Ideas for Lightsaber Skill?

[Guardian_A]

I'm toying around with a new campaign idea that would involve a group of Jedi. In the past, my campaigns have often dealt with the Jedi and/or Sith, but Force users have always been the exception rather than the norm. In this case, the campaign will focus on Force users.

Since Lightsaber combat can be so lethal, I want to find a way of toning it down a little without taking away its appeal.

What I am thinking of (And yes, this is mostly a rehash of other people's ideas):

Lightsaber: Adopts Bren's damage rules.
Take attack roll minus target’s parry or defense roll including any modifiers for advantage to compute an Attack Result (AR) where AR = Attack Roll – Defense Roll + Modifiers.
Attack Result.......Effect
0-3....................Forced back. Defender must retreat or attacker gains +1D6 bonus to his next attack.
4-8....................Off balance. Attacker gains +1D6 bonus to his next attack.
9-12..................Glancing blow. Roll damage normally with a maximum result of wounded.
13-15.................Solid blow. Roll damage normally with a maximum result of incapacitated.
16+....................Serious blow. Roll damage normally with any wound result possible.



The next thing I would do is add crmcneill's seven forms (With some adjustments. I have some ideas, but I havent made any of the changes yet.)

Form I - Shii-Cho (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 4D

Form II - Makashi (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 6D
--Brawling 6D
-Advantage:
--Bonus equal to character's Form II skill dice is applied to lightsaber vs. lightsaber or brawling combat

Form III - Soresu (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 5D
--Brawling 5D
--Dodge 5D
-Advantage:
--Bonus equal to character's Form III skill dice is applied to defensive actions with all prerequisite skills.

Form IV - Ataru (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 5D
--Brawling 5D
--Dodge 5D
--Jumping 6D
-Advantage:
--Bonus equal to character's Form IV skill dice is split equally between Lightsaber/Brawling and Dodge/Jumping. In addition, the character does not suffer a MAP when using Lightsaber/Brawling and Dodge/Jumping in the same round.

Form V - Djem So (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 5D
--Strength 3D
--Brawling 5D
-Advantage:
--Bonus equal to character's Form V skill dice is applied to Lightsaber and Brawling when attacking or when parrying blaster bolts back at an attacker.

Form VI - Niman (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 5D
--Brawling 5D
--Persuasion 5D
--Intimidation 5D
-Advantage:
--Bonus equal to character's Form VI skill dice is applied to Persuasion and Intimidation.

Form VII - Juyo (A)
-Prerequisites:
--Lightsaber 6D
--Brawling 6D
--Form II 2D
--Form III 2D
--Form IV 2D
--Form V 2D
--Willpower 7D
-Advantage:
--Bonus equal to the character's Form VII skill is applied to Lightsaber and Brawling in all situations
-Complication:
--Every round of combat with Form VII, the character must make a Willpower check against the character's Form VII roll that round (+5 for each of the character's DSPs). On a failure, the character temporarily gives in to the Dark Side. If he kills or wounds his opponent, he earns a DSP. If he does not, roll again as normal the next round (at +5 difficulty).


The next thing I am looking to do is to allow Specializations (Light Whip, Dual Blade Lightsaber, Dual Weild Lightsaber, etc) to the different Forms.


The last thing I would like to do is to add some form specific maneuvers the same way Rules of Engagement adds hand-to-hand techniques to Martial Arts.

I feel that the end result would be an effective Lightsaber combat that would be easy to learn, but very difficult to master. Much like real swordplay, you could learn the basics quickly, but mastery would only come with a lifetime of hard work.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Am I over thinking this?

[Naaman]

Well, I notice you have Form 1 with a prerequisite, but no benefit... is this an error in the post? Or just don't have an idea yet?

As for the "forced back" result, what are the penalties associated with "retreat"? Perhaps the defender can not attack at all on his next turn, or perhaps he suffers a MAP for needing to reposition himself on his turn before attacking?

