Is the Bind Force Power way too OP

Rules & Game Mechanics
#1

Ok, I recently had a player use Bind at its most basic level against one of the most powerful creatures in the game, a Krayt Dragon. And it worked.

The power reads as follows.

The Force user restrains an enemy, preventing the target from taking actions.
The user may spend Force pips to immobilize a target within short range until the end of the user’s next turn. If the user used any Force pips to generate Dark Force pips, the target also suffers 1 wound per Dark Force pip spent on the check (ignoring soak).

Now, looking at it from a GM perspective, it seems way too OP. Since the power does not specify any silhouette or power level of the target, if there were a living planet one wanted to bind, then they could do so with the basic level of this power.

I believe this power affects the mind of the creature or somehow inhibits the motor functions of the target, as it can also work on machines. Why not a Star Destroyer? Provided you get close enough to use it.

Am I misreading this, or is there something I’m missing? Is there an Errata that corrects this, or is this as OP as it seems? As a GM, I feel I should limit the effect or at least the effective area to the range of the power, so maybe not an entire Star Destroyer, even at long range. But perhaps an imperial walker and the above-mentioned Krayt Dragon. Regardless, I still consider this an OP power due to its simplicity and utility.

Because three members of a relatively low-level group were able to incapacitate and kill a Krayt Dragon in two rounds with just a heavy blaster and two lightsabers, once it was Bound, utilizing the Vicious quality of the lightsabers, over two rounds they were able to inflict approximately 7 Critical Hits between 5 separate attacks, culminating in a Critical Hit of 171, which ultimately killed it. All of this is due to it being bound by the force power Bind. The first critical knocked it prone, and subsequent criticals rendered it unable to attack for one round. But that’s all it took to make the dragon ineffectual, then dead.

If this is correct, is there any counter to this?

Because if not, then so long as the character using Bind can go before the target, and can maintain it until they can renew it on the following turns, and the players can capitalize on this, then, regardless of the size and power of the creature, it might be as potent as a wet tissue holding a brick.

What say you?

#2

Take a look at page 283 of your F&D core book, “Resisting Force Powers”. In short: When a Force power that doesn’t already involve an opposed or combat check is aimed at a significant enemy (Nemesis or named Rival), the power automatically requires an opposed check to function. In the case of Bind, the most appropriate check would likely be Force user’s Discipline versus target’s Resilience or Athletics. For a Krayt Dragon, that would result in a Discipline check versus 2 red, 3 purple. Possibly with one or two setback dice tossed in for it being a giant monster. Not completely insurmountable, but certainly a more significant obstacle than “roll 2 force pips and you’re good.”

(Also note that “immobilize” refers to the status effect “immobilized”, not the regular use of the word - you can still take Actions, including chomping people who come close enough to hit you with a sword. To actually completely paralyze an enemy, you need the lightside mastery that makes them both immobilized and staggered. That being said, action economy is still king in SWRPG and it’s hard to set up a boss fight of one vs. a group that feels really good.)

I hope this helps!

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#3

@Cifer gave you the RAW answer, and I have nothing to add in that regard.

I felt sure that Bind must have had a Silhouette factor, but I looked, and it doesn’t. Weird.

Force Powers in this game can scale to Starkiller levels of power (*cough* Move a Star Destroyer *cough*), and this is an example of that. However, when it comes to vehicles, I think it should NOT apply. The exact wording of the description is “Bind’s basic power allows the Force user to restrain those nearby, preventing them from harming others and themselves.” The actual Power text only says “target,” but the description is plainly aimed at individuals (droids, animals, humanoids, aliens, etc.).

As a GM, I would not permit Bind to be used against vehicles (Immobilize affecting vehicles is already controversial), and I would be hesitant to allow its use against large animals, but their high Brawn usually balances that naturally.

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#4

Trhanks for that.
Regarding the “Immobilze” function. The Dragon was only restricted from making Maneuvers due to the Immobilize effect. However, it received three criticals in a row, from a single attacker (Lightsaber with a Critical rating of 1 and Vicious 2 and lots of advantages to spend) prior to its first action that Knocked it Prone, Stunned it: a.k.a. Staggered, and Hamstrung it. This left it down with no actions and no Maneuvers. The following attacks made it worse since all following criticals started at +30 and wend down hill from there. In the end the final critical was at +70 not counting any Vicious effects. Subsequent criticals kept it both immobile and without actions. Even its roar was left ineffectual since most of the heroes resisted the effects.
So, yeah. It was a very short and uneventful encounter with the players turing the Dragon into their bitch. If we had realized that “Resisting Force Powers” rule could be used, then maybe it might have turned out different.
First lesson, know the rules.

#5

You might have misplayed that. You can only deal 1 critical effect per hit. If you have lots of advatages to activate crit multiple times, the subsequent activations add +10 to the crit roll. So in your case, if it’s 1 hit then he gets a crit with +20 from vicious 2 and +20 from the second and third crit activation. So 1 crit wih overall +40

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#6

I second what Rimsen said.

Against large creatures with high Soak/Wound Threshold, Lightsabers are perhaps the scariest non-planetary weapon because of their crit potential. This makes the battles unpredictable because of the negligible-to-game-changing effects of Critical Injuries. Generally speaking, you have to expect battles to be short and deadly. Strike hard and fast, because you might get a second chance, but you probably won’t get a third.

When designing an encounter around a centerpiece like the Krayt, it’s usually best to include other challenges or objectives beyond just “kill the enemy,” or to build it with every intention of a short, sharp engagement. For example, if you have it ambush the PCs and weight Initiative rolls with Boosts/Setbacks, you can amp up the danger with a sudden attack, and the “victory” becomes surviving the ambush, rather than attacking on an even field or their own terms and winning a stand-up fight.

A fight does not have to be long to be suspenseful or exciting. At least not in my opinion. If they’re hunting for the Krayt dragon, or for something it’s protecting, you can have much of the session/encounter be a suspenseful expedition that reaches its climax with an ambush. High-damage, low-survivability fights will always be short, so use that.