An Easy Guide of Understanding

This will basically be a guide to easy stuff in KOTOR 2 that some people still don't know about.

Overview

FOR THE RECORD
THIS IS NOT AN IN-DEPTH GUIDE

I just wanted to note some easy things that you might wanna know for your playthough of this game. There are too many guides loaded with stats, class tables and all sorts of other dnd-esque stuff that the average player wouldn't care about.

There are PLENTY of behind-the-scenes numbers and stats and rolls, after all it runs on an older edition of D&D. If you want the more specific numbers and stuff, there are links below that lead to that sort of information.

If you're here just to experience KOTOR 2 for the fact that you liked the first, or just have it on your bucket list and wanna get it over with, then this guide is for you.

DISCLAIMER: YES there will be spoilers in here, things that you may wanna find out for yourself and such. If you care about that kind of stuff, Adios, and come back when you don't care anymore.
art by jessyruiz https://www.deviantart.com/jessyruiz/art/The-Exiles-Crew-755678187

Character Creation

Character creation is standard in RPGs like this, if you want to just make whatever you want and figure out everything on your own, by all means skip this part. If you're more cautious (or just have no idea what you're looking at) then stay awhile, and listen.

Gender
This decision, unlike KOTOR1, is actually important.
Playing as a male will grant you the companion - The Handmaiden
Playing as a female will grant you the companion - The Disciple
This choice can change the game's ending and story drastically

-Let it be known that the canon way to play the game is with a female MC named Meetra Surik-

Classes
IF you've played the first KOTOR (which you should've, its pretty good), you'll walk into KOTOR 2 assuming the character creation is similar, if not the exact same. While the process is pretty much the same, there are a few changes worth noting. Since the whole game kinda revolves around you being a Jedi, the classes have been updated beyond the first game's Soldier, Scout and Scoundrel. Instead, we're met with the Jedi update classes from the first KOTOR, being Guardian, Sentinel and Consular. These classes carry more than a couple bonuses and lightsaber color this time around, though.

Guardian
Jedi Guardians are the Jedi we mainly see in the films and shows, being the warriors of the Jedi Order. They hit hard and take hard hits, in exchange for weaker force powers. They have access to lightsaber specialization, which adds a little extra damage to your lightsaber (but prestige classes get that anyway). Their big skill is Force Jump, which launches you to an enemy at least 10 meters away, dealing decent damage. They also get the most feats, having a new one every two levels. All in all, probably the best class for beginners.
Sentinel
Jedi Sentinels are not like their current canon versions at all, they aren't just masked Jedi who guard the temples, rather they're the ones skilled not in combat or in force power, but in the actual skill list. They only lack proficiency in Demolition and Repair, meaning having a high intelligence will make your character VERY versatile. This is on top of the increasing number of immunities that they have access to, being Fear, Stun and Paralysis. They gain feats on a two-every-two levels basis, which is still good, but less reliable than Guardians. They're probably the most versatile class overall.
Consular
The game notes that this class is for "experienced players only", and for good reason. Sentinels and Guardians have abilities you can visually see, whereas Consulars have the distinct buff to saving throws and force points. This means you'll have extra chances not to take damage, while also being able to dish out more force-related damage or buffs. They have the least feats, getting one only every three levels. Honestly, they're good for maxxing the Jedi Master class, but not much else.

Attributes
Attributes are similar here as in D&D, where they modify your skills or powers in some way or another. They also follow the D&D rule in that they only increase their modifiers every 2 points (12 and 13 are both +1, but 14 and 15 are +2 and so on).
The attribute stats seen in KOTOR 2 are:
Strength - modifies melee damage, and melee chance to hit (you wont always land hits in this game) and off-hand ranged weapon damage (if its in your left weapon slot). Carry weight doesn't exist, so having low strength won't stop you from being a kleptomaniac hoarder.
Dexterity - modifies defense, attack with ranged weapons, reflex saves and some attacking moves, as well as a bonus to stealth. This stat becomes broken when combined with the Finesse feat.
Constitution - modifies how much health you gain per level, how fast you can regenerate health, and your fortitude saving throws, as well as allowing your body to take implant packages.
Intellegence - skill points, a bonus to computer use, repair and security, droid healing and sniping.
Wisdom - DC of force powers (how hard enemies take your force attacks), force points per level, will saving throws, awareness and treat injury skills, healing yourself and others.
Charisma - DC of force powers, a bonus to persuade, your party's attacks, and how well you can heal yourself with the force. Also, a high charisma can influence your party members more, and makes it easier for Jedi to use Sith powers, and vice versa.

