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Lightsaber Pulse
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Error
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 7:42 am    Post subject: Lightsaber Pulse Reply with quote

House ruled Force power. Another thread reminded me that I hadn't yet posted it for notes. It's pretty straightforward, but criticism is welcome.

Lightsaber Pulse

Control difficulty: Moderate (note the result)
Alter difficulty: Moderate

Effect:
This ability allows a Jedi wielding a lightsaber to use the Force to make his or her lightsaber emit a single blinding pulse. Characters with eyes (or equivalent) who are facing in the Jedi's general direction, to a distance of 50 meters, may be affected. Such individuals must roll their PER vs. the Jedi's Control result (from above) to resist the attack. Should anyone fail to resist, that being is completely blinded for 1D+X rounds, where X is equal to the total dice in the Jedi's Control (pips do not count). Beings wearing sunglasses, shielding hats, or helmets receive a +1D bonus to their PER for purposes of resisting this attack.
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Last edited by Error on Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Sutehp
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blind anyone within 100 meters? How friggin' bright a pulse is this? And something that would blind someone at 100 meters would also blind the Jedi holding the lightsaber (he's standing at Ground Zero of this power, after all). Not to mention that this power wouldn't affect stormtroopers and the like because of their helmets. Or the fact that it would affect nearby allies as well enemies.

And what is actually happening inside the lightsaber to justify/explain the light pulse? Does using this power destroy the focusing crystal or somehow overload or otherwise damage the mechanisms inside the lightsaber?

Is creating this light pulse even conceivable without suspension of disbelief? In other words, is this something that most players would find to be Narm rather than cool?

This sounds like an Exalted's anima banner flaring but only alot less cool and far more trouble than it's worth. Embarassed
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Dustflier
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually like the idea from a lore standpoint. It's creative, but fits in with the powers we see from Obi-Wan in ANH. Like knocking on a distant object, it's a manipulation of a single sense.

Though I agree that 100m is too great a range.

Sutehp wrote:
And what is actually happening inside the lightsaber to justify/explain the light pulse? Does using this power destroy the focusing crystal or somehow overload or otherwise damage the mechanisms inside the lightsaber?


It makes sense as a simple power surge, and maybe contributes to draining the power pack quickly? The extra electricity is just being turned into light rather than heat. I don't think that would break anything.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dustflier wrote:
I actually like the idea from a lore standpoint. It's creative, but fits in with the powers we see from Obi-Wan in ANH. Like knocking on a distant object, it's a manipulation of a single sense.

Though I agree that 100m is too great a range.

Sutehp wrote:
And what is actually happening inside the lightsaber to justify/explain the light pulse? Does using this power destroy the focusing crystal or somehow overload or otherwise damage the mechanisms inside the lightsaber?


It makes sense as a simple power surge, and maybe contributes to draining the power pack quickly? The extra electricity is just being turned into light rather than heat. I don't think that would break anything.


I dunno about that. As Kylo Ren's lightsaber showed, having something as simple as a cracked crystal is enough to render a lightsaber unstable (if still technically usable). And in the novel Ahsoka, Ahsoka was able to defeat the Sixth Brother just by telekinetically moving the crystals inside his lightsabers, thus making them explode in his face. If such a minor thing as moving a focusing crystal a few milimeters inside a lightsaber casing can cause it to friggin' explode, then how can one cause a light pulse extending dozens of meters away from a lightsaber without permanently damaging said lightsaber, or the one wielding the lightsaber (or, for that matter, anyone else in the vicinity)?
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Error
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 4:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll reduce it to like 5 meters per Control die or something then, or just stick it at a static value like 50 meters.

I was trying to imagine this as one of those Space Opera things that I'm not going to explain any further than that. It doesn't blind the Jedi, break anything, or drain anything especially fast. It's a Force-assisted amplification of the light of the Jedi's lightsaber. That's as technical as I'll get Smile What happens in Darth Vader's boots in ESB when he levitates down the stairs during his duel with Luke? lol

You can imagine playing with it that it isn't especially awesome all the time. You could blind friendlies within a group unless you establish a codeword for "Close your eyes!" beforehand. I still think it affects Stormtroopers and the like but anyone with a semitransparent barrier between their "eyes" and the lightsaber do get a bonus to resist.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How's about a range. Short 2m per D of control. Medium 4M, long 6M. Affects allies as well as enemies. Jedi holding it is also affected, but due to his intuitition, he gains +1d to his soak roll..
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Zarn
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 7:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Favorite power of Miralukan Jedi.

