There's nothing wrong with trying, he might get lucky once or twice. That said, I'd highly recommend not giving him access to any special abilities or permanent benefits, although I wouldn't see it out of place to be able to train the Lightsaber Skill for attacks if he found a holocron or something.

Simply waving a lightsaber around gives him a candle's chance on Hoth of actually deflecting a blaster bolt, and so it shouldn't increase his Ranged Defense or give him any other abilities. However, if an enemy rolled a Despair against him with an energy weapon attack, the attacker could be hit in the same way that friendlies can be hit when firing into close combat.

This fairly represents his lack of the precognition that Jedi use to reliably deflect blaster bolts, since carrying the lightsaber does not increase his defense in any way. However, it also opens up the possibility of a lucky break, as a random bolt is deflected back at the opponent. Since most PCs would have to flip a Destiny Point to even get a Challenge Die into the pool, much less have a Despair come up, this would be a suitably rare and climactic event.

Also, since Force-based defensive abilities tend to involve upgrading enemy dice pools, representing lightsaber deflection in this way also reinforces the synergy within Force-Sensitive abilities.

Since Order 66 (as far as I know) is a standing order that's never been rescinded, at least the stormtroopers would know "Priority One = kill the Guy with the Glowing Sword"

Not necessarily. 0 BBY/ABY stormtroopers are largely conscripts, not indoctrinated clones, and I doubt the training academies focus on dealing with an extinct mystic order. The Emperor has Hands for that after all.

" In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established."

Parts of that are kind of redundant now too There's no longer a Republic, a Chancellor, or a GAR.

That REALLY depends on what sources you're looking at. Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Warfare still has them as elite troops, both natural-born or cloned (albeit they're still a step down from the original clones), and FFG's materiel is consistent with that portrayal.

And frankly, it hasn't been all that long. The standard setting for Edge is 20 years after Order 66, so almost every PC and NPC was born during the Old Republic. Many would have heard tales as children, some would have seen or even served alongside them. And although the specifics have been forgotten, the legend hasn't. Pretty much everyone from a planet capable interstellar flight should have heard rumors of the Jedi, and the lightsaber is their most distinguishing feature.

I totally agree with you about a lack of anti-Jedi training though. FFG even gives a nod to this, in one of the Objectives from their Star Wars LCG. #48 Self Preservation , includes the flavor text " Facing one of the few remaining Jedi was enough to give pause to even the most battle hardened soldiers of the Empire."

I don't think this is possible. Jedi use ESP and enhanced reflexes to put the blade in the way of blaster bolts (it's why Luke can do it with a blast visor down - the Force guides his arm, not his own perception and reflexes).

What you said is totally true.

I read somewhere that the actual blaster bolts only travel around 75 mph. So in reality anyone could deflect blaster bolts if they have any kind of hand eye coordination and the balls to try it. Pitchers in baseball throw 90+ mph from 60 feet 6 inches away.

This prompted a thought experiment. It's relatively easy to hit a ball being thrown at 90+ mpg because you have a period of time to anticipate when to swing based on the windup. With a (admittedly fictional) blaster bolt, your reaction time starts from when you perceive the... I guess the muzzle blast of the blaster. If we assume bolts travel at a velocity of 75 mph that means the beam of energy travels 33.52 m/s * 215 ms = 7.2 m or a little under 23' 8" before you can even react to it. Then your arm has to move. Also, the cross-sections of both a blaster bolt and a lightsaber are much smaller than a bat and baseball.

If (heavy emphasis on the if ) I wanted muggles to block blaster bolts, I'd probably say it was impossible at short range and plausible at medium range or greater and simply add Setback dice to the enemy's Ranged - Light check as appropriate—effectively adding the Defensive property vs. ranged attacks. I think if the enemy fails, generates sufficient Threat, and a Despair (or multiple Despairs), it's certainly appropriate to have the deflected bolt cause damage to someone or something other than the intended target but it shouldn't be something that a non-force user would be able to do with any regularity.

I'll put forth the claim that Order 66 does not make the clonetroopers kill all Jedi.

