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Old 12-26-2015, 10:36 AM   #3
dripton
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Northern Virginia, USA
Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Kiai

Kiai can be lethally effective against low-IQ foes that lack Combat Reflexes. Someone with IQ 8 will likely take several turns to come out of Mental Stun, during which you can be freely All-Out Attacking while he defends at -4.

In arena games without magic, IQ is often a dump stat, and powerful races such as ogres get some of their power by lowering racial IQ and not counting the points from that against the campaign disadvantage limit (because being an ogre is an advantage overall). In such games, Kiai is a great anti-ogre weapon. Well worth putting a couple of points in if you already have decent HT and Trained By A Master.

However, it's a pretty easy to counter: take Combat Reflexes. Which you want anyway. A low-Will opponent with Combat Reflexes will usually only be stunned for a single turn, which is marginally useful in a one-on-one fight, but can be really useful if you have allies who can take advantage.

Increased Will is also a good counter, but it's kind of expensive at 5 points per level. Deafness is an amusing counter, since you get points for it. But then you won't hear an opponent sneaking up behind you.
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