Ways of the Force: A Deep Breath Before the Plunge

It's the 11th, one day before I get another year older, (and maybe a bit wiser than I was a year before (though I kinda doubt it).  It's also only a few more days until GenCon kicks off, and the anticipation levels are starting to climb rapidly.

One of the big things that I hoping for this year's GenCon is that we will indeed be getting the Force and Destiny Beta for FFG's excellent Star Wars RPG.  There's been a lot of anticipation for this book every since it was announced that they were doing three separate core rulebooks for their system, with a focus on the galactic fringe (EotE), the Galactic Civil War (AoR), and finally the force (FaD).  There's also been a lot of discussion (some polite, some heated, and some absolutely worthless) about how things are going to shake out.  While there are those that are terrified of the idea of Jedi finally being available as PCs, I'm willing to give the FFG design team the benefit of the doubt.  They've done a bang-up job so far on this system, and the ground rules for Force usage have thus far proven to be effective as well as not subject to being too easily twisted to make an uber-powerful Force user.

Which brings this particularly post back around to my Ways of the Force fan supplement.  When I first released this document back in May 2013, I knew from start that this was going to eventually become obsolete in a year or so.  That it was, at best, a stop-gap measure to provide players and GMs alike some additional options regarding Force users, including an option for Jedi for those folks that wanted to include one of the most iconic character types of the setting.  I've gotten a fair amount of feedback, most of it positive, some of it caustically negative, and some of it pointing things I'd overlooked.

Over the past couple months, I'd taken a look back over my development notes from back in 2012 up to version 1.3, and it was interesting to see how the talent trees for my three Force-sensitive specializations had grown, changed, and evolved.  Of how many different iterations and implementations of Deflect Blasters that I had conceived of, many of which were not implemented at all due to either being totally unworkable or far too random for something that's an iconic ability of the Jedi.

But, as a self-professed "tinker monkey" I couldn't leave things alone, particularly at those points when I was struck with the "Hey, that's an idea!" bursts of insight, such as a means to quite possibly have the Deflect Blasters talent be both simple to implement and roughly balanced.  So while I'd released version 1.3 with the idea of it being "that's it, last update, I'm done," that has turned out to not be the case.

So without further rambling on my part, I pull the curtain back on Version 1.4 of Ways of the Force, the unofficial fan supplement for Force users for FFG's Star Wars Roleplaying Game:

Ways of the Force, Version 1.4

As I'm sure some folks will note, the Jedi Initiate got a pretty substantial overhaul, with a large part of that being due to Deflect Blasters once again being consolidated into a single talent, itself having gotten a substantial revision.  As the Age of Rebellion book is now on shelves, I've updated page references for the talents taken from that book.  Message and Rebuke have gotten a substantial reworking, as did Injure to a lesser extent.

Earlier versions of Ways of the Force had what I'd taken to calling "minor Force powers" in that these were one-use effects that (at the time) I didn't think warranted being made into full-blown Force power trees.  Well, that changed for most of my initial lot of "minor Force powers," either due to FFG beating me to the punch on some of these in Age of Rebellion or because I finally could justify them as being full-blown Force powers.

Well, there's still a number of minor Force abilities that don't have a corresponding effect in the game, and having taken a look through some of my RCR books not too long ago, I decided to revive the concept of "Force techniques."  In short, these are specialized Control Upgrades that add another basic usage of an existing Force power, such as being able to hold one's breath for several minutes (Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in Episode I) or enter a hibernation trance.  The mechanics behind these are fairly simple, and with one noted exception play with any of the Upgrades that a given power might have.  To be fair, I didn't get the chance to really play test these, but the effects are generally so minor or so specific that I don't see them as causing any serious problems in anyone's game.

I'm not going to say one way or the other if there will be any further updates to Ways of the Force, as a lot of that is going to depend on how things shake out with Force and Destiny.  Always in motion is the future.  But until then, I hope those of you that have enjoyed using some or all of the material in Ways of the Force in the past continue to enjoy the material, and thanks for the support and feedback.  May the Force (and Destiny Beta) be with us...

