i wouldnt take wikipedia as an authority on this one. the areospace industry looked very seriously into plasma weapons for their ABM projects, and found them much more effective at short ranges than lasers. the problem was they couldnt keep the projection focused over long ranges.

the technology to create man portable lasers isnt curently available either, but we have ground and vehicle based laser systems. its feasable to imagine that those might be scaled down, and likewise feasable to imagine that plasma weapons could become more efficient and portable.

i have more of a problem with the idea that fully automatic handheld projectile weapons dont generate noticeable recoil, but i can suspend disbelief enough to imagine that there are compensators in the weapon that dynamically adjust its aim or something.

in any case, i think something like a short range "plasma lance" is much more likely. you wouldnt swing the thing, but it would punch large burning holes in things up to 2 meters away or something.

Still, in close combat neither of you are exactly standing still. And even if you aren't swinging your plasma lance around, I bet your opponent is trying to knock it away so he doesn't get the plasma in the face.

I'd personally prefer a ranged weapon with a reach over 2 meters too :)

The sooner you admit that you really want a lightsaber, the sooner we can start figuring out how to make it work in EP in earnest.

If you want a laser saber, have the real thing : doesn't collision, cuts metal up to 20 meters of range, has no weight apart from the handle but doesn't cut like it was a supernatural string. Instead, a slash will provoke a cut like a whip would have done : the depth of the cut is perpendicular to the movement of the "tip" of the "blade", not tangential. It is a melee weapon but I am sad to announce it provokes no fencing with blades, no parade, but one could imagine a clever fight involving shields and wrist locks like the final fight in Equilibrium (close combat with guns, trying to disarm each other through regular martial art). The absence of fencing would really be compensated by the epic destruction of the fighting arena provoked by such a fight (is that a solid ground you are standing on ?)

Iv wrote:

It is a melee weapon but I am sad to announce it provokes no fencing with blades, no parade, but one could imagine a clever fight involving shields and wrist locks like the final fight in Equilibrium (close combat with guns, trying to disarm each other through regular martial art). The absence of fencing would really be compensated by the epic destruction of the fighting arena provoked by such a fight (is that a solid ground you are standing on ?)

I do like this idea. I've got players that love to clash weapons when doing melee combat, so suddenly making it the 'lightsaber' they bought can't be clashed like that and actually causes both morphs to be damaged... Would certainly move the focus of melee combat to hindering your opponent's movement and keeping them from closing in to range with your gunners.

When I read the title of this post, I immediately thought "light saber". Then when I read the actual post I thought "stun gun". So, light sabers aside, I can see two melee weapons that do energy damage. I leave it to someone else to write them up. Tesla rod - a super stun gun. Its shaped like an old police baton with two electrodes in the tip, or maybe two rings around the end. When someone completes the circuit by being hit it gives them 50,000 volts of love. Little nano-dynamos cause it to recharge much like a self winding watch. Plasma torch - or "its not a light saber". Maybe not a literal plasma torch, but something closer to modern oxy-acetylene. Its primary use is for collecting dust now that nanotech patches can be used to seal bulkhead breaches. At some point in the distant past it was actually a tool that melted metal either to cut it or bind it together. Some older egos may actually have seen one on TV (since the oldest egos became immortal when you had to be rich to afford it and rich people don't weld.) Waving the fiery end at someone might do a bit of damage if you got lucky. Holding them down and keeping the fiery bit in one place is far more effective.