Details:
Four mods in one! This mod adds 4 new weapons to the game: The Plasma Katana, the BER2 (Laser Sword), the Crucible Blade, and Plasma-infused throwing Knives. The three melee weapons are fully compatible with CROSS_Crits.

The three swords each have their own customizations. Each weapon has a primary tier upgrade, with each upgrade new effects are added to the blade/laser/edge and old effects become more intense. The BER2 is science focused, while the Katana is a combination of Science and Blacksmithing, and the Crucible is exclusively Blacksmithing.

Even though they deal heavy energy damage they still fully scale with your current strength level (the shishkebab's energy damage doesn't do this, which is why it's kind of bad). Similarly, the Throwing knives scale with your explosives perk. Overall each weapon starts out around the same power as a regular machete, and upgrades 3-4 times to beyond the Kremvh's Tooth's power. The Crucible Blade is unique in that it can be held with 1 or 2 hands, the trade off being fast-short swings vs slow long-range swings.


LORE:
BER2 "Laser Sword": Originally developed by General Atomics as a hedge trimmer the BER project was re-focued after a number of disastrous house fires occurred in field testing. Re-tooled as the BER2, the project was aimed at military contracts. Using past connections General Atomics was able to convince the top brass of the US Military to hold a military trial for the weapon. The term "Laser Sword" was coined in military trials by the largest critic of the idea, Lt. Col Hatte Neuspauper, when quoted as saying "I don't care if its hotter than the sun, we don't use goddamn swords anymore."

Plasma Katana: The Plasma Katana was designed and built by REPCONN on request by the US government when it was announced military trials would be held to test the viability of "Close combat meta-fusion-based weaponry". The principal design was based on crystallized plasma capable of being rapidly heated. While an effective cutting instrument the weapon was ultimately deemed prohibitively expensive, mostly due to the cost of manufacturing the necessary large plasma crystal to form the blade.

Plasma Throwing Knives: A compromise from the development of the Plasma Katana, throwing knives require only a
small fraction of the materials of a full blade, while still a providing a super-heated plasma edge capable of causing heavy damage.

XBOX link: https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/4081452


-The Laser Sword and Plasma Katana are added to leveled lists with a script
-The Laser Sword will start to show up around level 15
---Gun Vendors and quest rewards can spawn them.
---Gunners, Railroad agents, and rarely Raiders will have them.
-The Plasma Katana shows up a bit later around level 20.
---Gun vendors and quest rewards can spawn them.
---Gunners, and Railroad agents have a chance to spawn with them.

-Throwing knives are craftable any time at a chemlab.
---The recipe makes three at a time.
---Once made or used, they can be charged at a chemlab for a single plasma cartridge.
---Powered throwing knives become unpowered throwing knives after a single use.

-The Crucible blade is not added anywhere in the game, it must be crafted.
---The base blade can be crafted without requirements, but is very expensive for a new character.
---The final tier (best damage and FX) can be unlocked by disassembling the Kremvh's Tooth.
---Having the loose Kremvh's Tooth mod in your inventory will reduce the crafting cost to a reasonable level.
---This does not destroy the Kremvh's Tooth, you can still reassemble it afterwards.


Laser Sword:
-Blade:
--Basic - Base damage comparable to a machete - Default.
--Charged - +33% base dmg - Sparks on swing.
--Overcharged - +66% base dmg - Light burning DoT - Brighter FX on swing.
--Overclocked - +100% base dmg - Heavy burning DoT - Constant lighting FX
-Blue versions of the blade upgrade are exactly the same stats.
--Blue versions use the Institute crit effect.
-Skins:
--Default
--Institute
--Black
--BlackBlue
--BlackRed
--Orange
--Red
--Tan (enclave without the logos)
--Vault

Plasma Katana:
-Blade:
--Steel - Default.
--Plasma Vein - +33% base dmg - Light flames on swing.
--Plasma Crystal - +66% base dmg - Plasma Goo on swing.
--Plasma Crystal Sharpened - +100% base dmg -  Constant light flame
--Plasma Crystal Sharpened Tuned - +120% base dmg - Constant heavy flame.
-Skins:
--Default
--Institute
--Black
--Orange
--Red
--Tan (enclave without the logos)
--Vault
--White

