Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

The GM has the option of declaring that techniques cannot be improved beyond default unless you've trained in a style that includes said technique. It's not a hard and fast rule, so much as a way for the GM to make styles more important if he wants that in his campaign.

The actual hard rule is that Style Familiarity lets you improve your style's techniques at any time; see below.

See the bullets on p. 49 of GURPS Martial Arts. In brief, Style Familiarity lets you learn the style's perks and improve its techniques at any time (instead of having to wait and train during downtime) because you're assumed to have already practiced them; you ignore cultural penalties when interacting with fellow stylists; you are assumed to have a minor Claim to Hospitality or similar benefit; and you suffer less from Feints and Deceptive Attacks from fellow stylists.

In addition to the above, when you "know" a style (which requires buying its Style Familiarity), you're entitled to buy more Style Perks than you normally would be allowed. Since Style Perks are pretty awesome, and cheap, this is not an insignificant benefit -- even though you don't get any discount on their price.

As I said above, it's a pretty great deal for just 1 point, and that's not even including that it's what takes you from "I know a few combat skills" to "I've trained in this particular style."

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

Thanks so much.

I was having trouble wrapping my head around it all for some reason and you guys have cleared it all up. Well played.

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

Even for long-time players (or at least me), the richness of martial arts skills and styles in 4e requires some effort to grasp. You're not alone there. For example, reading this thread, I drew a complete blank on what the official rule is for whether you can buy up a combat skill's Techniques when the Style Fam Perk is lacking. (PK cleared it up nicely: it's a GM option.) There are other detailed bits, too, that always send me back to Martial Arts for a re-check.

But in any case, I call it "rich", not "complex". 4e does good stuff with martial arts. Getting back to the initial question of the thread, back in 3e I couldn't figure out what made a "style" different from a bunch of skills, mechanics-wise. That lack of a difference didn't break anything, but it was unsatisfying. 4e's simple Style Fam Perk nicely handles this.

4e addresses other little issues, too: for example, 3e would give some styles little freebies, like acrobatic feints for Capoeira, that made for nice descriptive and mechanical touches, but again, were vaguely unsatisfying ("so, I can just toss in stuff like this for free? Anywhere I like?"). 4e again uses Perks to nicely codify these tweaks.

Sorry, I ramble. But while the whole 4e combat skill/style system isn't necessarily what we'd ideally build new from scratch, I thought I'd take this chance to tell the SJG folks that, with 4e, they've updated legacy martial arts rules with some very nice design work.

Oh, and I have a question too. One thing easy to overlook in Style Fam is a touch of disadvantage that it carries. A style includes the benefit that you can better read a fellow stylist, and better defend against his Feints and Deceptive Attacks. That seems fair. But it also means he better defends against your use of these moves. And if he has a second style that you don't have, he can use Style 1 to better defend against your actions, while using Style 2 to more effectively attack you.

My question: In this specific situation, wouldn't you be better off having no style at all, thus becoming less "readable" to your foe? If that's so, is there anything you can do about this during the battle? Can you declare, "I throw a Deceptive Attack, but it's with generic Karate skill, not my style"? Yeah, it sounds a little cheat-y, and I can see the GM ruling this out if the attack is one that clearly required the style (like a bought-up Technique). But if it's just a generic Karate punch, the same punch that you could throw if you had nothing more than the unadorned skill, is there a mechanical reason why you can't throw the punch "out of style"?

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it
-- Sun Tzu.

:)

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

Actually, having a easily readable body language makes it easier for you to know your language.
Changing your language suddenly and attacking the opponent a different manner is part of a well made attack.

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

No style, or all styles, so you can read them but they can't read you.


Did you learn it without a style? No instructor, no history, no readable technique? If your GM says that's okay that you did so, yes. It's pretty cinematic, though. Even the guys who said they learned from watch birds or monkeys or whatever ended up with styles. Bruce Lee's goal was a way, not a style, but you can tell people who try to fight like him and you can see his influences in his approach.

In game, I wouldn't let someone take Muay Thai and then say "I throw a totally non-Muay Thai punch!" anymore than let someone say "I speak English, but with no accent or regional pronunciation!" It just doesn't seem possible, realistically, and it's clearly meant to be an abuse in game (You're trying to dodge a disadvantage that came with your advantages, while still taking full advantage of your advantages.)

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

According to p MA49, you only only get the bonus if you are familiar with all your foe's styles. So this is a good reason to learn all the styles you can.

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

Incidentally, speaking with a weird, unique accent that comes from combining nuances of many regions (or making up some of your own) seems plausible, and mirrors having multiple Style Familiarities. But I think the player who says that sort of thing actually wants to use a new, unique Style.

The issue is also that someone with no Style is game-mechanically immune to being affected by anyone's SF.

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

Is that a problem? They don't get any upsides, but no downsides. There are lots of upsides and one downside, basically. People without a style have no downside but none of the upsides.

Saying people with a style can claim they don't have it just when it the disadvantage comes up ("He knows Muay Thai? I throw a plain karate punch!") seems unfair and nonsensical to me.

Re: Why learn a martial art?
 

Depends heavily on whether the PC relies on having many Combat/Stylish Perks, and whether said PC has the full list of desired Techniques already above default. Alas, the one example I can immediately bring up is a non-combat one.

Yeah, it's silly. Which does bring about an amusing desire to get as obscure a style as one can get hands on, as long as it fits other criteria. Not sure if it's awesome or silly.