[SWd20] Saber-Stars?

[DnDChick]

A friend of mine came up with this idea ... throwing stars using lightsaber technology.

Basically, this weapon would resemble a disk about 3" across and about about a half inch thick. It would consist of 3 miniature lightsaber focus points powered by a single crystal. When the wielder presses a button in the middle of the disk it arms, and when the button is released 3 small lightsaber blades (3" long or so) extend from the rim. The disk can then be thrown shiruken-style. The impact of the disk hitting the target deactivates the blades.

This would, of course, be a rare weapon and require Exotic Thrown Weapons proficiency.


Damage: 1d6
Cost: Don't know yet ... still thinking about it
Feat Required: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Exotic Thrown Weapon)
Range: As a thrown dagger



So what do you think ... should I let him have 1 or 2 of these?

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Your the GM its your call but the damage just doesn’t sit well with me. Small lightsabers (like Yoda's) do 2d6, and normal lightsabers do 2d8.

I would almost suggest 2d4 but that seems like a tad much to me… Maybe 1d6 is right.

You do need to ask yourself if the bonus damage from being a Jedi is included in this. (Which I don’t think it shouldn’t be as it’s not truly a weapon of a Jedi… A Jedi would almost be required to retrieve the weapon though…)

Base costs should be at least 3000 credits. (same price as a lightsaber)

 

[Mavnn]

It's a cool idea, but the problem at the moment is that you pay more (both in feats and a higher monetary cost) for a weapon that's worse than a blaster pistol.

If you're letting jedi damage dice stack, that helps, as does ignoring hardness (which I assume it does, like other lightsabers) but it still seems a bit weak.

 

[DnDChick]

I'd say the bonus damage does not apply. That damage specifically states that it applies to lightsabers, and although this device would use lightsaber technology it is not a lightsaber.

Honestly, for all the trouble it takes to get one and use it effectively it only does slightly more damage than a thrown dagger, and except for ignoring the DR it's hardly worth it except for the "cool factor" ... but I think that's what he is after anyway.

Still ... he'd be better off throwing vibrodaggers. *shrug*

 

[Mavnn]

In that case I'd up the damage to at least match the vibrodagger.

After all, IRC, a lightsaber does more damage than a vibrosword...

Alternatively, given that he's paid a feat for it and it does less damage than other weapons he could use without a feat, you could give it some special abilities: bouncing it into several opponents, returning it to hand, etc.

I know, I know, style is cool, and I've chosen to play 'inefficient' characters before (my knife thrower in Cyberpunk 2020 springs to mind) but as a GM I try to make these things as practical as possible to encourage them further.

 

[DnDChick]

Good points all around.

I might drop the Exotic feat requirement and up the damgage a little. I think the Exotic feat requirement was just a bargaining chit he threw in to help get me to agree to it. EVen with increased damage, burning a feat to be able to use these effectively is not worth it IMO.

 

[wingsandsword]

It's your game, but I would never allow it. 3 blades per disk? Just think that it takes 3 months to make one and he got 3 force points from it. Would you allow a Jedi who said "I want to make 6 extra lightsabers so I can throw them when I get into a fight."?

It takes a Jedi quite a while to make a single lightsaber, normally about a month by the rules (and EU, and by the rules and EU you could crank one out in a few days if you were lucky/good). It requires spending a Force Point, and you get two back when you're done. Every Star Wars GM I know house rules it that you have to have made your own saber by 7th level or you can't take Jedi Level 7 or higher (i.e. become a Knight).

This makes each lightsaber something special, unique. The bond between a Jedi and his saber is something special. Making a cluster of disposable throwing sabers seems to really cheapen that, it would be very time consuming (and be a big Force Point factory for a PC), and it seems out of style for a Jedi. A lightsaber is something special, there is a reason they don't mass produce them to hand out to non-Jedi allies or carry spare sabers on their belt.

 

[DnDChick]

Excellent points, Wings.

I guess in a sci-fi setting that had generic "power swords" the technology would work, and it could *theoretically* work in Star Wars, but put that way, I can see how "saber" stars go against the grain of all that a lightsaber is supposed to be.

He will have to be happy with vibro-daggers or, at best, vibro-stars.

Thanks.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Vibro-stars would be very cool. Do you have the Hero's Guide? There's a feat in it that lets you pull a thrown weapon back to you hand. It's under the Ziesen Sha, I think.

 

[AmorphousBlob]

If you ask me, not only would a "saber star" cheapen the relationship of a Jedi to his/her lightsaber, it also just plainly wouldn't work from a technology standpoint. From my recollection, George Lucas was extremely particular about the way the actors used their lightsabers in the classic trilogy because the technology that produced the beam was supposed to be very gyroscopically intense. Holding a lightsaber still was supposed to take as much effort as holding a motorized mace that would spin automatically. In the prequels, the Jedi were still around so their more active training allowed them to do the more fast paced fighting we saw in episodes I-III.