Edit: Okay, so I made an assumption with part of the FFG rules regarding talents that make use of the Force die.  While there will be a v1.41 to clear those up, in the meantime any instance where a talent says "character rolls " the intent is that the character rolls Force dice equal to their Force Rating, not just a single Force die.

May the Fourth (of July) Be With You!

For my fellow American residents, a Happy 4th of July to you.

The past few posts have been predominantly geared towards Mutants & Masterminds.  But as I am first and foremost a Star Wars fan, I think it's time to head back in that direction.

In terms of Star Wars gaming, the big news is that the Age of Rebellion core rulebook has officially hit shelves as of yesterday.  I was fortunate enough that my FLGS had the book on the shelves along with the GM Kit, so I snagged both of those.  I've not really had a chance to look through the GM Kit yet (had other matters to attend to), but I'm really impressed with the layout and artwork of the AoR core rulebook.  The action scenes on display are, to me at least, really evocative of the fact that one of this game's central themes is war.  Kudos as usual to Zoe Robinson for her work in getting her art team to once again produce some great work.

There weren't as many changes to the mechanics as there had been for the EotE core rulebook, though Foresee has a rather major change in the left-hand side of the tree (the initiative boosting portion) that makes that first upgrade a lot more useful to a PC, and makes me glad I picked up the Foresee power for Valin when the opportunity presented itself.  In fact, it looks like most of the specializations are the same as they were in the Beta + Final Week Update.  That's good for folks that have been playing AoR characters, as they don't have to worry about their characters suddenly needing to be severely tweaked.  Admittedly I've not gone over the material with a fine tooth comb, so there might be some minor changes that I've overlooked.

Another reason is that in spite of thinking I was done with it, I've been tinkering with my Ways of the Force supplement.  Yeah, I know that it's just over a month to GenCon and the (hoped for) release of Force and Destiny Beta rulebook, but as a self-avowed "tinker monkey" I found myself going back and re-reading and revising various bits of material from version 1.3, with the top item on the list being Deflect Blasters.

While I like the idea of a competitive check, as it makes the opponent's degree of skill count for something, it was ultimately a clunky implementation, particularly when it got to the point of having the split a single talent into two separate talents just to keep them from being too overpowered.  I've got a newer version of the talent that looks very promising, as it's quite simple to implement and doesn't have to worry about whether the shooter is using autofire or not.  However, the one concern that I have is that it's very powerful, even if still limited to a once-per-round effect.  Right now, the current method plants the talent right back at Row 5 and nearly being a capstone talent of the Jedi Initiate specialization.

A few other talents are being revised, in particular Force Talisman and Fortified Body (which was always a bit of a 'meh' talent in prior versions).

Force Powers got some work done on them as well, particularly Message and Rebuke.  They probably still won't be to everyone's liking, but I think they work much better than the earlier versions I'd published.

I've also been revisiting the rules I created for lightsaber construction, and again have simplified the process, particularly where Advantage and Threat are concerned, but also Triumph and Despair with each having an effect but one that's simple to implement during play.  Gave those a bit of a test run for Valin with the GM's permission, and they worked pretty well, as it's a single roll that would be made during "party downtime" in between encounters and does carry the risk of failure for novice Force-users (i.e. Force Rating 1 with a sub-par Discipline dice pool).

I think version 1.4 is about ready to be released upon the internets and go zipping through the tubes, but I'd like to try and get a bit more testing done on the newest iteration of Deflect Blasters this weekend (time permitting).

