It wouldn't be Melee but still Lightsabre. The Lightsaber skill encompass all types of Lightsabers and any kind of variant thereof. It's also to your advantage to use Lightsaber skill. In addition to opening up the possibility of not relying on Brawn as your attribute through the 6 fighting forms but it also means that you're only raising one skill as opposed to 2 to be competent with a single weapon. After all if your rifle is sundered and you pick up the lightsaber bayonet to use if it's tied to Melee you are no longer able to use that lightsaber as well as you were before. So in order to remain competent you'd need to raise Melee, Heavy Blasters and Lightsaber. It works out better just to have to raise 2 as opposed to 3 skills.

Of course it would be to his advantage to use the Lightsaber skill, for all of the reasons you listed above, but that doesn't mean it fits. The relevant skill is not determined by the primary striking surface of the weapon. A number of Brawl weapons are blades or even blasters, but they use that skill because they complement unarmed fighting techniques and leave the hands free to grapple. Ranged - Light is used for one-handed weapons, whether fired or thrown, while Ranged - Heavy covers two-handed weapons and Gunnery is for heavy weapons that are operated rather than wielded; none of these distinguish between the type of projectile involved.

Every single published weapon that is used with the lightsaber skill is a light, streamlined weapon with minimal physical components and a massless striking surface. Even the lightsaber pike, the only lightsaber with a physical haft of any significant length, is made of super-metals that are both lightsaber-resistant and incredibly light; other than its length it shares none of the vulnerabilities or potential drawbacks of conventional polearms. All of these features mean that the weapons that currently use the Lightsaber skill have distinct handling characteristics unique to their grouping, namely the ability to be wielded with an incredible amount of manual dexterity regardless of the physical strength of the user. They also mean that the lightsaber can be used in ways that other weapons simply cannot.

A lightsaber bayonet, while attached to a ranged weapon , would share few of the handling characteristics of a lightsaber. The physical body of the rifle has much more mass than any lightsaber hilt, and the inertia of that alone would impair the handling of the weapon as a whole. Furthermore, that mass would not be distributed in the symmetrical manner of a lightsaber pike or even a conventional polearm, as the various components of the weapon are attached in different directions at different angles, unbalancing the weapon and offering a number of protrusions to catch up the wielder. There is also the issue of the construction of the rifle itself; the components that make up the majority of the rifle-bayonet combination are not exactly intended to be part of an impact weapon and are certainly not capable of resisting blaster fire or weapon strikes like a lightsaber is. All of these aspects together suggest that in terms of handling characteristics and fighting styles, a mounted lightsaber-bayonet has almost nothing in common with a traditionally-wielded lightsaber.

Finally, there is the issue of the various forms of lightsaber combat. These techniques were developed specifically for use with traditional lightsabers to take advantage of their unique characteristics in comparison with conventional melee weapons, and are practiced in an almost ritualized way by the few lightsaber-wielders in the galaxy. As I have demonstrated above, a lightsaber-bayonet has much more with any number of metal-bladed weapons that make use of the Melee skill than a lightsaber.

Now, everything I have said only applies to a shoto while it is mounted as a bayonet . Once removed, it could be wielded like any other lightsaber, and would certainly use Lightsaber skill and the various lightsaber forms as normal.

It wouldn't be Melee but still Lightsabre. The Lightsaber skill encompass all types of Lightsabers and any kind of variant thereof. It's also to your advantage to use Lightsaber skill. In addition to opening up the possibility of not relying on Brawn as your attribute through the 6 fighting forms but it also means that you're only raising one skill as opposed to 2 to be competent with a single weapon. After all if your rifle is sundered and you pick up the lightsaber bayonet to use if it's tied to Melee you are no longer able to use that lightsaber as well as you were before. So in order to remain competent you'd need to raise Melee, Heavy Blasters and Lightsaber. It works out better just to have to raise 2 as opposed to 3 skills.

Of course it would be to his advantage to use the Lightsaber skill, for all of the reasons you listed above, but that doesn't mean it fits. The relevant skill is not determined by the primary striking surface of the weapon. A number of Brawl weapons are blades or even blasters, but they use that skill because they complement unarmed fighting techniques and leave the hands free to grapple. Ranged - Light is used for one-handed weapons, whether fired or thrown, while Ranged - Heavy covers two-handed weapons and Gunnery is for heavy weapons that are operated rather than wielded; none of these distinguish between the type of projectile involved.

Every single published weapon that is used with the lightsaber skill is a light, streamlined weapon with minimal physical components and a massless striking surface. Even the lightsaber pike, the only lightsaber with a physical haft of any significant length, is made of super-metals that are both lightsaber-resistant and incredibly light; other than its length it shares none of the vulnerabilities or potential drawbacks of conventional polearms. All of these features mean that the weapons that currently use the Lightsaber skill have distinct handling characteristics unique to their grouping, namely the ability to be wielded with an incredible amount of manual dexterity regardless of the physical strength of the user. They also mean that the lightsaber can be used in ways that other weapons simply cannot.

