I plan to have my Force sensitive exile character find the crystal but have to assemble the hilt over time based on the rarity and price of the one he wants. He will have to find the parts on different planets.

My Je'daii and his brother built our lightsabers on Tython at The Forge. The way it should be done!

We both have a gold crystal and a silver one.

I plan to have my Force sensitive exile character find the crystal but have to assemble the hilt over time based on the rarity and price of the one he wants. He will have to find the parts on different planets.

This is basically the exact opposite of what the books recommend. The crystal is the most important (and valuable) piece of the puzzle. The hilt could just be dumping the guts out of a Maglite flashlight and sticking in a few bits and pieces you stole from a dead droid. That's why the average hilt is valued at 300 creds (not necessarily bought in a store for 300, but rather 300 worth of stuff), and the average Ilum crystal is valued at 9,000 creds.

The only reason why I can imagine that you should *require* someone to have multiple Force powers just to make their saber, is either if you want to get really flashy about the construction or you're just purposely trying to hold them back from getting their sabers too soon. Which, there are other ways to do that through gameplay, than to invent pre-requisites. That's like college curriculums requiring totally useless courses before you're allowed to start studying the things you're majoring in to begin with.

I understand why others would prefer this method. However, IMHO, this comes across as the GM enforcing their view of what my character should be instead of me. Just my impression.

I plan to have my Force sensitive exile character find the crystal but have to assemble the hilt over time based on the rarity and price of the one he wants. He will have to find the parts on different planets.

This is basically the exact opposite of what the books recommend. The crystal is the most important (and valuable) piece of the puzzle. The hilt could just be dumping the guts out of a Maglite flashlight and sticking in a few bits and pieces you stole from a dead droid. That's why the average hilt is valued at 300 creds (not necessarily bought in a store for 300, but rather 300 worth of stuff), and the average Ilum crystal is valued at 9,000 creds.

The only reason why I can imagine that you should *require* someone to have multiple Force powers just to make their saber, is either if you want to get really flashy about the construction or you're just purposely trying to hold them back from getting their sabers too soon. Which, there are other ways to do that through gameplay, than to invent pre-requisites. That's like college curriculums requiring totally useless courses before you're allowed to start studying the things you're majoring in to begin with.

It's more about finding/fabricating the exact right parts and it's more about the journey to find the parts than about the parts themselves. He had a force dream about where Ilum is and when he gets there the Jedi master will walk him through choosing his crystal (or the crystal chooses him).

If they've already got a crystal then the simplest way to gatekeep lightsaber ownership is to require that the players hunt down a set of schematics so that they can build the **** thing in the first place. If you don't have instructions or a mentor to show you what needs to be done, having the parts won't do you any good at all.

Especially given the element of mysticism where you're supposed to "tune" your crystal or whatever.

I plan to have my Force sensitive exile character find the crystal but have to assemble the hilt over time based on the rarity and price of the one he wants. He will have to find the parts on different planets.

This is basically the exact opposite of what the books recommend. The crystal is the most important (and valuable) piece of the puzzle. The hilt could just be dumping the guts out of a Maglite flashlight and sticking in a few bits and pieces you stole from a dead droid. That's why the average hilt is valued at 300 creds (not necessarily bought in a store for 300, but rather 300 worth of stuff), and the average Ilum crystal is valued at 9,000 creds.

The only reason why I can imagine that you should *require* someone to have multiple Force powers just to make their saber, is either if

or you're just purposely trying to hold them back from getting their sabers too soon. Which, there are other ways to do that through gameplay, than to invent pre-requisites. That's like college curriculums requiring totally useless courses before you're allowed to start studying the things you're majoring in to begin with.

It's more about finding/fabricating the exact right parts and it's more about the journey to find the parts than about the parts themselves. He had a force dream about where Ilum is and when he gets there the Jedi master will walk him through choosing his crystal (or the crystal chooses him).

F&D pg 177 has a sidebar all about Lightsaber Hilts, where it reiterates that the Crystal is the heart and soul of a Lightsaber. All the fluff about how finding the right Crystal is a spiritual journey. The Hilt is just a mechanical device. The materials to make it are worth / will cost the player about 300 creds with an Rarity of 5 (the same as a Blaster Rifle). Of course they can get into the customization and whatnot, which is kinda where the Hilt based modifications come from. But an ordinary, functional Lightsaber Hilt is not supposed to be a quest in and of itself. The Crystal is supposed to be the quest. And it sounds like you have those backwards.

