Bastila Shan

Bastila Shan gives me fits. I just can't decide how I feel about her as a miniature. On the one hand, Triple Attack, Lightsaber Deflect, and Lightsaber Sweep say, "I'm a frontline beatstick! Use me to destroy your enemies and we can rule the galaxy as player and piece!" On the other hand, her Commander Effect/Force Powers, and more importantly her modest Defense and Hit Points, say "Keep me away from the action, as I'm a delicate flower who will wilt quickly without proper care."

Herein lies the problem: if you're paying 46 points for a piece, it needs to be doing a fair bit for you. Bastila costs too much too use her just for her command skills, and she's not a good enough combatant to pay 46 points for just combat ability. Consequently, she's essentially forced into the role of backup attacker, a second line piece that handles mop-up duty while providing Force Valor bonuses to more capable (or disposable) primary attackers. Since the Old Republic only has a total of six pieces, those more capable attackers are either Jedi Guardians or Fringe pieces (the dynamic duo of Aurra and Boba leaps to mind). With the Old Republic as limited a faction as it is, Bastila is supposed to be the reason to play them, as the Unique they have. Unfortunately, she's not quite good enough to be a reason to play the faction.

I should make special mention of Battle Meditation. This is one of the most interesting Force Powers they've yet given us. While you can use it just for the extra combined fire bonuses to your squad (and that's perfectly good), it can also wreak havoc for certain opposing builds that may depend on combined fire. Since it's going to be completely useless against many squads (droid-centered or melee-heavy squads, for example), they've gone and made it completely optional, so you don't have to pay the points for it in every battle. Nice. In fact, since her only two Commander Effects are both Force Powers that she can choose not to use, Bastila has the interesting distinction of being the first piece in the game that can be a follower or commander, at the whim of the player. It's not currently very useful, but it's fun trivia, anyway. Incidentally, Bastila now shares this distinction with Komari Vosa, whose Control Minds Force Power/Commander Effect actually stacks with Battle Meditation, so if you really like combining fire and spending too much for Jedi, there's a squad idea for you.

Overall rating in 100: 2.5 (there's just no one to team her up with, really)
Overall rating in 200: 3 (the more allies to benefit from her crazy CEs, the better)