Drunken Martial Arts

[crretin]

there's also a perk in martial arts that turns the penalties to dexterity from being drunk into bonuses.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by crretin

there's also a perk in martial arts that turns the penalties to dexterity from being drunk into bonuses.

Yes. Get the perk, and use the +2 bonus you get for drinking too much to make all of your attacks Deceptive (-1 to defend, -2 to hit). Whenever possible, make them even more Deceptive. Use Feint, as well, since your +2 works there, too. You're drunk, but your attacks are harder to stop. At least cinematically.

[Dammann]

That works for cinematic, but the OP is talking about the actual style, I think, which is not practiced drunk. I never learned it (I was a vanilla tiger-crane guy), but the man I knew who did use it demonstrated a style that looked off balance, erratic, and generally deceptive. I'd say it used something like All out Defense (Dodge), Feints, and tons of Retreats- I would almost call them Acrobatic Retreats, as there was some tumbling. I wish I'd seen him do it more, but he was actually trying to teach me less exotic fighting styles.

[sir_pudding]

My Drunken Monkey style is in this thread.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Dammann

That works for cinematic, but the OP is talking about the actual style, I think, which is not practiced drunk.

True. But my research pretty much put it down to what Blood Legend said - lots of Feints and Deceptive Attacks. It's not clear if it's demonstrably better than fighting without all of the "drunken" aspects. Its proponents claim it is so, but there isn't a firm body of actual evidence that this is true.

It might be extra-effective against people who've never encountered it before, but Style Familiarity deals with that - it's no more or less dangerous for being "drunken" than any other unfamiliar style would be.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Peter V. Dell'Orto

Its proponents claim it is so, but there isn't a firm body of actual evidence that this is true.

That's true of every style of systemic martial arts, and it's practitioners. On the other hand I am pretty confident that under most circumstances what GURPS Tactical Shooting calls the "Assaulter" style is better than Drunken Kung Fu. :)

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

That's true of every style of systemic martial arts, and it's practitioners. On the other hand I am pretty confident that under most circumstances what GURPS Tactical Shooting calls the "Assaulter" style is better than Drunken Kung Fu. :)

Well, my point is that it doesn't seem reasonable to assign it any bonuses or penalties, just to describe its tactics. Depending on the "base" style, it's Techniques and Style Perks might change a bit, too. But GURPS Martial Arts takes the approach that all of this stuff must work pretty well, or at least it should when you give it to a character.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Dammann

That works for cinematic, but the OP is talking about the actual style, I think, which is not practiced drunk. I never learned it (I was a vanilla tiger-crane guy), but the man I knew who did use it demonstrated a style that looked off balance, erratic, and generally deceptive. I'd say it used something like All out Defense (Dodge), Feints, and tons of Retreats- I would almost call them Acrobatic Retreats, as there was some tumbling. I wish I'd seen him do it more, but he was actually trying to teach me less exotic fighting styles.

I've often thought that GURPS could use an "Evasive Parry" option of some sort. That is, you have to opt in against a specific attack, you roll it against your skill/2+3, it uses up a parry (probably for all of your limbs), but the result is to avoid interposing something in the path of the attack - i.e. it *looks* like a Dodge. It seems balanced enough - yes it allows you to avoid the Hurting Yourself rules or effects that trigger on contact, on the other hand it doesn't work with Aggressive Parry, set up throws etc.

For the rest of it Feint and Deceptive Attack seem to work fine. You could allow a feint based on Acting or Performance ("he's too drunk to be a threat") if you think that actually applies. One Task Wonder (Acting, to appear staggering drunk) would synergize nicely with that.

Oh, and if you wanted to go halfway toward the cinematic version, I've allowed a Drunken [skill] perk that doesn't give you any bonuses at all but does negate the intoxication penalties for that particular skill - for skills that don't involve any deep thought or fast reflexes it might even be borderline realistic. The RAW perk is seriously unbalanced - it's essentially a Talent (applies to a bunch of skills) with a preparation required limitation (get drunk), that ought to be worth about 8 points.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by crretin

there's also a perk in martial arts that turns the penalties to dexterity from being drunk into bonuses.

What about a Perk that makes you seem less skilled than you are? Like your attacks and dodges succeed due to sheer luck, rather than actual skill, at least initially? That seems to me to be a component of "drunken" styles, that you can rely on being underestimated by anyone who doesn't know you can fight or who haven't seen you participate in a fight that lasts more than a few rounds.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

What about a Perk that makes you seem less skilled than you are? Like your attacks and dodges succeed due to sheer luck, rather than actual skill, at least initially? That seems to me to be a component of "drunken" styles, that you can rely on being underestimated by anyone who doesn't know you can fight or who haven't seen you participate in a fight that lasts more than a few rounds.

I would call that the acting skill, along with the general deceptive attacks of the style.