1 minute ago, Daeglan said:

Which has the potential to make a pearl or 2 disappear out of your aber 😜

Maybe that's the consequence! Fighting a Krayt Dragon might mean that you destroy your Krayt Dragon Pearl.

1 hour ago, Daeglan said:

exactly. and that is the kind of stuff a gm should set up.

I would say that's true of any instance of a PC getting any sort of kyber crystal for a lightsaber, be it their first lightsaber or having to craft a replacement lightsaber. It should never just be "oh, think I'll go harvest a new kyber crystal. Anyone want some snacks while I'm out?"

13 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

I would say that's true of any instance of a PC getting any sort of kyber crystal for a lightsaber, be it their first lightsaber or having to craft a replacement lightsaber. It should never just be "oh, think I'll go harvest a new kyber crystal. Anyone want some snacks while I'm out?"

It should be a challenge to get your crystal and from what I can tell the crystals call to the force user. It should not be like going to the corner market and it should be tied to overcoming their moral weakness.

43 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

It should be a challenge to get your crystal and from what I can tell the crystals call to the force user.

It should only be a challenge if that is meaningful and important story your group wants told at the table. If people find it boring, or that it interrupts the main narrative arc, or causes the other players to sit around looking at their watches, it should be glossed over. For our game, one player (an actual Jedi Knight) started with their lightsaber and the other (their padawan) obtained their crystal (with some risk) in the opening session. The reason: my players wanted to tell stories about characters who already had lightsabers, not about characters trying to build lightsabers.

What *should* be is dependent on what the group finds interesting.

6 hours ago, Daeglan said:

Farming Krayte Pearls seems conflict worthy. If a pllayer wants a Krayt pearl for their Saber I think a GM should set up an oportunity to get one as a part of some other task.

Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing, even for a light side character. Besides, animals get killed for food and other uses all them time. Is anything other than a total vegan gaining Conflict? And what about the poor plants?

Nothing to see here.

Just now, HappyDaze said:

Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing, even for a light side character. Besides, animals get killed for food and other uses all them time. Is anything other than a total vegan gaining Conflict? And what about the poor plants?

IT is more the slaughtering animals for personal gain.

Just now, Daeglan said:

IT is more the slaughtering animals for personal gain.

It's taking life to allow life--just like food, since a lightsaber is a Jedi's life...

1 minute ago, HappyDaze said:

It's taking life to allow life--just like food, since a lightsaber is a Jedi's life...

A Jedi doesnt need to kill something to get a crystal.

1 minute ago, Daeglan said:

A Jedi doesnt need to kill something to get a crystal.

True. Use enough Stun damage and then some Medicine checks and you should be able to extract the things from a living KD without leaving it any worse off.

10 hours ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

You're not wrong.

The vast majority of those crystals and them having different mechanical effects has its origins in the KOTOR games, which being built around the 3.X version of the d20 system also incorporated 3.X's reliance upon magic items that gave scaling bonuses as the characters in D&D increased in level in order to stay competitive. And since BioWare and Obsidian couldn't due things like D&D's various magic items for lightsabers, they did the next best thing they could, and introduced various crystals that gave various numerical boosts to the wielder's combat numbers.

Prior to that, a lightsaber focusing crystal was just any sort of crystal that was of sufficient purity, whether it be naturally occurring or synthetically developed, and with the exception of WotC's KOTOR and later Jedi Academy Training Manual sourcebooks for Saga Edition, a self-constructed lightsaber just provided a +1 bonus to hit in OCR/RCR/Saga Edition, and that bonus was due to weapon being specifically built for that person.

Given that during the F&D Beta there were folks asking/pleading/begging for FFG to go whole hog and have not only crystals as moddable attachments, but focusing lens, energy cells, etc., it could have been a lot worse than what the system currently offers.

