As a completionist, I really want base stats for the pontite crystal, introduced in Nexus of Power as the crystal powering the Greelwood Saber (p. 130). To that end, I'm trying to reverse engineer the Greelwood Saber's stats from the book to get to what the baseline crystal does.

The fluff says that the Greelwood Saber belonged to an Ithorian Jedi, who wanted to make a purely defensive weapon, rather than an attacking saber. The saber's stats, benefits, and drawbacks include:

Damage 8

Critical 3

Breach 1

Sunder

Decrease the difficulty of any Cool checks made once

[SB][SB] on combat checks made to attack an opponent with this weapon

Reduce the strain cost to activate Parry by 1, to a minimum of 1

Reduce the strain cost to activate Reflect by 1, to a minimum of 1

From the fluff, I think it's reasonable to assume that the Ithorian Jedi modified the saber to be more defensive, so the outlay below assumes that the Ithorian Jedi modified the crystal three times: to bump of the damage +1, and to get the Reflect and Parry boosts. I suppose the damage might start at 8, with the +2 Setback aspect part of the base stats, but I think they work better as balances to potentially getting what amounts to Supreme Parry and Supreme Reflect from your gear. Do this seem fair and not too overpowering?

PONTITE CRYSTAL

Base Modifiers: Installing this crystal changes a lightsaber's base damage to 7 and critical rating to 3, and the lightsaber gains the Breach 1 and Sunder weapon qualities. In addition, a Force-sensitive character wielding this lightsaber may decrease the difficulty of any Cool checks they make once, to a minimum of [D]. If the crystal is ever removed, the lightsaber loses these qualities and reverts to its previous base damage and critical rating.

Modification Options: 1 Damage +1 Mod, 2 Decrease the strain cost to activate the Parry talent while wielding this weapon by 1, to a minimum of 1, but suffer [SB] on attacks made with the weapon Mods, 2 Decrease the strain cost to activate the Reflect talent while wielding this weapon by 1, to a minimum of 1, but suffer [SB] on attacks made with the weapon Mods.

Hard Points Required: 2.

Cost: (R) 15,000 credits.

I just use the crystal as written as the base stats. One thing to note about the Pontite crystal is that it is the rarest of the Adegan crystals, as well as most powerful. Thus the higher damage and other bonuses to start.

I don't think there should be 2 each of the Parry and Reflect mods, only 1. I would drop the Cool check as a base stat and make it a mod.

1 minute ago, Richardbuxton said:

I don't think there should be 2 each of the Parry and Reflect mods, only 1. I would drop the Cool check as a base stat and make it a mod.

I disagree on the cool check being a mod. This is especially because of what the original sources say about its base abilities.

9 minutes ago, Richardbuxton said:

I don't think there should be 2 each of the Parry and Reflect mods, only 1. I would drop the Cool check as a base stat and make it a mod.

Is that because you think offering 2 of each of the Parry/Reflect mods would be too overpowered, or is unnecessary? Some other reason? (I agree with Tramp Graphics about the Cool aspect of the saber; it's part of what makes this crystal unique.)

I think reducing the strain cost to 1 for both Parry and Reflect with a single item is WAY over powered (even if it's a 15k one). Supreme Parry/Reflect has the severe limitation of not attacking before using it, and neither exist in the same tree so getting them both is a significant xp investment.

Perhaps a "1 Remove 1 Setback from Cool Checks Mod" would be a good addition instead. Perhaps 1 rank of the Rapid Recovery talent as a mod too.

1 hour ago, Richardbuxton said:

I think reducing the strain cost to 1 for both Parry and Reflect with a single item is WAY over powered (even if it's a 15k one). Supreme Parry/Reflect has the severe limitation of not attacking before using it, and neither exist in the same tree so getting them both is a significant xp investment.

Perhaps a "1 Remove 1 Setback from Cool Checks Mod" would be a good addition instead. Perhaps 1 rank of the Rapid Recovery talent as a mod too.

OK, gotcha. The mandatory setbacks should mitigate the overpowered-ness of it somewhat, but I understand the concern. I like the ideas for the other mods. And maybe the base damage should be 8, since we can assume the Ithorian Jedi who owned the Greelwood saber wouldn't have pumped up the damage done if he wanted a defensive-only weapon.