Discipline Focus Article: DEFENDER
Hey guys. I’ve had this idea kicking around in the back of my head for quite some time now. I wanted to create stand-alone sub-reports that featured one of the Disciplines that you are able to select when creating a Character in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood.
I will highlight the NPC that’s been created, showcase a short fiction showing off how they could function, and then break down and expand on what makes the Discipline cool. You can view the Disciplines on their Wiki page, or on CDAWG here.
Today I’m going to talk about the Defender. It’s one of my favorite of the Force User disciplines, and my hope is that more people will be encouraged to try it out in builds for their characters.
Defender NPC: Wyndell Tyris
Someone asked me the other day what I would do If anything happened to Marick. I’ve never really considered an alternative character, and mostly think in terms of supporting NPCs when I create them. After some thought, I came up with the the character I’d want to play if I changed from Marick. That lead me to make Wyn.
Wyn is the half-brother of Marick, and I created him not just to highlight the Defender discipline, but for some unique fictional roles for Marick’s storyline. He’s a Human (Marick’s father's side) former con artist and borderline smuggler who’s talented in the Force but likes to fight from a distance and support others with his abilities. Here is a quick fiction to introduce him. Feel free to skip past this, as I will highlight the part that is important for discussion following.
Short Fiction
Nar Shaddaa
Refugee Sector
Frantic footsteps pounded against the cracked and broken duracrete streets. A female Omwati clutched a small child to her chest as she struggled to keep pace. Two other children were right at her heels, a Cathar boy with red fur and a pale skinned Rattataki girl.
A man wearing a black leather jacket with green accents and long hair tied back into a tail lead the way around the corner, dark eyes seeking out shelter ahead. He heard a shout from the direction they had just fled, and made an executive decision to duck into the closest alleyway and figure out what to do from there.
“Karking Quizzies, targeting kids,” Wyndell Tyris growled as he lead the woman and children into the alley and pressed his shoulder against the duracrete wall, peeking around the corner. He wasn’t sure what made aliens so undesirable. While a bit on the fragile side, the Omwati woman was anything but undesirable, if Wyn was being truthful. For whatever reason, the “Grand Master” of this “Brotherhood” did not share Wyn’s appreciation. His loss, really.
A trio of Inquisitors rounded the street corner. One was clad in a long gray jacket and had his hood drawn back. The other two wore the conventional uniform of the Inquisitorius, dark hoods drawn up to shadow their faces. Thier get-up made it hard to distinguish between them, but Wyn grouped them together as generic ‘Quizzies’, his patent-pending term for the Inquisitorius. He was sure it would become a thing soon enough.
The man in the middle with vibrant blue eyes was a different story, though. As if on cue, he spoke a simple command, lilted voice carrying easily through the streets. “Find them.”
Wyn looked around the alley and ran a few quick calculations. He was fairly certain he could take the two generics on by himself. The man in gray was definitely a high ranking Inquisitor by the way he carried himself. Probably a Grand Inquisitor, or something. That, and the man seemed to be making little effort to hide his signature in the Force. Shaking his head, Wyn turned to the three children looking at him with wide, frightened eyes. He flashed a knowing grin to them and then winked at the mother.
“Right, time to get creative,” Wyn said, rubbing his hands together. “Kids? I need you to huddle together with mom and stay close. We’re going to play the quiet game now, which means no talking or making any noise. Any questions?”
“What are you going to—”
“—Shhh, quiet game. Starting now.” Wyn raised a finger to his lips as he cut the child off.
Wyn fell into the Force and wrapped it around his body like a cloak. His figure shimmered as it became translucent and then disappeared entirely. Concentrating, the Defender pushed outward slightly to extend the effects of his cloak to the mother and three children. To their credit, they each kept their mouths shut while their eyes widened in wonderment and their own bodies vanished from view.
Wyndell remained perfectly still, sinking into the slipstreams of the Force and making sure he kept his own presence dampened. To anyone looking, he’d register as no more than an average Human and the alley would appear empty. Unless...
One of the Inquisitors stopped at the entrance to the passageway and seemed to concentrate intently. Wyn could sense a probing sensation through the Force. The Inquisitor swept his augmented vision around the alley, rooftops, and the street itself, searching.
Wyn remained perfectly still and trusted in his abilities. He knew that the Brotherhood’s “Seekers” had a unique ability to see through fabrications, but he was fairly confident that didn’t include his shared cloak. At least he hoped.
The Inquisitor's gaze swept right past his shrouded group. “All clear, sir,” he said with a slight hint of regret as he turned to the man in gray. He must have really wanted to show those alien kids who was boss. Meanie.
“Keep searching,” the Grand Inquisitor replied, pointing down the street. The Inquisitor nodded curtly and took off down the road to catch up with his generic partner.
The man in gray with the too-blue eyes lingered for the space of a few heartbeats. Turning his head to look directly at Wyn, he nodded once. He then turned to continue on down the street without looking back.
“Thanks, brother,” Wyn whispered as he waited another two minutes before dropping his cloak and gesturing for the kids and their mother to follow him back in the direction they came and to safety.
