“Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”
What is perhaps one of the most iconic weapons in cinema history, according to Wookieepedia:
“The lightsaber, also referred to as a laser sword by those who were unfamiliar with it, was a weapon usually used by the Jedi, the Sith, and other Force-sensitives. Lightsabers consisted of a plasma blade, powered by a kyber crystal, that was emitted from a usually metal hilt and could be shut off at will. It was a weapon that required skill and training, and was greatly enhanced when used in conjunction with the Force.”
Through the movies we’ve seen lightsabers slice through limbs, deflect blaster fire, and even shear a bulkhead. They use a blade of “solid” plasma. So how do we translate this fearsome weapon for Metahumans Rising?
The answer is, there are a lot of ways. For our purposes though, Let’s start with the source material, Samurai films. It’s no secret Star Wars was inspired by a number of works, including the Hidden Fortress, directed by Akira Kurosawa. So let’s start with the katana, a build for these swords can be found in the Metahumans Rising core book on page 74.
Sword, Katana 10
Offense/Dexterity
Devastating (Total Devastation) MA3
Secondary Role: Defense MA
Cost: 12 + 18 + 6 = 36/Gear = MA4TY (9 Boons)
If we use the Katana as our base template we already have a Devastating blade capable of incredible bursts of damage. Now, let’s ramp that up to 11.
Sword, Energy Blade 11
Offense/Dexterity or Wisdom
Defended By: Quickness MA
Devastating (Boost Devastation, Penetrating, Total Devastation 2, Worn Armor Stopper, Inanimate Object Stopper) MA8
Secondary Role: Defense MA
Limited: Stoppers don’t work against anything with Impervious.
Cost: 13 + 6 + 42 + 6 – 3 = 64/Gear = MA8 (16 Boons)
This build makes a few basic assumptions. First, physical strength is largely irrelevant. Adding Defended By: Quickness goes a long way to cover this. Lets take this a step further though. For those times where a foe’s armor Defends Against All, we add Worn Armor Stopper, and Penetrating, but we’ll come back to that. In short, the Damage from our Energy Saber either completely negates armor, or mostly ignores it. The Energy Blade also has Inanimate Object Stopper, allowing it to shear structures with ease.
But, before you say, but what about Beskar, the Energy Sword has a limitation that negates Worn Armor Stopper against Impervious Armors, which means that Storm troopers will be cut like butter, but a certain group of bounty hunters can, mostly, mitigate this.
See, what the lightsaber can cut and not cut can get a bit… squiffy, and sometimes you need to slice through an army of super droids. For that we have Penetrating. While it’s only Once per Session, this is where that note “greatly enhanced when used in conjunction with the Force” comes into play. The wielder of a lightsaber can use their Willpower to fuel the weapon, using their mystic connection to all things to power the blade.
Now, you may be wondering: What about bouncing blaster fire, shouldn’t the the Energy Saber have Reflection? No. See, here is where that Cheddar Monk training comes into play.
So check out Part 2, where we cover Jedi training on our Patreon page!