Skills
The skills available are also pretty much the same, those being:
Computer Use - Hacking and using computers, and some dialogue regarding droids.
Demolitions - Mines and disarming them.
Stealth - sneaky walk
Awareness - knowing where mines are, and a few dialogue options (i never put more than 10 points here)
Persuade - convincing people of stuff, conversation only skill
Repair - Healing droids, fixing non-party npc droids and some dialogue
Security - Lockpicking.
Treat Injury - Healing yourself and others.
Let it also be known that each skill (besides persuade) can be used at workbenches for the purposes of crafting upgrades to items, grenades, mines or healing/buffing items.

Feats
I don't have the time, nor the inclination to explain every single feat in KOTOR 2, because theres a lot. What I can do is briefly go over all the different categories of feats, since not many of them are unique in everything that they do.
Active
These feats are seen when attacking, those being the "powerful", "fast" and "precise" attack. There are two of each, since there needs to be one for melee and one for ranged, but remember to upgrade them when you're able to, since people will get better at evading or tanking them.
Passive
These feats range from combat upgrades, defensive upgrades, ability upgrades, skill bonuses or what types of armor you're allowed to wear. Reading the descriptions of these feats should give a pretty good idea about what they do.
Jedi Feats (force users only)
These feats are focused on improving your abilities as a force user, like increasing your natural defense, or regenerating force points. Really, the majority of force feats are gained naturally depending on your class, prestige class and relations with your party (some members teach you some feats).
Class specific
Non-Jedi class feats are gained by other party members. Though some of them may later become Jedi, for now they are scoundrels, soldiers, scouts, droids and a tech specialist. These feats range from Scoundrel's luck, to Droid software upgrades, among others.
Uniques
No details here, since there's too many, but most party members have their own specific feats that they utilize throughout the game, such as HK's assassin protocols or the Handmaiden's Echani Strike.

FORCE POWERS
yeah its time for the jedi ♥♥♥♥. REMINDER: You don't have to be light or dark or neutral to use those types of force powers, it just means that if you're a jedi, it costs more force points to use force lightning and such, and vice versa.

Light Side
Light side powers are focused on buffing yourself and your party, healing and such. (knowing what powers are broken, like Revitalize and Valor; and which are forgettable, like Barrier; helps a lot.)
Dark Side
"The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural, like shooting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lightning out of your hands and sucking people's souls out of their bodies n ♥♥♥♥ its cool as ♥♥♥♥."
-sheev
(also crowd control powers like Insanity are broken)
Universal
Universal powers don't really fall under being a SIth or Jedi. Stuff like Battle Meditation, Force Mind Trick and Deflect-(without a lightsaber.) (also crowd control powers, like Stunning a whole crowd of enemies its actually kinda broken.)

Recommended Playthrough

There are several paths you can take in Kotor2 following the completion of the Telos main quest. You can head to one of 4 planets in order to settle specific troubles and find Jedi Masters. My reccomended path seems unorthodox, but is pretty standard among the community.

Nar Shadaa (first visit)
DON'T START THE MAIN QUEST!!! Just come to this planet and do some quests, as there is one at almost every corner. There are lightsaber pieces, influence gains and plenty of scripted scenerios. You can turn Atton into a Jedi about 5 minutes into landing on this planet, and get Bao-Dur pretty close. I'd reccommend not starting the main quest yet, as there are hoards of enemies that spawn in during certain scenes, and you're not really prepared for that yet.
What is the main quest??
Nar Shadaa's main quest begins when T3-M4 shows you a message from an exchange boss who wants to meet with you. This begins the main quest, and you cannot leave the planet once it starts. It's triggered by getting the attention of Exchange bosses through completing quests or paying the rat guy outside the Pazzak bar. I'm not sure what the minimum reputation required is, but you'll know its started when it does. Just have multiple save files if you don't want to start the quest yet.

