If you want to play a Force user who doesn't wield a lightsaber while playing through the printed adventures in F&D you pretty much inevitably end up with a Kyber crystal in your possession that simply doesn't do you any good. It will easily be one of your most valuable items, but you simply can't use it unless you build a lightsaber, and selling it for credits isn't exactly rewarding either if you went on a spiritual journey to find it and it has attuned to you.

So I think there need to be some alternate ways of using these crystals.

I'm thinking, maybe they could be fashioned into talisman or similar trinkets that give some kind of boost to a force sensitive wearer? Every crystal could have its own amulet associated with it, so that even a character who isn't going to use theirs for a lightsaber can get a nice reward out of finding a kyber crystal, and have an item they have that special connection with.

Kyber Talismans

A Kyber Talisman is a Kyber crystal that was not attuned to function as part of a weapon, but rather harmonize with the body of a force sensitive wearer. This transfers some of the unique properties of the Kyber crystal to its wearer. A Kyber talisman only works for force sensitive individuals. A character can only benefit from one Kyber talisman at a time, as their body can not harmoniously resonate with multiple crystals.

Barab Ingot - The wearer of this talisman is immune to the Burn quality.

Dantaari Crystal - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank of the Resolve talent.

Dragite Gem - The wearer of this talisman is immune to the Concussive quality.

Ilum Crystal - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank of the Center of Being talent.

Krayt Dragon Pearl - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank of the Lethal Blows talent.

Lorrdian Gemstone - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank in the Enduring talent.

Mephite Crystal - Once per session the wearer of this talisman can use a Force power as a maneuver. Force sensitive characters using Force powers to sense their surroundings automatically detect a Mephite crystal if it is in range of the power.

Sapith Gem - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank of the Precise Aim talent.

Kimber Stone - The wearer of this talisman is immune to the disorient quality.

Sorian Crystal - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank in the Superior Reflexes talent.

Nishalorite Stone - The wearer of this talisman adds automatic advantage to any of their checks made to locate their position, navigate terrain, or find power sources or active technology.

Varpeline Crystal - Once per session the wearer of this talisman can turn a critical injury they inflict into a Maimed critical injury.

Etaan Crystal - The wearer of this talisman gains one rank in the Sixth Sense talent.

Ghostfire Crystal - The wearer of this Talisman gains one rank in the Stalker talent.

This probably isn't balanced, since it's just some brainstorming.

Might think of some other uses for crystals as well, maybe in the form of some kind of focus item that adds special powers to your character, like you could use an item fashioned from a Kimber stone to gain the ability to unleash a concussive shout like the Ithorian racial trait, etc.

4 minutes ago, Aetrion said:

If you want to play a Force user who doesn't wield a lightsaber while playing through the printed adventures in F&D you pretty much inevitably end up with a Kyber crystal in your possession that simply doesn't do you any good. It will easily be one of your most valuable items, but you simply can't use it unless you build a lightsaber, and selling it for credits isn't exactly rewarding either if you went on a spiritual journey to find it and it has attuned to you.

Oh, I don't know about that. Even if you only bargain to get half of it's worth, that's a fair bit of money that you can throw into something you really want. This goes for the crystals and for the holocrons that seem to drop as common loot in the end of the published adventures.

Yea, but if you're on a spiritual quest and you encounter a crystal that resonates with your inner power it should be profound in some way, not something you just sell for cold hard credits.

I mean, mechanically there is no problem with finding crystals and just trading them for other items you can use, but from a narrative standpoint it's kind of disappointing if you can't do anything with them if you're trying to build a character who doesn't use lightsabers.

Why not build a light Bayonet for your Blaster? Problem solved.

27 minutes ago, Aetrion said:

Yea, but if you're on a spiritual quest and you encounter a crystal that resonates with your inner power it should be profound in some way, not something you just sell for cold hard credits.

I mean, mechanically there is no problem with finding crystals and just trading them for other items you can use, but from a narrative standpoint it's kind of disappointing if you can't do anything with them if you're trying to build a character who doesn't use lightsabers.

Not every Force user is on a spiritual quest by intent. Let them decide if that's the case or not. Not every reward means the same thing to everyone, nor should it. The writers tend to believe that all of the "not-Jedi" wannabees that FaD produces are going to want lightsabers. It's shortsightedness on their part, but it's not something you have to follow through on.

This is a neat idea. On one of the PbPs here, I am playing a bare-knuckled brawler Jedi. If he ever gets one of his four hands on a kyber crystal, I don't know what he would do with it. So I think something along these lines has some real potential.

I have a techie idea of a crafter-slicer using artisan/shadow who doesn't know he uses the force. Having a kyber crystal to use as part of a cybernetic implant that awakens an awareness of how he is force sensitive would be neat.

One thing no one here has mentioned yet is using them in the construction of a Holocron.

On 2/18/2017 at 1:19 PM, HappyDaze said:

Not every Force user is on a spiritual quest by intent. Let them decide if that's the case or not. Not every reward means the same thing to everyone, nor should it. The writers tend to believe that all of the "not-Jedi" wannabees that FaD produces are going to want lightsabers. It's shortsightedness on their part, but it's not something you have to follow through on.

I wouldn't necessarily say that the writers believe all jedi-wannabes want lightsabers. Look at the Seeker/Executioner spec, Warrior/Starfighter Ace, Consular/Sage or any of the numerous non-Lightsaber based specialization trees that focus on things entirely separate from Lightsaber use... The non-Lightsaber specs actually make up more of the F&D specs than the Lightsaber ones.

Now for the beginner game/pre-written adventures, it does seem to focus on the mainstream jedi quest type of stuff.

1 hour ago, GroggyGolem said:

I wouldn't necessarily say that the writers believe all jedi-wannabes want lightsabers. Look at the Seeker/Executioner spec, Warrior/Starfighter Ace, Consular/Sage or any of the numerous non-Lightsaber based specialization trees that focus on things entirely separate from Lightsaber use... The non-Lightsaber specs actually make up more of the F&D specs than the Lightsaber ones.

Now for the beginner game/pre-written adventures, it does seem to focus on the mainstream jedi quest type of stuff.

Looking beyond starting characters, the expectation is that every character will eventually have multiple specs. Among Force-users, the expectation is that most of them will at least dabble in using a lightsaber. Look at the art and how heavily sabers feature in it and how every FaD book has something for a saber wielder.

You could build a super weapon with it. That's what a lot of people in the movies seem to do.

Since a lightsaber can deflect laser and blaster shots, how about using the crystals for slat armor for tanks?

You could probably build a really really efficient waffle toaster.

That talisman idea is quite cool.

With Sabers there is always the defensive/deflective weapon option. Parry 2, Reflect 2 for no xp is rather handy for an off hand weapon that you never attack with. Otherwise the ability to recover extra strain even when using Enhance (Brawl) or Hunters Intuitive Shot is excellent.

17 minutes ago, Richardbuxton said:

With Sabers there is always the defensive/deflective weapon option. Parry 2, Reflect 2 for no xp is rather handy for an off hand weapon that you never attack with. Otherwise the ability to recover extra strain even when using Enhance (Brawl) or Hunters Intuitive Shot is excellent.

Hmmm, yea, the Dantari crystal is really nice. In fact, I think the Talisman should probably just be that effect, I forgot that you can use it on any combat check that uses the force, not just lightsaber checks.