Lightsaber Combat

Many of the following styles of Lightsaber Combat are inspired from the original Lightsaber Combat styles in Star Wars. Most of them have even kept their real names, but slight variations of them are used in our game, and this page contains these variations and not the originals. Also, specific rules for how to use them in the game will be listed.

The main difference from the original Star Wars universe, is that here, all forms are based upon Shii Cho

Basic Forms
The Basic Forms are not set in iron. Variations of them exist in different lightsaber wielding cultures, and they do not require psionic abilities to learn. The basic forms simply enable lightsaber wielding in different ways, they aren't specific combat styles.

Shii-Cho - Form I
The Shii-Cho was not as much as an actual fighting style as a display of sword mastery with the lightsaber, by learning to perform various "kata's" (Japanese martial arts expression used about "series of movements, attacks, defences and other techniques, though not necessarily made to be effective nor against a real opponant, intended to display the mastery of these techniques and the flow between one technique and the next).

When the Alamari invented the lightsaber, they did so because they needed a weapon that could match the technology of their time, but still could be used with their existing sword-fighting techniques, how ever, the transition from using a regular blade and to using a lightsaber was not only dangerous but difficult. The training lightsaber wasn't invented until at least a few decades later, and even trainig lightsabers were far more dangerous than, say, a wooden stick which could normally be used for regular sword practice. The same could not be said about lightsaber combat, as the blade behaved incredibly weird due to the nature of it.

Shii-cho was invented to help people learn how to master the lightsaber in it's base form, and most importantly, how not to injure oneself with it. To learn Shii-cho, one must already master basic sword fighting techniques, because the technique was invented to help people learn lightsaber combat after mastering their old sword fighting techniques, but there were indeed very few similarities, and as such, no specific sword-wielding style must be learned prior to learning Shii-cho, it's just that the form requires experience.

To lean shii-cho, the practitioner usually starts out by learning how to use regular melee weapony, and preferably different kinds of melee weaponry, and then continues to practice with a lightweight lightsaber replica, essentially very lightweight pipe with a heavy handle, completely covered in electrodes which delivers a painful jolt upon contact, and later with practice sabers.

D20
In the D20 version, Shii Cho is represented by the feat "Exotic Weapon prof.: Lightsaber". It's merely the ability to wield a lightsaber without risking self injury. It's main advantage is that it allows the usage of other melee combat feats, with Lightsabers. To learn this feat, you must already be proficient with Advanced Weaponry and must have the feat "Improved Unarmed Combat", as well as Athletics must be a class skill and must be trained.

Jar Kai and Niman - Form VI
Jar Kai is only a subform of-, and in direct continuation of Shii-cho, where the user learns to wield minimum two weapons instead of a single one, or a weapon with at least two attack options. Jar Kai is difficult to master, but certainly doesn't require one to be a psionic, as many martial artists outside of the psionic orders know how to propperly dual-wield weapons. Most find, that if they learned dual wielding prior to learning shii-cho, studies of Jar kai rare entirely unnecessary. If Jar kai is a subform, Niman is even less that than, and by many simply considered the final chapter of Jar Kai. Niman is the art of using the entire body in combat, and focusing, not only on using the weapons primary attack option, but utilizing the whole weapon and the body in combination. Fighters who master Niman, Jar Kai and Shii cho will be able to perform series of attacks, using several weapons and for instance, kicks or punches.

D20
In the D20 setting, Jar Kai and Niman are both represented by "Two weapon fighting", combined with the "Exotic Weapon prof.: Lightsaber" feat and "Improved Unarmed Combat".

Offensive Lightsaber forms
Also known as the "light saber to light saber" forms, though not necessarily intended for that in particular, they are all designed for killing, maiming or otherwise neutralizing an opponent using the lightsaber directly.

