 June 25, 2009 - 11:55am | Admittedly Light Sabers probably are not even possible by the laws of physics and I have my doubts about sonic swords. I was working on a little project dealing with mentalist skills and it occurred to me that a light saber doesn't even need to be possible by the laws of physics. Anyone with mentalist disciplines would have the ability to "build their own" device that in the hands on a non mentalist would be little better than a flash light. but through the special understanding of mental energies gained by being a mentalist they can construct circuitry that will allow them to shape light energy into a saber. Being a mentalist will then allow them to use the light saber as a sonic sword doing 1D of damage per level as a mentalist. Also they could at level 2 deflect missile attacks that would otherwise be intercepted normally by an inertia screen at 1/2 RS + 10% per level. At level 4 beam weapon attacks can be deflected for 1/2 RS + 10% level.(I chose RS since LOG is already high in a mentalist character and I dont want them to be juggernauts- RS is their ability to re-act to a developing situation which is what combat is) this roll is made after a successful attack. OR when the mentalist declares himself to be defending he against missile attacks the attacker must subtract 1/2 RS + 10%/level of the mentalist's skill from his chance to hit. The mentalist cannot move faster than half speed nor attack. If he's attacked by multiple missle attacks he can split the amount of penalty to the attackers among the shots coming at him as he sees fit but he must specify how much is being applied to each shot. ie a 4th level mentalist with RS of 40 would have 60% of penalty to incercept missile attacks. He's being shot at by a lvl 1 mook taking careful aim with a autopistol (1 shot) and by a lvl 4 mook with a gyrojet pistol (3 shots) He desides to defend agains the level 4 shooter and take his chances with the lvl 1 shooter so he applies 20% against all there of the lvl 4 shooter's shots. I would further consider limiting mentalist to a number of uses of their mentalist skills to their LOG/ 5 per day in addition to other limitations on certain skills give in their descriptions. For enlightened characters the limit would be LOG/ 10 per day. this would certainly cause a mentalist to fall back on his light saber quite a bit rather than blow through his mental energy using up the number of times he can employ disciplines. Just a random thoughts I had today, feedback? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 June 25, 2009 - 1:57pm | Lightsabers aren't actually "light". They are focused energy traveling in a free, but closed circuit. Note the description from Wookieepedia: "High-powered energy was unleashed through a series of positively charged focusing lenses and energizers, manifesting a beam of energy that extended outward from the base to a length of about a meter, then arced circumferentially back to a negatively charged fissure ringing the emitter. A superconductor completed the power loop by feeding the transformed energy back into the internal power cell, where the energy loop began anew. By adding up to three focusing crystals of varying attributes, the blade's length and power output could be adjusted using control mechanisms built into the hilt's shaft. " View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 June 25, 2009 - 3:45pm | All the Frontier needs now is the discovery of a hidden cache of Adegan crystals... I added a visible light blade in my campaign, the RAFLUR M-0 proton sword. Same damage/description as a sonic sword otherwise, with the appropriate defenses altered accordingly (synth screen/synthsuit). Because a light saber is the coolest thing since ice. |
June 25, 2009 - 8:32pm | I'm toying with writing the founding of the Knights of Zebulon into my campaign as the AD rules campaign group has a guy who expressed a serious interest in doing a mentalist. I told him I wanted to work it into the story (gonna use the Great Link ceremony of the Ul-mor with the once in a thoughsand year grand alignment of all the system's planets and Volturnus' moons causes some unanticipate side effects in the PC's interested in mentalist discipline- visions forshadowing things from the modules and emerging mentalist power in the PC's involved). Since its a small group I'm running a Yazerian Priest with martial arts, medical & Physco-social skills as an NPC and thought I'd have him pick up mentalist powers too as part of the story as well as some Ul-mor tool and maybe even the Star Devil who was in orbit in line with the moons during the great alignment thus setting him up a long running foil- kind of a Darth Vursk. so I was thinking that after the Volturnus modules this group could explore a founding of the Knights of Volturnus campaign. To that end I'm leaning toward making the mentalist disciplines conform to AD rules: mentalist PSA AD style with about 4 skills and each skill with 5-8 subskills. I have a tenative break down into 4 groups of the Zebs mentalist powers not including File and the 2 teleport skills which I plan to scrap. I'm thinking that there should be some special abilities for just being a mentalist like being able to channel light energy into a saber and use it in a manner seen in the SW movies. and maybe one of the mentalist skills that would be universal to all mentalist. