Just what it says. I'm looking for everyone's favorite lightsaber build and why.

Edit: Sorry if I used the wrong terminology, I'm looking for what crystals/hilt style/modifications that best serve your character.

Soresu Defender.

You can take the "right hand path" and get every single good thing about the tree - such as Parry 4+Reflect 3, Imp. Parry+Imp. Reflect, and a couple Grits - which is tops among any I think, all without touching the stuff you may not want (Soresu Technique and dependant Talents) for whatever else your build does (another LS Spec w/ synergy for your main stat? Force Wizardry? You can do whatever and still be very survivable with an LS).

Defensive Stance isn't ideal, but has saved my Soresu from likely Crits if not death on many occasions.

In my experience it's very easy to do damage, not only with a Lightsaber but, by any (or many) means in this game. The hard part is surviving to the next round. And you can't beat Soresu for that.

58 minutes ago, emsquared said:

Soresu Defender.

You can take the "right hand path" and get every single good thing about the tree - such as Parry 4+Reflect 3, Imp. Parry+Imp. Reflect, and a couple Grits - which is tops among any I think, all without touching the stuff you may not want (Soresu Technique and dependant Talents) for whatever else your build does (another LS Spec w/ synergy for your main stat? Force Wizardry? You can do whatever and still be very survivable with an LS).

Defensive Stance isn't ideal, but has saved my Soresu from likely Crits if not death on many occasions.

In my experience it's very easy to do damage, not only with a Lightsaber but, by any (or many) means in this game. The hard part is surviving to the next round. And you can't beat Soresu for that.

Thanks. Up until now, I have mostly overlooked Soresu Defender. I'll have to keep it on my radar for future characters.

Custom Staff Saber with extended hilt and the Lorrdian Gemstone, aka a Lightsaber Spear. Put it in the hands of a Hermit/Sentry riding their Silhouette 2 bonded animal and throwing the Saber to Long Range with 4 Force Dice.

custom dual lightsabers w/ cyclic crystal array, kimber stone sapith gem and krayt dragon pearl, curved hilt, and superior hilt

The Dragite gem with Concussive 2 is basically a win button. Add in Superior and a Curved Hilt for some extra advantages. Honestly, the only way this saber is fun for me is that my character won't kill staggered enemies (unless it is some powerful Dark Side user or something like that).

My favorite attachment is actually the hilt masking kit. I like being able to bring a saber anywhere you could bring hydrospanner.

Ataru Striker with a Ghostfire Crystal with either the Mastery of Seek or Unexpected Demise for the automatic Triumph, turns those pesky Inquisitors into bite sized chunks on the floor in no time flat.

The Jedi PC in my game recently made Knight and constructed her own lightsaber. She'd switched from a regular lightsaber to a lightsaber pike because she wanted to use "something different," and found that she didn't have the Agility to use a double-bladed lightsaber well, but had enough Brawn to deal with the Pike's Cumbersome (I don't think she's read the Darth Bane novels, but she seems to be in-tune with the idea that having a weapon people are unfamiliar with makes it more difficult for them to oppose you). We decided, for narrative ease, that the pike has an extendable hilt (like those in Star Wars: The Old Republic), collapsing to two feet for carrying and telescoping out to four or so feet for combat (and also easing my headache about how to narratively do blaster bolt deflection with a four-foot long lightsaber hilt). She added a Dragite Gem, a Superior Hilt Personalization, then was looking at other things to spend her last hardpoint on. . . and saw the Dual-Phase modification and fell in love. Now, that takes two hardpoints, and she only has one. . . but she's also an Armorer, and has had the Tinkerer talent unused on her sheet for ages now, specifically saving it up for use in her lightsaber. +1 hardpoint equals two, add Dual-Phase.

So, to recap: This lightsaber's hilt can change between being the size of a double-bladed lightsaber hilt and a pike-size hilt, and the blade can change from being a shoto-length blade to the length of a normal lightsaber blade, and there's no reason it can't be whatever combination of these things the player decides it to be at any given moment. Narratively, this is a ridiculously versatile weapon.