I've also been making progress (slowly) on Fallen Stars, a FFG SWRPG module that was meant for the Order 66 Kickstarter last year.  Unfortunately, a series of real-life events made it next to impossible for me to finish that module in anything resembling a timely manner.  At one point I did have it "finished" but a test-run of the final portion of the adventure turned out so horribly that I felt it was better to just scrap what I had and start over rather than foist a crappy final act on the backers.  Admittedly, with Age of Rebellion now being a thing, I'm working on an Appendix discussing what tweaks to make to use this adventure with AoR characters, in addition to providing two sets of pre-gen characters, one group of EotE-themed ne'er-do-wells and the other a team of Alliance operatives.  The central theme of the group getting into a situation much deeper and far riskier than expected still carries through though, no matter if you're part of the Alliance or just an independent-minded spacer.

I've also been getting back into the Dragon Age RPG, particularly as Green Ronin has been dropping hints that Set 3 is actually on the horizon to becoming a reality instead of looking to just be vaporware due to various delays in getting the material approved.  Though with BioWare being focused on Dragon Age III: Inquisition, I guess I can't fault them too much in not getting the RPG stuff approved in anything resembling a timely fashion; guess I'm just spoiled by how Lucasfilm is able to get their end of the approvals process done in fairly short order.  I wasn't able to participate in the Open playtesting for Set 3 (didn't have a reliable group that was interested in the AGE system or the Dragon Age setting), but the material suggested does a lot to expand the world of Thedas for the RPG, even if one doesn't get into the higher (11+ levels of play).  I doubt that Set 3 will be available at GenCon (though I'd be pleasantly surprised if it was), but I may bring the materials needed to run "Duty Unto Death" with a group of custom PCs with me this year for a possible pick-up game.

Speaking of GenCon (just over a month away!), I lucked out and was able to snag a seat at a couple of FFG Force & Destiny events, so I've got at least two confirmed game sessions for the convention, as well as whatever pick-up games I manage to get into.  Even if the adventure didn't last too long on account of the GM being rather punchy, the pick-up run by Jay Little last year was quite amusing, and I still crack a smile at "drink vouchers."  Though a fair chunk of that has to do with the time spent in the lobby of one of the Marriott hotels with Jay and the other players, each of us taking turns changing lines from Star Wars to use the words "drink vouchers."  Some were really cheesy, some were really good, but they were all funny... at least to us.  I'm hoping that this year's GenCon will have a similarly memorable moment.

Well, I think I've rambled on enough for one day.  Again, to my fellow Americans, enjoy the holiday and stay safe.  And may the drink vouchers be with you...

Edit: Seems I might have accidentally overstepped a boundary with a portion of that post.  In the interest of "better safe than sorry," I've removed it, and would thank folks that might have read it before I removed it to not make mention of it here or elsewhere.

Ways of the Force, Version 1.3

Wow, four posts in the same month.  One might start to think the owner of this blog actually remembered that it exists ;)

It'd been quite a while since I'd last updated my Ways of the Force fan supplement.  I'd been working on altering a number of things, such as largely doing away with the minor Force powers and expanding two of them into full-fledged Force Power trees.

Ways of the Force, Version 1.3

I've also made some major revamps to the Force Powers, new and old, in light of clarification from FFG's own Sam Stewart in regards to how Force Power effects were activated.  To simplify, my understanding was incorrect, and that in light of that understanding, Injure and Healing were vastly more powerful than I was comfortable with.  There was also the matter that they had gotten perhaps too complicated, particularly Healing and my attempts to keep it from being too useful to a group but not so restricted as to make it nearly useless.  I think I've struck the right balance this time around with both powers, making them effective but not game-breaking.

The Jedi Initiate has also gotten a substantial change in layout.  I opted to go back to the original focus of this being a specialization that focuses on becoming a competent lightsaber duelist as one of it's primary aspects, and that improved Force usage isn't quite as major.  That's not to say that someone taking Jedi Initiate won't be slackers in the Force, but rather that lightsaber prowess is going to be a major part of the specialization.  So folks that are looking to be a Jedi but don't want to bother with the lightsaber talents, I'm afraid you're going to have to look to other Force-sensitive specializations to scratch that particular itch.