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 25, 2009 - 9:29pm | kind of a Darth Vursk... Been there/done that LOL A vrusk in my campaign named "Lord Q'ortir-Mein" (formerly Q'ortärmas) served the upstart dictator and helps take over the UPF/Council of Worlds, he gets shot down in a fighter engagement over Histran early on in the campaign and is mangled in the wreckage. He loses his rear two pairs of legs and undergoes major cybernetic/bionic reconstruction. He is later replaced by a dralasite who also happens to recieve major cyber-bionic enhancements following a UPF skirmish against the uprising (Nikuno served the UPF and defected after reconstruction). Nikuno/Cyber-Morph developes mentalist powers afterwards, Q'ortärmas/Q'ortir-Mein never did. My campaign has a mild Clone Wars/ROTS feel to it...without actually plagarizing the SW stuff I've kept it SF oriented with the basic plot lines from those prequels detailing the fall of the UPF/rise of the new dictator. Lord Q'ortir-Mein ( Q'ortärmas ) "You don't know the power of the BUG side!"  Lord Cybermorph ( Nikuno Nunbar ) "Submit to my humor or feel the wrath of my Proton Swords!"  |
 June 26, 2009 - 12:44pm | There was some hard-core light saber discussion about a year ago on this site - good stuff, FYI. I'm writing a Metalist Field of Study for the new game. Here are some ideas that might help you. For one we wanted to make it simple and not have player track "how much", "how long". It slows game play and gets tedious. I also broke out the skills into three areas. It resembles the Unarmed Combat article in the Star Frontiersman. Mentalist Filed of Study has three skills.
When you purchase the skill you choose a discipline. |
 June 26, 2009 - 4:22pm | I've favored Gundam's explanation of how their beam sabers work. Beam sabers being Gundam's version of a lightsaber with some other features including a shape that's not just a straight beam. Beam sabers: a jet of plasma containted in a force field, creating a semi-solid energy blade. The force field is disrupted upon contant with a surface cutting or melting it's way through. Another plasma jet in a force field can block or parry the beam blade. Granted a beam saber is huge, and even if a human sized one was made no human could hold it. Beam sabers are shown as being very hot, the large ones vaporize a human sized object any where near it. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
June 26, 2009 - 8:50pm | There was some hard-core light saber discussion about a year ago on this site - good stuff, FYI. http://starfrontiers.us/node/3032 very interesting read. having read it and this thread I think I'll only allow scaled down mentalist powers and as for light sabers I'll just leave it to sonic swords and not try to invent a new wheel I do think that with this group of players though, since they are into the occassional role play sessions, I will do 2 things: have the powers be emergent meaning that no one has them in the setting and they are only just emerging in the PCs and some selected NPCs and depending on how the game goes possibly explore a story line the could be called the Founding of the Zebulon Knights. the PCs dont have to be a part of that but I'll still find ways to inter twine it into the story. NOTE: this is not to say I can't add a light saber latter in the campaign. like say after the Players have the idea cemented in their head that sonic swords are light sabers in my campaign. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
June 27, 2009 - 9:00am | Only problem you can't really parry a sonic sword with another sonic sword. So it ends up looking like two nuts waving flashlights at each other.  Yeah, I've had players do it trying to play like Jedi. Or then you could have a whole form of martial art based around the sonic sword. Takes a special skill to master a weapon that is just as dangerous to it's welder as it's target. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