All in all, I like the idea of small margins of success limiting how much damage could be done. I would like to see this applied to the full spectrum of combat. I think it's a very good idea.

One change I might make, however, would be that on a close roll (for example, the 0-3 result, and it would apply in either direction), both combatants roll strength or dexterity (character's choice) in order to achieve/maintain position. A +1D bonus applies to this roll for the winner of the attack/parry resolution. This way, a character can turn the tables by taking advantage of small mistakes that his opponent makes.

[Guardian_A]

Yeah, its very much a work in progress. At the moment, its mostly just an idea I'm working with. I figured I'd post what I had to get some thoughts before I put too much work into things.

For Form I: I intend to add some techniques to each form to help distinguish them from the others. In this case, Form I is the simplest and therefore the easiest to start learning.

If I have a little time later this week, maybe I'll write up one form just to give a better example of what I am trying to do.

Thanks for the feedback!

[CRMcNeill]

[Naaman]

Incidentally, I came up with an idea that represents each of the seven forms without even using advanced skills, but instead, it either A) treats each form as a separate skill (easiest method to regulate) or B) simply allows a player to say "I study form X so I'll use that set of modifiers."

If used as separate skills, the system could be used to develop advanced skill versions of each form, representing true mastery of a given form, though I have not developed the idea to that degree yet.

[CRMcNeill]

Also, I did make several changes to my ideas for the bonuses provided to the various Forms to better reflect their original descriptions in the Fightsaber article. The end result can be found here.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Guardian_A]

I'll be sure to look that over in more detail later this week.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

[dadofett]

[CRMcNeill]

[Yasriia]

Well, I still didn't get Form I (even after reading crmcneills thread). Is Form I supposed to be a normal skill, a specialization of lightsabercombat or is it an advanced skill?

And maybe I've overlooked it, but do the bonuses from the forms always apply or only as long as you have 'activated' one form?

And I love these ideas of changing lightsabercombat.

[Guardian_A]

Once I have time to work things over a little bit, it will be an advanced skill in its own right.

[CRMcNeill]

[Naaman]

I would tend to allow multiple forms providing bonuses simultaneously, since in an actual fight, the "stance" is a fluid concept, and usually doesn't survive the initial physical contact.

Fighting is all about trying to take your opponent off balance; so since you're constantly adjusting to maintain balance, your "stance" is constantly adjusting as well.

I have very limited training in (melee) weapons combat, but for any type of unarmed fighting, you're using at least one-hand (and in modern fighting, it's almost always two hands) to protect your head. Generally speaking you only open your guard to make an attack when you can exploit over-extension by your opponent. If you watch the highest levels of marital arts, you'll see that the fighters spend most of their time maneuvering for position, and making very non-committal attacks, trying to get a feel for the skill level of their opponent.

Now, this is very uncinematic, so it doesn't really fit well into an action-oriented RPG like Star Wars... but I'm of the opinion that the more you know, the less weaknesses you have, and blending together multiple styles of martial arts can only be an advantageous thing.

The way I would handle it in D6 SW would be like this:

Obi-Wan Kenobi has 5D in lightsaber, 4D+2 in Form 3 and 2D+1 in Form 4. When using his lightsaber, he rolls 9D+2 (the highest advanced skill added to the base skill), and gains whatever benefits come with having 2D+1 in form 4 as well (perhaps having 2D in form 4 increases the duration of his enhance attribute power by 2 rounds). He also gains the benefits of form 3 (perhaps 4D+2 in form 3 allows him to add a +4 bonus to parry and deflection rolls).

If the CP cost of getting those benefits is a concern, you could rule that training an Advanced skill costs additional CPs if it stems from the same skill as another Advanced skill the character already has. So, for example, the highest advanced skill is raised at it's normal rate. Any other advanced skills cost double or 1.5 or triple or whatever you think is appropriate.

[CRMcNeill]

[Naaman]