Context: The Ascetic spec from disciples of harmony has several talents (the reasons you'd want to take the spec: Iron Soul, Empty Soul, Mind Bleed) that require the character to carry 2 encumbrance or left for the talents to work. a lightsaber and a blaster pistol take up those 2 enc which means I'd have to she an ascension gun (No disintegrations). But I was wondering if there was any way to get a 1 enc blaster-pistol/ascension gun (like a pistol attachment?).

BTW the three forged in battle scar talents are spoken for: steely nerves (to protect will power from critical injuries), dodge (to be able to make the incoming melee difficulty 2 red (sense force power), 1 purple (dodge), and 2 black (2 ranks of defensive training + a repulsor fist so defensive training ALWAYS applies)), and spare clip (so he'll be able to "reload" his blaster pistol when it runs out without going over the 2 enc limit), starting spec is consular:niman-disciple, but he cross spec'd into martial artist immediately, Armor is a Wing commander flight suit and it's one hard point is spoken for (eventual plan is to get superior) to bring the soak up to 2.

This character is converted from a RCR KotoR era game where he wore a flight suit (for protection against poison gasses and vacuums yes it came up in the game and yes, the flight suit kept my conscious), carried a grapnel spike launcher (or whatever they called it under that system), a jedi utility belt, and had a cybernetic forearm with a built in heavy blaster pistol that fired from the palm iron man style (if they had a repulsor fist under that system he would have had one of those instead, because I think Iron Man is cool, and "repulsor" that fires from the palm of the hand is more like iron man than a blaster that fires from the palm of the hand). I've included some old pictures of the character. And of a wotc miniature that I had @Tramp Graphics customize (picture is of the stock miniature not the customized version, customized version had the hair painted black, right hand painted silver, and the lightsaber slightly frosted, the attempt was to make it whiter, because the blade is white, but it just made it a more diffuse green, but the mini was fairly close to the character art as is, and I found the miniature years after the character art was made, at the time I used a kyp durron miniature because he had the hand out in a force push type of way. BTW it's hard to see in the picture but the mini is holding a blaster pistol in his left hand, lightsaber would look like an ultrasabers guardian, nickle plated with an "adegan silver" blade, https://www.ultrasabers.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=L-SOUNDGuardian&CartID=1 ), Under RCR Kelitah Windrider was statted as a "sentinel archetype" (consular class but with a different set of class skills and feats) that cross spec'd into soldier and was on the fastest path to getting the "defensive throw" talent which was the only effective way in the game to mix martial arts and lightsaber combat (if someone missed you with a melee attack you threw them which interrupted a multi-attack), the nearest equivalent to defensive throw in FFG is "overbalance" but it has the flavor of "unarmed parry" in it to. The character was themed as Shaolin monk meets Jedi, mixing kung fu and lightsabers, very "zen". We once had to get into a hanger (at a cloud city like floating city) that served as a trading post and required a trader's license/id to get into it, I think the GM expected us to sneak in, my solution was to get trader's licenses/ids. He drank green tea, etc. So ascetic actually fits the theme of the character pretty well.

The Ascencion Gun can be had both as a weapon and an armour attachment, and while I'm AFB at the moment I don't believe either of those add anything to the encumbrance value of the item they're attached to.

Just as a dumb question:

Why not Force leap?

I mean, that's kinda the whole deal of all these force user types, load up with a saber, heavy clothing (robes), a Jedi Equipment belt, and almost nothing else and still be able to do everything the fully kitted and modded mando bounty hunter can do...

3 hours ago, Krieger22 said:

The Ascencion Gun can be had both as a weapon and an armour attachment, and while I'm AFB at the moment I don't believe either of those add anything to the encumbrance value of the item they're attached to.

The under-barrel grapnel is the only weapon attachement I see, costs 2 hardpoints, 500 credits, and can be attached to any ranged light or heavy weapon that "could logically have a grapnel launcher mounted on it." YMMV, but I think it's reasonable to add one to a blaster pistol with the hardpoints.

Ascension gear also costs 2 hardpoints for armor, but costs 350 credits and seems a tiny bit more flexible. It does not add encumbrance that I can tell.

That being said, like Ghost asked, why not use force leap? Enhance is a great force power, especially once you can afford to commit a die for the bonus.

just checked in special modifications page 56: an under-barrel grapnel launcher increases the encumbrance by 2 so that's a no go.

As for why I'm interested in it... the RCR character had it. Along the lines of doing the zen, "that's obvious, why didn't think of that", thing, in the first session, the PCs received the head of a protocol droid which formerly belonged to a crime lord and had sensitive info on it. They got this in a cantina named "the falling rodian" in the aforementioned cloud city type floating city. Some people came to repossess it and to diffuse the situation my character grabbed the droid head and went over the edge (without a guardrail because star wars is not an OSHA compliant universe) and was sliding down the steeply curved side of the cloud city. I used my grapnel spike launcher to arrest my fall and move laterally until I got to an apartment balcony. That's not something you can do with enhance. and it came up in the first session of the RCR game.

edit: make that the first combat encounter of the first session of the RCR game

With a little GM negotiations you could potentially use Tinkerer to add a Hard Point to an assention gun. Then apply the Superior attachment to reduce its encumbrance.

