KOTOR 1 - Notes from my 2024 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 2024 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 place to collect thoughts for my 2024 playthrough.

This playthrough is connected to the fanfic that I have notes for at my Betrayals notes page.

Jumping straight into spoilers, this is a Dark Side main character who knows he is Darth Revan from almost the beginning of the game. His memories (at least mostly) return by the time he and Carth first leave the apartment on Taris. But his powers take some time to return (thereby honoring the game mechanics). He plays along at first just to get off Taris. But then he meets Bastila and decides to make her his new apprentice. So most of the game is him rebuilding his abilities and turning Bastila to the Dark Side, before he gets revenge on Malak.

In fact, I'm going to name him "Darth Revan", because:

There are tons of "canon" Revan builds floating around the internet. Just google "kotor 1 canon revan build" for more than you'd ever want. Darth Revan is (at least by the time KOTOR 2, the Revan novel, and SWTOR build him up) a legendary figure bordering on superhuman. So there's just no way, without cheats, to faithfully represent all that within the KOTOR 1 game.

So I won't try. Instead, I'll identify what I consider to be the defining characteristics of this Darth Revan for purposes of the associated fanfic, and create a build that emphasizes those things.
Also, male vs female doesn't really matter for this playthrough. I wrote these notes for a male Revan, because seducing Bastila while also manipulating her seems in character. But the female Revan sequence on the Star Forge where Revan has Bastila kill Carth also seems fitting, as a final and very personal seal on Bastila's loyalty to Revan and embrace of the Dark Side. Problem is, the Dark Side romance with Carth is so cringey (you're a horrible person whose values are antithetical to mine, but I love you anyway. What?) So for now, I'm thinking male, but I might change my mind at the last minute.

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

So, what is this Revan like?
Overall, this Revan is a little Batman-ish. Physically capable, but not in a dominating, top-tier way. Yes, he defeated Mandalore the Ultimate in single combat, but we don't know what Revan may have done to get in Mandalore's head before the fight. This Revan succeeds by being clever, sly, and one step ahead of everyone else. This all favors attributes, skills, and feats that give him the advantage, and then enough combat ability to finish a battle that he has already engineered to be favorable.

These characteristics clearly argue for a Jedi class of Consular. Sentinel might be a good alternative if it were better in base KOTOR 1, or if I were playing with a mod that made the class closer to what it was probably supposed to be. But I'm not, so I'll go with Consular. Also, Consular gets both Persuade and Repair as class skills, and this Revan will want a decent amount of both.

For starting class, Soldier seems a poor fit, but either Scout or Scoundrel would work. Scoundrels bring more skills and Persuade as a starting class skill, but the big distinctive feature of Scoundrel is Sneak Attack. Scouts give Repair as a starting class skill, better saves, and free implant feats. Either seems a reaonsable choice for this Revan. The difference probably comes down to exactly how many feats I'll want (favors Scout), how many skills I want (favors Scoundrel), and how much I expect to use weapons (more favors Scoundrel, less favors Scout). Also, Scout gets most of its unique benefits immediately, and almost all of them by level 4. Scout therefore fits well with a "level saving" build where I intentionally take fewer levels on Taris to get more Jedi levels later (and thereby more Force Powers). Scoundrel, however, only gets a Sneak Attack bump every other level. So if Sneak Attack is important to me, I may want more Scoundrel levels on Taris, at the expense of fewer Jedi levels (and therefore fewer Force Powers) later.

How does any of this match up with the game mechanics? Not very well. The game seems designed for Light Side casters and Dark Side lightsaber wielders. All the WIS-boosting items in the game are restricted to Light Side. There are no CHA-boosting items. The corresponding Dark Side items tend to boost STR. So compared to a Light Sider, Dark Side Consulars get a lower Force point pool and their Force powers have a lower DC, making it easier for enemies to resist them.

So, following the characteristics I've chosen will NOT give me a mathematically ideal Consular, regardless of which starting class I choose or how many levels I take in it. This Consular build is probably optimal, or very close to it, and I'm purposefully deviating from it in several ways. But the game isn't that hard, and I'm more interested in role-playing this particular version of Revan than I am min-maxing. This still won't be a gimped build by any means, and should be a lot of fun to play, even if it isn't ideal.