None, I prefer to let my fists do the talking, along with the Talisman of Iron Fists, hey wait a monent, that isn't a lightsaber, what happened, we're all good here , Move along.

On 25/04/2018 at 3:03 PM, TheSapient said:

The Dragite gem with Concussive 2 is basically a win button. Add in Superior and a Curved Hilt for some extra advantages. Honestly, the only way this saber is fun for me is that my character won't kill staggered enemies (unless it is some powerful Dark Side user or something like that).

My favorite attachment is actually the hilt masking kit. I like being able to bring a saber anywhere you could bring hydrospanner.

Yep the gem is insane - it fits my character (he’s musically focused - chords and discord) - but told gm didn’t want it

Interesting. Can’t argue with any of these. However, I thought the Dantari crystal would be in there somewhere for dealing with strain? The Etaan crystal wasn’t in there for reflect/parry? Nishalorite stone to know where you are? Seeker crystal to find those pesky hidden adversaries? The Barab ingot and Varpeline crystal don’t appeal to the more sadistic minded lightsaber swingers?

9 minutes ago, Old Stormtrooper said:

Dantari  cr  ystal would be in there somewhere for dealing with stra  in   

If Dantari isn’t the crystal my character used then it would be the Barab, nothing quite like throwing a flaming spear at your enemies!

one of the things I found out is that if you go with a Krayt dragon pearl, extended hilt and superior modification, I think there was enough HP left to add curved hilt but I'm not sure... You can easily make it so that you do the damage of a turbolaser every time you swing with a very high chance to get a critical hit, since the krayt dragon pearl or one of the modifications can be upgraded to lower the advantage requirement for crits. It's ridiculous how much damage you can do with that paired with the breach 1 quality, you are able to BE the anti-tank swordsman.

so if you get a player who wants to use those particular modifications, they're definitely out there to be the best swordsman in the galaxy... or very likely to fall to the dark side.

EDIT: Totally got the second modification wrong, curved hilt and superior, not extended. Though if there is space the Extended hilt does help with damage output so you could trade crits for damage later if the crystal or the superior mod reduces crit range.

5 minutes ago, ZephyrTheDragon said:

one of the things I found out is that if you go with a Krayt dragon pearl, extended hilt and superior modification, I think there was enough HP left to add curved hilt but I'm not sure... You can easily make it so that you do the damage of a turbolaser every time you swing with a very high chance to get a critical hit, since the krayt dragon pearl or one of the modifications can be upgraded to lower the advantage requirement for crits. It's ridiculous how much damage you can do with that paired with the breach 1 quality, you are able to BE the anti-tank swordsman.

so if you get a player who wants to use those particular modifications, they're definitely out there to be the best swordsman in the galaxy... or very likely to fall to the dark side.

If you think Krayt Dragon pearls are deadly, get your hands on a Mephite crystal. Fully modded they get up to eleven damage, decreased Critical rating, and Vicious +1. Add in a Superior Hilt attachment and an Extended hilt and you do thirteen wounds of damage per hit. Yes, the dragon pearl has more potential ranks of Vicious, but can’t match a Mephite for pure damage potential. ?

9 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

If you think Krayt Dragon pearls are deadly, get your hands on a Mephite crystal. Fully modded they get up to eleven damage, decreased Critical rating, and Vicious +1. Add in a Superior Hilt attachment and an Extended hilt and you do thirteen wounds of damage per hit. Yes, the dragon pearl has more potential ranks of Vicious, but can’t match a Mephite for pure damage potential. ?

mephite is a absolute not for anyone that is trying to hide just for example a rag tag group of rebels and force sensitive that are being hunted, yes krayt does one less damage when fully modded but it doesn't give your position away to any random wandering yahoo with sense

While I've only ever played one lightsaber wielding character under this system, it is also a techie, so for the past year and half I've had time to through a few hilts as I've lost, discarded or upgraded them. I've mostly kept them same crystal though, even to the point of having my character dissasembling her lightsaber and swallowing the crystal when capture was imminent. A "personal bond" with your crystal indeed.

While not given you any fancy combat bonuses, the hilt-masking kit is quite a good thing to have if you don't want your lightsaber to get you in to trouble, which in many ways is better having to use it for getting out of trouble. Weapon signature reduction and shadowsheath are nice for the same reasons.

