A Few Lightsaber Questions

[venkelos 568]

Well, we've had our thread about discussing them, and that made me think, which made me come up with a few other questions, regarding the Jedis' favored tool.

1. Modifications: So, a lightsaber, like several other possessions, might have several different parts that can bear several different upgrades. You might tweak up the hilt, the crystal, some other stuff. If you do modify a component, say the crystal, and then transfer it to another hilt, entirely, do the upgrades remain? It might seem silly, but as much of it could be how the crystal melds into the hilt, as exactly how the crystal is cut/polished, or whatever else one exactly does to "upgrade" them. I don't know if, without the synergy of the whole weapon, if the individual pieces might lose their modifications. "Taking it apart" could undo your precision work.
2. Hilts: We've discussed the perils some people might be forced to go through, to receive a true lightsaber crystal; despite being "just another component" in "just another weapon", these jewels require possibly copious study, searching, dodging Imperials, facing potentially lethal trials, and more. I get this, and agree, for the most part, but then I have a problem. The crystal, the hardest, most expensive part to get, in some ways, should be easy. They exist naturally, if you know where to look. The hilt, though, is a mechanical construct, requiring numerous parts, some very specialized. You can't just go buy a lightsaber hilt; even more than a crystal, which might just look like a bauble, the hilt is obvious. it serves little other uses, and is very iconic. Even if you had the parts, plans aren't just sitting around, unless you have a burned-out Jedi mentor, or a holocron, and they actually know how, themselves. So, apart from the crystals, where do most of you get your hilts? They don't often seem to get the same level of adventure as a Krayt Dragon pearl, though maybe they should, and I'm curious where you usually acquire one?
3. Crystals: I like many of the core book's examples, but also like more. I got Nexus, and it had two special lightsabers, i think. Do any of the other books have special sabers, or crystals to make sabers out of?
4. Dual Saber Form: If you get past the whole "finding two sabers" issue, and decide to dual-wield, I sort of imagined a main-hand lightsaber, preferably with an offensive-oriented crystal, and an off-hand shoto, with a Lordian crystal, I think (the one that gives Defensive, and Deflect). I know that there are several trees of lightsaber forms that can improve these, while lacking a true tree for dual-wielders, but other than finding the parts, and increasing your lightsaber skill/relevant ability, is there anything, really, one needs to do to get the most out of using the two?

Well, that'll do, for now. Thanks much, and have a good one!

[Blackbird888 4,110]

Modifications: If you look at it as the wielder is attuning their crystal, then it doesn't matter what it's installed in. I think modifications are supposed to stick according to RAW anyway.

 

Hilts: If a character is to the point where they're looking for a crystal, then they probably know enough about a hilt to either have one to repair or have some instructions handy. Cart and horse, y'know? I can't say for sure, but I actually think the books mentioned that, except for the crystal, individual parts to hilts are actually pretty easy to obtain or make; I think they said it can be as simple as a length of metal tube, a power source, and the crystal, or something to that effect. I seem to recall one character in the EU making a lightsaber hilt out of parts salvaged from a speeder bike.

 

Crystals: Keeping the Peace has two: the Kimber stone is a better non-lethal crystal than the training emitter, while the Sorian compliments Parry users. Savage Spirits has another two: I think it's the Nishalorite is a navigator's aid, while the Varpeline, I think it was, is designed to hack people's limbs off. Endless Vigil will likely have more.

 

Two sabers: The paired weapons attachment from Fly Casual. The thing is, though, the way two weapon fighting rules work, it's better to have a shoto as your primary weapon, as they have Accurate, and a basic lightsaber as the secondary weapon. The secondary weapon's passive qualities that modify dice pools do not take effect when determining the pool. And the way defense (mysteriously) works, it doesn't really matter of the weapon is your primary or secondary, as you would just take the better option.

[Donovan Morningfire 10,200]

1) I'm in agreement with Blackbird888, in that whatever modifications you make to the crystal would carry over.  In fact, during the FaD Beta a note was added to the 2 Triumph combat option of destroying an enemy's weapon that there's a chance of salvaging a 'saber crystal from a destroyed hilt, mostly due to finding and modding a kyber crystal generally being a major investment of time and resources.  As for attachments that directly affect the hilt (curved hilt, extended hilt, superior hilt customization), I wouldn't allow and modifications to those to be simply "carried" over, but unless the original hilt was destroyed, I'd allow the base attachments themselves to be re-installed on the new hilt.

 

2) It's generally assumed that by the time a PC is looking for a kyber crystal, they've already learned how to construct a lightsaber hilt or have a means to be instructed in the process; for instance, Ezra in Season 1 of Rebels probably got some basic instructions on building a lightsaber from Kanan after he acquired his kyber crystal in the Lothal Temple.  And for the most part, the non-crystal parts of the lightsaber aren't super-exotic or really that difficult to find.  And it was Corran Horn in the Legends novel "I, Jedi" that built a lightsaber whose hilt was the handle of a speeder bike, but that was more out of desperation and time-crunch than anything.  Again, consider Ezra's first lightsaber, which very much has a kit-bashed feel to it even when discounting the built-in stun blaster.

 

3) Blackbird's already covered the new crystals that Keeping the Peace and Savage Spirits introduced, and I'd say there's a decent chance we'll see new crystals with Endless Vigil.  If you don't mind homebrew material, the Ways of the Force fan supplement I wrote (can be found on my blog, which is linked in my signature) has some further options.

 

4) Paired Weapons attachment from Fly Casual is pretty much all there is for directly boosting a PC's prowess with two-weapon fighting, as it drops the Advantage requirement needed to trigger the second hit.  To again second what Richard said above, mechanically speaking your best option is to treat the shoto as the primary weapon since it grants the Accurate quality, making it more likely for the secondary weapon to hit.  Since there's no rules for dominant hand in this system, you're free to describe it as the character carrying a proper lightsaber in their main hand and the shoto in their off-hand, especially since a Lightsaber combat check isn't just a single swipe with the weapon but instead comprises a series of slashes, parries, and thrusts as you try to get past your foe's guard.  I'd probably suggest putting the Lorrdian gem in the shoto, and set up the off-hand 'saber as being the high damage weapon if you can arrange it, though bear in mind that per the talent's own wording, Defensive Training is going to overwrite the Defensive quality of the Lorrdian gem.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Donovan Morningfire

[Blackbird888 4,110]

The name isn't Richard.

[Donovan Morningfire 10,200]

The name isn't Richard.

sorry about that.  Had a couple different tabs open, and saw something Richardbuxton posted in a different thread while typing out my reply in this one.  Went back and fixed my post to give proper credit where it was due.

[Blackbird888 4,110]

'S'alright.