In my current campaign I have a villainous NPC who I've decided would be perfectly suited to wielding a wrist Lanvarok . It would be a nasty surprise for my players and really underline the vicious nature of their foe.

The obvious problem with this idea is that there aren't any official weapon statistics for the Lanvarok. So here are my thoughts on what those stats might look like:

First of all the range should be short. The Lanvarok is designed for short ranged bursts not long distance slinging. It should also be a Limited Ammo weapon, Lanvaroks are notoriously difficult to reload.

I think the damage should be low. Most of the damage caused by Lanvaroks is the disks finding weak spots and causing debilitating wounds, therefore I think a below average critical rating and a vicious quality are appropriate. However I don't think the crit rating should be too low as much of the Lanvarok's accuracy is due to the disks being guided by the force powers of the wielder.

This brings me to the big question. The fluff clearly states that the disks are more effective when launched with the force. The way I see it there are three ways that this could be represented in the rules:

1. Have the Lanvarok act as ammunition for the Move power, with a single 'launch' of disks acting as a silhouette 1 object. This means I won't need any weapon stats, but also takes away a lot of the character of the weapon

2. Make an exception, and say that the Enhance power can be used to improve attacks with this weapon despite it not being a brawl weapon. This would work, but exceptions are messy.

3. Simply enhance it with the 'commit force dice to increase agility' power. Not a particularly satisfying ruling, but it is by the book. Of course that would mean that Lanvarok wielders would also have to be good pilots.

To summarise:

Lanvarok (Ranged, Light)

Dam 5, Crit 3, Range Short, Encum 1, Qualities: Vicious 1, Limited Ammo 1

So what are your thoughts on the stats and the enhancement question?

Thanks in advance for any help.

To simulate being guided by the force, why not use the Saber Throw rules and it be treated as a lightsaber for the purposes of guiding the discs to their target?

I would add Inaccurate (2) to its qualities. By using Saber Throw the force counteracts the inaccuracy of the weapon. For every two force points spent will remove a level of inaccuracy.

Difficult to reload should be translated to Prepare 1-2.

Which lanvarok ? The Massassi lanvarok or the Sith Lanvarok ?

Massassi Lanvarok

Skill: Melee; Damage: +3; Crit: 3; Range: Engaged; Encum: 5; HP: 1; Price: ®250; Rarity: 10; Special: Cumbersome 3, Defensive 1; Pierce 2

Skill: Ranged (Heavy); Damage: 5; Crit: 2; Range: Short; Encum: --; HP: --; Price: --; Rarity: --; Special: Limited Ammo 1, Pierce 3

Sith Lanvarok

Skill: Ranged (Light); Damage: 6; Crit: 2; Range: Medium; Encum: 3; HP: --; Price: ®4000; Rarity: 10; Special: Limited Ammo 5, Pierce 3

As an incidental on each turn a character may commit a Force die. This may be each until their maximum Force Rating. On an attack action he may uncommit all the Force dice committed rolling them with the attack's dice pool. Each pip rolled and used can be used for success or advantage. The character will also gain one point of conflict for each die commited.

Just off the top of my head after reading the articles.

To simulate being guided by the force, why not use the Saber Throw rules and it be treated as a lightsaber for the purposes of guiding the discs to their target?

I would add Inaccurate (2) to its qualities. By using Saber Throw the force counteracts the inaccuracy of the weapon. For every two force points spent will remove a level of inaccuracy.

Whilst that would work I get the impression that even without using the Force a Lanvarok is pretty deadly, and making it inaccurate (2) would hamper it's use by non Force sensitives. However, spending a Force point to increase the range to medium could be cool. Might be a bit too 'special snowflake' though, seeing as you can't do this with other thrown weapons. I'll have to think about it.

Difficult to reload should be translated to Prepare 1-2.

I disagree. As far as I can tell Prepare means you have to spend actions preparing before you can fire the weapon, setting up a stand or warming up the firing mechanism or somesuch, and doesn't involve reloading. Limited Ammo pretty much explicitly says that once fired, the weapon has to be reloaded as a manoeuvre. Which seems perfect to me.

