So I have a player who dearly wants a lightsaber, and to be proficient in the force. I am the GM and I know that the rest of my group would also want to be force users if he is one, but currently are happy as is without the force. How can I please this player (he is already a force sensitive exile) I have the Edge Core book. I want him to have a lightsaber, but the one in the core-book is WAY overpowered. It would be nice to give him one that he can use, but a blaster is better. How can I do that narratively and stats wise?

Is he (narratively) building it himself, or finding one?

If building one, he's not overly skilled in doing so. His construction (at this point) results in an "underpowered" lightsaber.

If finding one, it's damaged and underpowered.

As far as "blaster is better," think Ezra in season 1 of Rebels. The reason he built his saber with an integrated stun blaster was because, in his own words, "I may not be able to sword fight, but I can shoot." Your player isn't properly trained in lightsaber use, so throw some setback dice his way and/or increase difficulty when he tries to use it. His proficiency with a blaster will be much more effective for a time.

If everyone wants to be a Force User then maybe you should be running a Force and Destiny campaign?

Keep in mind that the lightsaber in the EotE and AoR CRBs represents one made by a Jedi Master, and is fully modded and kitted out.

If you want to give them a less-powerful lightsaber, then I’d suggest picking up a copy of the FaD CRB, and starting with the training saber (hilt with a stun-only emitter and no kyber crystal), or maybe they can figure out how to kit-bash one together (like Kylo Ren supposedly did).

That would give you a much more reasonable starting point for something to give to players.

OTOH, if it’s just this one player but then he’s going to end up destroying the whole game by bringing everyone else along, then you have to wonder if you should follow the philosophy that the good of the many outweighs the desires of the one.

Thanks guys Could you give me some potential stats for a saber like that? (one that is mediocre)

A listed basic lightsaber has an installed Ilum crystal, with a damage of 6, a critical rating of 2, and the Breach 1 and Sunder qualities. An Ilum crystal has 2 Vicious +1 mods, 4 damage +1 mods, and 1 mod to decrease the critical rating by 1.

A more 'mediocre' option may be the Athiss cave crystal found in the F&D Beta, which gives a lightsaber a damage of 6, a critical rating of 3, and the Breach 1 and Sunder weapon qualities. The crystal only has 2 damage +1 mods, and 1 mod to decrease the critical rating by 1.

You can also go for the training lightsaber, which has a damage of 6, no critical rating, and deals stun damage. There are no mods on it.

I quickly bashed out a "rudimentary lightsaber." I took a basic lightsaber, cranked damage down to 5, raised crit to 4, kept Breach 1 and Sunder, and added 2 setback and 1 automatic threat to Lightsaber skill checks (to represent untrained use).

Speaking of picking up FaD, maybe you should tell your player to bring you a FaD CRB and you will see what you can do for him. Especially if the whole group is interested in this it sounds like a good way to switch from EotE and are more legit group of force exiles who are on the run from the empire soon.

(Which might lead into AoR campaigns as well)

This sounds like an entire campaign. It takes a long time to become "proficient in the Force", it's not like D20 where you can just grab a handful of Force powers by spending a Feat and call yourself a Jedi. Force powers need to be discovered and developed, and assuming the player wants to continue their character's development in their chosen career, you should have plenty of time to weave in quest-like scenarios and events. Maybe after they've spend 100XP on Force powers and Talents alone they could end up with a training saber (stun damage only) and the next quest is for a crystal to make it into a real lightsaber. For that I'd pick up F&D core, and then Nexus of Power, because it has some good insight for setting up the infamous Jedi Trials.

Okay thanks guys. My group only wants to be a Jedi/force users if he is a full fledged jedi, and he is content with having normal careers and eventually buying the force sensitive.

