KOTOR 1 - Notes from my 2025 playthrough

WARNING: the following contains heavy spoilers about KOTOR I and KOTOR II. Do not read it if you haven't played the game yet.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: these are loose notes from my 2025 playthrough. They are very poorly organized, as they were only ever intended for my own personal use.

ANOTHER WARNING: you saw that there were going to be spoilers, right? If you haven't played the games, stop reading now.

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This is a mirror playthrough to my 2024 Dark Side run. This Revan, like that one, will remember who they are very early, just after arriving on Taris, during their first conversation with Carth. Unlike my 2024 playthrough, this Revan chooses to renounce the Dark Side and start over.

This will be a female main character, mainly because my last playthrough was male, so I'm mixing it up. And it's been awhile since I did the Revan/Carth romance

This is General Revan, the same Revan that left the Jedi Order to fight in the Mandalorian Wars. Her injuries and the mind wipe essentially reset Revan to her natural self. So she's not a Jedi groupie by any means, but she's very committed to the Light Side. However, she's still somewhat rash and impulsive. This Revan is empathetic and caring, in an action-driven sort of way. She sees a problem, she tries to fix the problem. So she'll take on every side quest to help everyone she can, even if it is a distraction from the larger mission, because she thinks she's capable of fixing the whold galaxy.

Also, despite her committment to the Light, she still struggles with the darker side of her nature. This Revan is Light Side by choice, and must constantly fight her darker impulses. She almost always wins that battle - this is a solid Light Side run - but she occasionally succumbs. Especially when droid dealers on Taris or Tatooine are trying to overcharge her by thousands of credits, and she know some tough talk can get her a better deal...

As for why this Revan keeps her knowledge of her own identity to herself, at first she feels vulnerable. Her powers haven't returned, the Sith would love to kill her, and she's concerned Carth might not be so friendly either if he knew who she really was. As things progress, she sees that events are moving her in the direction she wants to go anyway. And if the Jedi Council knew that she was aware of who she was, they might (again) become a hinderance rather than a help. So she trusts the will of the Force, and plays along.

I didn't write a fanfic set during the games this time. Instead, I did something different - a fanfic featuring an elderly Revan and Exile, called Echo's End. It includes more Revan than Exile, but there's some Exile in there too.

========== GENERAL BUILD NOTES/THOUGHTS/CONSTRAINTS =========

For the first time ever, I'm 100% using someone else's build: the Optimal Consular

Some discussion of that build on reddit

So, what is this Revan like?
Overall, this Revan isn't all that great without the Force. But with it, she's incredible.

The analysis portion of these playthrough notes are shorter than normal, because following someone else's build means I don't have to work out any details. I will, however, include my own analysis of the build, mostly because I want to really think through and understand it.

========== ATTRIBUTES =========

Raising an attribute to 16 at character creation requires an extra 2 points, meaning some other attribute will have to be sacrificed. It is generally advisable, unless you have a really good reason, to not start any attributes higher than 14. Or if you do, at least just do one.

This build does two.

This is because this isn't a well-rounded build intended to give a variety of options on how to handle any situation. It is very focused on making a Consular capable of going toe-to-toe with Malak in the final fight without endless running in circles (something many Consular builds find difficult), while still hitting all the major story points (Persuade checks, unlocking HK-47). As such, it gives up a lot of things, including INT (and therefore skills) and STR (still effective with a lightsaber when buffed, but not a big melee damage dealer).

Some attributes are taken to odd numbers intentionally, to become even (and therefore maximize bonuses) with Master Valor and the expected end-game gear.

A CHA of 16 is sufficient to pass all Persuade checks on Taris without any skill points in Persuade (might have to save scum a bit). Raising Persuade by one at character creation (requires 2 skill points because Persuade isn't a Scout class skill) helps make that a little less cheesy, without really giving up much by the end.

Starting stats will be:
Again, this isn't my build and I'm not trying to plagarize it. I'm just analyzing it to make sure I understand. The actual build is here, and all credit goes to that author.

========== SKILLS ===========

This is really the only place the build I'm following doesn't spell everything out. Persuade and Repair are emphasized, for story reasons. And with low INT, there aren't many skill points left to spend. But there are a few, and I can put them wherever seems best to me.

I'll get 8 skill points at character creation, and 2 skill points at level 2 (my last Scout level). I'll have to finish Taris with those. Then once I become a Consular, I'll get a whopping 1 skill point per level.

