Starting out with lightsaber?

If you're a Jedi Guardian can you start out with a lightsaber or do you have to buy one?

 

I am absolutely of the mind that in ANY era, any Jedi character should start with a lightsaber.

Rule #1 of the Game: Have fun.

A Jedi character without a lightsaber at the beginning of a game is no fun.

Now, having said that -- I, personally, LOVE campaigns when a hero is stripped of gadgets, gear, etc. and have to rely entirely on themselves and ingenuity. But that should occur later in the game and usually not at the beginnings...

 

and then there's the unspoken rule of the Lightsabre.

no matter what weapons you may have at hand, they will never be as good as your lightsabre.

starting from OCR, when you suffered the penalty at first level, whenever anybody played a Jedi they'd have something like +4 or +5 to use a blaster and -2 or -3 with lightsabre.

blasters never hit a thing, lightsabres almost always did. ooooh, spooky.

 

Wait.... the OCR didn't give Jedi the Exotic Weapon Prof for Lightsaber?

 

not at first level. you got it at second.

 

Not until second level.

 

I have the revised rulebook and it says you get exotic weapon proficiency at 1st level.

 

In the revised edition, you do. In the first d20 edition, you did not.

 

Interesting. Well, I am kind of a newbie so I don't know anything.

 

Interesting.... I started out as a Soldier 3/ Jedi Guardian 2 in our NJO campaign. The GM flat refused to let me have a lightsaber because I wouldn't have the skills to build it yet. So i have a blaster pistol..... and a long-lived old-school Jedi that another player is using from a previous campaign calling me "soldier" at every chance he gets, dripping with condescendsion. Makes for interesting shouting matches.

I'm the ranking New Republic Officer on the mission, but he insists on trying to have it his way, all the time. His first darkside point was trying (and failing) to use Affect Mind to shut me up when we were giving opinions to someone.

 

Man, driven to the darkside by a potential student. Someone obviously flunked Teaching the Padawan 101. Perhaps if he had focused more on diplomacy and less on force powers, he'd know when to use the force, when to shut up and deal, and when to chime in with a good idea. It's a wonder ANY jedi survive the Imperial Purge methinks.

 

Indeeed, very much indeed.

 

actually..... I'm not his Padawan. I'm very glad of that, too His Padawan is another of his species that is long-lived, so he has him completely snowed into the old Jedi mindset, while I roam free as a member of the NJO, masterless hehehe

 

Still, even Masters have to have a certain amount of respect for lesser jedi(no offense). Especially a jedi who has the ear of the resistance, and can think more tactically then they can. There are other people in the galaxy that can do stuff besides level 7+ Jedi Lightsaber Maniacs.

 

Lol, I AM a lesser Jedi.... He went totally Darkside Beserk last night. Went from 1 DSP to 8 DSP in one big session. Both his Padawan and I thought we were going to die. His Padawan was going to duel him... and since I'm still a fledgling with the Force, I could basically use Friendship and Battlemind. It would have been a:

Soldier 3/ Jedi G 2 (w/o a lightsaber)

Jedi Consular 4 (w/ lightsaber)

against a Jedi Guardian 7

We thought were going to die... but it didn't come to blows, somehow.

 

The Jedi classes getting the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Lightsaber) at 2nd level was a really weird design choice.

The first group I GMed with the OCR was an all-Jedi squad. The best of them had a -1 attack bonus with the lightsaber! And the Jedi Consular guy... well, he was almost useless. They had troubles with puny Neimoidian droids! The first adventures were always "hmmm, let's see, how the hell can I make them gain a level without killing the whole party?". Pretty frustrating!! //end rant

 

Reb, you may want to have the group ditch this guy at your earliest convenience. If you can't kill him, he may try to do so to you, or at the very least take you down the dark path with him.

After watching a bunch of little tykes running around with sabers in AotC, I'm convinced it's more than fair to grant the weapon proficiency at first level. As for encounters, well, that's easy. Make encounters that can be worked around without violence. After all, jedi shouldn't be quick to go for the saber. Grant xp for problem solving, NPC interaction, good roleplaying, and planning. If they work on it early they may stick with it over the course of thier careers.

 

As for encounters, well, that's easy. Make encounters that can be worked around without violence. After all, jedi shouldn't be quick to go for the saber. Grant xp for problem solving, NPC interaction, good roleplaying, and planning. If they work on it early they may stick with it over the course of thier careers.

Yeah, of course, that's what I did but... I had no other choice. The non-revised rules took away from the GM the decision on how to make the first adventures. What if I wanted to start the campaign during the Battle of Geonosis? A group with 4 1st level Soldiers could do it, fight a few combat droids and the like... but a group of 1st level Jedi Guardians would be undoubtedly killed, and they're supposed to be one of the best combat classes. That's why I think it was a bad design idea.

 

And now a big problem. When he was taken by the local authorities, I was given his two lightsabers. But there's something wrong with one of them, and my character doesn't know!! It's not something that I could detect through the force, or by taking it apart. So I don't know what this could be!!! I was thinking that, since these are OBVIOUSLY tainted by the dark side, I would just have them destroyed, since with 1000 more XP i will be building my own anyway.

 

*I was thinking that, since these are OBVIOUSLY tainted by the dark side,*

not true....only if a dark sider made it but as he wasn't a darksider when he made them or just the one they they should b fine...

 

darn it. and they weren't his backups, so he hasn't killed in anger with them.

 

Even four 1st level soldiers should be getting mopped up in that battle. Presumably the jedi there were of decent level, possibly Knights themselves. What kind of chance would anyone under 4th level have there? Sure, you could hit a driod or four and wipe them out, but what happens when they return the volley? Remember, clone troopers were at least lvl4 thugs, and they were optimized to fight.

As for the problematic lightsaber. When in doubt, turn it over to a higher authority. If he's in the can anyway, he can't really complain. Especially since at 8 dsp he's almost assuredly tainted by the darkside at this point. And remember, the Galaxy is a huge place, there are plenty of rocks to hide on if you need to get away.

 

*But there's something wrong with one of them*

it is probly just a mod he did to one....when he made it...