My Lightsaber Combat power variant

[MA-3PO]

Yeah, we have about as many variants on LSC as we do GMs. Here is mine.

What I was going for here was inspired mostly by a post Grimace put up a long time ago. I like the Dice Pool optional rule presented in the Rules of Engagement and decided it would work nicely when applied to LSC. I wanted:

A) To make LSC easier to use for more inexperienced characters. By reducing it to a single Control roll I make it faster to bring up and it reduces the MAPS to keep it up(-1D verses -2D in RAW)

B) To tame LSC somewhat to reduce the extreme number of dice being rolled. By making the Control dice a "pool" that must be split between attack/parry and damage we give the player a choice between more finesse or more power in thier fighting technique. When fighting in a duel it may be wiser to keep more dice in attack/parry. If you are trying to melt though a blast door you pile all your Control dice into damage.

Lightsaber Combat
Control Difficulty: Moderate
This power may be “kept up”.
Effect: To use a lightsaber most effectively, a Jedi learns this
power. The Jedi uses this power both to wield this elegant but
difficult-to-control weapon while also sensing his opponent’s actions
through his connection to the Force. This power is called upon at the
start of a battle and remains up until the Jedi is stunned or injured;
a Jedi who has been injured or stunned may attempt to bring the power
back up. If the Jedi is successful in using this power, the Jedi
splits his control dice between his lightsaber skill roll when trying
to hit a target or parry, and adding or subtracting to the
lightsaber’s 5D damage when it hits in combat. Players must decide
where to allocate the dice before they act. If the Jedi fails the
power roll, he must use the lightsaber with only his lightsaber skill
to hit and the weapon’s normal damage in combat.

Finally, the Jedi may use lightsaber combat to parry blaster bolts as
a “reaction skill.” To do this, the character must declare that he is
parrying that round, using his lightsaber skill as normal. The Jedi
may also attempt to control where deflected blaster bolts go; this is
a reaction skill and counts as an additional action. (The Jedi cannot
full parry when trying to control deflected bolts.) The Jedi must
declare which specific shot he is controlling. Then, once the roll is
made to see if the blaster bolt was parried by the Jedi, the Jedi
makes a control roll, with the difficulty being his new target’s dodge
or the range (figured from the Jedi to his target). The damage is that
of the original blaster bolt.

As is I've completely removed Sense from having anything to do with LSC. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm thinking if I should somehow implement it in with blaster parrying or use it as the Initiative roll every round?

Any suggestions on how to better achieve what I'm trying to accomplish would be appreciateed. BTW, I love Bren's Dueling variant and crmcneill's Lightsaber forms. I'll probably see about adapting them into my game.

[Bren]

What you are proposing seems better than the RAW to me.

If Control and Sense are close to the same number of dice, what you are doing is pretty close to my variant lightsaber combat rule.

I like having sense be part of the equation - especially for blocking shots.

Oh and thanks. I'm still tinkering with the lightsaber dueling.

[CRMcNeill]

Maybe the Sense roll would be appropriate just for parrying blaster bolts?
_________________
"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

[Naaman]

That's how I did it. Actually, MA-3P0's rules are not too far off from my house rules. I actually like the idea of implementing sense as the initiative. It's a good way to include it without cluttering up the system or the rules text. It's clean, quick, easy and makes sense.

[Naaman]

The other thing I like about it is that it allows the player to choose to ignore sense altogether (if he want's to) and still be a combat powerhouse. On the other hand, a Jedi who is awesome in sense and so-so in control can still dominate a battle, but his advantage is strategic rather than overwhelming force. I love it.

For what it's worth, I encourage you to keep sense and control out of each other's way when it comes to LSC. This adds more flavor and variety to Jedi with different skill totals.

