One of my players found this online:

Actually, i wanna be a sith.. jedi's couldn't run.. stupid morals and whatnot

no on the HqBack BTW, except in that one area w/ the tower. It's the only place where magic works normally. Personally I don't think I'd allow it, but it's up to you and your preference for the feel of the game.
Besides, if a runner has a friggin' laser sword, what the hell do you think the Red Samurai are gonna have?

And if the player makes any sort of parry-type defence then he can still expect to get hit, just not by all of his attacker's weapon.

there's the laser crescent axe, that has a laser arc along the edge of the blade. nothing dikote cant='t do, except that the lasers on the axe get knocked out of alignment pretty easily. Big difference upping the damage a bit because of a laser arc than having a weapon of pure laser. look at the MP laser for an example, base damage at 12M for the lightest version.

Really, as the spell reads, it's not all the differnet from dikote except for how it is implemented. I guess it's just a matter of the tone of it I don't personally care for,

I'd consider it.

And then just keep track of what the player's doing. I'm sure sometime during the run, the player will make that fatal mistake, and forget he's got the blade out, to do something minor... Maybe patching himself up after a gunbattle. Maybe he reaches out to steady another player who's reeling from magical/matrix feedback. And bam. Carving up flesh like it's a christmas turkey.

hey, nt, you actually going to play this char? or are you going to drop it after 2 runs becuase it gets boring? ^-^

Character-ADD is bad for you. But, worse, it's bad for ME. meh, I guess I get free contacts from being friends with your characters.

the ad up at the top of the page is for "Woman's Health Book 2Ed." ... wtf


My opinion Mortax: Let is slide. If he's resisting 5D drain at the beginning of every fight, then he's going to be pretty slow on the uptake. Also, a large beam of laser is going to put off a considerable amount of light, so, yeah, he can use it for a flashlight too. But, on the same note, the human with no low-light and an MP-9 is only going to see the guy holding the flashlight =\

It works as a spell. But, I don't think it will be efficient. You'll need an average of 24 dice to take no drain from that beast. Let him use it. I'm going to take unarmed combat... This spell is not nearly as game-unbalancing as me taking unarmed combat. So yeah.

One last note, does using that crazy thing go off Armed Combat? I think it might need to be specialized becuase it's actually kind of hard to know where you're attacking if your weapon doesn't actually have weight.

Anywho, I'll stfu.

Then tell him/her to go play star wars then.

HB is on the metaplanes. Perfect opportunity for you to give it to him for a metaplane or two, say Masquerade or The Impossible Dream or whatever. Test it out to see if it fits. If he's bored by then or you don't like what he's doing, well... it's just for that metaplane.

As far as the game world, it makes perfect sense to me that there's a mage who's a Star Wars fan and would've created this spell, whether or not it's any good.

It's a physical spell, so no, it won't work on the Astral, because only Mana spells work on the Astral.

Personally, I'd say that the spell would be a Sustained Touch range Elemental Manipulation (light). Going by the rules in MitS, it would have a power of Force, a TN of 4 for the spell, require a melee attack with a -2 TN modifier to hit, and getting 2 net successes on either will stage up the DL. It would have a drain of (1/2 Force +2)(DL). So a Force 6 Lightsaber cast at D damage would have a drain of 5D. Allowing the use of Edged Weapons (Lightsword) seems appropriate for the particular spell. I'll point out that it will benefit from the Light elemental modifiers from MitS, to whit:

Ah, it's so crass to try and be a jedi outside of Star Wars. Well, like some others have said...the man with the gigantic, shining, luminous phallic symbol probably draws all the fire.

Even with the house rules (which are balanced, since you have kept grounding as well), the mage is still sacrificing a lot of effectiveness to be "cool". So, if it's that important to him to play a jedi-like character, why not let him? Sure, he'll be distinctive, but in a game world where you have tattooed trolls with purple mohawks cleaning their cyberspurs during the team's meeting with the Johnson, he won't be too out of place.

I don't think it will be too unbalancing. He is in the unenviable position of going head-to-head with things like hardened street sammies, combat-oriented adepts, elementals with the engulf power, etc. He is matching his skill and Combat Pool against theirs. Compare that to, say, a dwarven sorcerer with the Dragonslayer Totem and a Rating: 6 manabolt focus, using dice from the focus, his spellcasting, and his Spell Pool, along with Totem bonuses, while his target resists only with Willpower. Heck, just compare him to a mage with a weapon focus, who gets to add those dice to his skill and take an astral "copy" of it with them when they project.

Heh. Delusional spike baby nerd-boy elves for teh win!

I say 'spike baby elf' because there's no other way to be old enough to have actually seen Star Wars, and therefore develop a tradition based around it.

In SR3, I'd just say to play a Magician's Way Adept (following either Dragonslayer or Adversary depending on Light Side or Dark Side), with the Combat Sense, Astral Perception, and maybe Attribute Boost powers. Throw in a Force 6 Sustaining Focus (in the form of a lightsaber hilt) for the Lightsaber spell, and you're ready to go.

