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The aim of the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook is to explore the light side of the Force, and it is a solid success. Since the dark siders already have a book of their own (The Dark Side Sourcebook), it’s good to have the Power of the Jedi book to bring balance to the force. (Sorry.)

Let’s cut right to the good parts. There were three things I wanted in a book about Jedi, and I got them: the Jedi Council, Force spirits, and new Force abilities. Chapter Six takes care of the Council. In addition to the game stats and write-ups of every Jedi Council member seen in Episodes 2 and 3, this chapter features the most important Jedi characters from the Expanded Universe (even Kyle Katarn from the Jedi Knight computer games). The only repeats here are Yoda and Mace Windu, who have been redone to incorporate new prestige classes (more on those later). I won’t complain about that, though, because it’s so useful to have the entire Jedi Council right here at my fingertips. GMs who like to feature a lot of Jedi "guest stars" will appreciate this chapter (which is also the longest).

Force spirits appear in Chapter Five: Creatures and Archetypes. These spirits range from the benevolent ghosts of departed Jedi Masters to evil souls carrying on the work of the dark side from beyond the grave. While the material on these supernatural apparitions only fills slightly more than two pages, it covers just about everything a GM needs to know in order to feature them in an adventure. To design a Force spirit, the GM creates a character as usual and then applies the provided Force spirit template (similar to the way the D&D3 Monster Manual handles creatures like vampires and zombies). The template details the features of Force spirits, such as how they manifest, how they use Force powers, and (most importantly!) how to destroy one.

Chapter Two provides new Force abilities. The Jedi have added six new skills and nine new feats to their repertoire. The skills themselves aren’t that exciting (things like light, inspire, and grow plants) but what’s interesting is that all of them are only usable by light side characters. Take that, Darth Whoever! The feats are more beefy, letting characters talk to animals, cure disease and poison, read the history of objects, and even take on a guarding Force spirit. In addition to skills and feats, the book features two new Force techniques that any Jedi can use: Healing Trance and Sense Surroundings (an ability sorely lacking from the game until now).

The rest of Chapter Two covers five new prestige classes. These are Force Warrior (martial artists), Jedi Healer, Jedi Instructor, Jedi Scholar, and Jedi Weapon Master. (Hmm...I wonder which two of those most players will choose.) All five are well-thought-out additions, and most have unique, powerful new abilities. The interesting thing here is that it’s the non-combat-focused classes which get the best new abilities, such as the Jedi Healer’s ability to restore a character to full vitality, wound points, or ability points; the Jedi Instructor’s facility at transferring Force Points (granted, this will appeal only to the most selfless of players); or the Jedi Scholar’s knowledge of how to construct holocrons.

Even though all the goodies above are the reason for my interest in the book, the heart of the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook is Chapter Three: Gamemastering a Jedi Campaign. This chapter had my respect from its first page, with a sidebar that offers advice on helping a player decide whether a Jedi character is right for him. (Hint: if your player would not enjoy playing a Jedi who had no lightsaber to swing around and no Force abilities to lean on, he may want to look for another job.) The Jedi Code is already well-covered in the main rulebook, but this chapter gives good advice on Jedi behavior, including anecdotes from Jedi history. In addition to tips on using Jedi in adventures, Chapter Three gives suggestions about handling overly aggressive Jedi players ("Lightsaber Syndrome"), rules for learning without a Master, how to run a player through the Jedi trials, the process of becoming one with the Force, and even what the deal is with lightsaber colors. And, of course, we’re given the standard discussion of different types of Jedi campaigns. (That’s not meant as a complaint; I’d miss it if it weren’t there.) Chapter One: History of the Force, has some more background material on the Jedi, encompassing thousands of years, all the films, and material from the Expanded Universe.

The weakest parts of the book are the equipment chapter and the section on species and creatures. Equipment and starships appear in Chapter Four: Equipment. This covers equipment, starships, and artifacts, many of which might be useful in a game. Here we’re given the extendable dual-phase lightsaber, Force detector, Jedi fighters, Jedi cruisers, the Jedi utility belt, holocrons, and a few other items. My complaint isn’t with the equipment itself, but with the shortage of illustrations. Instead of accompanying each item with a photograph or drawing, the chapter provides about one image per page. Even worse, this single image is often a conglomerate drawing that represents several items—without labeling any of them. To take an example from the vehicles section, there are eight vehicles, and only a single drawing showing three ships. Which ships are they? I have no idea.

Surely I’m not the only GM who likes to point to a picture in the rulebook and tell the players, "You see one of these." But this book really lets me down in this area. (It’s not the only one...this is also a trend in books by other publishers, unfortunately.)

