Episode 67: Instinctive Attack and Instinctive Defense

I’m DarthGM, and this is the 67th installment of Fragments from the Rim.

Force Points; unless you’re a Force User, odds are you only have a few options for how you spend these resources.  You’re either going to be adding to an attack roll, or to a skill check.  Don’t get me wrong, getting another 1 to 6 points on your roll can make the difference between success and failure, but those dang Force Users get so many neat things to spend their Force Points on.  Isn’t it about time for the mundane to get some love too?

Well, in the Unknown Regions, on page 27, you get two new feats that let anyone spend their Force points to do more than just improving a die roll by a few points.

With Instinctive Defense, you can spend a Force Point as a Free action to increase all your defenses by 2 until the start of your next turn.  That ain’t bad; if you know you’re going to be the subject of a lot of attacks in the next turn, that extra 2 points can really save your bacon.

Generally, if you really tank an attack roll you know that a Force point won’t help you get the number you need to hit your opponent. With Instinctive Attack, you get to really beef up your benefit from spending a Force Point on an attack roll and turn a clear miss into a successful attack.  With this feat, when you spend a Force Point while making an attack, you can reroll the attack and take the better result.  You even apply the results of the die from the Force Point to the better result!  You can use it on any roll, and since you can decide to spend a Force Point after you roll the attack, you can use it even on a roll of “1”.

There’s one drawback to these feats; well...two, really.  The first is that you have to be a living creature to take these feats.  Sorry droids, you just don’t have the right instincts in your computerized body of yours.  The second is that Instictive Attack isn’t a Bonus Feat for any class, and Instinctive Defense is only a Bonus Feat…for Jedi.

...damn Force-Users…*sigh*  Ah well, they’re still very worthy choices for your Character.

That’s all for this week.  If you have any questions, send them along to d20darth@gmail.com.  Until next time, 20 side up, 1 side down.

Originally aired on the Order 66 Podcast Episode 122 "M4C-GUV3R".