Darth Bandon versus Darth Xedrix

> Bandon as of KOTOR
> Xedrix as of Revan Novel
> Bandon is amped by SF (no Jedi vessels to absorb)
> Xedrix is amped by the nexus of Dromund Kaas

Sabers
Force
All out

Who wins?

Bandon absolutely destroys. As far as I can tell, he has pretty considerable levels of hype - being Malak's apprentice and all - whereas Xedrix is portrayed as a weak old man who is well past his prime, which is reflected in him failing to do any significant damage to Novel Scourge despite charging an attack for minutes and unleashing basically all of his power at once.

I'm leaning toward Darth Bandon. If I'm not mistaken, the Star Forge is a more meaningful amp than Dromund Kaas is (though I haven't dug nearly enough into SWTOR lore to know for sure, honestly). Setting the amps aside, Darth Bandon is more established (barely), and there's some interesting Bandon wank that I stumbled across on accident not too long ago. 

First, Bandon was second only to Darth Malak within Malak's Sith Empire out of hundreds of dark Jedi. He's unquestionably above, say, Uthar Wynn, Jorak Uln, and Yuthura Ban, for example. Most importantly, this also puts him above Darth Sion, who has been explicitly said to have been part of the Sith Empire during the Jedi Civil War, according to the KotOR campaign guide. Bandon has also only ever met his equal in combat while facing Revan, according to the official strategy guide. There are at least three quotes siting the idea that Bandon would one day soon try to challenge Malak for the title of Sith Lord. He's also said to have slain "a score of his former Jedi allies," putting his kill count in lightsaber duels over 20. 

Second, and what I find most interesting, is the actual stats from the Knights of the Old Republic video game. This is the primary source for Bandon, Malak, and Bastila, naturally. I know game mechanics aren't solid evidence for debating, but they do give us a very important insight into the intent of the game developers. 

Let's look at Darth Bandon, Leviathan Malak, and Bastila once she's fallen to the dark side, and lastly, Star Forge Malak.

Bandon: Level 15, Defense 28, HP 240, FP 225, Str 20, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14. Attack modifiers of +21/+19, with damage 7-25/7-25. He also has Force Immunity 30, Plague 100, Choke, Death Field, Disable Droid, Force Whirlwind, and Horror 25.

Leviathan Malak: Level 13, Defense 27, HP 180, FP 139, Str 17, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 12. Attack modifier of +17, with damage 7-21. He also has Force Immunity 28, Choke, Destroy Droid, Force Lightning, Force Push, Horror 21, Force Breach, Improved Energy Resistance, Master Speed, and Throw Lightsaber.

Star Forge Bastila: Level 21, Defense 27, HP 160, FP 146, Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 16. Attack modifiers of +20/+14, with damage 6-24/6-24. She also has Force Immunity 36, Force Lightning, Force Wave, Slow 32, and Force Breach.

Star Forge Malak: Level 20, Defense 38, HP 327, FP 175, Str 29, Dex 18, Con 23, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 20. Attack modifier of +38, with damage 18-32. He also has Force Immunity 35, Force Lightning, Force Breach, and Throw Lightsaber.

Despite the player fighting Malak at a later point than they fight Darth Bandon, Bandon is actually a higher level. What's more, he's harder to hit, has better Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma, resulting in him being a more powerful duelist and having stronger effects with his Force abilities than Darth Malak. The only edge Malak really has over Bandon is greater variety in applicable Force powers. It's only on the Star Forge that Malak becomes far, far more powerful. But onboard the Leviathan, away from the power of the Star Forge? Bandon should have a rather easy time beating non-amped Malak, going purely by game stats. To cement how powerful Bandon is in-game, he's better than Star Forge Bastila, the second to last boss of the game, in pretty much every area. The only thing she really has better than him is a greater resistance to Force attacks due to a somewhat higher Force Immunity, and she has a somewhat different set of Force abilities. 

Now, what is it the game designers intended by making the stats like this? Well, naturally, Bandon had to be somewhat tougher than an average opponent, since you fought him with two of your allies, while Malak and Bastila are both fought one-on-one. However, that alone isn't enough to explain the large disparity in the character's stats, as not every enemy you fight when you have back up is depicted as being more powerful than the end-game characters. The only stat that really needed to be raised was his Vitality/HP for the sake of allowing him to survive longer. By making him both stronger and more dexterous than both Malak and Bastila, the game developers seem to have aimed at having the Bandon fight be one of the harder fights of the entire game, especially considering how much later the duels against Malak and Bastila are, and how much your character will have grown by then. Bandon is intended by the devs to be a bigger hurdle than either Leviathan Malak or Star Forge Bastila. 