NOTE TO THE PLAYER: Leaving Nar Shadaa before finishing the main quest will cause both it and whatever planet you visit next to be leveled the same. This means early game credits, loot and exp will be given instead of the max, which would be whatever level you could've been at. If you want a more standardized-difficulty playthrough, just combine the (first visit) and (finishing) path of Nar Shadaa.
Thanks to Bickel in the comment section for pointing this one out (i had no idea)

Dantooine
You've most likely fought Visas at this point, so you should have a lightsaber to deal with the Kinrath and the Kathhounds. Weather you side with the Mercs or the Settlers depends on your alignment, and it doesn't really effect the run. Just do the main quest and as many sidequests as you can. (if you do side with the mercs, do all your sidequests with the settlers first, because they'll be dead after the battle)

Nar Shadaa (finishing)
If you're finishing Nar Shadaa before going to Dantooine, get some reputation with the Exchange. This can be done though various sidequests or by paying a little rat man near the Pazzak club. If you went to Dantooine first, you've gained some XP completing a whole ass planet, so there's a good chance you have some better force powers, and have a couple more Jedi on your team. Now, the enemies that spawn in hoards will look like angry alleyway cats, and you can do the main quest easy. STRATEGY NOTE: have Atton be a Jedi and place some mines around the Docks BEFORE starting the main quest. Mainly focus your mines around the entrance to the storage units, there's a big fight there during the story quest and if you're unprepared, its a tough battle.

Onderon
The reason I wouldn't reccommend doing this planet sooner is because you JUST got your freedom, and this planet strips you of it. You're stuck on this planet until you finish the main quest on both Duxn and Onderon. The quest isn't hard, but it can push away new players if they see that they already lost their right to travel the galaxy.

Korriban
Korriban is not a hard planet, either. The whole thing can be done in like 12 minutes if you know what you're doing. I reccomend doing this planet so late because you'll most likely be powerful enough to enter the super scary dark cave near the academy. In this super scary dark cave, theres a purple lightning field that you can only pass through if you're strong enough in the force, I have no idea what the minimum is, I just know that this playthrough path has never failed me here.

M4-78 (mod)
If you have the M4-78 mod on, I'd reccommend doing this planet right after completing the main Korriban quest, mostly cus I just wanna get it over with. Seriously, this planet is actually kind of boring, and its not at all at the fault of the developers, since this planet was unfinished. Sidequests are almost nonexistant on this planet, there's too many open hallways with nobody to fight or interact with, and too many quest locations are miles away from eachother with no waypoint system. Its kind of a drag from start to finish, but I'd reccomend playing it once or twice to have the experience of it.

*Stuff with Kreia
After completing the third planet on your journey, you will be asked to return to Onderon. After doing so, there is no turning back for completing the planet's quest. After completing Onderon, Kreia will not talk to you anymore about anything training related. If you wanted to train at all with her, now is the time.

Onderon-Again
Yeah you caused a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ civil war. Go clean it up.

*Finish up sidequests
Yeah once you go back to the Jedi Academy on Dantooine, you're locked in the main quest ending of the game, for the rest of the game. You can't go back to Nar Shadaa and do that one side quest you just remembered, because you literally can't go back. Do that ♥♥♥♥ now.

Dantooine
Enter the old academy. You're in the endgame now.

Endgame
Wanted to give a little tip without any spoilers. When you find yourself on the endgame planet (you'll know when you get there), kill every beast on the map. Take my word for it, don't leave a single one of those things roaming around. You'll thank me later.

Companions

Throughout the game, you'll find yourself with multiple companions that willingly give their axe, bow and sword for you. Some of them are unique to certain paths you take, others are inevitable, and one is entirely optional.

T3-M4 - Peragus
One of two recurring droids from the original KOTOR, T3-M4 plays a larger role in this game both in the lore and the plot itself. You won't find yourself using him much in combat, but his skills with computers and repairs are second to none. There are a few points in the story where you are required to have him on your party, but unless you really give him nothing to fight with, he's not as much of a handicap as you would think.

Atton Rand - Peragus
The cocky sidekick of this game, Atton Rand is a scoundrel and a criminal with a dark backstory. He helps you get out of the Peragus Mining Facility, and sticks around for unknown reasons. He's handy with a blaster, and always up for a game of pazzak. If you play as a female, he's an option for a romance arc, and he fights with other possible romantic interests. He's a good man to have around, and a more reasonable starter companion than the ever stubborn Carth of the previous game.

