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HamHam
2010-06-16, 09:17 PM
So I'm looking at the Long-Handle Lightsaber from the Jedi Academy Training Manual and it has the rather interesting ability of having 2d10 base damage.

So this gets me thinking. This would work really well with ways of adding dies of damage.

So, I'm thinking of making a build to use and abuse this.

The basic tricks would be Mighty Swing and Vornskr's Ferocity. In addition, WEp Finesse and Dex seem like the way to go since you lose the extra STR bonus from two-handed with the LHL anyway.

No clue on race, suggestions would be great.

Let's just look at the first five levels first.

Probably just Jedi 5

Talents
1 DR 10
3 Deflect
5 Channel Energy

Feats
1 Force Training
B Weapon Finesse
3 Mighty Swing
B SF(UTF)

Mando Knight
2010-06-17, 12:43 AM
Don't have the time to look up the Jedi Academy manual: can you actually finesse the long-handled saber?

Bharg
2010-06-17, 03:42 AM
Probably with Weapon Focus it would work, I guess...

Btw: What gives you the DR 10?

Mystic Muse
2010-06-17, 04:04 AM
Probably with Weapon Focus it would work, I guess...

Btw: What gives you the DR 10?

I believe it's a one turn augment type thing. Otherwise I probably would have used that when I played SW saga.

IdleMuse
2010-06-17, 08:06 AM
DR 10 is a Control Talent (p101 core). It's a 1minute-duration effect, but does require spending a precious precious force point.

Weapon Finesse specifically states it can be used with any lightsaber.

Depending on your build, it may be more action-efficient to use Rapid Strike instead of Mighty Swing; it has the bonus of being able to stack with Double Attack or similar ways of getting more efficient full attacks. Depending on how you read it, the advantage with Mighty Swing is that it stacks better with Vornskr's Ferocity.

Looking at other force powers, Contentious Opportunity lets you roll lots more d10s as well, on AoO. If you go this route, Combat Reflexes is kind of auto-include.

Race-wise, Twi'lek is a generally good choice for melee jedi, also allowing you access to the Species Feat from Rebellion Era corebook that grants you 2 extra force powers per Force Training (although do be careful to weigh up the benefit of this feat versus just taking Force Training again).

Going into other books, Galaxy at War has the lovely talent Prime Targets, which grants you an additional dice of damage if your target hasn't been attacked since the end of your last turn - great for duels.
Jedi Academy Training Manual has Dark Side Savant which grants you another free use of Vornskr's Ferocity per encounter, but there are probably better talents out there.

In terms of equipment, don't forget all the bling the tech specialist weapon enhancements can add to your weapon, on top of the Scum and Villainy upgrade slot. In terms of crystals, you want a Sigil crystal for damage optimisation, although may other can be useful depending on how often you have to Block/Deflect. Rubat crystal is also interestingly useful, to avoid those horrible damage rolls where you get all ones and twos.

Mando Knight
2010-06-17, 10:43 AM
Weapon Finesse specifically states it can be used with any lightsaber.

Yeah, it'll work, then.

You might want to look into that melee duelist PrC from the KotOR guide, if you're picking up Double Attack.

HamHam
2010-06-17, 10:57 AM
I agree that Rapid Strike fits this build better than Mighty Swing.

I don't like the -2 Wis for Twileks though.

So... hm... let's be a Kel'dor for bonuses to both Wis and Dex!

I'll assume 32 point buy, so:

Str 10
Dex 18
Con 8
Int 10
Wis 18
Cha 14

Seems decent.

So at level 5 I will have 5 Force Powers.

Negate Energy
Vornskr's Ferocity x 2
Contentious Opportunity
Move Object

Comments?

Bharg
2010-06-17, 12:39 PM
Kel Dor are stupid, because they have no face...

gallagher
2010-06-17, 12:50 PM
I agree that Rapid Strike fits this build better than Mighty Swing.

I don't like the -2 Wis for Twileks though.

So... hm... let's be a Kel'dor for bonuses to both Wis and Dex!

