If "a crystal is a crystal, is a crystal", then it would hardly seem worth the effort, and the risk, to hunt Krayt dragons, for their pearls, if all you want is a lightsaber. They might make great jewelry, for royalty, and if you need a lightsaber, and are stuck on Tatooine, it might be the only viable option, but later books did reference these as options, and Luke did later try to ban, for lack of a better word, his students from seeking them out, both due to the risk, and because there aren't that many of the creatures; sort of like rhinos, elephants, or other big game, you start to notice that they vanish, as you kill more for a little bit of them, and this hunting was hurting what little Tatooine had for an ecology. He also didn't take this option, himself, either making his own (old stories), or perhaps finding a new one, from somewhere, in Kenobi's home, and he was able to supply his students with more, later in the novels. If the Krayt pearls are no different, no better, then who'd go after something you can only kill with a cinematic fatality, and high explosives, most of the time (you can't just fight it, in KOTOR).

As for "hearing", I'd wonder how close you need to be. People were killing the above mentioned Krayts, hoping for their pearls, but, like oysters, there isn't always a pearl there. A Force adept could probably dodge a lot of sorties with the big lizards, if they could've heard the presence of the pearl. Seems sort of weird, on several fronts, now.

I skimmed through to catch up. Sorry if I missed it, but has anyone considered the recent change to established lightsaber crystal lore is due to what we will see in Rogue One? There is information beyond just rumors that makes lightsaber crystals part of the Rogue One story. SPOILER ALERT if you have missed this:

I skimmed through to catch up. Sorry if I missed it, but has anyone considered the recent change to established lightsaber crystal lore is due to what we will see in Rogue One? There is information beyond just rumors that makes lightsaber crystals part of the Rogue One story. SPOILER ALERT if you have missed this:

Jedha is rumored (beyond rumor really) to be a source of kyber crystals. The planet isn't just the birthplace of the Force, but also a source of the crystals to make lightsabers. Snippets here and there suggest Jedha is being mined for a massive amount of the crystals. Crates on set are rumored to have been called "kyber crystal crates" and we have a new AT-AT which is described as being for moving valuable cargo. Crystals to power the Death Star's super laser, of course.

So in Rogue One perhaps we see piles of the crystals and they are ALL white or clear. Thus, we have new novels having to adapt to this information. A big retcon for the "new" EU.

Not really, we have already plenty of canon about kybercrystal based weapons outside of lightsabers.

I recommend the 4 episode Crystal Crisis arc from the clone wars, A death on utapau, In search of the crystal, Crystal Crisis and the big bang.

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-a-death-on-utapau

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-in-search-of-the-crystal

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-crystal-crisis

http://www.starwars.com/video/star-wars-the-clone-wars-story-reel-the-big-bang

The effects of kyber crystals when exposed to blaster fire are impressive, most impressive indeed.

The new Ahsoka book has some new information on the colour of lightsabers. The colour is determined by the finder of the kyber crystal . Which, in and of itself, is not too new I believe. But it does detail why Sith lightsabers are red. It turns out that Sith must steal their kyber crystals and bend them to their will causing them to "bleed" hence the red colour. Thoughts?

Do all sapient species have red blood? Heck, don't a lot of them have red skin ? Why the Force gotta be so racist?

Not really, we have already plenty of canon about kybercrystal based weapons outside of lightsabers.

I was speculating about the crystals being all white in Rogue One causing a change in reasoning for varied crystal colors. Not really about their possible uses.

I don't really understand why synthetic kyber crystals can't be made.

1. A crystal is just a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a lattice that extends in all directions.

2. We have ways to artificially create diamonds (a form of crystal) using machines. Through a process involving high pressure and high temperatures (HPHT) we can take a high purity carbon source and chemically mess with it in a crucible. The end result is a synthetic diamond, which, incidentally, is stronger in certain characteristics (hardness, thermal conductivity, electron mobility) than natural ones.

3. To quote Yoda: "You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock , everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship."

