Lightsaber Statistics, Creation and Jedi Robes

[Gnollmaster88]

ATTENTION ALL READERS!!!!!!!
There will be some MAJOR changes coming into the Jedi/Sith Prestige Classes over the Next few days so bear with me. These changes will include Chooseable Force powers instead of a fixed few coming with the new FORCE POWERS THREAD. Along with the Force Powers Thread will come the FORCE FEATS THREAD. These threads will appear within the next few days. Thanks for all your ideas and support!
-Gnollmaster88



The Lightsaber
This ancient weapon is the traditional weapon of the Jedi/Sith Order. It is only wieldible by them and only makable by them.

Creation
This is a pretty tricky process. First you are going to need the spell Ray of Light. This spell is used exclusively for the Lightsaber and can only be found by buying the scroll. it has a range of 5 feet and does 1d10+1 damage for Medium creatures and 1d6+1 for small creatures. You will need to enchant colored gem with this spell. Instead of needing to go to the enchanter this is going to be a Craft/Concentration check. The DC is fifteen and you can only attempt it 3 times before the gem breaks. When you are done enchanting the gem you will need to create a handle out of metal and only metal. This will be a craft check with a DC of 15 as well. After this is done you must enchant the handle with the gem in it with a command word. This will be a Concentration/Craft check with a DC of 15. Congratulations your Lightsaber has been created!

Statistics
Lightsaber 1d6+1* 1d10+1* x3 2 lb. Slashing
Does not cause bleeding because the Lightsaber sears the wounds so it stops bleeding.
*+3 if against Living Constructs.

Jedi/Sith Robes
The traditional clothing of the Jedi/Sith, this outfit allows the Force to flow through the body freely

Statistics
Jedi/Sith Robes Light +2 None 0 0% 30 ft. 3 lb.

That's my idea. Feel free to post suggestions and comments!

[Abjurer]

I didn't know there was such a thing as a DC 10 craft check. They're usually so massive and intimidating.

And isn't there a Star Wars roleplaying game? Like, d20 future, pretty much. I just don't see jedi fitting into the D&D environment. The main problem is technology. But hey, whatever. It's your campaign.

Have fun.

EDIT: You should make the lightsaber deal part slashing damage and part force damage, and be able to bypass hardness and damage reduction.

[lord of pixies]

also make it deal extra damage to droids *i mean* constructs...

-and-

make it so that it doesnt cause bleading. (true fact, lightsabers sear the flesh and vains tha they touch, stopping bleeding)

[Gnollmaster88]

also make it deal extra damage to droids *i mean* constructs...

-and-

make it so that it doesnt cause bleading. (true fact, lightsabers sear the flesh and vains tha they touch, stopping bleeding)

I'll put those in now. Thanks Lord!

[Athaniar]

Not only Jedi/Sith use lightsabers, there are exceptions, like Grievous.

[Gnollmaster88]

Not only Jedi/Sith use Lightsabers, there are exceptions, like Grievous.

That's good point. One doesn't have to be force sensitive to use Lightsabers.....hmmmmmm. I'll mull that over. Thanks Xavius!

[Charlie Kemek]

you should make it deal half fire damage or so.

[Abjurer]

I think you don't have to be force-sensitive to use lightsabers, but you have to be force-sensitive to be proficient with lightsabers. The only reason Grievous can use them well is because he's a living construct designed to mimic the jedi. I think.

Actually, I have no idea. But I would keep it pretty straightforward for simplicity's sake, and add stuff later as feats, or in this case construct traits. Maybe if you're a jedi (/sith), you can spend extra time & money when building a construct to replicate some of your own abilities in the construct?

[Gnollmaster88]

I think you don't have to be force-sensitive to use lightsabers, but you have to be force-sensitive to be proficient with lightsabers. The only reason Grievous can use them well is because he's a living construct designed to mimic the jedi. I think.

Actually, I have no idea. But I would keep it pretty straightforward for simplicity's sake, and add stuff later as feats, or in this case construct traits. Maybe if you're a jedi (/sith), you can spend extra time & money when building a construct to replicate some of your own abilities in the construct?

Those are some interesting ideas. I'll consider that for when I'm making the "Force Feats" Thread. Thanks Abjurer!

[ForzaFiori]

I would suggest upping the DC's of the check, as making a Lightsaber is definitely not that easy. Also, lightsabers have the ability to cut through pretty much anything, so maybe you should get a bonus to sunder checks with them, or perhaps something where you can attack the touch AC of your opponent, since armor is pretty much worthless when your blade goes through it like a knife through butter. The touch AC thing seems really broken though, so i wouldn't add it. but the sunder would probably be good.

[Abjurer]

Or make them deal half force damage that bypasses hardness, as I'm pretty sure I already suggested. But yeah, the DC needs to go way up. And you might want to call it a craft(metalworking) or craft(weapons) check, rather than just a generic craft check. Because you can't make a lightsaber with craft(woven baskets) or craft(disturbing mental image).

[Ceiling009]

Actually, anyone can use a lightsaber, and actually be proficient with it, and not be force sensitive at all. It's just an exotic weapon. But to do some of the more Jedi-y things, especially upping the damage and some of the lightsaber only things like... deflect bolts or whatever, you need to be force sensitive.

[Admiral Squish]

+10 to sunder checks, or something to that effect.
Make attacking a touch effect, and armor is automatically sundered. Think brilliant energy with anarmor-ruining effect, too.
Also, 17-20 crit. range, with a x4 mod.
If you want this to be like the movie, that is. The movie weapon is simply the cheapest thing ever. If you can sufficiently nerf it, though, I suppose you might just make it a plausible weapon.

