Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - What is the best warfighting tool set for the brawling skill?

WingedKagouti · 11-07-2021, 02:04 PM

Rule #1 for unarmed combat: If the opponent has a weapon and knows how to use it, do not engage.

In GURPS terms, this applies not just to Brawling, but also Karate, Judo, Sumo Wrestling and Wrestling. You should only ever reconsider if you have cinematic options at your disposal (and your opponent does not).

Even if all the armed opponent has is a kitchen knife, if they know how to use a knife in combat they're very likely to cause potentially lethal damage before you can reasonably expect to cause injury.

A shield can possibly work, but that is still technically a combat skill of its own. And you need that skill if you want a reasonable chance against a moderately skilled weapon user. For a character with 12 Dex default Block without the skill is 7 (= 16.2% chance), with 1 point in Shield their Block jumps to 9 (37.5% chance).

11-07-2021, 02:04 PM	#7
WingedKagouti Join Date: Oct 2007	Re: What is the best warfighting tool set for the brawling skill? Rule #1 for unarmed combat: If the opponent has a weapon and knows how to use it, do not engage. In GURPS terms, this applies not just to Brawling, but also Karate, Judo, Sumo Wrestling and Wrestling. You should only ever reconsider if you have cinematic options at your disposal (and your opponent does not). Even if all the armed opponent has is a kitchen knife, if they know how to use a knife in combat they're very likely to cause potentially lethal damage before you can reasonably expect to cause injury. A shield can possibly work, but that is still technically a combat skill of its own. And you need that skill if you want a reasonable chance against a moderately skilled weapon user. For a character with 12 Dex default Block without the skill is 7 (= 16.2% chance), with 1 point in Shield their Block jumps to 9 (37.5% chance).