Silly Jedi Counselling article!

[Plane Sailing]

I was just reading this issue of Jedi Counselling http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/article/sw20050519jc65 and was struck by the silliness of making this comment

A: Here's some errata for double-bladed lightsabers (revising a ruling from Jedi Counseling 17): When used with one blade ignited, they have the listed size. When both blades are ignited, they should be considered to be one size larger. Note that a double-bladed lightsaber always requires two hands to use, even if only one blade is ignited. The hilt is simply not balanced to be wielded in one hand.

just above this picture

http://www.wizards.com/global/images/starwars_article_sw20050519jc65_pic1_en.jpg

The only double-ended lightsabre in the movies and not only does Maul consistently use it in one hand or another, they even show a picture of him holding it in one hand.

*shakes head in bemusement*

- On the other hand, I do like two of the suggestions for variant force skill use:

Variant Rule: My Ally Is the Force

In this variant, you can use your Force points to help pay vitality costs of Force powers. By "exhausting" a Force point, you gain 10 extra vitality points that can only be used to pay the cost of a Force skill or feat. If these extra vitality points go unspent, they disappear after 1 minute (10 rounds). Alternately, you may have each Force point provide a number of vitality points equal to your character level.

Exhausting a Force point is a free action that may be performed only once a round, and you can't spend a Force point in the same round you exhaust one. An exhausted Force point can't be used for any other purpose, but it's not actually "spent" -- it becomes available again after 1 hour and can then be spent or exhausted normally.

Variant Rule: The Force Is Strong in This One

In this variant, your connection to the Force reduces the cost of some Force skills. Depending on how many Force points you currently have (not counting any "exhausted" Force points, as explained above), the vitality cost of Force powers and skills is changed:
Force Points Change in VP Cost
0 +1
1–3 +0
4–8 –1
9–15 –2
16–24 –3
etc. etc.

Apply this change in VP cost after all other modifiers due to feats or Force techniques, and this can never reduce the final VP cost below 1. Note that if you have spent all your Force points, your connection to the Force actually becomes weaker, making all Force skills and feats require more vitality points.

So on balance I like this article more than I don't like it

Cheers

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Maul never actually FIGHTS with only one hand on it. He just spins it around and shows off that way, but all through the fight he's got two hands on the weapon.

EDIT: About those two Force Point things...you aren't the only one that likes them. The second I saw them when the JC article was posted last week, I copied and pasted them into my KotOR game here on ENWorld to see what the players think. We're going to be testing them out and seeing how they work in actual gameplay.

 

[SWBaxter]

The only double-ended lightsabre in the movies and not only does Maul consistently use it in one hand or another, they even show a picture of him holding it in one hand.

"Requires two hands" in rules terms just means that you can't wield a weapon or other item in your off-hand while fighting. It doesn't mean you can't make cool poses.

 

[Selganor]

"The Force is my Ally" could get a bit out of hand as it provides a Jedi with LOTS of new Vitality (even if only usable for Force Skills).

A Jedi 5th who hasn't spent any Force Points has got at least 6 Force Points (1/Level +1 for Force Sensitive), so with this formula he could get 6*10= 60 "Force Vitality" PER HOUR if he exhausts them all. That's 1 Vitality/minute.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

and even with only one blade lit Maul still uses two hands for all of his attacks.

All in all I really liked the article too.

 

[wingsandsword]

There are two real schools of thought when it comes to the d20 Star Wars RPG with regard to Jedi, those who want them mechanically balanced and equal to everything else, and those who want them to be like the movies. The existing RCR is halfway between the two. They can't do everything from the movies, but they are more powerful than normal classes.

I remember a conversation with a member of the former group at my FLGS a few days ago, where he said there was no reason to ever play a non-Jedi, since they were the most powerful class and he thought Jedi were broken and unfair, and Consulars should be taken from the system as not powerful enough fighters so nobody ever plays them. (I asked, he also thought Nobles were kinda useless, but not needing to be removed from the game).

These optional rules are there for the latter, people who want their games to have that feel from the movies, where Jedi don't have to worry so much about a little "vitality meter" ticking away in the corner, and Jedi are heroes of the galaxy. If somebody is playing something else, it's because thats their character concept and there are heroes in Star Wars besides Jedi, not because it's the "most efficient" route to power (if you're playing a Jedi for raw power, as a GM I'd been cruel with the DSP's if that's the attitude you're bringing to the character).

If you're running a game set in the KOTOR/Tales of the Jedi era, or the Clone Wars, or even New Jedi Order where many or all of the PC's are Jedi and they are facing off against vast armies of Battle Droids/Vong/Whatever, giving them these power-ups isn't likely to bring a game crashing down. If it's a Rebellion or New-Republic era game with one Jedi PC in the party and the other PC's are already sensitive that the Jedi is a powerful character, it might be a little much.

 

[Khorod]

Not to mention that in the KotOR era, the cyber-enhancements could close that gap a bit. Somehow I don't see Jedi using those much.

And ifyou need to explain why Jedi might be weaker during the Rebellion era, the Dark Side was ascendant at that time.

 

[Plane Sailing]

There are two real schools of thought when it comes to the d20 Star Wars RPG with regard to Jedi, those who want them mechanically balanced and equal to everything else, and those who want them to be like the movies. The existing RCR is halfway between the two. They can't do everything from the movies, but they are more powerful than normal classes.

One of the things that bugs me a little is that I see so much in the RCR that I don't see in the movies at all, while missing out things that seem to be characteristic of jedi in the movies. I understand that "expanded universe" has a lot to answer for...