There would be one more downside to Scout/Consular. My last KOTOR 1 Dark Side playthrough was a Scout 2/Consular 18 who focused on Force Powers. So doing exactly that again would be a little redundant. I'll want to make this one at least somewhat different.

Here are a few builds I looked at for inspiration while making mine:
Most of these are Light Side builds, and none emphasize exactly the things I'm after for this playthrough. But there's lots of good info there.

Here are some Dark Side discussions and builds:

========== SCOUT VS SCOUNDREL =========

A summary is above, but looking deeper there are various differences depending on whether I start as Scout or Scoundrel.

Common internet advice is to take as few levels as possible on Taris, to maximize the number of Jedi levels. But this isn't always the best choice. The most common reason to take additional levels on Taris is when starting as a Scoundrel, for additional Sneak Attack. That may or may not apply here, so let's dig into the tradeoffs.

Notable things lost from giving up Consular levels:
Those are pretty big differences. Of course, the choice isn't between Consular 12 and Consular 18. I could stop Scout/Scoundrel anywhere in the middle.

Starting with Scout, here are notable things gained from taking additional Scout levels:
The most significant things here seem to be the skill points and the free feats. The vitality difference is fairly small, and the Reflex save difference is minimal.

Here are the total number of selected feats received at level 20 for various levels at which I could stop Scout:
There's just not that much difference. I get 9 or 10 feats regardless. Level 6 sucks, so don't do that one. Kinda odd, but just the way the math works.

Putting that all together, the best stopping levels for Scout seem to be:
Now looking at Scoundrel, here are notable things gained by taking more Scoundrel levels:
Here are the total number of selected feats received at level 20 for various levels at which I could stop Scoundrel:
As with Scout, there's just not that much difference. I get 8 or 9 feats regardless, and some stopping levels are beter than others.

Putting that all together, the best stopping levels for Scoundrel seem to be:
There's one more question to answer: how much do I expect to use a weapon vs how much will I rely on Force Powers? As much as I'd like to make this build almost exclusively use Force Powers, the game mechanics make this subpar. However, I've already decided I'm not going full-fledged lightsaber combat in a Guardian sort of way. So do I want be a kinda meh caster that is terrible with weapons, or an even more meh caster that is decent with weapons?

The second choice - be kinda good at everything including weapons - probably fits this character concept better. Is does mean I'll be spread rather thin, and won't be able to just spam the same "kill the bad guys" button throughout the whole game. I'll have to approach different fights in different ways, taking into account the characteristics of the enemies and my available options. Which is is what this Revan would do anyway.

So with all that analysis in mind, what is the best starting class, and stopping point for that class, for this particular Revan? There are arguments to be made for a lot of choices, but the best to me seem like:
If I want to tilt toward Force ability with limited weapon ability, Scout 4 seems like the best choice. If I want to tilt toward weapons with limited Force ability, Scoundrel 7 seems better. Either Scout 5 or Scoundrel 5 would be a midpoint between the two.

Comparing Scout 5 vs Scoundrel 5, the most notable things seems to be:
The three feats gained by Scout (assuming I'd take the Implant feats as Scoundrel) is a big deal. But the Sneak Attack damage bonus is significant too.

Given that there's not an obvious winner, I can probably just pick whichever seems to fit this Revan better, and which sounds more fun to play. My last two playthroughs were heavy on Sneak Attack, so I think I'll go Scout. The choice of Scout 4 vs Scout 5 is mostly just whether I'd rather have one more feat or one more Force power. I can map those out and decide which I care most about.

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

A CHA of 16 is sufficient to pass all Persuade checks on Taris without any skill points in Persuade (might have to save scrum a bit). But raising an attribute to 16 does require an extra 2 points, meaning some other attribute will start 2 points lower than it otherwise could. So maybe stop with 14 and accept that I won't pass all the Persuades.

Every WIS-boosting item in the game is restricted to Light Side, and therefore won't do this Revan any good.

