we want more denizens!!!

[Varyon]

Of course, one thing you must always be careful of when building a character/class who is particularly well-suited against a certain type of foe is that you can wind up with a situation where the character basically alternates between being overpowered (because you're up against the type of foe they're specifically designed to fight) and underpowered (because no such foes are present, and thus the points the character spent on the relevant powers are largely wasted). Having OpFor use something of a "combined arms" approach can help here - maybe you've got living warriors with a horde of skeletons assisting them (so your Holy Warrior can focus on the skeletons to keep them off the rest of the party's backs while they engage the warriors), a powerful vampire with loyal human thralls (where the rolls are reversed, with the Holy Warrior engaging the vampire while the others handle the thralls), or anything in-between (and for a Holy Warrior who focuses on demons, you can replace the skeletons with imps and the vampire with a succubus, say). Mixing things up by occasionally throwing the party up against all-living (where the Holy Warrior may need to switch to something of a combat support role) or all-undead (where the Holy Warrior can really shine) groups of foes can certainly be fun.

[Carlos]

After multiple frustrated experiences playing Karate-based DF martial artists, I would love to see a book that make the unarmed master archetype being as viable as the others swing damage armed combatants.

[Anders]

The swing/thrust dichotomy is so entrenched in GURPS... I feel like martial artists need to shine in other areas to make up for not being as strong in combat.

[JulianLW]

Originally Posted by Carlos

After multiple frustrated experiences playing Karate-based DF martial artists, I would love to see a book that make the unarmed master archetype being as viable as the others swing damage armed combatants.

All this is a little fast and loose, but....

Here's a way you could start to narrow the gap for Martial Artists: let them buy the Fist! wildcard skill as written in Power-Ups 7. Include staff and tonfa and, because the Martial Artist template includes TBaM, include all the TBaM skills. Just replacing all the template skills covered by the wildcard, you can get Fist! to DX level - and potentially up to DX+2, I think.

Allow an Attribute Substitution perk to get Power Blow with DX and allow Chi Talent to add its bonus as a task modifier to Power Blow when used as an individual skill (which seems reasonable enough to me - especially if you have bought Power Blow up above the Wildcard level as an individual skill - or you could get rid of Chi Talent altogether and use those 30 points to add more Fist! which is consistent with the advice in Power-Ups 7 for how to construct a "Template Wildcard") so that you're rolling Power Blow at somewhere between 18 and 21 with a 1 FP cost.

You could also add the Fist! wildcard benefits for Monster Hunters from Pyramid 3/107 - to ignore Hurting Yourself, make parries damage the attacker, and potentially increase the per die damage of attacks.

You could also allow a perk to use (or just allow) Trading Fatigue for Skill with Power Blow - and you could allow Very Fit to double the effect of every FP spent on Extra Effort (i.e. to halve the cost of spending 2 FP), so that a Martial Artist with Very Fit could spend 3 FP (1 for the power blow plus 4 divided by 2 for +4 to skill) to roll an instant Power Blow at only -6 for ST 22: Thrust 2d/Swing 4d at possibly +2/die - which would apply to a use of Staff with Fist! This could give a Martial Artist a quarterstaff swing for 4d+2+8 cr damage for 3 FP a pop. (Be sure to buy Breath Control.)

Finally, you can buy up any of the skills in the wildcard from the wildcard level for an additional 4 cp/level - though if you used the individual skill, you would lose any benefit gained from the Wildcard - such as the damage bonus for a melee skill. But that wouldn't be a problem if you bought up Power Blow - and that would arguably be a legitimate way to add the Chi Talent bonus, too.

[Donny Brook]

All I want is the 4e vehicle design book.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Carlos

After multiple frustrated experiences playing Karate-based DF martial artists, I would love to see a book that make the unarmed master archetype being as viable as the others swing damage armed combatants.

The trouble is that the whole Ye Olden Times fantasy genre is very much about swords (and the elf's bow! and the dwarf's axe!) You might be able to find the occasional kung-fu-cinema-influence exception, but making unarmed combat on par with armed combat is probably not what most fans of the genre want. Which is not to say nobody wants it—a significant minority of players evidently do—but I don't see a way to make everyone happy here.

Unrelated: the more I think about this, the more I really want to see the Bard get some more love. As-is, Bards are in this weird place where they're split between being a spells-and-powers template like Clerics and Druids, and being a "face man" type. You might think there'd be synergy here but I mostly struggle to find it. Fictional charming rogues mostly do not resort to mind-control. I guess you could use Telesend to work your charms on someone you couldn't otherwise get face time with, or fast-talk your way into exactly the right place to make best use of Mind Control, but those mostly feel like edge cases.

[Anders]

First thing I'd do to put Martial Artist on a par with other fighters is remove the insane waiting time on chi skills, to make them actually useful in combat without needing to invest 40 points in each skill.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Anders

First thing I'd do to put Martial Artist on a par with other fighters is remove the insane waiting time on chi skills, to make them actually useful in combat without needing to invest 40 points in each skill.

The waiting time is a bit like the "Immediate Preparation Required" limitation. Switching that to "Preparation Required" so that you can get them ready in advance might work.

[edk926]

Originally Posted by Anders

First thing I'd do to put Martial Artist on a par with other fighters is remove the insane waiting time on chi skills, to make them actually useful in combat without needing to invest 40 points in each skill.

This is it. Pretty much none of them can be used in combat despite the skills being the kind of things that would be valuable to have in combat. Just give them a fatigue cost like imbuements instead, because that's what they kind of are.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Anders

First thing I'd do to put Martial Artist on a par with other fighters is remove the insane waiting time on chi skills, to make them actually useful in combat without needing to invest 40 points in each skill.

Yeah, that's a hold-over from 3e when it was done to simulate the time a martial artist spends lining up his strike, breathing, preparing, and then smashing hand or foot through a stack of boards or bricks... and then it was just carried over to everything else. Just dumping it and then allowing them to spend Extra Time to gain a bonus to the roll would be a better method, that simulates the lower skilled Martial Artist needing to spend the time, but a true master just does it.