I've also recanted a bit on my earlier statement about not having any kind of skill check to construct a lightsaber.  For this version, I've settled on making it a single Discipline check, partly to avoid the issue of "how would my PC know how to build a lightsaber if they're not trained in the skill?" had I used the Lightsaber skill, but largely as a nod to Saga Edition and having it be a Use the Force check to accomplish that task.  Plus, Discipline ties into it being an important skill for Force users to have as well as the concentration and focus needed for a task that's noted as requiring a combination of great delicacy and precision.  However, that's not to say that it's an automatic thing either, especially if the player is impatient, as the check starts at Daunting, and only gets harder the quicker a PC tries to accomplish the task of building the 'saber; get too greedy and your Jedi-in-training could find themselves having to start completely from scratch.

Another major change has been to the Deflect Blasters talent.  I feel there comes a point that when you need more than a single paragraph to cover the effects of a talent, then you've reached the point of needing to split it into two talents.  And given some of the unexpected issues that cropped up, such as a PC using the talent to deflect a single shot from auto-fire weapon and then trigger auto-fire (something that was never intended), the split was needed.  So while it now takes two talents to allow a Jedi Initiate to deflect and reflect blaster fire (presuming they've acquired a lightsaber in the first place), both talents are better balanced, with the minor bonus that deflecting ranged attacks is now something that the character could start knowing how to do; after all, it's one of the first lessons that Luke learned on his path to becoming a Jedi Knight.

The two new powers are Rebuke (expanded from Resist Force) and Message (expanded from Projective Telepathy).  As for Sense Force, that's simply been moved to a sidebar (found under the Force Mystic) and is pretty much a function of the Sense power.

With Message, I had toyed with the idea of creating some kind of "battle meditation" effect, but I felt that such an ability was best left as a plot device type of thing, particularly with FFG having kept the uses of the Force in the powers they've published much closer to the general feel of the films while mostly averting some of the crazier stunts that have been seen in the Expanded Universe.  While Sense covers the "picking up thoughts" aspect of telepathy, Message is more in line of what folks think when one mentions "telepathy," though like Saga Edition I kept the power's effects fairly simple, with the intent that any conversations would be very simple; something akin to Luke contacting Leia and sending a general sense that he was in danger and that he was "underneath Cloud City," and hoping that she'd be able to take it from there to rescue him.

As for Rebuke, one complaint I've often seen is that there was no real way to defend yourself from a Force power.  It's not a major issue with Move (since any defensive traits that work against ranged attacks would apply), but it becomes a bigger on with Influence and Injure, both of which as written don't give the target any way to stop the damage inflicted.  I opted to keep the opposed Discipline check that Resist Force had, though this isn't too big of an issue for most powers (especially as I scrapped the opposed check that was part of Injure in the last version).  I've also broken out it so that the basic effect is simply to negate the effects of a power; if your Force user wants to pull a Yoda and hurl those bolts of Force lightning back, you'll need a Control Upgrade to do it.  One potential concern is that with enough ranks in Discipline and the way Rebuke's Strength Upgrades operate it could become very easy for a Force-user with this power to shove an offensive power right back down their opponent's throat.  Admittedly, this is offset somewhat by needing a Triumph on the opposed Discipline check and the chance for a Despair against more potent Force users as well.  I also opted to include the ability to absorb/negate energy attacks as the "capstone" ability of Rebuke, using the same general mechanics, such as the Force user making an opposed Discipline check, only this time the difficulty is the shooter's combat skill.  You could potentially use this to redirect a blaster shot with your bare hands, but by the time that most characters gain that particular Control Upgrade, they should be facing some pretty potent adversaries.

There have been a few other lesser tweaks here and there, but those are the highlights.  And, barring any major typographical errors, this will probably be the final revision to this document.

