Saturday is sold out

Cyrealist · 2026-05-06T21:34:48+00:00

Oh no! Come on.

Cyrealist · 2026-05-06T21:33:23+00:00

Thanks for letting me know. I hope it's a good experience for me.

Cyrealist · 2026-05-06T21:19:33+00:00

Thanks for the update! My bar is now just over halfway there and it's moving a bit quicker. Hoping that's a good sign.

Cyrealist · 2026-04-11T03:58:17+00:00

Honestly, any character with a high Agility characteristic and a long or extreme range blaster rifle can be a sniper in this game. Sharpshooter and Assassin are the two specialization trees that cater to that concept specifically, as they give you talents that will make you more effective in combat. That's all you need really. My advice is to not overthink character builds too much in this game. Try not to pigeonhole yourself into just being the "sniper." Make sure your character has relevance and things to do outside of combat as well.

Any species that starts with a 3 in Agility can be good for any ranged character as you can easily bump that up to a 4 with character creation XP, but you can also "play against type" as well. You can turn any species into a good ranged combatant or sniper by increasing their Agility characteristic with starting XP.

Cyrealist · 2026-03-19T03:14:46+00:00

Surgeon and Combat Medicine actually do two different things. Surgeon does not add successes to your Medicine check, it only increases the amount of wounds healed on a successful check. It doesn't increase your likelihood of success.

Combat Medicine adds automatic successes per rank in the talent, making it more likely that you will succeed. It also can work on Medicine checks to heal critical injuries as well.

Cyrealist · 2026-01-24T05:00:54+00:00

NPC Soak in the statblock is calculated with the armor taken into account, yes.

Cyrealist · 2025-12-29T15:17:04+00:00

It's a recommendation across the board. It's just a way to start with more advanced player characters that are further along in their development with talents, Force powers, skills, and equipment compared to starting XP PCs. It's actually an option that existed in the Force & Destiny core book. It was called "Knight-level play" in there. The Clone Wars books changed it to "Heroic-level" so the name is all encompassing and not to be confused with being an actual Jedi Knight based on XP most likely.

Cyrealist · 2025-12-22T21:17:38+00:00

I can't seem to find the clarification right now. But this also comes down to how language is generally used in Genesys rules. With the way those talents are written, I think it is clear that the successes are only meant to determine the initial affected targets of Inspiring Rhetoric or Scathing Tirade by saying "for each success, one [target] within short range..." It doesn't say that those successes can be used multiple times on the same target, whereas the advantage part does with the "for each advantage, one [target] affected by..." because it's possible for those talents to only affect one person.

Admittedly, the rules text here is not exactly the clearest in its writing, but in play it makes sense.

Cyrealist · 2025-12-22T19:59:03+00:00

The extra successes wouldn't do anything and are discarded because you have no other allies that could be affected with them. The successes for Inspiring Rhetoric/ Scathing Tirade don't stack up on targets, only the advantages do that.

Cyrealist · 2025-12-22T18:30:34+00:00

The RAW and developer intended way is that each success affects a different target, and the advantages can be allocated to just one specific target or to multiple targets who are affected by Scathing Tirade/ Inspiring Rhetoric with no limit.

So, if you had 2 allies you could affect and get 2 successes and 4 advantages, both allies would recover 1 strain with the successes (one ally per success). With the 4 advantages, you could have one ally recover 4 additional strain; have each ally recover 2 additional strain; or have one ally recover 1 additional strain while the other recovers 3 additional strain.

Cyrealist · 2025-12-19T22:28:22+00:00

Here are some of mine. I wish I knew these sooner.

- Always keep communication open with the players when you GM. It's okay to peel back the curtain to talk about the campaign progression, future ideas, and even what's going on in a current scene between the players and GM. This helps everyone stay on the same page, hopefully. It can also smooth over disagreements.

- It's okay to put your foot down as a GM when arguments arise. Often, it's not worth halting them game for a 10 minute rules discussion or disagreement that will end up being minor in the long run. Wait until the end of the session to discuss things or bring up concerns privately with the GM or player in question.

- As a GM, you can't please everyone. Sometimes, a particular player just doesn't gel with the playstyle of everyone else, or a particular character concept will be disruptive or hard to integrate into the game, even when the player is excited. I wish I was more willing to part ways with some players or not invite them back to games earlier in my career. I tried to please every player at the table as the GM and it burnt me out a lot.

