Sian Suan, Swashbuckling Jedi [RPG]

When I was in law school, Sian Suan was a character I played during a Star Wars role-playing game set in the Knights of the Old Republic era.  The campaign was fantastic, with deep story-telling, some great role-playing, and exciting, edge-of-your-seat action sequences.  The experience is what led me to direct a Clone Wars campaign using the same system (the original WOTC d20 Star Wars rules).  Sian is actually the second character I played in that campaign, and sooner or later I'll get around to telling you about the first, a character I was deeply invested in.

Sian was a Sullustan (like the famous Nien Numb, co-pilot of the Millenium Falcon with Lando in Return of the Jedi).  In the campaign, everyone PC was a Jedi, so I had Sian be a character who didn't have the self-discipline to learn the more esoteric ways of manipulating the Force (Farseeing, Illusion, etc.) but had a natural gift for using it to improve her own physical prowess (through Enhance Ability and Battlemind).  She was designed as a swashbuckler, and fit the role to a T, often dashing around the battlefield pulling off crazy stunts with a blaster in one hand and a lightsaber in the other (I especially liked the system's "Heroic Surge" fear, which allowed extra actions during a round once or twice a day; you could do some really cinematic, exciting things with it).  Sian was a friendly, outgoing character with a taste for pranks and a deep friendship with (and love for) my previous character.

She survived until the time I left the campaign, and was last seen there working hard to stave off an attempted Sith invasion of the Republic.  I had her reappear in the Clone Wars campaign as the only living NPC who had spent time in the Anomaly (thus explaining the "time-travel" element).  I was able to play her as a PC for a few sessions when another player directed a story-arc, and I think she came across fairly well.
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Sian Suan
Scoundrel 1/Jedi Guardian 6

Sullustant Species Traits:  +2 Dex, -2 Con; Darkvision 20', +2 Climb & Listen, +5 Diplomacy to Buy/Sell Goods, Lucky (1/day reroll), Deflect Extend/Attack

Age: 18, Gender: Female, Height: 1.4 m, Weight: 50 kg, Eyes: Red, Hair: None

Abilities: Str: 10, Dex 20 (+5), Con 12 (+1), Int 15 (+2), Wis 9 (-1), Cha 16 (+3)

Saves:  Fort +6, Reflex +14, Will +2

Vitality: 49, Wounds: 12, Defence +10, Speed 10', Initiative +5, Reputation +2

Attacks:  Blaster +11/+6, d. 3d6, Crit. 20;  Custom Lightsaber +12/+7, d. 3d8, 19-20

Skills:  Appraise +2, Astrogate +3, Balance +5, Bluff +7, Climb +2, Computer Use +3, Craft: Lightsaber +3, Diplomacy +3, Disable Device +6, Disguise +7, Entertain: Pranks +3, Escape Artist +10, Forgery +6, Gamble -1, Gather Info +3, Hide +10, Intimidate +3, Jump +2, Knowledge: Jedi Lore +3, Listen +1, Move Silently +9, Pilot +9, Ride +5, Search +2, Sense Motive -1, Sleight of Hand +10, Spot -1, Survival -1, Treat Injury -1, Tumble +11

Feats:  EWP: Lightsaber, Force-Sensitive, Heroic Surge (2/day), Lightning Reflexes, Quickness, WF: Lightsaber, WG: Simple, WG: Blasters

Force Feats:  Alter, Control, Burst of Speed, Sense

Force Skills:  Affect Mind +7, Battlemind +10, Enhance Ability +10, Enhance Sense +1, Force Stealth +3, Heal Another -1, Heal Self +4, See Force -1

Languages:  Sullustese (R/W), Basic (R/W), Rodian, Trandoshan

Equipment: 616 Credits, Blaster Pistol, All Temperature Cloak, Comlink, Datapad, Glow Rod, Medpac, Civilian Clothes, Jizana's Recording Rod, Custom Lightsaber, Translator Unit, 2nd lightsaber, Jedi Disk, Antique teacups

Character Background

Unlike most Sullustans, Sian Suan has never lived on, or even been to, Sullust.  Her life has been one of constant travel--occasional respites at some place "safe" followed by quick escapes and long periods of hiding.

It all began on Doromos IV in Hutt Space, shortly before Sian was born.  Sian's father, Wisan, had long been employed as an engineer for the SoruSuub Corporation before he was fired for unknown reasons.  While at SoruSuub, Wisan had begun to develop the plans for a device which, in theory, would allow starships to mask their energy signatures and appear effectively invisible to most electronic sensors.  Unemployed and looking for work, Wisan was approached by an agent of Soergg the Hutt, a reputable businessman and merchant based on Doromos IV.  Soergg offered Wisan a substantial salary in exchange for coming to Doromos IV and developing a working model of the masking device.

