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Greetings! Welcome to another report brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Voice Magistrate. This has been long overdue and there’s much to cover, so let’s jump right in.

Updates

There’s been a lot of news since my last report, but here’s some details about what’s been going on.

• Voice Report 18 - Custom Disciplines are now a reality! Ever see one Discipline feat and wish you could combine it with a feat from another Discipline? Well, now you can (although there is a caveat there). I’ll go into this more later, but it’s still worth checking out the full report.
• Voice Report 19 - details changes to the species rule (where previously a proposed species must be humanoid and have 2 arms and 2 legs), changes to the hybrid policy, how Suppression works, and how cybernetics are to be handled. Species feats have been removed as well. To make up for the loss of those two granted feats, everyone was given an extra feat slot to use! Important to note, your character does not lose something with this change. They are still capable of the things that their wiki pages say they can do, which has been policy for a while now. Species feats were just a little confusing as, for example, one species may have had a special vision feat while another one that had a similar ability did not have it as a feat. This eliminates that confusion. And it also allows for some freedom where maybe some trait of the species that had a feat wouldn’t apply to your character. Not everyone is going to be the same, so now you can play them how you want.
• Voice Report #20 - details updates to the fiction submission policy.
• Voice Report #21 - hold onto your hats (looking at you, TuQ), because we’re getting witchy now with the inclusion of Nightsister powers and 2 new Disciplines for them. It also features a reminder about how Lore topics work.
• Voice Report #22 details an update to Resolve and other skills, and what skill counters other skills/powers.
• Voice Report #23 and Voice Supplemental #23.1 detail the exciting changes to character management interface (it’s all in one place now!), the ability to easily swap character slots around, soft rank caps for the slots, a brand new one being added (and how to unlock it), and being able to set Honorifics, Traditions, and Affiliations for all character slots.
• Voice Report #25 details the changes to how the Transformation Force power works and the introduction of the Challenge Rating system for it. This clarifies exactly what you can transform into at each skill level.
• Voice Supplemental #25.1 details changes to the Species Approval Policy when asking for new species to get added to the system.

I want to give a big thank you to everyone that was involved in these various projects, they’re really fun to see and add a lot of different options for people to play around with. Additionally, welcome and congrats to Jenni and Tisto on joining Voice Staff. They are currently undergoing hazing indoctrination training (as Appy did when he joined) and will be pushing buttons soon.

Also, the wiki pages for Skills and Force Powers has undergone a review and any feats that were missing from there have been added, so they should be current once again.

Feats

First up, this went live before my previous post back in July 2024 and I missed it (sorry about that). That post has been updated, but in case you missed the edit, or the feat, here it is again. A new feat called Knuckle Fists has been added. It unlocks at JM4 and allows a character to use their MA skill level in place of their Misc. Weapons skill level when wielding knuckler weapons.

A new feat, There's Always A Bigger Fish, has been added. This unlocks at the rank of EQ3 and allows a character to use their Operations skill in place of their Piloting skill when piloting ships that are Corvettes or larger.

After a request from Tarvitz, two new feats involving Leadership, Tactics, and Stealth have been added:

• Shadow Warfare unlocks at EQ1 that uses Leadership instead of Stealth for commanding troops on stealth missions.
• Guerilla Warfare unlocks at EQ3 and uses Stealth instead of Tactics for using guerilla warfare-style attacks.
  

Creature Sense is a new tiered feat that uses Sense and Creature Control to share the sense of a creature and experience things from their point of view. The JM level allows this with Domesticated creatures, the EQ level allows Domesticated and Tameable, and the EL level allows any owned creature. This was suggested by Bril Teg Erinos.

Dun Moch’s wording has been updated to hopefully make it more clear what it does. It also now applies when using Bladed and Blunt weapons.

Chem Dealer is a feat for Ichor that lets you carry one additional ichor potion (to a maximum or 3) for the first tier (JM) and two additional ichor potions (to a maximum of 4) for the second tier (EQ).

Fire Armor unlocks at EQ2 and lets you use Pyrokinesis to coat your armor or clothing in fire.

Fire Weapons unlocks at EQ2 and lets you use Pyrokinesis to coat your weapons with fire.

Free Fall unlocks at JM4 and lets you use Gravitation to orient an object’s gravitational pull in a different direction.