I know there's at least a few GMs that just use the "basic" unmodded Ilum crystal stats for lightsabers, with no mod options on the crystal available and that no matter the point of origin a kyber crystal provides the same flat values. Which is in line with the bulk of the media, as nowhere in the films or books is a big deal made of what benefits a focusing/kyber crystal has. The Jedi Order most likely used Ilum crystals more out of cultural/religious significance in addition to the crystals being fairly plentiful, but apart from that they're not inherently any different than kyber crystals found on Jedha or any other location.

That’s not entirely true. Even as far back as WEG D6, in the Tales of the Jedi Sourcebook , it had the different Adegan crystals with differing levels of damage dice, with some types that did less damage than standard and others that did more damage than standard.

Granted, you didn’t have the sheer number of different crystals with the wide array of special abilities, but you did have different crystals with different numbers of damage dice.

4 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

That’s not entirely true. Even as far back as WEG D6, in the Tales of the Jedi Sourcebook , it had the different Adegan crystals with differing levels of damage dice, with some types that did less damage than standard and others that did more damage than standard.

Drum roll, please!

That was a gaming supplement of yore.

16 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

It's taking life to allow life--just like food, since a lightsaber is a Jedi's life...

It's more taking a life so you'll be better at taking even more lives. You might have a point if Krayt Dragons were the only source of Kyber in the galaxy.

For getting the crystals it is all based on the story, but like obligation you should make getting the Crystal a side quest on the mission. They are in the location the need for the mission and one of the characters feels the forcing pulling them to a vault with a Crystal, or other more mystic location where they can get a Crystal on the mission.

If there is a break in the story then send them on a longer quest to get the Crystal which ties in to their morale focus.

But as always do what works for your groups and your players.

Recently my group stopped at the 7-Eleven on Naboo to fill up the YT-1300 and we saw they had crystals next to the sunglass rack. We bought a few to hang from the mirror.

j/k

So how should GMs decide which crystals their PCs get? If one player wants a Lorrdian crystal, and another wants a Sapith gem, should they just get those for their reward?

42 minutes ago, StriderZessei said:

So how should GMs decide which crystals their PCs get? If one player wants a Lorrdian crystal, and another wants a Sapith gem, should they just get those for their reward?

you have them complete what ever quest you deem appropriate to get their crystal. Then you give them the crystal they desire.

3 hours ago, StriderZessei said:

So how should GMs decide which crystals their PCs get? If one player wants a Lorrdian crystal, and another wants a Sapith gem, should they just get those for their reward?

It depends. If it's their first lightsaber, and part of their trials, you should probably be sending all of them to the same location, (be it Ilum, Ossus, or some such, depending upon the era in question) where they all get the same type of crystal to start with. Then, as the game progresses from there, pepper different types of crystals throughout different locations for them to find, especially if they're particularly interested in a specific type of crystal.

4 hours ago, StriderZessei said:

So how should GMs decide which crystals their PCs get? If one player wants a Lorrdian crystal, and another wants a Sapith gem, should they just get those for their reward?

Firstly, talk with the players as about what sort of crystals they want, and what you as the GM are willing to permit.

Depending on how closely you want to stick to the established lore regarding where various crystals might be found, from there you can determine what sort of adventures you need to design to accommodate obtaining those crystals.

One suggested method I've seen and used is that once the PC completes the adventure to obtain their kyber crystal, it becomes the sort of crystal the player wants for their character. I'd be hesitant to allow them to acquire just any crystal this way, with Krayt Dragon Pearls being the top of the list of "don't allow the player to just spontaneously choose this crystal," but I'd also included Corrupted, Cracked, and Mephite crystals on that list, though those last three are more for story reasons.

In one instance, when I ran Lessons from the Past for my F&D group, for the one character that was seeking a lightsaber, I included a kyber crystal in the final vault along with Val Isa's holocron, and when the PC attuned to it, I told him it was a Lorrdian Gemstone, which the player had told me was the type of crystal he wanted for his Guardian/Soresu Defender. In a different campaign, when my Sentinel/Shien Expert completed a fairly lengthy story quest of retracing the path of a long-dead fallen Jedi, when my character claimed the crystal of that Jedi's broken lighsaber and essentially purified it (adventure was run well before Disciples of Harmony was published), the GM let me choose the type of crystal I wanted, and later told me that had my character failed the test, it would have had a predetermined set of stats to reflect the crystal's dark side nature.