[Abjurer]

The only way a lightsaber is a plausible weapon is if the jedi/sith in question will be fighting other jedi/sith. Because a lightsaber-wielding jedi can cut through anyone else like butter. If you're playing it like the movies.

(Or fight, like, thousands of droids at a time.)

The problem I have with trying to play a Star Wars game with the D&D rules is that D&D is about being able to withstand multiple hits before going down (even relatively weak characters), and if you get hit by a lightsaber or laser... well, you die. Or loose a hand, which is at least as likely.

If you wanted to run the game like the movies, you'd give each jedi an AC of, like, 20 and an attack of, like, +0. And then you'd make any attack by the lightsaber instantly fatal. But then it's not a fun game anymore, because it's just the luck of the dice.

I wouldn't want to tackle this, it's so different from D&D.

I think it might be easier to just turn d20 modern into d20... postmodern... but I don't know much about that system.

[Triaxx]

Lightsabers are also themselves very difficult to sunder, except for other sabers, since it requires cutting through the hand of the wielder.

[Gnollmaster88]

Those are all quite true things. i think I'm gonna put in that sunder bonus and i will make the DCs higher so thanks for that mf11,

I would suggest upping the DC's of the check, as making a Lightsaber is definitely not that easy. Also, Lightsabers have the ability to cut through pretty much anything, so maybe you should get a bonus to sunder checks with them, or perhaps something where you can attack the touch AC of your opponent, since armor is pretty much worthless when your blade goes through it like a knife through butter. The touch AC thing seems really broken though, so i wouldn't add it. but the sunder would probably be good.

but as for the Lightsaber auto-killing i think I'm just gonna leave it the way it is. its not that powerful unless our a living construct. thanks for all the suggestions!

[paigeoliver]

Any attempt to build a lightsaber that does damage invariably fails. Lightsabers generally kill-mame or miss. There isn't really any middle ground with them.

Unfortunately most of the time where people try to come up with lightsabers for an RPG they make them do damage (even various official Star Wars RPGs did this), and thus remove all the flavor of the weapon.

In Hero System / Champions the lightsaber is best represented using the "Transform" power (in a multi-power that can transform to dead or to mamed).

In D20 terms the lightsaber is a touch attack with a save DC, fail the save and you are mamed, fail again and you are dead. I wouldn't have them doing DAMAGE against anything huge sized or smaller that actually has an anatomy.

Of course making lightsabers in RPGs generally fails as well because they are simply death on a stick and cannot balance in any gaming system that isn't geared towards one hit kills.

[Triaxx]

Except if you watch the fights, there's a lot of damage done just from grazing strikes. The lightest touch does at least as much damage as a full stroke of an average sword.

I was asked to stat one out once, and came up with following:

1d12 damage, X4, 20, with an automatic sunder whether you confirm the critical or not. Additionally, the weapon was naturally Brilliant Energy, and could be enchanted as a normal masterwork weapon.

I then proceeded to arm the BBEG with it. And his body guard with two of them. Chain lightning saved them from a TPK.

[Squatting_Monk]

make it so that it doesnt cause bleading. (true fact, lightsabers sear the flesh and vains tha they touch, stopping bleeding)

This is only partially true, actually. A lightsaber can cauterize wounds as it passes through the body, but only on a slow swing (though slow, for a Jedi, is a matter of interpretation). It causes bleeding like any normal weapon on a quick swing. This is explained in some of the books and has precedent in the movies, notably when Obi-wan slices the arm off the aqualish that attacked Luke in the Mos Eisley cantina.

Others have mentioned the problems with trying to stat a lightsaber under d20, most notably the problem of flavor loss. I won't bother to rehash these, but I will say that if you're committed to using the d20 system, you may look at how lightsabers were implemented in Knights of the Old Republic, especially the use of power crystals rather than enchantment for increasing the power of the weapon. I don't know how much similarity it has to the Star Wars d20 game, but it's more easily accessible.

[Neftren]

Not only Jedi/Sith use lightsabers, there are exceptions, like Grievous.

Grievous I believe was technically living, before he was implanted into his construct form. In the Star Wars Battlefront II game, he can force run, suggesting his previous body was force sensitive...

[Shades of Gray]

If I wanted a lightsaber I would just but a +1 Brilliant Energy Longsword. This strikes me as needlessly complicated, as there is no listed price for the base metal components, the scroll, or the gem.

Also the robes shouldn't count was light. By doing that you are saying that a wizard can't wear them. [sarcasm]Because it's really hard to maneuver in robes[/sarcasm]. They should just be a special material that can only be used on robes and adds whatever bonus.

[DrEaDnAuGhT]

Here's some info I found on the Wiki about Grievous

During an attack by the Republic's armies on the clan's base, Grievous' shuttle is hit by three missiles from a Republic gunship and crashes. Grievous is mortally wounded in the crash, kept alive by technology, a transfusion of blood from the deceased Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, and Dooku's mastery of the dark side; his shattered body is taken to the planet Geonosis, where most of it is replaced with a droid body that complements his natural reflexes. Hill approaches him and offers him the chance to live again in a cybernetic body and lead the Separatist army. Grievous initially resists — he would much rather die a warrior's death than watch his body sustained by technology — but Hill eventually persuades him by appealing to his desire for revenge. Dooku then trains him in lightsaber combat until he is one of the best duelists in the galaxy, and whips his resentment of the Jedi into a frenzy. The metamorphosis is complete: Grievous is now the Separatists' most fearsome weapon.