Like a Hurricane unlocks at EQ4 and lets you use Weather Control to target a group of individuals even as they move, as long as you maintain sight on the region.

Locker Space lets you use Item Conjuring to store one additional item (to a maximum of 4) for the first tier (JM4) and two additional items (to a maximum of 5) for the second tier (EQ1).

Blind Shot unlocks at EQ3 and lets you use Teleportation to transport something to a place that’s not within line of sight.

Long Shot unlocks at JM4 and lets you use Teleportation to move something up to 200 meters within line of sight.

Preservation Override unlocks at EL1 and lets you override a target’s survival instincts when using Possession, allowing you to place them in dangerous or deadly situations, even combat.

Strings For Thee unlocks at EQ3 and lets you split Possession to two targets.

Unseen Servant unlocks at EQ3 and lets you maintain one Wraith using Necromancy without active concentration, but it can’t participate in combat.

Yzma’s Cabinet unlocks at EQ1 and lets you transform one additional target into a different creature type with Transformation.

Quick Storage is a new feat available at EQ3 that cuts the time in half for storing or summoning an item with Item Conjuring, depending on what level the power is set to. The initial concept for shortened time was suggested by Nero Ashraven and we workshopped it to make it work.

Rather Weighty, This is a new feat for Gravitation, available at JM4 that allows the user to not increase the pull of gravity on targets in addition to the standard decreasing the pull of gravity or changing its direction.

Gravity Well is a new feat for Gravitation, available at EQ2, that allows you to cast the power over an area 3 meters wide, with the effects strongest at the center and diminishing as you get toward the edges. The concept for this also came from Nero Ashraven.

• This can be paired with Rather Weighty, This to cast an area of increased gravity.

False Echoes is a new feat that unlocks at EQ2 and uses Deception instead of Intellect to counter Telepathy by projecting false information.

Ichor Bolt is a new feat for Telekinesis, available at JM4, where you can throw bolts of energy at people, like a visible, Nightsister-flavored telekinetic punch.

Ichor Cloud is a new feat for Darkness, available at NOV4, which gives the power the appearance of green ichor mist instead.

Fear Projection is a new feat for Terror, available at EQ2. This projects tiny versions of your own fears around you that can be used to strengthen your connection to the Force and use the fear to fuel your abilities.

Deflection Specialist (which also gets a mention later), has been updated to clarify that the weapons used must be made of lightsaber-resistant materials.

Matter Bender has been updated to no longer include manipulating fire, due to the release of Pyrokinesis.

I am in Control is a new feat available at JM4 that lets you use Control Self instead of Resolve to try to counter a Mind Trick.

Inside My Head is a new feat available at JM4 that lets you use Perception instead of Intellect to try to counter Telepathy.

Two and Two is Five is a new feat available at EQ1 that lets you use Intellect instead of Perception to try to counter Deception.

Unimpressed is a new feat available at EQ1 that lets you use Resolve instead of Perception to try to counter Charm.

Junker I-III, one of the feats for Scavengers and custom Disciplines, has been updated to work with both Crafting and Mechanics now.

Force Drain I-III has been updated to specify that that target you're taking the Force and life energy from must be a living sapient being.

A Soul for a Soul has had some of its wording removed to better reflect what it does and eliminate possible confusion between it and Force Drain, remaining its own separate ability.

Synergy I-III, one of the feats for Defenders and custom Disciplines, has been updated from extending the effects of the stated Force power (Concealment, Force Cloak, Healing, or Control Self) on “a single ally” to “a single target” for the first level and from “a small team of allies” to “a small team of targets” on the second and third levels. Enjoy messing with your enemies!

Escape Artist has been updated to include the ability to counter the effects of Gravitation as well as Slow and Telekinesis.

Escape Artist and Rampage I-III have had their mentions of Stasis removed since that hasn’t been in the system for some time now.

Species

The elephant-like species Cragmoloid has been added as a playable species.

Hutts have been toggled to active for members to play (they were already in the system from an April Fool’s joke, just locked when that ended).

Besalisk, Harch, Herglic, Lepi, and Evereni have also been added to the system.

Shaevalians have always been a bit of a weird situation as the DB’s only custom species, especially when others could not be added. Current characters will be grandfathered to allow them to stay, but no new characters may select that species going forward.