I'll assume 32 point buy, so:

Str 10
Dex 18
Con 8
Int 10
Wis 18
Cha 14

Seems decent.

So at level 5 I will have 5 Force Powers.

Negate Energy
Vornskr's Ferocity x 2
Contentious Opportunity
Move Object

Comments?

i would not want to have that low a Con

Mongoose87
2010-06-17, 12:54 PM
i would not want to have that low a Con

It's called living on the edge.

Spiryt
2010-06-17, 01:25 PM
i would not want to have that low a Con

That's roleplaying for you.

He will be telling everyone "I in fact don't have to wear that thing, but I have severe asthma, you know"

IdleMuse
2010-06-17, 01:51 PM
I don't have the right book with me at the moment (IIRC it's Jedi Academy Training Manual), but if you go Kel Dor (a nice choice), there's their force tradition, the Baran Do sages, which grants you some fancy talents if you work them into your background. Again, I can't remember what they are atm, but I remember at least one being vaguely useful.

I'm just thinking as well; with this build, even if you are using the saber in '2d10' mode, you still get the double benefit from Power Attack for two-handing. So that's probably a very sensible feat to take for this build.

Mando Knight
2010-06-17, 02:09 PM
i would not want to have that low a Con

In fact, I wouldn't want that high of a Wis, either. Wis is good for Jedi, but not good enough to neglect Con and Cha. Remember that Use the Force is Charisma-based...

Spiryt
2010-06-17, 02:16 PM
In fact, I wouldn't want that high of a Wis, either. Wis is good for Jedi, but not good enough to neglect Con and Cha. Remember that Use the Force is Charisma-based...

That's why I don't like the way D&D is built...:smalltongue:

It's supposed to be light, and combat heavy stuff, but still it's RPG, and you adjust your very strongly inborn, socialised, or whatever traits, because your poor fighter has almost no use of being very intelligent guy. :smallyuk:

Although I heard that Star Wars (Abd Tome of B for that matter) is much better in that regards.

End of offtop, go guys! :smallwink:

Foryn Gilnith
2010-06-17, 02:22 PM
Well, it makes thematic sense that a jedi more oriented towards violence wouldn't be the wisest; those types tend to eschew violence in favor of control and negotiation.

HamHam
2010-06-17, 08:54 PM
In fact, I wouldn't want that high of a Wis, either. Wis is good for Jedi, but not good enough to neglect Con and Cha. Remember that Use the Force is Charisma-based...

For hitting fixed targets, you don't really need super high Cha. At 10th level, that's a 15 just from level + trained + SF. That means +2 dice half the time, which is very solid.

You only need really CHA if you plan on rolling against a target's defenses often.

IdleMuse
2010-06-17, 10:11 PM
It's true; Skill Focus (UtF) on top of your being-trained-in-it and plus half your class level means having a +1/+2/+3 charisma doesn't make much difference really. Wisdom is generally more important, for all those tasty Force Powers in combat/talky encounters. Even if you're not the kind of character who'll be spamming form powers every round (which this character does seem like), having a large variety of situational powers is very useful as well.

Mando Knight
2010-06-17, 10:39 PM
For hitting fixed targets, you don't really need super high Cha. At 10th level, that's a 15 just from level + trained + SF. That means +2 dice half the time, which is very solid.

You only need really CHA if you plan on rolling against a target's defenses often.

Well, yeah, but knocking the Wis down just a peg means you can jack up the Con quite a bit. Sacrificing a single Force power is fine when it means you don't have to worry about a botched Deflect roll.

HamHam
2010-06-18, 09:52 AM
Well, yeah, but knocking the Wis down just a peg means you can jack up the Con quite a bit. Sacrificing a single Force power is fine when it means you don't have to worry about a botched Deflect roll.

It's not just one power. By the end, it's like 3 or 4 depending on exactly how many times I take Force Training. That's pretty huge.

Between DR, Deflect, and Negate Energy, I don't think survivability will be a huge problem.