One thing that occurs to me that I should mention is that I intend to change Improving Skills from Default at some point. I haven't mentioned house rules because I don't have any yet and I haven't been thinking of them right now but I don't intend that it will take 4 points to increase and make trained a high skill level achieved by default so pushing our nigh-unparalleled master to learn the skill he has been neglecting won't cost him as much. I'm sorry if failing to mention this was significant to anyone's points.
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Originally Posted by Varyon
Why precisely do you feel weapon skills should have good defaults at low level, but shouldn't at higher level? Knowing where you're coming from here will give me a better idea of what problem you're trying to fix.
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Because low skill levels involve a greater percentage of improvement in transferable fundamentals common to all fighting than higher skill levels. There is a substantial difference between someone who has trained in anything and gotten past the initial efficacy valley and someone who hasn't even if the specific weapon isn't being used. Even with the improvement specific to the weapon the basics of similar weapons are more similar than the more advanced parts of the skill.
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Originally Posted by Varyon
As for cinematics, skill 20 is a master who is essentially unparalleled in that skill, and while this itself isn't cinematic, having enough cases where it could be problematic most likely is (and getting to the point where defaulted skills are at 20+ means rather high base skill). Still, if you're seeing your problem at base skills well below potentially-cinematic levels, then it is indeed problematic.
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You only need one case for it to be problematic. PCs aren't evenly distributed across the population. They have a strong tendency to be the guys who are nigh-unparalleled masters.
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Originally Posted by Varyon
Allow me to state it differently then - a character who is a nigh-unparalleled master in a given skill being competitive with experts in rather similar skills doesn't stretch my sense of disbelief at all.
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Competitive isn't a problem,
better is a problem. Up to a point a nigh-unparalleled master should be better than specialists in a weapon he has neglected but past that when dealing with lesser masters in the weapon he should have difficulty. Ideally we want him to try to engage them with his mastery of his chosen weapon where he is strong rather than where they are strong and provide mechanical means for him to do that than for him to simply defeat them because he is so good that even with a weapon he has neglected he is better than masters of that weapon.
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Originally Posted by Varyon
Agreed - my own GURPS Combat Skills Overhaul has basically all melee combat defaulting to each other at some level, although it's arguably too generous. |
This is in fact one of the threads that is proving influential while developing my melee combat defaults.