The Utility of High Combat Skills

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

I've found high levels of combat skills to be worthwhile in games where combat is important...

If there is going to be any combat in the game and your Character is meant to be the combat facing character, then raising your combat skills to high levels is always important.

Originally Posted by gmillerd

With that said, spending more than half your points on combat traits is likely poor design and over three quarters or more is flawed; unless your character and the game are warriors with no other purpose in a specialized setting.

I disagree. In a 250 point cyberpunk game I spent right about 60 points on non-combat Skills and Attributes and feel just fine. I can handle the few social tasks I need to handle (Intimidation, Interrogation, Savoir-Faire (Military), Streetwise), the handful of mechanical tasks (Armoury, First Aid, Machinist, Mechanic), and the stealthiness/spottiness (Camouflage, Holdout, Observation, Shadowing, Stealth). And with an IQ 12 (and thus Per 12) he's no real slouch (all those skills are at 12).

But then the other Characters are all Face/Techies... so someone has to rule the combat spotlight (most of the techies can hold out their end, but really all three are about equal to my Character alone in combat) while they have all the other stuff locked down well.