Ok, so the season 2 ending of Rebels was great. But seriously, what was with the Saber-copter thing? Can a spinning duel lightsabers allow you to fly? My answer...NO! Talk about a nightmare that would be if Sith and Inquisitors just chase you like that.

I have heard friends talk about other people asking about it in THIER games, "yadda yadda perhaps a repulsers in the blade to give lift blah blah" and other theories.

My thought is after watching the show and noticing how the Inquisitors do it, they are not using the saber to give them lift, rather they leap and let the saber extend and slow their fall.

Here is my interpretation on how it can work. Pure and simple its the Enhance "Force Leap" power. Used in conjunction with the saber and an Athletics skill check (hard one I would say as unlike a real helicopter, the Force user doesn't have a back rotter to keep him/her from spinning around out of control), it can be used to extend the range of a Force Leap by one range band. So combine this with the Range add on for the Force Leap and you go from Medium range to Long range...as long as you can make the check.

If you don't succeed, you don't go as far as you want, but if you Despair...well remember the one Inquisitor who fell off the pyramid after his damaged saber went kaput? Yeah,,,SPLAT!

Remember that flight of the type the inquisitors demonstrate is typically represented in the game as the "Hoverer" special ability, which is a pretty simple and straight forward ability that's not the slightest bit game breaking.

So having the saber, through it's spinny-ness, an attachment, or whatever, grant Hoverer would accomplish a similar effect to what you describe but leverage existing rules while also making the weapon ability more flexible.

I think it was just flat out dumb. There are a lot of dumb things in Star Wars universe, but I feel like this was pushing it bit further.

Then again, we saw Kylo Ren stop an energy beam in mid air. Not sure how that works either... maybe the answer to that is the answer to how they were able to use beams of pure plasma energy to glide slowly. Like, maybe force can be used to harden the energy itself, so it gains mass?

I don't know.

Maybe the saber was spinning overhead just to keep it out of the way? Enhanced spatial awareness or not, if I'm concentrating my Force use on leaping/flying/gliding the last thing I want is to take off the tip of a toe or kneecap.

Honestly, the fact we see them do it nowhere other then Malachor leads me to believe that was a function of the planet , not the sabers. Its not like there isn't considerable justification for gravity shenanigans in that system EU wise, anyway.

(And whats the point of low gravity environments if your players aren't taking full wacky advantage of it, anyways.)

Honestly, the fact we see them do it nowhere other then Malachor leads me to believe that was a function of the planet , not the sabers. Its not like there isn't considerable justification for gravity shenanigans in that system EU wise, anyway.

(And whats the point of low gravity environments if your players aren't taking full wacky advantage of it, anyways.)

That's actually a pretty valid point, though I do agree with SuperAppis that it was a pretty silly idea in general.

But yeah, I wouldn't let anyone with one of those Inquisitor spinny 'sabers be able to do the helicopter thing. The Eighth Brother kinda had an excuse (at first) since his species was known for their leaping ability, so the extra spinning could just be described as narrative flair.

Considering what destroyed Malachor in the Old Republic, funky gravity is a very real possibility.

But wouldn't that mean the other characters could move like that as well? And Erza wouldn't have had to use the help of the "hoodie guy" to get across the chasm?

Because Erza's the parties token newbie that is gifted but needs everything explaining to him. Ergo no jumping.

Seriously, this is a kid's show where funky stuff happens and no one received a memo about canon, that all the explanation that's needed.

Then "mister hood guy" would have reached him to do that. He is a master of the art after all.

So yeah, it's not the gravity at all. Or maybe hoodie man would have done the jump himself if this was the case. Also nobody else moves like that except the helicopter dudes and there were plenty of trained force users in that episode.

It's just something inquisitors do now. For some reason.

I will say for the OP: if you want to make that a thing, specify that it has to be that weird spinning Inquisitor lightsaber. No one (not even droids) can spin a regular saberstaff fast enough to pull it off.

But I'm in the camp that it was a function of Malachor weirdness involving Force vergences and the like.

I wonder if a cyborg could have a spinning helicopter lightsaber concealed in it's head like Inspector Gadget...