Makashi - Form II
Makashi is by far one of the most elegant and straight forward lightsaber forms there is. Many consider it the "Shii-cho of the offensive forms" and many practice makashi only for a limited time, never at all mastering it, but only to learn the very basics of lightsaber to lightsaber combat and move on to other forms. Makashi is mostly a one-handed combat style, utilizing minimal effort and precise and quick attacks to win. Makashi is further more, best utilized using either lightfoils or curved-hilt sabers, specific variations of the standard lightsaber that were developed to compliment the Makashi style. Makshi is perhaps the style that works best with dual-wielding and those who do specialize in Makashi rarely prefer using a single weapon, this is because Makashi was developed for dueling and only by adding certain advantages to the style, ca it overcome it's shortcomings in never being designed for real combat.

Makashi works very poorly against opponents not armed with melee weapons, as it practically has no use in such situations.

Traditionally, Makashi was actually based on a dueling style practiced amongst the Sith Subspecies of the Alamari nobility. Normally, they would wear cloaks, wield a rapier in one hand and usually a dagger with a fiber cord attached to the glove (meaning it would dangle from the arm when droppep, instead of clattering to the floor) in the other, and a gun holstered by the hip. The cloak was designed to be thrown at the opponent as a blinding or distracting maneuver, so that a flurry of attacks could be unleashed, or that the gun could be drawn (holding only one bullet). The actual subspecies of the Alamari known as the Sith might have been the ones that initially formed the original Sith Order, but they have nothing to do with the modern Sith Order, how ever their culture greatly inspired the modern Sith Empire, and Makashi came to be the preferred fighting style of the Sith Empire where the duel culture is continued.

In the Jedi Order, the Makashi style sees most use as an initial introduction to lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. Only a select few decide to master the style, but those that do have special dispensation to wear a hooded cloak in favor of the traditional jedi robe and carry a gun as part of their standard equipment.

D20
Makashi is bought as a feat called "Makashi - Form II", and requires the feat "Exotic weapon prof.: Lightsaber", as well as a base attack of 6. If Two weapon and quickdraw are both learned, the style will further benefit.

Normally, the style allows the user to add his base attack to his initiatve modifier when ever he is facing an opponent in melee, and only a single opponent.

Should the user still not be at the top of the initiative, he may attempt to roll attack. If the roll succeeds, the number it succeeds by is subtracted from the opponents initiatve, but nothing further happens.

When the Makashi user has more initiatve that his opponent, he may declare that he takes a ready action to riposte. When the opponent attacks, the Makashi user spends one of his two attacks blocking the incoming attack (if he has improved disarm, he may use it in direct combination of this move, as if he was attempting a disarm, only the order of the rolls are reversed, but proceed as normal) by rolling at attack roll, that has to exceed the opponents attack roll. If the attack roll also exceeds the opponents reflex, the opponents reflex is lowered fur the purpose of the upcoming attack. The following counter attack is then made, possibly against a lowered reflex. If this attack succeeds (only the to-hit roll needs to succeed) and the reflex was lowered, the reflex remains lowered until the loop is broken by something (eg. if the makashi user is attacked by someone else, decides to do something other that riposting or the opponent doesn't attack). At any time, during a such loop, the Makashi user may choose to break the loop himself, by going on a full offensive (full attack), in lieu of delaying his action to parry and counter, and the full attack will still be made against the lowered reflex.

If the Makashi user duel wields, he can make any additional attacks with his off-hand weapon without it being considered breaking the loop. Any additional attacks do not need to succeed in order for the lowered reflex to stay in place, and this naturally makes dual wielding very effective when paired with Makashi. The Makashi user may also decide to attack a different opponent with his offhand weapon, without losing the advantage.

Further more, if the Makashi user wears a cloak that can be easilly unequipped, he may attampt an attack roll at anytime (costing his additional attack, or his offhand attack if he can dualwield), without losing his advantage, which upon success means the cloak has been thrown at the opponent, effectively blinding the opponent, giving the Makashi user full concealment against the blinded opponent. Seeing as attacks can be made in any order, and that  one does not need to unequip a lightsaber to throw a cloak, the Makashi user could; parry, then throw the cloak with the off hand, and then attack. An opponent blinded to your attacks will count as flat-footed, unless he/she has other means of percieving you, combined with sneak attack, this can be very lethal.

