So, I have a character idea I think would be fun to build, if not monstrously cliche, and I've run into a little problem:

(The following is all fluff and explanatory)

Ethan was a very young Padawan at the tail end of the Clone Wars. He and his Master were assigned to more spycraft like assignments, gathering intel from Separatist worlds. While on a mission, Ethan was gravely injured, and needed hospital care. A blind account existed for their work, so paying for services was no issue, but the only close hospital was a Separatist facility, so they needed to remain in character. While he was recuperating, Ethan's Master received a communique; General Grievous had been located, and a Jedi task force was being assembled to take him down. Ethan's Master was needed, and so she had to leave the still wounded Ethan there, but said he would be fine. She took his lightsaber with her, to ensure it would not be discovered among his things, raising alarm. This was the last he saw of her, for she was cut down by Grievous, along with the rest of the strike team.

Shortly thereafter, the war ended, and the universe became a dark place for Jedi. Already out on the Rim, Ethan simply disappeared, doing what other young orphan children must do to survive. He moved from place to place, and tried not to attract attention to himself, but eventually, he slipped up. A man with a past witnessed Ethan do something Force-like, and caught him. Contacting the Empire, looking to collect the bounty Jedi fugitives were still worth, he waited. His daughter, on the other hand, got to know Ethan, and did not favor her father's plan to turn him over. A conversation involving Ethan noticing something she said, something that made him think of the Force, alarmed her father, who knew that if the Inquisitor saw the Force in her, she would also be taken.

This leads to the group of them running for it, and having to fall back on her father's old life to survive. Some other stuff happens, and Ethan, ever on the lookout for Jedi relics, learns where his lightsaber might be. Apparently, after Grievous was destroyed, a greedy noble acquired his collection of lightsabers, and it has sold around once or twice since. When Ethan hears of it, the lightsabers are in the possession of a high-ranking crime lord, kept in his private vault, and Ethan wants to sneak in and get them back. He specifically wants his, and his Master's back, but he feels that, someday, he might have something to do with rebuilding the Order, something the galaxy could certainly use, and those new Jedi could use existing lightsabers. Eventually, he does manage to get them, but that's a story for a different post...

(Here ends fluff)

So, eventually I plan for Ethan to reclaim his lightsaber, and maybe his former Master's, too; he might give it to his friend of his he assumes also has Force potential. The trick here is, I have my dice set, and I was testing out some rolls. Ethan would have Agi 3. That gets him 3 Ability dice and 2 Diff dice, since ALL melee combat is that hard. I accept that Ethan gets no Prof. dice upgrades; he wasn't good with a lightsaber when he started, and hasn't had one in almost two decades, but the diff dice almost always roll threats as if I want them, and I don't know what a player might do to try and improve the above melee combat skill. I accept that, at the moment, he's not very good with it, and he's not supposed to be, in this game, but what stuff could he maybe acquire along down the road to get better with his future weapon of choice? Even the Forsaken Jedi (p.412) doesn't seem to have much for his lightsaber, beyond he's VERY proficient with it. What can I do to become rudimentally better with it, assuming the skill for lightsabers remains unavailable? Again, I know that this is a bit cliche, with the way EotE is currently handling lightsabers and Jedi, but there have to be people who still want to maximize the efficiency of their priceless weapon that attracts shots and attention like no other. Thanks.

You could make lightsabers a custom skill, and put ranks in it with XP as normal.

The rules specify that lightsabers are influenced by your Agility or Brawn, whichever you prefer.

And since it won't be a career skill, he would have to put extra effort (aka 5 extra XP) into each rank to show that he's really training hard.

I love the idea though.

Okay, I'll point this a bit differently. If, for a time, I say that the skill just won't be available, I don't plan on him finding a holocron, and Yoda will not assist him, are there any good Talents or such that might aide in using it, without specifically saying "melee", and hedging lightsabers out? I'll never completely accept the need to say lightsabers are SO different a weapon, and people thinking only Force-wielders should somehow be able to use them, but I would think that there might be some melee combat-oriented Talents in the book that might apply to using the lightsaber, or be fudged to get something out of it. Grievous is a lightsaber-blender, and he has NO Force power (even an attempted blood transfusion of Sifa Dias didn't give the Kaleesh warlord-bot nifty powers). I don't know if he'd just be pure Brawn 6 + Lightsaber 5 + 4 arms in combat (p.210), or if, being a more soldier/gladiator build than your average Jedi, even if trained by one, he might have some more unorthodox Talents, to compensate for the lack of Force-enhancements?