That gives a grand total of 28 skill points for the entire build. And because I'm going to put some into Persuade on Taris, even through Persuade isn't a Scout class skill, I'll effectively have fewer than that.

For Repair, I'll need 17 to fully unlock HK-47's backstory. My low INT works against me. Here's how it works out:
The build lists Master Valors as +2, which is correct relative to my baseline, because I start with -1 due to low INT. But for purposes of figuring out how I get to 17, I've listed it as +1 above, because in my list above I'm starting at zero.

The build author also offers an option that would let you get by with assigning one less point: betraying Gadon Thek on Taris and getting the Memory Implant. I've done that in other playthroughs, but this Revan won't do it.

You can only put 4 points into a skill at character creation. The build recommends putting 4 into Repair and 4 into Persuade (which only buys 2 effective ranks of Persuade, given that it isn't a Scout class skill).

It also recommends putting one point into Repair at level 2, and banking the other point to use later (because one point isn't enough to buy any more Persuade).

Persuade is affected by character level, and by difficulty (Easy/Normal/Hard). Breakpoints at level 20 are as follows (percentages are success chance for each difficulty):
The breakpoints for level 2 (the max level on Taris for this playthrough) are: Tabletop D&D rules (which KOTOR is based on) give automatic success on a "20" for some checks. KOTOR doesn't do this for skill checks (I don't remember if the version of D&D that KOTOR is based on does either, been too long...). This means that 0% really means 0% - it ain't happening, no matter how many times you save scum.

I can get +9 via the following bonuses:
And of course, that won't even be possible until late in the game - it takes awhile to get Master Valor and Light Side Mastery.

On Taris, the only bonus I'll have is the +3 from my starting CHA. Meaning that raising my adjusted Persuade by one point, even though it isn't a Scout class skill, makes a big difference.

The build author gives three options for Persuade:
  1. Stop at 13 adjusted points, giving a 25% success chance on Hard checks
  2. Continue to 19 adjusted points, giving a 75% success chance on Hard checks
  3. Stop at 4 adjusted points, and defer conversations where you care about Persuade until you have Master Valor and Light Side Mastery, for a 25% success chance on Hard checks
There are also breakpoints that would give a 50% success chance on Hard checks, but the build author doesn't spell those out.

Option #3, assigning minimal Persuade at level up, seems challenging. That's require significant micromanagemnt of when conversations occur, with some extra planet hopping just for that purpose. I don't feel like that's worth it for this particular playthrough, especially given that I'm also considering extra planet hopping to do the Genoharadan quests and still get Light Side Mastery. So I'm not doing that.

Option #1, basically assigning just enough to save scum your way through, is slightly attractive, but might get annoying. And this Revan should be pretty persusive based on personality and the head canon backstory I'm going with - she 'll be pretending to not remember who she is in front of a lot of people, including the Enclave Council, and manage to pull it off. And with a lot INT, she's a little on the dumb side. She'll therefore have to lean on her persuasive skills. All that is just in my head, but still, I'll feel better roleplaying it if she has the in-game skills to back it up.

So I'm going with with Option #2, getting to 19 points. Assuming the +9 from bonuses (I'll just deal with the unreliable timing), I'll need to buy 10 points. Getting Persuade to an adjusted 4 points at character creation (instead of the 3 I'll get from just my CHA bonus) reaches an important breakpoint. That only requires buying one rank, which I can do for 2 assigned points. Then I can buy the other 9 points once I become a Consular. This deviates slightly from the build author's recommendations, but I like it better for this particular playthrough. That does mean I won't get Persuade to my target until level 20 instead of level 16, but I can live with that.

All that means I'll be spending 11 of my skill points on Persuade, and 13 on Repair. This gives me only 4 points to spend on other things.

With only 4 points to spend, I can't make any difference whatsoever for the end game. Or even the mid game, really. So I might as well spend them to help the early game, when I'll be underleveled.

Repair is fairly useful early, so I may as well spend 4 points at character creation. Spending 2 points at creation to buy 1 rank of Persaude leaves me 2 more points to spend on whatever I like at creation, and 2 more points at level 2.

Considerations for my remaining 4 skill points:
Consular desn't add anything worth waiting on, and I've already decided what I'm doing with Repair. So I can spend my points, all 4 of them, on some combination of:
With my low INT working against me, it seems pointless to spend anything on skills affected by it - I just don't enough points to pull myself out of that hole. Which means I'm really picking between Awareness and Treat Injury.