Honestly, the fact we see them do it nowhere other then Malachor leads me to believe that was a function of the planet , not the sabers. Its not like there isn't considerable justification for gravity shenanigans in that system EU wise, anyway.

(And whats the point of low gravity environments if your players aren't taking full wacky advantage of it, anyways.)

Nah, it's the fact that there was probably a different writer on this episode compared to most of the others, and that writer thought it would be totally coolzors if they flew around on sabercopters.

I just attributed it to it being a kids show and the people were taking artistic licence and doing something cool that kids would love seeing. As such I don't see a real need to translate it into an actual thing to do in an RPG. You always have to remember who the audience is when trying to figure out what is and isn't practical to take from Rebels and make it into an RPG aspect.

Given that was Darth Maul they were flying away from why didn't he just force grab a pair and slam them together with the third?

I mean he IS that powerful, maybe he just enjoyed seeing that new Inquisitor fall to their death after their light saber got damaged by Kanan....

Given that was Darth Maul they were flying away from why didn't he just force grab a pair and slam them together with the third?

I mean he IS that powerful, maybe he just enjoyed seeing that new Inquisitor fall to their death after their light saber got damaged by Kanan....

Probably a case of him wanting to appear weaker and more feeble than he truly was to Kanan and Ahsoka. It wasn't until Ezra had already activated the Temple and the Inquisitors had been dispatched (thus leaving Maul with far fewer enemies) that he revealed his true intent.

Plus he's always been a bit on the bloodthirsty side, so he probably relished the chance to engage in physical combat for the first time in what was probably quite some time. To say nothing of finishing off the Inquisitors too quickly would probably make Ezra question why this "old man" really needed his help in the first place, not something Maul would want just yet from a prospective apprentice.

Given that was Darth Maul they were flying away from why didn't he just force grab a pair and slam them together with the third?

I mean he IS that powerful, maybe he just enjoyed seeing that new Inquisitor fall to their death after their light saber got damaged by Kanan....

There's been plenty of instincts where the force could have been, used, but hadn't in the movies. That and he still wanted to appear weak, it's evident afterwards that he was able to kill two and seperate the party from Ezra, just he underestimated the Jedi resolve.

Malachor being a (dark side) vergence may have something to do with too right? If you're liberal in your interpretation of how that stuff... and then add in the gravity stuff some mentioned. Aye. Sounds goodie to me.

Maul has always been hands-on in his battles.

why are we trying to justify and explain bad writing? or a "it looks cool" moment. it would have been easier to give them something like Cad Bane's rocket boots then try to explain spinny lightsaber blades.

When I saw the episode, i started making Jetson car noises every time they flew with their spinny blades, just to clarify the absurdity

I'll admit I was really hoping it was just the specialty of #8 (who is already a leaper) until suddenly the other two started doing it as well.

That said, I'm willing to engage the writers on what they thought was a Rule of Cool moment. These are new saber designs, obviously, and unique to this one subset of Force-users, so I'm willing suspend my disbelief (my dislike?) just enough to call it some feature of their design, rather than anything that can be accomplished by virtue of simply spinning a saber (or duplicated in-game using existing mechanics). I don't like it, but I can accept it.

I just attributed it to it being a kids show and the people were taking artistic licence and doing something cool that kids would love seeing. As such I don't see a real need to translate it into an actual thing to do in an RPG. You always have to remember who the audience is when trying to figure out what is and isn't practical to take from Rebels and make it into an RPG aspect.

I think this is the most honest answer about the whole thing. There is actually no need to try to explain it other way. It's there because kids would find it cool. End of.

Just for the record: it would have to be "those magnificent men in their flying machines" (Yes, I'm THAT old).

Just for the record: it would have to be "those magnificent men in their flying machines" (Yes, I'm THAT old).

Yes, but Inquisitors are no mere magnificent men...those they cut down with said lightsabers.

Things happen in the narrative for narrative reasons. It happens at the table all the time... "this blue twi'leks are not rare on this planet, because I decided and it's important/good for the story/plot we tell"...