Are there any good Talents in this book that a prospective lightsaber swinger might want to get? He's primarily a Fringer/Scout/FSE, right now, but this game can be pretty flexible.

The best melee talents are found in HG Marauder and in BH Assassin.

And I'm a full proponent of anyone being able to use a lightsaber. I mean, once you get the general concept down, there's not a lot of difference between beating to death with a sword, a baseball bat, a golf club, or a blade of pure plasma energy.

For this reason, I let people use 1/2 of their melee skill towards Lightsabers, and 1/2 of their Lightsaber skill towards Melee (rounded down of course).

I mean, a Jedi Master with 5 LS and 0 Melee given a vibrosword should still be able to beat the **** out of people with some level of competance. And a expert Vibrosword Duelsist given a lightsaber should be able to transfer some of his deadly skill into the deadly weapon, even if it is a bit different.

Well, there is the 'combat sense' Control Upgrade for the Sense power, which by the time you get it would grant 2 upgrades to your attack roll. So with an Agility of 3 and no skill dice, Ethan would be rolling 2 proficiency and 1 ability die just from the Upgrade by itself.

Or like DylanRPG suggested above, just allow Lightsaber to be a custom skill that the player will have to buy at the non-career cost, which might reflect quite well how difficult he's found using the weapon, and what little expertise he gains has been earned with much time, struggle, and effort.

Well, there is the 'combat sense' Control Upgrade for the Sense power, which by the time you get it would grant 2 upgrades to your attack roll. So with an Agility of 3 and no skill dice, Ethan would be rolling 2 proficiency and 1 ability die just from the Upgrade by itself.

Or like DylanRPG suggested above, just allow Lightsaber to be a custom skill that the player will have to buy at the non-career cost, which might reflect quite well how difficult he's found using the weapon, and what little expertise he gains has been earned with much time, struggle, and effort.

I wish to make sure I get the jist of this. So, build up the Sense power a lot (50 points), and then, at the start of the combat, I activate the Force power, and then, for the rest of the fight, I give up access to one Force die (likely the one I have) so that, while fighting, I can bump up some dice to Prof dice? All in all, that seems rather cool, I think.

It seems to be fairly unreasonable not to eventually use the Lightsaber skill, given that it already exists within EotE. There's nothing to say that the user has to be formally trained. Even if you invent your own style, training with a weapon will make you better and more proficient at using it over time.

Having said that, there are a number of talents that would help a lightsaber wielder:

• Bounty Hunter/Assassin = Dodge, Precise Aim, Jump Up, Targeted Blow, Anatomy Lessons
• Explorer/Friger: It's expensive, but if you can get to Knockdown/Dodge/Dodge...
• Explorer/Scout has a fairly cheap dose of Disorient

Hmmm. I thought there's be more in the Hired Gun trees, but I guess not. Some nice defensive abilities, but probably cost prohibitive.

I wish to make sure I get the jist of this. So, build up the Sense power a lot (50 points), and then, at the start of the combat, I activate the Force power, and then, for the rest of the fight, I give up access to one Force die (likely the one I have) so that, while fighting, I can bump up some dice to Prof dice? All in all, that seems rather cool, I think.

That's it exactly. And it works with any check you make for a combat skill.

If you've got a Force Rating of 2, you could sink both dice into both of Sense's Ongoing Effect powers, and not only get 2 free upgrades when making a combat skill check, but also get to upgrade the difficulty of a single attack aimed at you by 2 (turning a melee attack from 2 purple to 2 red), and can do so twice per round.

It takes a lot of XP (over a 150 all said and done) and a couple of turns to set it up (as activating an Ongoing Effect counts as your Action), but once you do, it's a pretty potent combo. I did a few high-end stress tests during the Beta period using a homebrewed Jedi specialization (which eventually became the Jedi Initiate from my "Ways of the Force" fan supplement) and he was pretty kickass in a melee fight, even with only two ranks of Lightsaber.

That's it exactly. And it works with any check you make for a combat skill.

If you've got a Force Rating of 2, you could sink both dice into both of Sense's Ongoing Effect powers, and not only get 2 free upgrades when making a combat skill check, but also get to upgrade the difficulty of a single attack aimed at you by 2 (turning a melee attack from 2 purple to 2 red), and can do so twice per round.

