A suggestion to replace Force Repulse

[Spirit]

When I wrote my sort-of review for this mod, I praised most of its content, however, I also voiced my dislike towards Force Repulse, and suggested that it should be replaced with something more usefull, and less derpy-looking. At that time I had no idea for the replacement, but now I have. By the way, is this mod dead? I hope it isn't. There's too much potential in it.

 

Force Suppression

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_suppression

The icon used for Force Suppression in KotOR. In JKA we should have something similar on a Holocron.

 

Summary:

Force Suppression is an ability that appears both in KotOR and KotOR II. It is a technique usefull against other Force users: it disturbs their focus, preventing them from effectively using the Force to their adventage.

 

Effects:

Using this power on an opponent would cause them to lose the benefits of Force Speed, Sense, Protect, Absorb, and Dark Rage, and Deadly Sight if they were using any of those at the moment they were struck. In other words, Force Suppression would shut down those abilities. Additionally, sucessfully using this power on an opponent should temporarily decrease the effectiveness of all of their Force powers (see the implementation part for details). Due to its nature, Force Suppression should also be able to break Force Grip, and perhaps even the up close and personal attack of Force Drain.

 

Implementation:

Leveling up this power should increase its range, and the duration for which it hinders the opponent's efforts to use the Force. Besides breaking any active Force abilities, Force Suppression should also temporarily decrease the effectiveness of all other Force Powers the enemy may use, by Force Suppression -1 levels. Here's an example:

Level1: range 5 meters, doesn't decrease the opponent's Force powers.

Level2: range 10 meters, decreases the opponent's Force power levels by 1 for 5 seconds.

Level3: range 15 meters, decreases the opponent's Force power levels by 2 for 10 seconds.

 

This would mean that for example, using level 3 Force Suppression on an opponent with level 1 or 2 powers would cause them to lose their abilities completely for a few seconds, while using it on an opponent with level 3 Force powers would temporarily "nerf" their powers to level 1. This effect should not be cumulative.

 

And one more thing, the visual effect in KotOR for this power is fugly, please use something more subtle. That's just a personal oppinion tho.

 

Notes for balancing:

For continuity and gameplay reasons, this power should only affect a single opponent. Because it is quite powerfull, I suggest that it should consume at least 50 FP. The FP cost should be balanced in a way that makes spamming the ability, and thus continously blocking an opponent's Force abilities impossible.

 

How is this power different from Force Drain?

This was one question I asked myself while thinking over this idea, so I'll write down the answer here, just in case it occurs to other people as well. First of all, Force Drain is a Dark Side healing power. It's primary function is healing, and not preventing the opponent from using the Force. As such, Force Drain is actually not very efficient when it comes to that, it blocks Force Abilities completely for a few seconds, but it's completely worthless against Speed, Absorb, and Dark Rage, and Protect too, if it's used in tandem with Absorb. Furthermore, certain NPCs have much more FP than what the player can drain, and using Drain on them actually does more harm to the player, by leaving him / her vulnerable to a Force-based counterattack, for example Force Grip. The primary function of Force Suppression would be to combat buffing abilities, and Force powers in general. Besides these things, Force Suppression would be a neutral ability instead of a Dark Side one, which could have a minor impact on the campaign as a whole.

[LucyTheAlien]

Yes, this. 

[Beyond Heretic]

There's a similar power iirc in Star Wars Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight called "Force Blinding". It prevents a player from using several force powers and blinds the player's vision for a few seconds. It can be countered with another force power called Force Sight.

 

It only has a few uses in the game though since the only force users you fight are bosses. It's more useful in multiplayer.

[LucyTheAlien]

THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.