The Reflect talent requires the use of a Lightsaber weapon. Does this include any weapon that uses the Lightsaber skill, such as the Ancient Sword and Training Stick, or is it strictly limited to the glowstick variety of lightsabers? How about for other talents that specify a Lightsaber weapon (Falling Avalance, probably more if I looked)?

Seems like there should be an automatic Sunder rule for them, although Cortosis on the ancient sword could be a solution there. To me it should be possible, but in an emergency where the destruction of the weapon is preferable to the wounds you would take. An epic moment in a dual with a powerful NPC or as a last stand to protect fleeing innocents.

Reading the full description of Reflect again it says (as you said) "a Lightsaber weapon". The other talents that talk about weapons say "a weapon which uses the Lightsaber Skill". So from there I would infer that only Lightsabers can reflect. I still stand by my first response that in a cinematic moment I would consider the other 2 weapon, but they will be destroyed by the action.

If you really want to and GM is ok with: yeah.

And maybe you can imbue the stick with force like that red squid guy jedi did at the times of Old Republic and use it to absorb the shots. Because reflecting doesn't mean you reflect them back at the user, it just means you block the shots.

I used Mandalorian steel bracer to block attack with parry move at our own game and our GM was ok with it.

Reading the full description of Reflect again it says (as you said) "a Lightsaber weapon". The other talents that talk about weapons say "a weapon which uses the Lightsaber Skill". So from there I would infer that only Lightsabers can reflect. I still stand by my first response that in a cinematic moment I would consider the other 2 weapon, but they will be destroyed by the action.

To play devil's advocate, you could read "a Lightsaber weapon" the same as "a Melee weapon" or "a Brawl weapon", meaning Ancient Swords and Training Sticks could work. The "Reflect (Improved)" talent is where you should look to see an example of FFG singling out a type of weapon, where it talks about "energy weapons or other weapons a lightsaber could realistically redirect" or somesuch.

I would usually rule, as a GM, that it needs to be a lightsaber. However, I could just as easily see using an Ancient Sword for "cinematic effect" - but resulting in an auto-Sunder, as suggested. However, SuperArppis is right... basic Reflect just involves mitigating damage, not redirecting the attack back at someone. I can't count the number of times this distinction has caused arguments and confusion on the forums and in my own gaming groups. "You can't use Reflect on a slugthrower, though!", etc. As per theme of the basic talent, all you're doing is effecting the projectile in such a way that it is less dangerous to you.

Maybe do it if an Armorer uses the "Reinforce Item" talent on it? IDK

As for any talent that says "roll a [difficulty] Lightsaber ([some purple dice]) check to....", you can use that for any weapon that uses the Lightsaber skill. Unless there's one that specifies otherwise in its full write-up, but I don't think there is; it'd usually be specified in the last paragraph. Same as if it said to roll a "Ranged (Light) check" or whatever.

I was thinking along the lines of the Sub Headings each weapon is under, Ancient Sword is under Melee weapons, I think the training stick is too. Actual Lightsabers including the training Saber are under the Lightsaber sub heading

Perfect use of Imbue Item too

I was thinking along the lines of the Sub Headings each weapon is under, Ancient Sword is under Melee weapons, I think the training stick is too. Actual Lightsabers including the training Saber are under the Lightsaber sub heading

Yeah, that's probably right. I forget that there are "out of skill" weapon categories now.

I thought this got clarified by the devs a while back, or at least during the FaD Beta, but in order to use Reflect, you need to have a weapon that is classified as a Lightsaber, and as such is found in the Lightsabers section of the equipment chapter.

So things like the Ancient Sword and the Training Stick don't count, since they are Melee weapons (found in the Melee section of their respective book's equipment section) that just so happen to use the Lightsaber skill when making a combat check.

While by RAW the Imbue Item talent wouldn't suddenly allow a weapon to be viable for use with Reflect, I could see it as a viable house rule to permit an ancient sword or training stick to be buffed up enough to allow the usage of Reflect, since Imbue Item carries both a strain cost and requires a committed Force die.

Now all that being said, ancient swords were described as being able to reflect blaster bolts, at least the ones for jedi and Sith. The ancient swords do not come with the cortosis quality, something I think they should have if you are to allow them to do so. I view the ancient swords listed in the book more as replicas. Ancient Jedi/Sith swords that can actually be used with the lightsaber skill and Reflect talent are out there and have the cortosis quality, but they are to be found not made (as there is no cortosis quality mod for weapons right now). Like Mandalorian armour, I treat ancient Jedi/Sith swords as "treasure".

Don't forget a Shield Gauntlet counts as a lightsaber for purposes of Reflection, however it doesn't use Lightsaber skill.

If you really want to and GM is ok with: yeah.

And maybe you can imbue the stick with force like that red squid guy jedi did at the times of Old Republic and use it to absorb the shots. Because reflecting doesn't mean you reflect them back at the user, it just means you block the shots.

