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Old 06-21-2010, 11:08 AM   #5
PK
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
Default Re: Revisiting Talents for Combat

Note that there is no rule against including combat skills in a Talent. The guideline that "the GM ought to forbid Ninja Talent or Weapon Talent" is to avoid unrealistically munchkinized Talents, where a Talent between a large number of not-all-that-related skills is used to avoid buying up attributes. "Ninja skills" and "weapon skills" just cover the two categories that this is most likely to happen with.

Unfortunately, it kind of sounds like the latter ("Weapon Talent") is what you're suggesting here. Within reason, it'd make sense to include a few related (if not necessarily cross-defaulting) weapon skills as part of a larger Talent -- for example:
Arc-Wielder: You are supremely comfortable swinging a tool or weapon where all of the weight is at the end. Axe/Mace, Bolas, Forced Entry, Polearm, Professional Skill (Digger/Wrecker), Prospecting, Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace), and Two-Handed Axe/Mace. Reaction bonus: low-tech construction workers, laborers, and pikemen. 10 points/level
The real problem is when you try to do something like this:
Ninja: You are a damn ninja! Acrobatics, Acting, Axe/Mace, Camouflage, Disguise, Garrote, Holdout, Judo, Karate, Knife, Lockpicking, Poisons, Savoir-Faire, Shadowing, Shortsword, Staff, Stealth, Tactics, Tonfa, and Traps.. Reaction bonus: other assassins or thieves. 15 points/level
While a few of those skills naturally fall under one aptitude, I think it's clear that the above is easily at least three Talents.
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