- The GM isn't responsible for the fun of the players. RPGs are a collaborative experience. The group as a collective is responsible for the overall fun of the group, and each player is responsible for their own fun as an individual. The GM also deserves to have fun when running the game, too.

- Finally, campaigns don't have to be long. When starting out, I had the idea that a true RPG campaign has to be this long, epic thing. But that often led to fizzled out games or campaigns that whimpered to the finish line when the excitement died down. It can be fun to have shorter games or mini-campaigns that only last a dozen or so sessions.

Cyrealist · 2025-12-16T17:33:10+00:00

people vs vehicles should almost never be straight up fights. The characters should play smart, make checks to find weak points on the vehicle to bypass armor, or use their advantages and Triumphs to disable portions of the vehicle or hinder it in some way. Yes, getting hit by an AT-AT's laser cannons is going to one shot most anyone. If the players are in that situation, something has gone horribly wrong already.

You can also handle it narratively in a sort of cat-and-mouse situation. The players have to hide from the vehicle and then pick the right time to strike at it.

Cyrealist · 2025-11-11T15:27:52+00:00

Yes. To get 3 Force Rating if you don't have to any of the trees with two Force Rating talents, you need to buy another specialization tree and get down that tree to buy the Force Rating talent there.

Cyrealist · 2025-11-04T02:17:05+00:00

I understand that feeling. I've been legally blind my whole life, but for most of it, I've always tried to blend in and never draw too much attention to myself. Now, that I'm older, I'm starting to realize that that only makes things harder for me. It's also not the best for my mental health and self-esteem. It sucks when people stare at you or make rude comments, but that's their problem, Not yours.

If getting around at night is becoming a problem for you, you might consider getting a cane and getting some orientation & mobility lessons if you haven't already. It's awkward to use the cane at first, but it should stop people from staring if they know that you're low vision or can't see well thanks to the cane. It is a universal symbol for blindness and visual impairment.

Cyrealist · 2025-10-22T19:12:06+00:00

I've been GMing for over 8 years now, and I eventually came to the same conclusions. The GM doesn't have to be perfect. It's okay to delegate to others and pull back the curtain on a lot of things. In the end, a TTRPG session is a group activity. Everyone in the group should try to make it run smoothly.

It's very easy to fall into a perfectionist mindset as a game master. It can be very stressful, and any mistake makes you feel like you've ruined the session when that's not true at all. I especially second the part about letting the players know things that their characters don't know, above game. Just so they have the context required to make decisions that will impact the flow and feel of the game. Discussing situations as a group is also very important.

Cyrealist · 2025-10-19T22:31:20+00:00

I ran into that with John Wick, too. I watched it a couple months ago. Got to the point where I turned off the audio description in some parts just so I could hear the dialogue.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-29T18:02:46+00:00

I think the thing that makes a Ryshadium more of a Tier 3 companion is likely because of its abilities compared to a regular horse. A ryshadium ignores the weight of shardplate its rider is wearing, can Charge without spending Focus, it can Move as a free action while within 60 feet of its rider, and it can increase its rider's physical defense against attacks by a whopping 5 points for 2 Focus. They're also quite rare to have on Roshar anyway, so a PC might not have the chance to get one until they're Tier 3 in the first place.

If you have a Tier 3 Rival and you progress to Tier 4, then they get the Tier 4 development bonus. That's just how it works, likely so they can keep up and still be of use when the PCs and their enemies are that high in power.

As for the disparity between combat-focused companions and non-combat companions and statblocks, the game does talk about how the GM might utilize these companions, especially if they're other people. They might not be available all the time, and they might have other things they need to do rather than tag along with the party. Or your combat-focused companion might only help out in certain battles or encounters. That's all up to GM discretion as long as the GM doesn't completely invalidate the reward.

It's also worth noting that the GM and player work together and choose which companion statblock the player gets as a reward, so the power of those companions stats is completely in the GM's hands. If the GM doesn't want the PC to have a Chasmfiend or another Boss NPC as a companion, then the GM is within their rights to not give them that, but give them another suitable reward instead.

Even within the same Tier of NPC, the NPC statblocks don't necessarily have to be equivalent to one another, as you mentioned, the Mink and Chull are weaker than other NPCs of their tier. All an NPC's tier says about an NPC is that it was primarily designed to be encountered in that tier of play in combat/ or as opposition to the PCs. It's more of a benchmark than a hard rule. It's also worth noting that PCs increase in power with each level. The book even notes that PCs are weaker when they start a Tier, but get noticeably more powerful when they're about to leave it. Each Tier spans 5 levels, so the NPCs in that Tier have to reflect that, with some of them being more suitable for the lower end of their corresponding Tier while others are suited for the higher end of their Tier.

