So I had an idea for lightsaber forms, to make them linked as perks to the lightsaber skill.
Form 1: Shii-Cho- Standard, this is basically not using a form.
Form 2: Makashi, Damage Penalty AC boost vrs melee.
Form 3: Soresu, AC Boost, BAB penalty. Soresu should be better at defense then Makashi, but should have a harder time going on the offense in my opinion.
Form 4: Ataru, Deflection Bonus, To differentiate this one from the other two defensive forms, it should be a pretty good bonus to Deflection.
Form 6: Niman, Small Bonus to AB/AC, an all around bonus, but should be less then the other forms, to encourage the usage of dedicated forms.
Form 7: Juyo, AB bonus, Damage Bonus, AC Penalty, an offensive form, so it should reflect that.
I also think that light saber forms should share a cool down between swaps like the current forms, they should each have a different requirement and could have multiple levels to increase bonus/decrease penalty.
I would also say add a form mastery perk that lowers the cool down between forms, to encourage swapping forms, to a minimum of six seconds IE one round.
Ataru is considered an offensive lightsaber form though, better blaster deflection is more a form V: Shien/Djem So thing (which is somewhat strange considering form V is an offensive form as well) and of course a main feature of form III: Soresu.
Ataru would be better represented by granting it an extra attack to represent it’s fast attack style and maybe granting the Mobility feat since Ataru uses movement in combat quite a lot.
Soresu was the best of the forms at deflecting blaster bolts, as it was designed to specifically do it, Shien was designed to be a more offensive form of Soresu focusing on reflecting blaster bolts back at the attacker rather then purely defending. Shien is the offensive version of Soresu.
Form V is in a sense two forms though, Shien focuses on blaster and multiple opponants and Djem So is the melee veriant, Using parries for powerful counter attacks.
Niman is a dedicated form too and is absolutely deadly in the right hands. Exar Kun focused in Niman before transitioning into Jar’kai using Nimon as a foundation. It’s the easiest form to learn but it’s also out of all the forms have the best potential to win a duel if one dedicates themselves to it.
Due to the limitations of men as an engine I’m not sure melee and range specific ac boosts AC are possible but you’re onto something.
It would be really easy with a minor adjustment to the base item 2da if there is no easy scripting way to do it.
Just make all melee bludgeoning, all blasters piercing, and all sabers slashing, and now you can have weapon type specific properties.