This sounds like an entire campaign. It takes a long time to become "proficient in the Force", it's not like D20 where you can just grab a handful of Force powers by spending a Feat and call yourself a Jedi. Force powers need to be discovered and developed, and assuming the player wants to continue their character's development in their chosen career, you should have plenty of time to weave in quest-like scenarios and events. Maybe after they've spend 100XP on Force powers and Talents alone they could end up with a training saber (stun damage only) and the next quest is for a crystal to make it into a real lightsaber. For that I'd pick up F&D core, and then Nexus of Power, because it has some good insight for setting up the infamous Jedi Trials.

btw, this gets preached a lot in the forum. But where in raw comes this from? Raw seems to be very much like "spend xp" and done deal. There are for sure huge advantages of having mentors or holocrons avaible to train your abilities, but outside of this? I am really interested to hear about it, as I just got FaD and clearly have no time to read it fully any time soon.

I mean sure, fully fledged jedi is like spending 600 xp or so, so it is some sort of quest on its own still, but you seem to go fine if you learn as you go.

btw, this gets preached a lot in the forum. But where in raw comes this from?

It's not in RAW. You can do whatever you like, there isn't really any hierarchy or structure in RAW. I was just saying if I was running a campaign and somebody was a bounty hunter who suddenly took the Force Sensitive Exile tree and the basic Move power, I wouldn't feel compelled to grant them a lightsaber or consider them proficient in the Force.

Edit: I would, however, be more than happy to incorporate the character's Force-learning arc into the campaign. It's just that personally I'd run it to take many, many, sessions...that's just how I view the Force learning process.

Consider that when Anakin Skywalker was first found and brought before the Jedi Council, he was judged to be too old to start the training. And he was what — nine years old?

Luke started his training much later in life, but it still took him a long time to get to the point where he could be considered a Jedi Knight.

Being force-sensitive is one thing, but becoming a full-fledged Jedi takes a long time and a lot of work.

So, yeah — I think that would be an entire campaign lasting several years.

btw, this gets preached a lot in the forum. But where in raw comes this from?

It's not in RAW. You can do whatever you like, there isn't really any hierarchy or structure in RAW. I was just saying if I was running a campaign and somebody was a bounty hunter who suddenly took the Force Sensitive Exile tree and the basic Move power, I wouldn't feel compelled to grant them a lightsaber or consider them proficient in the Force.

Edit: I would, however, be more than happy to incorporate the character's Force-learning arc into the campaign. It's just that personally I'd run it to take many, many, sessions...that's just how I view the Force learning process.

Hey gaining that XP takes many many sessions anyway, especially if you have no mentor to decrease the costs of your force abilities nor a holocron to teach you or at least give you some skills you want as career skills. And a whole new spec is not learned within a few sessions either, so you are on many, many sessions area anyway. And it becomes even longer when the original career still needs a few points her and there, or like in Lukes case, you really, really want first to become a squadron leader and build your own rogue squadron, just to leave it in Wedge's hands afterwards to start your personal FaD campaign with Master Yoda. ;-)

edit: And oddly enough I can totally understand luke, gaining Squadron Leader is awesome, but the only good specs with leadership seem to be those Force and Destiny specs, whatever I do, I am screwed. Totally OT, but is there any good way to get the leadership career skill for a ace outside of starting a completely squadron leader unrelated spec first? Group skills from XY? (I am aware of holocron option, which is not very likely)

Luke started his training much later in life, but it still took him a long time to get to the point where he could be considered a Jedi Knight.

Three years doesn't feel like that much time, considering how much time the younglings put into it.

This sounds like an entire campaign. It takes a long time to become "proficient in the Force", it's not like D20 where you can just grab a handful of Force powers by spending a Feat and call yourself a Jedi. Force powers need to be discovered and developed, and assuming the player wants to continue their character's development in their chosen career, you should have plenty of time to weave in quest-like scenarios and events. Maybe after they've spend 100XP on Force powers and Talents alone they could end up with a training saber (stun damage only) and the next quest is for a crystal to make it into a real lightsaber. For that I'd pick up F&D core, and then Nexus of Power, because it has some good insight for setting up the infamous Jedi Trials.

btw, this gets preached a lot in the forum. But where in raw comes this from? Raw seems to be very much like "spend xp" and done deal. There are for sure huge advantages of having mentors or holocrons avaible to train your abilities, but outside of this? I am really interested to hear about it, as I just got FaD and clearly have no time to read it fully any time soon.

