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| Fantasy Flight Games/Lucasfilm |
Star Wars: Collapse of the Republic
Fantasy Flight Games
Developed by Tim Cox with John Dunn, Lisa Farrel, Sterling Hershey, Keith Kappel, Monte Lin, and Jason Marker
Along with the three "Essential Collection" books, Collapse of the Republic was Fantasy Flight Games parting contribution to their Star Wars roleplaying game line. Intended as a companion to their previous Clone Wars sourcebook Rise of the Separatists, this book covers the latter half of the conflict as well as some of its stranger corners. The team does an excellent job justifying the decision to split the content into two separate books. Rise gives players what they need for adventure serial influenced heroics while Collapse offers a chance to live out the darkest moments of Star Wars history.
Player characters will need every advantage to survive these bleak, final days of the Old Republic, assuming they're willing to pay the toll taken to their health, finances, and very soul.
New Faces of War
While technically a separate supplement from the first Clone Wars book, Collapse still works best as a companion to it. Whereas Rise covers all the basic careers, gear, and NPCs, Collapse takes advantage of that previous work to introduce more unique and "veteran" options.
2 new Jedi careers are offered, both rooted in seniority and experience; the very much Yoda influenced Master tree and the more martial General path, with talents that flirt with the Dark Side. The talent "Short Path to Power" is also introduced to resolve an oversight in Rise where players were locked out of building Jedi Knight's at character creation due to the Force Rank 2 restriction.
The focus on more experienced characters is also evident in the three new Clone careers: Veteran, ARC Trooper, and Clone Commander. To top it all off, Collapse introduces "Signature" abilities for Jedi and Clones.
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| Fantasy Flight Games/Lucasfilm |
This book also provides more universal specializations, depicting some fan favorite and very specific roles. Mandalorians finally get a proper statline with Death Watch Warrior, sporting talents that make jetpack characters even more imposing but some emphasis on the more social side of the Mando'ade as well.
Which is to say, talents to enhance Coercion.
Nightsisters also emerge from the shadows, offering one of the more genuinely unique and mystical force user talent trees. The first (and only) true Separatist specialization arrives with Separatist Commander, easing the pass for some less explored perspectives.
Collapse does run into a lot of very "similar" careers. You can make a thematic argument for the clone specializations being so similar but it's still notable how close