So, to create a synthetic kyber crystal a Sith takes a high purity carbon (or whatever kybers are made of) source and uses the HPHT synthetic diamond technique, turning the source into a crystal. The Force that was flowing through the source then flows through the crystal, which the Sith then bends to his will (in old EU parlance: Sith alchemy).

This even fits Sith philosophy. Whereas the Jedi believe in following the will of the Force (and get their crystals through a trial about said belief), the Sith believe in dominating everything around them, both the Force and the physical. This process of crystal synthesis is a demonstration of said belief.

I've noticed in the old EU authors had a problem with going too scientific or too mystic. I guess that's one thing the new EU hasn't changed.

Not really, we have already plenty of canon about kybercrystal based weapons outside of lightsabers.

I was speculating about the crystals being all white in Rogue One causing a change in reasoning for varied crystal colors. Not really about their possible uses.

Might be the case, the crystal crysis arc has green ones, but maybe they had planned to change the color at later stage of production of the episodes. Still, we at least one canon case of a giant green one and smaller krystals do not make sense in general for the death star which supposed to use bigger crystals. ,

Just started Catalyst. Nothing new as far as I've read, just came over this.

I think the idea that the crystals "bleed" is just metaphorical. I don't think the old canon is really entirely out of the window, naturally occurring crystals are still blue or green when attuned, and Sith crystals are red because they get violently bent to the Sith's will rather than attuned. You could argue that that's an unnatural process of Sith Alchemy that just uses crystals as raw materials.

I can also see crystals changing colors if they are newly attuned, but since attuning a crystal is a process that requires significant time spent in meditation you don't see lightsabers changing colors in the middle of a fight if someone falls or is redeemed.

So the new canon all but wipes out all the different types of lightsaber crystals. So rather than different crystals, could they all not now represent different types of attunement? Or maybe role=playing opportunities. For instance, if one wanted to attune his crystal as a krayt dragon pearl, one would have to trek to Tatooine and track down a krayt dragon or the remains of one and meditate or some such process in order to attune it?

It's an idea, one that one of my online gaming buddies and I have discussed.

That rather than having to go hunting at exotic locations for certain types of crystals, the PC simply obtains a kyber crystal, and then chooses what sort of effects it has. I sort of did that with awarding the Soresu Defender in my FaD game a Lorrdian Gemstone as a personal reward, as the player had made it very clear early on that was the type of crystal he wanted for his character.

I could see this as being problematic from a game play perspective, as it makes some of the more costly/hard-to-acquire crystals a lot more common that what was probably intended by the writers. Ilum crystals are a nice baseline, but why bother with those when you can just say your kyber crystal is a Krayt Dragon Pearl or an Etaan crystal or some other exotic, hard-to-find type?

I suppose as long as the player and GM have an open discussion, and the player is willing to not get too greedy in terms of what sort of effects their newly acquired kyber crystal has, it could work.

Yes.

From how it seems crystal finding works, in canon and for Jedi, is that you "listen" for it, you sense it and then have to find it... in-game this could be a Discipline or Knowledge (Lore) or some other check - fitting character concept and type of crystal the player wants. The difficulty could be based on rarity, and perhaps also if it has any particular special qualities beyond the normal weapon qualities this could further modify the check... of course this means the character's difficulty is based on the player's desires... not necessarily a great idea. But this combined with location, could easily form an outline for the quest to obtain the crystal.

Also, it seems you can only find "your" crystal, which means crystal hoarding and looting isn't really going to work... ok you can still loot them, but if it's not "your" crystal you have to bend it to your will, making it red... an action in itself that could easily warrant a number of conflict.

And if Ahsoka's example is anything to go by, a PC could obtain a kyber crystal by defeating an Inquisitor (or similar villain) and "reclaiming/purifying" the crystal so that it's no longer stained by the dark side.

Granted, to really stand a chance against an Inquisitor as created using the FaD guidelines, you'd generally need to have a lightsaber in the first place, so it kinda becomes a "chicken or the egg?" kind of scenario.

I don't really understand why synthetic kyber crystals can't be made.

Because space magic.

I don't really understand why synthetic kyber crystals can't be made.

Because space magic.

New Rogue One Catalyst novel.....

