We hear often about the rarity of crystals and the mysterious and dangerous worlds to which a Jedi must travel to acquire the precious crystal that will make up and define their lightsaber.

In my game, a padawan survived Order 66 and went into exile. She does not have her light saber but managed to keep hold of her Ilum crystal.

The player wants that to be the case, which I won't contest, but I'm left wondering how I can make a meaningful Jedi quest experience to gather the components for a lightsaber if the iconic component a Jedi would quest for has already been attained.

Is a Diatium power cell and its concentrated amounts of trumponium gas sufficiently difficult enough to find that it might fit the bill? The Wookiepedia page on the subject isn't very detailed. Does anyone know where to find trumponium gas?

Kyber (specifically Illum) crystals are terribly mysterious. As seen in the Clone Wars, each one is special and can matched with a Force user/Jedi. It's possible that the the rest of the components are easy to get, but when she tries to assemble the lightsaber, it won't activate. The crystal is no longer attuned to her. Now she must go on a quest to figure out how to bond once more with her crystal.

It turns out a holocron or Jedi master (who was an artisan before O66) knows the secret, but it/he is now in imperial hands.

Great idea! That'll learn her. Wuahahaha.

I also think it makes thematic sense - the Jedi had a few experiences with conflict, and her entire order were murdered. I dig what you're saying.

I plan on having them do Lost Knowledge. That might make a sufficient opportunity.

Maybe make is really easy to get the hilt components but...

it turns out it's an Imperial sting looking for people who want to build a lightsaber hilt. There will be questions or maybe they are followed/investigated unknowingly by a competent Imperial spy or starting inquisitor. This could turn into a campaign-long hunt/nemesis.

Give the PC hints or a tough way to get the components and get away so it's not a total mean play by the GM.

Still, if it's too easy they should be cautious so make that clear.

Maybe the components are bunk and fail at the worst moment. What does the PC know, anyway? Or maybe they can be tracked.

Any threat despair on rolls to look for the components should get Imperial attention. A good reason to raise the stakes with a DP.

Hah, most media I've read, including the now Legends story I, Jedi , state that the components are not hard to find and are in fact used in most mass produced technology in the Star Wars Universe. However, there is usually very precise instructions on assembly and a ceremony involved that binds the crystal and components together making it the efficient tool we all know and love. Similar to the crystal attunement idea of Kaosoe...might be useful if the player balks at the other proposed idea that she'd need to find the proper instructions or micro tools etc....

This is sort of on topic so Ill post it here first.

Two of my players have just gone through a multi game adventure to acquire Kyhber Crystals so that they can build lightsabers. They both expressed an interest in rolling for the construction of them, rather than just getting them, so I came up with the following. I intentionally designed these rules to make having a working saber be inevitable but would add variance to the outcome.

The base difficulty of constructing a lightsaber hilt is a Hard (3) Mechanics check. There are two options here. A slotted saber or one constructed around the crystal.

A slotted saber hilt is constructed with an empty slot where various crystals can be inserted. A slotted saber is mundane and nothing beyond proper schematics is required to build one.

Preparing a Khyber Crystal for insertion into a slotted hilt requires a connection to the Force and time spent focusing energy through the crystal. The character must commit one Force Die to the process and make a discipline check to prepare the crystal. Various qualities of crystal have different difficulties based on their purity and specifications. A character must have a basic understanding of the process in order to achieve any result. If they are inexperienced, or lack proper guidance then additional setback dice should be included in the check.

(1) Easy

Illum - Within the crystal cave on the planet Illum

Mephite - Rock formations scattered throughout the whole of the Adegan system.

(2)Average

Dantari - Occasionally found within an egg laid by one of the Hive Kinrath native to Dantooine.

Rubat - Various cave systems on the planet Phemis

(3)Hard

Barab - Exposed igneous rock deposits at elevations above 5km on the planet Barab 1

Lorridan - The crystals are found inside sedimentary rock formations on the planet Lorrd

(4)Daunting

Krayt Dragon Pearl - Formed in the gizzard of the Greater Krayt Dragon native to Tatooine

Sapith Gem - Excreted by the Volice Worm, a creature from the planet Lwhekk.

(5)Formitable

Dragite - Within caves in the D'olop Mountian range On the planet M'haeli

The amount of time needed to attune the crystal also depends on the difficulty of the crystal. At a minimum the character must focus for one hour per difficulty die on the check. (ie. one hour for an Illum crystal, 2 for a Dantari, 3 for a Barab ect.). If the character spends an additional interval of time focusing on the process they can upgrade their discipline check. This can be done multiple times.

For instance a character can spend an 6 hours focusing on a Lorridan Crystal and be able to upgrade their Discipline check once. Or spend seven hours focusing on an Illum crystal and upgrade their Discipline check six times.

If the character fails the Discipline check they may attempt to focus the crystal again but the difficulty of the check is upgraded once for each failed attempt. Once a successful check has been made the crystal is ready to be inserted into the slotted saber.