No, I agree Dog. For Instance, I'm about 20 and i've never heard of Maralyn Monroe nor do I have any clue who Beethoven is. I certaunly never have played an archaic game that came out when I was four. I mean, it doesn't even have graphics. you just 'pretend' that you're doing things...

^-^

point made?

Ih theres anything i hate more is cross gaming, i play shadowrun to play shadowrun.

I play Star wars to play star wars. I even read in this forum that some GM let his PC make a Gundam, some player just don't have a spark of origanality.

There's a difference between cross-gaming and allowing a spell that happens to do something similar to an item in another game.

It would be cross-gaming if the player had a thing that, without magic, made a beam of light and functioned exactly like a lightsaber. And also had all sorts of Jedi/Sith-type spells that were Force Powers.

Get over it, Plat. Some people just think of ideas they like and want to run with them. You may not like it, but it isn't your game.

Wow you make it sound like i can't have an opinion, so get over it.

and i know it's not my game, but i can still put in my 2 cents so chill out .


Gosh, children and their emotions.


You should maybe re-read the Thread title. it says " My player wants to be a Jedi"

that sure says cross gaming to me.

My flat answer would be NIMG. Not In My Game.

Go get a bloody monosword.

Didn't you know, the Jedi faith has over 30 million members in 2070 and is officially recognized by every nation and megacorporation that allows religious choice.
Those that do not allow religious freedom will, of course, re-educate or execute anyone who mentions Star Wars even in passing.

it's more of a 'is it ok as a spell' get ove rthe jedi part, that's all character personality. That's not really a question, no one can say 'your character isn't allowed to act like that' before you make it. He'll act like a Jedi (or sith) if he wants.

The spell though, is in question. Is it a plausable spell that could be created by someone? Would it work? Is the drain too much or too little?

May I suggest Killing Hands on an adept with a Fetish Geas? Sure you don't have any reach, but you're completely within the rules, and don't have to worry about homebrew spells. So you've got a 3-foot Lightsaber (just under 1 meter, no reach) that does (Strength) Deadly damage (if you buy up the power to Deadly), plus you can get such Jedi powers as Improved Reflexes, Improved Quickness, Great Leap, and if you start with a point of Magical Power, you can work your way to Influence, Magic Fingers, and Levitate (although size does matter, and you'll be taking physical drain most likely).

A random thought on the idea of jedi's and shadowrun... if you think about it, another galaxy or another planet could possibly have a mana feild, and it would be possible for horrors to manifest life elsewhere, and magic kind of takes on different forms in each manifestation. would it not be possible for magic to manifest in a way similar to the Force? also, the jedi spoke of their powers weakening.. could that not be waxing and waning of the magic energy just like in the ED and SR story? Maybe another galaxy has a different wavelength for the sine wave of magic. If you take all that into consideration, the jedi could be plausable in the ED&SR universe

sorry, im just a geek who thinks too much

Another note on SW and SR compatability, the Yuuzhan Vong that appear late in the Star Wars timeline could be precursors to Horrors, they are dark and creapy and evil, and they come thru rifts in space (astral gateway or hyperdrive???). It is possible that a ship coming out of the astral plane or from a meta plane could look just like, or similar enough to, a ship coming out of hyperspace. So the Yuuzhan Vong could be minor form horrors native to the metaplanes surrounding that universe. And they could have made ships, much like the Spell jammers of 2ed D&D.

We're touching on another interesting issue, here.

What fiction carries over from the real world into our fiction? Does the movie Star Wars and its following still exist in Shadowrun? Canon basically confirms Mr. Shwarzenegger is still around, and referred to the movie "Predator." Extrapolating from that, you could pretty much assume his other movies still exist in the sixth world. Earlier books mention "Battletech Arenas," a nice FASA crossover.

In my game, if the jedi imagery thing happened, nearly everyone would recognize it. And probably tease the guy about it. If it became a big deal, eventually a lawyer would find him and ask him to pay royalties to Skywalker ranch, who would no doubt already have developed or be working on the spell, and certainly would own the rights to such an effect.

Oh, and Grendel-Warchild had a laser-blade too, didn't he?

I know am going to regret this but, *sigh*
I have a Jedi sorcerer NPC. He has a lightsabre spell. His spells replicate force powers.

Here's why: I have a PC Hermetic full Mage (Chaos mage but she'd dispute the allegation) this NPC is a method of illustrating to her that, "Everything under heaven and earth Horatio etc"
Encountering different magical styles, I ll say paradigms, evokes a translation from rule system mechanics to living evolving art of magic.
This character has a solid back story and is heavly restricted due to his paradigm, (how many Jedi mentors are there really in SR? Falls into a psionic sub catorgary, that's small folks.) Which suceeded in pulling a great debate on what, how and most importantly why, he thought/practised magic this way.
And yes he knows its a film, however he was rasied to believe in the ideals.
The lightsabre spell has similiary heavly boundries. A fetish exclusive that needs the scratch build (lightsabre) sustaining foci to work. Also a stat damage code set in stone.
It is also a fetish component for some of his other spells.