And if Ahsoka's example is anything to go by, a PC could obtain a kyber crystal by defeating an Inquisitor (or similar villain) and "reclaiming/purifying" the crystal so that it's no longer stained by the dark side.

Granted, to really stand a chance against an Inquisitor as created using the FaD guidelines, you'd generally need to have a lightsaber in the first place, so it kinda becomes a "chicken or the egg?" kind of scenario.

Actually, in a game where I play, our non-Force sensitive medic/commando one-shotted an Inquisitor in the first round of a combat. This is after the rest of us had done our posturing and the Inquisitor told us how we would never become Jedi, etc. etc. We all agreed that it was the best possible outcome.

I really like the idea of purifying dark side crystals. That's something Jaden Korr did in one of the Legends novels, turning a red lightsaber yellow. Before the new revelations about how canon crystals work, my rule was that a purified crystal had to be somewhere on that hot spectrum, like yellow or gold, or be a color that otherwise involved red, like fuchsia or purple. I might still suggest it for any of my players who decide to purify a crystal, but now I suppose there's nothing stopping the purified color from being green or blue or anything else.

Yea, Inquisitors can be killed pretty easily, if you have some combat focused characters in your party. Even at Adversary 3, if people are gaming the system a little it's trivially easy to get yourself some weapons that crit on a single advantage, generate a few advantages automatically, and roll at least 2 or 3 boosts on top of a fist full of proficiency dice.

I thought reclaimed crystals turn white as per the new lore, though I like the idea of the color being somehow representative of the nature of the person attuning it. Like, the Jedi philosophy would generally produce blue crystals for people who see themselves as defenders of order and green crystals for people who see themselves as seekers of enlightenment, so it overlaps with the notion of crystal colors denoting knights and consulars.

I think the idea that the crystals "bleed" is just metaphorical. I don't think the old canon is really entirely out of the window, naturally occurring crystals are still blue or green when attuned, and Sith crystals are red because they get violently bent to the Sith's will rather than attuned. You could argue that that's an unnatural process of Sith Alchemy that just uses crystals as raw materials.

I can also see crystals changing colors if they are newly attuned, but since attuning a crystal is a process that requires significant time spent in meditation you don't see lightsabers changing colors in the middle of a fight if someone falls or is redeemed.

Ahsoka spends about a minute meditating to purify them...

I think the idea that the crystals "bleed" is just metaphorical. I don't think the old canon is really entirely out of the window, naturally occurring crystals are still blue or green when attuned, and Sith crystals are red because they get violently bent to the Sith's will rather than attuned. You could argue that that's an unnatural process of Sith Alchemy that just uses crystals as raw materials.

I can also see crystals changing colors if they are newly attuned, but since attuning a crystal is a process that requires significant time spent in meditation you don't see lightsabers changing colors in the middle of a fight if someone falls or is redeemed.

Ahsoka spends about a minute meditating to purify them...

In Ahsoka's defense, she's been pretty well-trained by the Jedi Order.

In contrast, most FaD PCs aren't going to be nearly as knowledgeable about the Force, and are more likely to be as aware of the deeper mysteries of the Force as Luke was prior to his run-in with Yoda on Dagobah (as in, not very).

So for Ahsoka, she may well know specific meditative techniques to get in tune with the Force that make the process fairly quick, but unless a FaD PC has made such a deep study of the Force (i.e. has multiple ranks in Knowledge: Lore), odds are it's going to take them a bit longer. Although the time taken to purify the crystals could also be rolled into time needed to construct a hilt around said crystal.

In Ahsoka's defense, she's been pretty well-trained by the Jedi Order.

In contrast, most FaD PCs aren't going to be nearly as knowledgeable about the Force, and are more likely to be as aware of the deeper mysteries of the Force as Luke was prior to his run-in with Yoda on Dagobah (as in, not very).

So for Ahsoka, she may well know specific meditative techniques to get in tune with the Force that make the process fairly quick, but unless a FaD PC has made such a deep study of the Force (i.e. has multiple ranks in Knowledge: Lore), odds are it's going to take them a bit longer. Although the time taken to purify the crystals could also be rolled into time needed to construct a hilt around said crystal.

