The "point" to Brawling...

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Still, where does Brawling get the 'ignores off-hand penalties' perk???

I don't see that it does, necessarily.

the Brawling description says you may parry two different attacks, one with each hand. It lists the base parry as the usual 3+Brawling/2.

It then refers to parrying unarmed, which doesn't add much on this score.

In the basic description of Parrying, however, there's the Parrying with the Off Hand italicized paragraph. This says you parry with the off hand, or with a weapon held in that off hand, at a -4 to skill, which translates into a -2 to the skill roll. Ambidexterity removes these penalties.

GURPS seems to most often take the tack of "rules apply except where noted," not "rules don't apply except as noted specifically." Sean and David have said many times that this is done, and will always be done, to reserve wordcount for things that matter.

So, depending on which paragraph is considered superior, we can have different results. However, it makes sense that since everyone can Parry using DX, but not everyone has the Brawling skill, that the order of superiority goes:

General parry rules: Parry at 3+DX/2, once.
Off-hand parry rules: Parry at Skill-4, once, for (3+(Skill-4)/2) = net -2 to roll...it just happens that the unarmed general skill in question here is DX. People with Ambidexterity ignore this
Brawling: two parries using two hands, and skill says they're BOTH at 3+Brawling/2; you don't need Ambidexterity to ignore the off-hand penalty using Brawling for that second parry. You probably do need Ambidexterity to ignore the penalty for parries with the off-hand beyond the first.

The specific skill description gets the last word.

[Lonewulf]

Yeah, this is one rule I'm just gonna go ahead and ignore.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Lonewulf

Ah, I get the "logic" here. We have to be skilled in using a cloak or main gauche in order to even come close to using our bare hand. It is otherwise difficult to use an unarmed parrying ability with only a single sword, just because you've never picked up a main gauche or cloak.

Makes sense. Totally.*

*Sarcasm

Thank you for your kindness. I'm sure I deserved that.

The logic is that, if you're trying to use a gauntlet in the place of a main-gauche, you have to know how to use a main-gauche. Otherwise, buy Brawling and use *that* for your unarmed parry. There's no justification in Kromm's anecdote for using a metal gauntlet as a rapier.

Also, isn't there some kind of semi-arbitrary limit on how many perks you can buy up?

Yes. Per MA 49, 1 style perk per 20 points spent on skills, plus 1 style-related perk per 10 points invested in a style.

-Max

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I view it in the same way that high level martial arts masters don't have Karate skills of 105. they have Karate 35(for over-the top bad-*** mofos) and a whole bunch of ancillary skills like acrobatics, meditation, etc. Fencers who use their off-hand primarily to defend have main-gauche, whether they have a knife in the hand or are wearing a metal glove, IMO. Because they ain't one trick ponies. Diversification is the name of the game for extremely competent fighters.

Except that Main-gauche defaults to Rapier-3, so it's smarter to just keep buying up Rapier if you want a good off-hand defense.

-Max