Attribute bonuses are restricted to +20 maximum (you can't raise an attribute more than 20 points above its base value with any combination of gear or powers). So the maximum possible effective value for any attribute is 43 (18 starting, + 5 level up bumps + 20 bonus points from powers/gear/etc).

Lightsabers will automatically use the higher of STR or DEX bonus for attack. Only STR affects damage. STR also helps with Critical Strike DC, but that doesn't matter much here. If not boosting via gear, might not be bad to have at an odd value, so that Master Valor makes it even (and therefore gets one more bonus point).

DEX helps with defense, ranged attack, and lightsaber attack if its bonus is greater than STR. Also helps with Reflex save and Stealth bonus.

CON helps with Vitality and Fortitude saves. That's it. Still, not dying is important.

INT helps with skill point gain, and various skills. Good to have at an even value, as that maximizes skill point gain.

WIS helps various Force-related things, some skills, Will saves, and gives a bonus to healing via medpacks and Cure/Heal.

CHA helps with the same Force-related things as WIS, Persuade, and healing via Cure/Heal.

WIS and CHA are interchangable and additive as far as their effectds on Force Powers. The sum of their bonuses are used, rather than the higher of the two. So unlike STR/DEX for lightsaber combat, where it is helpful to pick one and push only that attribute, it is fine to mix and match WIS and CHA. WIS is probably better overall, but it does nothing for Persuade if that matters (and for this build, it does).

With all that in mind, a good set of starting attributes for this character is:
This is very balanced, which means I don't excel at anything. But that's the cost of trying to be good at multiple things. I'll have to make it up with other choices (gear, feats, powers, etc.)

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

Scout Class Skills: Awareness, Computer Use, Demolitions, Repair, Treat Injury
Consular Class Skills: Awareness, Computer Use, Demolitions, Persuade, Repair, Treat Injury
Neither class has the following: Stealth, Security
The following class skills require training: Demolitions, Stealth
Assuming I stick with 14 INT, I'll get 20 skill points at character creation, 4 at each Scout level, then 2 at each Consular level. So 20 + (3*4) + (16*2) = 64 total skill points to spend.

The following skills seem useful for this build, in priority order:
Hitting my targets for the most important skills would take 64 points. Which, happily, is exactly how many I have.

An adjusted Persuade of 26 is needed for a 100% chance of success even on the hardest checks. An adjusted Persuade of 19 gives a 75% chance. With a +2 bonus from CHA and another +3 from Master Valor, I need to assign 21 points. It'd make more sense to stop Persuade at (adjusted) 19, thereby getting 7 points back to put into Treat Injury. But I'm not building a person who doesn't realize they're Revan. I'm building Revan. So I think I leave the points in Persuade for roleplaying reasons and just live with less (or no) Treat Injury.

I'll need Repair 17 to fully repair HK-47. I can get this via:
This requires me to betray and kill Gadon Thek on Taris, which this Revan will definitely do. Also, an adjusted Repair of 36 is the max theoretically useful value. I won't get this, but a companion might (or not, because it really doesn't matter much).

Demolitions of 40 is needed to recover Deadly mines. Assuming I only mess with mines out of combat, I get to "take 20", so I only need an adjusted value of 20. I get +2 from INT, and can get as high as +16 from gear, but more realistically +13 from gear (the extra +3 would require a 10,000 credit item from Yavin). So hitting the max with realistic gear means I'd need to invest 5 points. The gear I'm actually planning to wear most of the time won't have any INT or Demolitions bonus, so to avoid gear-swapping I'd need to invest 18 points. If I just want to disable and not recover, I can reduce that by 10. While I could leave this to companions, there's one particular solo section where it would be useful for me to be able to do this. And if I'm doing it anyway, that means companions can spend skill points elsewhere.

An adjusted Awareness of 20 is needed to discover Deadly mines out of combat (where you more-or-less get an automatic +20). Assuming +4 from WIS and no gear bonuses, I'd need to assign 16 points.

I'd prefer buffed Computer Use to be a multiple of 4. I'll get +2 from INT and another +2 from Master Valor. Calrissian's Belt get +3, and I'll have that anyway for the Repair. I'll likely run across additional get with Computer use, and companions can mostly handle this skill anyway.