I'll be able to detect Minor mines when out of combat without spending any points. And I won't have enough points to reach the next breakpoint and detect Average mines. So the only thing spending points on Awareness would do is make it me little more likely to detect Minor mines during combat. That doesn't seem worth all that much.

So I'll spend my 4 points (2 at character creation and 2 at level 2) on Treat Injury. On Taris, underleveled, that should be enough to make my life a little bit easier.

========== FEATS ===========

I'll get the following granted feats:
I'll get 9 selected Feats. Per the build, I'll spend them on:
Prioritize Dueling and Toughness to make Taris easier. Reminder: Dueling applies when a single blaster is equipped, as well as one-handed melee weapons.

Wow, using some else's build is easy. So much less to think about!

========== FORCE POWERS ===========

I'll get 23 Force Powers. Per the build, I will take:
The build recommends taking Affect/Dominate Mind as early as possible, and the Valor line as the second priority. It also presents an option of deferring the Valor line in favor of offensive powers, if a party member can handle Valor.

Despite this being a Light Side build, the offensive powers are all Dark Side. But the build includes a deep enough Force Power pool to deal with that.

Per the build, this set of powers is carefully designed for the final fight. They'll work fine for the rest of the game too, but a more general purpose build might make different choices, at the cost of a more difficult final fight.

========== GEAR ===========

I'm not going to stress about early or mid game gear. Just use whatever seems best at the time. Favor WIS or DEX where possible.

End game gear per the build author should be:
The build author recommends the Baragwin Stealth Unit (as soon as you can acquire it) for everything but the final fight, and the Nerve Amplifier Belt for the final fight. I'm not convinced the Nerve Amplifier Belt wouldn't be okay for everything, and it is WAY cheaper.

The build author also recommends the Advanced Stabilizer Gloves, but the Karakan Gauntlets look pretty good to me. Not sure which I'll do.

========== TARIS ===========

I've held at level 2 on Taris before, so this isn't new ground. But the build author has some good advice.

In summary:
I'll add that there's a locked door in the Black Vulker Base hanger, on the far side of the big room you enter just after you go down the elevator. Behind it is some great early-game loot, including a bunch of credits and, more importantly, some Plasma Grenades. There are a few ways to open the door, including programming the broken droid to run into it. The loading droid behind the door is a very hard fight, but you have your companions with you for it. So you get XP, credits, other gear, and most importantly those grenades to use against Bendak.

========== MALAK ===========

The final fight is the whole point of the build. This is a pretty good Consular build for the rest of the game, but it is really designed to optimize the Malak fight, something a lot of Consular builds struggle with.

Malak is pretty easy to cheese - just run in circles lobbing grenades, setting mines, or even just shooting with a blaster. But that approach takes forever, and doesn't exactly make you feel like the most powerful being in the galaxy. There's something satisfying about facing Malak toe-to-toe, and this build can do it.

The build author has a whole page on this fight. To summarize:
========== PLANET ORDER =========

This is a Light Side run, but not a goody-two-shoes one. General Revan doesn't mind pushing the limits if the situation demands it.

Revan, being Revan, is well aware of the Genoharadan. She recognizes that in recent times they've worked to the Republic's advantage, but only because it suits thier purposes. She's concerned that their loyalty is fickle, and their usefulness is at an end. So she's going to take them out before they can become a problem. (Really I just want the loot and XP, but whatevs.)

I also want to redeem Yuthura AND talk to her on Dantooine, because that's always fun. And I want Carth to get to rescue Dustil from Korriban.

All this puts some constraints on the planet order. Especially if I want to get Light Side Mastery early, which I do. Redeeming Yuthura AND talking to her later means Korriban has to be the 2nd or 3rd Star Map (Dantooine is 1st). If it is the 4th, then the Leviathan triggers and Dantooine is gone before I can talk to her, and if it is the 5th, Dantooine is already gone before she is redeemed. So even though I can redeem her regardless of planet order, I only get the full experience if Korriban is the 2nd or 3rd. And Carth's Dustil quest doesn't trigger until after the 2nd, so Korriban really shouldn't be my first post-Dantooine Star Map. I can go anywhere I want first, I just can't get their Star Map.

I'll get a bunch of Dark Side points from the Genoharadan quest line that I need time to make up for. So do that early as well, Doing all this in an alignment-optimal way that leaves me plenty of available Light Side points to make up the the Genoharadan Dark Side point leads to lots of planet-hopping. But Carth seems to enjoy flying the Hawk, so okay.