As the last option, a Makashi user can can use quickdraw to quickly draw a gun and fire it without penalties for for shooting into melee, nor suffer the usual attack of oppertunity from using a ranged weapon in melee. Further more, if the gun is drawn during a makashi riposte move (essentially a full attack), it doesn't cost a move action.

Ataru - Form IV
Ataru is at the same time, perhaps the most and least impressive of the lightsaber combat forms. Seen from the perspective of a non-psionic, the Ataru user will appear to be fighting while pulling off impossible feats of acrobatics at the same time, but to a skilled lightsaber combatant, the chaotic behaviour and last minute calls that defines ataru seems sloppy and poorly executed. Ataru can look incredibly gracefull when performed in a controlled environment where the performer knows what to do, but in a real and uncontrolled environment, the grace is replaced by unpredictable actions, often so unpredictable, that the performer himself may even lose track at times and improvise entirely. This is however the purpose of this form, to become unpredictable and chaotic by constantly moving faster than normal people can, jumping higher than normal people can, and striking stronger than normal people can. Ataru was designed to be used against multiple opponents, be they blaster wielding or melee combatants. It was NOT designed for lightsaber duels against a single opponent, but rather to keep the user alive against impossible odds. If attempting to use ataru against a single opponent, one will find that many efforts and tactics are entirely wasted while the opponent can simply be on the defensive and watch you tire yourself out, and strike when you are least prepared.

D20
Ataru is bought as a feat, and requires "exotic weapon prof.: lightsaber", a base attack of 6 and for the user to be a psionic with at least 12 ranks in use force.

Both force jump and force speed must be successfually activated (if the psionic has enough ranks in use force, he may be able to afford also having force defence up), and having this feat allows the user to activate both in one turn as a completely free action. While using Ataru, the user may ignore a number of attacks of oppertunity equal to the amounts of points he put into jump. While using ataru, moving full distance does not cost a move action, and moving run distance costs only a move action and the user may move between targets, effectively breaking up the number of squares he can move into seperate move actions, all completely free (t he use of force speed adds to the number of squares the user can move in one round).

Essentially, ataru can be used as a hit and run tactic, constantly keeping out of the reach of melee opponents, and  if the number of points put into speed exceeds the base attack of any ranged opponents trying to hit you, you are treated as having partial cover. In the end, ataru in it's own may prove a better defence than anything else.

It's important to note that Ataru can be combined with whirl-wind attack, allowing the ataru user to move between each attack, and treat every enemy as being within reach if he can move there. Ataru may also be combined with cleave, and the user may also move in between cleave attacks.

Djem So - VII
Djem so is a curious fighting style, developed to close the gap between Makashi and Ataru. The Makashi style was too dependant on having certain advantages or being in a controlled environment, and the Ataru style was the exact opposite, but proved suboptimal for duels. Djem so was initially intended to bridge the two styles, but has since developed into one of the most popular dueling fighting styles of the Jedi Order. Djem So is not a one-handed fighting style, nor does it utilize hit-and-run tactics, and it isn't particularily dependant, or even necessarily benefitting from dual wielding. It is more elegant and controlled than ataru, and more acrobatic and chaotic than makashi, so while it doesn't share many qualities with the two parent styles, it is middleground in that one particular sense. Where Makashi relies on timing, precision and cunning and ataru relies on relentlesness, endurance and psionic abilities, Djem So relies primarily on strength and the ability to overpower the opponent by battering through his defences, without sacrificing precision. Learning Djem So doesn't require one to be a psionic, but most of the advantages of using Djem So are lost to those that aren't. While ataru demands that the user devotes his psionic abilities to the maneuvers he performs, the Djem So user will instead find that he has ample room to use his psionic abilities during combat, making it one of few styles that leaves intentional openings for this. Pushing the opponent away during a saber lock is one of the more common techniques, and the pull-slash maneuver, and pull-stab and pull-spin-cut maneuvers are all part of what made Djem So so popular.

