Re: Revisiting Talents for Combat
I've found that Talents actually tend to encourage specialization. In DF Dwarves get a talent that includes Axe/Mace, and I certainly wouldn't try to improve my skill with swords if I've got a +4 boost to axes.
As for talents that include broad swathes of weapon skills, the problem seems to be two-fold. One, weapon skills are generally not as specific as the weapons taught by a specific martial art. I'm not sure this is entirely a bad thing, but it isn't really in keeping with the intention of having the talent boost weapon skills with your martial art. Indeed, it seems anyone who trained in a weapon-based martial art is going to end up broadly competent at a wide variety of weapons, which brings up the second problem, cost. A talent composed solely of weapon skills is much cheaper than DX, and since all weapon skills are based on that stat, it's a point crock. Melee fighters are already sufficiently effective that they don't need to be more so for the same points, IMO.
I don't have a problem with talents that include a weapon skill with a bunch of other non-combat skills. I don't think a talent should be entirely or mostly composed of them, however. If you want to be broadly competent with a wide variety of weapons, I think you should be buying up your DX. This seems more in keeping with the across-the-board increased coordination I've seen in people who have such skill.
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