There is no behind you
Flanking in SWURPG is a real rule with a real number. Two attackers on directly opposite sides of a target each get +2 to melee attack rolls — and the rulebook is explicit that this isn't a player privilege: enemies flank too, and a party that lets itself get surrounded will feel it.
The Ongree opt out of the whole mechanic by anatomy. Their eyes sit at the ends of flexible stalks that emerge from opposite sides of the skull, carrying each eye out and away from the head, so a single object can be held in view from two separated angles at once. There is no blind arc to work around. They're playable now, in the catalog and the Character Builder.
The upside-down face
Work down an Ongree's head and nothing sits where you expect it. The cranium is tall and tapers upward. The eyestalks come off either side. The mouth is lipless and set in the centre of the forehead, and below it sits a row of four nostrils. To a human, a Rodian or a Twi'lek the whole arrangement reads as a head mounted upside-down, which is close to the exact phrasing that follows the species through most galactic reference material. It's an unfamiliar face rather than an unfriendly one, and it stops registering as odd about a minute into a conversation.
Below the neck they're ordinary enough: two arms, two legs, no hair, orange-yellow skin, three digits per hand including an opposable thumb. Around 1.9 metres and 80 kilograms is typical, though Coleman Kcaj was recorded at a full 2.04. Legends gives them a pronounced hump across the back and a gait that looks awkward, and makes a point of noting the awkwardness misleads — Ongree are naturally agile despite the silhouette.
Skustell is a humid world in the Skustell Cluster, out in the Tarabba sector of the Outer Rim, and Saga Edition widens that to a cluster of habitable worlds, most of them swampy or oceanic. Legends adds the detail that shapes how the species is perceived: even after Skustell joined wider galactic society, Ongree were rarely seen far from home. They're a known species, not a common one, which is why one in a cantina or a Senate corridor draws a second look.
The build
| Ability modifiers | WIS +2, CHA −1 |
| Size / speed | Medium, 30 ft |
| Skill | Perception |
| Opposed Eyestalks | Cannot be flanked — enemies on directly opposite sides gain no flanking bonus against you |
| Amphibious | Breathe air and water equally; advantage on Athletics checks made to swim |
Opposed Eyestalks is a defensive trait with a very specific shape: it does nothing at all until the enemy tries something clever. The moment two melee attackers work their way to opposite sides of you — which is exactly what a competent GM's melee enemies do — they're each down 2 on every swing, for the rest of the fight, without you spending an action or a resource. Over a long engagement against a group that knows how to use the rule, that is a lot of missed attacks. It also quietly frees your positioning: you don't have to fight with your back to a wall.
WIS +2 with Perception proficiency is the species' other half, and in a system with no passive skills it's a build that actually gets rolled. The CHA −1 is worth a thought given the species' reputation as natural diplomats — that reputation was built by other people reading the eyes, not by an innate talent for charm. An Ongree who negotiates well does it by genuinely considering the angles, which is a Wisdom habit, not a Charisma one.
Amphibious is straightforward and comes up more than you'd think on a swamp or ocean world.
Kcaj, Pablo-Jill, and the mayor on the take
Coleman Kcaj climbed higher than any other Ongree on record. Born on Skustell, he took a seat on the Jedi High Council after Adi Gallia was killed on Florrum, sat in judgement when Ahsoka Tano was accused over the Temple bombing, and was in the chamber when Plo Koon produced Sifo-Dyas's lightsaber and the clone army was traced back to Dooku. He was also one of the very few to slip Order 66 — the Inquisitorius only listed him as a confirmed survivor after five years of hiding well enough to be presumed dead.
Pablo-Jill is the Ongree most viewers have actually watched fight. He dropped into the Petranaki arena at Geonosis, held the droid lines beside the Mirialan Padawan Barriss Offee, was separated from the other Jedi and left behind when Yoda's gunships lifted, and still walked out alive to rejoin the ground battle.
And then there's Acros-Krik, who governed Coruscant's Uscru Entertainment District while quietly selling intelligence on its residents and visitors to Black Sun. He's the standing example of what the species' talent looks like pointed the wrong way: a reputation for seeing all sides is the best cover a crooked operator can wear.
A production footnote worth knowing — the Ongree in Revenge of the Sith started life as a senator named Sweitt Concorkill, cut before photography wrapped. The model was reused to fill a Council chair and became Kcaj, while the discarded name was handed to a Vurk senator instead.
Build your own
The Ongree are live in the Character Builder — eyes on stalks, a mouth in the forehead, and nothing behind you to worry about. Read the full species profile for the lore and the stat breakdown, or browse the rest of the species catalog. They complete the named Jedi High Council roster in SWURPG, alongside the Quermian, Lannik, Thisspiasian and Tholothian — with Yoda's species, which canon has never named, as the permanent exception.