Perhaps the "tool" crafting table in Spec Mods could be used to make an assention system, again with GM approval, and with enough triumph/advantage you could reduce the encumbrance from 4 to 1.

Edit: Isnt there an assention belt? Perhaps in Endless Vigil. I thought there was an Armour attachment too, probably in No Disintegrations or KtP.

You could also simply ask the GM to be able to purchase a custom one. The crafting rules allow for the reduction of encumbrance and while the ascension gun doesn't quite fit into either tools or weapons both sections have that option so it's not a stretch by any means.

The grapnel spike launcher in no disintegrations is 1 encumbrance and is counted as a weapon not a tool, if there isn't a raw option by then, i will pitch the 1 enc ascension gun to the gm when it's time for me to take ascetic (starting with 225 earned xp, converting a 4th level character, first level is free so 3 level ups*75 xp/level up=225 xp, why 75xp/level up? because there is 1 dedication per talent tree and a talent tree cost 300 xp, and in rcrc you got 1 attribute increase every 4 levels so 300 xp/4 levels = 75 xp/level, but I can see an argument for 100 xp/level up)

Look at the Merr-Sonn "Rider" Ascension Pistol on page 52 of Dangerous Allies. It's Encumbrance 1. I'm not near my books at the moment, but on the FFG Star Wars Index, that one looks promising.

21 minutes ago, Simon Retold said:

Look at the Merr-Sonn "Rider" Ascension Pistol on page 52 of Dangerous Allies. It's Encumbrance 1. I'm not near my books at the moment, but on the FFG Star Wars Index, that one looks promising.

The one is Desparate Allies is just a spike launcher, not a combination blaster pistol and spike launcher.

As a GM, let me suggest that if your character needs a blaster pistol, a lightsaber, a repulsor fist, and an ascension gun, he might have already stepped beyond the point of asceticism.

A great simple line to add to the end of the Ascetic talents would have been "and no more than 2 items of advanced technology"

50 minutes ago, Simon Retold said:

As a GM, let me suggest that if your character needs a blaster pistol, a lightsaber, a repulsor fist, and an ascension gun, he might have already stepped beyond the point of asceticism.

FFG's current raw agrees with this assessment (it puts me at 3 enc, 1 too many). But under rcr/saga there were more multifunctional gear (if I recall correctly, there were 2 blaster ascension guns, 1 specifically called out as the model used by naboo royal security forces). If there were raw stats for gear that exists in cannon, i'd be able too pool it off according to raw, and I think a grappling hook was standard as part of the (? Jedi?) utility belt, and that delta between edition also puts my character over the limit. But back to multipurpose gear, ffg is starting to Stat some out... most of it is armor, but there is the shishtevan combat utility vibroblade in FIB, and the sTUN blaster lightsaber mod in EV that's starting to change.

But if you're going to have only a few possessions, you'd probably want multifunctional gear (e.g. swiss army knife type gear). Asceticism is about restraint, not taking the easy way out, a very Jedi like restraint is not to use the force for everything (anakin was very bad with this in ep 2 and ep 3), from a certain point of view, a reverse asceticism point of view, a more mundane solution, with only the gear you can carry on a utilty belt, then using the force to solve all your problems.

9 hours ago, EliasWindrider said:

But if you're going to have only a few possessions, you'd probably want multifunctional gear (e.g. swiss army knife type gear). Asceticism is about restraint, not taking the easy way out, a very Jedi like restraint is not to use the force for everything (anakin was very bad with this in ep 2 and ep 3), from a certain point of view, a reverse asceticism point of view, a more mundane solution, with only the gear you can carry on a utilty belt, then using the force to solve all your problems.

FWIW, this interpretation contradicts what the fluff description of the Ascetic is in Disciples of Harmony: "They do not seek to gather credits, possessions, or laurels, but rather judge their worth by the depth of their understanding of and communion with the Force." And, "There are times when even the greatest must set themselves apart, focusing on the spheres of the spirit and the mind to the exclusion of all else."

I guess I 'd question why you feel the character needs to be an Ascetic. It sounds like you're drawn to it purely for its mechanical aspects, not its narrative ones. If that's the case, you would probably be better served by another spec. Of course, it's your game and your GM, so if he/she is cool with you going Ascetic and wiggling past the encumbrance limitations, more power to you, and have fun.

Out of curiosity does anyone know if rcr/saga had the ascetic like talents/feats/whatevs that gave bonuses for keeping your gear score low?

11 hours ago, SavageBob said:

FWIW, this interpretation contradicts what the fluff description of the Ascetic is in Disciples of Harmony: "They do not seek to gather credits, possessions, or laurels, but rather judge their worth by the depth of their understanding of and communion with the Force." And, "There are times when even the greatest must set themselves apart, focusing on the spheres of the spirit and the mind to the exclusion of all else."

