I was thinking about how to do a full on Guard Shoto from KtP since the lightsaber crafting rules in EV lack a method of adding Deflection. Something like, 3 Adv/1 Tri - Side Grip: The lightsaber hilt gains the Deflection 1 quality (or increases the value of its Deflection quality) by 1 and gains the Unwieldy 2 quality (or increase the value of its Unwieldy quality by 2). It would take 6 advantage or 3 adv 1 triumph or 2 triumph to make the Guard Shoto Hilt. That seems a reasonable cost. With a less successful roll, someone can still pull off Deflection 1 giving it Unwieldy 2. Still a fairly defensible weapon. Pull off a really good roll and this can make a Deflection 3, Unwieldy 6 hilt. Something for a master. A double bladed hilt could gain Deflection but be Unwieldy 5. That would certainly be an interesting weapon. For the Inquisitor spinning hilts, I think they would be Double-Bladed lightsaber hilt with the Reflex Grip attachment to represent the mechanical nature and going into a spinning mode. Though I could see both being combined for a skilled Inquisitor.

What do people think? The Crossguard Hilt is also the same cost, comes with another advantage, but can only be bought once. Still, I wonder with the Unwieldy cost if Side Grip would be more in line to drop it 2 Advantage/1 Triumph.

The Guard Shoto is covered by the Defensive Lightsaber template found on tables 3-10 and 3-11 on pages 85-86 of Endless Vigil . Also, remember,the EV rules don't supersede the lightsaber construction rules from the GM kit, basing the construction off of the specific "stock" hilt type.

Or you could just do the crafting check as usual for the Guard Shoto but upgrade the check for every rank in Defensive that you want. Then you get what you want on a success but have to contend with the chance of a Despair.

The inclusion of the stacking Unwieldy downside makes this really not worth it when their are crystals that have deflective, as well as the Reflect Grip attachment. Yes, you'd need to add a hard point to use it but that can be done through 3 Advantage/1 Triumph on a crafting check, the Tinkerer talent, or the Intuitive Improvements talent.

I personally feel that the suggestions for crafting a lightsaber are a bit crap. A lot of it is a copy and paste over from other weapons articles and as I've said in the past I think Lightsaber pikes are a pretty naff deal. Deflection was probably forgottern because melee weapons in other books usually don't offer it and as such it was probably missed out.

I would probably add defensive ranks with 3 advantage though, given t's a lightsaber some designs should make flicking bolts easier. Generally though, if one wants a guard shato your kinda better off just buying one streight up unless one is godly at mechanics. My PC is, but I recognise that not every PC is.

Bear in mind that the crafting rules in general were never meant to allow a PC to fully replicate the wide variety of equipment offered in the sourcebooks.

If you want to have the option of picking some of the crafting effects that you can't get othewise (such as being able to reduce the difficulty to modify a 'saber crystal by one, which would stack with the corebook rule of reducing it by two for being your personal lightsaber), then you're going to have to accept that you're not going to be able to recreate every type of lightsaber hilt.

If you really want that Guard Shoto, then you'll have to use either the core rulebook build rules (Negotiation or Streetwise to find the parts, no further check to assemble) or the GM Kit build rules (possibly with an increased difficulty).

The Guard Shoto is covered by the Defensive Lightsaber template found on tables 3-10 and 3-11 on pages 85-86 of Endless Vigil . Also, remember,the EV rules don't supersede the lightsaber construction rules from the GM kit, basing the construction off of the specific "stock" hilt type.

Unfortunately the Defensive Lightsaber template doesn't have Deflection or Unwieldy, so it does not fully get to the Guard Shoto.

Or you could just do the crafting check as usual for the Guard Shoto but upgrade the check for every rank in Defensive that you want. Then you get what you want on a success but have to contend with the chance of a Despair.

The inclusion of the stacking Unwieldy downside makes this really not worth it when their are crystals that have deflective, as well as the Reflect Grip attachment. Yes, you'd need to add a hard point to use it but that can be done through 3 Advantage/1 Triumph on a crafting check, the Tinkerer talent, or the Intuitive Improvements talent.

Personally I feel upgrading the check moves away from how crafting has worked so far. The crystals and Reflex Grip attachment would stack with a hilt's Deflection quality, so I think it is fine that a base hilt having Unwieldy would be fine. However I am leaning towards only 2 advantage or even 1 advantage for the cost considering the Unwieldy part.

I personally feel that the suggestions for crafting a lightsaber are a bit crap. A lot of it is a copy and paste over from other weapons articles and as I've said in the past I think Lightsaber pikes are a pretty naff deal. Deflection was probably forgottern because melee weapons in other books usually don't offer it and as such it was probably missed out.

I would probably add defensive ranks with 3 advantage though, given t's a lightsaber some designs should make flicking bolts easier. Generally though, if one wants a guard shato your kinda better off just buying one streight up unless one is godly at mechanics. My PC is, but I recognise that not every PC is.

Personally I've really liked the Endless Vigil version so far, but understand others' dislike of it. Deflection actually is in the Brawl/Melee crafting at the cost of 3 advantage, which further makes me think dropping the cost for lightsaber crafting if I keep the Unwieldy quality. Brawl/Melee weapons with Deflection usually represents shield type weapons, but isn't limited to them. Making Deflection for lightsabers work very differently is where I have been leaning.

Bear in mind that the crafting rules in general were never meant to allow a PC to fully replicate the wide variety of equipment offered in the sourcebooks.

If you want to have the option of picking some of the crafting effects that you can't get othewise (such as being able to reduce the difficulty to modify a 'saber crystal by one, which would stack with the corebook rule of reducing it by two for being your personal lightsaber), then you're going to have to accept that you're not going to be able to recreate every type of lightsaber hilt.

If you really want that Guard Shoto, then you'll have to use either the core rulebook build rules (Negotiation or Streetwise to find the parts, no further check to assemble) or the GM Kit build rules (possibly with an increased difficulty).

Completely valid options and opinions. Personally I prefer the crafting style done in the career books, and would also like most options to be able to replicated with those rules.

Thank you everyone for your opinions. It is good to hear others' thoughts even when going a different direction than my own.