Lightsabers again

[Leon The Lion]

I'll just leave this here for your persual. This is how I handle lightsabers in my games. Warning for canon purists - contains high concentration of decidedly non-canon material and ideas.
Make of this what you will.

A lightsaber blade is “coherent energy,” using the same basic technology as a forcefield. It has no physical edge for cutting, and therefore never dulls or loses its cutting power (unless damaged or improperly calibrated). The blade may also cut in any direction. When the blade hits an object, it cuts through solid matter by breaking molecular bonds, disintegrating a small portion of the target (the width of the "true" blade, which is less than a millimeter – the corona of light is just a side effect, the blade itself is invisible). Cutting generates heat, though the blade itself gives off only a slight warmth. When cut, flesh will usually cauterize instantly, and metals will melt under prolonged contact with a lightsaber blade. Easily flammable materials, like paper or dry wood, have a high chance of catching fire when cut, but flammable gasses will not be lighted by a lightsaber simply swinging through them, unless highly unstable. A standard lightsaber is fully operable when submerged in liquid, but will need additional water-proofing to withstand pressures at depths greater than about 50m. Liquid is dense enough that a blade submerged will constantly "cut" through it and so almost instantly start to boil the medium around it with waste heat. If the liquid is flammable or combustible this will set it off. The reaction with the surrounding liquid will diminish the cutting power of a submerged lightsaber (the liquid essentially acting as a layer of armor the blade must first cut through to reach the target), unless the blade is stabbed deep into the target.

The lightsaber is a difficult weapon to use because the blade has no mass. This makes the blade's exact position difficult to judge for the user, especially when not looking at it. Without mass, it should also have no weight or resistance when the weapon is swung. A lightsaber can cut through any known matter, given enough time and ability of the wielder, but when the blade comes into contact with matter, there is resistance to the weapon’s movement. The energy blade of each lightsaber has a unique frequency, which determines the weapon’s “feel” - how it handles when contacting an object or another lightsaber blade. Untrained or inexperienced people are unable to anticipate or compensate for the difference. If the user is unprepared, the blade can literally bounce back from the object it strikes. All that means that in the hands of an untrained person the blade is just as dangerous to the wielder as to his surroundings. The blade's frequency may be calculated from the pitch of its hum and its color with the use of proper audio and chromatic sensors, and may be tuned by adjusting the collimator crystal's cut and alignment in the mirror chamber, and the construction of the chamber itself.

There exist two known materials resistant – but still not invulnerable - to the lightsaber. They are Cortosis and Mandalorian Steel. Cortosis is a naturally occurring but very rare mineral. Pure Cortosis is ill suited to producing weapons or armor, being much too brittle. However, other materials may be alloyed or composited with it, by reinforcing them with a Cortosis "weave". Cortosis-reinforced materials are quite resistant to being cut with a lightsaber, and to damage by directed energy in general. The resistance is limited however. The Cortosis weave is quickly damaged by repeated or prolonged contact with a lightsaber or other such energy source. In a way, the weave serves as a "crash cage" – Cortosis properties allow it to absorb and dissipate the attack by breaking up, leaving the object it is protecting intact. Once the weave looses it's coherence, the material it is alloyed with reverts to its standard properties. The rate at which the Cortosis weave will deteriorate is somewhat unpredictable. The material known traditionally as Mandalorian Steel is a metal alloy of incredible strength and durability created by the material science of the First Era Mandalorian Empire and used widely in construction of their weapons and armor. In modern times the secret of its forging is lost. No research has to date succeeded in replicating it, the only source of Mandalorian Steel are surviving First Era artifacts. The material is still vulnerable to a lightsaber, it is however vastly more resistant than any other known material, natural or synthetic. Using a lightsaber, one can carve an opening big enough for a man to step through in a typical blast door in under 20 seconds. Should the door be reinforced with Cortosis, the same would take about 2-3 minutes. The same thickness door forged of Mandalorian Steel would require about 30 minutes of work. Old rumors and legends hint that ancient Sith alchemy was also able to produce materials resistant, or even outright immune, to lightsabers. If true however, such knowledge seems lost in the modern age.

Lightsabers calibrated improperly, but still well enough to form a blade, loose cutting power, to the point where the blade becomes a blunt, impact weapon, incapable, with its lack of mass, of inflicting almost any true harm. This phenomenon is exploited to produce "safe", training versions of lightsabers. Such a lightsaber is still fully capable of blocking blaster bolts, however deflecting them with precision is much more difficult. A badly calibrated lightsaber will not form a blade at all, at most emitting from the blade aperture a colored light comparable to a weak flashlight, and maybe some sparks. It may burn out, shattering and/or melting the crystal and mirror chamber. Disastrously badly calibrated lightsabers, as lightsabers with seriously flawed or cracked collimator crystals or damaged mirror chambers, usually instantly burn out, and are not unknown to explode upon activation.

