Lightsaber features

[Esjs]

What have been some of your favorite/memorable/unique lightsaber features used in a game? Things like:
Unique blade color?
Blade length control?
Security features?

I've always considered my Jedi character's lightsaber to be very unique:

A) The blade color is WHITE - It seems that Lucasarts doesn't like have White as a color option for lightsaber blades, and I've often wondered why. (What do you think? Take the poll.)
B) The activation switch system - I'm very proud of this. Here's how it works:

-There is an internal switch that only Cassar (my Jedi) knows about, since he built the saber alone. This is the primary switch, and kind of acts like a pilot light (you'll see what I mean in a moment).
-There is also an external switch that mostly acts like a deadman switch.
-In general, Cassar first throws the internal switch with Telekinesis. I know the rules state that the Jedi must "see" object being moved with TK, but we've often played that as long as the Jedi "knows" where the object is, he can move it. Anyway...
-After the saber has been activated with the internal switch, Cassar can hold down the external (deadman) switch, which locks the blade ON as long as he is holding it down (even if he then switches off the internal switch).

Basically the point is that if Cassar were ever struck down or incapacitated, nobody else could then steal and use his lightsaber (unless they know about the internal switch, but that should be nobody )

(Let me know if I need to explain this further).

[RedFox]

I don't have problems with a variety of lightsaber colors. I mean, it's all just sfx anyway, no need to be anal. The only stuff I'd keep out of it is goofy s*** like "invisible" blades (ultra-violet and the like) and weird-@$$ lava-lamp stuff.

The most common blades are going to be from the most common crystals though, such as green, blue, and orange/red. Other blade colors are going to be harder to find the crystals for, but that's about it.

All IMO.
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[Xzil Maru]

I always like sticking a comlink or electronic lockpick or holdout blaster or some other gizmo in the saber. I hardly ever get to play, let alone play Jedi but that would be what I would do.

As for color, I don't care. I've never really cared. Although I think a lava lamp blade would ruin the mood/setting unless you were playing a romp or comedy. And the bong saber would also be out.
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[Hellcat]

Well, if memory serves Corran used a silver blade at one time. That's pretty close to white in terms of coloring light so why not have a white blade? I believe the Essential Guide to Characters, the original one, described Obi-Wan's blade as being blue with a white core so it's not really all that hard to picture it being possible.

Though just imagine what a lightsaber with a black light blade would be like in the dark, especially with someone running around with a lightsaber with a white blade. For effects that would really be out there.
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[Xzil Maru]

oh man, I keep expecting someone to start arguing color theory about how white is all colors, and black is the absence of them or something. I'm not used to forums that don't burst into flamewars ever other post.
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[Volar the Healer]

My Jedi character was played in a campaign set during the time of the Rebellion, so he had to hide his lightsaber. He built it in a flashlight case (complete with Eveready on the side). Anyone flicking the only external switch would turn on the flashlight; but the lightsaber switch was internal and was designed to be activated using telekenesis. The rust and scratches caused more than one custom official to believe it was nothing more than a poorly made primitive device. He always carried it in his first aid pouch next to the bandages to reinforce that idea. A detailed scan would have shown the locking clasps which could only be released from the inside.

When this light saber was first designed (1980 or so) it's blade was white with a blue tint.
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[Gry Sarth]

Actually, on Knights of the Old Republic 2 you can find a silver crystal fro your lightsaber, that will generate a blade that's essentially white. I didn't think it looked very cool, tough...

I agree, all colors are game, just no funky light effects.

[Error]

Hmm.

Do you guys ever consider the so-called "canon" when you think about lightsaber colors? I mean, all we've seen in the movies has been blue, green, and red, which is what leads me to believe that these should be the only possible colors...and purple reserved for the head of the Jedi (though this theory doesn't hold up since Luke's second saber is green).

In the Clone Wars cartoons, I remember seeing Barriss Offee and Luminara Unduli in a cave with the crystals...there was green, blue, and some purple.

I have tended to shy away from using other colors because I am not certain of the significance of the colors in terms of the force.
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[Hellcat]

There are different levels of canon and the Expanded Universe is in one of those levels. There are many more different colors in the Expanded Universe than there are in the movies, which makes more sense to allow more than just the original three, and now a fourth, movie colors.
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[RedFox]

[MA-3PO]

The Power of the Jedi sourcebook for D20 mentions on page 55:

"Before the Battle of Ruusan, Jedi had access to that world's crystal deposits and crystals of every known hue. With the detonation of the Sith thought bomb, Ruusan crystals the became unavailable. During the height of the Jedi Order, throughout the Rise of the Empire era, and until the end of the Rebellion era, Jedi could only use crystals retrieved from the caves on Ilum. As a result, the blades of their weapons were always either blue or green-the only colors those crystals could produce. Throughout the reign of the Emporer, the few Jedi who survived had to rely on handed-down lightsabers or crystals liberated from Imperial-held worlds.

By the time Luke Skywalker revived the Jedi Order at his Jedi academy on Yavin 4, the Empire was gone. Long-forgotten sources of crystals opened up again. Skywalker even revived the ancient Jedi tradition of imbuing commonly available crystals with Force energies an using them in lightsabers. His students, following this procedure, crafted their lightsabers in a wide variety of colors.

The lightsaber blades used by darksiders vary wildly in color, presumably because they have access to other sources of crystals than Jedi do. Sith lightsaber blades are almost always red, however. The Sith apparently had a large supply of the crystals that produced red blades, and their dark natures favored blades the color of blood."

[Error]

Hmm. I agree with most of this.

Now, we've got an available color wheel, with everything from red to green and back the other direction around the wheel.

Perhaps it would be neat if someone assigned meaning to each of the colors...? For example, I noticed that Qui-gon Jinn, Yoda, and Luke all had green sabers. Perhaps green implies a more philosophical approach to the force, to feeling rather than logic?

This is what I mean...perhaps each color has a different significance.
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[Rahl Jynco]

In the video game Knights of the old Republic, when you chose your path (Guardian, sentinal, something else) you would get a sertain color crystal. I think it was blue for guardian (Warrior), green for the name I can't remember, and yellow for sentinal. Coarse this game was based off the D20 version, and I haven't tried that (I HATE LEVEL BASED GAMES!) so who knows what they were doing.
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[MA-3PO]

I've read several sources that say lightsaber color has nothing to do with personality or the type of Jedi. This was just something KOTOR threw in.

[Hellcat]

Also sources I've ever read that were out prior to that game always said that it was the crystals within the lightsaber which determined the blade color. A Jedi could be of any type and have any color the crystals they used allowed. The game designers probably figured it would be best to tell the difference between types at a simple glance.
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