As this came up recently, it’s worth mentioning that the species you can pick for a sheeted character is governed by what we have in our system, which can be found on the Species page of the CS Guide. Anything there is fair game. What some other DB wiki page says has no bearing on it. Speaking of species, when proposing a new one for addition, keep in mind that they can’t be extinct (like the Taung, Sith species, or Geonosians). We also need to know what they look like as a baseline - which is why we’ve had to reject Tusken and Jawa.

Custom Disciplines

Custom Disciplines are live! Idris put out a great post (Voice Report 18) that explains it and the process involved, so please give that a look if you haven’t already done so or are in need of a refresher. Additionally, the Character Sheet Approval Guidelines wiki page details things as well. Essentially, this is something for members at the rank of EQ3 and up to make use of to better customize their characters. As you know, Disciplines grant two (2) feats to characters. Custom Disciplines are no different, except YOU get to pick which Discipline feats to utilize. You can take a feat from one Discipline and mix it with a feat from another Discipline and make it your own. However, FUs can only select FU Discipline feats and NFUs can only select NFU Discipline feats - Duelist, which I mention below, is the only exception to this. As an example of how this might look, I came up with the Force Warrior Discipline for my Force User main character by choosing the Channel feat from Arcanist and combining it with the Battlefield Awareness feat from Marauder. Or how Idris took the Scoundrel feat Intergalactic and combined it with the Weapons Specialist feat Proficiency. Another fun thing is that these can be selected by any character slot you have, as long as it matches the chosen Order type (FU or NFU).

Additionally, keep in mind that this is a manual process for us and we will get to it when we can, so please be patient. While this is old news now, it happened after the system was launched and Idris made his report: thanks to the magic of James, your PIN will no longer need to be added to the end of the Discipline name. Also, the maximum allowed custom Disciplines at one time has been increased due to the new character slot being added. This means that EQ3/4 members can have a maximum of up to 5, while Elder members can have a maximum of up to 6.

To go along with the launch of the system, new Discipline feats have been added to the system, which can be found on the Discipline wiki page. These can be paired with each other or any of the other existing Discipline feats, as long as they don’t mix FU and NFU options.

Force Users looking to make a custom Discipline now have access to the following feats:

• Primal Bond, which gives a bonus to Creature Control.
• Beast Mode, which deals with using Amplification on a creature.
• Jedi Ace, which gives a bonus to Precognition when piloting in a space battle.
• Force Shockboxing, which enhances unarmed strikes by allowing a user to envelop their fists in Force Lightning.
• Hivemind, which deals with Battle Meditation. Typically, Battle Meditation means you’d have to be stationary, unless you chose the Force Meld feat, but that only lets you move. Hivemind, however, offsets the “cost” of concentration onto one or two other people (depending on the level) which enables a character to not only move, but fight as well.
• Arcane Shield, which allows a user to wrap themselves in the Force to lessen, absorb, or redirect (depending on level) damage from Force Lightning or weapons inflicting shock, stun, elemental damage, explosives, or blaster fire. (Note: This was originally known as Arcane Battery.)
• Clairvoyance, which perceive Force visions as images and sounds over their natural vision. Think of it like a Farsight HUD.
• Presentiment, which allows a Force User, through skin-to-skin contact, see a target’s past and future in the form of mental sounds and images.
• Spectral Beast, which allows you to take on a ghostly form of an animal of their choice (which must be noted in the loadout details) and allows for varying levels of attack, moving through walls, and communication with people, depending on the tier.
• Spirit Guide, which allows people to use their Telepathy for the purposes of reaching out to spirits of those that have died. The first tier can contact spirits that are up to a month old, the second tier up to a year old, and the third tier for spirits older than a year.
  
  • This is purely based on the user initiating the contact. Someone does not need this feat to talk to a spirit that chooses to appear to them.

