Hello all.

First time GM though experienced RPG player.

Creating a future adventure for my group about locating a Sith War Sword (link below).

Question, what stats or abilities would fellow GM give the sword?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith_sword

Thanks.

I'd use the Vibrosword special qualities and throw Cortosis on the ability to block lightsabers, just off the top of my head

I want, so badly, to stat it as a unique item. A one of a kind relic.

Damage +4 (+6 for two-handed), Crit 3 (I had 2 originally, not sure), HP 2, Enc 3 (4 for two-handed), Pierce 1, Superior (damage built in), Daunting*

*Daunting: When making any Force Power check, if in possession of this weapon, generate one additional dark side result which may be used without the need to flip a Destiny token, though it causes 1 conflict.

I might also give it ranged defense +1. As I said, though, this would be a one off item for a quest reward.

Don’t make it better than any other weapon in the game. That just gets into a war of escalation, because the next prize has to be even bigger and more bad-ass, and the next one after that has to be even bigger and even more bad-ass.

I agree with BigSpoon — start with the VibroSword stats, and add Cortosis. See http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/weapons/187/

If it needs to be a unique weapon, then you could add Cortosis to the Arg’Garok, which is the two-handed vibro-axe used by the Gamorreans, see http://swrpg.viluppo.net/equipment/weapons/1777/ and http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Arg'garok , but even that is getting way up there in the escalation.

If you want a unique weapon that was made by Darth Revan as the culmination of the most powerful devices to ever come out of the Star Forge, created from the burnt remains of the time travelers Surik and Starkiller, well then I’m not sure I can help you.

FaD has the ancient sword. Take it and add an attachment and some mods, slap a scary name on it and call it a day.

Question, what stats or abilities would fellow GM give the sword?

There is a philosophy in some D&D circles that treasure should tell a story, drive a plot, or both. So since you're wandering close to this territory, I'd want to know the purpose of introducing this item to the story.

Question, what stats or abilities would fellow GM give the sword?

There is a philosophy in some D&D circles that treasure should tell a story, drive a plot, or both. So since you're wandering close to this territory, I'd want to know the purpose of introducing this item to the story.

Good point.

Some wild ideas were going around my head, summarised below;

1. party approached by an archaeologist for security on an archaeology dig.

2. after going through several encounters and problem solving abilities, group find the sword

3. at this point the archaeologist shouts wiith glee and holds the sword aloft to reveal himself as a Sith.

4. The party, then have some decisions to make, and if combat was oneof them, I would like to know the weapons stats

Many thanks for the positive responses. As a first time poster it is reassuring :-)

3. at this point, the archaeologist shouts with glee and holds the sword aloft... only to unwittingly become possessed by the evil, arcane blade. (more of a morality test this way...)

Is the idea for the story that the blade is a unique thing to your campaign, or is it more like, Sith swords will become an uncommon kind of loot? I think the answer to that question will steer you toward how the stats will be. If it is to be the +6 Unholy Vorpal Avenger of Dancing for the campaign's ultimate villain, then yeah make it unique and powerful. But if it's purpose is more toward it being the chosen weapon of the ultimate bad guy's royal commando guards, then you would want to make it more along the lines of "good" than "totally fraktastic awesome" as the PCs will collect one for every RCG they defeat.

Yeah, is it just a prop, or a McGuffin? If it's a McGuffin, why? The reason can be purely narrative, and there doesn't need to be anything unique about the item's combat numbers.

To touch on the point RLogue177 raises above, In my last SAGA game, ran in the Old Republic, the Sith warriors used what were essentially corosis katanas -- mostly badges of office and served to intimidate conquered populations and client planets of the hegemony. In the hands of the Sith, they just did some level-appropriate amount of xD8 damage, and that was it. Outside the odd trophy, there was no particular reason for the PCs to collect the things -- they had a market value of 0 since no one wanted to be caught dead with them. All this was by design.

3. at this point the archaeologist shouts wiith glee and holds the sword aloft to reveal himself as a Sith.

I wonder what he could shout...

image: Prince Adam holding his sword up and shouting "by the power of Greyskull" to turn into he-man

Seriously though, sounds ok, so it's just a matter of what you want the character and weapon to actually do. A cortosis "ancient sword" would probably do the trick, but you might want to add a unique Talent or two to Sith-Man to get a specific effect. Talents would allow for something complicated like using a sword to deflect blaster bolts or melt faces without having to worry about the adventure ending with the players in possession of a sword that can deflect blasters and melt faces....

Agreed Ghost, as a GM whenever I put a weapon into the game for one of my NPC's I always ask myself: Do I want my players to have this? Because invariably, one of them is going to kill him, and turn out his pockets for loot, whether its today, tomorrow, a month from now. Its going to happen.

Agreed Ghost, as a GM whenever I put a weapon into the game for one of my NPC's I always ask myself: Do I want my players to have this? Because invariably, one of them is going to kill him, and turn out his pockets for loot, whether its today, tomorrow, a month from now. Its going to happen.

Heck no... if he's a patsy... sure... but if it is a weapon of Destiny, I'm going to give him the skill to back it up. And the players will find themselves in a dark prison ship heading toward Kessel. Will they get out before they meet the glitterstim spiders? Stay tuned for next week! Oh, and the other three fancy swords you each looted? His High Dark and Mighty just gave them to his Lieutenants. Congrats on providing better gear for your opponents.