With a Force & Destiny Beta having been teased as coming out later this year (presumably at GenCon), that brings to a close the reason I created this supplement in the first place; namely as a way to provide players with further options to play Force users in and Edge of the Empire or an Age of Rebellion campaign.  A number of folks wanted some way to play an actual Jedi, not a "let's pretend" version that had either the Force Exile or Force Emergent specs and a few ranks in the Lightsaber skill, as well as an ability to perform Force-based feats that we saw in the movies but weren't covered by Edge of the Empire.  While some folks chose to focus exclusively on creating a Jedi career, I opted to split the difference and create a Jedi specialization as a nod to the limited training available during the Rebellion Era as well as create additional Force powers.

But, with Force & Destiny having been teased to cover Jedi and other Force-users, the need to add new material or revise the existing material becomes less and less.  Then again, I knew this was going to happen eventually, and thus had a degree of "planned obsolescence" from the very start.  After all, when it comes to choosing between officially published material and some random guy's fan work, most gamers are going to lean towards the officially published material.  And I'm okay with that.  On a personal level, I'm interested to see how different in the design and application of things like blaster deflection and rebuking enemy Force powers my stuff and FFG's stuff will be.  Amusingly, around July of last year, I'd been working on building an "enhanced movement" and "farseeing" power, and laughed with giddy joy at seeing that the Enhance and Foresee powers in the Age of Rebellion Beta were along very similar guidelines; my stuff would have gotten to that point in another month or two.  Part of me hopes I'll get to experience that a second time around with the Force & Destiny Beta.

In the end, I can only hope that in the time frame between when I first web-published Ways of the Force and when the Force & Destiny core rulebook gets released next year, folks have found the material I've created to be useful for their games, either in whole or just select parts of it.

Edit: For some reason, Dropbox disabled the previous link.  I've put a new one up.

Blaster Deflection 101 for Edge of the Empire.

Howdy, and a happy Friday and end-of-the-month to you.

Hopefully a fair number of folks that are interested in such things have checked out the latest version of my Ways of the Force fan supplement for FFG's soon-to-be released Edge of the Empire RPG.

There were some significant changes between the initial release version and the current version (1.02), and I'm planning on at least one more revision, which will be shortly after the actual EotE corebook gets released, and will consist of updating the page references (and possibly some talent names) to match said corebook rather than the Beta rulebook.

One of the bigger changes was a total revision of how the talent Deflect Blasters worked.  And it's met with a few questions on why the change, both in forums and direct/private messages.  So I thought I'd try and shed some insight.

The whole notion of a "blaster deflection" talent got it's start thanks to Chris "GM Chris" Witt of the Order 66 Podcast, the first podcast dedicated solely to Star Wars RPGs.  Chris had started a forum thread over at the d20 Radio forums about his ideas for a "blaster deflection" talent.  There was quite a bit of back and forth between him, myself, and other posters such as Awayptyrwpn and Phil "DarthGM" Maiewski, with different suggestions and approaches on how to reflect such a classic Jedi ability within the framework of EotE's rules.

For reference, here's the effect text for my take from version 1.0:

Once per round, when the character is targeted by a ranged attack, upgrade the difficulty a number of times equal to character’s Lightsaber skill rank. If this attack was made using a blaster and generates 2 Threat or 1 Despair, the character can deal the weapon’s base damage to a single target within Medium range. The character must be actively wielding a lightsaber staggered (see pg141) in order to activate this talent.  This talent cannot be used against a ranged attack made using a starship-scale weapon.

Okay, first problem is that by the time the Jedi Initiate gets this talent, they've probably got at least 4 ranks in the Lightsaber skill, if not 5 by this point.  So this means once per round, the Jedi gets to force a bunch of difficulty upgrades on a single target, turning what could be a very simple shot at medium range (base of 2 difficulty dice) into a very difficult shot, with the difficulty now being 3 challenge dice (assuming 4 ranks in Lightsaber) plus 2 setback dice from Lightsaber Defense.  And that's not counting other means of increasing the difficulty of a ranged attack, such as Dodge (which also activates as a reaction to being attacked) or Side Step (does require a maneuver to set up), or most likely for a Jedi-in-training, the "danger sense" Control Upgrade for the Sense Power, granting at least one difficulty upgrade, or maybe two if the Strength Upgrade has been purchased.  In a one-on-one fight, the Jedi has a huge advantage over a ranged attacker, and with that many challenge and setback dice, having the attack miss and provide the necessary Threat or Despair to trigger a free attack is a pretty sure thing.

