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Old 09-07-2017, 08:25 AM   #29
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Spear worth it? fantasy campain

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post

This doesn't sound familiar, is it a house rule?
Page 365 of GURPS CAMPAIGNS. It is the second to last "thing" under the heading of "FEINTS". Frankly, the inclusion of that rule seems a bit bogus to my mind simply because anyone trained in shield work will know that a shield can be used offensively. Only a fool presumes that his opponent doesn't know what he knows about fighting. If a shield can be used offensively, then it shouldn't take an actual "first attack before using in feint" sequence - but, the rules as written are the rules as written.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
What's the advantage in having Shield Feint-20 instead of Spear Feint-20?
One of the "things" about GURPS rules for skills is that "EASY" skills are always cheaper in point costs than are AVERAGE skills. If you wanted to say, have a skill at Attribute+4, the cost for the Average skill is always more expensive than the same skill gain at the Easier skill level.

Note that in my earlier post, I listed the point costs to get spear at DX+3 and the point cost to get Shield at DX+4. Both cost 12 points apiece. So, to put it another way? For the same point expenditure for either of a DX EASY or DX AVERAGE skill, the DX EASY skill is always +1 better than the Average skill, and is +2 better than a Hard skill.

So, would having a DR7 Troll cause problems for the character outlined in the earlier post? Depends on the offensive capabilities of the Troll(s) in question. One thing I neglected to add to the GCA equipment list was the advantage that Weapon Master adds to damage by use of a shield in the hands of a weapon master. I included it for the spear, and am having a duh moment now. But having weapon master with a shield also increases the "punch" damage. In this case, thrust is 1d-1 normally, and a shield punch is equal to thrust damage. So, normally, damage is 1d-1 with a punch right? With weapon master, it becomes 1d6+1. Raising the ST to a 12 would also increase the thrust damage if I recall correctly.

The other benefit of having weapon master with spear and shield is this:

All parries have a lower "multiple defense" penalties. So, use the shield to block incoming first attack, use spear to parry second incoming attack, use spear again at -2 lowered effective parry level, use spear a third time at -4 effective parry level.

Where I using this character myself in combat? I'd try to determine whether the opponent was right or left handed, where its least armored area was, and aim for the jaw with a shield bash doing 1d+1 damage. From then onwards, I'd use the shield to feint to force an opening, and then I'd use deceptive attack next turn aiming likely for the weapon hand - but not letting my skill drop below a base 11 on the attack (hand attack -4, deceptive attack -2).

Depending on what else I'd want the character to be able to do and how many character points I have available for the character build, I'd likely go with hit location Face for shield, and hit location hand for spear, hit location neck for spear. If I had sufficient points for a Spear style, then I'd go for grip mastery, and all of the other fun stuff involved (including sweeps etc).

The reason for hand location? If the opponent can't wield their weapon, that limits the damage they can inflict against you. Hands are crippled at HT/3. Average damage for 1d+2 (defensive attack) will be around 5.5. Unarmored hands are almost certain to be crippled. Leather or chain armored hands are going to require normal attacks unfortunately, but even those can be crippled when rolling 1d6+4.

Throats tend to be the least well protected areas when it comes to armoring. You might also consider face as well. Doing between 5 to 10 points of damage to the head is bad enough from the opponent's point of view. But if you consistently aim for head shots, any crit success is rolled against the head crit table instead of the normal crit table.

In all? Spears are under-represented in campaign play. As my players found out when they went up against the Amazonian Warrior, a weapon master spear and shield combination can be a bit unsettling.

My suggestion to the original poster is this:

Build a character based on ideas presented in this thread, and give it a test drive against his original dwarf character. Then test drive it against a troll or two.
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