Kreia - Peragus
Kreia is a Jedi Master, having long left their order to find you. After seeing your potential with the force, and your willingness to learn again, she offers to be your teacher, your mentor. That, and you're kinda stuck with her as a bond forms between you both that could lead to mutual death. Listen to her teachings, it made me literally rethink theology irl. ALSO, Kreia is the only companion where your influence over her depends on how much she doesn't like you. Its kind of weird, and I'd reccomend a whole guide just on figuring out how she works, but just know that if you're nice to her all the time she is going to hate you.

Bao-Dur - Telos
A mechanic and old friend of the exile, Bao-Dur is a veteran of the Mandalorian Wars and now an independent legend on the planet of Telos fighting against Czerka. He is constantly followed by a remote droid that fires small lasers at enemies, dealing little damage but enough to help out, and he upgrades other droid companions throughout the game in a few different cutscenes.

The Handmaiden - Telos - Male MC Only
The Handmaiden is a member of the Telos Academy, who joins your crew to both keep an eye on you and for her personal curiosities and interests. She's a capable fighter, and can teach you the ways of improved hand-to-hand combat. She's eager to learn, and if you treat her well, she'll be eager to learn the ways of the force. If you play as a male, she's a possible romantic interest, and will be super jealous over the other possible choice. She's also the only party member exclusive to those playing as a male.

Visas Marr - Ebon Hawk
An assassin sent by Darth Nihilus to murder you, after you defeat her, she joins the party willingly to seek vengence against her old master, and for her attachment to you. She's the first force user besides Kreia to join your party, and she comes in with two-handed weapon fighting as well. She is a faithful follower, and aids in teaching you the ways of the lightsaber, and how to see people's alignment with only your eyes. If you play a male, she is a possible romantic interest, and seeking her as such will push away The Handmaiden out of jealousy.

The Disciple - Dantooine - Female MC Only
The Disciple Is a historian and scientist working for the republic. Although I'm certain his contemporaries would judge him more a historian than scientist. His dialogue is interesting to dig into, and he's a capable fighter, hell he's the easiest one of all your companions to convert to Jedi. He happens to be the only party member exclusive to those who chose to play as a woman, and he's also a romantic interest for the player, but doing so makes Atton super jealous.

Mira - Nar Shaddaa - Light Side Only
If you begin the main quest of Nar Shaddaa while having an alignment over 50 (light side), you'll continue the quest and leave the planet with Mira, a bounty hunter hired to keep you safe. She's handy with a blaster and a complicated mess when it comes to dialogue options, but she's still super skillful and good to have around. She's also the only character reserved to those who stick tot he Light Side of the force.

Hanharr - Nar Shaddaa - Dark Side Only
Hanharr is a wookie, but unlike Zalbarr of the previous KOTOR, this one is a bounty hunter with a thirst for blood. He was saved by Mira years ago, thus forcing him to give her a life debt, which only makes him want to murder her for weakness, and to break free of his shackles. He wants death, and he wants to take as many down with him as he can. Its no surprise that he's the only one exclusive to dark side playthroughs.

G0-T0 - Nar Shaddaa
G0-T0 is a droid used by Goto to ensure that your actions are beneficial to the Republic. He doesn't give a damn if you're a Jedi or a Sith, just that you make sure that the Republic's safety is ensured. This droid will dispense rewards for doing so, and will insult you for not doing so. He's also a massive ♥♥♥♥ and I hate having him here. Man isn't even that good in a fight. Really just here because of story reasons.

Mandalore - Onderon/Dxun
Canderous is the current leader of Clan Ordo, assuming the title of Mandalore after the Jedi Civil War in order to restore some spark of what once was the Mandalorian army. He will have fights with Bao-Dur over their political differences during the Mandalorian Wars, which is some of the best dialogue in the game. I swear, this game REEKS of fictional politics and I'm here for it. He seeks honor, glory and battle. He only follows you to ensure that the Sith are stopped, because unlike the republic, they will seek out and kill the remaining Mandalorian warriors. He's a powerful soldier, and one of the few characters to remain from the first game.

HK-47 - Ebon Hawk - Optional
HK-47 survived the Jedi Civil War, just barely. He remains dormant on the Ebon Hawk in a robotic coma, and you must retrieve his parts and reassemble him to bring him back to life. If you played KOTOR, you know how good this guy is to have. His dialogue is hilarious, sometimes informative, sometimes super interesting, and mostly just funny. Because of the influence system, which was absent in the first game, you can now have HK love you literally just by being a genocidal maniac. Murdering things and making the galaxy suffer makes this droid LOVE you. Give him a rifle, or a heavy repeater, and just enjoy his presence.