So, going purely by game stats, Bandon is the third most powerful character in Knights of the Old Republic, behind only Revan and Star Forge Malak. His stats put him above pretty much every other major Sith boss, such as Uthar Wynn, Jorak Uln, Yuthura Ban, and Star Forge Bastila. These game stats might not be definitive for the sake of debating, but they do provide an insight into the minds of the developers. This insight is further backed up in the expanded lore outside of the game. The lore in the official guide book and the KotOR roleplaying guide both support Bandon being second only to Malak within the Sith Empire, which puts him above Sion, and they also say he had set his sights on overthrowing Malak soon. 

As for Xedrix, he honestly just isn't very impressive. He has almost no feats to his name other than exchanging "a quick series of thrusts and parries" with a massively pre-prime Scourge (before Xedrix's allies intervened and the old man just sat back and watched), and failing to kill or incapacitate Scourge despite using literally all of his power in a single Force storm of lightning, iirc.

TL;DR - Darth Bandon is sorely underrated, and was arguably more powerful than Darth Malak away from the Star Forge, judging by his in-game stats. Meanwhile, Xedrix has almost nothing to his name aside from a brief lightsaber exchange against a hugely pre-prime Lord Scourge. Darth Bandon stomps.

Tbh there’s a high chance that Xedrix would be beaten by someone like Johun Othone or Whie Malreaux

Let's look at Darth Bandon, Leviathan Malak, and Bastila once she's fallen to the dark side, and lastly, Star Forge Malak.

Bandon: Level 15, Defense 28, HP 240, FP 225, Str 20, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14. Attack modifiers of +21/+19, with damage 7-25/7-25. He also has Force Immunity 30, Plague 100, Choke, Death Field, Disable Droid, Force Whirlwind, and Horror 25.

Leviathan Malak: Level 13, Defense 27, HP 180, FP 139, Str 17, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 12. Attack modifier of +17, with damage 7-21. He also has Force Immunity 28, Choke, Destroy Droid, Force Lightning, Force Push, Horror 21, Force Breach, Improved Energy Resistance, Master Speed, and Throw Lightsaber.

Star Forge Bastila: Level 21, Defense 27, HP 160, FP 146, Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 16. Attack modifiers of +20/+14, with damage 6-24/6-24. She also has Force Immunity 36, Force Lightning, Force Wave, Slow 32, and Force Breach.

Star Forge Malak: Level 20, Defense 38, HP 327, FP 175, Str 29, Dex 18, Con 23, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 20. Attack modifier of +38, with damage 18-32. He also has Force Immunity 35, Force Lightning, Force Breach, and Throw Lightsaber.

Seeing this many figures in one post is triggering my anxiety.

bandon stomps

BoD wrote:

Let's look at Darth Bandon, Leviathan Malak, and Bastila once she's fallen to the dark side, and lastly, Star Forge Malak.

Bandon: Level 15, Defense 28, HP 240, FP 225, Str 20, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14. Attack modifiers of +21/+19, with damage 7-25/7-25. He also has Force Immunity 30, Plague 100, Choke, Death Field, Disable Droid, Force Whirlwind, and Horror 25.

Leviathan Malak: Level 13, Defense 27, HP 180, FP 139, Str 17, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 12. Attack modifier of +17, with damage 7-21. He also has Force Immunity 28, Choke, Destroy Droid, Force Lightning, Force Push, Horror 21, Force Breach, Improved Energy Resistance, Master Speed, and Throw Lightsaber.

Star Forge Bastila: Level 21, Defense 27, HP 160, FP 146, Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 16. Attack modifiers of +20/+14, with damage 6-24/6-24. She also has Force Immunity 36, Force Lightning, Force Wave, Slow 32, and Force Breach.

Star Forge Malak: Level 20, Defense 38, HP 327, FP 175, Str 29, Dex 18, Con 23, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 20. Attack modifier of +38, with damage 18-32. He also has Force Immunity 35, Force Lightning, Force Breach, and Throw Lightsaber.

Seeing this many figures in one post is triggering my anxiety.

Sorry, I'm a sucker for RPGs, and since Bandon's only real appearance as a conbatant was in an RPG, I figured it was important to use the in-game stats to get a picture for how powerful the character actually is, relative to known quantities like Malak and Bastila.