So yeah, this was turning out be problematic, and fell into the category of being "too good to pass up."  In the v1.0 set-up for the Jedi Initiate talent tree, I buried Deflect Blasters in the top row away from the Force Rating talent, but that just delayed the inevitable of a pretty broken talent entering the game.  Based on feedback I'd gotten from the FFG and d20 Radio forums, I decided to start from scratch on designing my Deflect Blasters talent.  I'd initially balked at the notion, but the more I read the dice rules in the Beta rulebook, the more sense that using a competitive check made.  It was simple to apply (no extra difficulty upgrades), and simply relied upon the Jedi scoring on more success than the guy shooting at them to succeed.  I did a brief bit of playtesting and some dice math review, and overall this looked to be an ideal solution to the dilemma of creating a talent that allowed for ranged attack deflection and blaster attack reflection, but wasn't super-powerful.  And here's the current text:

Once per round, when the character is targeted by aranged attack, the character can activate this talent to make a competitive check against the same base difficulty, using their Lightsaber skill against the attacker’s combat skill, with a successful check resulting in the attack not dealing any damage. If the attack was made using a blaster, then on a successful check the character can choose to target a single target within Medium range, dealing damage equal to the damage value of the original attacker’s weapon, with each remaining success adding to the damage total. The character must be actively wielding a lightsaber and aware of the attack in order to activate this talent. This talent cannot be used against starship-mounted weapons


Now, looking at the text I wrote with slightly fresh eyes, I can see where some concern might come up that my current version of Deflect Blasters looks too weak, especially when compared to the prior version.  After all, a really good marksman has a decent shot at beating out a Jedi Initiate on that opposed check... but I also think that's how it should be.  Granted, in a lot of the Star Wars media we see Jedi casually deflecting blaster fire like it's no big deal, but consider most of the time the Jedi in question are A) fighting mooks who barely pose a threat, and B) the Jedi in question are either seasoned Knights or gifted prodigies, so of course it's going to look easy.

Maybe a few in-game examples of how this would work out might help to demonstrate why I think this current version of Deflect Blasters works a lot better and isn't quite as weak as some might think.  For this example, I'll be using a vastly experienced version of my initial EotE PC, a young Jedi Initiate-on-the-run by the name of Valin Starsmore.  His relevant stats are thus:

Agility 3
Soak Value 3 (Brawn 2 + heavy clothing)
Lightsaber 4 (he's gotten pretty good at this point)
Lightsaber Defense 2 (giving him a +2 bonus to melee & ranged defense)
Deflect Blasters (recently acquired)
Quick Draw (his staring career/spec is Smuggler/Scoundrel)
Sense Power with the "danger sense" Control Upgrade and the Duration Upgrade.

Example 1: Valin is snooping around the streets near a crime-lord's private estate, looking to find out what happened to his friend Gizmo, a slightly odd Twi'lek bounty hunter that has been missing since she went to the crime lord's estate.  His Jedi senses (pretty well-honed thanks to 2 ranks each in Uncanny Senses and Uncanny Reactions) alerts him to the presence of a trio of guards (stats as per Apprentice Hunter on pg201 of the Beta, but equipped with heavy blaster pistols and having Perception as one of their skills).  Seeing as how the guards have their blasters drawn and pointed at Valin, he wastes little time, drawing and igniting his lightsaber (an Incidental thanks to Quick Draw) then activating his combat awareness (activating his Control Upgrade to let him upgrade the difficulty twice of two separate attacks against him each round).  The guards are at Medium range currently, but the foliage that Valin was hoping would obscure him also counts as difficult terrain; he won't be charging into the fray just yet.