There is no reason for your player not to play this character if you are comfortable with his reasons. The ever important what does the character bring to the experience of the game and WHY?
If this is answered to your satisfaction, give the PC a chance to bring a deeper level to the roleplaying. If not?
Crush them.
Er explain to the player why its a bad idea. Ja, thats what I meant

As to the meta planes, no one knows the rules, do what is best for the best game experience. Thats your responsiblity as ref. Have fun.

i think, in large case, part of the problem, might just be in communication. Pendaric's NPC, doesn't sound like the type of person to say "I am Jedi!", he understands that it's a movie character, but still bases his beleives around their ideals and his magic materializes as things that happened in the movies.

Also consider, that for the most part, the jedi powers arent of a DnD Wam-Bam! style, but are more subtle like SR magic generally is. Really, the only thing that is being difficult to translate, is the lightsaber, as is the case here.

I have an idea, personally, on how i'd make it work, but i dont think that it follows any canon spell creation guidlines.

If anyome played a Jedi character in my setting, I would have secretly made his or her "dad" Lofwyer.

How about a psyonic physical mage with a penchant for dayglow swords?

Naw,

just give him a Maglite & put him in a smoky darkened room. He'll be amused for hours.

Like a 5 year old with a stick....

Wahnnnn, ksh! Wahnnn, whoosh! <- lightsaber sounds (poorly done, too)

Just my 0.02, but:

I saw a lightsaber--actually, the handle portion--in a museum recently (it was the prop used by Mark Hamill in the first two films of the original STAR WARS trilogy). (The one from "Episode VI" was longer, and shaped differently.)

Although the same diameter for its entire length, it was roughly the size of one of the larger (think 5 or 6 "D"-cell batteries) police-style flashlights--that is, a Mag-Lite or similar make.

In Shadowrun terms, it should fit underneath a jacket.

Although, from the standpoint of concealability, I suspect the "Schwartz" version from SPACEBALLS (a signet ring) would be a better choice. Failing that, I suppose that you could enchant a collapsible baton to do the same thing. (Would Orcichalcum be necessary for that? I've forgotten.)

EDIT: Sorry, folks. Brain fade again. By the time I read the thread all the way through, I'd forgotten that the "Laser" and "Lightblade" spells had already been mentioned.



--Foreigner

We ran an entire initiate group full of 'dark jedi', complete with unique enchantment weapon foci and the lot. It was lots of fun, but cheesy as all hell. The 'emperor', Ehran Palpatine (yes, the player is that much in love with the ol'hooded wrinkly) is now (after a good ten years of gameplay I would think by now, on and off, anyway) a grade 12, plus the potency he's gained from dealing with a shadow spirit claiming to be a dark jedi from the previous awakening (they had to go break him out of both his metaplanar and physical prison, guarded by captive, and very upset, shedim), plus his power focus, plus etc etc etc.

Its very high powered. Its very silly. Its lots of fun. But if i ever went to a convention and started frothing about it I'd expect to be mocked within an inch of my life.

As for spells and lightsabers -

If its an elemental spell (element of light) then spirits don't get their spirit armour even though its a physical attack, but people wearing armour get their armour as normal. Stuff that's vulnerable to sunlight is in big trouble. If its a pure 'mana' or physical spell, then no armour applies for anyone unless they've got shielding or, spell armour or something, and they resist with the appropriate attribute. Against objects, these lightsabers are pretty sucky unless you've got a very high force spell, in which case its got its own set of problems (masking, focus addiction depending on how you made the lightsaber, etc).

You can make the lightsaber that the player is using a bit crap in one or several areas depending on how they designed the spell. the spell you've quoted is definitely an SR2 spell as it refers to the armed combat skill.

Our lightsaber spell (SR3), which is a damaging manipulation, is usually a Force 8 physical manipulation with elemental effect of light, tgt 4 to cast, drain one level higher than the light ray spell as its sustained, and because they're unique enchantments, they have a range equal to the reach of the weapon focus. The spell is sort of anchored, in that it recasts whenever the foci is activated - and the mage must drain it each time. Bear in mind that this use of the spell is in conjuction with a unique weapon focus enchantment and the mage making it must have (in our game) anchoring, quickening, and the ability to cast the spell. It also helps to have oodles of orichalcum and virgin materials from the out because the karma cost is one multiplier higher than the corresponding force weapon focus, plus the force of the spell, with only the focus karma costs reduced by extra shiny materials - ain't nothin can lower that spell bonding cost in our version of the lightsaber.

Hope that's useful to you. Feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can't arrange for some other stuff relevant to so-called jedi in the 6th world that we've come up with over the last few years. Saves you reinventing the wheel, right?

I can just imagine the reaction from Corp Security or the Star.

"Holy crap beak out swat ,he's gotta laser sword."

Given the potential limitations of its use, with a little tweaking I certainly have no problem with the spell. There's also the fact that it's going to be pretty darn flashy, and when the opposition starts thinking 'geek the mage!' the guy who probably doesn't have any obvious cyber, swinging around a lightsword is going to seem like a good choice for intial ventilation.