Thread: Cloak
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Old 03-21-2012, 09:09 AM   #17
Kromm
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Default Re: Cloak

Quote:
Originally Posted by Finalsora811 View Post

Ok here's essentially what I wanna do. I fast-draw a weapon, attack with it, then quick sheathe it and fast-draw a cloak, ready to defend at the end of my turn.
In GURPS, almost any item you can wield in combat takes one or more Ready maneuvers to prepare if you don't start the fight with it in hand. This includes bucklers, cloaks, and shields, and all weapons besides those that allow Fast-Draw. Prep time is obviously a bigger issue for two-weapon fighting – weapon-and-weapon, weapon-and-shield, weapon-and-cloak, etc. – because you have twice as much readying to do. Except in an ambush, however, your opponents will be doing this, too. And readying is something you generally do once . . . GURPS lets you keep something ready indefinitely, for both attack and defense, in each hand. You needn't ready before each attack and each defense; you can defend with the same thing you used to attack (e.g., whip a cloak and then block with it, stab with a sword and then parry with it); and yet you don't have to do that (stabbing with a sword and then blocking with a cloak is fine).

In light of all this, it seems that the flaw is in your strategy of spending more time readying than fighting: Why would you want to draw, use, and put away the weapon, and then ready the cloak? Why not just use one turn at the very start of the fight to Fast-Draw your weapon and Ready your cloak, and then fight every later turn with both weapon and cloak at the ready for both attack and defense? You will find that strategy makes using a cloak anything but useless and inefficient.

Of course, it may be that your weapon is two-handed . . . but "two-handed weapon and cloak" is a highly unrealistic fighting style. It may also be that all this is purely for reasons of style. In a campaign where style outweighs realism, the GM might well allow Fast-Draw skills and Quick-Sheathe perks for just about everything, and you could do this sort of stuff. But GURPS' baseline assumptions are moderate realism with one action (Attack, Ready, etc.) per turn, and under those assumptions, fighters have to take some time to get their weapons out at the start of combat, and then for the most part keep their weapons out throughout the battle. Swapping weapons around mid-fight is uncommon, and is usually reserved as a contingency plan for a dropped or broken weapon.
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