[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Of course, sure. My point is not "No, you can't do that," only "You can't do that RAW" (meaning "Rules as written.")

Fair enough. I personally don't think of rules for superscience devices as RAW, which is probably where that disconnect came from.

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The practitioner would have to focus mostly on dodge as his defense, but keeping the blade off would greatly enhance feinting, though it would be difficult to strike that way (you cannot see where the blade is, so you're striking blind, after a fashion. Probably apply a penalty, and a technique to get around that)

I hadn't even considered the aspect of "striking blind." An experienced swordsman typically has a pretty good idea of where his weapon is without looking at it (Wild Swing penalties and the like are for not being able to see the enemy, not your weapon), although something "massless" like a force sword might be a good deal harder to keep track of. I'd say a penalty when swinging the weapon would be in order, but probably not for "thrusting" - that is more like shooting a gun from the hip, albeit at extremely close range. I could see maybe a Bulk penalty there, although force swords would probably be Bulk -1 at worst.

All said, for balance and a nod to realism, it might be appropriate to impose a -2 or -4 penalty to do this, but allow a single Perk to buy that off.

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The real advantage of fighting with your blade on all the time, in addition to it being easier to see where you're attacking, is that it's much safer to parry with.

Yeah, requiring the activation roll as a defense followed by an actual Parry would model that well. So with my suggestions that would be something like a roll against (Fast Draw +4)/2+3 followed by (Force Sword)/2+3, needing to succeed on both, as opposed to only needing to do the latter. The above penalty could also be applied here (you activate your weapon in time, but it isn't actually in line to Parry).