You enter the ancient temple , and discover what appears to be a magical rune carved into the stone floor . Stepping across the seal, you see a set of stairs and a doorway leading into the darkness. Your mentor tells you, "You must complete 3 trials. The first is the Breath of (the Force) which only the penitent man shall pass. The second is the Word of (the Force) where you must walk the Word. And the third is the Path of (the Force) where only a leap from the Nexu's head will prove your worth."

You climb the stairs and enter the doorway, brushing thick cobwebs out of your face. You notice the cobwebs ahead start to waver in a soft breeze, and at the last moment you drop to a kneeling position just as a sharp blade springs from the wall at neck height. You crawl underneath the blade, and into the next chamber.

Inside, you see a path of letters leading across to the next doorway . With your amazing word puzzle skills, you see that you could easily spell out "MIDICHLORIANS" from one side of the room to the other. But you also notice you could hop a little from here to there and spell out "ITS MAGIC" instead. You decide to go with the answer that doesn't sound like a biology class spelling error, hopping your way to the next door.

Beyond the door, you see a stone statue of a Nexu perched as though peering down into a bottomless chasm. On the far side of the chasm, you see the other door. Since you're a trained Force user, it's a simple matter to Force Leap across to the other door. When you turn to look back, you see it was all just a cleverly disguised pathway to walk across .

Now you enter a chamber, where a Force Apparition clad in armor appears before you. He gestures around the room and says "Choose wisely." You pace from one side to the other, inspecting the gathered items, before finally settling upon one. As you emerge from the temple victorious, with a length of metal pipe in hand, you can't help but feel that you've just wasted a lot of time on something that could just as easily have come from Home Depot.

As you walk through the Rodian markets you feel the crystal resonate in your hidden pocket. You approach one of the stalls, Not seeing anything besides junk and broken parts. You are about to turn away when you notice a gleam coming from the edge of a container. You pick up a small, unassuming chamber and you hear your crystal humming a song only you can hear. As your stare at the chamber, the humming grows louder and steadier until you hear nothing else. The humming overwhelms your senses as your vision goes dark. You see battles, dozens of Jedi fighting against a droid army. One Jedi hesitates, The battlefield spins as he falls, hislightsaber blasted out of his hand. You hear a voice, "Your lightsaber is your life, trust it." You snap back to the market, and look around realizing that no time has passed. You pay the merchant for the piece as you gently lay it in your pouch, next to your other pieces. Just a couple more parts left and you will be able to assemble the ancient weapon.

It's your table, you're free to do whatever you like. But there's nothing in Star Wars canon that implies the mechanical components of a Lightsaber are mystical in any way. It's only the crystal that matters. All the rest could come from a hardware store.

In fact, given the era in which most games take place, you'd want to use a repurposed flashlight instead of an ornately decorated rod, on account of all the Imperial spies wandering the worlds. Someone walks in wearing a toolbelt dangling a hyperspanner, a sonic screwdriver, and a flashlight, you'll just think "Here comes a grease monkey." When someone comes in toting a bright chrome rod decorated with gold filagree like a Lord of the Rings prop, it's going to draw attention.

The Jansuraii had them. as have a lot of non jedi in books. In Canon the Inquisitors have lightsabers and they are certainly not Sith or Jedi. And the Inquisitors predate the Phantom Menace.

In truth this argument seems to be a misunderstanding In terminology.

when a lot of people think of the Force, they think of the Jedi.

So in the modern vocabulary both in setting and in the real world Jedi has replaced Force-User as the common term.

but this is just MHO.

The Jansuraii had them. as have a lot of non jedi in books. In Canon the Inquisitors have lightsabers and they are certainly not Sith or Jedi. And the Inquisitors predate the Phantom Menace.

In truth this argument seems to be a misunderstanding In terminology.

when a lot of people think of the Force, they think of the Jedi.

So in the modern vocabulary both in setting and in the real world Jedi has replaced Force-User as the common term.

but this is just MHO.

Replacing force user with Jedi ignores all the other potential force traditions. Being a force user doe not make you a Jedi. Following the Jedi traditions and codes makes you a Jedi. Just like following the Sith traditions and codes makes you a Sith. Following the traditions and codes of the Wardens of the Sky makes you a Warden. And we here should know better.