Still Reading? Skipped Ahead?
That's okay if you did. I’m going to highlight the important part anyway, but wanted to give an organic example of how a Defender can come in handy.
Defender Feat: Synergy
Wyn fell into the Force and wrapped it around his body like a cloak. His figure shimmered as it became translucent and then disappeared entirely. Concentrating, the Defender pushed outward slightly to extend the effects of his cloak to the mother and three children. To their credit, they each kept their mouths shut while their eyes widened in wonderment and their own bodies vanished from view.
You’ll notice this was highlighted above. That is because we get to see the Synergy feat in action. Wyn’s Synergy III allows him to spread the effects of his Force Cloak to the four Undesirables he is hiding. If they were Force-sensitive, Wyn could have also spread his Concealment ability. In this situation, he’d also be able to use Control Self or Healing, but as his Aspects indicate, Wyn isn’t very good at Force Healing, so he’d probably play to his strengths.
Wyn could sense a probing sensation through the Force. The Inquisitor swept his augmented vision around the alley, rooftops, and the street itself, searching.
Here we actually get a look at the Seeker’s Seeking feat. Since the characters are written as lower-ranking Seekers, it’s safe to assume they are using Seeking I or Seeking II. As a reminder, here is what Seeking II grants:
When focused, {{member}} has developed the ability to see through a Force User's Concealment or active Illusion up to (+4).
This means that Wyn’s +5 Force Cloak and +5 Concealment will hold up against anyone short of an Elder-level Inquisitor (who can pierce veils up to +5).
Defender Feat: Force Pulse
What we don’t get to see is the second Defender feat: Force Pulse. Force Pulse modifies the Force Power: Suppression, and allows the caster to dampen and then eventually negate the effects of linger offensive attacks. This ability works against Slow, Illusion, Blackness, Blinding, and Terror, and varies in ease-of-use based on the level (I, II, and III respectively).
So for example, say that Wyn had dropped the Force Cloak field and was simply hiding behind something for cover. One of the Inquisitors starts to use Terror to try and get anyone hiding to flee or cry out. Wyn could use Force Pulse to negate the effects on the four Undesirables he’s with, helping to keep them calm and hidden.
Conclusion
So, that’s my first Discipline Focus article. I would really appreciate feedback, whether by email or in the comments below. Let me know if you liked, hated, or simply didn’t care about the information in the Focus. Let me know if you have suggestions on how to make it better, things you’d rather see, or things you’d rather not see. My hope is to do one of these for each Discipline, but I need to make sure this format is helpful and informative.
Thanks guys, I appreciate it!
You can find an archive of my previous Combat Master reports HERE. These reports contain a lot of helpful information, so if you’re a new or returning member, I’d suggest leafing through them.
ACC Links
ACC Exams
Oh, and one more thing:
Non-Force user Disciplines are in the works. We have the first draft done, and the team (ACC Staff + Voice Staff + A few additional eyes) is hard at work on tweaking, editing, rewriting, and balancing/boosting my initial ideas/writeups for Feats/modifiers. I will detail more about them in my next report, so keep an eye for it!
That's all for now.
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New things. Sweet.
Well, not new. But still cool.
You had my curiousity, but now, you have my attention!
Defenders represent!
Awesome to see a highlight/focus like this ^_^ It's always a treat to hear the insights of the CM and the other ACC staff.
I once considered using the Defender Discipline for a "Counselor/Therapist"-type character. With Skills like Empathy and Diplomacy, and Aspects and Feats to back them up, they're someone who Clan-mates goto to offload and talk about their problems. Add Medicine/Lore and you've got a masseuse, chiropractor, and so on. The Defender Discipline comes in with Synergy and powers like Control Self and Healing. The character can help calm others anxiety by doing something as simple as slowing their breathing, help insomniacs get to sleep, soothe pains and perhaps heal their cause. Lots of interesting possibilities and story material.
Sounds pretty cool, Alishu. Nice thinking outside the box, I like it.
I really liked this! Good insight on some of the stuff I never felt interested in but now would definitly reconsider thanks to this. Well done and I am excited to see what else I missed in other Disciplines :)
Really nice highlight of the Defender feat. I've been playing with the idea of defender and this shows nicely what it can do.
This insight into a Defender's abilities is incredible, Wally! I love how you describe the way his abilities work, and how his persona is built around these abilities. I can definitely see how this is useful for all members; new and old.
I love the defender. They have some nice abilities.
Outside of the Club, one of my hobbies is D&D, and one thing I love doing there is creating, or reading other people's concept characters. This can help show case different powers and abilities that some people wouldn't immediately want to use. I love this article as it gives a chance to show anyone who read it, that even the "classes" that don't initially stick out as fun or entertaining to write about, can actually be some of the best to write.
Love the idea. Keep it up.
Really liking this idea, eagerly waiting for the next one now. Hope these get put into the CS guide somewhere, would be an awesome reference.
Enjoyed reading it! Could you please do one on Shadows next plz? :)