Djem So is far from perfect, how ever. Victory depends entirely on the skill of the user, a Djem So user may not stand a chance against a Makashi user who is simply faster than the Djem So user, as Djem So doesn't have any particular defensive applications, Djem So users, often find themselves sent on the retreat if they do not manage to dominate the battle from the beginning. A djem so user could never beat a user of Ataru with particularily stronger psionic abilities than the Djem So user, as the only defensive capability against the hit and run tactics a Djem So user can utilize, is using psionic abilities to prevent the ataru user from moving out of reach, and this will not work if the ataru user can simply ward the attempts off. While Djem So is capable of delivering particularily powerful attacks, it's still no guarantee that it can break the defence of a master of Soresu, and seeing as the precision and power limites the the amount of attacks delivered greatly, a Soresu master will have ample time to lash out, and the same holds true for Shien.

D20
Djem so is bought as a feat, and requires "Exotic Weapon prof.: Lightsaber", as well as power attack and a base attack of at least 6. Djem so allows the user to combine the efforts of several attacks, effectively losing those extra attacks (if he has more than two attacks, he can keep the third and combine only two), increasing the base-attack bonus for that particular attack. Power attack can then be used in direct conjunction, to lower the to-hit chance, but increase the damage potential. Further more, using this technique, the user may double his strength bonus (or triple it, in case of three attacks combined). Combining several attacks doesn't count as a full attack, but merely a standard action. The user may still take a move action afterwards. Using the force aggressively is normally standard action (such as force push), but this can be changed by purchasing the feat called "Swift Force". Using the force in other ways, how ever is only a move action or even a free action in some cases.

Juyo - Form VIII
Juyo is also known as the "forbidden art" amongst the Jedi, because so select few are allowed to learn this style. The style is designed to kill the opponent, being the only lightsaber fighting style utilized by Jedi with that specific purpose in mind. Juyo is only to be used in emergencies, when someone needs to be taken out decidedly, before they hurt someone. The use of Juyo usually leaves the victims severely dismembered or outright dead, and usually within just a few moves. It's original purpose was lightsaber to lightsaber combat, but has since evolved to cover other areas as well. Juyo is not comparable to most of the other styles, as it's built upon a deep understanding of lightsaber combat. To learn juyo, one must first at least know the basic of every other style, in order to counter them. The Juyo stile is partially based on this superior knowledge, but alone the fact that it is only taught to extremely skilled lightsaber duelists ensures the fact that Juyo will often succeed alone based on the skill of the user. Like Ataru, Juyo is an incredibly chaotic form, but it draws it's strength from both cunninc, speed, precision and strength, making it a very demanding form. To those who do not recognize the Juyo style, it will look like the fighter doesn't know what he is doing. He will open himself to attack intentionally, because a true master of Juyo will be willing to sacrifice himself to end his enemy. He will perform needless maneuvers, these serve merely to confuse the enemy and perhaps cause him to underestimate both the style and the practitioner. He will seem to be thinking out of the box, which is not entirely true, a more precise metaphor would be that the juyo practitioner, moves at the very borders of the box, but is capable of percieving both himself and his opponent as if outside the box. Ironically, the style that works best against Juyo is the regular Shii-cho style. So basic and so full of shortcomings that who ever uses it will undoubtedly have his/her own personal way of executing every move. This eliminates one of the advantages of juyo. Juyo has very few established moves, but is rather a selection of principles of combat that are listed and then taught how to be broken. It's a means to break the unwritten rules of combat.

D20
The Juyo style is bought as a feat, it requires the feat "Exotic weapon prof.: Lightsaber", along with the "Use Force" skill being a class skill and trained and a minimum of 6 baseattack and further more requires one additional lgihtsaber style to be learned. First thing a Juyo user will do when entering combat, is finding out if his base attack exceeds his opponents. If it does not, he simply cannot utilize Juyo against the opponent. Unless the opponent actively uses Deception to trick the Juyo user, the Juyo user makes a free attack roll to simply determine the skill of the other user at DC = 10 + opponents level. If his base attack does however exceed the opponents, he may ignore the effects of any lightsaber combat style the opponent attempts to use (apart from shii-cho and jarkai/niman) that the Juyo user also has. He may not "ignore" the fact that an ataru user uses hit and run tactics, but rather, he may ignore that the ataru user can freely ignore attacks of oppertunity. Attacks made by a juyo user against a user of shien, Makashi or soresu cannot be countered and parried, if the Juyo user also knows these styles.

