The final class for the Galactic Republic is the Jedi Consular. Based off of Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobi, this force user is skilled in the use of a lightsaber, but focuses on force powers to help defeat his foes. The Jedi Consular is a master of telekinesis and telepathy, wielding the force like puppeteer strings attached to his enemies.

 

The Jedi Consular is based off an archetype that has been part of the Star Wars Universe since audiences first stepped foot on Dagobah. BioWare and LucasArts gave this archetype its name with the release of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The Consular character we were introduced to specializes in the use of the force and draws its influence from Jedi such as Yoda, Obi-wan Kenobi, and Jolee Bindo.

Yoda was one of the most renowned and powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history, known for his legendary wisdom, mastery of the Force and skills in lightsaber combat. He was capable of extreme telekinetic feats, such as lifting enormous objects with the Force, but he was also an apt swordsman. He displayed amazing speed and dexterity, leaping through the air and twirling as he battered at an opponents defenses.

Obi-wan Kenobi was a key figure in Star Wars Universe during the final days of the Galactic Republic. He acquired his skills from Yoda and Qui-Gon Jinn, both Consulars themselves, and is credited with training both Anakin and Luke Skywalker in the ways of the force. Kenobis persuasive abilities and skills in lightsaber combat made him a formidable foe both in and out of combat.

Jolee Bindo was a gray Jedi introduced in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This hermit was married a force sensitive woman who he secretly trained in the way of the force. Once the council rejected his training of her, Jolee left the order and went into exile. Over time he ended up on Kashyyk where you find him in the KotOR. He was a master of the mind trick and was not afraid to use abilities such as force lightning. It should be noted that, from what we were shown, Consulars will be more restricted in choice of powers then what we saw with Jolee.



The Jedi Consular uses her unsurpassed understanding of telekinesis and telepathy to control their opponents. She does not focus on elemental control like their counterpart in the Sith; instead it is the pure force itself that they bend to their will.

The following is list of abilities we saw during the San Francisco event:

Mind Maze - The Jedi Consular puts the target into a mesmerized state. This ability is a crowd control (CC) that does not aggro any of the surrounding targets. Similar to other CC weve seen, this ability will last until the target is attacked or the effect wears off.

Force Pull - The Consular uses the force to drag a ranged opponent into melee range. The range on this skill appears to be at least medium, if not long distance.

Force Slam - The Jedi Consular lifts a target into the air, then slams it back down to earth, causing damage and a brief stun. This ability is another z-axis skill, like the Bounty Hunters Death From Above, however this is the first instance where we see the mob move as opposed to the character.

Benevolence - This is a single target heal that can be used in or out of combat. It has a 1-2 second casting bar and can be used on the Consular or a team member.

Meditation - This is the out of combat(OOC) heal for the Jedi Consular. This ability replenishes the characters force bar, as well as health.

Clearcasting - Much like the Portable Cover seen during the Imperial Agent demo, we noticed the name of this ability in the chat log in the Consular game play demo. We were never able to see Clearcasting in action, and can only speculate about its intended use.

Force Repulse - This is the only listed ability not actually referenced during the event. We are including it because we did see a screen shot of a Consular pushing multiple people away in a 360 degree arc, similar to what was seen in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. We are using the name repulse because of this comparison.



One of the many goals of Star Wars: The Old Republic is to give players the feeling of being heroic. To accomplish this, many of the fights encountered by players will involve three or more targets and each class has their own way of handling this. With the Jedi Consulars abilities focused on telekinesis and telepathy, she acts as a puppeteer or controller, manipulating opponents to get the upper hand.

Following this three target scenario, the Jedi Consular initiates combat by employing her Mind Maze ability. This skill acts as a CC, stunning the target until either the effect wears off or the target takes damage. Now that one enemy out of the way, and the rest of the targets none the wiser, the Consular uses Force Slam on one of the remaining two. With one of the targets mazed and another briefly stunned, the Consular turns her attention towards the third opponent.

All of the previous actions have been performed at ranged, so the Consular uses Force Pull to literally draw the last target across the battlefield and into melee range. The Consular quickly dispatches the pulled enemy with her lightsaber, moves in to finish off the damaged slammed victim, and then finally deals with the first target, who has been CCed up to this point. This sequence takes less then 20 seconds.


Once the battle is over, the Jedi Consular uses her Meditation ability to restore any health/force power used before proceeding to his next set of targets. If anything had gone wrong during the encounter, the Consular would be able to use her Benevolence ability to make certain he could continue the fight.

Although many of the Consulars abilities involve ranged target manipulation, it is the lightsaber that actually finished the fight during the demo. This force users powers do augment the approach to combat, but at the end of a battle, she pulled, slammed, and mazed enemies are all defeated with a lightsaber.


The Jedi Consular, like the Sith Inquisitor, only uses light armor, but she is able to deflect incoming blaster fire and can take a few hits making them more durable then one might expect. That being said, they only like to have people in melee range when they so desire. This play style would lend itself to needing a Force Repulse ability, similar to the Sith Inquisitors Overload, that would allow the Jedi Consular to reset the battle if things get overwhelming. However, we should restate that this last part is purely conjecture.


From what we were shown, this class is far from being a simple caster. Part melee, part puppeteer, part healer; the Jedi Consular could end up filling multiple play styles, depending on who is at the helm. We will have to wait to see how this class changes over the development cycle, but we foresee a large population of happy players standing behind the Jedi Consular once the game launches.