I'm also a fan of the more utilitarian attachments like the magnetic weapon tether (because Move is an action and quick draw is always nice) and gene-lock, although kyber crystal are a bit too rare for me to be comfortable with rigging it to explode (also you might end up losing it and then some kid finds it...).

Of course, custom grip is really good. Really, really good. Especially if you pair it up with the crafting option Personalized Design. Personalized design bugs me a bit though, since it's essentially the only thing worth spending advantages on for a standard hilt unless you want a crossguard, of which I am not a fan. Thus, I tend to go for diguised, in-built and customisable hilts. I'd probably be better off building more specialized sabers, but hey, I like the standard hilt. It's unpretentious.

If you manage to score triumphs when crafting there's a all the options feel viable. Personalized Inlay is super useful if you're not that strong in intellect/mechanics, don't have a great force rating yet and/or have crystal with a lot of modding options (looking at you, Ilum Crystal!). It does get a bit weird when you realize you can pop the crystal out fairly easily and put it in another hilt. Rules-wise, that means you could have a hilt where you pop in your crystal solely for modding, and another one more optimized for combat. It's a min-maxy thing I'm not sure how to deal with beyond asking players please not to do it.

As for Crystals, I think the Ilum crystal is pretty nice, but it definitely needs a high mechanics skill and/or Force rating to get the most out of. Apart from that, I have a weakness for any crystal that gives me Breach 2. Sure, it's overkill against most enemies but sometimes it's more fun to think about what you can do instead of what you need to do. And with the really rather low crit rating of most sabers, you can use Breach 2 to reliably crit vehicles. Add saberthrow and the enemy air support isn't safe either.

Also, I found the fluff text about Etaan crystals very inspiring, and since I'll be GMing a Force and Destiny campaign starting in a few weeks, I might get use that idea for a scene that's been rattling around in my head since I first read it.

12 hours ago, Stormbourne said:

mephite is a absolute not for anyone that is trying to hide just for example a rag tag group of rebels and force sensitive that are being hunted, yes krayt does one less damage when fully modded but it doesn't give your position away to any random wandering yahoo with sense

Mephites can only be sensed by someone actively using Sense and only within the range of the power. As Jedi Andur Sunrider told his wife Nomi, as he had been told by his own master, Adegan crystals (of which Mephite is one of the better types, second only to Pontite), were considered to the the best crystals for lightsabers, according to the lore. This is because of the strong connection in the Force which develops between the crystal and the Jedi.

personally, there was one gem that I really liked that really fit a jedi personality because it only dealt non-lethal damage.

1 hour ago, ZephyrTheDragon said:

personally, there was one gem that I really liked that really fit a jedi personality because it only dealt non-lethal damage.

The kimber stone?

On 5/13/2018 at 10:09 PM, Tramp Graphics said:

Mephites can only be sensed by someone actively using Sense and only within the range of the power. As Jedi Andur Sunrider told his wife Nomi, as he had been told by his own master, Adegan crystals (of which Mephite is one of the better types, second only to Pontite), were considered to the the best crystals for lightsabers, according to the lore. This is because of the strong connection in the Force which develops between the crystal and the Jedi.

Actually, that's a very narrow interpretation of the text.

" Force-sensitive characters using Force powers to sense their surroundings automatically detect a lightsaber using a mephite crystal if it is in range of the power."

This should at the very least also include Farsight, probably Seek and maybe even Forsee. And I'd say anyone who has an ongoing effect would qualify. "Active" use is wholly your invention.

In fact, a mephite crystal might leave you utterly screwed against a pursuer with Seek as it's range is effectively unlimited. Good news if you've misplaced your saber and need to find it.

" Automatically " is also interesting. Does it mean that no check is needed? And if so, what does " if it is in range of the power" mean? The theoretically possible maximum range the character can muster? The theoretically maximum range of the power itself (usually meaning extreme)?

Essentially, you can pretty much never relax with a mephite crystal. If someone is looking for you, they will find you.