Order 66 specifies a list of individuals. This list happens to be exclusively Jedi, but Order 66 does not have clonetroopers killing any Jedi they find. It probably makes more sense, since anyone can pick up a lightsaber (like a mortician, a sith in training, a fellow clonetrooper), and clonetroopers have no idea how to sense the force in individuals. You should probably leave that sort of thing to Uncle Palpy.

I'll answer my own thread. I don't think that saber deflection is entirely force dependent. A Jedi can tell where the blaster is being aimed beforehand and make a calculation on where it's going to hit, by kinda telling the future. If a regular joe happens to place a lightsaber in the exact angle that it needs to be, the bolt gets redirected back. If Joe puts it slightly off, he'll just get a missed deflect. Why not? I'd liken it to podracing. If the only people that can race are really good aliens like Sebulba, or Jedi savants like Anakin, then I bet Sebulba would be pretty dang good at lightsaber deflection as well. I guess that's a matter of personal taste, because I think Sebulba should just be able to deflect blaster bolts among the best of Jedi, because he's just good, and that's one of the themes of EotE: Jedi are just as good as Smugglers.

I'd give the player 1 ranged defense for every 2 skill points he invested into Lightsaber, and if enemies roll despair, the saber redirects the bolt successfully.

A droid would be able to do this with the appropriate processing power and motivators, or any other super-human creature.

That said, he's probably better off selling the lightsaber and buying a destroyer droid, or using it as a ridiculously effective cutting tool.

I'll put forth the claim that Order 66 does not make the clonetroopers kill all Jedi.

Order 66 specifies a list of individuals. This list happens to be exclusively Jedi, but Order 66 does not have clonetroopers killing any Jedi they find. It probably makes more sense, since anyone can pick up a lightsaber (like a mortician, a sith in training, a fellow clonetrooper), and clonetroopers have no idea how to sense the force in individuals. You should probably leave that sort of thing to Uncle Palpy.

Yeah, I can agree with this. Later military orders would probably train troops to view a lightsaber as a dangerous and illegal weapon and that anyone using one should be arrested for carrying an illegal weapon.

I'll put forth the claim that Order 66 does not make the clonetroopers kill all Jedi.

Order 66 specifies a list of individuals. This list happens to be exclusively Jedi, but Order 66 does not have clonetroopers killing any Jedi they find. It probably makes more sense, since anyone can pick up a lightsaber (like a mortician, a sith in training, a fellow clonetrooper), and clonetroopers have no idea how to sense the force in individuals. You should probably leave that sort of thing to Uncle Palpy.

The Clone Wars made it seem like it was a blanket anti-Jedi thing. They knew the Jedi because they were being led by them.

The wording of order 66 specifically states the Jedi officers which seems to me the Jedi Generals and Jedi commanders were the target, and not all Jedi. Once a new command structure was set up, the order would be voided. Vader was the one that went after all the Jedi.

and what a non-force user trying to deflect blaster bolts with a light saber might look like:

looks silly, reminds me of playing Star Wars kinect

Regardless of feelings on the story element using a light saber is a dual wielding check or it completely ignores that set of rules, which again a I wouldn't do. Someone dual wielding a weapon they aren't any good with, along with a second different type of weapon. in order to get a defense bonus, would just end up being no good offensively because of the stack of difficulty dice in that kind of check and the lousy dice pool for using a weapon they aren't terribly good with.

Step one: get a lightsaber

step two: get ranks in dodge or sidestep

step three: deflect blaster bolts

It's that easy. Not everything needs hard rules behind it. A little re-fluffing and some imagination work miracles in a game like this.

This is probably the best way to handle things for the OP's player.

As others have noted, blaster deflection is something that a Jedi has trained to do, using their precognitive abilities to determine where the blaster bolt will hit and then training their reflexes to be able to respond quickly enough. A normal human without the precognitive abilities might be able to parry a blaster shot every once in a great while, but that's more a result of luck than a reliable skill.