On 1/14/2020 at 3:15 PM, daggertx said:

Recently my group stopped at the 7-Eleven on Naboo to fill up the YT-1300 and we saw they had crystals next to the sunglass rack . We bought a few to hang from the mirror.

j/k

Must be in my group too Seriously I needed this laugh so much

I think I quite like FFG's kind of hybrid approach to the crystals - Kyber being a naturally occuring material which has some affinity for the force but how and where the deposit forms can impact it's crystalline properties. I got into Star Wars in the Young Jedi Knights into the New Jedi Order era of Legends so it kind of stuck with me thematically that the selection of crystal is kind of part of the process and it reflects on the personality of the wielder, and can be a quest into itself to obtain. Classic "the weapon is a reflection of the wielder" prop stuff. The fact that the crystals have different mechanical properties in this game works to satisfy some players desire for gear porn, but also lets lightsaber-wielding players stay thematic without locking themselves out of all kinds of fun special abilities and qualities which lots of other weapons have.

I think I like the Dragonpearl best just for thematic reasons (gotta kill a dragon to get it usually), but the description of Ghostfire is pretty rad.

In my game I have made customer crystals based on their characters career and focuses. One is combat since they are a dark sider, one help with perception and vigilance for the detective in the group. I kept the stats of the Illum Crystal, but then gave each 6 upgrades they can try to unlock which are focus around their character. Also when they earn a new force level I give them a new ability from crystal, representing as they become more in tuned with the force the crystals recognize it and give them more power. So far my players really like them, compared to alot of crystals they are under power for damage which I like so my bad guys last longer. All of the characters had to go on a quest to get their crystal based on their career or their emotional strength or Weakness.

But Book for the book one, I like the new one in the Clone wars books I think it is the Christopiss crystal where you can get breach 3, now saber throw is awesome at killing fighters or tanks.

1 hour ago, damnkid3 said:

In my game I have made customer crystals based on their characters career and focuses. One is combat since they are a dark sider, one help with perception and vigilance for the detective in the group. I kept the stats of the Illum Crystal, but then gave each 6 upgrades they can try to unlock which are focus around their character. Also when they earn a new force level I give them a new ability from crystal, representing as they become more in tuned with the force the crystals recognize it and give them more power. So far my players really like them, compared to alot of crystals they are under power for damage which I like so my bad guys last longer. All of the characters had to go on a quest to get their crystal based on their career or their emotional strength or Weakness.

But Book for the book one, I like the new one in the Clone wars books I think it is the Christopiss crystal where you can get breach 3, now saber throw is awesome at killing fighters or tanks.

I don't think there is any breach 3, but christophsis and another from rots can get breach 2.

But has a mod for +1 Breach. If you get that and the 3 damage mods then you can damage 4 armor vechiles with the saber and hope for good crits.

Add a fusion shunt for breach 4, just for over kill. If Qui Gon had that in Episode 1 then he would have be through the reinforced blast door in 2 seconds, haha!

1 hour ago, damnkid3 said:

But has a mod for +1 Breach. If you get that and the 3 damage mods then you can damage 4 armor vechiles with the saber and hope for good crits.

Add a fusion shunt for breach 4, just for over kill. If Qui Gon had that in Episode 1 then he would have be through the reinforced blast door in 2 seconds, haha!

uh, no sorry

the maximum lightsabers can get is breach 2 with 10 damage/breach 3 + 10 damage with the fusion shunt (with massive dice penalties if you try to attack normally with it)

the fusion shunt is precisely modeled to represent qui-gon melting the door with his saber in ep I, btw

to damage vehicles, your total personal damage must EXCEED armor (page 230 F&D core, don't remember other core books)

if your GM is generous, just slap a superior customization for 11 damage + breach 2/3 with shunt and you'll be able to crit armor 3/4 for 1 personal damage point above this threshold

if he isn't, you'll only be able to crit armor 2/3 max