Going to run a twin shadows short campaign in one afternoon (so only story missions). Was thinking of offering diala's lightsaber as an XP upgrade, much like bivs weapon. So that way, if the person wants the lightsaber, they can get it. I was thinking 3 XP, but that is rather arbitrary.

Is that a good idea for Diala to use XP on?

nah, Diala is already super strong

i'm currently running a campaign with Diala, Gharkaan, Jyn and Mak

Diala is by far the hardest to wound with the consistent re-rolls and high health. Making her have easier access to deal more damage would make her a little broken

I get that it is thematically cool to give her the lightsaber but she really doesn't need it. She's already on the strong side of the power curve. The side mission is a good trade-off because it makes the party figure out if they want to give up something else (boosting weaker characters or stopping an Imperial reward) in order to make a good character win more. Just letting her buy it would get out of hand.

just put a sticker of a light saber on the staff card.

In Bespin expansion, the new force hero. On his hero sheet he's weilding a light saber, do you think he will have a light saber as a starting weapon?

Just a quick rant. I don't hate Jedi, but I'm tired of them having to permeate every part of Star Wars, especially if it is during the OT period. I like Diala. I like that she didn't start with a lightsaber, because she was a force user, not a Jedi. I thought it was good she built up to having one. That was, thematically, done well. I have no doubt new Force guy will have a lightsaber by default. I'm glad to see IA is keeping them to a minimum however.

My main gribe about force users as playable heroes is that it thematically doesnt not make much sense that. A fully trained Jedi would not be of equal power to "better than average but still just regular"-soldiers as Fenn or Biv. All heroes in IA are more or less regular folk. A force with just some training would be much betters stronger than that.

In Bespin expansion, the new force hero. On his hero sheet he's weilding a light saber, do you think he will have a light saber as a starting weapon?

Diala has a light saber on her hero sheet and on her figure and her starting weapon is a Plasteel Staff.

A starting weapon can't really be too powerful, or the corresponding hero would need to have some serious handicaps to balance it, which would be pretty interesting as a concept, but not really fitting or fun for the player. If a starting-weapon light saber were on par with other starting weapons, it would need to be upgraded using class cards or item cards to be useful. At least it would fit much better the "learning of the force" theme.

nah, Diala is already super strong

I get that it is thematically cool to give her the lightsaber but she really doesn't need it. She's already on the strong side of the power curve. The side mission is a good trade-off because it makes the party figure out if they want to give up something else (boosting weaker characters or stopping an Imperial reward) in order to make a good character win more. Just letting her buy it would get out of hand.

It's not like you're just getting the lightsaber for nothing, though - you'd still be spending XP. As trade-offs go I would actually consider losing 3 XP worth of other upgrades to be much more of a disincentive than missing out on some other side mission's reward.

Even story missions only provide 2 XP at a time, and that's if you win. If there was a side mission where the reward was an additional 3 XP for one of my characters I would take it every time.

To respond to the OP, I don't know whether 3 XP for the lightsaber is balanced or not, but I don't think it would be game-breaking. I'm not even sure that I would take it, knowing that I'd be missing out on one or more of Diala's other (very useful) abilities. But if you're playing a Jedi (and/or a "force-user") it's just more fun to have a lightsaber. I think it's a neat idea to at least give your players that option.

My main gribe about force users as playable heroes is that it thematically doesnt not make much sense that. A fully trained Jedi would not be of equal power to "better than average but still just regular"-soldiers as Fenn or Biv. All heroes in IA are more or less regular folk. A force with just some training would be much betters stronger than that.

I think we are all guilty of, but this is the fault of all the movies and video games, lionizing Jedi as some kind of Olympian demigods that can carve their way through swaths of enemy soldiers. I'm looking right at you, Force Unleashed. I like the more subtle take on Jedi in IA, at least thus far. I don't think they were ever supposed to be super heroes. Even when Yoda lifted the X-Wing, it took a few minutes. He didn't just whip it out of the swamp and hurl into the jungle like a shuriken.

If she had to spend XP on the light saber I'd never get it. If she's being built for damage you just spend the credits on a weapon and use the XP for better things. If she's being built for support then it's a complete waste of XP.

I guess I should clarify. The people I'm doing this with are newbies. As such, I want them to like the game. We are playing at a con, only the 4 - 5 missions for twin shadows. One player wants to play diala, and I wanted to giver her the option of getting the lightsaber in case she wants it (since the figure has it, and I don't think she is a jedi purist). I'm doing this for the fun of the group, and WILL add the option. the question I am asking should it be 2xp, 3xp, or 4 xp. I don't think she will be thinking of optimizing or such, and I didn't want to disappoint when I say, "oh you never can get your lightsaber when we run just the story mission of the twin shadows..." I don't know, maybe she won't care, but I thought it was a fairly easy option to have in case she wants access to it...

I guess I should clarify. The people I'm doing this with are newbies. As such, I want them to like the game. We are playing at a con, only the 4 - 5 missions for twin shadows. One player wants to play diala, and I wanted to giver her the option of getting the lightsaber in case she wants it (since the figure has it, and I don't think she is a jedi purist). I'm doing this for the fun of the group, and WILL add the option. the question I am asking should it be 2xp, 3xp, or 4 xp. I don't think she will be thinking of optimizing or such, and I didn't want to disappoint when I say, "oh you never can get your lightsaber when we run just the story mission of the twin shadows..." I don't know, maybe she won't care, but I thought it was a fairly easy option to have in case she wants access to it...

In that case I say, play what is fun for everyone. Its a game, after all. If you want her to start with a lightsaber because the player is inexperienced and needs some help, go for it.

He didn't just whip it out of the swamp and hurl into the jungle like a shuriken.

I think this sounds like a good idea, though I think the lightsaber could be 2xp, I dont think it is worth more than that, you can get it as the first side mission so you can get it that early to. 3xp work fine also,