Making Melee viable vs future weapons.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Anders Gabrielsson

If ranged weapons are mainly energy and the best defense against that are force fields you could have a situation where people wear little or no armor against melee weapons. Though you'll need to do something about projectile weapons.

For some futuristic super-spy action, I made it so that Niven-style superconductor cloth cut energy weapon damage by 90%, but the remaining 10% was applied to the each protected location. This led to some layered energy cloth/ballistic cloth Kung Fu outfits with hoodies worn over light body armor, Hand-to-hand was essential to be able to stop the baddies without unacceptably dangerous firepower, and the baddies typically weren't heavily armed either, unless you count taking over civilian vehicles.

[jacobmuller]

Wrestling - forget trying to find a realistic way to punch a sword through rigid DR100, just Sumo him into a wall/ off a building.
PS the latest pyramid has a special on grappling skills - haven't had a chance to read it yet.

[Verjigorm]

Vibro axes with swing rockets make a mess of anything. :)

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by verjigorm

vibro axes with swing rockets make a mess of anything. :)

Rocket crowbar. SJG Forums hates allcaps apparently

[Lamech]

Seems like a place for psi-tech and plus shamelessly stealing from Evangellion.

Everyone has a piece of psi-tech that lets them access their AT field. An AT field can survive pretty much any assault, plus everyone has one even in civilian situations in case of an accident. The only way to beat an AT field is with another AT field, and they don't extend very far. Hence if you want to hurt anyone you need to be in melee range.
Of course people would still wear extra armor for combat because if people are limited to fists plate mail rocks. Which means weapons still get used. Then you just need to let melee weapons have some advantage over ranged. More damage, perhaps letting the AT field extend down them (so melee weapons would have a longer range than a gun) or whatever.

[sabanknight]

ok, sorry, I might not have been clear, I just want to know if there is a clear cut set of optional rules for scaling damage up in situations of very high skill levels.

I DO NOT want it to be equipment reliant, yes yes ive read UT melee options, I do not want these, I am looking for answers on the technique/skill/martial arts end of things.

I am thinking of increasing damage by 1d for sacrificing 4 to your relative skill if I cant find anything pre-written up.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by sabanknight

...

Id prefer it to be based on the prowess of the user and less the weapon (IE Virbo/High Density/ect) without the user having Striking ST 30+! The other addition is of course targeted strikes hitting a head neck ect but still against non human targets I still need a little more...

...


To reitterate: I DO NOT want it to be equipment reliant, yes yes ive read UT melee options, I do not want these, I am looking for answers on the technique/skill/martial arts end of things.

This makes it hard, because the first thing that came to mind is 'vibro-blades get AP 10, and the best you can get in bullets is AP 2; done!'

Well you seem willing to step well aside from the book, and mentioned 'not quite force weapons'

so

Option 1: completely unmarried strength and damage- like say a blade that has strength equal to the skill of the person wielding it, AND divides armor by 1/5th skill. So to a sword-saint it is a high damage armour-ignorant deathblade, but to someone untrained it's just a bulky sword almost identical to a run of the mill vibro-blade.

Option 2: Psi-weapon- damage is based off of willpower instead of strength; completely ignores armour on living targets, causes surges in electric equipment with HT penalty to MOS on a will roll (So a fighter with will 15 can't HURT a machine at all, but can shut it down quite reliably).

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

This has been hinted at by 3rd edition Ultra-tech 1 & 2.

Assume that sensor technology is good enough that any chemical propellant, from black powder to high-tech liquid, is easily detected. (This would also work on explosives.)

Assume that every firearm that uses power cells has a long-range RFID that cannot be removed without disabling the weapon. And/or assume that the guts of the power-cell firearm must have certain compounds that are also easily detectable by long range sensors.

Then, assume very strict gun-control laws -- basically, no weapon that is not in the immediate possession of military or police is forbidden.

So, possession of a firearm is very hazardous and will probably result in the arrival of robo-SWAT units. In such case melee weapons (and high-tech muscle-powered missile weapons) would be the usual devices of those who practice violence.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym

This has been hinted at by 3rd edition Ultra-tech 1 & 2.

Assume that sensor technology is good enough that any chemical propellant, from black powder to high-tech liquid, is easily detected. (This would also work on explosives.)

Explosives perhaps, but bullets are generally self-sealed and do not offgas once completed even today, with TL9+ manufacturing I don't see that changing, and if that does change due to law then the criminal with the TL8 loading station has undetectable bullets whereas law abiding citizens are stuck with no guns.

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym

Assume that every firearm that uses power cells has a long-range RFID that cannot be removed without disabling the weapon. And/or assume that the guts of the power-cell firearm must have certain compounds that are also easily detectable by long range sensors.

Then, assume very strict gun-control laws -- basically, no weapon that is not in the immediate possession of military or police is forbidden.

Then again, the criminal who gets his holdout laser pistol worked on by an illegal tech (or just plain built with black market parts) gets to have the firearm, and the law abiding individual does not.

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym

So, possession of a firearm is very hazardous and will probably result in the arrival of robo-SWAT units. In such case melee weapons (and high-tech muscle-powered missile weapons) would be the usual devices of those who practice violence.

Well it would be the chosen defence of otherwise law abiding individuals who know that the laws are toothless against those who already break the law, and they need defences against those who do violence. Those already willing to do violence will also be willing to have illegal weapons on there possession.

If there are a lot of draconian checkpoints (space ports, getting on ships) then those weapons must at least be disguised, but the cane-rifle and camera holdout laser will still exist, but at least they won't have any accuracy bonuses and be somewhat fragile (of course, unless melee weapons are specifically allowed, then no one will have those through the checkpoints either). Cane/stick fighting may come back into popularity, and armoured briefcases taking the place of shields.

[Walrus]

If you want just increase melee capabilities, there are plenty of options:

• Weapon Master - just make it widely spread and marginally used;
• Power Blow - the same, though you can make somerestrictions for it: e.g., it cannot be any higher than the third your highest skill in melee or something like that;
• Garppling (already mentioned);
• Pressure points or pressure secrets, working through flexible armor;
• Springing Attack;
• Imbuements (you can make them psionic, biotic or something other plausible in your setting);
• Modified ST-based damage, follow-up melee attacks and ST-based Innate Attacks.

The list isn't complete, you know. Just read Martial Arts - it covers a lot.