I used Mandalorian steel bracer to block attack with parry move at our own game and our GM was ok with it.

Just to be nerdy, Jedi Master Vodo Siosk Baas, the Krevaaki who trained Exar Kun.

Now all that being said, ancient swords were described as being able to reflect blaster bolts, at least the ones for jedi and Sith. The ancient swords do not come with the cortosis quality, something I think they should have if you are to allow them to do so. I view the ancient swords listed in the book more as replicas. Ancient Jedi/Sith swords that can actually be used with the lightsaber skill and Reflect talent are out there and have the cortosis quality, but they are to be found not made (as there is no cortosis quality mod for weapons right now). Like Mandalorian armour, I treat ancient Jedi/Sith swords as "treasure".

I don't think the old swords had cortosis; cortosis seemed more a product of needing to counter lightsabers, not something that already existed, and then was set aside to be replaced by the very thing they are amazing against. It's also brittle, so if a lightsaber wasn't energy, some cortosis objects would still shatter. It's my opinion, certainly, but I'd argue that the ancient Jedi simply used the same sort of trick Vader did, in ESB, but focusing with their blades, instead of their hands. Otherwise, they might have had some construction techniques similar to what the Sith did with their alchemy, but not of the dark side, and that might work like cortosis, but wouldn't be, anymore than it would be phrik, Mandalorian Iron, Ultrachrome, or any of the plethora of other substances simply created to negate lightsabers, and most of which are considerably more durable against other attacks than the brittle, white cortosis ore. Again, my opinion.

I'd think if your weapon isn't made of energy, no reflecting energy attacks back. SWTOR lets you do it with the training lunk you get, before the game lets you build your first lightsaber, at the end of the Tython chapter, but as the Jedi characters have the ability, and are otherwise very limited in the range of equippable weapons they can use, I'd argue it is inaccurate, and more just a product of them not wanting to have to code even more crap. I know that in Saga Edition, when they got around to making the Imperial Knights for Legacy, whose gear comes with a cortosis gauntlet, it specifically says it can block, and specifically block lightsabers, without you losing a hand, and also shutting the lightsaber down for several rounds (a property of some cortosis blends), but it makes no mention of deflect, or the reflect that is better. As an extra bit, their Knight armor has phrik threads/bits worked in it, to resist attacks, likely because cortosis isn't good at stopping lots of other sources, apart from lightsabers.

As a last bit, if you have a lightsaber, and you intercept an incoming melee attack from an "average" melee weapon, can you still say it's broken? Would it auto-break, as it hit a lightsaber? Could you spend Advantage, or whatever, to activate Sunder, even though you were blocking an attack, rather than making one? I'm not in front of the book, at the moment, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks much.

As per RAW, using Parry does not inflict damage on a weapon. If my players wanted to get really uppity about source material, I may allow spending Threat on an attack that was parried to activate the 'saber's Sunder effect, but that would be a house rule... and arguably a very powerful one. When attacking, Sunder has to vie for prominence with crits or even other effects - linked or two-weapon fighting even, if you have it! So you aren't just going around wrecking every piece of gear you touch, even though in source material anything you hit would be ruined. If it were a threat deal, of course, the GM would have right to spend it, but not always much else to spend it on....

That said, I would definitely let them break stuff on a Despair.

I thought this got clarified by the devs a while back, or at least during the FaD Beta, but in order to use Reflect, you need to have a weapon that is classified as a Lightsaber, and as such is found in the Lightsabers section of the equipment chapter.

It did, got revised in a Beta update. In the FaD core, it's page 175, it's basically the "... for rules purposes, any weapon that is listed in this section (Lightsabers) is considered a lightsaber," line, which was revised from the original Beta's "... any weapon that uses the Lightsaber skill is considered a Lightsaber ..."

I don't think the old swords had cortosis; cortosis seemed more a product of needing to counter lightsabers, not something that already existed, and then was set aside to be replaced by the very thing they are amazing against. It's also brittle, so if a lightsaber wasn't energy, some cortosis objects would still shatter. It's my opinion, certainly, but I'd argue that the ancient Jedi simply used the same sort of trick Vader did, in ESB, but focusing with their blades, instead of their hands. Otherwise, they might have had some construction techniques similar to what the Sith did with their alchemy, but not of the dark side, and that might work like cortosis, but wouldn't be, anymore than it would be phrik, Mandalorian Iron, Ultrachrome, or any of the plethora of other substances simply created to negate lightsabers, and most of which are considerably more durable against other attacks than the brittle, white cortosis ore. Again, my opinion.

I don't mean they are made of cortosis. I was refering to the Cortosis quality. The quality can be representative of a variety of effects due to cortosis, mandalorian iron, Sith alchemy, good craftsmanship, or whatever else someone may come up with. The old jedi katanas and Sith swords were imbued with the Force thus allowing them to reflect blaster bolts and cut through a variety of materials. I would apply the quality to show their durability.

