07-20-2014, 06:26 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
If a character with Swords 15 loses his sword in melee combat due to either a critical failure or a critical success via his enemies defense, picking up an Axe from a dead foe isn't going to help much: if the sword character is DX 10, then his axe swinging will be at Skill 5. However, someone with DX 10 and 4 levels of all melee weapons will be able to swing an axe at skill 10. Yes, it costs 20pts to do that, but in a setting and campaign where melee combat is heavily expected, the utility of being able to use any weapon, untrained, is a huge deal. Being able to snatch a fallen enemies better weapon is a big deal for a poor adventurer: a fine axe doesn't help a swordsman, but a natural master of weapons can easily swing one, and even a single point into the skill will pay big dividends.
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07-20-2014, 06:46 PM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
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07-20-2014, 06:48 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
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Also, this still costs a lot. If you have DX 10 and buy sword-15 normally, it will cost 20 points. With the talent, it costs 24 points, plus points for the other weapon types you know (1 for skill 13; figure around 30 points for general mastery), and even a 2 point skill difference is enough to be worth significant effort to acquire a better choice of weapons. Given the other things you can do with 10 points, that's actually a pretty iffy choice. |
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07-20-2014, 07:15 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
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Are there other reasons to buy DX? Sure, but if 5pts/level all weapons talent is out there, "increasing skill with melee weapons" is not one of those reasons. Well, it is once you max out the talent.
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07-20-2014, 07:43 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
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07-20-2014, 07:56 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
Something where the PC is a swordsman descended from a long line of swordsmen or a clan long known for such with a Talent for a given type of sword could work. Personally I would only allow *one* weapon skill within the Talent - others would be things like Acrobatics, Tactics, and whatever else your clan/ line is known specifically to be very good at.
People in a Three Musketeers type setting with lots of rival sword academies could also justify having a Talent including Sword skill. I would hope the GM forces you to roleplay devotion to your school/ studies if this Talent is allowed. Letting just anyone have it bends the rules way too much. An Unusual Background might be required to balance things out. |
07-20-2014, 08:08 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
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So "True Roman" would be Broadsword, Shortsword, Spear, Thrown Spear, Shield(Buckler), Wrestling, History(roman Republic), Law(Roman Republic), and Public Speaking(IDHMBWM, so I can't remember what the splits on points costs for talents were? 5 or less is 5pts, 10 or less is 10pt, and more than 10 is 15pts? ) and the reaction bonus applies to Romans and Italians, people who admire Romans. "Savage German" would be Spear, Thrown Spear, Axe/mace, Shield(Buckler), Knife, Stealth, Survival(Woodlands), and Camoflage, for example. I'm not against Weapon Talents, I just do not like the idea of making them 5pts cheap.
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07-20-2014, 08:16 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
We had a similar discussion a few months ago here. The focus was on Talents for a given martial art rather than combat skills but the logic was similar. You might take a look at that.
My own personal take is that combat skills in Talents make sense in certain situations: 1. To represent overall training in a combat system or systems. This allows a character to be a master at Knightly Combat (for example) without having a super high DX *cough* Selmy Barristan *cough*. 2. To represent general experience in combat - this would be something like the 15 point Experienced Talent Icelander has suggested. Whether a 5 point Talent with combat skills is unbalancing depends on both genre and skills use. In a realistic modern or futuristic campaign, unarmed combat is a niche area so a 5 point Talent boosting an unarmed martial arts style is not necessarily unbalancing. It might be in other genres. |
07-20-2014, 09:38 PM | #19 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: The former Chochenyo territory
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
I've been considering a houserule that, for melee skills which default to DX, you can substitute your best weapon skill in place of DX, but only for default purposes (no buying up from that level).
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07-20-2014, 10:10 PM | #20 | |
Ceci n'est pas une tag.
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Vancouver, WA (Portland Metro)
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Re: Has anyone done any Melee Weapon Talents?
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Pickaxe Penchant: Axe/Mace, Forced Entry, Prospecting, Thrown Weapon (Axe/Mace), and Two-Handed Axe/Mace. Requires Dwarf. Forest Guardian: Bow, Camouflage, Fast-Draw (Arrow), Stealth, and Survival. Requires Elf. Halfling Marksmanship: Bow, Sling, Throwing, Thrown Weapon (Dart, Knife, and Stick). Requires Halfling. There's other talents, but it looks like one or two weapons with some supporting skills, totaling 5 or so.
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I'm a collector, not a gamer. =) Last edited by Pragmatic; 07-20-2014 at 10:15 PM. |
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Tags |
melee combat, talents |
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