The minion group of guards now get to act, and they waste little time in taking aim with their blasters and opening fire on the young Jedi.  They're at Medium range, so they're base difficulty is 2 purple dice, with 2 setback dice applied from Valin's two ranks in Lightsaber Defense.  Not wanting to get perforated with blaster fire quite so soon, Valin opts to use both his Deflect Blasters talent and his danger sense ability.  The minion group will be rolling 2 proficiency, 1 ability die, and 1 boost die (Agility 3 for base of 3 ability dice, two upgrades for each minion after the first, and a boost die from aiming) against a difficulty of 1 challenge die, 1 difficulty die, and 2 setback dice.  Valin meanwhile will only be rolling against 2 difficulty dice with a pool of 3 proficiency dice and 1 ability die.

Results are:
Valin: 4 successes, 1 failure, 2 advantage, 3 threat (net result = 3 successes, 1 threat)
Guards: 2 successes, 1 failure, 3 advantage, 5 threat (net result = 1 success, 2 threat)

Valin wins with 2 successes, but suffers a point of Strain (from the 1 Threat) as he frantically intercepts the incoming blaster fire, managing to deflect one of the bolts back to deal 9 damage to the minion group.  That's enough damage to drop one of the guards (Soak 3, Wound Threshold 5), with GM applying the 2 Threat as a setback die to the group's next attack roll.  One down, two to go, but Valin knows he's going to have to act quick before reinforcements arrive...

Example 2: Having dispatched those pesky guards, Valin has now found his way inside the crime lord's main villa, but has found proof that Gizmo is on the premises; the busty Twi'lek hunter is in trouble, and Valin's not about to let down one of the few friends he has.  The Force is with Valin, and he finds both the crime boss and Gizmo, with the Twi'lek lashed to some type of automated torture rack while the Bothan crime boss is leisurely sipping from a wine goblet while asking a series of questions, with a surly-looking Trandoshan standing not too far off.  Deciding it's time to act, Valin activates his lightsaber, the distinctive snap-hiss of the weapon getting the attention of both the Bothan crime boss and the Trandoshan.  Luckily Valin was already prepped for a fight (having activated the Control Upgrade for his Sense Power), as the crime boss manages to score more successes than Valin on their respective Vigilance checks, though Valin does have 2 advantage that the GM lets him spend to give himself a boost dice on his next roll.

The crime boss (a Nemesis) has Agility 3 and 3 ranks of Ranged (Light), as well as the Quick Draw talent, enabling him to stand up (maneuver), draw his heavy blaster pistol (incidental) and fire at the interloping Jedi, who is at Short Range (1 difficulty).  Again not wanting to get shot, Valin applies one of his two uses of danger sense towards the crime boss' shot as well as his one use of Deflect Blasters (the lack of an obvious blaster and the oversized vibrodagger on the Trandoshan's hip suggests a melee threat).

The crime boss' dice pool is 3 proficiency dice, 1 challenge die, and 2 setback dice.  Vallin's dice pool is 3 proficiency dice, 1 ability die, 1 boost die, 1 challenge die, 1 difficulty and 1 setback die.  The crime boss has two ranks in Adversary, and Valin's Lightsaber check is targeting him, so the talent would apply, plus the crime boss has armored clothing to grant a free rank of defense .  Valin decides to bolster his chances by flipping a Destiny Point to upgrade his remaining ability die to a proficiency die.