The Jansuraii had them. as have a lot of non jedi in books. In Canon the Inquisitors have lightsabers and they are certainly not Sith or Jedi. And the Inquisitors predate the Phantom Menace.

In truth this argument seems to be a misunderstanding In terminology.

when a lot of people think of the Force, they think of the Jedi.

So in the modern vocabulary both in setting and in the real world Jedi has replaced Force-User as the common term.

but this is just MHO.

Replacing force user with Jedi ignores all the other potential force traditions. Being a force user doe not make you a Jedi. Following the Jedi traditions and codes makes you a Jedi. Just like following the Sith traditions and codes makes you a Sith. Following the traditions and codes of the Wardens of the Sky makes you a Warden. And we here should know better.

Well, to be fair a lot of this can be laid at the feet of WEG, as their Star Wars RPG used the term "Jedi" as short hand for Force user, since at the time of the publishing of their first and second editions, the only Force users we really had were the Jedi. In the films, it's only with TFA that we've gotten Force users (Maz, Kylo Ren, possibly Snoke) that are neither Jedi or Sith.

Well Kyla, I appreciate you sharing the work you have done. Whether I use them or not, it's nice to see others interpretations of things for their games. With the thought you have put int things, your games seem really filled with fluffy bits. Keep doing you.

Thanks, Jareth!

And to be fair, I don't restrict anyone to having the three Force Powers before building a "laser sword." In fact, it's alluded to here (quoted from my original post);

"While the components could otherwise be put together to similar effect, these laser swords are inferior to the weapon of the Jedi and Sith, and are highly unstable, their blades crackling with barely contained power, and often are as great a threat to their wielder as they are their opponent."

The whole "inferior to the weapon of the Jedi and Sith" is just narrative hand-wavery, appearing more like Kylo Ren's from the Force Awakening. Mechanically these "inferior" weapons use the same rules as lightsabers do, they just look more "mad max" like and dangerous. So far, my players have all wanted to follow in the footsteps of the Jedi, and I strongly believe that enslaving yourself to a dogma means following often unnecessary codified actions even if more convenient routes exist.

The Jansuraii had them. as have a lot of non jedi in books. In Canon the Inquisitors have lightsabers and they are certainly not Sith or Jedi. And the Inquisitors predate the Phantom Menace.

In truth this argument seems to be a misunderstanding In terminology.

when a lot of people think of the Force, they think of the Jedi.

So in the modern vocabulary both in setting and in the real world Jedi has replaced Force-User as the common term.

but this is just MHO.

Replacing force user with Jedi ignores all the other potential force traditions. Being a force user doe not make you a Jedi. Following the Jedi traditions and codes makes you a Jedi. Just like following the Sith traditions and codes makes you a Sith. Following the traditions and codes of the Wardens of the Sky makes you a Warden. And we here should know better.

Well, to be fair a lot of this can be laid at the feet of WEG, as their Star Wars RPG used the term "Jedi" as short hand for Force user, since at the time of the publishing of their first and second editions, the only Force users we really had were the Jedi. In the films, it's only with TFA that we've gotten Force users (Maz, Kylo Ren, possibly Snoke) that are neither Jedi or Sith.

The clone wars gave us Mother Tauzen(SP?)

Fun fact: Did you know that is was Darkside force users that created the first "lightsabers"?

Fun fact: Did you know that is was Darkside force users that created the first "lightsabers"?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber/Legends

Do you mean the Forcesabers ? Cus those aren't really the same thing. That's literally channeling Dark side through a crystal, no batteries or mechanisms. It's hacking and slashing with frozen Force Lightning.

It was the Je'daii who made the first Lightsabers as we know them today, and they were pretty much Light side (striving for balance).

Fun fact: Did you know that is was Darkside force users that created the first "lightsabers"?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber/Legends

Do you mean the Forcesabers ? Cus those aren't really the same thing. That's literally channeling Dark side through a crystal, no batteries or mechanisms. It's hacking and slashing with frozen Force Lightning.

It was the Je'daii who made the first Lightsabers as we know them today, and they were pretty much Light side (striving for balance).

Did you not see my extremely useful use of " "?

