Kusari-Sledgehammer?

Apollonian · 08-18-2017, 06:55 PM

So I've got a player who wants to play a Really Big Dude with a sledgehammer on a chain, so they can make short ranged attacks and pull it back, etc. The obvious comparison is to a kusari-gama, but, y'know, bigger. I need help building the weapon and coming up with the skills/techniques to use it. Pertinent points:

The PC has Gigantism and ST 15; the game is somewhat cinematic martial arts/old west. He has about 15-20 points to play with for this particular trick.

acrosome · 08-18-2017, 06:59 PM

Just be sure to have someone with a knife charge him while he's busy reeling it back in...

Harald387 · 08-18-2017, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apollonian

So I've got a player who wants to play a Really Big Dude with a sledgehammer on a chain, so they can make short ranged attacks and pull it back, etc. The obvious comparison is to a kusari-gama, but, y'know, bigger. I need help building the weapon and coming up with the skills/techniques to use it. Pertinent points:

The PC has Gigantism and ST 15; the game is somewhat cinematic martial arts/old west. He has about 15-20 points to play with for this particular trick.

So this is really just a Kusari, with the 'bigger crushing head' pretty easily modeled with the weapon scaling rules for SM+1.

The standard Kusari is sw+2 cr, Reach 1-4*, Parry -2U, $80, 4.5 lbs, ST 10†, with the standard flail advantages against parrying and blocking.

An SM+1 Kusari (using the rules on LTC2, p.21), gets the following:

sw+3 cr, Reach 1-5*, Parry -2U, $180, 10.125 lbs, ST 15†.

That seems pretty reasonable for an 8-lb sledgehammer on a chain. Use Kusari skill, and use techniques that are usable with a Kusari, and you're set to go. I'd recommend Entangle and/or Armed Grapple, Return Strike, and Sweep as reasonably effective. If I were spending 20 points on this I'd spend enough to get Kusari at DX+2 [12], Return Strike @ Skill+0 [6], Reach Mastery (Kusari) [1], and maybe the Focused Fury perk [1] if the GM allows.

Seneschal · 08-19-2017, 04:59 AM

I'm just not sure it would use the Kusari skill. I always imagined Kusari was used like a rope dart or a meteor hammer: lots of spinning, tangling the rope around your feet, elbows and neck to create leverage, then sending the head flying at the enemy with enough speed to crack skulls.

What you're describing seems more like Axe/Mace, Thrown Axe/Mace, and a really long lanyard.

GWJ · 08-19-2017, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Axe/Mace (DX/Average): Any shortor medium-length, one-handed impact
weapon, such as an axe, hatchet, knobbed club, or pick.

Quote:

Kusari (DX/Hard): A weighted chain wielded in two hands.

I think it's much more similar to Kusari skill' description

Apollonian · 08-19-2017, 01:05 PM

Addendum: the hammer in question is a two-handed rail spike driver. I'll ask the player if she wants to go full kusari or just put a few points into a technique for retrieving the hammer.

Daigoro · 08-19-2017, 01:16 PM

Kusari is listed as a category of whip, so he'd have to be able to flick it around pretty nimbly to qualify, and I can't see that happening with ST15 and 8lbs. That's basically a women's hammer throw hammer.

I'd be looking at Flail skill for the main part, being an unbalanced weapon. If you have GURPS Martial Arts, you could look at adding any Whip/Kusari Techniques to your Flail skill with Technique Adaption.

vicky_molokh · 08-19-2017, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Kusari is listed as a category of whip, so he'd have to be able to flick it around pretty nimbly to qualify, and I can't see that happening with ST15 and 8lbs. That's basically a women's hammer throw hammer.

A weapon with MinST15 for someone with ST15 is like a MinST10 weapon for a ST10 character. Now, for a ST10 character, a MinST15 Kusari would be too heavy.

Bilanthri · 08-20-2017, 07:20 PM

Traditionally, the kusarigama was comprised of two weapons, the kama (sickle), and the kusari-fundo (weighted chain, aka manrikigusari). It was the weighted chain end that was whipped around to entangle, while the kama was held for striking and parrying.

Popular fiction, along with martial art demonstrations have led to the idea that it was always flailed around like a bladed-chain orb of death. But its real function comes in looping an opponent's leg or weapon arm and then hacking them with the blade.

Of course, a skilled practitioner can whirl it around like in the movies, but that's not really meant for combat so much as for display...like breaking cinder blocks.

Seems to me like a PC large enough to wield the weight would just use Kusari skill. Throwing the hammer would just use the pertinent Thrown Weapon with the added perk of having a tether like a harpoon.

08-18-2017, 06:55 PM	#1
Apollonian Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)	Kusari-Sledgehammer? So I've got a player who wants to play a Really Big Dude with a sledgehammer on a chain, so they can make short ranged attacks and pull it back, etc. The obvious comparison is to a kusari-gama, but, y'know, bigger. I need help building the weapon and coming up with the skills/techniques to use it. Pertinent points: The PC has Gigantism and ST 15; the game is somewhat cinematic martial arts/old west. He has about 15-20 points to play with for this particular trick.

08-18-2017, 06:59 PM	#2
acrosome Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Land of Enchantment	Re: Kusari-Sledgehammer? Just be sure to have someone with a knife charge him while he's busy reeling it back in... __________________ I'd need to get a grant and go shoot a thousand goats to figure it out.

08-19-2017, 04:59 AM	#4
Seneschal Join Date: Jul 2009	Re: Kusari-Sledgehammer? I'm just not sure it would use the Kusari skill. I always imagined Kusari was used like a rope dart or a meteor hammer: lots of spinning, tangling the rope around your feet, elbows and neck to create leverage, then sending the head flying at the enemy with enough speed to crack skulls. What you're describing seems more like Axe/Mace, Thrown Axe/Mace, and a really long lanyard.

08-19-2017, 01:05 PM	#6
Apollonian Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)	Re: Kusari-Sledgehammer? Addendum: the hammer in question is a two-handed rail spike driver. I'll ask the player if she wants to go full kusari or just put a few points into a technique for retrieving the hammer.

08-19-2017, 01:16 PM	#7
Daigoro Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Meifumado	Re: Kusari-Sledgehammer? Kusari is listed as a category of whip, so he'd have to be able to flick it around pretty nimbly to qualify, and I can't see that happening with ST15 and 8lbs. That's basically a women's hammer throw hammer. I'd be looking at Flail skill for the main part, being an unbalanced weapon. If you have GURPS Martial Arts, you could look at adding any Whip/Kusari Techniques to your Flail skill with Technique Adaption. __________________ Collaborative Settings: Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting!

08-20-2017, 07:20 PM	#9
Bilanthri Join Date: Jul 2016	Re: Kusari-Sledgehammer? Traditionally, the kusarigama was comprised of two weapons, the kama (sickle), and the kusari-fundo (weighted chain, aka manrikigusari). It was the weighted chain end that was whipped around to entangle, while the kama was held for striking and parrying. Popular fiction, along with martial art demonstrations have led to the idea that it was always flailed around like a bladed-chain orb of death. But its real function comes in looping an opponent's leg or weapon arm and then hacking them with the blade. Of course, a skilled practitioner can whirl it around like in the movies, but that's not really meant for combat so much as for display...like breaking cinder blocks. Seems to me like a PC large enough to wield the weight would just use Kusari skill. Throwing the hammer would just use the pertinent Thrown Weapon with the added perk of having a tether like a harpoon.