This all leads to the same planet order as I used in my 2023 "Tevano" playthrough. I added an option that allows me to get the Circlet of Saresh from the Ritual Beast in the Kashyyyk Lower Shadowlands earlier than I did in 2023, as the +5 WIS would be helpful to this build. But it isn't optimal for Light Side points, and adds some running. I should only do that option if I find I really need the WIS bonus at that point in the game.

Here's my expected planet order, along with key considerations for each:
  1. Dantooine (initial visit after Taris)
    • Do the Mandalorian Raiders quest but do not turn it in
    • Get the Sandral-Matale Feud quest but do not actually resolve the feud
    • 1st Star Map
  2. Yavin, sell stuff, win 10 rounds of Pazaak to get discount.
  3. Tatooine (big trip)
    • Do not buy the wraid plate from the lady by the hunting lodge
    • Do not do the swoop races
    • Do Mission's and Bastila's quests
    • Get HK-47
    • 2nd Star Map
    • Kill Calo Nord (as I leave the Star Map cave)
    • Do not give the pearl to the sandpeople
    • Start Genoharadan quest (guy in Anchorhead gives me datapad to take to Manaan)
    • Start Carth's quest for Dustil
  4. Yavin, sell stuff
  5. Manaan (quick trip)
    • Go straight to Genoharadan guy (go alone)
    • Kill Lorgal in the Republic Base (requires 9 computer spikes, as I won't have Force Choke or Force Kill). I'll have to get the Republic quest, but don't advance it.
    • Turn in Lorgal quest, get remaining Genoharadan bounties
    • Go to swoop track, do not do swoop races, talk to Vek, go to docking bay, kill Ithorak
  6. Kashyyyk (first half)
    • Start Wookie quest, lose use of Zaalbar
    • Get Jolee
    • Kill Rulan (southwest of Jolee's hut)
    • Option One: do not go into Lower Shadowlands. Leave the planet.
      • This option is more optimal for Light Side point management
      • But I don't get the Circlet of Saresh until later
    • Option Two: finish the Lower Shadowlands, but do not get the Star Map
      • This option gets me the Circlet of Saresh from the Ritual Beast (+5 WIS) earlier
      • But it gets me Light Side points from healing Grrrwahrr earlier than is optimal
      • If I do this option, do NOT give Bacca's Blade back to Freyyr yet.
  7. Tatooine (quick trip)
    • Take Jolee off the Hawk, to start the Trial quest
    • Kill Vorn
  8. Manaan (quick trip)
    • Trial (I may decide to take some Dark Side points here, so do before Dantooine. Otherwise, I could defer this until my next visit.)
  9. Dantooine (finish stuff)
    • Do not get Sasha off the ship (yet)
    • Kill Zuulan (sounding the alarm instead of placing a bomb gets more XP)
    • Avoid getting Dark Side points after this. We're pushing for Light Side Mastery now.
    • Finish Mandalorian Raiders, resolve feud, get Sasha off the ship
  10. Manaan (quick trip)
    • Turn in Genoharadan quests (no Dark Side points for doing this). Doing this now means the guy will be on Tatooine when I go there later.
    • Do swoop race (give Qeedle credits for LS points)
    • Could do trial here if I don't do it earlier.
  11. Kashyyyk again
    • Go to Lower Shadowlands. If I went earlier, then just need to give Bacca's Blade to Freyyr. If not, finish everything. Either way, finish Wookie quest for Light Side points, and get Zaalbar back.
    • Do not get Star Map
  12. Korriban (big trip)
    • Make sure Carth has the Dustil quest (should have gotten it awhile back)
    • Redeem errbody, including Yuthura, to make up for all those Dark Side points
    • If I had any Demolitions skill, I'd make sure none of my companions are wearing my best +Demo gear before the tomb (I'd want it for myself). But Demolitions can't be used untrained, and I won't have any points in it.
    • 3rd Star Map
    • Make sure to do the drug deal with the guy outside the cantina. No hurry, can do after the Star Map. Surprisingly, no Dark Side points for that.
  13. Yavin, sell stuff, buy other stuff. He will have new goodies this time.
  14. Tatooine again (for LS points)
    • Buy the wraid plate from the lady by the hunting lodge
    • Kill the Genohardran guy
    • Should be able to do the Canderous/Jagi quest by now.
    • Give the pearl to the sandpeople (take HK-47 to translate). Then piss them off during the conversation and kill them all, like animals. Women and children too. They attack me if I say the wong (right) thing, so no Dark Side points. Darth Vader theme doesn't even play.
    • Turn in gaffi sticks to the Czerka lady on the way out for a bunch of credits
  15. Dantooine (quick stop)
    • Talk to Yuthura (outside the enclave) and Kel Algwinn (in the training room). No Light Side points or anything, but fun for story purposes.
    • If I want anything from the Dantooine merchant, this is my last chance.
  16. Manaan (finish)
    • Go to swoop races. Talk to Queedle. Give him 500 credits to fix up his bike. Get Light Side points.
    • Win all the swoop races for lots of sweet credits to spend at Yavin.
    • Talk to Queedle again. He'll try to pay the money back. Refuse. He insists. Get the money back AND more Light Side Points for trying to turn it down.
    • 4th Star Map
    • Last chance to finish repairing HK-47.
    • Talk to Juhani on the Hawk but do not take her off. Level her until she stops talking. So much talking, so much Russian cat lady accent. Maybe turn off the sound.
  17. Leviathan.
    • Unequip everything from Bastila when I get to red corridor, just after the room where I can see the Hawk in the hanger through the window
  18. Yavin, sell stuff (optional, can skip if I don't need credits)
  19. Kashyyk (last time)
    • quick run to get 5th Star Map. Be sure to take Jolee for the force field.
  20. Korriban
    • Meet Ziagrom, who tells me about the premium store.
    • Buy stuff at premium store
    • Take Juhani off the Hawk to trigger Xor
    • Fight Xor (hopefully can just get on Hawk and back off, but may have to fly to Kashyyyk or Manaan and get off there for this to trigger)
  21. Yavin (last visit, fight Transdoshians, he will have new stuff afterward. No merchants after this, so spending spree time)
  22. Star Forge system
NOTES: To redeem people in the Sith Academy:
========== COMPANIONS USAGE =========

