The Forsee Force Power has a Control upgrade that lets the Force user roll a Forsee power check as part of the initiative check, and then spend force points to improve initiative. So far so good.
But we have a few questions, if investing in Magnitude upgrade (and range) the force user can spend the rolled force points to increase her allies initiative as well. But should the Force user know what initiative has been rolled?
If a force user rolls initiative with this power, and knows the initiative rolls of all enemies and allies before spending the rolled force points she could optimize how to spend them. Increasing allies only if they manage to pass enemies in the initiative order.
So in short, shoud the force user know the results of the initiative checks before allocating force points?
The RAW is that the Force user spends the pips at the time they are rolled. So “who rolls first?” is really the question, one I do not believe is answered in the CRBs.
There is no good narrative reason for the Force user to know the results. There is also no particularly compelling reason the other way, so it is really up to personal preference.
Personally, I would have the Force user roll first and apply the results before anyone else rolls.
I agree, we had a similar discussion at our table, regarding the use of Rapid Reaction, and ultimately decided that Players should decide whether or not to spend the strain before anyone table rolls, as it just seemed to make the most sense that way round.
In the last campaign that I ran, I let the nightsister roll Foresee, but wait to see all the results before spending her pips. Since she’s peering into the future anyways, there isn’t a need to be so stringent was my thinking (being a rules lawyer, I’m trying to learn to not be so all of the time if it gets in the way of players having fun).
Most of the time she didn’t have enough Light Side results and it didn’t do much other than add to her own initiative anyways (she didn’t want the conflict, since she was also the party healer and close to becoming Dark Side).
Thanks for all the input, in our group we’ve had this discussion and see both sides. On one side, Forsee is looking into the future so it kind of feels thematic knowing all other initiatives before spending pips, but on the other hand it might be too powerful.
However, our Force user only has Force Rating 2, so often he will probably get 1-2 light side pips, so it probably won’t be very powerful either way. We’re playing Edge of the Empire, and I don’t think he’ll increase his FR any time soon.
My narrative justification is that the Force user would be sending a “spidey-sense” tingle to certain PCs, prompting their reaction before initiative has technically started. The extra split-second of narrative warning allows the characters to react faster than they otherwise would have.
If the Force user rolls later, then… how does he affect the result? After everyone has started reacting, he causes some of them to react faster?
For what it’s worth, here are the odds of a given roll:
On an average roll of two Force dice, you get 3 pips, roughly evenly divided between light and dark (average).
1/16 of the time, he’ll roll double-double light (1/4*1/4).
An additional 1/12 of the time, he’ll roll three light (1/6*1/4+1/6*1/4.
15/36 of the time, he’ll roll two light.
So 5/9 of the time, he’ll roll at least two light. 5/18 of the time, he’ll only roll one. The remaining 3/18 will result in no light pips.
Fully upgraded,
With two light, he can give himself +1 success and extend that to two allies at Engaged range.
With three light, he can give himself +1 success and extend that to two allies at Long range, or four at Engaged range.
With four light, he can give himself +2(or 1) success and extend that to two(or four) allies at Long range, maybe also giving them a free maneuver instead of increasing Success or number affected.
Additionally, affected targets receive +2 Ranged/Melee Defense for the first round of combat.
Best example of Foresee initiative in the movies is Obi-Wan and Anakin when they were guarding Padme and Anakin senses something and Obi-Wan says “I sense it too”.