A lightsaber bayonet, while attached to a ranged weapon , would share few of the handling characteristics of a lightsaber. The physical body of the rifle has much more mass than any lightsaber hilt, and the inertia of that alone would impair the handling of the weapon as a whole. Furthermore, that mass would not be distributed in the symmetrical manner of a lightsaber pike or even a conventional polearm, as the various components of the weapon are attached in different directions at different angles, unbalancing the weapon and offering a number of protrusions to catch up the wielder. There is also the issue of the construction of the rifle itself; the components that make up the majority of the rifle-bayonet combination are not exactly intended to be part of an impact weapon and are certainly not capable of resisting blaster fire or weapon strikes like a lightsaber is. All of these aspects together suggest that in terms of handling characteristics and fighting styles, a mounted lightsaber-bayonet has almost nothing in common with a traditionally-wielded lightsaber.

Finally, there is the issue of the various forms of lightsaber combat. These techniques were developed specifically for use with traditional lightsabers to take advantage of their unique characteristics in comparison with conventional melee weapons, and are practiced in an almost ritualized way by the few lightsaber-wielders in the galaxy. As I have demonstrated above, a lightsaber-bayonet has much more with any number of metal-bladed weapons that make use of the Melee skill than a lightsaber.

Now, everything I have said only applies to a shoto while it is mounted as a bayonet . Once removed, it could be wielded like any other lightsaber, and would certainly use Lightsaber skill and the various lightsaber forms as normal.

I'm of the opinion that the Lightsaber skill would cover any form of lightsabre variant one might think of. But you do raise good points. In that light though I'd rule that no skill applies to the weapon and it's a straight Brawl check. By your deconstruction of the issue it is not a standard lightsabre for the Lightsaber skill but I also then wouldn't consider it a standard melee weapon for the Melee skill.

Doesn't the ancient sword have the Lightsaber skill?

I'm of the opinion that the Lightsaber skill would cover any form of lightsabre variant one might think of. But you do raise good points. In that light though I'd rule that no skill applies to the weapon and it's a straight Brawl check. By your deconstruction of the issue it is not a standard lightsabre for the Lightsaber skill but I also then wouldn't consider it a standard melee weapon for the Melee skill.

I'm a little torn between Melee and Brawl myself. It'd be a lot easier if there was a published bayonet, but there isn't (bayonets are pretty grim for the official presentation of the Star Wars universe). A bayonet fight is awfully close to a grapple in some ways. The same is true of many other aspects of close-combat though; I've got some experience with armored swordsmanship and frankly the only reason that doesn't devolve into a grapple is because we don't want anyone to actually get hurt. I decided on Melee when I realized that every published Brawl weapon leaves the hands free to grab, while even Improvised Weapons still use the Melee skill (they're in the Combat section of the rulebook).

You're right, if you deconstruct it too far a lot of things start to break down.

I'm of the opinion that the Lightsaber skill would cover any form of lightsabre variant one might think of. But you do raise good points. In that light though I'd rule that no skill applies to the weapon and it's a straight Brawl check. By your deconstruction of the issue it is not a standard lightsabre for the Lightsaber skill but I also then wouldn't consider it a standard melee weapon for the Melee skill.

I'm a little torn between Melee and Brawl myself. It'd be a lot easier if there was a published bayonet, but there isn't (bayonets are pretty grim for the official presentation of the Star Wars universe). A bayonet fight is awfully close to a grapple in some ways. The same is true of many other aspects of close-combat though; I've got some experience with armored swordsmanship and frankly the only reason that doesn't devolve into a grapple is because we don't want anyone to actually get hurt. I decided on Melee when I realized that every published Brawl weapon leaves the hands free to grab, while even Improvised Weapons still use the Melee skill (they're in the Combat section of the rulebook).

You're right, if you deconstruct it too far a lot of things start to break down.

My bad I typed Brawl instead of Brawn. I meant that considering your points the player would just have to rely on a straight up Brawn check with no modification to the roll due to skills. It seems kinda harsh, but this is also a very unorthodox weapon soooooooo.

You know, I've been thinking of this, and I was wondering if maybe I should instead of making it a bayonet on the end of a long blaster, making it a sidearm? I was watching star wars rebels, and the kid protagonist makes a lightsaber that has what looks like an Ion blaster build into it, so that it could be easily used as a ranged weapon and a lightsaber.

Would that cause less frustration and hair-pulling to work out?

You know, I've been thinking of this, and I was wondering if maybe I should instead of making it a bayonet on the end of a long blaster, making it a sidearm? I was watching star wars rebels, and the kid protagonist makes a lightsaber that has what looks like an Ion blaster build into it, so that it could be easily used as a ranged weapon and a lightsaber.

Would that cause less frustration and hair-pulling to work out?

Probably not. All things considered trying to combine the blaster and lightsabre is going to cause a lot of hair pulling and frustration. On the upside Enzo's lightsabre is canon which is a point in your favor for making the request. And by the end of the show Kanan shows how effective such a weapon could be.

Skill wise though, yeah it's easier. Lightsaber for lightsabre mode and blaster for blaster mode and possible a maneuver to switch between the two.

I was thinking about this and decided that, what the hell, I'll make him as normal, I'll just be 30 xp short because I would take force sensitive emergent. I wouldn't even do much development in it, other than potentially taking like, one force power later on in the game.

There's a lot of nice discussion going on in this thread, and I don't mean to hijack it, but I'm pretty sure you'll only be 20 xp short, unless you were already planning to start with a 2 specialization build.

Universal specializations count as 'in career' for any career (you lose the extra 10 XP cost increase), they're just not available as the free starting career.

Just a quick note, since nobody else seems to have picked up on that, and I don't want you to short your concept even more than you have to at the start of the game.