[KYOS] Removing Weapon Master?

[Sorenant]

KYOS reduces the cost of Striking ST to 1/level, combined with Weapon Master 4 points results in 1d+2 increase in damage. It's not really a problem, but this "overlap" made me think about the possibility of eliminating Weapon Master, leaving Striking ST and Trained by a Master to take its place.
Weapon Master has four benefits: 1) Extra damage; 2) Better rapid strikes and parries; 3) Improved Defaults; 4) UB for esoteric skills. KYOS' cheap Striking ST covers (1), Trained by a Master provides (2) and (4). There's no real substitute for (3) but honestly I've never seem it being used enough to make me worry about losing it.
The only problem I can see with this is that both traits are universal. At least with Trained by a Master there's the "Unarmed Only, -40%" precedent from PK's houserules to work with as a reference, but you can't really limit Striking ST due to its low cost.

Is it a good enough idea to keep working on?

[Refplace]

I like Kromms idea of making the damage bonus from Weapon Master and certain skills a flat bonus, not a per die bonus.

[Gef]

Even with normal pricing for Striking ST, I've always found the approx 50% damage bonus from weapon master wonky with swings, and house rule limit the +2 per die to just +2 in some campaigns where I want weapon choice to matter even for Weapon Masters.

Sniped by Reflplace.

[Rasna]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I like Kromms idea of making the damage bonus from Weapon Master and certain skills a flat bonus, not a per die bonus.

Being an Advantage for cinematic campaigns, there wouldn't be any problem in nerfing it for game balance purposes.

[Sorenant]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I like Kromms idea of making the damage bonus from Weapon Master and certain skills a flat bonus, not a per die bonus.

Originally Posted by Gef

Even with normal pricing for Striking ST, I've always found the approx 50% damage bonus from weapon master wonky with swings, and house rule limit the +2 per die to just +2 in some campaigns where I want weapon choice to matter even for Weapon Masters.

Sniped by Reflplace.

Wouldn't that make the advantage somewhat overpriced? TbaM + Striking ST 2 gives roughly the same benefit but for all weapon and unarmed skills and costs [40] compared to WM (All Muscle-Powered Weapons) [45]. Sure it costs less if you limit WM to smaller categories, but a proportionally limited TbaM would likely also cost less. Even without taking point cost into consideration, restricting WM's damage bonus would make it even more redundant with TbaM.

That said, looking for Kromm's comment I found this post in which he says TbaM only benefits skills covered by the character's style (I'm assuming he's talking about Style Perks from MA). I think that's quite nice actually, as it would increase the value of style perks and styles with larger skill requirements, while also simplifying things as there's no need to think about pricing for limited forms of the trait. I think Striking ST could work in a similar manner, adding damage only to the skills that's part of learned styles.

Originally Posted by Rasna

Being an Advantage for cinematic campaigns, there wouldn't be any problem in nerfing it for game balance purposes.

Not that I don't agree it's a fair nerf for low fantasy settings, but I'm partial to the idea that WM is first and foremost a trait made for settings where people cut stone golems in half with swords and katana-wielders competes with soldiers armed with rifles.

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Sorenant

Wouldn't that make the advantage somewhat overpriced? TbaM + Striking ST 2 gives roughly the same benefit but for all weapon and unarmed skills and costs [40] compared to WM (All Muscle-Powered Weapons) [45].

First, I see a lot more single Weapon Master (20pt, down to 4pt with limitations). That said, don't forget to add 2 more levels of Striking Strength (Thrust Only) for that second point of damage with spears and bows. Though if you use Technical Grappling, TbaM gets the double control points, worth about the same as Constriction Attack (15 points), so yeah, full weapon master gets nerfed because it gets a fraction of the benefit, even with grappling weapons.