Agreed Ghost, as a GM whenever I put a weapon into the game for one of my NPC's I always ask myself: Do I want my players to have this? Because invariably, one of them is going to kill him, and turn out his pockets for loot, whether its today, tomorrow, a month from now. Its going to happen.

This is it precisely. If you're going to put an NPC in a position where the PCs can hurt him, you better make damned sure he isn't carrying something you don't want them to get their hands on. Because as sure as God made puppies and rainbows, it's going to happen.

It's a pretty easy solution too... something like:

Item: Sword of 1000 Truths: Skill Lightsaber, Damage +2, Crit 3, Enc 3, Cortosis (immune to sunder).

Character Ability: Sith Swordmaster: The character may use the Sword of 1000 Truths with Reflect, and Superior Face Melt, even though it it not actually a lightsaber.

Done and done.

I'd use the Vibrosword special qualities and throw Cortosis on the ability to block lightsabers, just off the top of my head

Pretty much this, with perhaps a special quality that lets the wielder make use of the Reflect talents much as they would a lightsaber. Beyond that, not a whole lot more is needed.

I did this.

Sith Sword

Early weapons used by the Sith were created using Sith alchemy. Through that alchemy these weapons were able to be used as lightsabers, deflecting both lightsabers and blasters. Dark side users were able to empower these swords with the dark side of the Force. By taking a maneuver action, suffering 1 strain and commiting one Force die a character can empower his Sith sword. On a successful lightsaber combat check, the character may make a Force power check (this check is with Force dice over and above the one committed) and use any dark side results as additional successes or advantages in resolving that combat check. The character will incur 1 point of conflict for using the sword in such a way as well as any conflict incurred for what the sword is being used for, if applicable. The character also takes 1 strain each turn he keeps the Force die committed.

Skill: Lightsaber
Damage: +2
Critical: 3
Range: Engaged
Encumerance: 3
Hard Points: 3
Price: ® 6,000 credits
Rarity: 10
Special: Cortosis, Defensive 1, Pierce 2, Reflective, Vicious 1

New quality.

REFLECTIVE (PASSIVE)

Through some process, either in the item's creation or from modification, the item may be treated as a lightsaber for the purposes of talents such as Reflect, Reflect (Improved) and Reflect (Supreme).

Thanks all.

Lots of great ideas. Particularly like Mouthymerc's above.

I only want the sword to be a one off, with the party choosing to destroy or bury it out of sight.

My group has a good track record of always doing the 'morally right thing', so I'm pretty confident I won't need to worry about selfish power hungry actions.

One of the main reasons I asked in the first place, is because there doesn't appear to be any general rules for creating equipment or npc's. Not that confident yet with building my own.

Thanks again.

one other thing to think about... I wouldn't have the possession be an immediate thing. Let it grow, plant a few seeds here and there, hints that something is going terribly wrong. It's all about the pacing. If you can swing it over a few adventures, so much the better.

And don't make the sword the mcguffin... it should be off to the side, something that they overlook, and he finds. Roll a few dice while they're searching: you find trash a, trash b, and trash c. Oh, this is interesting... you're otherwise unarmed NPC friend finds a dusty sword in the corner - good thing, because here come some nasties down the hallway. Everyone roll initiative...

Also, they should care about this guy, and hopefully owe him big-time... otherwise, just shoot him or leave him. eh... who cares... but if he's a friend, someone they don't even want to hurt, much less kill, even though he's trying to chop their heads off - now that's a good story.

Maybe in the scenario above, he manages to save the pilot from a gundark by inexpertly (and yet perfectly, in retrospect) cutting its' head off right before it chomps him...

And don't make the sword the mcguffin... it should be off to the side, something that they overlook, and he finds.

If you do that you'll need a red herring or something. Swords have a way of not getting overlooked. You'll either need some other artifact that appears far more interesting, or do something like place the sword in a location with lots of other similar things, like have them excavate an ancient battlefield and finding fancy looking weapons and armor continually.

And don't make the sword the mcguffin... it should be off to the side, something that they overlook, and he finds.

If you do that you'll need a red herring or something. Swords have a way of not getting overlooked. You'll either need some other artifact that appears far more interesting, or do something like place the sword in a location with lots of other similar things, like have them excavate an ancient battlefield and finding fancy looking weapons and armor continually.

Or have them find something that seems to have significantly greater value. Maybe the find a holocron and overlook the sword. Later, they have a chance to inspect the holocron and find that's it broken*. Meanwhile, the archaeologist has what he was really after.

*Which is of course fixable, after several sessions' adventuring, at least one heist and ~20 or so Obligation being racked up.

Well I guess if I waas making then unique.

I would make them incrsase your chance of turning to the the dark side (so like thr ring in lord of the rings)

Would possibly say they grant a bonus to get making decisions or actions that are force related.

And/or would make them a type of key in some way for me a trial ot literally a key.

If were for a trial then I imagine would mostly be useless to your characters but a potential sith would try hunt them down so they can unlock whatever secret to themselves.