Jedi Conversion

Okay so this is a big thing in KOTOR 2 that some people don't know about, hell I didn't even know about it until around 100 hours in. Unlike in the first KOTOR, talking to and interacting with your companions yields actual bonuses to both you and them. You might get a + to wisdom saves, or they might get a + to their constitution.

The best of these bonuses is converting some of your companions into Jedi Knights, granting them force powers and the ability to use lightsabers.

IMPORTANT !!!
Converting a character to a jedi does NOT make their previous levels into Jedi ones. Just as in Kotor 1, all of their previous levels will be taken up by whatever their base class is. If you level Atton up to 15 when he's still a Scoundrel and then turn him into a Jedi, then 15 levels of force powers, force points and jedi skill will be lost. To maximize their force potential, try not leveling ANY of these characters up until they are Jedi, despite how difficult and annoying that may be.

This is recommended for secondary playthoughs, though, as it can be difficult getting off of Telos and through some other planets with a team of underleveled followers.

If you really want a companion to have certain feats that ONLY a scoundrel or other non-jedi class can get, look up a guide to see when you should convert them to get the maximum potential out of them.


ATTON
First lets look at Atton Rand. Bother the living hell out of this guy, and take him to Nar Shadaa. In the refugee sector, walk around until 2 twi'lek refugees come to you and talk ♥♥♥♥ about Atton. Then bother the living hell out of him some more and kiss his ass. Eventually he'll start babbling about his past and he'll want to become a Jedi Sentinel.

BAO-DUR
Bao-Dur is probably the easiest to convert. Kiss his ass on Telos and go to Nar Shadaa, where you'll find a broken speeder in the swoop race area. The bike has pieces scattered about the docks and refugee pad, three to be exact.(They're not hard to find, so imma let you have fun with this one) Let him repair it and compliment his work each time he does so. Its important to know that fixing the speeder ONLY WORKS if you have NOT done the main Nar Shadaa quest yet. After the main quest is complete, the speeder will be sabotaged and unusable. (thank you to Magnificent Bastard for that reminder) Talk to him some more and he'll babble about Malachor until he wants to become a Jedi Guardian. (honestly he'll be mostly blaster focused by now so I just use him as a healer)

MIRA
Mira is a little harder. Kiss her ass until you come to a dialogue roadblock and then take her to the big hole on Nar Shadaa. Walk around until you bring up the force in the planet and she'll wanna become a Jedi Sentinel. This one is only hard because she has a confusing dialogue tree. NEVER PISS HER OFF. Unlike all the other ones on this list, she is very difficult to get to. Making her mad will honestly push you back so hard, just forget about trying to make her a Jedi. If you can convince her to see your way, she will become a Jedi Sentinel.

HANDMAIDEN
The Handmaiden is either very easy or very difficult, depending on how much you use her. If you plan on using her once she joins your party, you're in for a hard ass conversion. When you level her up, she becomes more powerful, no surprise here. However, you can only convert her to a Jedi if you fight her in hand-to-hand combat training consistently throughout the game. (I'm not sure if these moments are specific, so I just talk to her every time I enter the Ebon Hawk to make sure I'm on track.) Here's where things get tricky, though. When you fight her in the training, she retains the stats she currently has, meaning if you level her up to 20, she will have the stats of a lvl 20 soldier. If you keep her at lvl 6, and never level her up, even during the last training battle, she'll still be a lvl 6 soldier, and you'll be like lvl 18 or something. Doing this will give you influence with her, and after some more dialogue; make her want to be a Jedi Guardian.

DISCIPLE
The Disciple is nowhere near as hard as the Handmaiden, so if you play female then you're in luck. Legit, and I WISH i wasn't joking here cus its an actual joke how easy this ♥♥♥♥ is, if you just be nice to him on Dantooine, like right when you meet him, he'll wanna be a Jedi Consular. I'm not kidding, keep talking to him right there on the same damn spot you met him and you can progress all the way down his influence tree. I literally did this once during the introduction conversation when you first meet him, he entered my party as a Jedi Consular.

Most of these are kissing ass btw, so be prepared to be nice a lot and if you're going dark side, be prepared for a little bit of light side points, its inevitable.