Treat Injury would be nice to have on Taris, where I'll be dueling underleveled, but generally something I can ignore.

An adjusted Security of 38 is necessary for the hardest checks in the game. I won't have that skill, but a companion should.

An adjusted Computer use of 52 reduces anything requiring more than 1 spike to 0 spikes. (Oddly, things that require 1 spike can't be reduced.) A more realistic adjusted value of 36 is probably sufficient. And honestly 0 is fine, this skill is very skippable.

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

I'll get 9 selected Feats (or 10 if I take Scout to level 5).

I'll get Flurry, Rapid Shot, and Implant I for free. If I take Scout to level 4, I'll also get Implant II for free.

I'll get the following assigned feats:
Here is a full list of all other feats that I could potentially take (I went ahead and listed all ranks of feats that I get the first rank of for free). Additional feat ranks and the associated class/level requirement are in parenthesis:
Some of these are obvious bad fits for this build (heavy armor, most of the weapon feats), and unless I'm trying to do something special I generally avoid using feats to increase skills. This leaves the following candidate feats:
I'm planning to get +10 to all saves from gear. So while Conditioning might be useful early, it is less necessary at the end. I'd skip the line entirely, and just struggle through the early game. But I have to take a feat at level 3 and Conditioning is my best choice that isn't level-gated. So I'll take only the first rank and skip the rest.

A likely set of feats, assuming I take Scout to level 4, would be:
This leaves out Master Toughness. But by the late game I should have high DEX and high saves, so I shouldn't really be getting hurt all that often anyway. And Revan has shown (Malak betrayal) to occasionally be vulnerable to a sudden burst of damage. Getting occasionally taken out by a huge hit is therefore in character. Taking Scout to 5 would let me take Master Toughness, at the expense of a Force Power. I think I'll probably want the Force Power more.

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

I'll get 20 Force Powers if I stop Scout at level 4, and 19 if I stop Scout at level 5.

I need *something* to zap the Star Forge battery Jedis with. So at least one of:
Some general thoughts on Force Powers:
Here are all available Force Powers, by type. Level requirements are character level, not Jedi level:
That's a total of 44, counting all ranks of all powers. Dark/Light just affects the cost in Force Points. Any character can use any power.

The things that seem like good candidates for this particular Revan are:
That leaves out some standard showy Dark Side powers (the Shock line, for instance) in favor of some more strategic/tactial powers. But it is still 33 powers, so I have to trim some. In order to win the final fight via Force Powers, without cheesing via mines or something, I'll want:
So those 9 powers are a given, leaving 11 (Scout 4) or 10 (Scout 5). Plague doesn't actually work as fast as the in-game description says, but it is still very helpful with Malak.

I'll absolutely want an AoE damage power, and Drain Life + Death Field gets that in two powers. And just because running around at normal speed in annoying, I'll want at least Burst of Speed. Knight Speed gets a nice defense bonus. Master speed adds additional attacks per round. For roleplaying reasons, if this Revan could only take two powers, they'd be Affect Mind and Dominate Mind, so add those in. And this Revan will often be the group's buffer, so add the Valor and Energy Resistance lines.

I'm struggling with the Cure line. On one hand, it seems almost out of character for this Revan. On the other hand, the game mechanics made it virtually mandatory. I guess I'll just take it. I can always say that it was part of this Revan's cover. After all, he spends most of the game "playing along" with the Jedi plan, because that seems like the best way to both turn Bastila and get revenge on Malak.
This leaves me taking (not necessarily in this order, character level requirement in parens):
This set of powers compromises the build's solo combat effectiveness quite a bit. There's a reason people usually take Shock/Lightning/Storm. Without it, I'll have to depend on my lightsaber for droids or anything that resist Death Field. So I'll have to be intentional about which to use in a particular battle. But that fits this Revan, and when possible he'll often use his companions to do much of the killing.

The main things I really wish I could take that I'm leaving out:
The only things I can feasibly leave out would be Energy Resistance, Improved Energy Resistance, and Cure. But those would hurt, and seem better than the things I'm passing up.

I should, when possible, have a companion cast Master Force Valor. It is a rather expensive Light Side power, and my Force point pool is already lower than a Light Sider due to lack of WIS-boosting items. But I still need to take that line for the final fight, where I won't have companions.

