Lightsaber construction in endless vigil

[Daeglan 5,950]

So I have been mucking with the endless vigil lightsaber contruction rules and i am a little annoyed. They have lotsnof options for spending 3 adv or triumphs. But almost nothing for 2 adv or 1 adv. 

Which is likely to be the most common result. A d that is kind of irritating. Because the 2 options you are given for each of those is pretty lame. Ezpecially considering on of the options does nothing for a basic hilt...

 

Any ideas to openbup more options?

Edited May 13, 2018 by Daeglan

[HappyDaze 10,108]

Sure...

Wait for one of the min-maxers to tell you how they routinely score a Triumph and seven Advantages on every roll.

[Shlambate 2,679]

Well if you are planning on crafting things your intelligence and mechanics should be high enough to get more than just two advantages. I usually don't craft things if I'm not an Armorer or a Artisan. Unless I'm going Shadow and pick up Mechanics as one of my two free career skills. But either way I do it my characters Intelligence is at least a 4.

I like the system as it is because it shows crafting as something that takes skill to make great armor or lightsabers. 

[Absol197 5,296]

I believe if you are crafting your personal lightsaber with your personal crystal, you add your Force rating and decrease the difficulty of the check.  It's been a while since I've looked at the GM's Kit for Force. 

That should at least help, but yeah, for those rockin' crafting rolls, you need high Int and high skill. 

[Daeglan 5,950]

I am not looking to min max. I am just looking for.something reasonable to spend the 2 adv i got. 

[Daeglan 5,950]

1 minute ago, Absol197 said:

I believe if you are crafting your personal lightsaber with your personal crystal, you add your Force rating and decrease the difficulty of the check.  It's been a while since I've looked at the GM's Kit for Force. 

That should at least help, but yeah, for those rockin' crafting rolls, you need high Int and high skill. 

That is for modding the crystal. 

[Daeglan 5,950]

I mean a disguised hilt is boring. And all the other options dont really do anything for a standard hilt. Make a hilt unwieldly instead of the other thing does not apply to a standard hilt. A light hilt does nothing to a standard hilt...soo if you have a bisic hilt and get to adv. What do you do? I am not looking to min max. I just want to spend the small amount of adv. I got on something other than a disguised hilt.

[Shlambate 2,679]

I believe for 2A you can spend them for Two handing the weapon for Plus one damage, but that may not be what you are going for, I also don't have the chart in front of me atm so don't quote me on it.

[Tramp Graphics 2,328]

2 minutes ago, Shlambate said:

I believe for 2A you can spend them for Two handing the weapon for Plus one damage, but that may not be what you are going for, I also don't have the chart in front of me atm so don't quote me on it.

Two Advantages can be spent individually for lightweight and two-handed, or can be used together for either Disguised or Counterweight.

[Daeglan 5,950]

I know. I am not interested in any of those. They A. Dont really fit my character. B. Are boring. 

Hense my looking for something else.

[Shlambate 2,679]

What fits your character?

[Daeglan 5,950]

I dont know...i dont have any ideas for other options.

[Donovan Morningfire 10,200]

5 hours ago, Daeglan said:

So I have been mucking with the endless vigil lightsaber contruction rules and i am a little annoyed. They have lotsnof options for spending 3 adv or triumphs. But almost nothing for 2 adv or 1 adv. 

Which is likely to be the most common result. A d that is kind of irritating. Because the 2 options you are given for each of those is pretty lame. Ezpecially considering on of the options does nothing for a basic hilt...

Any ideas to open up more options?

Well, you've said a few times that the options offered don't fit your character.

So, would probably help if you mentioned what sort of character you have?

Comes down to it, you could peruse the crafting options from Special Modifications for melee weapons, and see if your GM is amenable to you using one of the 2A options from there.

[Shlambate 2,679]

17 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

I dont know...i dont have any ideas for other options.

Like @Donovan Morningfire Said what is your character so we can help make use of the Advantage.

[Daeglan 5,950]

My character is a Human Warrior starfighter ace/ Padawan Survivor. So agility and willpower and will are his go he has a 232232 stat line.

So after looking at the options in Special Modifications. It has some I might be interested in. Problem is in lightsaber construction they are 3 adv options...
Like Defensive would be nice. but that is 3 adv in Lightsabers. Customizable would be cool. it is a 3 adv option for lightsabers. And pierce, vicious, are crystal options. I think Lessons learned is kind of done with the Secrets of the Jedi talent So probably shouldnt be available. Which kind of leaves me right back where I started....
The only thing not covered is knockdown...

Edited May 13, 2018 by Daeglan

[Shlambate 2,679]

Do you want a knockdown saber? It would probably make it wiegh more for Knockdown which then you could make it lighter?

[Daeglan 5,950]

Not really..... Looking at Special Modifications just made me more annoyed. All the options I am interested in a 3 adv options for lightsabers. I am not looking to min max but geez there is nothing worth doing for 1 or 2 adv. Which is just lame. So either you invest a ton in being able to do mechanics or you you end up with no real options for the couple ADV. you get. Or you just roll until you get what you want. but that seems cheesy

 

[Donovan Morningfire 10,200]

With regards to adding Defensive, for lightsaber construction, that option also includes a cheaper disarm ability (2A rather than the 3A normally required).  If you just want Defensive but not the whole cross-guard business, ask the GM if he'll allow you to just have Defensive and nothing else.

