Begun, this Clone War has.

First off, a schedule update — through the end of the month, I am off on Mondays and Tuesdays, if we want to schedule any small-group sessions.

Now — what's new in the Clone Wars Sourcebook?  I'll go chapter by chapter.

Species: Some good races, some rather plain ones.  The Gen'Dai is insanely difficult to kill for a player race — they do live past 4,000 years old, after all — but not broken.  Kaleesh (General Grievous' race) are also pretty cool.  Later in the book are Geonosians, Chagrians, and Umbarans — Geonosians and Umbarans are pretty cool, but Chagrians are a bit bland (though to be fair, their species is not well-developed in the canon).  Also there are rules to play a clone: They get a set ability array, but can put +2 in any ability, and they get the human bonus skill and feat.

Classes: Jedi don't get much (only 6 talents), but what they get is friggin' insane.  Consular's Vitality and Exposing Strike are really, really powerful.  A lot of stuff in this book loves bonus hit points.

Nobles get some good stuff: The Collaborator talent tree lets you work both sides by keeping enemies from attacking you or your allies, sharing bonuses from enemy nobles, and giving your opponents a bonus to give your allies a bigger bonus.  They also get the Loyal Protector tree, which gives them a bodyguard who can exact retribution against enemies who attack you.  They're part of the new "follower" rules, which I have to admit are really, really cool.  They essentially let you play as multiple characters (you can have up to 3 followers), though your main character is much more powerful, and you have to share actions with all of them.

Scoundrels get the Stymie talent for the Misfortune tree, which trips up your opponent's skill checks.  It's pretty solid against Force users.  They also get the Opportunist tree, five talents that give you pretty powerful effects when something else triggers them.

Scouts get the Surveillance tree, which is a little similar to the Spy talent tree from Force Unleashed and is focused on getting the most out of your Perception skill.  They also get the Reconnaissance talent tree, which gives them followers who can do recon work.

Soldiers get the best of the best.  Three new talents for old trees make aiding another and melee attacks super useful.  The new Trooper talent tree gives you attractive bonuses when you're within 3 squares of allies.  The Squad Leader talent tree gives you followers and some squad tactics you can use with them.

Skills: There's some nice new uses for skills.  Knowledge (tactics) can now be used to anticipate an enemy's tactics, Use the Force can be readied to catch and hurl away incoming grenades or place allies in healing trances, Survival can help make "defensive positions" that hinder your opponent, and Perception and Knowledge (tactics) have new uses for the mass combat rules.

Feats: I'm pretty impressed with the feats; almost all of them are combat-oriented or droid-oriented.  Gunnery Specialist makes you proficient as a starship gunner, lets you reroll an attack, and makes you eligible to take gunner maneuvers from Starships of the Galaxy.  Grand Army of the Republic Training is a must-have for heavily armored characters.  Unstoppable Force give you a rather hefty bonus to defenses against Force-based attacks.

Prestige Classes: Ace Pilot gets 1 new talent; Elite Trooper gets the Melee Specialist tree (it's exactly what it sounds like) and Republic Commando tree (which does a whole bunch of different things); Force Adept gets two new talents, and they're both pretty good; Gunslinger gets one; Jedi Knight gets the Jedi Archivist (focused on Knowledge checks and aiding another) and Jedi Healer talent trees (focused on vital transfer and Treat Injury); Officer gets 3 new talents.

There are three new prestige classes.  Droid Commander is a very narrowly focused prestige class focused on droid leaders leading droid troops.  Military Engineer does a lot with technology; a lot of its abilities are about using skills faster, improving vehicles, or improvising weapons on the fly.  The Vanguard is primarily for Scouts, and it's all about getting the drop on your opponent.  Most of its abilities have to do with attacking flat-footed opponents and coordinating allies together.

The Force: Eight new powers.  Cloak gives you concealment and a bonus to Stealth.  Levitate lets you fly short distances.  Malacia moves opponents down the condition track and reduces their damage threshold.  Morichro lets you put enemies into a deep sleep or kill them.  Phase lets you walk through solid objects.  Rend is a damaging dark side power that can be fatal. Shatterpoint reduces a target's damage threshold if you hit them.  Technometry lets you access electronic devices by touch, and also control droids.

There's a bunch of new Force talents, which are almost all awesome.  Aversion makes squares near you difficult terrain.  The Will To Resist lets you substitute a Use the Force check for your Will Defense.  The Light Side talent tree is pretty much solid gold, giving you really powerful abilities.  The Psychometry talent lets you see the past by touching objects.  Shift Sense gives you low-light vision.

A bunch of new Force techniques and secrets; not much to say about them (we're not that high-level yet), but Advanced Vital Transfer is insane, letting you spend a Destiny Point to fully and completely heal somebody.

Also three new Force traditions: the standout to me is the Korunnai (Mace Windu's people), which gives you a vicious Akk Dog follower.

It's getting late now.  I'll post about equipment, ships, stats, etc. later.  That's more than half the book!