Here is how this Revan feels about each companion:
These characterizations are somewhat motivated by game mechanics. Early in the game, I'll use whatever companions are available. But once I have the full slate, I'll build Bastila as a melee combatant (such as I can), and typically bring either her (especially on Taris before I get Canderous), Juhani (especially on Lehon), or Canderous (most of the mid game) to occupy enemies in melee. I'll generally bring Mission for skill support. Unsure whether I'll spec her for ranged combat or DEX-based melee. Of course, I'll bring other companions when required (ex. Jolee to lower the Kashyyyk force field) or as necessary to complete everyone's quests (Carth on Korriban).
======================

Skills Matrix

Party Member Awareness Computer Use Demolitions Persuade Repair Security Stealth Treat Injury
Revan 0 0 0 10 13 0 0 4
Mission Max Max Max 0 0 Max Max 0
Bastila Max 0 0 0 0 0 0 Max
Jolee 0 0 Max 0 0 0 0 0
Carth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Max
Zaalbar Max Max 0 0 0 0 0 Max
Canderous 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Max
Juhani Max 0 0 0 0 0 0 Max
HK-47 0 Max 0 0 0 Max 0 0
T3-M4 S e e B u i l d

This is what each party member should focus on for this playthrough, not what they're inherently best at. The matrix may show a party member taking Max of a cross-class skill. This just means they should take as much as they can. This is sometimes useful if, based on the expected combinations of party members, there would otherwise be nobody taking that skill at all.
Some of that is a little vague, but despite all appearances to the contrary, there's a limit to how obsessively I'm willing to preplan a playthrough.

Maximum adjusted values needed for each attribute follow. No sense in going over that, even if the table above says "Max".

Awareness Computer Use Demolitions Persuade Repair Security Stealth Treat Injury
20 52 40 26 36 38 56 47

======================

Progression details per level (g = granted, s = selected)

