Force lighting: Is it 1D damage for each 1D in alter?

[worfbacca]

Accroding to Tales of the JEDI force lighting does 1D damage for every 2D in alter. According to the Thrawn Trilogy source book it's 1D damage for every 1D in alter. Which is it?
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[Crell Damar]

Whichever the GM of the game prefers.
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[Loc Taal]

Unfortunately, I think this is a case of bad editing on the part of West End Games. If you look closely, there are a fair number of inconsistencies that can be found throughout the books. I agree with Crell, this is something the GM has to interpret/decide.
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[Scrawprin]

I personally would go with for each 1D of ALTER = 1D of damage of Force lightning rule:

1) The sourcebook about the Thrawn series came first, and
2) I never bothered with the "Tales of the Jedi" sourcebook.

My two cents.
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[Icebrand]

I use 1D every 2D alter. Otherwise, the skill is overkill

Cheers,
Alex
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[Hellcat]

Personally, I'd say both are right. Perhaps as time went by Force-users learned how to better manipulate the Force to make certain powers more powerful and/or damaging.
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[Crell Damar]

I don't believe in nerfing the power to 1D/2D. I consider this nerfing, because you'd need a 10D alter to the same damage as a heavy blaster pistol. And even getting the 5cp for every darkside point you get, that still will take you forever and a day to achieve. Due to the fact that you cannot raise an attribute or skill by more than +1 at a time. (this is speaking from the stand point of a player) A GMC, giving them a 10D alter or whatever isn't that big a thing. But still... even a 10D electricution can still be stopped by a force point, or by using the force. On top of that. Norms shouldn't be fighting a dark jedi... period...
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"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire. "

Obi-Wan Kenobi

[Icebrand]

well, let me explain my point. We will assume that:

1- Force lightning is a dark side power, and there are no dark side player characters.
2- Force lightning is *NOT* a newbie power. Only skilled sith have used it on the movies, so i guess it would require a bit of training
3- We want balanced powers

Then!
You dont have to worry about low levels of alter not the time to raise the skill. Its an NPC skill, and only POWERFUL dark jedi can use it. That means their alter is already high. Plus force lightning ignores any armor the user wears. It also auto-hits, so you cannot dodge. I've seen many versions of the power online, and most not only deal damage, but cripple the target for a round. That means instant death! Even if you don't apply that, the power is already *really* nasty.

Also, i think force lightning's auto-hit should be enough to nerf it, otherwise no one would use bolt of hatred!!! (the charater point loss feature is *completely* disabled on my games.

Bottom line: I also let jedi parry force lightnings with their lightsabers -i had them doing it before episode 2!- The difficulty is the dark jedi control roll. I also think that the power * SHOULD * be dodgeable if you go for full damage.

Cheers,
Alex
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Be it, night or day
Take my sun away, away...

[garhkal]

You also have to take into account, all the other damaging force powers are also at the 1d damage per 2d in alter. So it is a consistency issue. That and it does not get too overkill when the DJ is on a force point AND a dark side force point.
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[KageRyu]

I would agree with Hellcat. The newer power was as researched and learned by Newer Dark Jedi and sith, as tales of the Jedi is set a long time before SW4, let alone Thrawn.

[garhkal]

Incorrect Kage. As per page 86 of the R&E rule book,
"A character whi syccessfully calls upon the darkside receives a force point, which must be spend immediatly - this is in addition to any other force point spent that round."
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[KageRyu]

Also in the rule book it makes it clear you can not double up on spending force points on the same action, thus quadrupling bonuses. This is in all three rule books, so the assment I made is quite correct.
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[Volar the Healer]

I use 1D damage per 2D ALTER.
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[Soniv]

1D damage per 1D Alter seems reasonable enough to me. This is, mind you, assuming that:

Force skills start at 1D

Force skills cost similar to/more than regular skills to advance.

This means that getting 5D damage, enough for a HBP/BR is at least 3*4*(5/2)=3*2*5=30CP. Quite a lot of CP for simply blaster-level damage. Not to mention all the time required to obtain that amount if the Dark Jedi isn't using Alter every adventure.

[KageRyu]

I think it is reasonable to say there are two variations of this power. After all, there are force powers to do things already covered by other force powers already in the printed books. It could be based on the actual power the Dark Jedi learned? As mentioned earlier, since this is a dark side power, the amount of CP and such becomes irrelevant unless you are running a dark side campaign.
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra