursuits" appears immediately after "social engineering" above is anything more that coincidental, especially because it doesn't appear under any kind of entry about Nobles. But it did get me thinking that it might be interesting to see what people would come up with if they were creating a talent named "Social Engineering", and which talent tree they would put it under.

Just as an FYI, a definition (taken from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/social_engineering) of social engineering appears to make a case for either: 

"mass noun
1 The use of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behaviour of a society.
2 (in the context of information security) the use of deception to manipulate individuals into divulging confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes."

Every other place I looked seemed to agree with one, the other, or both definitions. Just from my own perspective, 1 seems to be more Noble oriented, while 2 seems to be the one that would apply to a Scout, but I'm not married to that interpretation.

Placing one of them with Sabé would be an interesting twist and explain any familial similarity (there isn't much of one but, you know, if there was).  Having said that, I'm not sure Anakin WOULD turn to the dark-side if he still maintained contact with Shmi as Qui-Gon would likely let him have.

I guess it would just boil down to whether or not the rise of Darth Vader is inevitable. If so, a stable and mature Anakin might lead to a more powerful and nuanced Vader. If not, then Anakin likely fulfills Qui-Gon's belief of what bringing balance to the Force actually is. In either case, I think there would be more of a "sibling rivalry" between Anakin and Obi-Wan, since Obi-Wan seemed near to taking the Trials anyway, and likely moving on, so he'd sort of be the older brother that went off to college. Anakin would probably feel that he's being compared to Obi-Wan (maybe favorably, maybe not, in his own estimation), and Obi-Wan would almost certainly hear about the prodigy of prophecy, and might feel that he's been easily replaced by a pupil more interesting to Qui-Gon.


It makes me wonder if the Council would task Obi-Wan with keeping an eye on Qui-Gon and Anakin. Obi-Wan being a little less of a rebel than Qui-Gon, and maybe a bit jealous of the freedoms Anakin enjoys (older child compared to the yougest), reports on it, Qui-Gon, Anakin, and perhaps Padme feel betrayed, while Obi-Wan asserts that he's doing the right thing. Palpatine gets wind of it, and finally knows what Anakin cares about, thus gaining the necessary leverage to begin convincing him the Jedi have strayed from what their path should be. Maybe Qui-Gon decides he's had enough, breaks with the Council, and Anakin goes with him. They fall down Palpatine's rabbit hole too far to back out once he's revealed. Battle ensues, Qui-Gon and Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan, or even each against the other. Either Qui-Gon or Anakin gets badly injured and becomes Darth Vader, but which one? We replace the revelation of Luke's parentage, with the mystery of Vader's true identity. We could even change Vader's line in Empire back to the old misdirect "Obi-Wan killed your father", wondering if he means literally or figuratively until the reveal in ROTJ when the helmet comes off.

I wonder if the point wasn't to train Luke to beat them (Vader and Palpatine), so much as train him enough to make him something they would finally have a showdown over. As others have pointed out, waiting to train Luke until he was older than when Anakin started would make no sense, unless they needed him to seem vulnerable due to his age and impulsiveness, but also show his potential by how much he progressed in a short time. Yoda and Obi-Wan didn't need another fully trained Jedi, they needed another potential Anakin. The Sith Lords fight over him, one takes out the other (as they've wanted to for years), and whoever's left, weakened by the fight, is ended by Luke. If that was the plan, then Leia was probably far too disciplined to convincingly be bait, which I think is shown by her handling of Vader and Tarkin on the Death Star. 

Did the same person who trained Rey and erased her memory also train Broom Boy and erase his memory?

The sequels are bad fan fiction, nothing more.

Broom Boy is the reincarnation of the person who trained Rey and erased her memory, and then he erased his own memory, and then, once reincarnated he erased his memory of past memories of having erased any memories.

Quote from: Oncarou on November 20, 2017, 10:08:41 am

Very nice, sir! You are (I presume) a gentleman and a scholar!

Actually I try to become a woman and I'm a laboratory worker 

Then, huzzah!! gentlewoman, and still a scholar!!

Sorry to Necro the thread, but the link to the WotC site seems like it's no longer available. Is there a chance those Crystals survived anywhere?

As one of the contributors to the contest StevenO posted the link for, I would love it if, should you use the one I submitted, let me know how it worked out. I haven't had the opportunity to use it in anything yet, and the feedback would be appreciated.