This Revan will be well-suited to buff companions against trash mobs (which are beneath his attention anyway), as well as to personally handling longer, harder boss fights. However, there are probably some situations where he'll struggle and have to use fallback strategies.

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

I'm not going to stress about early or mid game gear. Just use whatever seems best at the time. End game gear should be:

Available gear isn't super friendly to this build. All items that boost WIS are restricted to Light Side. The robes that Dark Siders can craft on the Star Forge boost STR. There are no items that boost CHA.

Which means I should use DEX gear and things generically useful (saves, defense, skills I care about, immunities, etc).

Adreneline Stimulator Belt give +2 DEX and +4 saves. Karakan Gauntlets give +1 DEX and +3 saves. DEX is nice, but the saves are really useful.

If either of the late-game special lightsaber crystals (Heart of the Guardian or Mantle of the Force) are used, then the Solari crystal's Light Side crystal can be bypassed and Solari can be used even as a Dark Sider. Even so, Damind and Rubat provide nice Force point regeneration. A character who doens't intend to use sabers for combat could, even temporarily, equip an off-hand saber just for regeneration.
Wow, that's a lot of credits. I should, when possible, sell only at Yavin, where I get more credit. I can also do the medpack price trick by killing the Manaan shark, given that this is a Dark Side run.

========== PLANET ORDER AND COMPANION USAGE =========

There's less need for planet hopping on this build compared to some of my playthroughs where I'm trying to something specific regarding alignment, redeem people from Korriban, get Jolee early, etc. But I can't completely avoid it.

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, Juhani, or Canderous to occupy enemies in melee. I'll generally bring Mission for ranged and skill support. 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).

Here's my expected planet order, along with key considerations for each:
NOTES: ======================

Skills Matrix

Party Member Awareness Computer Use Demolitions Persuade Repair Security Stealth Treat Injury
Darth Revan 16 0 18 21 9 0 0 0
Mission Some Some 0 0 Some Max Some 0
Bastila Max 0 0 0 0 0 0 Max
Jolee 0 Max 0 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: 8 (-1)
WIS: 14 (+2)
CHA: 15 (+2)
INT: 14 (+2)
CON: 12 (+1)
DEX: 14 (+2)
 20 points
Awareness +4 (4)
Demolitions +4 (4)
Repair +4 (4)
Bank +8 (8)		 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 4 points
Awareness +1 (5)
Demolitions +1 (5)
Repair +1 (5)
Bank +1 (9)		 Toughness (s)
3 Scout 3 4 points
Awareness +1 (6)
Demolitions +1 (6)
Repair +1 (6)
Bank +1 (10)		 Conditioning (s)
4 Scout 4 WIS +1, 15 (+1) 4 points
Awareness +1 (7)
Demolitions +1 (7)
Repair +1 (7)
Bank +1 (11)		 Implant II (g)
Uncanny Dodge I (g)
5 Consular 1 2 points
Awareness +1 (8)
Demolitions +1 (8)
Persuade +8 (8)
Repair +1 (8)
Bank -9 (2)		 Weapon Proficiency: Lightsaber (g)
Jedi Sense (g)
Force Focus (g)
Jedi Defense (g)
Improved Flurry (s)
Force Sensitive (g)		 Burst of Speed
Affect Mind
6 Consular 2 2 points
Awareness +1 (9)
Demolitions +1 (9)
Persuade +1 (9)
Repair +1 (9)
Bank -2 (0)		 Dominate Mind
7 Consular 3 2 points
Awareness +1 (10)
Persuade +1 (10)		 Improved Dueling (s) Cure
8 Consular 4 WIS +1, 16 (+3) 2 points
Demolitions +1 (10)
Persuade +1 (11)		 Force Valor
9 Consular 5 2 points
Awareness +1 (11)
Persuade +1 (12)		 Energy Resistance
Knight Valor
10 Consular 6 2 points
Demolitions +1 (11)
Persuade +1 (13)		 Knight Sense (g)
Improved Force Focus (g)
Master Flurry (s)		 Improved Energy Resistance
11 Consular 7 2 points
Awareness +1 (12)
Persuade +1 (14)		 Knight Speed
12 Consular 8 WIS +1, 17 (+3) 2 points
Demolitions +1 (12)
Persuade +1 (15)		 Wound
13 Consular 9 2 points
Awareness +1 (13)
Persuade +1 (16)		 Master Dueling (s) Slow
Drain Life
14 Consular 10 2 points
Demolitions +1 (13)
Persuade +1 (17)		 Force Suppression
15 Consular 11 2 points
Awareness +1 (14)
Persuade +1 (18)		 Master Valor
16 Consular 12 WIS +1, 18 (+4) 2 points
Demolitions +1 (14)
Persuade +1 (19)		 Master Sense (g)
Master Force Focus (g)
Improved Toughness (s)		 Affliction
17 Consular 13 2 points
Awareness +1 (15)
Persuade +1 (20)		 Choke
Plague
18 Consular 14 2 points
Demolitions +1 (15)
Persuade +1 (21)		 Death Field
19 Consular 15 2 points
Awareness +1 (16)
Demolitions +1 (16)		 Implant III (s) Kill
20 Consular 16 WIS +1, 19 (+4) 2 points
Demolitions +2 (18)		 Force Breach