Additionally, Non-Force Users have access to some new Discipline feat options as well:

• Well Trained, which deals with a delayed trigger for commands to their creature of choice (must be cited in the loadout description).
• Creature Speaker, which gives a bonus to Survival when interacting with wild creatures. The second and third levels also allow you to use your Survival skill level instead of Creature Handling.
• Unarmed Specialist, due to extensive training in martial arts, provides a bonus to Stamina at the first level, Stamina and Athletics at the second level, and Stamina, Athletics, and Resolve at the third level.
• Deflection Specialist, which allows NFUs to deflect blaster fire using lightsaber-resistant bladed or blunt weapons.
• Capital Commander, which gives a bonus to Operations when at the helm of large capital ships.
• Masquerade, which gives a bonus to Deception when trying to fool sentient eyes or technological sensors (depending on level) when using regular or technological means to alter their appearance.
• Mad Scientist, which gives a bonus to Medicine or Medicine and Mechanics (depending on level) when attempting to work on, create, or heal something using methods, whether biological or technological, that some would deem morally wrong.
• Adventurer Archeologist, which allows people to read and write well-known languages of ancient civilizations without needing the Linguistics skill point for the JM tier, read and write lesser-known languages of ancient civilizations without needing the Linguistics skill point and gain a +1 skill point bonus to Investigation (up to a maximum of +5) for the EQ tier, and read and write all ancient dialects without needing the Linguistics skill point and gain a +2 skill point bonus to Investigation (up to a maximum of +5) for the EL tier.

And finally, there’s the unique Duelist that is available to both FUs and NFUs, which gives a bonus to Athletics at the first level, Athletics and Might at the second level, and Athletics, Might, and Perception at the third level when engaging in one-on-one duels when using a lightsaber, bladed, or blunt weapon.

If you’ve got ideas for new Discipline feats, feel free to email us. Be aware that these will be discussed among the staff and then passed along to Bubba and Atra as well, so the review may take some time, especially if you send in multiple ideas at once. If added to the system, they will be available for anyone to use. So far, by my record, Arcane Shield, Clairvoyance, Presentiment, Masquerade, Mad Scientist, Spectral Beast, Spirit Guide, and Adventurer Archeologist have been additions provided based on member requests.

Clarifications

Transformation: When transformed, you are able to understand people speaking in languages that you know. You cannot understand and speak to animals, nor can you speak to other people. Speaking to others is possible only with the Spectral Beast Discipline feat and when utilizing that particular ability. You also cannot pick features from different creatures and blend them together.

Metamorphosis: The parts of your body that can be transformed strictly applies to your arms and legs only, nothing else. Other features, such as wings, tails, horns, etc. are not allowed.

Matter Bender: The first tier allows for Avatar: The Last Airbender style of control over things, and your level of control with it is dependent on your skill level with Telekinesis. The second tier has no bearing on the first and simply adds the ability to make holes in stationary inorganic things, limited in size to an area no larger than yourself.

Sense: This does not allow you to know the layout of a place/know where things/objects are. However, the Eyes Wide Shut feat does let those that have lost their physical sight to “see” through the Force. Think of it like seeing the outline of things so you can still interact with the world. You just still won't be able to read or anything like that. In the past, this has often been described as “seeing” in the same way the Marvel Comics character Daredevil does.

Reminders

Although this came up last year when a then-newer member was looking things over, this still serves as a good reminder. All lightsaber forms open up at the rank of JM1. Prior to that, the only form available to Novitiates is Form 0 (Banlanth). And for any form, you will need to have at least a +1 in the Lightsaber skill to select anything from the drop-down list. Likewise, a +1 in Martial Arts is also required to select martial arts forms.

• A quick reminder: NOVs get access to 1 preferred saber form, 1 preferred martial arts form, and 1 weapon specialization. JMs get access to 1 preferred saber form, 2 preferred martial arts forms, and 1 weapon specialization. EQs and up get access to 2 preferred saber forms, 2 preferred martial arts forms, and 2 weapon specializations.

Another older thing brought up a couple times recently, the blue loadout slots (the backpack and land and space vehicles) indicate slots that are not available to use in ACC matches. So if you've got some item you really like or want to use, or maybe it's important to the character, be careful where you slot it.

Next is something that’s also been around for a long time, and normally it would just get handled at the review stage of the process with a remand, but sometimes things get missed. Be careful when using real-world terms in your physical description. For example, you wouldn’t say that a character has Caucasian skin because that’s just not a Star Wars term. Instead, you’d want to go with things like white, pale, etc. This usually isn’t a problem, and has been the policy since well before my time on staff, but I’ve seen it come up in a few sheets and wanted to give a reminder about it.