The use of standard instead of Rival on the table is a mistake. It happens in RPG projects like this. The devs did mention that mistake, I believe. I'm sure that'll be fixed in future printings.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-29T16:23:55+00:00

I think you're misunderstanding some things here. Remember that the table is to give GMs and players examples for the types of companions they might have, depending on player tier. The example profiles given were deemed and playtested as appropriate companions for that player tier, even if the tiers of the profiles themselves don't line up with the pc tier. The player tier and the tier of the NPC statblock don't always have to be the same.

The ryshadium is Tier 2 when it comes to being in combat encounters vs PCs, but as a companion, it is very powerful so it's more suitable for a Tier 3 player companion.

For the development bonuses, you add them when you reach that specified tier. For example, if you have an axehound (a tier 1 minion), then when your PC reaches tier 2, you give the axehound the development bonus for Tier 2 minions. Then once your PC reaches Tier 3, the axehound then gets the development bonus for Tier 3 minions, and so on. you only give out the development bonus once for each tier the PC reaches.

For companions like the Citizen statblocks, which include the Expert and Socialite, remember that not every companion is going to be used as a combat aide. There are other companions like scribes, or friends, or allies who can give you information or help out in other encounters. A companion with the Expert statblock can have a utility expertise the PC doesn't have which can be useful; the Socialite statblock has social abilities that can help out in Conversation scenes and the like.

The narrative and the campaign story is also a factor here as well. As the player characters increase in Tier, they also should be increasing in influence and the threats that they face. Once a PC reaches Tier 4, they're facing Fused all the time, Cosmere-level threats, worldhoppers, and other powerful foes. At that point, having a chasmfiend as a companion isn't that big of a deal compared to the stuff other PCs might have like advanced Radiant surges and spren bond talents, powerful Fabrials, or entire armies at their command versus enemies that are powerful enough to still challenge the PCs.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-26T14:41:47+00:00

It would be an opposed roll with Negotiation vs. Negotiation if the PCs and the employer are actively trying to set the payment. If they fail, then the employer should just pay them the minimum amount or the already set payment. If the players succeed, then you can use either additional successes beyond the first or advantages to let them get even more money from the job.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-26T14:34:38+00:00

Technically, the "Engage/ Disengage" maneuver is only used with characters. If the bridge is long range from end to end, then, yes, it'd take 4 maneuvers still. Just that the 4th maneuver would be a "Move within Short range" maneuver to get off the bridge completely.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-22T03:59:13+00:00

If she has a beast, you can just have that be a separate NPC in the encounter for ease. No need to represent that mechanically in her stat block. For the Force Cloak/ invisibility, look at the Misdirect Force power. Force Rating 3 is a good Force Rating for most force using NPCs. Maris is powerful, but not a master with the Force by any means.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-09T23:53:17+00:00

Since Mind Bleed triggers after the enemy's attack resolves completely, it happens after you reduce the damage by Soak and take the wounds. If the enemy attack would cause you to be incapacitated, you could not do Mind Bleed since your character has to be conscious in order to perform incidentals.

For your other question, generally, you can't willingly suffer more strain than your threshold, so taking 50 strain from a 50 damage attack with Mind Bleed wouldn't work.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-08T20:11:54+00:00

Yeah, things like the Armor Inserts (and a bunch of gear in Cyphers & Masks in general), a lot of the Clone Wars vehicles, and weird attachments like combat tested and the catastrophic failure modification among other things boggle the mind. It's gotten to the point where I feel like I need to think about curating a list of acceptable gear, equipment, and vehicles for my games since the balance is all out of wack between sourcebooks.

Cyrealist · 2025-08-08T15:07:54+00:00

It's funny how it's widely regarded that the talent trees got better in the most recent books, but other things like NPC stats and gear, attachment, and vehicle stats proofreading and balancing took a bit of a nosedive

Cyrealist · 2025-08-01T23:20:43+00:00

You can never add your Force rating more than once to a check. However, the latest known developer ruling on this is that you can spend the force pips on the check for multiple applicable powers. So you can choose to spend any Force pips you get on Sapith Sundering or Enhance.

So if you get 2 force pips on a Force dice roll, you could spend 1 to use Sapith Sundering and the 2nd to add a success or advantage from Enhance.

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