Force Power selection is story driven rather than min-maxing for strongest effect. The build starts with Universal and Light Powers, and adds Dark Powers later. This Revan is pretending to go along with the Jedi Council at first. Then the more time that passes and the more he establishes himself rather than the Council as in charge of the mission, he becomes more comfortable revealing his true nature. This means he's basically just a buffer and mediocre lightsaber user for much of the game. But that makes the most roleplaying sense for this playthrough, so I'm going with it.

This Revan is holding back for much of the game, waiting for the right moments to show more of himself. This means I'll probably save levelups, maybe for a long time, and then use them at crucial moments. It also may mean that I grant some XP through the cheat console if it seems like the right time to do so because, hey, this is Darth Revan. He follows his own rules.

The playthrough went surprisingly well. I thought I'd feel underpowered in the mid levels, but I never did. I wore Davik's armor until around level 10, when I finally gained enough Force Powers to make it worthwhile to wear robes instead. My single saber did just fine in combat until I was able to switch to mostly Force Powers, and even then it served as a fine backup. This main character considered all his companions disposable and beneath him, and therefore kept all the best gear for himself, which probably helped compensate for the less-than-optimal build. I tended to run two melee companions, which mostly kept enemies off me and kept things moving at an acceptable speed.

I fought the Korriban Terentateks in Naga Sadow's tomb straight up, instead of using Speed to cheese past them. That was probably the hardest fight since Bendak (who is easy enough to kill with Plasma Grenades if you know the timing), because I had to do everything myself rather than buffing my companions to help. I used all my saved levelups, and had to manage the fight carefully, but it wasn't that hard, and I never wondered if the build wasn't going to be capable of winning.

I'm glad I saved Death Field until Level 19. I considered using the cheat console to level up early, but I didn't. I hit Level 19 during the Yavin fight with the Transdoshans (which is available on my platform, and which I typically solo as a test of how my build is doing.) That fight was hard, but winnable. Then I used my last deferred level (I tend to wait to level up in hard fights to get a free health bar), and getting Death Field was like a cheat code. After that, everything super easy. Waiting made me play more tactically during the early parts of the game, and having the ability to quickly wipe out rooms in the end game, just when the plot had revealed to my companions who I really was, felt right.

Malak wasn't much trouble:
  1. Force Breach
  2. Plague
  3. Death Field spam
Repeat as needed. I laid a minefield near the entrance in case I needed to kite Malak through it, but I didn't need it. In fact, just to taunt him a little, I let him heal via the battery Jedis a couple of times before I took out the rest and finished him off. I did have to pop a few Life Support Packs here and there, but was never in real danger of losing.

One of Malak's final lines was especially gratifying: "You... you are Darth Revan, Lord ... [cough] Lord of the Sith, and I... I am nothing." Of course, Malak says this same line regardless of what you named your character. But recall that, with this line in mind, I named my character "Darth Revan". :)