The species section of the Creatures and Archetypes chapter has the same problem, and this may be the reason I didn’t find the new species very interesting: it’s hard to put a name to each face, so to speak. What is interesting is that many of the species have inborn Force abilities, or have members on the Jedi Council, thus helping this sourcebook fill its role as "one stop shopping" for information about the Force. Also, there’s simply a whopping number of new species: 18!

The rest of the Creatures and Archetypes chapter is much better. The eight creatures represented here are not your plain old trample-the-hero beasts—most of them have Force abilities, all of them are interesting, and all of them are illustrated. My favorite is the Marsh Haunt, a race of "Force demons" that inhabit swamps on many worlds.

The archetypes are bound to be useful to GMs. Similar to the archetypes in the main rulebook, here the sourcebook provides the GM with sample character stats for many types of Jedi-related characters at low, medium, and high level. These archetypes cover just about every kind of Jedi: workers, padawans, consulars, guardians, Force spirits, all the new prestige classes, and rogue Jedi.

The best raw material for creating new adventures is in Chapter Seven: Where the Force is Strong. This chapter details eight important Jedi sites (the book claims the number is seven, but I can count). All are fascinating, though it’s hard to get worked up over the Meditative Canyon. The expected sites are here (the Jedi Academy, the Jedi Temple), as well as some fascinating Expanded Universe sites, such as the Great Jedi Library, the Valley of the Jedi, and an enormous Jedi training vessel. Each location’s entry includes a complete history, description, and—best of all—adventure hooks.

The quality of the book’s artwork is spotty...some good, some not so good. The photographs look good, but some of them were not good choices, such as a large image of Obi-Wan Kenobi using an underwater breather in the equipment chapter—when this book doesn’t even feature that bit of gear. The layout, however, is attractive and easy to read. The book is hardcover, and features great cover art. Finally, the book boasts a useful index that lets you easily look up characters, planets, powers, etc.

Despite my complaints about the book’s few weak points, the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook was a pleasure to read, and has already become indispensable in my own campaign. I’ve got my Jedi Council lined up, my Force powers under control, and Force Spirits standing behind me. Let the dark side tremble!