It takes a lot of XP (over a 150 all said and done) and a couple of turns to set it up (as activating an Ongoing Effect counts as your Action), but once you do, it's a pretty potent combo. I did a few high-end stress tests during the Beta period using a homebrewed Jedi specialization (which eventually became the Jedi Initiate from my "Ways of the Force" fan supplement) and he was pretty kickass in a melee fight, even with only two ranks of Lightsaber.

Ongoing effects also last indefinitely, until you cancel them as an incidental, right? So if you expect a fight, you could just keep those sense upgrades going and going until you need to free up a force die later on for something, or as far as I have read in to it. That's pretty much my plan for whenever I play a FSE.

It seems to be fairly unreasonable not to eventually use the Lightsaber skill, given that it already exists within EotE. There's nothing to say that the user has to be formally trained. Even if you invent your own style, training with a weapon will make you better and more proficient at using it over time.

Having said that, there are a number of talents that would help a lightsaber wielder:

• Bounty Hunter/Assassin = Dodge, Precise Aim, Jump Up, Targeted Blow, Anatomy Lessons
• Explorer/Friger: It's expensive, but if you can get to Knockdown/Dodge/Dodge...
• Explorer/Scout has a fairly cheap dose of Disorient

Hmmm. I thought there's be more in the Hired Gun trees, but I guess not. Some nice defensive abilities, but probably cost prohibitive.

Primarily, I'm only being unreasonable because the book has gone so far as to not include the skill. Yeah, the Forsaken Jedi has it, and it COULD be taken, but you are doing it in a way that seems to argue with the book's current plan. Certainly, Ethan would eventually get the skill, but there would definitely be a time where he has no lightsaber, and focuses on a pistol, or something, and then a span where he will have it, but no skill in it, just because, and having a plan to make that work that is within the book, helps me out.

I'm not sure how the other Professions work in my mind. I am planning on him being a nore sneaky, beneath notice guy; one who can be rather self-sufficient, and has remained hidden from various interested parties, over the decade plus. While i don't mind getting some stuff from Hired Gun or Bounty Hunter, those won't be his job, so how important is it to a character. Can you round out your talents with BH, and not be a bounty hunter, just an Explorer with some other useful Talents?

I wish to make sure I get the jist of this. So, build up the Sense power a lot (50 points), and then, at the start of the combat, I activate the Force power, and then, for the rest of the fight, I give up access to one Force die (likely the one I have) so that, while fighting, I can bump up some dice to Prof dice? All in all, that seems rather cool, I think.

That's it exactly. And it works with any check you make for a combat skill.

If you've got a Force Rating of 2, you could sink both dice into both of Sense's Ongoing Effect powers, and not only get 2 free upgrades when making a combat skill check, but also get to upgrade the difficulty of a single attack aimed at you by 2 (turning a melee attack from 2 purple to 2 red), and can do so twice per round.

It takes a lot of XP (over a 150 all said and done) and a couple of turns to set it up (as activating an Ongoing Effect counts as your Action), but once you do, it's a pretty potent combo. I did a few high-end stress tests during the Beta period using a homebrewed Jedi specialization (which eventually became the Jedi Initiate from my "Ways of the Force" fan supplement) and he was pretty kickass in a melee fight, even with only two ranks of Lightsaber.

That seems pretty **** cool. I can see him willingly giving up the Force die to get the benefits of this plan. Yeah, a bit spendy, especially if you add getting the Force Rathing +1 talent, but probably worth it. Thanks.

I'm not sure how the other Professions work in my mind. I am planning on him being a nore sneaky, beneath notice guy; one who can be rather self-sufficient, and has remained hidden from various interested parties, over the decade plus. While i don't mind getting some stuff from Hired Gun or Bounty Hunter, those won't be his job, so how important is it to a character. Can you round out your talents with BH, and not be a bounty hunter, just an Explorer with some other useful Talents?

Yes, you can. Each talent tree can be bought into after you start your career (it's more expensive if it isn't in your career to buy into it, but once there the talents are normal cost). A Politico could buy into Slicing if the Scholar happened to be quite interested in doing research in computer systems he didn't have access to. A Bounty Hunter who really wants to be able to out fly his targets might also become a Pilot. A Scout might well want to be a Survivalist, too.

What you shouldn't do, however, is buy into a Specialization that you only want one or two talents out of. Each specialization increases the cost for your next one by 10 xp, and unless you've been playing the game for a few years, you're probably not going to find more than perhaps four specializations that suit your character.