The 2 here that are DAMN NEAR NECESSARY are Atton and The Handmaiden
During the story part of Nar Shadaa (visitng the Jek Jek Tarr and such), Atton will end up fighting the Twi'lek twins by himself in a bar and later he'll be stuck fighting through the docks to the Refugee pad with Mira and T3. While T3 can be useful here, he is easy to die, and Mira is still new to the party but can be equipped with some nice blasters if you had the time to grab them.

The Handmaiden ends up fighting her sisters and Atris late game, due to the dialogue tree leading to her being close to you. If she doesn't have the force, you have little to no chance fighting a Jedi Master with only vibroblades and grenades unless you stock up on thermal detonators.

ONCE THEY ARE TURNED
Once your companions have learned to listen to the force, they're not full Jedi yet. Not only can they not gain a prestige class, but they only gain so many force abilities as they level up. You can teach any Jedi on the Ebon Hawk the different lightsaber styles and force techniques that you've picked up on your travels. Some are useless, some could be lifesavers. Just remember that this is a thing you can do.

ALIGNMENT TRICK
A note from a commenter, The_Sharky, mentioned something interesting that I had never taken into consideration. First of all, the amount of influence you have on your compantions plays entirely off of your Charisma (high cha, high influence, and vice versa). Second, if you're an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to a companion and you're a light side person, they'll be pushed to the dark side. If you're playing a light sided Jedi and want a companion who hates you, but can use force lightning at a way cheaper force cost, this could be a viable strategy.

Early lightsaber

one of the most annoying things in the early game is using vibroswords as a Jedi. You wanna use a lightsaber, and its actually quite easy to find one without doing much yet.

You'll get a lightsaber piece on Telos, at the end of citadel station. It doesn't really matter weather or not you go with the Ithorians or with Czerka, you'll still get a part.

Fly to Nar Shadaa and go to the little apartment complexes, you'll find a room where two people are talking and you cannot walk in without them telling you to screw off. Instead, use a stealth field generator and walk near them. You'll hear them talk about Juma Juice being used to put kathhounds to sleep. This is necessary.

Next, go to the bar and order some Juma Juice. You'll see a twi'lek in there looking for a cute girl to dance for Vogga the Hutt. Have one of your female companions (or yourself if you're female) dance for the Twi'lek and the Hutt. Once the Hutt is asleep, poison the Kathhound food with the Juma Juice to put them to sleep, and you can unlock his secret stash. Included within this stash is a lightsaber piece that would otherwise be difficult to find.

Then go to the refugee sector and find the woman who lost her husband. Talk to her, then go to the section with the garage apartments in the docks. You'll find a human male named Lootra, and tell him you found his wife. Clear all the exchange workers in the refugee sector, or get Saquesh to let her go; and allow his wife to meet him. He'll give you another piece.

And of course, after you find a planet and walk around, no matter what, once you return to your ship, you'll have to fight Visas Marr, a sith assassin. You'll get a lightsaber piece by defeating her. If you are on Nar Shadaa, and you've done all of the previously stated tasks, you'll have to fight a bunch of pirates on the Ebon Hawk BEFORE you fight Visas Marr, so you'll be weak before your fight with her, fair warning.

This will give you a quick and easy lightsaber without even starting the main planet quests yet.

What makes this better is that there are other options to find lightsaber pieces throughout the game. Why this is good is that after you've made your lightsaber, any points where you would've gotten a lightsaber piece now become full extra lightsabers to give to yourself or your companions.

Prestige Classes

Okay so it took me a long ass time to even know that prestige classes were a thing.

When you hit level 15, talk to Kreia and she'll let you become one of 3 prestige classes. A prestige class is a secondary class placed on top of your existing character class, granting newer feats and powers that separate you from all other members of your party. This makes your character a more versatile and powerful adversary for any opponent.

There are 3 prestige classes, with minor changes between light and dark.
Jedi Weapons Master - Sith Marauder (prestige guardian)
Jedi Watchman - Sith Assassin (prestige sentinal)
Jedi Master - Sith Lord (prestige consular)

The differences between light and dark paths are minor, but there are some feats and powers that only one side or the other can have. Details are in the link below:
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic_II:_The_Sith_Lords/Prestige_classes

Interestingly, these do not need to be set prestige classes. You don't HAVE to do consular/master or guardian/marauder. You can cross-breed these classes in any way possible, leading to a lot of variety and replayability to see the different paths you can take.