[CRMcNeill]

WEG's application of Sense as a skill is somewhat patchy. For a lot of the Control Another's [blank] powers, it would seem that Sense would be appropriate, but it isn't used. For example, when a Jedi uses Accelerate Healing on himself, Control covers both his awareness of his own body and his ability to manipulate his body. For someone else, that ability is split into two: Sense for the awareness and Alter for the manipulation. If he were to use Accelerate Another's Healing, it is a reasonable argument that he should also be required to use Sense to gain awareness of his subject's body and injuries, in addition to Alter to be able to affect the healing process.

Honestly, I think if WEG had left Sense off of the original LSC power, few would've questioned it. Personally, I see Sense having an important component in LSC with regards to how it is portrayed in the SWU, but I'm not blind to the problems presented by LSC as a whole. It'd be nice to see a single power that represented personal combat for the Jedi in general; in the prequels, we see Jedi mix unarmed combat, melee combat, starfighter combat, etc, and the description of the Jedi's POV for all of these (in the novels, at least) is remarkably similar to how it is presented when he is engaged in LSC.
_________________
"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

[Naaman]

Agreed.

As for sense being used to assess a patient, I think that a prior use of life sense would solve that problem.

As for how it applies to combat, keeping it in use for blaster deflection is good enough, I think. Possibly for initiative, too, but that would step on Danger Sense's toes a little too much for my taste.

[CRMcNeill]

[JT Swift]

Here's my take on it. I threw out Lightsabre combat and just use a more powerful home-brew version of Combat Sense

Combat Sense
Sense Difficulty: 15 for first opponent, +3 for each extra opponent the Jedi wishes to defend.

Effect: Combat sense allows a Jedi to focus on the battle at hand. Everything else becomes dulled and muted as the Jedi’s senses are all turned toward the combat occurring around him. All targets become mentally highlighted in the Jedi’s mind, enhancing his ability to attack and defend. This power is called upon at the start of a battle and remains up until the Jedi is stunned or injured; a Jedi who has been injured or stunned may attempt to bring the power back up.

In game terms, the Jedi gains important advantages. The Jedi automatically wins the initiative against non-force sensitives. For dueling Force users roll Sense.
The character’s Sense Dice can be split between the offensive and defensive skills they wish to use that round. They can re-distribute these dice each turn if they wish.

Finally, the Jedi may use Combat Sense to parry blaster bolts as a “reaction skill.” To do this, the character must declare that he is parrying that round, using his lightsaber skill. Once parry action must be made for every opponent who firing at the Jedi. The Jedi may also attempt to control where deflected blaster bolts go; this is a reaction skill and counts as an additional action. (The Jedi cannot full parry when trying to control deflected bolts.) The Jedi must declare which specific shot he is controlling. Then, once the roll is made to see if the blaster bolt was parried by the Jedi, the Jedi makes a control roll, with the difficulty being his new target’s dodge or the range (figured from the Jedi to his target). The damage is that of the original blaster bolt.

Lightsabre base diff is 15 (not 20). But self injury still happens on a 9 or less.
The standard Lightsabre damage is now STR+5D.
_________________
- J.T. Swift

For Everything about the TARDIS check out
http://www.whoniverse.net/tardis/

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[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

Have you considered broadening the description of this version of Combat Sense to allow it to be used in other forms of combat? The canon is pretty clear that Jedi do something similar with starfighter combat at the very least.
_________________
"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

[Naaman]

I would tend to think that combat sense was originally intended to be the effect that is described for "other forms of combat." It also seems to be designed to "complete" the lightsaber combat power, by negating the MAP and granting the initiative-based effects.

[JT Swift]

[CRMcNeill]

[JT Swift]

Well I'll have to type them up. At the moment they only exist as a hand written thing on a peice of notebook paper from high school (Which would make them 17 years old! )

But I'll make a note to do so when I get time. [heck, if I'm feeling really ambitious I might dig out Star Warriors and try to do a more accurate convertion!]
_________________
- J.T. Swift

For Everything about the TARDIS check out
http://www.whoniverse.net/tardis/

For all things Gallifreyan check out
http://meshyfish.com/~roo/index.html