Results are:
Valin: 1 triumph, 4 successes, 2 failure, 3 advantage, 1 threat (net result = 3 successes, 2 advantage, and a triumph result; i.e. the kid got one hell of a good roll)
Crime Boss: 4 successes, 1 failure, 1 advantage, 3 threat (net result = 3 successes, 2 threat)

Since Valin and the crime boss got the same number of successes, it's a draw.  In this case, Valin didn't get hit, but neither did he get to redirect the blaster shot back at the crime boss.  The crime boss suffers 2 Strain from the Threat, while Valin uses his 2 Advantage for a free maneuver to engage the crime boss in melee, and that Triumph to narrate that instead of hitting the crime boss, the deflected blaster shot instead pegged the torture rack that Gizmo is on, giving her an upgrade to whatever skill check she wants to make to escape.  Which might be good since that Trandoshan's got a nasty sneer as he reaches for his vibroknife...

Example 3: With some help from a badly injured Gizmo, the crime boss and his Trandoshan bodyguard have both been dispatched, though Valin suffered a few cuts from the big lizard's vibroknife during the fight.  Now, they need to get to the villa's speeder hanger to steal a ride so they can make a quick escape and rendezvous with Omaha and his YT-1300.

Unfortunately, Valin's Obligation came up prior to the start of the adventure, and the Bounty on his head has caught the attention of a Journeyman Hunter (pg201 of the Beta) who traded out his disruptor rifle for a blaster rifle and has a pair of Street Toughs (pg199) packing blaster pistols.for some added muscle; after all, the Empire pays good credits for Jedi renegades, and the toughs were dim-witted enough to accept only a fraction of the reward on Valin's head.

Valin's Force senses alert him to the danger a few scant second before the bounty hunter opens fire (his Vigilance check beat the hunter's Cool check by a wide margin), so he's got just enough time to draw his lightsaber and activate his danger sense while quickly moving behind some foliage for cover.  The bounty hunter spends a maneuver to Aim before squeezing the trigger on his rifle.

The bounty hunter and Valin are at Medium range from one another.  Figuring the bounty hunter's the bigger threat than the pair of street toughs, Valin is going to yet again use Deflect Blasters (while wondering why everybody is so keen on shooting at him today) as well as his danger sense to make the hunter's shot that much harder.  However, the GM decides to spend a Destiny Point to upgrade one of the hunter's ability dice for this shot.

So the journeyman hunter is rolling 2 proficiency dice, 1 ability die, 1 boost die, 1 challenge die, 1 difficulty die, and 3 setback dice.  Valin's rolling his usual 3 proficiency dice, 1 ability die, but 1 challenge die and 1 difficulty die due to the hunter having a rank in Adversary.

Results are:
Valin: 3 successes, 2 advantage, 2 failure, 0 threat (net result = 1 success, 1 advantage)
Hunter: 3 successes, 1 advantage, 1 failure, 3 threat (net result = 2 successes, 2 threat)

Valin's luck runs out, and the hunter clips his shoulder, dealing 10 damage (base 9 for the rifle, +1 for the remaining Success after applying the 1 Success from Valin's check.  Given Valin's low Soak Value (he's quick, not brawny, that's gonna leave a mark!  Good thing he's got some stimpacks on hand, as he's gonna need them if this keeps up.  Gizmo grumbles about this being "some rescue" as she takes aim with the heavy blaster pistol she looted from the deceased crime boss.

So I hope these not-so-little examples show some insight into why Deflect Blasters isn't the end-all and be-all talent that it was initially.  While I won't type them out here, I did run each of the above examples using the original version, which for Valin would force 4 difficulty upgrades on his selected adversary.  The guards would have been rolling against 4 challenge dice, the crime boss against 3 challenge and 1 difficulty, and the journeyman hunter also against 4 challenge dice.  Let's just say the odds greatly favored Valin in each scenario, and out of several test dice rolls, he only took damage once (against the crime boss) while the rest of the time he not only avoided damage, but also got the free attack as the bad guys rolled enough Threat for him to trigger that part of the original Deflect Blasters.

Now, one thing to also consider is that Valin was able to make use of his Sense upgrade as well to boost up his defenses.  Granted, things might have gone a bit more in his favor if he had the Strength Upgrade on his Sense power; maybe he'll buy that one with the XP he's earned from this adventure and put that Force Rating talent off for another day...