Soresu Defender

Of the 6 Career Skills, choose 3 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Guardian Career Skills: Brawl, Cool, Discipline, Melee, Resilience and Vigilance

Soresu Defender Specialization Skills: Discipline, Knowledge (Lore), Lightsaber and Vigilance.

The Guardian begins play with a Force rating of 1

Guardians frequently and deliberately put themselves in harm’s way in order to aid others. However, just as the Protector is unmatched at keeping others safe, the Soresu Defender has mastered the art of self defense. With lightsaber in hand, Soresu Defenders can fend off hordes of enemies or stand firm against hails of blaster fire, surviving the worst the enemy can throw at them. With their combination of skills, the character can maintain constant vigilance, recognize threats, and remain resolute in the face of danger.

Soresu Defenders depend on the Force to guide them through dangers. Their techniques rest almost entirely on knowing how best to use their weapons for defensive purposes. In many ways, this style approaches the level of precognition, as the Force guides its practitioners to use their weapons to deflect an incoming attack or to move out of the way of an assault. Individuals who are unaware of their Force potential can become accomplished martial artists using these techniques, but true Soresu Defenders must be sensitive to the Force.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Ancient Order: The Jedi Order, which once trained many of its students in the signature defensive sword style of the Soresu Defender, was lost in the carnage of Order 66. Yet, in isolated parts of the galaxy, some traditions derived from the Soresu technique’s legacy have survived. The character might have been trained in a peacekeeping art whose forms and techniques are drawn from ancient forms of Soresu style. Alternately, the PC might have learned it under a swordmaster who trained with the Jedi long ago—or even fought against them. However this character came upon his signature technique, it is a cherished fragment of the past and represents a deep bond to the ancient Guardians of old.
  • Battlefield Leader: A character who became a Soresu Defender might have attracted attention through willful efforts. Perhaps a combination of natural talent and hubris incited the Soresu Defender to wantonly challenge anyone with a sword. Then, one day, the character met a swordmaster with even greater skill—someone who instructed the PC the roots of Soresu technique. The character might have developed a sense of humility during this training, but anyone who leaps willingly into the fray to fight often maintains a flair for the dramatic.
  • Outlaw Agent: In the criminal underworld, a Soresu Defender could make for an incredibly deadly enforcer, wielding keen intellect to predict threats in advance and then making short work of them using incredible skills with the blade. The source of the character’s skills also inform the story. Perhaps a Soresu Defender appeared mysteriously to the syndicate one day, already trained, or maybe the character learned from a secretive mentor who possessed some shard of lost Jedi lore.
  • Wayfarer: All knowledge of the Force is repressed by the Empire’s Inquisitorius and its deadly agents, but the Jedi spread their teachings far and wide before their fall. A Soresu Defender might have stumbled upon a holocron containing records of Jedi training routines for lightsaber combat. With this bit of knowledge in hand, the character might have launched a search for more Jedi lore, traveling to forgotten corners of the galaxy to find lost relics, forgotten sanctuaries. Above all, the character might seek rumors of Force-sensitive hermits who could help the developing Soresu Defender to achieve mastery of this powerful lightsaber style.