Character Level Class Level Attributes Skills Feats Force Powers
1 Scout 1 STR: 9 (-1)
WIS: 16 (+3)
CHA: 16 (+3)
INT: 8 (-1)
CON: 11 (+0)
DEX: 14 (+2)
 8 points
Repair +4 (4)
Persuade +1 (cross-class) (1/3/4/6)
Treat Injury +2 (2)		 Armor Proficiency: Light Armor (g)
Armor Proficiency: Medium Armor (g)
Weapon Proficiency: Blaster Pistol (g)
Weapon Proficiency: Blaster Rifle (g)
Weapon Proficiency: Melee Weapons (g)
Flurry (g)
Rapid Shot (g)
Implant I (g)
Dueling (s)
2 Scout 2 2 points
Treat Injury +2 (4)		 Toughness (s)
3 Consular 1 1 point
Repair +1 (5)		 Weapon Proficiency: Lightsaber (g)
Jedi Sense (g)
Force Focus (g)
Jedi Defense (g)
Force Sensitive (g)
Lightsaber Focus (s)		 Force Valor
Affect Mind
4 Consular 2 CHA +1, 17 (+3) 1 point
Repair +1 (6)		 Burst of Speed
5 Consular 3 1 point
Persuade +1 (2/4/6/8)		 Improved Dueling (s) Energy Resistance
6 Consular 4 1 point
Repair +1 (7)		 Cure
7 Consular 5 1 point
Persuade +1 (3/4/7/10)		 Dominate Mind
Slow
8 Consular 6 CHA +1, 18 (+4) 1 point
Repair +1 (8)		 Master Dueling (s) Shock
9 Consular 7 1 point
Repair +1 (9)		 Knight Valor
10 Consular 8 1 point
Repair +1 (10)		 Knight Speed
11 Consular 9 1 point
Persuade +1 (4/5/9/13)		 Improved Toughness (s) Improved Energy Resistance
Affliction
12 Consular 10 CHA +1, 19 (+4) 1 point
Repair +1 (11)		 Lightning
13 Consular 11 1 point
Repair +1 (12)		 Drain Life
14 Consular 12 1 point
Repair +1 (13)		 Master Toughness (s) Wound
15 Consular 13 1 point
Persuade +1 (5/7/11/16)		 Master Valor
Master Speed
16 Consular 14 CHA +1, 20 (+5) 1 point
Persuade +1 (6/7/11/16)		 Choke
17 Consular 15 1 point
Persuade +1 (7/7/12/17)		 Implant II (s) Kill
18 Consular 16 1 point
Persuade +1 (8/7/12/18)		 Storm
19 Consular 17 1 point
Persuade +1 (9/7/13/19)		 Plague
Force Suppression
20 Consular 18 WIS +1, 17 (+3) 1 point
Persuade +1 (10/7/13/19)		 Implant III (s) (s) Force Breach

Persuade numbers like +1 (4/3/6) means (assigned/bonus/required25/required75). Where "assigned" is how many points I've actually put into the skill, "bonus" is my CHA bonus, assuming my current level of Valor is active, "required25" is the effective Persuade required for that character level to have a 25% chance of passing a Hard check, and "required75" is the effective Persuade required for that character level have a 75% chance of passing a Hard check. To be clear, my effective (dependable) Persaude is the sum of the first two numbers.

I went to this much trouble mapping out Persuade this time because I'm trying to advance Repair as fast as possible to unlock HK-47 before the Leviathan, while still having at least a chance of persuading. The "bonus" part doesn't count Light Side Mastery, because I don't know when I'll get that.

The summary is that I was able to maintain a 25% chance of passing Hard checks for the entire build, get sufficient Repair to fully repair HK-47 by level 15 (when I get Master Valor), and still have +4 Treat Injury for all of Taris. I'm pretty happy with that.

I could speed up fully repairing HK-47 and getting a 75% Persuade chance on Hard checks by moving the Treat Injury points to the end of the build. But by then they're pretty worthless, whereas they're valuable in the early game. I can live with being a bit less persuasive.

I never get enough Persuade to get a 75% of passing Hard checks without Light Side Mastery.

At level 19, Light Side Mastery, plus Master Valor, plus a CHA of 20 gives an effective CHA of 28, and therefore a bonus of 9 (remember, the bonus of 7 for level 19 in the build table is without Light Side Mastery). At that point I have 9 points in Persuade, for an effective Persuade of 18. This just misses the requirement of 19 for a 75% chance of passing Hard checks.

This finally changes at level 20, where I have an effective Persuade of 19, and the requirement to pass Hard checks remains 19. So it isn't until level 20 that I get the 75% change of passing Hard checks.

I deferred the Implant II and Implant III feats, on the theory that I won't get my end-game implant until late in the game anyway. If I happen to get something worth using earlier, I can always bump one or both of those up a bit, and bump Improved/Master Toughness back.

Force Power selection starts with Universal and Light Powers, all either conversational or buffing, and adds offensive Dark Powers later. This is similar to my 2024 Dark Side playthrough. In that case it was story-driven by my character concept of that Revan. But it worked much better than I expected, and it means I'm not relying on costly Dark Side powers as a Light Sider until I have a bigger Force pool. So I'm doing it here too.

This means I'll start as a buffer and blaster/lightsaber combatant, and grow into a caster in the later levels.