Lightsaber techniques, throw and general combat

[ZzaphodD]

1) I recently played The Force Unleashed. Although I suck at this 'combo' stuff in any console game, I thought it would add some flavour to the old 'roll to hit, roll to parry' routine of most RPG combat. Especially in such a straight forward system as SW all you have to do is have more D:s in skill and youll win (also fairly quickly given the damage of lightsabers).

I want to introduce a 'metagame' into the combat, where fighters chose different stances and techniques each round, where different stances protect to a different degrees vs certain techniques.

Examples (rom TFU): Twirling attack, Dashing Slash, Saber attack with a Force Push, Leaping Slash, etc.
Please note these are just (almost) random examples from the list of 'combos' in the game. Just to show what Im after.

So, to start with. Are there any such rules existing already. Official or fanmade does not matter. If so, where can one find them.

2) That game also has a power where you throw your lightsaber at an enemy (or something inanimate) and then it immediately returns. Does one such power exist in the RPG, fan or official.

3) This point comes from the same problem as 1 above. Straight up Skill vs Skill melee combat is both a very boring way of handling melee/lightsaber combat, but also rather short. You seldom end up with 'epic' duels where the tide of combat swings back and forth. This is mostly because normally the combatant with the higher skill gets a hit and if the defendant is wounded he will certainly get hit next round too. The problem is that as all you have to do to get a hit is to equal the defenders defence roll. Theres no room for graduall overcoming the defenders defences, driving him backwards (preferrably towards a shaft).

An idea is to raise the target number needed to hit to X above the defender defence roll. However, if the attacker rolls between the defence roll and X he gets the upper hand or perhaps pushes the enemy backward. The next round he has a +1D bonus to his attack, or some other kind of advantage (for example pushing the enemy back).

X can either be a fixed number, for example set at 10. It can also be a percentage of the defence roll, for example 50%. A final idea is to have different set numbers depending on the defence roll (ie Defence: 1-15: X=5, 16-25=10, 26-35=15). If both combatants hit this 'X-zone' during the same rounds the 'X-hits' cancel each other out. The combatants are evenly tied, neither gaining the upper hand.

Results: To overcome an opponent, especially when two really skilled opponents fight (X becomes higher) you need to beat him back over several rounds to get through his failing defences.

This may seem more complicated than it actuall is because I cant explain it any other way.

What is the defender going to do? The defender should get some options on how to try to break this downward goint spiral (attacker gets more and more bonus dice each round he overcomes defence roll). The most obvious would be trying to disengage to either run away or to retreat to be able to make a new stand. Rule ideas are here a bit fuzzy still.

So, if you managed to get though all this, what do you think of the idea?

[hazardchris]

I see where your complaints lie. I saw a couple of things in there that I've had problems with in the past so let me chime in there.

The lightsaber throw thing is easy enough to pull off. It's not so much a power as a creative way of using Telekinesis. You just make a simple throwing attack with you lightsaber and then take another action to pull it back to you.

I fully understand your problems with Lightsaber fights not being very cinematic. This why I don't like using things like minis in my combat. I like to be able to say that he beats you back, you trip and fall, ect. Giving a really detailed description of what goes on in those 6 seconds(?) of combat can help a lot, and not having motion rules to guide you helps quite a bit. Another useful thing to look into might be the Dueling Blades variant. If memory serves I believe that cheshire has it in his collection...

There's other rules that you can find, plenty advanced lightsaber forms, letting players use some of the fan-made force powers to increase their attacks (force speed + charge attack) and giving them bonuses.

Just think of little things to adapt the combat to how you want it to be. If you have an idea, try it in your next game. If it ends up screwing your players over, then just fudge the NPC's roll and say that you're dropping the rule.

[ZzaphodD]

[Orgaloth]

Yes there are lightsabre combat forms. There's even a PDF of them. Lightsaber Combat Forms created by Volker Maiwald

There are plenty more PDFs of both official and homebrew stats HERE.
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[ZzaphodD]