I'd be interested to hear your reasons for recommending prepare instead though

Which lanvarok ? The Massassi lanvarok or the Sith Lanvarok ?

Massassi Lanvarok

Skill: Melee; Damage: +3; Crit: 3; Range: Engaged; Encum: 5; HP: 1; Price: ®250; Rarity: 10; Special: Cumbersome 3, Defensive 1; Pierce 2

Skill: Ranged (Heavy); Damage: 5; Crit: 2; Range: Short; Encum: --; HP: --; Price: --; Rarity: --; Special: Limited Ammo 1, Pierce 3

Sith Lanvarok

Skill: Ranged (Light); Damage: 6; Crit: 2; Range: Medium; Encum: 3; HP: --; Price: ®4000; Rarity: 10; Special: Limited Ammo 5, Pierce 3

As an incidental on each turn a character may commit a Force die. This may be each until their maximum Force Rating. On an attack action he may uncommit all the Force dice committed rolling them with the attack's dice pool. Each pip rolled and used can be used for success or advantage. The character will also gain one point of conflict for each die commited.

Just off the top of my head after reading the articles.

The wrist mounted Sith Lanvarok is the one I'm looking at.

You've got the range as medium, whereas I had it as short. And you've gone for piercing rather than vicious. Any particular reasons behind those choices? I'm interested to her what you think about it, I'm still working on my visualisation of the weapon. Up close cloud of disks or longer ranged shruiken thrower..

I like the force enhancing option you've come up with. It did make me think though, we're essentially coming up with ways to provide a loophole allowing Enhance to be used on this weapon. I could just add a new Control option to the Enhance tree that allows you to enhance thrown weapons (including Lanvaroks, of course). Cost 5, attached to the Brawl upgrade. Would that be incredibly unbalancing though?

Giving a loophole to an item so it can do something that otherwise contradicts the rules is generally how the game does things.

I used the Sith Shield in Keeping the Peace as a model. I had done something earlier with my version of a Sith Sword which I think I will modify..

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 takes 1 strain each turn he keeps the 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, Vicious 1

It's range is listed as 90 meters which to me seems more medium than short. And I went with pierce instead of Vicious for it's ability to penetrate soak. This will somewhat reduce the effect of someone using a lightsaber and trying to reflect. It is also why i made the Crit 2 making it somewhat easier to get a crit if you want to. Keep in mind that these discs are usually coated in some sort of poison too which can make them more formidable. Also, it seems that I missed adding autofire to the qualities as you should be able to blow all 5 shots if you so choose (and roll enough advantage).

Sith Lanvarok

Skill: Ranged (Light); Damage: 6; Crit: 2; Range: Medium; Encum: 3; HP: --; Price: ®4000; Rarity: 10; Special: Autofire, Limited Ammo 5, Pierce 3

As an incidental on each turn a character may commit a Force die. This may be done each turn until their maximum Force Rating. On an attack action he may uncommit all the Force dice committed rolling them with the attack's dice pool. Each pip rolled and used can be used for success or advantage. The character will also gain one point of conflict for each die commited.

With the Sith Lanvarok, I'd say just make the whole thing a lot simpler, and that if the wielder has the Move power, they can increase the range of the weapon by one range band.

The Sith lanvarok is propelled by a wrist-mounted launcher. It isn't a thrown weapon.

Also, the five discs would all be launched at the same time, not one-at-a-time. This could be handled with the Linked quality.

I'd give it the Innacurate 2 quality, Limited Ammo 1, and maybe a Linked quality.

So here's a modified writeup (lore taken from Wookieepedia and twisted for my own evil purposes):

Sith lanvaroks are reloadable, but their specialized ammunition is nearly impossible to find for purchase. Thus, the GM can charge the player 25 credits per reload and require an Average ( ) Mechanics check to manufacture them, either from the player or a hired craftsman.