It's also worth noting that those crystals had been calling to her and were effectively "hers," just under the thrall of a dark side user.

That's also something the book expands on, the idea that your crystal is out there calling to you, and that no other crystal will do. I wouldn't suggest telling your PCs that they can't re-attune a dark side crystal because it's not "theirs," but it's certainly an option. My own way of handling this is that a kyber crystal that isn't yours otherwise needs time to, essentially, come around to you and belong to you in a meaningful way. (Re: getting the bonus to Mechanics checks to modify it.) I'm just now realizing that could be seen as the light side equivalent of "bending a crystal to your will."

Incidentally, my girlfriend just informed me that she read something about Starkiller Base being made out of the planet where dark siders could obtain kyber crystals. I can't find the information individually, but Wookieepedia lists "kyber crystals" as one of its major exports and cites the Complete Locations (2016) book, which I've never seen. I'm not sure if that means the planet where crystals would call to dark siders or just the place where dark siders went to force their will on the crystals. Has anyone looked at that book before?

Incidentally, my girlfriend just informed me that she read something about Starkiller Base being made out of the planet where dark siders could obtain kyber crystals. I can't find the information individually, but Wookieepedia lists "kyber crystals" as one of its major exports and cites the Complete Locations (2016) book, which I've never seen. I'm not sure if that means the planet where crystals would call to dark siders or just the place where dark siders went to force their will on the crystals. Has anyone looked at that book before?

This was posted on the official Star Wars facebook page.

I wonder why they are being SO cagey with actually naming the planet Starkiller base was constructed from?

I wonder why they are being SO cagey with actually naming the planet Starkiller base was constructed from?

Maybe they’ve got a big reveal wrapped around that fact?

In Ahsoka's defense, she's been pretty well-trained by the Jedi Order.

In contrast, most FaD PCs aren't going to be nearly as knowledgeable about the Force, and are more likely to be as aware of the deeper mysteries of the Force as Luke was prior to his run-in with Yoda on Dagobah (as in, not very).

So for Ahsoka, she may well know specific meditative techniques to get in tune with the Force that make the process fairly quick, but unless a FaD PC has made such a deep study of the Force (i.e. has multiple ranks in Knowledge: Lore), odds are it's going to take them a bit longer. Although the time taken to purify the crystals could also be rolled into time needed to construct a hilt around said crystal.

It's also worth noting that those crystals had been calling to her and were effectively "hers," just under the thrall of a dark side user.

That's also something the book expands on, the idea that your crystal is out there calling to you, and that no other crystal will do. I wouldn't suggest telling your PCs that they can't re-attune a dark side crystal because it's not "theirs," but it's certainly an option. My own way of handling this is that a kyber crystal that isn't yours otherwise needs time to, essentially, come around to you and belong to you in a meaningful way. (Re: getting the bonus to Mechanics checks to modify it.) I'm just now realizing that could be seen as the light side equivalent of "bending a crystal to your will."

Incidentally, my girlfriend just informed me that she read something about Starkiller Base being made out of the planet where dark siders could obtain kyber crystals. I can't find the information individually, but Wookieepedia lists "kyber crystals" as one of its major exports and cites the Complete Locations (2016) book, which I've never seen. I'm not sure if that means the planet where crystals would call to dark siders or just the place where dark siders went to force their will on the crystals. Has anyone looked at that book before?

Incidentally, my girlfriend just informed me that she read something about Starkiller Base being made out of the planet where dark siders could obtain kyber crystals. I can't find the information individually, but Wookieepedia lists "kyber crystals" as one of its major exports and cites the Complete Locations (2016) book, which I've never seen. I'm not sure if that means the planet where crystals would call to dark siders or just the place where dark siders went to force their will on the crystals. Has anyone looked at that book before?

This was posted on the official Star Wars facebook page.