Also, instead of moving any crystals, how about just compressing them slightly and then releasing them? A 1 on a wild die might mean that the crystal shattered from the stress, though.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Range would be more like 1-5/20/50. I realize one might think that's a long ways, and maybe it is, but it still doesn't make it overpowering. It's actually best when you have a single enemy you can surprise with it.

garhkal you could undersell anyone 8)

Zarn does this exist written up elsewhere? I'd love to see another take on it and how it differs.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 2:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

50m is still way overpowered. Heck look at the Luma Flare, or the Thermal detonator. Even those big boys max out at 20m blast radius. Most grenades are around 15-20m blast radi..
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Zarn
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used a quip - a humorous aside, if you will. Miralukans have no eyes. They couldn't care less about any Force power that generated a super-bright flash of light.
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Dustflier
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sutehp wrote:
I dunno about that. As Kylo Ren's lightsaber showed, having something as simple as a cracked crystal is enough to render a lightsaber unstable (if still technically usable).


A cracked crystal hardly counts as "something simple." It would certainly be more simple to use extra energy from the powerpack to make the blade glow more brightly.

Sutehp wrote:
And in the novel Ahsoka, Ahsoka was able to defeat the Sixth Brother just by telekinetically moving the crystals inside his lightsabers, thus making them explode in his face. If such a minor thing as moving a focusing crystal a few milimeters inside a lightsaber casing can cause it to friggin' explode, then how can one cause a light pulse extending dozens of meters away from a lightsaber without permanently damaging said lightsaber, or the one wielding the lightsaber (or, for that matter, anyone else in the vicinity)?


By not making it the result of messing with the crystals? I didn't mention them at all. How is this related?
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Last edited by Dustflier on Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:19 am; edited 1 time in total
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Error
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal, I'd be more inclined to listen to your estimations of what is too much and what is too little if you actually showed how 50m is too far instead of just guessing that a 50m range is overpowered. You haven't played with it, no testing has been done, yet you are absolutely positive 50m is too far. This is why I don't listen to you, usually.

I'm going to say the range is fine at 50m until I run into a situation which disproves that. That's how you test things.

The rest of you guys, I'm not going into anything having to do with crystals or power cells or anything else. The rest of you seem to be the ones who want to discuss that. I already said that this is a Force-assisted amplification of the light of the Jedi's lightsaber.

Why everything on this forum requires thousands of words of explanation, it seems, while the things we see in the movies are not required to be qualified at all, will never cease to amaze me. People care more about the HOW than the COOL here sometimes, and it's really hard to wade through.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Error wrote:
Why everything on this forum requires thousands of words of explanation, it seems, while the things we see in the movies are not required to be qualified at all, will never cease to amaze me. People care more about the HOW than the COOL here sometimes, and it's really hard to wade through.


I respect the fact that you're going ahead and using this power without worrying about the "how." Star Wars has always been hand-wave-y and this is rule of cool. I get that.

But when something is posted on a forum, the point is to discuss it. It might even seem like responses nitpick certain aspects that you have no interest in, or "miss the point" to get stuck on something only tangentally related. But because everyone comes at things from a different perspective, that's just a reflection of where their focus lies.

I guess what I'm saying is: once you've posted your house rule Force power here, you're inviting other people to argue about whatever details catch their attention.

garhkal is worried about the range making it overpowered. Sutehp doesn't think lightsabers work that way, or would require messing with the crystals, which makes lightsabers explode. Zarn agrees that it would require messing with the crystals, but doesn't think that's such a bad thing. I think it could be achieved by using the Force to drain the powerpack into the blade. You can tell that we all think differently about the same idea, but that's what makes forums like these great.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Error wrote:
garhkal, I'd be more inclined to listen to your estimations of what is too much and what is too little if you actually showed how 50m is too far instead of just guessing that a 50m range is overpowered. You haven't played with it, no testing has been done, yet you are absolutely positive 50m is too far. This is why I don't listen to you, usually.


I did try to explain. Grenades, Thermal detonators, missiles, all have a LOWER blast radi.. SO why would a force inspired pulse of light, have a bigger blast zone than most of those other things?
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Sutehp
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My thing is whether the Force can actually create a light pulse from a lightsaber (or any other light source). As Han Solo once famously said:

Han Solo wrote:
That's not how the Force works!


Error can invoke the Rule of Cool as much as he likes but I don't think, IMHO of course, that the awesomeness (such as it is) of a pulse of light from a lightsaber is enough to overcome the limit of Willing Suspension of Disbelief. In other words, I think this power is more silly than awesome; that's why I'm skeptical of it. (Using the Force to temporarily turn a lightsaber into a flashbang grenade? Really?) That's just me, however; others here on this forum disagree with me. To each their own.
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