De-powering Lightsaber Combat

[hazardchris]

I already use the Moon Swing Chronicles version of Lightsaber Combat but I've always felt that it was a little over-powered. In higher-level play 20D isn't unheard of.

I've come up with an idea that I might implement in my next campaign (we're using advanced characters from my old campaign) that I think will help balance out the "jedi factor." Here's the version of the power that I currently use

Lightsaber Combat
Control Difficulty: (See Below)
Sense Difficulty: (See Below)
Time to use: Instantaneous
Required Powers: Nil

Effects: 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.
When a character wishes to use a lightsaber, the power automatically activates.
When using this power, the Jedi adds his sense dice to his lightsaber skill roll when trying to hit a target or parry, with a -2D to the users sense skill.
If the hit is successful, he may then add or subtract up to the number of his control dice to the lightsaber’s 5D damage also with a penalty of -2D. Players must decide how many control dice they are adding or subtraction before they roll damage.
Finally, the Jedi may use lightsaber combat to parry blaster bolts. To do this, the Jedi does not have to declare the parry that round, and may perform such an action as a reactionary skill usage.
The Jedi may also attempt to control where deflected blaster bolts go, although this counts as an additional action. 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 sense roll, with the difficulty being his new target’s dodge or the range (figured from the Jedi to the target). When a Jedi attempts to control the direction the bolt goes, the Jedi’s sense skill is affected by the normal multiple action penalty rules. The damage is that of the original blaster bolt.

The Force skills used in Lightsaber Combat (for the to-hit or damage roll) are not further penalized by any other multiple action penalties or any other modifiers other than the -2D.

What I'm thinking of doing is dropping the multiple action penalty, and allow players to add only half the number of D before control and sense (rounded up, pips do not count) to their damage and attack rolls.

Here's an example.

Jedi A has Lightsabers 7D+1, Control 3D+1 and Sense 4D.

He activates Lightsaber Combat, and can add/subtract up to 2D to his attack and parry rolls while being able to add/subtract up to 2D+1 to his damage rolls.

I think that it retains the incredible nature of the Lightsaber being more dangerous in the hands of a Jedi, while at the same time making a highly-skilled non-Jedi (such as Boba Fett) a dangerous foe.

[cheshire]

Perhaps it's because I'm multitasking while reading this, but this looks more like a summary than a revision. Could you outline the differences for me?
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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.

[hazardchris]

No problem. It's an idea that I had in the shower this morning and I kinda rushed my summary up there.

Here's what I've changed from the stock version of the power.

-No roll to activate power.
-No multiple action penalties for keeping power "up".
-With this power, a jedi can add up to half the number of D they have in Control (pips do not count in the math, but do add to the roll) to their attack roll. A jedi may also add half the number of D that they have in their sense die to their damage roll (all numbers are rounded up).

I included an example in my last post but I'll include it here for simplicity's sake in addition to expanding it a bit.

Bob the Jedi has Lightsabers 7D+1, Control 3D+1 and Sense 4D.

He activates Lightsaber Combat, and can add/subtract up to 2D to his attack and parry rolls while being able to add/subtract up to 2D+1 to his damage rolls. When attacking Bob rolls 9D+1 to attack/parry and 7D+1 for damage.

[Raven Redstar]

Seems like a decent idea.
Here's what I would change:
Switch back control for damage and sense for attack & defense.
have the character at least have to make a roll to see if they can activate the power. Otherwise there's all bonus, and nothing limiting it. I can see getting rid of the MAP for keeping it up since it's a combat skill.

Like I posted in the other thread, I had been thinking that a character should have to split his sense dice between attack and defense. Thereby making them decide which is more important.
I do however like the half the force skill dice added to damage. I will probably incorporate that in my own use of the power.

[hazardchris]

Whoops, didn't mean to switch them. That's what I get for not paying attention.

Fixing it now.

[bobenhotep]

i like your half sense, half control no roll to activate idea. i might even say 1 pip per die if its still too nasty.

[ZzaphodD]

I have been going with the halfe sense (to add to skill) and half control (for damage bonus) for years now.

[Galen_Paratus]

This is how I've done it for awhile. Much like the above posts, this requires no roll and is always up incurring no penalty to other rolls. It adds a nice effect of diminishing returns to "assist" jedi players in spending points elsewhere.

Lightsaber Combat: Lightsaber combat no longer needs to be “kept up,” and as such no longer incurs Multiple Action Penalties. It is a learned power that gives a bonus to lightsaber damage and skill equal to one-half the force skill (rounded down) +0D for skill levels 1-6, +1D for 7-12, and +2D for 13+. The power is always “up” and remains “up” at no penalty until the character takes a stun result or worse. In that case, the power drops temporarily for the remainder of the current round (can't deflect blaster bolts) and the next round before automatically reactivating. The Jedi may attempt to bring the power back up sooner by making a moderate control roll + the damage of the last attack, incurring MAP’s as normal.

The chart will look like this: pardon the formatting. I dont know how to put spaces between the columns

Skill Bonus Total
1D +0D 0D
2D +0D 1D
3D +0D 1D
4D +0D 2D
5D +0D 2D
6D +0D 3D
7D +1D 4D
8D +1D 5D
9D +1D 5D
10D +1D 6D
11D +1D 6D
12D +1D 7D
13D +2D 8D
14D +2D 9D
15D +2D 9D
And so on...

[Bren]

Rather than half sense and half control, we average the sense and control rolls to get a dice pool. The character decides how many of the dice in the pool to add to their LS combat skill for attack/defense and how many dice to add (or subtract) from their damage. This gives a similar result, but does allow the Jedi to increase their skill at the expense of increasing damage or vice versa.

[garhkal]

[atgxtg]

I've been leaning towards eliminating the damage bonus entirely, and just letting Jedi augment thier damage via the called shot rules from the SpecForces book. It works out to the same thing as assigning dice.

But I have been thinking of it with the SFR (Simplified Force Rules) and using the lower of Control or Sense.

[Raven Redstar]

[ZzaphodD]

[atgxtg]

[Galen_Paratus]