Soresu - Form III
Soresu is the art of unlimited defence. Masters of Soresu can walk through raging battles unscathed, whirling their lightsabers about. It is the ultimate defensive form, with no direct attack applications. The effect of Soresu is generally achieved by swinging the blade in wide arcs and speedingly rotating the blade and the body. The moves of blade and body are corregated by using psionic precognitive abilities to sense incoming attacks before they happen, and in the way that the blocking movement was already launched, it just needs a little directioning. Soresu is the preferred form of many Jedi, as it is purely defensive. Teaching in this form is nearly mandatory. Soresu's defensive application applies to all incoming attacks, that can effectively be stopped by a lightsaber.

D20
Soresu is bought as a feat, and requires the feat "Exotic weapon prof.: Lightsaber" and at least 1 point of base attack, further more requires "use force" to be a trained class skill. The user may parry one attack per point of baseattack he is willing to sacrifice. As long as the user is aware of the incoming attack, he/she may declare parry. Upon recieving his/her turn, the user may still perform a full action, and even attack, how ever, the user's baseattack is lowered for the duration of the round. Parrying functions like with Makashi (form II).

Shien - Form V
Shien is considered a more offensive version of Soresu (form III), and much more precise, how ever lacking the same defensive capabilities. It was developed, when masters of Soresu discovered that their all-out defensive form needlessly drew out long battles. Shien is known for it's unorthodox use of the reverse grip at times.

Shien functions in a similar way to soresu, the user will attempt to ward off attacks, but in stead of being focussed on attacks by many enemies like Soresu, Shien will only allow the user to focus on a select few enemies or at least a select few attacks, depending on the skills of the user, but the advantage of shien over Soresu, is that Shien focusses on immediately counter-attacking in what ever way possible. If two lightsaber combatants of equal skill in shien face eachother, it's almost a safe bet that the one that strikes first will lose, which is an interesting thing to watch, and an endless loop of counter attacks and parries is launched. Shien was not made for attacking, how ever, and remains a defensive form in praxis, how ever it's a defence based on offense.

Shien is also the form that teaches the user to, not only deflect projectiles like Soresu teaches, but to reflect them back at the opponent. This works primarily against laser weapons and "blaster" technology weapons, which see heavy use both inside and outside of military use, because of their inability to penetrate most things, in lieu of superheating them and sometimes melting them.

The big flaw of Shien is that most users of shien aren't perfect in their execution of the style. Shien users are supposed to end the threat of their opponent with a single counter-attack, but that is just not always the case.

Shien was based on Soresu, but ironically, Shien is now usually taught prior to learning Soresu, as shien has more practical applications, when combined with the other fighting styles typically known at early stages and the precision learned from Shien will help students develop talents in Makashi, as well as the guarding stance will help the student benefit directly when later learning Soresu.

D20
Shien is bought as a feat and requires "exotic weapon prof.: Lightsaber". When a shien user is being attacked, and is aware of the attack, he may opt to use shien. Shien allows him to instantly attempt to parry an attack, done in the same way as with Makashi (form II), how ever, only a single counter-attack may be made. Unlike Makashi however, the shien riposte is not limited to working against a single opponent, seeing as the user is not forced to make a full attack. If the Shien user is skilled enough (has a high enough base attack), he/she can parrty and counter attack against several incoming attacks. If shien is used, the user may declare a parry attempt against any incoming attack that he/she is aware of, but each parry attempt and consecutive counter attack costs the user one attack. If the user has any attacks left when it is his turn in the initiatve order, he may chose to use remaining attacks, as if he was still capable of making a full attack, though he only get's the number of unused attacks he has left. The user may also opt not to attack, and save remaining attacks in case people further in the initaitve order attacks him.