• Note: We have come to the conclusion that some things just don’t have a good alternative way to describe them. In light of this, if there's an RL term you use for something, we’ll discuss things as needed when they come up and may allow certain terms. A good rule of thumb, in my opinion, is that if something is super specific, to the point that someone would need to go look it up, it’s probably best to avoid using it. Remember, physical descriptions are mainly to help others, not yourself, with how your character looks.

Also, please remember that the physical description is meant to describe what a character looks like, not how they dress. Clothing and weapons/other items are handled by the possessions system and loadouts. That said, if it is something cultural, or what a character would need to survive, it can be allowed - like a Miraluka wearing a cloth to cover their vestigial eye sockets, species like Kel Dor that require a breath mask due to biological makeup, or wrappings on a Twi’lek’s lekku. Both of these don’t show up as often anymore and seem to usually be from newer members or returning members that have been away for a long time. It’s not a huge deal, but I thought it was worth bringing up.

Because these come up from time to time, remember that the CS wizard handles height and weight in metric, but the finished CS will display both systems of measurement. Sometimes a decimal is off or whatever and it can cause an issue (there have been instances of people being crazy tall because of this, well outside of what any species would allow). Similar to this, please make sure to proofread your physical descriptions, aspects, and lore topics/languages - or even tag in someone else, or both! While typos aren’t technically something we remand for unless we can’t understand what is being said (you may see them mentioned as a note in addition to another issue), I do try my best to catch them when I notice them and let you guys know, but things can still get by. Sometimes it’s more minor, sometimes it’s not. Just something to keep in mind.

When writing out a physical description, remember to check all the boxes that would be needed for your species. You don’t want a remanded sheet because you forgot an eye color or missed what skin tone your character has, etc. We look for the following details, if applicable for a species: eye color, hair color, hair style, build/body type, and skin tone. Missing these will result in a remand if it’s something your chosen species should have, so double check before you click submit. Keep in mind that things can vary even among members of the same species. As an example, we’ve seen Zabrak that are bald and also Zabrak with hair, so we’ll need to know about that one way or the other. Also, make sure you’re only including ONE hairstyle that will be what your character primarily uses since the description is supposed to be like looking at a picture. You’re free to have whatever hairstyle you want in your writing, or even change it, but the CS has to be one style.

I mentioned this back in my second Magistrate report, but I still see it pop up every now and then (although rarely), so I wanted to touch on it again. Every member is granted up to three (3) lore topics without you needing to do anything. Those are:

• The history of the Galactic Civil War including the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the Galactic Empire
• The history of the modern era including the New Republic and post-Galactic Concordance conflicts
• Lore and History of the Brotherhood
  • Previously, this topic was granted to everyone, but due to a change that was made, it is now optional for members. You will see this as a checkbox on the CS wizard under the section Step 6: Specialize, where you find your lore/knowledge topics. It says: Include “Lore and History of the Brotherhood” topic. Check the box to include it, uncheck the box to leave it off your sheet. This means the decision is fully in your hands and adds an additional level of flexibility for your characters and their backgrounds/histories. By default, the box looks to be checked and will grant you the lore topic.

You are free to use your language/lore/knowledge slots as you desire (within the bounds of what’s allowed), but it’s worth noting that including anything possibly covered by one of the above topics is essentially wasting that slot. Do with that knowledge what you will.

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As always, let us know if you have any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Have a suggestion for something, like a feat or whatever? Go ahead. Need clarification on something? We’ll do what we can to help out. You never know when someone else may have been wondering the same thing and hasn’t asked yet or is afraid to, so go ahead and reach out. The staff email ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) is the preferred way of doing so - we’re all kept in the loop and it makes it easier for us to discuss things. That said, my proverbial door is always open and I’m usually around and happy to help however I can. If I can’t give you an answer or I’m not sure, I’ll ask and let you know. If it’s thoughts and opinions on something, rather than like an official stance, I can do that too. Help with an aspect, or maybe a custom discipline selection or blurb? I’ll do what I can. I consider all of that to be part of my job and that’s what I’m here for. Help me help you, as the saying goes.

That’s all for now. I apologize for the long stretch between reports and for just how much is here, but thanks for sticking around. I hope this has been helpful. I’ll see you next time!

-- Reiden