I'd like to use your color questionary as a guide for some "force visions" when Jedi PC on my group will found a crystal, to see what color will pop-up

i'm not going into canon/legend/fanmade discussion about kyber crystal color, but canon is almost entirely blue and green, with yellow being some "exotic" thing for late republic/TCW era, while purple and white is one-time only thing

The idea is not without merit...

The novels which are no longer canon show Luke to struggle in making his replacement lightsaber on tattooine. They describe how it is essential to use the force in lightsaber construction as the human eye is not accurate enough to properly align all components. The blu ray release which is canoon shows luke at the very least getting frustrated but still makes a reference to him using the force. With that said you would need the mastery upgrade of the move power to create a lightsaber.

However I don't like the idea of making a written rule that you need so many points in force powers and indeed the fact that you have to be a jedi... that last point in particular really doesn't sit well with me. Although I would agree one needs ranks in the lightsaber skill to show that they are trained and competent in its use, we also need to remember that there are many heroes and villains throughout the Star Wars Universe who are trained in Lightsaber Combat.

I have a non jedi force sensitive character in my group who wants a lightsaber. We have already established that getting hold of one would mean finding someone who is willing to sell. There is a war on after all and the galaxy is littered with the bodies of fallen Jedi warriors ripe for looting.

When she does finally get hold of one she will have to attune its resonance to hers before she will be able to use it. This isn't a written rule, its a story rule and I feel much more comfortable with this. Likewise for the colour crystals, by all means make personalising the colour part of the story but where FFG have gone right I think is in not placing too much emphasis on rules as written in this regard. Rules can often alienate people and hinder creative freedom.

With Luke and him constructing his lightsaber for RotJ, that was written at a time when nobody knew much of anything about how the old Jedi Order operated. Thus, authors made their best guess as to how difficult the process would be, making the assumption that it was the capstone to the process of becoming a Jedi Knight based upon Vader's remark of how Luke's skills had grown while examining Luke's replacement lightsaber. With Clone Wars going into more detail, we now see that building a lightsaber is one of the earliest tasks that a prospective Padawan undertakes in part of the process of proving they're ready to move from Initiate to Padawan.

So in light of more recent information, either Luke wasn't as nearly good a mechanic as we were originally lead to think, or he was insanely cautious about building his lightsaber, even with having a how-to book that guided him through the entire process courtesy of Obi-Wan.

Again, I just have a real problem with requiring a PC to have purchased one or more Force powers that they may not have any interest in buying (this may shock some GMs, but there are players of Force user PCs that have ZERO interest in the Move power) just so they can build what may well be the key weapon of their spec.

Hello all,

I am new to posting here but I have been reading for several months. Kyla's is a great reference to the older versions of the game and the Clone Wars episodes about lightsabre construction. Donovan raises a great point too. To reconcile the two, I am thinking that this would be a great story driven alternative to just shelling out 5000 credits for a superior hilt. Maybe also getting boost dice for mods for doing things the traditional way.

What do you think?

Especially when it comes to the price tags on the Lightsabers and their mods, you don't need to look at that as a literal price tag dangling from the item sitting on a shelf in a store somewhere.

Basic Ilum crystals are valued at 9,000. But that doesn't mean they're sold at the jewelers store for that price. Maybe it means it cost you 9,000 over the course of gathering info, buying transport on the right ships, and making your way to the planet to gather your own. Technically the crystal itself was free since you got it yourself from the caverns. But the task of getting it cost you the requisite 9,000.

To modify your weapon into a superior hilt, it costs 5,000 credits worth of materials, time, and effort. You could say that they had to somehow gather or arrange for 5,000 worth of special metals and gemstones (if they're going for that look). Or they had to purchase expensive craftsman tools and rent a workshop in order to work on the item. Somehow in the end, they've "paid" the 5,000 for the item, though not necessarily just by charging it to their Imperial Credit and Loan bank card.

There's plenty of story to be had, without enforcing artificial Force power requirements just to make a Lightsaber.

Actually its not a matter of getting someone to sell a light saber there are people out there with collections of Jedi and Sith Artifacts that you can "borrow" one from. Crime Lords are a good source for such items.

There's plenty of story to be had, without enforcing artificial Force power requirements just to make a Lightsaber.

The bottom line is, your bottom line is bang on! Couldn't agree more with this statement.