In Fellowship of the Ring, during the Aragorn vs. Lurtz fight scene, there's a moment where Lurtz hurls a dagger at Aragorn, which was supposed to miss him entirely, but Aragorn instead manages to parry the thrown dagger with his bastard sword. In reality, that was a "throw it in" moment that could very well have ended in Viggo's death, as the actor in the Lurtz makeup could barely see and couldn't even really tell how hard he was hitting Viggo during the fight sequence, and thus had no idea at the time that he'd wound up aiming right for his target when the intent was to aim in that direction but not directly at Viggo. I believe Viggo even mentioned that he wouldn't want to try that particularly trick again and was glad that Peter didn't ask to for another take.

One of our players is not a Jedi and happens to have found a lightsaber lying around in an Imperial Officer's art gallery.

He knows he can't train ranks into it, so he's making the best of it. He wants to wield the lightsaber in his off-hand and continue using his ranged light blaster in his right hand. The plan is to use the lightsaber as a blaster shield, not something so crazy as redirecting the blaster bolts back at his enemies. He wants to gain a rank in the sub-skill of lightsaber deflection, not general lightsaber usage, mind you. He wants to train the same way as Luke did in ANH, with a remote droid training him, maybe with enough training, to actually redirect a few like a Jedi, except with raw skill instead of the force.

How would you go about this player's proposition, if you were GMing for him?

Clearly you posted this here for opinions. As a GM I would not allow it. It is difficult for a trained Jedi to deflect blaster fire with a lightsaber, much less an untrained Non-Jedi. I would allow it more as a melee weapon, but untrained. If your player wants to become a Jedi, then that is the path he/she should take. Just my 2 cents.

And even if your player is the star of the story, it does not mean they get to have a lightsaber, particularly if they are not force sensitive.

Something else to consider aside from the speed at which a projectile/blaster bolt travels is the telegraph- the act of throwing something telegraphs the intent and is a visual aid in reaction timing, while a blaster or slug thrower simply volleys on the pull of a trigger, which is not easily noticed or predicted. Additionally, throwing something is generally limited to a very low RoF (one, or a handful of small items), while a blaster/slug thrower is not so limited- one roll of the dice does not necessarily equate to one pull of the trigger.

So, I think, it would be far easier for anyone to deflect a thrown projectile- much like striking a ball with a bat. Trying to deflect a bullet with a bat...

...not unless the target is psychic.

So, I think, it would be far easier for anyone to deflect a thrown projectile- much like striking a ball with a bat. Trying to deflect a bullet with a bat...

...not unless the target is psychic.

Or just plain psychotic.

Anyone openly wielding a lightsaber when the Empire is running the show is asking for a world of trouble. Aside from Imperial entanglements, there's bound to be some very skilled bounty hunters that would love to add a lightsaber to their personal trophy collection, and if the target doesn't have those freaky Force powers, then so much the better for them.

The "blaster bolts go 75 mph" is also a pretty silly argument to make. It makes sense why we see bolts moving on screen - it's part of the cinematic action, not a simulation of realism. If the bolts were light speed, we'd see nothing but people appearing with holes in them. It's not like the human eye can follow a bullet in flight, let alone a beam of light. Same with phasers in Star Trek, staff blasts in Stargate, etc.

The "blaster bolts go 75 mph" is also a pretty silly argument to make. It makes sense why we see bolts moving on screen - it's part of the cinematic action, not a simulation of realism. If the bolts were light speed, we'd see nothing but people appearing with holes in them. It's not like the human eye can follow a bullet in flight, let alone a beam of light. Same with phasers in Star Trek, staff blasts in Stargate, etc.

Considering that Star Wars in general is a setting that tells the Laws of Physics to sit down, shut up, and enjoy the show, I'm sure there could be any number of techno-babble explanations for why blaster bolts move slower than an MLB pitcher's fastball. And probably be light years better than any techno-babble explanation Star Trek: Voyager could come up with to explain things in the process.

Also, the other thing that everyone is forgetting, comparing blasters to baseballs. Sure a blaster bolt is moving as fast as a 90 mph fastball, but even batters - who has a significantly smaller area to guard (the strike zone is about 2 feet tall and 17 inches wide) hitting an object significantly wider than a blaster bolt - only meaningfully hits the target about 2 times out of 5.