There has been a lot of speculation that Starkiller base was built out of the planet Ilum, where the Jedi used to get their crystals from. This is based upon the fact that Starkiller Base origin point and Ilum share the same general galactic coordinates and the Empire did occupy Ilum and use crystals from there in the Deathstar's construction, as well as both Starkiller Base and Ilum being "snow-bound" planets. However, all of the official information regarding Starkiller Base simply states that it was near Ilum, and Ilum doesn't have trees and such. Either way, Ilum is pretty much off limits regardless, since it is still in First Order territory.

Ahsoka spends about a minute meditating to purify them...

Which is still too long to happen in the middle of a fight, so it seems consistent with the idea that you can change the color on a crystal by attuning it to yourself, but crystals don't simply change color if you fall to the darkside or redeem yourself in the middle of a battle, or if you hand off a lightsaber to someone else.

This has been an intriguing topic! I'm a brand new GM working with brand new PCs. (Thank God for beginner games!) This has given me some great ideas! Not to throw a wrench into the works, but what about the Darksaber?

Quote

"I didn't know Mandalorians developed a type of lightsaber."
"We didn't, this was one of a kind. Legend tells that it was created over a thousand years ago by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order. After his passing, the Jedi kept the saber in their temple. That was until members of House Vizsla snuck in and liberated it. They used the saber to unify the people and strike down those who would have opposed them. One time, they ruled all of Mandalore wielding this blade. This saber is an important symbol to that house and respected by the other clans."

―Kanan Jarrus and Fenn Rau

I feel like they shot themselves in the foot with the explanation on that! They could've easily stated that it was Mandalore the Ultimate's weapon of choice and that he was trained by Sith to use it effectively in combat against Jedi and other force users. Brought in Reven and ....

I digress. Technically, they did not call it a Lightsaber, but if Tarre Vizsla was a Jedi, wouldn't it be a Lightsaber though?

How would you handle the crystal situation of this saber? If it were attunement, what situation brought about this color? To me, it would've had to have been harvested or discovered on Dathomir or some other darkside world. Maybe it turned Black because it sensed its dark future as the seat of power for a warlike society. If it were the type of crystal,(to my knowledge there isn't one that would do this) what type of crystal? To me, the Krayt Dragon pearl would be the perfect fit because you have to kill a living creature to get it. Seems eerily dark.

17 hours ago, jwint66 said:

This has been an intriguing topic! I'm a brand new GM working with brand new PCs. (Thank God for beginner games!) This has given me some great ideas! Not to throw a wrench into the works, but what about the Darksaber?

I feel like they shot themselves in the foot with the explanation on that! They could've easily stated that it was Mandalore the Ultimate's weapon of choice and that he was trained by Sith to use it effectively in combat against Jedi and other force users. Brought in Reven and ....

I digress. Technically, they did not call it a Lightsaber, but if Tarre Vizsla was a Jedi, wouldn't it be a Lightsaber though?

How would you handle the crystal situation of this saber? If it were attunement, what situation brought about this color? To me, it would've had to have been harvested or discovered on Dathomir or some other darkside world. Maybe it turned Black because it sensed its dark future as the seat of power for a warlike society. If it were the type of crystal,(to my knowledge there isn't one that would do this) what type of crystal? To me, the Krayt Dragon pearl would be the perfect fit because you have to kill a living creature to get it. Seems eerily dark.

Kanan calls it a lightsaber, Fenn Rau does not correct him on it so I believe it's safe to think that it is indeed a lightsaber (it is the weapon of a Jedi Knight after all).

The crystal could be any type of crystal, even an Ilum one.

The shape of the blade could be due to an older lightsaber design, since this one is an ancient relic that's been around since the times of the Old Republic.

The color of the blade is just because of a very unique person who attuned themself to it. Remember, this is the first Mandalorian Jedi, so it was something entirely new to the Force, to the Jedi order, to the Mandalorians & to the galaxy as a whole. A unique color isn't that big of a deal when considering how unique the situation was.

Personally I allow the characters to have any saber color they desire with only 2 exceptions: no red sabers for non-dark siders and only red sabers for dark siders. That is, accounting for when the user first attunes to them. If the user at some point falls to the dark side and forces their will upon their old crystal, then yeah I'd have it change to red.