Since the lightsaber blade is made of energy and not matter, it is invulnerable as long as its energy source remains constant. Most small objects will bounce off of the blade, though very small objects may melt or vaporize either instantly or after deflecting a short distance. Larger objects will either be cut or deflected, depending on the type of object and the skill of the lightsaber wielder. Other forms of coherent energy, having no molecular structure, can not be damaged or destroyed by a lightsaber, but will be stopped or repelled. Blaster bolts fall into this category- generally, they are not destroyed by a lightsaber, but reflect from the blade. A lightsaber blade will be stopped by another lightsaber blade or by a forcefield.

The colors of most lightsabers come from chromatic aberrations, imperfections, in either the collimator crystal, the mirror chamber it is encased within, or both; the odds of both being, by accident, absolutely perfect in the same saber are ravishingly small. Should it happen, the lightsaber's beam will be a pure, brilliant white, without the characteristic colored edge. As the construction of the chamber and the cutting and polishing of the crystal are both activities in which the builder is assumed to be guided by the Force, the color one comes up with on a first attempt is a special thing - an omen, perhaps, of things to come. "Blunt", training lightsabers are of muted, pale, pastel colors.

The light and sound produced by an activated lightsaber makes it hard to be stealthy when carrying one, especially in the dark. The blade produces light about equivalent to a very bright candle or chemical glow-tube. When fighting in the dark, this helps the wielder see, but also makes him easier to be seen by opponents. Individual weapons can be somewhat brighter or dimmer and/or louder or quieter than others, but there is no way to significantly dim or muffle a lightsaber. Theoretically, taking into account the way blade colors are produced, it is possible to build a lightsaber giving light in the ultraviolet or infrared band of the spectrum, but such calibrations fall far outside the proper calibration range to form even a "blunt" blade.

The Jedi always tightly controlled the knowledge of lightsaber construction. Over the centuries, many legends arose surrounding the workings and construction of lightsabers, sometimes actively encouraged by the Jedi themselves to better deter anyone from trying to produce one on their own. It was said for example, that the builder had to be Force-sensitive to even attempt building a lghtsaber, as it’s workings were so complicated that without guidance from the Force nobody could hope to succeed. Another common myth is that the collimating crystal had to be "infused", "charged" or "imbued" with the power of the Force to make it possible for the lightsaber to work. Those, and all other, similar myths are just that – myths. Beyond the knowledge required to properly put it together, there is nothing much special in the lightsaber's construction at all. Certainly nothing mystical. In fact, one can usually find all the materials and tools necessary to build a lightsaber in any good modern vehicle, droid, starship or weapon mechanic's shop.

A lightsaber may be powered by any standard stacked superconductor or phased crystal powercell constructed to fit in the hilt. In emergencies it could even be powered from an external source connected with a power cable. A powercell of capacity comparable to a standard blaster pistol magazine is able to power a lightsaber for about one year of continuous operation, with constant moderate use. The same lightsaber simply left on but not used would run out of power after about ten years. This is possible because of the blade's close to 100% self-enclosed nature. The blade is in fact not a straight beam stopped at set length, but instead double-backs on itself in a flat inside-outside flowing loop. This ingenious design means that, when simply switched-on and not used to cut or deflect anything, most of the energy used to form the blade is absorbed back, with only slight loss to mechanism's resistance and emitted heat and light. The loss of energy increases noticeably when the blade is used to cut or deflect objects, but it still takes many thousands of cuts or parries to deplete the powercell. In fact, a lightsaber left on for so long would be in danger of failure from internal component stress and heat build-up long before it would make any significant drain on it's power source.

The blade is controlled with a simple on/off switch. A common addition is a "dead-man" safety switch – a pressure sensor in the handle that deactivates the lightsaber automatically when the user lets go of it. It is usually built so that it may be disengaged, in case the user wants to throw the lightsaber for example. Otherwise the user must keep the pressure on the handle through telekinesis. A less common modification is an internal switch – the on/off control is wholly internal, with no external access. This requires the use of telekinesis to activate and deactivate the blade, ensuring no-one not Force-sensitive can use the lightsaber without opening up the casing, which is time-consuming. The on/off control may also be combined with a security mechanism, preventing the activation of the lightsaber by an unauthorized user. The verification mechanism usually takes the form of a biometric or genetic scanner in the handle (must be able to make contact with skin), but can also be a puzzle requiring the right setting of several switches, although the latter is more time consuming on activation. Most commonly if the user authentication is failed the blade will simply not activate. It is however possible to build a trap into the lightsaber, activated by an unauthorized access attempt. Possible traps include an alarm beacon alerting the authorized user, a non-injuring self-destruct mechanism, an electroshock, an explosive charge, and spring-loaded blades or spikes or even poisoned needles. Traps aimed at harming the unauthorized user are strongly frowned upon by the Jedi and quite popular with the Sith.