Also, the other thing that everyone is forgetting, comparing blasters to baseballs. Sure a blaster bolt is moving as fast as a 90 mph fastball, but even batters - who has a significantly smaller area to guard (the strike zone is about 2 feet tall and 17 inches wide) hitting an object significantly wider than a blaster bolt - only meaningfully hits the target about 2 times out of 5.

To say nothing of batters having a pretty good idea of where the ball is going to go. And the fact that the ball's not being whipped at their body (at least not intentionally), which removes a fair amount of stress on the part of the batter; there's a galaxy of difference between swatting at something that's not going to hurt you if you miss and having to swat at something that could leave a burning hole in your body if you miss.

Just watched a bit more of the TCW..

Lightsaber wielding non-force sensitive definitely has canon precedent. Pre Vizla is pretty much that guy. Look up a few YouTube videos of his episodes, he's pretty epic. Warning, there will be spoilers.

He doesn't deflect blaster bolts though, I would pretty much nix that idea altogether.

There was an episode (Season 3, I believe) where a Mandalore royal guardsman spun his staff (not a lightsaber at all - but presumably cortosis I would imagine) to deflect several blaster pistol shots coming right at him before dispatching the smuggler goon that fired them.

Now, shoehorning that scene into mechanics, there is no telling if he actively used an ability to "deflect" the hits, or if the goon simply missed, with cool dramatic license narrative, to describe it as such...

There was an episode (Season 3, I believe) where a Mandalore royal guardsman spun his staff (not a lightsaber at all - but presumably cortosis I would imagine) to deflect several blaster pistol shots coming right at him before dispatching the smuggler goon that fired them.

Now, shoehorning that scene into mechanics, there is no telling if he actively used an ability to "deflect" the hits, or if the goon simply missed, with cool dramatic license narrative, to describe it as such...

Easier to just say the goon missed, with the GM giving it a cool description based upon the defensive traits the Mando guard likely had.

I've done similar with Jedi wielding lightsabers in the d20 systems (especially Saga Edition), describing an attack that missed by only a few points as being deflected the lightsaber, even though the actual Deflect talent wasn't used in those instances.

Maybe he was a gadgeteer and Jury-Rigged the staff with Deflection (Ranged Defense) +1.

I used to train at a dojo where our introduction to knife-fighting was to take a red felt-tip pen (I think you call them sharpies in the USA) to represent the knife, and then the other person would spend ten seconds trying to defend themselves against "knives". It always ended up with the newbie's arms, hands, wrists covered with big red lines to which our sensei would cheerfully point whilst saying things like: "that's a vein, wont be able to make a fist with that hand, ooh, tried to kick did we? some nice big arteries in your legs"

Moral being: things can be a lot more dangerous than people without experience think. I can well see accidental self-maiming from untrained wielders. I can imagine it would be ridiculously easy to just slice your own knee off by parrying with one leg too far forward. And you don't even want to imagine what would happen if you were holding a lightsabre when you fell over (most real fights end up on the ground). Nasty... I can see using one without the force (but not to deflect blasters), but definitely not without training.

I'd spend the 10 seconds running personally....

The problem is that this system doesn't have any mechanism or symbol that can be totally avoided with skill. For example, connecting self-wounding to Despair is problematic because getting one has nothing to do with how skilled you are.

You could tie it to Threat, but skill is no guarantee that you won't lop your arm off.

The system simply isn't built to punish lack of skill in that way.

Skill: Lightsaber

Unless the character with this skill has a Force Rating, any roll netting 3 Threat or 1 Despair converts those symbols into a Lightsaber strike against the wielder (doing 1/2 base damage only).

Each Rank in this Skill allows the character to convert 1 Threat into Strain damage before the above rule is taken into account, if they choose to.

Skill: Lightsaber

Unless the character with this skill has a Force Rating, any roll netting 3 Threat or 1 Despair converts those symbols into a Lightsaber strike against the wielder (doing 1/2 base damage only).

Each Rank in this Skill allows the character to convert 1 Threat into Strain damage before the above rule is taken into account, if they choose to.

Seems overly harsh, since we see non-force wielders wielding lightsabers as well as swords in the TCW in several episodes.

Lookup Pre Viszla, or Quinlon Vos and Obiwan vs Cad Bane at the very end.