D&D 5E (2014) The Sun Blade is a Lightsaber?

[seebs]

The 3E "brilliant energy" weapon always gets pointed to as "like a lightsaber", but it's nothing like a lightsaber.

Brilliant energy: NO EFFECT ON INANIMATE MATERIAL.
Lightsaber: Cuts metal and stone.

 

[Bacon Bits]

The 3E "brilliant energy" weapon always gets pointed to as "like a lightsaber", but it's nothing like a lightsaber.

Brilliant energy: NO EFFECT ON INANIMATE MATERIAL.
Lightsaber: Cuts metal and stone.

That's mostly because a real lightsaber that cuts metal and stone is ridiculously useful. We had a DM that made the mistake of giving us one in 2e. It worked exactly like a lightsaber... for about three sessions. Then it basically functioned like a brilliant energy weapon. A real lightsaber is too useful.

"You find the outline of a door in the wall."
"I open the door."
"How do you try to open it?"
"We cut through the wall with the lightsaber."
"Uh... you won't be able to close it."
"Yep."

"We destroy the altar and the chalice."
"How?"
"I cut it to shreds with the lightsaber."

"There's a deep pit that extends down the passageway. You can't see the bottom of the pit, but you can can see that the passage continues about 50' away, but there's no obvious way there."
"OK, we carve a ledge we can walk on with the lightsaber."
"That's going to take awhile."
"Yep. We have time."
"Where do you put the rock you cut out?"
"Into the pit!"

"You find a steel chest."
"I search it for traps."
"There are no traps."
"I open it."
"The lid does not open."
"OK, we cut the hinges off with the lightsaber."
"There aren't any visible hinges."
"You might hit something inside."
"Yep. We're not going that deep. We cut the top inch of the chest off."

"The door is locked and appears to be held."
"We cut through it with the lightsaber."
"It's adamantine; that won't work."
"Yeah, but door frame is still stone, right? Or the frame is set in stone? So we cut the whole door out. Or just go through a wall."

Seriously. Being able to cut into anything with no effort solves so many adventuring problems. There are no longer any obstacles anymore. Everybody at the table figured it was a problem pretty quickly.

 

[hejtmane]

In prior editions, the sun blade seemed like a regular sword that had the ability to light up. In 5e, it's very much a lightsaber.

Nothing wrong with that, of course.

However, I have to ask - was my original assumption that the sun blade was an actual sword correct, or has it been a lightsaber all along? I've looked back to the 2e and 3e descriptions, and I could see it going either way.

Thoughts?

It looks the same as the 1e days I have no clue about 3 or 4 editions

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Morrus]

The 3E "brilliant energy" weapon always gets pointed to as "like a lightsaber", but it's nothing like a lightsaber.

Brilliant energy: NO EFFECT ON INANIMATE MATERIAL.
Lightsaber: Cuts metal and stone.

It's *like* a lightsaber. It's not *identical* to a lightsaber. It's certainly not *nothing* like a lightsaber. A cabbage is nothing like a lightsaber, as is a velociraptor. A brilliant energy weapon is definitely like a lightsaber.

 

[Brandegoris]

My Sun Blade is STILL like 2nd edition. it IS a blade, Period. NO silly wannabe lightsabers in my fantasy game. Silly 5th edition D&D

 

[seebs]

It's *like* a lightsaber. It's not *identical* to a lightsaber. It's certainly not *nothing* like a lightsaber. A cabbage is nothing like a lightsaber, as is a velociraptor. A brilliant energy weapon is definitely like a lightsaber.

I'd say it's less like a lightsaber than a flame tongue is. It does not in any way make me think "lightsaber" because the defining characteristic of brilliant energy weapon is "no effect on inanimate objects", and that's... pretty much not even part of lightsabers.

 

[seebs]

That's mostly because a real lightsaber that cuts metal and stone is ridiculously useful. We had a DM that made the mistake of giving us one in 2e. It worked exactly like a lightsaber... for about three sessions. Then it basically functioned like a brilliant energy weapon. A real lightsaber is too useful.

I think it was "wand of force" in 1e that did the "blade that can cut anything".

 

[Morrus]

I'd say it's less like a lightsaber than a flame tongue is. It does not in any way make me think "lightsaber" because the defining characteristic of brilliant energy weapon is "no effect on inanimate objects", and that's... pretty much not even part of lightsabers.

The defining characteristic of a lightsaber is that it's a sword made of energy. Much like, say, a brilliant energy weapon. Anything else is just details. So the lightsaber is 4 inches longer than the BEW or the BEW is a lighter shade of blue, or one doesn't work on inanimate objects, or whatever. None of those things make them "nothing like" each other.

A rapier isn't "nothing like" a longsword. It's nothing like a spaceship, or a fish, but it's not nothing like a longsword.

 

[seebs]

... okay now I get it, I've been trying to figure out for AGES why people thought "brilliant energy" was like "lightsaber", because in my mental map, "is effectively solid" was essential, and nothing not-solid would count as being much like that. But if you're focusing on "made of energy" rather than "made of energy which is effectively solid", that totally makes sense.

TIL: Not all people have identical intutions or ontologies.

 

[egomann]

OK, a little OT but isn't this the perfect weapon for an Elven Rogue. It is a Longsword with the Finesse AND the Versatile properties so you can use it two handed for 1d10 on Sneak Attacks.