July 2, 2009 - 4:39pm | My impression of the sonic sword or knife is they aren't necessarily "sonic" in nature. Rather, they have some sort of field projecting from the handle that causes matter that comes in contact with it to oscillate violently. When this field comes in contact with air it produces the characteristic hum of the "blade". When it comes in contact with, say, a person, then it causes some very ugly wounds as the body is violently oscillated into a fine puree. Modern physicists postulate that, similar to the explanation given regarding Gundams, the "blade" of a lightsaber is made of a tube of plasma. This plasma has to be a hot plasma (yes, there are both hot and cold plasmas) with a temperature of a few million degrees. While the Gundam saber might burn someone due to proximity, that is most likely due to the amount of plasma in the blade. For human sized blades, the scientists say the amount of plasma is too small to cause burns except during contact. Oh, they also say that we have nothing today that can make plasmas of that temperature. Not anything that isn't the size of a warehouse, anyway. So, no hand held lightsabers in our near future. This information was noted during a History Channel special on Star Wars. There is no overkill. Only "open fire" and "I need to reload". |
July 2, 2009 - 5:47pm | Or then you could have a whole form of martial art based around the sonic sword. Takes a special skill to master a weapon that is just as dangerous to it's welder as it's target. Very plausible, considering the blade has no weight or heft and is difficult to ascertain its location as such. You can casually/accidentally tap your leg with the blade of a longsword, no problem. Do it with a sonic sword, light saber, or the RAFLUR M-0 proton sword from my campaign and it's instant damage. Start swinging it around, and it could go anywhere with ease, including across the wielder's neck. Yet the game gives a +15 to hit modifier with the sonic sword... |
July 2, 2009 - 5:13pm | I found that documentary to be extremely lacking in cutting edge science and big on non sequiturs. There are several things making progress in the scientific community that just were not breeched in that documentary. One of which is the repulsion field which takes the same effect that keeps two objects from actually touching (For instance, put your hands together. Did you know your hands are not literally touching? They are being held apart from each other by an energy field. That's the field of which I speak) and turns it into an energy barrier. It is this barrier that they are looking into for force field technology. So this is essentially the force field idea put forth above. If the force field could be oscelated with or stored within the proton/ion blade, then it could stop something from passing through it, while still making the blade's surface deadly. I firmly believe that science can accomplish anything we set out to accomplish with it. After seeing cloaking technology in action, I will never again say "that can't be done". I think FTL tech will indeed be possible, and so will lightsabers. Now what I doubt is their practical usage (There is plenty of technology that we have today that was originally put forth in science fiction stories that doesn't get marketed simply because they lack broad enough appeal). Lightsabers are great for adventure stories, but in practice, they would likely never get used unless they are equipped for burning through hulls like in the Phantom Menace. Even then they would be prohibitively expensive and government regulated and require a license to own, let alone operate, with massive penalties for their misuse. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
July 3, 2009 - 12:16am | "In Landfleet's Martial Arts division, the foot can cut wood. But can it cut a hydromelon? Introducing the Light Saber, from Ronco. It slices, it dices, it hacks, it slashes, it obliterates, it decimates. Watch how its focused energy blade easily passes through this durasteel panel. See how this user melts away a dual set of blast doors. Watch these two trained experts wipe out wave after wave of Federation Battle Droids. The secret is in these rare Iridium Crystals. Light passes through them and is focused through a projector at the far end of the hilt, and you can adjust the blade length to suit your needs. The blade will cut anything it comes in contact with. Observe this grizzled veteran as he effortlessly severs the arm of a dangerous criminal, wanted with the death sentence on twelve systems. See this novice repeat it with a hungry Wampa in its own domain. And observe how a completely untrained individual makes an incision into the carcass of a Tauntaun with surgical precision. Is your neighborhood plagued with rowdy swoop biker types? Look at how easy it is to disable an oncoming Aratech 74-Z Military Speeder Bike, one simple swipe across the directional vanes and that sucker's outa commission for good! Having trouble convincing your offspring to follow in your family business? Lop off his hand and watch how he submits! Scare the kids, amuse your neighbors, tease their Rancor, sleight your opponents, the light saber does it all! What would you pay for such an item? Don't answer yet, there's more! We'll also throw in this handy dandy remote control training device. It darts and dances around the air, firing harmless energy bolts for you to try to dodge or counter swing against. Provides hours of fun or useful training, you decide!
