[MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Targeted Attacks states that if you use a specific version more than two times in a fight against the same opponent, he gets +1 to all of his defense rolls vs. that TA.

Why don't ordinary attacks targeting hit locations other than the torso suffer the same penalty?

Let's say we have two warriors; warrior A and warrior B. A has TA (Broadsword/swing/neck), while B hasn't. Using a broadsword, they both attempt a swinging attack at their foes' necks several times in a fight. Does A have distinct, noticeable moves which grant that +1 to defenses while B doesn't, just because he isn't trained but tries the same thing over and over nevertheless?

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Who says it doesn't? If you are using the TA Optional rule than all attacks to Hit Locations and Chinks in Armor are Targeted Attack techniques at default, aren't they?

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

That's what I suppose. But since it isn't explicitly stated in MA, I was wandering if it's official.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

It's official if you want it to be. It's a logical consequence of an optional rule...

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Yes, I think the thing that's already getting missed here (which is typical of the hardcore GURPS community) is that all the rules in Martial Arts are optional and Targeted Attacks are extra optional (Combinations are even more optional since they require Targeted attacks in the first place).

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Quoted for truth. Remember that techniques are combat options first, traits to purchase second. You don't have to train in one to use one. It's simply logical that if all you do throughout a fight is try to cut your opponent in the neck, he's going to be pretty prepared to parry a neck-swing after the first few times.

And no, that doesn't mean he'll be unprepared when you suddenly swing for his leg, because unless he's a complete moron he's probably expecting the change-up. Of course, at that point, the classic "I start off the swing for his neck and then suddenly chop it down at his legs" move is also a classic Deceptive Attack.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Technically speaking, establishing a pattern in a fight/bout and then changing it at the last moment is a ruse or a form of feint. Any time someone is "anticipating" an attack - enough to gain a +1 bonus to a defense, suddenly changing your hit location is taking advantage of the fact he is moving to defend against an attack that isn't going to happen and is going to be delayed in countering the real attack location. In a way, that is what an Evaluate is in fencing. You present a given attack and note how that person responds to it. If you present the same attack again and he does the same defensive manuever - chances are good that the third time you present the same attack, he will use the same defense. THAT is why you gain the bonus to hit when you can predict what your opponent will do under specific circumstances.

I suspect that there is in fact a difference between a targeted attack as a manuever versus an aimed blow. What that difference is - is that the attacker has been practicing a specific move/sequence of movements to enhance his ability to hit a specific point of aim. Every time he begins to make those "rote" movements - the other can spot them. The person who isn't using a rote movement (ie a manuever) to hit a specific location - is leaving less visual cues as to his intent. As a GM, I'd say that there is a definite difference between practiced moves versus taking a target of opportunity or deciding unexpectedly to attack a given location.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

The +1 is granted by the repeated use of the same tactic, I would grant it to an opponent of either fighter: I should think this was implicit. Forgive me, but this strikes me as a silly question.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Exactly. TAs are basically forms -- they always start the same way and end the same way, and it's this autopilot that makes them faster and smoother than ordinary blows to the same hit location. But it comes at the cost of being a kind of muscle memory that looks the same way every time. Sure . . . you can change up and avoid this. Make your later TAs Deceptive Attacks at a big enough penalty to offset the bonus. Of course, you'll be nuking your TA back to uselessness, but then you're essentially ignoring it, aren't you?

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

I strongly disagree. It's the repeated line of attack being fed into your nervous system that gives you the +1 to defend, not the slickness of said attack. A smooth attack is no easier to block than a lousy one. Otherwise, why are we wasting our time training?

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

I don't think, though, that good training involves standing in a line going "Hoo hah hoo!" and throwing 100 identical punches to face level with a perfect little half-turn every time. That is what TA is -- always. Good training raises your basic skill so you can hit just about whatever you aim at when you get the chance. I'm basically saying that TA is a crutch . . . it's katas and wing chun dummies, not sparring.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Leaving aside the question of whether anyone has consciously sparred with an effort to improve their leg kicking, or body punching, or their hook to the head (and I think it is a rather strange thing to assume not), this is not so: it's hitting focus mitts and padded up trainers at live speeds, often with reciprocal contact.

Hitting a stationery dummy or the air may improve your power or form but it will not improve your ability to hit a precise target on a live opponent - for that you need a person in front of you.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

I'm with Ciaran on this - I don't care if you put points in it or not, I'd back using the penalty for repeated attacks if you're using the TA rules. That way TA make more sense for repeated blows to a specific location than being untrained - because you're more likely to pull it off in spite of the penalties you both accumulate.

That would also mean TA is more like "I trained to hit this specific location with a body of flexible techniques regardless of the relative positions of my opponent and my weapon" rather than "I trained to do the same attack to the same spot in an identical fashion."

But either call is okay, it's an optional rule, really, and whichever floats your boat is best. In a detail-oriented game, I'd enforce the penalty on everyone and let the TA-boosting folk benefit from being able to defray that penalty for a longer period (by virtue of a higher net skill).

Editing later: I want to clarify "a body of flexible techniques" - I don't mean multiple Techniques in the GURPS sense, but small t-techniques in the real world usages - so someone learning Karate Punch/Face learns how to do it with a jab, a committed punch, a sharp hook from close in, a reaching punch, etc. with either hand and probably from either lead - a full body of what GURPS lumps into Karate Punch. I don't mean it affects more than one GURPS Technique by any means.

Re: [MA] Targeted Attack and Hit Location
 

Aye, that's how I thought it should look like.

I already intended to use TA rules in my games (instead of the old 3e Hit Location rules lol), enforcing that +1 bonus to defenses for any specific attack repeated more than two times in a succession, even untrained torso hits.