I mean sure, fully fledged jedi is like spending 600 xp or so, so it is some sort of quest on its own still, but you seem to go fine if you learn as you go.

RAW doesn't spell it out but if you look at how things are structured it is kind of just how things work out. Buying the Move power lets you do some things but you are by no means proficient. To become proficient you will need some of the upgrades to it, progress your talent tree to gain at least a second force die, you will probably be picking up some skills as well. All of these things require XP which is a limited resource and so it will take the course of several adventures to manage to reach a point approaching proficient. I don't think Whafrog was suggesting that progressing their force powers is driven by the campaign, though their efforts to build or acquire a lightsaber may be the focus of some of the adventures or at least a part of them. But more that becoming a proficient force user is something that occurs over the course of a campaign, you don't just decide your character is going to take the Jedi template and they start off being a capable Jedi, it's something a character will have to work at.

Three years doesn't feel like that much time, considering how much time the younglings put into it.

IMO, the new Knights have it much easier than the old ones. By the old standards, I don’t think he would have even been a Padawan-class Jedi after facing Vader, much less before.

But for Luke, because he was basically the last hope of the galaxy against his father (well, there was his sister), a lot of training got thrown out the window, and he got put on an accelerated track.

Luke also had the advantage that he had the undivided attention of Grand Master Yoda as his teacher, when he was at his wisest and most experienced.

I gave my exile player a training lightsaber early on but he rarely used it since the other weapons he had were better. When he found a Jedi master, I let him transfer all his force sensative XP to a F&D specialization. He then had to build a lightsaber over time. This was an unpopular idea on the forums, the opinion of the forums is that the crystal is the only important part. For the rest you could just use a flashlight casing. My player and I both thought that you can make each component important. He didn't just find them in markets. One piece was from an assassin droid, another was a relic of an old battle where a Jedi died. Another was a prize given to him by an eccentric scientist who they went above and beyond to help.

It developed the character and didn't give him a lightsaber until later in the game when the character had more experience.

When I watched The Force Awakens, I couldn't help but think that someone had let Rey stockpile a boatload of XP, and then allow her to spend it during the game session once she attained a new Force Sensitive specialization, allowing her to spend it on what she thought she needed at the moment.

The reason I thought this was because this is how I allow people to spend their character points, have done it for years. Tends to make things more cinematic, and ultimately, more organic characters with skills spread all over the board.

Three years doesn't feel like that much time, considering how much time the younglings put into it.

IMO, the new Knights have it much easier than the old ones. By the old standards, I don’t think he would have even been a Padawan-class Jedi after facing Vader, much less before.

But for Luke, because he was basically the last hope of the galaxy against his father (well, there was his sister), a lot of training got thrown out the window, and he got put on an accelerated track.

Luke also had the advantage that he had the undivided attention of Grand Master Yoda as his teacher, when he was at his wisest and most experienced.

Also... PLOT , just watching Luke train to be a Jedi Knight wouldn't have made for a very good movie,,,, very few RPGs are based on something as HUGE as SW... RAW differs from Silver Screen ... there needs to be a compromise between the game and the film. The same with MERP, the 'Wraiths on Wings' would paste nearly ANY character, but in the film, they just cover their ears, then continue fighting (EDIT: When Faramir shouts NAZGUL in Osgilioth when he reaches it with the hobbits and Gollum)... just because we see 'So and So' do this on screen, doesn't mean it can be done in the game...... or you can with a shedload of setback dice