This variety of tools allows you to mold your character into a more versatile Jedi, rather than just being a single-classed jedi like in Kotor1. Of course, you can still double up with stuff like consular/master, with a tradeoff of having less variety, but being a FAR better suit for that role than any cross-class could ever dream.

Weapons Masters / Marauders
These guys are like the big versions of the Jedi Guardian. They focus on physical combat, using weapons, being a general big strong Jedi and not really caring about all those force powers and stuff. They boast one specific feat tree change that makes the game a cakewalk, and thats "Superior Two-Handed Fighting". Usually, two weapon fighting skills only lessen the debuff of using 2 weapons. In this case, however, the highest level of two-weapon fighting for this class actually gives you a buff from using 2 weapons. That means anything you hit with 2 lightsabers has no penalty, and actually dies faster.
(Selecting this prestige line prohibits the usage of these feats: Caution, Close Combat, Conditioning, Empathy, Gear Head or Stealth Run)

Watchmen / Assassins
Honestly these guys are only good with being paired with Sentinels. They specialize in skill upgrades, but unless you're trying to max out your MC, there really is no point. They can learn a unique ability, known as force camoflauge, but its exactly the same as just using a stealth field generator, which you can buy at almost any merchant in the game for dirt ass cheap and use infinitely anyway.
(Selecting this prestige line prohibits the usage of these feats: Close Combat, Dual Strike or Regenerate Vitality Points)

Masters / Lords
These ass-hats are overpowered. If you utilize the previously available force regen feat, these guys almost never run out of force power. You can launch 10 force storms and maybe it'll dent your force meter. This prestige class combined with the Consular class is basically pressing the win button. Every time you walk into a room full of bad guys, even if they're all sith, they'll just fall to their knees from the 20 damn force storms you shoved up their ass.
(Selecting this prestige line prohibits the usage of these feats: Caution, Close Combat, Gear Head or Stealth Run)

While there are many combinations of possible cross-bred classes you can make with these, here are two of my favorite combinations that I run:

Guardian-Master/Lord
Jedi guardians specialize in feats early game, and can build up your character in physical power. Once you go Master or Lord, you combine that buffed up Jedi with super powerful force abilities, making use of both sides of the class list.

Consular-Weapons Master/Marauder
Its the same as the previous entry, but reversed. You build up your force powers early on, building up a force meter and getting force regen early on, and later building up your lightsaber strength in order to fight off the Sith Triumvirate.

(disagree if you want, not saying these are the best builds they're just ones I ran when I wrote this)

HK-47 fast asf

One big problem I encountered in my early days of KOTOR 2 was that it was annoying waiting for enough HK-50's to kill in order to restore my beloved HK-47. He was one of the best members of my team in the first game, and seeing him on my ship, unusable, was always a major annoyance. This section will help show how to get this boy back up and running as fast as possible.

Its easier than it sounds, really. Make sure you grab the pieces from all the dead HK-50's you encounter on Peragus and Telos, which should add up to two (2) parts (as long as you follow this guide it doesn't really matter which ones they are, you'll get the four necessary).

After talking with boss queen Atris and leaving Telos, go back to Telos' Citadel Station. Whenever you try to return to Citadel Station at any point, even if its right after talking with Atris, you will see a trio of 50's ready to kill you. These dudes will have another one of your parts.

After you have these three parts, every one of the four major story planets will have a group of HKs that should have your fourth part.
On Dxun, the trio will be in the second area of the forest, right near the entrance.
On Dantooine, they're outside the Jedi Temple Ruins.
On Korriban, they're on the path to the academy, and are annoyingly placed in the way of a cutscene.
On Nar Shaddaa there are so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ HK units its not even funny. You'll find the part.

Doing any of these planets will grant you the final piece to reconstruct HK-47, and trust me when I say he is a worthwhile companion to have.