While it's certainly not RAW, would it be reasonable to use a Gungan personal energy shield with Reflect? I have a Gungan Guardian (Protector) that has no desire to use a lightsaber but is hoping to get use out of Reflect and Circle of Shelter.

While it's certainly not RAW, would it be reasonable to use a Gungan personal energy shield with Reflect? I have a Gungan Guardian (Protector) that has no desire to use a lightsaber but is hoping to get use out of Reflect and Circle of Shelter.

I personally wouldn't as I've never seen anything that would make me think they could reflect with them. I think that would have been demonstrated during the Gungan battle with the droid army if it were possible.

While it's certainly not RAW, would it be reasonable to use a Gungan personal energy shield with Reflect? I have a Gungan Guardian (Protector) that has no desire to use a lightsaber but is hoping to get use out of Reflect and Circle of Shelter.

I personally wouldn't as I've never seen anything that would make me think they could reflect with them. I think that would have been demonstrated during the Gungan battle with the droid army if it were possible.

Were any of those Gungans Force-sensitive and trained to use Reflect?

While it's certainly not RAW, would it be reasonable to use a Gungan personal energy shield with Reflect? I have a Gungan Guardian (Protector) that has no desire to use a lightsaber but is hoping to get use out of Reflect and Circle of Shelter.

I personally think it's OK. If the character is voluntarily "giving up" a lightsaber, which is a pretty powerful weapon, for roleplaying purposes then I'd be perfectly fine with him using the energy shield for the Reflect talent. He paid the XP for it, after all, and I like to reward players for putting roleplaying above munchkinism.

While it's certainly not RAW, would it be reasonable to use a Gungan personal energy shield with Reflect? I have a Gungan Guardian (Protector) that has no desire to use a lightsaber but is hoping to get use out of Reflect and Circle of Shelter.

I personally wouldn't as I've never seen anything that would make me think they could reflect with them. I think that would have been demonstrated during the Gungan battle with the droid army if it were possible.

Were any of those Gungans Force-sensitive and trained to use Reflect?

Don't know. I imagine since the Gungans do have Force users though that it is a possibility. But my point was more or less, I've seen nothing from those shields that would make me think it were possible to do. Thus I wouldn't allow it.

While it's certainly not RAW, would it be reasonable to use a Gungan personal energy shield with Reflect? I have a Gungan Guardian (Protector) that has no desire to use a lightsaber but is hoping to get use out of Reflect and Circle of Shelter.

I personally think it's OK. If the character is voluntarily "giving up" a lightsaber, which is a pretty powerful weapon, for roleplaying purposes then I'd be perfectly fine with him using the energy shield for the Reflect talent. He paid the XP for it, after all, and I like to reward players for putting roleplaying above munchkinism.

I've never bought into the whole "I give this up because it's in character but I should still gain the out of character benefits that other people get" line of thinking. If you want to reflect like a Jedi then pick up a lightsabre and reflect like a Jedi. But if you want to establish that your character uses his own cultures weapons and ways then cool and more power to you. But that doesn't mean you get the same advantages that being a Jedi with a lightsabre entails.

I also don't see it as putting role play before munchkinism as you put it. If we were really putting role play before munchinkism we wouldn't be asking for a rules exception so that you can totaly play this cool character idea but totally still gain all the benefits that you would have if you played something else. Putting role play first in my book is taking the ups and downs that come with character choices. Thus if you opt to use a weapon for role play reasons and you take the negatives with it (such as not using reflect) then I count you in the role play part of the role play vs munchkin dyad.

I would say yes. A gungan shield blocks attacks, that can be another interpretation for reflect. I mean it's actually a shield of energy so with a bit of precog one could become amazing at turning aside telling blows. The main reason we don't see that in the movies is that no known force sensitives had used one like that (an army of gungan used it. That was largely it.) and given they were a culture that had just come out of a self imposed isolation the Jedi never really had much chance to give it any thought in about the 8/something years before the republics fall. Any gungan Jedi raised in that period would be quite young.

The flip side is that it's heavier, very distinctive (not quite lightsaber reception, but attribute enough deeds with it and people will become interested in this one of a kind shield.) the parts are much more exotic (it literally comes from one world) so repairing that thing would be a right hard job, and that it can be shundered. It's defensive perks also don't work while one is disorientated.

I definitely wouldn't allow sticks and swords to turn aside blaster bolts though, I might describe it as a use of a force power but the reflect talent assumes that the material is hard enough to take a bullet or a heated bolt. Feel free to invent suitable legendary items though. Parry is probably alright as is, there are plenty of ways to turn aside an attack without crossing blades, and the LS user can simply shunder at will.

That being said I'm flexible, I know at least two members of the party that develop irrational urges for genocide as soon as they see anything gungan related. It's a pity, that movies 17 years old now.

I was thinking along the lines of the Sub Headings each weapon is under, Ancient Sword is under Melee weapons, I think the training stick is too. Actual Lightsabers including the training Saber are under the Lightsaber sub heading

This.