Wisan agreed to the offer, and spend almost two full years on Doromos IV working on the device.  It was during this time that Wisan met Sian's other, but Sian has never met her mother and Wisan refuses to talk about her or what happened to her.  In any event, as the project was finally nearing completion, Wisan and the infant Sian suddenly disappeared from Doromos IV almost without a trace.  There are two versions of what happened: the first story, spread by Soergg, is that Wisan realized the device would never work and decided to take his money and run; the second, told to Sian by her father, is that Soergg was planning to have him "disposed" of as soon as the device was completed.

What is known for sure is that a working model of the device was never completed, and that Wisan and Sian spent the rest of their lives on the run, hiding from Soergg's bounty hunters.  Sian remembers one particular incident, when she was about seven years old.  After docking as an orbital space station, Sian and her father stepped into the corridor to see a welcoming sight--a fellow Sullusant was waiting for them, smiling.  But suddenly the smile turned cold as the Sullustan raised a hold-out blaster pistol at them! (Soergg had deep pockets indeed.)  Almost simultaneously, Sian heard both the whine of the blaster shot and an odd hum, and suddenly a real-live Jedi Knight was standing in front of them, deflecting the blaster shots with a lightsaber!  Sian couldn't believe her eyes and almost instantly fell in love with the glamour and mystique of the Jedi.  Sian never got to see the Knight again, as her father picked her up and started to run--but it's an experience Sian has never forgotten.  [Unbeknownst to Sian, the young Jedi Knight would turn into a Master by the name of Gen Brightwater.]

As the years went on, the running continued.  Sian learned how to help her father evade the various mercenaries and bounty hunters that were always pursuing them--she developed good eyes and ears, the ability to hide in the smallest of spaces, and a steady hand with a blaster.  Unfortunately, she rarely received a formal education or the discipline that comes with focusing on a particular field of study.

When Sian was 15, she and her father moved in with the Ta'Tathrian aboard the Triberry.  It was here that Sian met Jizana, and the two became fast friends.  Although often anxious to leave again, Sian's father was reluctant to drag Sian away from the first place she had called "home."  Sian lived aboard the Triberry for almost three years, until one day her father disappeared.  He left a note saying that he was putting the ship in danger and that a life on the run was not the life he wanted his daughter to live.  Sian was almost floored by the news, but quickly decided to find where her father was and bring him back.  [While Sian was looking for her father, Jizana met the Jedi and began training at the Academy.]

After several weeks of looking, Sian couldn't find any clues as to where her father went.  Somewhat relieved that if she couldn't find him, Soergg the Hutt couldn't either, Sian decided to return to the Triberry and find Jizana.  However, while on board a passenger liner between systems, Sian ended up being delayed by almost three months.  The ship's hyperspace drive suffered nearly cataclysmic failure and was forced to limp its way to the nearest spacedock.

Also on board the liner was Eriza Palan, an experienced Jedi Initiate [6th level Guardian], returning from a visit with his family before taking the Trials.  One day this Initiate observed Sian playing a holosim of a space combat game.  To his amazement, the score counter kept getting higher and higher even as the electronic "enemies" whizzed by almost faster than the eye could see.  Sian's reflexes were almost unnatural, and the game ended when the holosim shorted out because it was running so fast.  Eriza immediately realized that Sian had something more than great reflexes--she was channeling the Force to increase her reactions.

Eriza and Sian struck up a friendship, and as the voyage promised to be long and tedious, Eriza offered to show Sian some of the basics of using the Force.  Eriza found that Sian was a quick learner in a few specific skills [enhance ability and battlemind] but had great difficulty in learning other Force skills.  Sian also developed surprising skill with the Lightsaber.  Eriza told Sian that there was a Jedi Academy on a planet called Ossus, and that someday she might apply to become a student there.  Besides learning about the Force, Sian passed the time by developing ever-more elaborate, but always non-humiliating and non-harmful, pranks on Eriza.  One day she reprogrammed the auto-door opening system so that they only happened halfway, or opened and closed before he could pass through.  Another day she added a small microchip to Eriza's Lightsaber so it played the theme song from the holovid "Jedi Knight III: The Dark Side Cometh" whenever he ignited it.

The passenger liner finally reached an orbital repair facility.  It was here that Sian met up with some of the Ta'Tathrian and learned the horrible news about Jizana's parents and of Jizana becoming a student at the Jedi Academy.  With a combination of sweet talk and sob story, Sian convinced Eriza to allow her to come to the Academy with him.

Sian is anxious to see Jizana again and to learn more about the Jedi.  She has always admired the Jedi but never thought it possible that she could ever become one.  Sian is quick-witted and friendly, but gets quickly gets bored doing the same thing over and over.  She loves a good prank, whether its resurrecting a golden oldie or inventing something new.  If she ever becomes a Jedi Knight, she plans on taking care of Soergg the Hutt so her father can finally stop running.