A saber that is constructed around a crystal incorporates both processes. This method can only be achieved with proper guidance. Simple schematics or expertise in mechanics will not suffice. Guidance at the level of a holocron will be needed, at a minimum. The character uses the force to construct the saber hilt through the use of the Move Basic Power. The fine manipulation Control Upgrade is not needed but will add a boost die. If the character does not have the Move Basic Power at all then add a setback die to the final check. (with time and guidance they can still move things with the force just not with the proficiency to have an immediate effect) The base difficulty of the Discipline check is a combination of the (3)Hard check to assemble the hilt and the varying difficulty of the check to focus the crystal.

So a hilt built around an Illum crystal, by a character with the move basic power, that has spent three hours focusing on the task, would have their Discipline skill upgraded twice and will roll against two purple one red.

A hilt built around a Dragite crystal by a character with the fine manipulation upgrade who spent 5 hours focusing on the task would not have their discipline check upgraded (but does get a boost die) and will face three red and two purple dice.

Advantage can be used to add a boost die to a future attack roll.

Threat can be used to add a setback die to a future attack roll.

Triumph could be used to "turn on" one of the crystals modification options for free.

Despair could be used to reduce the base damage by 1 but also add a "Damage +1 mod"

This focusing process can also be used to modify the crystals after they are "activated" the difficulty at that point would use the normal rules for performing modifications to attachments but would use discipline instead of mechanics.

So what do y'all think?

And thanks for the initial topic bubblepopmei

So what do y'all think?

I like this better than what they came up with for the official directions listed in the F&D beta.

Cool!

The new episode of Rebels has Kanan and Ezra exploring a jedi temple as part of Ezra's training. It's a good example of a quest for a lightsaber.

So what do y'all think?

Truthfully?

That's far crunchier than necessary for this system, and frankly sounds like something I'd expect to see in a 3.X-based D20 game than to find in FFG's system. The OCR/RCR versions of Star Wars d20 went with the several checks and jumping through hoops for a +1 bonus to attack rolls, while In contrast, Saga Edition kept the process fairly simply (one check, only changing if the alternate crystals from the KOTOR or Jedi Academy Training Manual were allowed).

The main quest for the PC should be in obtaining the crystal, particularly some of the more powerful varieties of crystals. Building the hilt for the crystal should really be more of a side thing and one not requiring extensive checks. The closest to a special roll in the process should be for harvesting the crystals without causing undue damage, with guidelines for doing so provided at the end of the Beta book introductory adventure. I think the Beta book did fine with the simple guidelines provided for assembling a hilt (Negotiation check to get the parts, no check to actually assemble it).

Similar to what Donovan said, I'd recommend that the difficulty is more of just placed into finding/obtaining the crystal itself.

If you wanted to make it a challenge to build the hilt as well I'd suggest either just blocking the players until they can find appropriate instructions, maybe stored on a Holocron or a datapad, learned from a Mentor, or even reverse-engineering one picked up from somewhere.

That's not to say the general idea to provide some minor boosts or setbacks when building the hilt isn't neat, but ultimately your proposed method as it is is pretty much "Do you want a chance at a small boost now, or do you want to plan for the long run?" which only even applies to Easy/Average difficulty crystals, whereas with Hard-Formidable crystals, you're probably just going to stick with a basic hilt anyways.

What I mean by this is that by making a slotted hilt, players can't swap out the crystal with a different type they may like and get down the road. So while with a normal hilt, a player could keep the Dual-Phase Modification on their hilt when swapping the crystal out for another type, if a player currently has a slotted lightsaber, they'd have to build a new hilt (slotted or regular), and give up on all attachments already on a previous hilt. This is in exchange for the chance to get a few one-off boosts/setbacks on a roll or two, and the chance at either a free pass on a crystal mod (and 100 credits saved in spare parts) or the need to do another mod to bring it up to what it should be originally (and the need to buy 100 credits in spare parts). This becomes more like something a player shouldn't opt for when it comes to the harder crystals, because at that point, they're better off just modding the crystal normally since it'll be less difficult.

Again, it's a neat idea, but right now, it just doesn't make a ton of sense for players to really want to get a slotted lightsaber unless their characters literally can't afford the 100 extra credits.

Well like I said, the two players each had a two session adventure where they tracked down their crystals. That part was a lot of fun. I then asked them if they would rather roll for the construction using their skills and stats or simply hand wave it and start using their new sabers. They both agreed that they wanted to roll so I came up with the above ideas.

Thank you all for the reviews.

I like the idea of at least SOME kind of mechanics check to assemble the pieces. Most likely the schematics would add a boost die and in the case of a holocron or master, you could use their mechanics+ your Intellect.

Using the move force power without having the Move Basic power would be a Destiny point requirement for me. I think the rules even mention using a power that you don't have if the need is great. Or is that the new 5E Dnd? Anyways, I think spending a Destiny Point there would make sense.

Using the move force power without having the Move Basic power would be a Destiny point requirement for me. I think the rules even mention using a power that you don't have if the need is great. Or is that the new 5E Dnd? Anyways, I think spending a Destiny Point there would make sense.

Not really in the book, there's some thoughts on ways to do it . Basically Destiny Point spending and possibly requiring XP be spent as soon as possible on the power/upgrades.