I'd be exceptionally carefuly about that; it leads to a power inflation problem. It's very easy to make schticks that are simply super-powered. It's better to make ones that are tricksy, or give the powerful ones noticable liabilities. The BV-50 is a good example of this; everything of his that looks super-powered actually has some disadvantage in return that make the Jedi look better. His cutting beam, for example, may roll like a lightsabre and work at range. Is it better than a sabre? No! It can't use any schticks or force powers! It is never going to do the ludicrous damage a Jedi can do with a Forward Guard tap and Flurry.
On that subject- not wanting to cause any upset, but I am afraid I have to make some comments.
- You cannot make an offensive tap that ramps up damage without the opponent having a chance to tap in return. Rianna should have simply Sidestepped the Leaping Attack.
- No scthick should ever increase the damage of a barehand attack more than leapng attack does. Even LA itself is something under review. A point of damage makes a big difference- the equivalent to three dice- and the 'magic 5' base damage is reserved for Lightsabres.
- Never have technology that disables lightsabres!! That's an enormous no-no. Sabres are so quintessential to the Jedi that having a counter to them is a. tearing the heart out of the setting and b. makes the use of sabres look ridiculous, plot-wise. They are fundamentally 'uncounterable' weapons in a thematic sense, and the only disadvantage they have or will ever need is that they are melee only.
We've had technology that detects lightsabres (that those who did Droben and then the current Renegade story forgot about). We've had people lace walls with explosves to make cutting through them too risky. We've had stories where you can't bring the sabres with you. But we never actually disable the sabre as a weapon (we don't have things that stop force powers working either- or, for that matter, technology that jams the control signals of battle droids or mass EMP usage that shuts their armies down, else droid armies would be useless).
In Feng Shui terms, a Lightsabre is a 'Signature Weapon'- it CANNOT be disabled. Star Wars is definitely a setting where theme trumps hard science. A Lightsabre is a sword, really, and you cannot disable a sword. Signature Weapons, again, follow thematic rather than literal logic, which is why those of you with more than one sabre tend to find the spares are accident prone.
Signature Weapon is actually a Gun schtick in Feng Shui; it is one that all Jedi got for free.
No upset made! I don't disagree with you on any point, Ush. I am much newer to this than you are, having only started running (somewhat successful) games around this time last year. The critiquing is welcomed, especially as I was more accustomed to Feng Shui and just recently made the switch to the new system. Helps me get it down better!
- So in situations where someone is unleashing some sort of monstrous tap, the players should be informed so as to allow them to counter it somehow? Otherwise I could see how that'd be unfair.
- I agree with that, having a kick with higher damage than a Lightsaber is a bit ludicrous. Beyond that, since the only place that happened was Leaping Attack, I think you might be referring to Passive Wings/Swooping Eagle tossing five damage onto a hit.
- There were also the lightsaber-detecting grenades! But yes, it was a cheap shot by me and kind of ruins things a bit. However, it is intended to be a one-time cheap move, as Rianna will figure out in-game.
The Signature weapon makes sense, though.