Power of the Jedi Sourcebook
Power of the Jedi Sourcebook Capsule Review by Keith A. Garrett on 15/12/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) One-Stop-Shopping for Light Side Jedi. Product: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook Author: JD Wiker, Michael Mikaelian, Jeff Grubb, Owen K. C. Stephens, James Maliszewski Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Line: Star Wars Cost: $29.95 Page count: 160 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 0-7869-2781-X SKU: 886620000 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Keith A. Garrett on 15/12/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Space	The aim of the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook is to explore the light side of the Force, and it is a solid success. Since the dark siders already have a book of their own (The Dark Side Sourcebook), it’s good to have the Power of the Jedi book to bring balance to the force. (Sorry.) Let’s cut right to the good parts. There were three things I wanted in a book about Jedi, and I got them: the Jedi Council, Force spirits, and new Force abilities. Chapter Six takes care of the Council. In addition to the game stats and write-ups of every Jedi Council member seen in Episodes 2 and 3, this chapter features the most important Jedi characters from the Expanded Universe (even Kyle Katarn from the Jedi Knight computer games). The only repeats here are Yoda and Mace Windu, who have been redone to incorporate new prestige classes (more on those later). I won’t complain about that, though, because it’s so useful to have the entire Jedi Council right here at my fingertips. GMs who like to feature a lot of Jedi "guest stars" will appreciate this chapter (which is also the longest). Force spirits appear in Chapter Five: Creatures and Archetypes. These spirits range from the benevolent ghosts of departed Jedi Masters to evil souls carrying on the work of the dark side from beyond the grave. While the material on these supernatural apparitions only fills slightly more than two pages, it covers just about everything a GM needs to know in order to feature them in an adventure. To design a Force spirit, the GM creates a character as usual and then applies the provided Force spirit template (similar to the way the D&D3 Monster Manual handles creatures like vampires and zombies). The template details the features of Force spirits, such as how they manifest, how they use Force powers, and (most importantly!) how to destroy one. Chapter Two provides new Force abilities. The Jedi have added six new skills and nine new feats to their repertoire. The skills themselves aren’t that exciting (things like light, inspire, and grow plants) but what’s interesting is that all of them are only usable by light side characters. Take that, Darth Whoever! The feats are more beefy, letting characters talk to animals, cure disease and poison, read the history of objects, and even take on a guarding Force spirit. In addition to skills and feats, the book features two new Force techniques that any Jedi can use: Healing Trance and Sense Surroundings (an ability sorely lacking from the game until now). The rest of Chapter Two covers five new prestige classes. These are Force Warrior (martial artists), Jedi Healer, Jedi Instructor, Jedi Scholar, and Jedi Weapon Master. (Hmm...I wonder which two of those most players will choose.) All five are well-thought-out additions, and most have unique, powerful new abilities. The interesting thing here is that it’s the non-combat-focused classes which get the best new abilities, such as the Jedi Healer’s ability to restore a character to full vitality, wound points, or ability points; the Jedi Instructor’s facility at transferring Force Points (granted, this will appeal only to the most selfless of players); or the Jedi Scholar’s knowledge of how to construct holocrons. Even though all the goodies above are the reason for my interest in the book, the heart of the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook is Chapter Three: Gamemastering a Jedi Campaign. This chapter had my respect from its first page, with a sidebar that offers advice on helping a player decide whether a Jedi character is right for him. (Hint: if your player would not enjoy playing a Jedi who had no lightsaber to swing around and no Force abilities to lean on, he may want to look for another job.) The Jedi Code is already well-covered in the main rulebook, but this chapter gives good advice on Jedi behavior, including anecdotes from Jedi history. In addition to tips on using Jedi in adventures, Chapter Three gives suggestions about handling overly aggressive Jedi players ("Lightsaber Syndrome"), rules for learning without a Master, how to run a player through the Jedi trials, the process of becoming one with the Force, and even what the deal is with lightsaber colors. And, of course, we’re given the standard discussion of different types of Jedi campaigns. (That’s not meant as a complaint; I’d miss it if it weren’t there.) Chapter One: History of the Force, has some more background material on the Jedi, encompassing thousands of years, all the films, and material from the Expanded Universe. The weakest parts of the book are the equipment chapter and the section on species and creatures. Equipment and starships appear in Chapter Four: Equipment. This covers equipment, starships, and artifacts, many of which might be useful in a game. Here we’re given the extendable dual-phase lightsaber, Force detector, Jedi fighters, Jedi cruisers, the Jedi utility belt, holocrons, and a few other items. My complaint isn’t with the equipment itself, but with the shortage of illustrations. Instead of accompanying each item with a photograph or drawing, the chapter provides about one image per page. Even worse, this single image is often a conglomerate drawing that represents several items—without labeling any of them. To take an example from the vehicles section, there are eight vehicles, and only a single drawing showing three ships. Which ships are they? I have no idea. Surely I’m not the only GM who likes to point to a picture in the rulebook and tell the players, "You see one of these." But this book really lets me down in this area. (It’s not the only one...this is also a trend in books by other publishers, unfortunately.) The species section of the Creatures and Archetypes chapter has the same problem, and this may be the reason I didn’t find the new species very interesting: it’s hard to put a name to each face, so to speak. What is interesting is that many of the species have inborn Force abilities, or have members on the Jedi Council, thus helping this sourcebook fill its role as "one stop shopping" for information about the Force. Also, there’s simply a whopping number of new species: 18! The rest of the Creatures and Archetypes chapter is much better. The eight creatures represented here are not your plain old trample-the-hero beasts—most of them have Force abilities, all of them are interesting, and all of them are illustrated. My favorite is the Marsh Haunt, a race of "Force demons" that inhabit swamps on many worlds. The archetypes are bound to be useful to GMs. Similar to the archetypes in the main rulebook, here the sourcebook provides the GM with sample character stats for many types of Jedi-related characters at low, medium, and high level. These archetypes cover just about every kind of Jedi: workers, padawans, consulars, guardians, Force spirits, all the new prestige classes, and rogue Jedi. The best raw material for creating new adventures is in Chapter Seven: Where the Force is Strong. This chapter details eight important Jedi sites (the book claims the number is seven, but I can count). All are fascinating, though it’s hard to get worked up over the Meditative Canyon. The expected sites are here (the Jedi Academy, the Jedi Temple), as well as some fascinating Expanded Universe sites, such as the Great Jedi Library, the Valley of the Jedi, and an enormous Jedi training vessel. Each location’s entry includes a complete history, description, and—best of all—adventure hooks. The quality of the book’s artwork is spotty...some good, some not so good. The photographs look good, but some of them were not good choices, such as a large image of Obi-Wan Kenobi using an underwater breather in the equipment chapter—when this book doesn’t even feature that bit of gear. The layout, however, is attractive and easy to read. The book is hardcover, and features great cover art. Finally, the book boasts a useful index that lets you easily look up characters, planets, powers, etc. Despite my complaints about the book’s few weak points, the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook was a pleasure to read, and has already become indispensable in my own campaign. I’ve got my Jedi Council lined up, my Force powers under control, and Force Spirits standing behind me. Let the dark side tremble!