That being said, while it's not exciting the setback die on checks to conceal your lightsaber's true purpose can occasionally come in handy if you're playing in an era where the Empire is running the show.  Doesn't sound like your PC is especially good at Deception or Skulduggery, and probably only using raw Agility for Stealth.  So having that extra little bit to allow you to pass your lightsaber off as something more innocuous and less damning than a lightsaber can come in handy.

[nameless ronin 706]

19 hours ago, Daeglan said:

So I have been mucking with the endless vigil lightsaber contruction rules and i am a little annoyed. They have lotsnof options for spending 3 adv or triumphs. But almost nothing for 2 adv or 1 adv. 

Which is likely to be the most common result. A d that is kind of irritating. Because the 2 options you are given for each of those is pretty lame. Ezpecially considering on of the options does nothing for a basic hilt...

Honestly, it doesn’t have to be the most common result. The hilt of a lightsaber is purely mechanical. If your character concept precludes being technically inclined, hire a droid to help out. Rent a workshop for the project. There are options to give you a better chance of rolling a good number of advantages.

I get that the result you got can be annoying, but this is a game ruled by dice and you can’t be an expert at everything.   Rolls won’t always go your way, and rolls for things you’re not good at are more likely not to go your way. When I’m playing a pilot I want to be able to stand out compared to others who don’t have a piloting spec; that’s only going to happen if they are unlikely to be able to match me in my area of expertise. Techies are no different: getting good at mechanics should allow you to be a reliably better mechanic than someone else who doesn’t care to learn the trade.

[Daeglan 5,950]

5 hours ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

With regards to adding Defensive, for lightsaber construction, that option also includes a cheaper disarm ability (2A rather than the 3A normally required).  If you just want Defensive but not the whole cross-guard business, ask the GM if he'll allow you to just have Defensive and nothing else.

That being said, while it's not exciting the setback die on checks to conceal your lightsaber's true purpose can occasionally come in handy if you're playing in an era where the Empire is running the show.  Doesn't sound like your PC is especially good at Deception or Skulduggery, and probably only using raw Agility for Stealth.  So having that extra little bit to allow you to pass your lightsaber off as something more innocuous and less damning than a lightsaber can come in handy.

We are not in the GCW era so nor much use.

I kind of get the feeling one of the few areas that need a second pass in this system are the crafting rules. I dont expect all jedi to be master lightsaber crafters. They all shpuld have something interesting to spend the one or 2 advantage they have. Ie there should be lots of 1 or 2 adv options. With the really cool stuff being more expensive. The way it is set up it feels like it encourages rolling till you get the result you want. And that seems lame to me.

[FuriousGreg 1,667]

16 hours ago, Daeglan said:

Not really..... Looking at Special Modifications just made me more annoyed. All the options I am interested in a 3 adv options for lightsabers. I am not looking to min max but geez there is nothing worth doing for 1 or 2 adv. Which is just lame. So either you invest a ton in being able to do mechanics or you you end up with no real options for the couple ADV. you get. Or you just roll until you get what you want. but that seems cheesy

I think the whole point of the exercise is that you don't always get what you want... However, you could spend the time and more credits to roll again and use those two Advantages to give yourself a boost die, increasing your chances for more Advantages. Otherwise talk to your GM and tell them what you want and work out a way to get it without rolling at all, maybe they'll create a mini-adventure that gets you a special part or something.

[Daeglan 5,950]

And my point is you shouldnt have to make 20 rolls to get enough adv to get something intetesting. There should be enough interesting options for 1 or 2 adv that a player who doesnt want to be a saber artisan can spens their 1 or 2 adv. Rather than feeling like they need to keep rolling till they get a satisfactory roll.  We dont see jedi disassemble and reassemble their lightsaber 20 times.

[FuriousGreg 1,667]

You can't just make 20 rolls in a row, you have to have the materials and down time each time you try. Regardless the point is they've set the minimum number of Adv. for the good stuff at three and if you get less than that then your options are more limited, thats just the how it goes. Not every Jedi is going to be a super lightsaber builder but all of them are going to trust in the Force and accept what comes of it (ie. play with the roll you get). If your PC doesn't have a heroic rank in Mechanics you're just SOL but then again your PC is likely better at other things that should make up for the lost "cool" lightsaber thing.

[Donovan Morningfire 10,200]

1 hour ago, Daeglan said:

I kind of get the feeling one of the few areas that need a second pass in this system are the crafting rules. I dont expect all jedi to be master lightsaber crafters. They all shpuld have something interesting to spend the one or 2 advantage they have. Ie there should be lots of 1 or 2 adv options. With the really cool stuff being more expensive. The way it is set up it feels like it encourages rolling till you get the result you want. And that seems lame to me.

Frankly, it's probably a case of the designers realizing that with most of these hilts packing a crystal that provides Breach 1, they wanted to play a bit more cautious with what sort of options are available to be added, especially when you start factoring in double-bladed hilts as well as hilts that automatically add Defensive 1 or Accurate 1 on top of anything else.

Of course, there's also been a host of complaints about the crafting system in general, but most of those are whining about how the rules provided don't allow the PC to perfectly replicate existing items from other sourcebooks at a fraction of what said items cost.

[Shlambate 2,679]

Custom items should always be more expensive to make, in order to balance things, if you want the amazing item and don't want to be bothered finding it then crafting it should be the harder alternative.