wanted: light sabre conversion

[justacaveman]

The batteries used in T20 are certainly capable of powering something like a Lightsaber for a quite a while. A TL14 .01Kg battery can put out 1 EP for an hour. 1 EP will power a medium vehicle laser that does 3d10 damage (8d10 on the personal scale).

How the Lightsaber exactly works doesn't really need to be specified. You can say that the weapon creates a controlled blade of glowing plasma that allows little or no excess heat to escape the containment field. The weapon can be blocked by other melee weapons, but only a another plasma-bladed weapon can do so without taking damage.

I would make the weapon available at TL15. It would do 3d12 damage with a critical threat range of 19-20/x2 (in T20 terms). The power would last for an hour of use before recharging was required (you can also carry a spare battery). This weapon would do more damage than any other melee weapon, but would not be unbalancing in a game that has Laser Pistols, FGMP's, and Gauss Rifles in it. Just don't let a guy wielding one of these things get close to you (use a scope).

 

[stofsk]

I would suggest lowering the damage somewhat (perhaps to 2d8 which is the actual SW RPG stats), but increase the crit range to 18-20/x2.

 

[justacaveman]

SW doesn't use the damage absorbing armor rules of T20, so the stats need to be different. If you smack a guy wearing TL14 Combat Armor with the stats I posted, he'll take 3d12 points of Stamina damage and 1d12-6 points of Lifeblood damage. Not even enough to take out your average Imperial Marine with a single hit. And he'll probably cut loose with a 10-round burst from his Gauss Rifle and do 5d12 Stamina and 5d12 Lifeblood damage on your unarmored Pseudo-Jedi butt (Probably requiring you to do a bunch of prior history stuff for your new character.).

 

[salamander]

Originally posted by LordRhys:
How the Lightsaber exactly works doesn't really need to be specified. You can say that the weapon creates a controlled blade of glowing plasma that allows little or no excess heat to escape the containment field.

Where does the heat go when the containment field is collapsed?

For that matter, what happens to the plasma?

That battery strong enough to power a vehicle laser is small enough to fit in the handle of a lightsaber?

Something seems broken in T20 if that's the case.

 

[justacaveman]

Yes the batteries are small, but I didn't make the design rules.

There probably isn't very much plasma in the blade. I'd say that it's just a hair-fine line just a few molecules thick. Most of what you perceive as the blade, is just visible light escaping through the containment field. This is why the weapon does so much damage.

As to where the excess heat/plasma goes, how would I know? I'm just a primitive TL8 person trying to explain something I saw some Imperial using in a fight. That's like one of William the Conquerer's Knights trying to explain an Assault Rifle or Computer. The technical knowledge that we currently have is insufficient to explain how any TL15 device operates, and it's futile to try and do so. As long as you keep the resulting weapon reasonable within the framework of the rest of the rules, it doesn't matter how it works.