I uploaded a simple mod to kotorfiles.
It allows the construction of basic armours at the workbench, no special armours but just the ones for which the technology would be widely available throughout the galaxy. There are graded repair skill requirements for each type, so low level characters can make things like combat suits, mid-level characters can make battle armour and the real techies or those with high repair skills can make things like powered armour. No alien technology can be replicated however, you still have to find things like Echani suits.
Second it allows construction of lightsabres at the workbench after reaching level 15. You must be level 15 by which time most players have long since constructed their Quest Lightsabre.
Only basic lightsabres (blue, red, green, yellow) can be constructed. Unusual colours are considered rare or unique focusing crystals and if you want those you should find an orange, purple, viridian or whatever colour crystal by adventuring and swap it out in a regular lightsabre you make. This would be how Jedi get those colours (at one point the Exile tells Atton the Jedi Council had never seen a viridian lightsabre before, for example, and it can be inferred the other unusual colours are extremely rare).
Link for v1.01 is here (
http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/Expanded_Workbenches;108133)
Okay now I used this mod to learn the TSL Patcher, so made some mistakes along the way and also revised the basic mod itself...all within two days of uploading to kotorfiles (so sorry to the staff there for all the confusion and trouble *gulp*)
This thread then is to alleviate some confusion about this mod and for user feedback, and any bug reporting.
Like I said, it's a simple mod, but the Patcher is new to me.
Version 1 of Expanded Workbenches (by Vanir) was broken and taken down thankfully, because v1.01 got uploaded right behind it.
This is the version currently at kotorfiles. There is a problem in that if you don't already have the itemcreate and itemcreatemira 2da files in your override folder it doesn't install.
This is fixed in v2.02 the final version.
Version 2 is a revision of the lightsabre construction. In the first version uploaded yesterday you could make the four basic, single hilt lightsabres after level 15 with a high repair skill (18). This is changed in v2.
Jedi Guardians and Consulars don't get a lot of skill points and Jedi classes in general don't typically have high repair skills. Plus it doesn't make any sense that the same skill to make armour or regular blasters is used to make arcane technology like lightsabres. There should be a more Jedi specific skill use.
So in version 2 you must be level 15, and the skill requirement is now Awareness, which is the only common class skill between all Jedi and Sith classes and prestige classes. All of them have Awareness. And you shouldn't have to spend all your skill points in Awareness, you can't make lightsabres before level 15 so that is enough of a restriction...the skill requirement is now 12pts in Awareness to craft basic, single hilt lightsabres.
I added another feature. Double bladed lightsabres can be constructed by putting as many skill points in Demolitions, which is a class skill of Jedi Guardians, Weapon Masters and Sith Marauders. Other Jedi classes don't get this as a class skill so it seems very appropriate.
And Short lightsabres can be constructed with the same skill level again, this time in Computer Use. This is used by the Jedi Sentinel skill set (Watchmen, Sith Assassins), and again is not a class skill of other Jedi classes so is appropriate.
If another Jedi class wants to craft lightsabres of a particular type all he has to do is spend a feat to make it a class skill (demolitions for double bladed, computer use for short bladed).
I decided to rule that since the Sentinel skill sets are really skills-based classes they are most likely to carry short bladed lightsabres as a defensive weapon. Canonically Jedi Sentinels (the Old Republic era WEG d6 RPG class template), are charged with hunting out evidence of Sith influence. Most of the time they track down ancient Sith artefacts so they can be destroyed or locked away for safe keeping. There are combat specialised Jedi Battlemasters for confronting Sith forces, this is not the job of the Sentinels.
Finally I added in a feature so that you don't have to have the itemcreate files in your override for the Patcher to work, it will install these files and then modify them (hopefully).
Therefore the full current version of this mod is v2.02 which was uploaded today to kotorfiles and hopefully will appear there tomorrow. This one should be used rather than previous versions.