Crucible Sword:
-Blade:
--Demon Edge - Default.
--Scorching Edge - +33% base dmg - Burns on swing.
--Energized Blade - +66% base dmg - Lighting Effects on blade.
--Burning Blade - +100% base dmg -  Blade constantly burns.
-Hilt:
--One-handed
--Two-Handed - Slower to swing, but longer range - extra heavy
---Powerarmor melee can use the extra range without the slower swing
-Runes:
-Enabled/Disabled
--Cosmetic only.
-FX:
--Red/Green
--Cosmetic Only
--Changes the color of the flames and the lightning.
-Skins:
--Default
--Black
--BlackGreen
--BlackRed
--Green
--Red

Plasma Throwing Knives:
--Crafted at the chemlab/Cyberlab
--Builds three at a time
--Once built they can be powered up with a plasma cartridge
--Powered throwing knives explode on contact and expend their charge, reverting to unpowered state on hit
--Each knife has a bright glow to it to make them easier to find.
--Powered and unpowered knives damage scale with the explosives perk.

Skins:
--Skins provide no functionality or bonuses, they are purely cosmetic.
--The free Skin pack from Gumroad enables up to 4k resolution for all the skins.
-12 total skins: Default skins and the Institute skins are 2k resolution with the Nexus Download




This mod is feature complete from the Nexus download, it's mechanics are fully functional. However I have also made available a 'skin pack' through Gumroad for free at gumroad.com/niero

-Every part of the mod is completely free
-The Nexus download is fully functional with 2k resolution for the three skins.
-The extra skins in the Nexus download use low-res placeholders to keep the Nexus file size reasonable.
-The Gumroad download is "pay what you want".
-Gumroad recently changed their "pay what you want" policy; for this mod you will need to use the discount code "crossblades100off".
-This is re-stated on the Gumroad page for better visibility, the mod is still free. I apologize for the change in process from usual.
-Every part of this mod is still free. No charges are required anywhere, and if you do choose to pay it is still considered a donation.
-There is a second texture download that ups the resolution all of the skins including the three base skins to 4k resolution.
-You do not need to give gumroad a real email address to access the download.




Q: Is this paid mods?
A: No, every part of the mod is still free. The fully functional mod is free right here on the Nexus, just like mods have always been. Gumroad considers anything with a zero minimum price a donation, which means even if you choose to pay for the pack you are still just donating.

Q: What is in the download at Gumroad?
A: Texture files pre-packed into a BA2. Installing the 2k or 4k pack is as simple as dropping the " - textures.ba2" in your fallout4/data folder.

Q: Do I need a Gumroad account?
A: Nope, Gumroad remembers what you've downloaded based on the email you give it. If you want to download something again later but don't remember the link you can make an account with the same email and it will show up at gumroad.com/library. Because the content is free you do not need to give Gumroad a real email address, the download link is provided on-site.

Q:The Gumroad page says it costs 0.99+ USD! wtf?
A: Hit the "I want this" button and use the discount code "crossblades100off" to get the skinpack for free. My older files are grandfathered in to the old system, and hopefully will never need this alternate step.

Q: Why do this if everything to do with the mod is free anyway?
A: Several reasons: This keeps the filesize down so people can get the mod quickly. People who don't care about the extra skins don't have to download an extra Gig of content. Gumroad also offers an uncapped bandwidth limit for all users (Nexus caps at 1024 kb/s), which is ideal for huge files like the 4k texture pack. This also streamlines donations for the folks that don't want to deal with paypal.



Manual Installation:
1. Download the Main Nexus archive
2. Unpack all files within the Nexus archive to *Steam*/Fallout4/Data
3. Download a skinpack off gumroad.
4. Place the " - Textures.ba2" file in *Steam*/Fallout4/Data
6. Activate the mod with your mod manager of choice, or use the in-game mod list