Just now, penpenpen said:

Actually, that's a very narrow interpretation of the text.

" Force-sensitive characters using Force powers to sense their surroundings automatically detect a lightsaber using a mephite crystal if it is in range of the power."

This should at the very least also include Farsight, probably Seek and maybe even Forsee. And I'd say anyone who has an ongoing effect would qualify. "Active" use is wholly your invention.

In fact, a mephite crystal might leave you utterly screwed against a pursuer with Seek as it's range is effectively unlimited. Good news if you've misplaced your saber and need to find it.

" Automatically " is also interesting. Does it mean that no check is needed? And if so, what does " if it is in range of the power" mean? The theoretically possible maximum range the character can muster? The theoretically maximum range of the power itself (usually meaning extreme)?

Essentially, you can pretty much never relax with a mephite crystal. If someone is looking for you, they will find you.

Seek allows you to track a specific known individual or object, not sense your general surroundings. Forsee lets you see into the future, Farsight simply enhances your vision. I’ll concede that the last one “might” work, GM willing”, but I’m sure the Devs were focusing on the Sense Power specifically. The Mephite crystal can be sensed by individual actively using the Force to sense their surroundings. As for being automatic, it’s just as it says. The normal range (without range upgrades) for Sense is Short range. So, if said Force user is using Sense to Sense his surroundings, and a Jedi with a Mephite crystal in his lightsaber comes within Short range of him, he automatically senses its strong Force signature. If that Force user had any Range upgrades, he could detect the crystal from even further away, depending upon how many Range upgrades and/or how many times he activates said Range upgrades.

7 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Seek allows you to track a specific known individual or object, not sense your general surroundings. Forsee lets you see into the future, Farsight simply enhances your vision. I’ll concede that the last one “might” work, GM willing”, but I’m sure the Devs were focusing on the Sense Power specifically. The Mephite crystal can be sensed by individual actively using the Force to sense their surroundings. As for being automatic, it’s just as it says. The normal range (without range upgrades) for Sense is Short range. So, if said Force user is using Sense to Sense his surroundings, and a Jedi with a Mephite crystal in his lightsaber comes within Short range of him, he automatically senses its strong Force signature. If that Force user had any Range upgrades, he could detect the crystal from even further away, depending upon how many Range upgrades and/or how many times he activates said Range upgrades.

Farsight helps your sight, which is definitely sensing your surroundings in the most literal way.

Seek can boost your Vigilance and Perception which is as close to literal as you can get. Additionally, Seek is all about finding objects, like, you know, crystals and lightsabers.

If you have a die committed to Sense in order to boost your defence, it's not an outlandish presumption that you're acheiving this by... wait for it... sensing your surroundings.

If the Devs wanted it to be particularly limited to Sense, it would have said so. It does not.

To me, it seems fairly obvious that a powerful crystal like mephite is designed to have a pretty powerful drawback. In this case, an open invitation to the GM for people to detect any PC using one at the most inopportune times. If you want mephite, this should be embraced. Otherwise you're just minmaxing to get the most powerful crystal with virtually no drawbacks. A good way to turn a collaborative game to a spectator sport for your power trip.

Of course it should be embraced. I never said otherwise. I simply don’t see it as a drawback. I see it as a feature . Mephite crystals can be sensed because they have a particularly strong Force signature. This was why Adegan crystals were so highly prized during the time of the Qel Droma epics.

For me the "ultimate" lightsaber is a Krayt Dragon Pearl with Superior Hilt (extended). Unless you want something dual-bladed it's the best out of the box. No dependency on making successive difficult Mechanics checks. Though Krayt Pearls are some of the most difficult to come by.

On 4/26/2018 at 1:59 PM, ErikModi said:

So, to recap   : This lightsaber's hilt can change between being the size of a double-bladed lightsaber hilt and a pike-size hilt, and the blade can change from being a shoto-length blade to the length of a normal lightsaber blade, and there's no reason it can't be whatever combination of these things the player decides it to be at any given moment. Narratively, this is a ridiculously  ve  rsatile weapon.     

Do you have stats for that lightsaber? I have loved Senya Tirall’s lightsaber ever since I saw that KoToR video.