I guess I 'd question why you feel the character needs to be an Ascetic. It sounds like you're drawn to it purely for its mechanical aspects, not its narrative ones. If that's the case, you would probably be better served by another spec. Of course, it's your game and your GM, so if he/she is cool with you going Ascetic and wiggling past the encumbrance limitations, more power to you, and have fun.

The character is all about simplicity, practicality, discipline/self-restraint in terms of *both* possessions and UNNECESSARY use of the force,

Daily practice to increase mastery of the force is his habit not an issue, critical force ussage (to circumvent a dangerous situation) is not a problem, but using the force to fetch an apple because you're sitting down and are too lazy to get up is most definitely a problem, heck any use of the force to get out of any manual labor (unless there is an outside imposed critical time limit) is a problem (as in he'd climb a tree to pick an apple rather than use the force to pick it, but if he needed to harvest food to feed a village *tonight* then yeah he'd use the force), procrastination is a problem

The character wouldn't buy a dishwasher but if he was visiting someone with a dishwasher he wouldn't hesitate to use it. Any tech he owns is simple and more to the point *eminently practical* (a useful tool), he'd have the coming equivalent of a flip phone not a "smart phone" comlink and if he needed to use the holonet he'd go to a holonet cafe. If he needed a digital map, because he couldn't get a flimsy plast (star wars paper) one, then he'd pick up a used multiple decades old "smartphone comlink" and give it away when he didn't need it anymore.

He's pretty austere, the lightsaber was his father's (both his parents were Jedi and we was orphaned, he gave his mother's lightsaber to another Jedi who needed one and didn't ask for it back, demonstrating his lack of attachments to material possessions, even possessions that one would expect he would have an emotional attachment to, it's was just a tool and tools are only useful when they're being used), he probably only has 3 changes of clothes (1 is for formal occasions only, the other is pretty ratty for Manual labor so he doesn't get his every day clothes dirty or to wear while he's cleaning his every day clothes) and he only brings the clothes on his back and (maybe 1 spare pair of undies) with him when he travels (if he's going to a formal event, he wears the formal clothes on the trip there and back)

If it there's a useful tool to assist manual labor (like a Jedi multitool) and it won't weigh him down, sure why not. Why does he have a repulsor fist? The character's in universe reason is he needed to replace the forearm he lost in a light saber training accident, and as long as he's doing that *and the cyber doc just happened to have one in stock* it's extra useful (a nonleathal way to end a fight by staggering someone) so sure why not. But he wouldn't bother with a realistic looking replacement limb unless that was the only appropriate model that they had in stock. Keep in mind that *I* think iron man is cool, that's *my* reason not the character's, that and it's the only brawl weapon prosthetic so it will make the defensive training talent always apply.

Does the character sit on the edge of what *I* would call the Ascetic/non-Ascetic threshold? Yeah totally, but only because he's *eminently practical*... if there is a highly portable and useful simple device to assist in manual labor that would allow him to not abuse the force for mundane tasks, he's all for it. He's frugal (and generous) with money, waste not want not, but he's not opposed to owning a credit chip that slowly accumulates a large balance because he spends far less than his fairly meager income for the manual labor he's done to provide for his needs during his wandering travels (he's a little like mister Miyagi dispensing fortune cookie wisdom with a deeper meaning while painting the fence and waxing the landspeeder, or picking produce with underpaid migrant workers) credits are just a useful tool to effect the change he wants to see, and hiring himself out as cheap manual labor helps him get close to build connections with the disenfranchised he seeks to help.

So he's most definitely on the borderline of what I would call an ascetic, he's not emotional attached to anything he owns and only keeps things that have a useful purpose.

back to the original topic

the security s-5 heavy blaster pistol has a built in ascension gun, it also has 3 enc and 1 hard point Keeping the Peace pg 43

with an application of jury rigged that would reduce the enc by 2 to 1.

Also if someone else was an artisan, they could add 2 hard points, and then the 3 hard points could be spent on the stripped down modification that would let the weapon get to 1 enc and add a black die to checks made to find it.

So by RAW it's possible.

Don't forget that Load Bearing gear lowers total encumbrance...

10 hours ago, AK_Aramis said:

Don't forget that Load Bearing gear lowers total encumbrance...

I didn't know that, thanks, I'll use it as a backup if I can't mod the s-5 to reduce it's encumbrance, but this character really is a marginal ascetic, i'd like to keep what he carries to what fits on his Jedi utility belt (and gun holster), i'm not deliberately trying to *abuse* the letter of the law.

edit: "load bearing gear" actually just increases your encumbrance threshold by 3

But "A character wearing cargo clothing may carry up to 3 items of encumbrance 1 or lower without those items counting towards his encumbrance value", page 47 of desperate allies

the down side is that prevents you from wearing most other armors, but on page 49 of desperate allies, "second skin" armor is designed to be worn *under* clothing.