Lightsaber Duels

[C. Baize]

In having this discussion on another board as well, someone brought up this article which makes many many good points. Especially the bit about attacking the opponent's weapon.
Personally, I feel that as prevalent as that is (we see it a lot in movies and books), it might warrant its own feat tree.
Or Talent Tree for anyone D20 Modernizing Star Wars...

 

[Angel Tarragon]

whoops, wrong thread.

 

[Peterson]

For those that prefer their combat options to have more than just flavor effects: Style Points

Ever want to throw sand in someone's eyes before tackling them to the ground, but worried about Reflex saves and Grapple checks?

Ever wish you could sucker-punch that mook that's engaged you in a serious duel, but fear an Attack of Opportunity or losing out on damage?

Then allow me to introduce Style Points! This drop-in mechanic allows you to do all those cool flips, back-hands, and dirty tactics that you've always envied in the movies.

So, how does Style Points work? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Simply put, it's inspired by the Action Point mechanic from D20 Modern. Every level, you get one Style Point (so spend it wisely). All you got to do is use the Style Point - and describe in detail to the GM what you want to accomplish (nothing too complicated like parrying a dozen blaster bolts while doing the splits with one leg on a speeder bike and the other leg on another bike) - and Bam! Instant Gratification.

You instantly hit if you needed to hit. You automatically do minimum damage if it was an attack (I don't care if you hit with your bare hand - minimum damage with your lightsaber is fine with me). You get all this and more. More, you say? Yes, I did...now stop echoing me.

If you happen to time the use of this awesome feature with a dramatic moment in the plot/game/whatever the GM decides, then you get the Style Point BACK!

Back?

Yes, back. Now, move along. Nothing to see here.

There you go. That's all I have for you.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'd like to see a "weapon lock" special move. Yeah, it's not realistic, but we see it all the time.

I use five sword defense stances IMC - eg the "roof" is if you hold the sword above your head, facing upwards, the "ox" is the same, but the sword is facing your opponent, etc. No weapon style feats yet, though. I'll need to check out Iron Lore for that.

 

[Roudi]

For those that prefer their combat options to have more than just flavor effects: Style Points

Ever want to throw sand in someone's eyes before tackling them to the ground, but worried about Reflex saves and Grapple checks?

Ever wish you could sucker-punch that mook that's engaged you in a serious duel, but fear an Attack of Opportunity or losing out on damage?

Then allow me to introduce Style Points! This drop-in mechanic allows you to do all those cool flips, back-hands, and dirty tactics that you've always envied in the movies.

So, how does Style Points work? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Simply put, it's inspired by the Action Point mechanic from D20 Modern. Every level, you get one Style Point (so spend it wisely). All you got to do is use the Style Point - and describe in detail to the GM what you want to accomplish (nothing too complicated like parrying a dozen blaster bolts while doing the splits with one leg on a speeder bike and the other leg on another bike) - and Bam! Instant Gratification.

You instantly hit if you needed to hit. You automatically do minimum damage if it was an attack (I don't care if you hit with your bare hand - minimum damage with your lightsaber is fine with me). You get all this and more. More, you say? Yes, I did...now stop echoing me.

If you happen to time the use of this awesome feature with a dramatic moment in the plot/game/whatever the GM decides, then you get the Style Point BACK!

Back?

Yes, back.

This is now House Rule #1 in all my games.

I already give out additional XP and/or additional bonuses for good playing. This should encourage some REALLY good playing.

 

[Khorod]

These options, unfortunately, draw AoOs, and most are either suboptimal or punish you for doing them (eg drawing an AoO). I've never seen a player initiate a trip or grapple if they didn't have the feat, for instance.

That's sad. We see it all the time, feat or no feat. These are great combat maneuvers, and the payoff if successful is worth the risk of abject failure.

Lock Weapon: (This option requires Improved Disarm) If you succeed a Disarm attempt by more than five, you may choose to lock your opponent's weapon with your own. As a move action, your opponent may attempt to free their weapon by succeeding in an opposed Disarm roll against you. You may release your weapon (and theirs) as a free action.

The locked weapons are no longer considered to be weilded by the characters for any purpose- in short, both characters are temporarily disarmed of these weapons.

The locker, or individual who has control of the lock, may make a further disarm to actually drop his opponents weapon to the ground.

You may lock weapon when Unarmed at a further -4 penalty. Failure provokes an AoO.

 

[Plane Sailing]

One other thing is that you see alot of "wasted" attacks in the movies... No one in the game is going to kick someone for little damage when the lightsaber deals more damage, and might just have a better chance of hitting.

The original SW d20 had a 'knockback' rule - you land a kick or blow to knock the target back and possibly off their feat. It fitted 100% with the feel of the movies, and is especially useful in fights with interesting environments - you see it used in the Maul/Jinn/Kenobi fight to good effect, for instance.

The stripped it from the RCR for some reason - probably just wanting to harmonise better with standard D&D. Bad move though. Use it if you can get it.

Another (RCR compatible) way of handling the kicks/blows is to consider them to be trip attacks - that tends to be how they were used in the films (to knock people prone) and that has a good in-game mechanical reason for wanting to do it in a melee too.

Cheers

 

[Plane Sailing]

I find the simplest way to give some of the flavour of lightsabre duels from the films is to allow an opponent to make opposed attack rolls to attempt to block the incoming attacks. Each block after the first in a round has a cumulative -5 penalty.

Very simple rule, and it goes a long way to mechanically providing for the flavour that we see on screen, especially between two well matched opponents.

Cheers