The Lightsaber Combat power: First edition

[garhkal]

[Quetzacotl]

Read my other post first garhkal -.-

[Naaman]

I really feel that lightsabers are exclusive to Jedi and only a Jedi (or someone traind by a Jedi or with a very detailed character background) should have any kind of worthwhile skill with a lightsaber. For that reason, I feel that a lightsaber's effectiveness should be directly linked to the character's proficiency with the Force. However the GM wants to implement that is another story, but I rather like the 1st edition rules, and use a variation very close to them in my own house rules.

[vanir]

imho the damage issue is a scaling problem, hence we kept 2e die cap scaling. With interior structures I use character scale doors only for interior infrastructure, starship bulkhead doors and security blast shield doors I raise the scale, on a capital starship they'll be starfighter scale so if one of those gets closed on you with a die cap of 2 you'll need a LOT of dice to make a dent in a 5D door. Literally handfuls of dice, which my group likes.
A military base or Garrison would have walker scale main blast doors (the scale of tank armour makes sense to us). A prison cell doors might be speeder scale (keeps big aliens locked down).

But regular everyday house doors, even civilian "security doors" at 5D character scale a Jedi isn't even slowed by.



Now when you swap the die caps for the 2R&E system you don't need as many dice, you could just roll well and the bigger scale structure roll poorly and you're through, cutting up ISD hulls with a lightsabre left and right, smashing repulsortanks with blaster pistols, etc. We tried it and the new scaling is ridiculous, taking out armoured columns with a few pistols combining, it was a joke.

Die cap scaling means you need tons of damage dice to make a dent in larger scales, bigger scale difference more dice you need and it's utterly consistent. And a lightsabre just can't deal damage to a capital ship outer hull or structure, a Jedi has to target one of the weaker bulkhead doors like at an airlock at starfighter scale and even then he needs a crapload of dice. That makes sense to us.

What the cap scaling system simply means is you expand structures and vary scales of different parts of any structure, you need to do that for the RP element but then it works absolutely fantastic for suspension of disbelief in the gaming realism.

[Naaman]

I think the problem comes from rolling a single damage roll against an entire ship. I see no reason why a lightsaber should not cut right through an "interior" door, If you take rules at face value, yes: a high enough roll against the door could bring the whole ship down, but that's nnot what the wielder is trying to achieve. He just wants to get through the door. Cutting up a door, regardless of whether the damage result is 10,000,000, will do no other damage to the ship. It just vaporizes the door.... its not like we have to worry about "trample" damage, or a "great cleave" against the starship's hull due to overflow of damage.

[atgxtg]

[garhkal]

Namman, if they are exclusively jedi, then how do you explain han using luke's LS to cut open a whampa in ESB?
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[atgxtg]

[Quetzacotl]

None the less, he was able to use the Lightsaber.

[garhkal]

Exactly.. I have seen others say the same as Namman, in that only force users should even be able to swing/wield a lightsaber, ignoring that part of the 2nd film.
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[Darth_Hilarious]

I think that the big difference is in whether the character is using it as a tool ( Han cutting open the Tauntaun) or using it as a weapon.

Anybody with good eye-hand coordination can gut an animal with a Sword, but how many can use one in combat?

[atgxtg]

[garhkal]

Thinking of that 'hurting one self if you miss by 10 or more' since the Taunton was a stationary target, han would have needed to beat the base 20 difficulty to use the LS without cutting him.
By the ESB sourcebook, he only has a 3d+1 dex.. so unless he popped a FP, he would need to hit a 6 on his wild die to have succeeded in game terms (or popped a few CP). So by rights he SHOULD have failed at using the LS>
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[atgxtg]

[Esoomian]

I'd rule that there is a considerable difference between using something as a weapon and using it as a tool, particularly something like a lightsaber.

If Han had parried a blaster bolt or even just defended himself successfully with a lightsaber then I'd say that they need to be easier for the average person to use successfully but to gut an immobile animal when you don't care about nicking intestines or making sure the animal is still edible afterwards should be a very easy task.
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