Reccommended Mods

This is if you're playing the Steam version of this game, and not some Switch player looking at this guide out of desperation.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1402798020 - This is the TSLRCM, a restored content mod for KOTOR2 that adds in all the salvaged stuff that was found in the game files that were cut due to time constraints. This specific version of this mod also contains M4-78, a whole planet that was cut. The planet is kinda choppy and a lot of the graphics are unfinished, but the planet was unfinished, so you can't really complain. I'd recommend playing thorugh M4-78 at least twice, to see both the light and dark side endings to the planet, but just get the standard TSLRCM without it afterward, it really is a hassle.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=639641660 - Widescreen UI for big monitor people. Not really necessary, but it makes everything look a bit less cluttered. It really just makes it easier to look at, and without it everything just feels slightly off.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=489492598 - SKIP PARAGUS. This mod is one of the most important for repeat playthroughs, imo. After you've spent hours playing through the stinky, stinky tutorial planet of Paragus on your first run, you've done your time. We all have to do our time in that hellhole, but afterwards you shouldn't have to. This mod also starts you off with some gear that you can just throw away if you don't want it, in a similar fashion to the DLC weapons in Fallout: New Vegas.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1834797591 - This is a mod that fixes lightsaber and blaster sound effects to their OT trilogy counterparts. Again, this isn't a necessary mod by any means, but its perfect for that meticulous nerd that needs the lightsabers to sound like they used to. Blasters also sound super nice with this mod, but the sound pool itself is a bit smaller, so things can start sounding redundant.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=486299564 - If you care about the lore of Kotor2, this mod is kinda neat. The canon appearance of Meetra Surik (the exile) isn't present in the game at all. This mod alters one of the female models to appear more like the canonical way to play the game, turning one of the blonde woman models into the canonical appearance of Surik.

[The_Sharky]

something not mentioned, which can be really deep, but at least should be known on surface level

You can convert allies to jedis/sith not only by gaining influence, but loosing it as well.
You need to commit to one or the other, as otherwise you would be stuck and lead you nowhere.

gaining influence will push your allies towards your force side affinity (light or dark) but if you loose, it will push them towards the other (if you are dark and loose influence, they go light and vice versa)

Never seen a playthrough of light side pushing companions to dark, might just try that as I have not played this gem in a while

Otherwise, nice simplification, but remove the stuff about "cannon" and meetra as tor isnt cannon. tor can be somewhat fun at times, but it is garbage for what it did to the world building and kotor 1 and 2

[Caesar]

Unarmed build is also amusing / fun af to play lol

[Wizard Pikachu]

There is no canon exile named Meetra Surrik. Please remove, just like I wish to remove the Revan novel and what they did to KOTOR 2's legacy in TOR.

[Bickel]

Hey, Thanks for the shout out. I really like what you've done with this guide!

[Magnificent Bastard]

Also, for the KOTOR1 returnees: Force Speed is nerfed. Only Master Speed will add extra attacks to your rolls. So, if you want to run a melee build - then having two separate lightsabers is even more important here. But this is mostly for if you're playing on Hard - generally, KOTOR2 is easier than KOTOR1 apart from a literal handful of encounters.

[Magnificent Bastard]

Plus! One really important detail for Bao-Dur on Nar Shadaa: You can't fix the speeder at all if you finish the main quest first - it becomes sabotaged and you can't interact with it. This locks you out of this easy influence gain with Bao-Dur and you have to spend interactions on Dantooine, Dxun and Onderon to make him a Jedi instead. This is an issue if you're playing as a male exile and want to improve your influence with the Handmaiden on these planets.

Basically, you can snooker yourself quite easily with this game's influence system if you're not being careful! But this is hard for a new player if they're playing the game blind.

[Magnificent Bastard]

The one thing that I would maybe add is explaining which quests are the "main quest" on Nar Shadaa - cause that shit ain't obvious! Especially to a first-time player because the game just says "find Zez Kai-El" and the guy isn't waiting in some apartment - you have to coax him out of hiding by getting the attention of the Exchange and their bounty-hunters. It's not just a matter of just doing the planet's side-quests either, it's the refugee quests specifically and the main proc for it is the Serocco/Exchange feud in the Refugee Sector. It's a good idea to leave that quest for last, especially because it can be handled in a number of different ways depending on what the player wants.

[Wilmfe23]

What triggers the main guest on Nar Shadaa? I thought it activated when you had done a certain number of side quests.

[bill]

Fun guide. Am I the only one who genuinely enjoys Peragus? I'd also add Goto's whole deal to his section, but idk if you left that out to avoid spoilers or not. Thanks for sharing your opinions, that sound fx mod sounds neat.

[Noss]

Love the guide. I've probably replayed this game 26 times, would of been nice to have some of this information the first time I played. Hope some people playing for the first time stumble on this.

Your description for why you have to return to Onderon is perhaps the funniest way you could put it.