Improving Styles

[AlexanderHowl]

Right now, Style Familiarity is a decent perk, but it does not actually require a character to invest in the skills of a style to get any particular benefit. I think that styles should matter more than they do, so I suggest changing Style Familiarity from a perk into a leveled advantage. Any character may purchase the first level in Style Familiarity but, for every 10 CP invested in the skills and techniques of a style, characters may purchase an additional level of Style Familiarity, up to a maximum of 10 levels.

Once per combat per opponent, a character with more than one level of Style Familiarity may gain one of the following benefits when using the relevant style: +(Style Familiarity) to an attack roll, +(Style Familiarity) to a damage roll, +(Style Familiarity) to DX or ST in a Contest of DX or ST, -(Style Familiarity) to an opponent's attack roll, -(Style Familiarity) to an opponent's damage roll, or -(Style Familiarity) to an opponent's DX or ST in a Contest of DX or ST.

So, what do you think? Do you think that it would be too powerful or too weak? Would you allow such a change in your campaigns?

[naloth]

It's more of a why? I'm not quite sure how it represents the name. (Hee ya, I shall impress you with my style... Er, that was it for today, come back tomorrow and I'll try again... or wait until someone new approaches).

It's a nice enough bonus and it's certainly worth the value, but I don't understand why one master would have a one-time (per day) bonus against another opponent or more a master of the same style?

[AlexanderHowl]

The bonus is once per combat per opponent, not once per day. If you had fifty opponents come at you during a combat, you could use it fifty times during that combat. If you engaged in combat with the same group five different times during a day, you could use the bonus five times a day against each of the fifty opponents.

It is also meant to be per style, so the more styles that someone has mastered, the more times they can use the bonus during a combat against the same opponent. So, an individual with Style Familiarity 10 in five different styles could gain the level ten bonus for each style once per combat per opponent. A true master could switch from style to style as they obliterated a small army of mooks.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Right now, Style Familiarity is a decent perk, but it does not actually require a character to invest in the skills of a style to get any particular benefit.

MA, p.146:

For game purposes, a martial artist doesn’t “know” a style until he buys all of its basic components by spending points equal to style cost. He can always spend more; style cost is the minimum investment to unlock the style’s advanced abilities.

Thus, a Martial Artist does have to invest in the skills of the style.

The only time they don't have to directly invest in the skills is if they already have them, and as it's hard to justify spending adventuring points on a perk that represents specialist training and teaching, they still need to spend 200-odd hours in training to buy that perk. Even then, they can't buy anything other than skills until they've invested the style's point cost into the base skills and the perk.

Yes, in a high-point cinematic game, none of this is much of a deal, but that's one of the effects of having lots of points to spend and the game being cinematic. In a gritty 50-100 point 'street cops and vigilantes' game finding a teacher and investing the time to gain a style is a big deal, and if formal training by martial arts instructors, boxing coaches, and mysterious old senseis is the only way to get those style perks, and having them is the only way to access the style perks, you'll want to be a stylist.

Once per combat per opponent, a character with more than one level of Style Familiarity may gain one of the following benefits when using the relevant style: +(Style Familiarity) to an attack roll, +(Style Familiarity) to a damage roll, +(Style Familiarity) to DX or ST in a Contest of DX or ST, -(Style Familiarity) to an opponent's attack roll, -(Style Familiarity) to an opponent's damage roll, or -(Style Familiarity) to an opponent's DX or ST in a Contest of DX or ST.

So, what do you think? Do you think that it would be too powerful or too weak? Would you allow such a change in your campaigns?

That's a hell of a powerful and flexible advantage.

[dataweaver]

I'm quite happy with just treating a Style as if it were a Wildcard skill for the purpose of hyper-competence (i.e., every 12 points spent on the Style's skills gets you one Impulse Point per session to spend on situations related to the Style's use).

That, and I've been experimenting with granting free “Technique Points” from points spent on a Style's skills, at a 4-to-1 ratio: every four points spent on a Style's skills gives you one point to spend on its Techniques.

Also, don't forget that as Styles are currently set up, every ten points invested into a Style's skills already lets you take another Style perk.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The bonus is once per combat per opponent, not once per day. If you had fifty opponents come at you during a combat, you could use it fifty times during that combat. If you engaged in combat with the same group five different times during a day, you could use the bonus five times a day against each of the fifty opponents.

Sure, ok, though I'm back to the "why". You would think that the better you got with a style the less you would rely on a one time bonus per opponent and more on the skills you would develop. It seems counter intuitive to have this kind of limited bonus as you get better.

Furthermore, +1 dmg/level feels more powerful than power blow even before you consider the other flexible benefits.

I like the idea Dataweaver posted about treating 12 points of "style" as a WC for the wildcard WP rules.

[Black Leviathan]

This seems like it would be fine for a Cinematic game. Unarmed combat is realistically a little under powered in GURPS. I might limit it to the techniques of that style, being a master of Shao-Lin Crane doesn't make you so great at kicking people in the groin. I'm also not sure what about your mastery of a style would reduce an opponent's damage, that might need to be changed.

10 levels may need some playtesting, that seems like it could get out of hand. I could see maybe 3-5 levels unless you're the Dragon of Kun Lun.

[AlexanderHowl]

Ten levels would require a minimum of 90 CP invested in the skills and techniques of the characters, so five levels are likely to be the maximum for most characters. The damage reduction is just to balance out the damage increase, a master being able to deal more damage balanced by a master being able to avoid damage. Restricting the bonus/penalty to maneuvers/techniques of the style would be probably be fine for a realistic campaign (after all, a master boxer should be able to punch harder than an amateur).

As for the once per encounter per combat per style, it is part game balance and part thematic. The more experienced the individual, the more tricks that they will have that would be difficult to mechanically represent with the standard rules. By giving them a flexible bonus that can be used under limited conditions, it gives it similar utility as Night Vision, which is also 1 CP/level (which every master should purchase at level 9 unless they are blind).

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

I'm quite happy with just treating a Style as if it were a Wildcard skill for the purpose of hyper-competence (i.e., every 12 points spent on the Style's skills gets you one Impulse Point per session to spend on situations related to the Style's use).

I like that one.
Its far more broadly useful than a perk that gives you a bonus against members of the same style. I dont see that coming up very often.