Through this incredible holovision offer, you get it all! You'll recieve the Light Saber, the training remote, and blast shield helmet all for the amazing low price of 299.95 Frontier Credits. You'll even recieve this fine 48 page instruction manual, with tips galore in the efficient use of your Light Saber. Limited supply available, so get yours TODAY! Swipe your credit ID today at: Light Saber or call toll free 10-10-800-55-51-212 rush delivery available through Federation Courier Express to anywhere within the Frontier. Check your local government arms laws before ordering. Batteries not included. The amazing Light Saber, new from Ronco!" |
July 3, 2009 - 6:30am | Shadow you should make a video of that and post it on youtube. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
 July 3, 2009 - 9:31am | My impression of the sonic sword or knife is they aren't necessarily "sonic" in nature. Rather, they have some sort of field projecting from the handle that causes matter that comes in contact with it to oscillate violently. When this field comes in contact with air it produces the characteristic hum of the "blade". When it comes in contact with, say, a person, then it causes some very ugly wounds as the body is violently oscillated into a fine puree. Modern physicists postulate that, similar to the explanation given regarding Gundams, the "blade" of a lightsaber is made of a tube of plasma. This plasma has to be a hot plasma (yes, there are both hot and cold plasmas) with a temperature of a few million degrees. While the Gundam saber might burn someone due to proximity, that is most likely due to the amount of plasma in the blade. For human sized blades, the scientists say the amount of plasma is too small to cause burns except during contact. Oh, they also say that we have nothing today that can make plasmas of that temperature. Not anything that isn't the size of a warehouse, anyway. So, no hand held lightsabers in our near future. This information was noted during a History Channel special on Star Wars. Wouldn't containing a thermal lance in magnetic field produce the same effect? "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
July 5, 2009 - 4:55am | @Will: Absolutely not. A thermal lance gets to around eight thousand (8,000) degrees F, or 4400 C. To do the things the lightsaber is credited with doing in the movies, it would have to be around two million (2,000,000) degrees F or about 1,111,093 C. That is a difference of three orders of magnitude. There is no overkill. Only "open fire" and "I need to reload". |
July 5, 2009 - 6:16am | it would be easier to just make a bunch of that hot plasma and shoot it into someones face. You can't exactly deflect it with a blade, and it cooks them nicely. Garnish with mint and serve. Ahh... but a light saber is an elegant weapon for a more civilized time... I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 5, 2009 - 10:20pm | Elegant works fine for space opera and the like. For a more "hard science" game or setting, melee weapons are pretty passe. There is no overkill. Only "open fire" and "I need to reload". |
July 6, 2009 - 10:07am | Hokey RPG's and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, jedion357. |
July 6, 2009 - 1:01pm | Where'd you dig up that old fossil?"
Star Frontiers is a great game! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
July 7, 2009 - 3:03am | "Oh, you mean that thing you just discovered a few hours ago?" Peter "Han Solo" Griffin in Family Guy: Blue Harvest |
July 7, 2009 - 3:03am | "Oh, you mean that thing you just discovered a few hours ago?" Peter "Han Solo" Griffin in Family Guy: Blue Harvest |
 July 10, 2009 - 7:48pm | I think Shadow's light saber add should go as a sidebar ad in a future Star Frontiersman issue. +1 to making a You Tube video. If you don't I might. That was great. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