The lightsaber blade may be tuned for frequency and color, as discussed above, and also length. Such tuning must be normally done in a workshop, by disassembling the weapon and modifying it's collimator crystal cut and mirror chamber construction. However, a limited value of tuning may be obtained simply by adjusting the position of the collimator crystal within the mirror chamber, which may be done by a built-in, externally controlled mechanism, should such be included in the lightsaber's construction. For color, such tuning enables the blade to span at most two chromatic bands, e.g. from yellow to red, with all shades in between. The possible effect on length is greatest, allowing the blade to vary by up to 50cm between shortest and longest extensions.

The lightsaber body can be built from almost any material and in varying styles just as long as the casing can securely and solidly hold all the required components. For simplicity the casing is usually made of metals, synthetics, or ceramics, but possible non-standard materials include transparisteel, precious metals, crystal, and even some types of stone or wood. It is possible to build the lightsaber durable enough for the body to be used as a bludgeoning weapon on its own, a kind of mace or maul, which may even be spiked. Naturally, this is far more popular with the Sith than the Jedi.

Some game mechanics:
Hitting with a blaster bolt reflected from a "blunt" saber – 2D penalty;
Saber swung under water – 1D penalty to damage;
Sneaking/hiding with an activated saber – 2D penalty, 4D if complete darkness;
Light from a saber – lowers penalties for poor lighting by 2D, for user and opponent;
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Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes! So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize... Only be sure to call it, please, "research".
- Tom Lehrer

[Esoomian]

I like the work you've done here, particularly the interaction with physical objects.
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Don't waste money on expensive binoculars.

Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.

[cheshire]

I don't see too much here that should disturb purists, or perhaps I'm not as much a purist as I think.

I do, however, have only one objection to you using the phrase "blunt saber." It made me go and youtube the scene with Jay and Silent Bob where Mark Hamil showed up. I'd post a link here, but it has naughty words, and I'm not sure how well that works with the forum rules.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Leon The Lion]

One thing I really should have said earlier, I really can't claim all, or even most, of the credit for this material. A lot of this is borrowed, sometimes copied verbatim, from other sources. I just edited, added a bit and polished it up to fit into my unified vision. No disrespect is ment - I'm just notoriusly lousy with keeping notes on the sources I borrow from. So if someone recognizes their own work in there, step forward and claim the credit due, and please accept my apologies for using it without permision and my thanks for the inspiration.

As for canonicity and possible purist complaints. Well, one of my main goals in all this was to kill dead the idea, that the lightsaber is what, in my perception, amounts to a D&D magic item. No, its not enchanted or imbued with the force to bond with it's creator. Yes, it may very well become an extension of the user - but that will happen through hard training and experience, not sorcery. And no, you don't need the Force to even build one. You most certainly don't need a special Force Power to do it. Any mechanic moderately competent with forcefields and power menagment systems could do it in a couple days, should he be told how. No offense ment, if you like the idea of the lightsaber being a mystical artifact, then more power to you. I personally can't abide that - it just makes me want to grind my teeth for some reason. No idea why, really.
_________________
Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes! So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize... Only be sure to call it, please, "research".
- Tom Lehrer

[cheshire]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

On a related note, there is something else I have been considering regarding lightsabers. It's a rather telling statement on the state of the EU that I find this aspect presented best in a Fan Fic:

[Raven Redstar]

I would think that based on the quote, that instead of +attack/+defense, a light, fast blade would give +lightsaber skill and a heavy, pulling blade would do additional damage, since the pull would cut targets more viciously.

Also, I think +2D is a little too much, it seems to me that bonuses would be a little more subtle. +1D Lightsaber/-1D Damage, or +1D Damage/-1D Lightsaber.

Just my thoughts.

[Esoomian]

I have to go with Raven on this one, a 2D bonus/penalty seems like too much.

I also agree that a 'fast' blade would likely give the bonus to the Lightsaber skill and the penalty to damage rather than a bonus to defence and a penalty to attack while a heavy blade would give the bonus to damage and the penalty to the Lightsaber skill as a whole.
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Don't waste money on expensive binoculars.

Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.

[garhkal]

Add in another vote for +1d/-1d.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

Another rule I've been considering for lightsabers is the ability of the more powerful Sith sabers to "break the blade" of their opponent, as described in Jedi vs. Sith.

My game rule is this:
If a Sith engages a Jedi in combat, his blade has the potential to break his opponent's blade on a powerful swing, shorting out the lightsaber and inflicting an automatic hit on his opponent at normal damage-2D. This occurs only if the Sith rolls a Wild Die 6 on his attack and the Jedi rolls a Wild Die 1 on his parry.

A Jedi who has time to prepare can activate his saber in "slow-draw" mode, emitting a much more stable blade that is immune to the Sith's breaking ability. To activate slow-draw mode on his saber, a Jedi must declare it as an action that round, and cannot take any other actions with his lightsaber until the beginning of the next round.

Thoughts?
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"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

[Leon The Lion]

[CRMcNeill]

[Leon The Lion]

Here: