Why learn a martial art?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by DangerousThing

So learn a feint based on Dancing (which is a part of one of the martial arts in my SF setting - I call it a "graceful feint").

That would not actually do anything. It's the technique used after the feint, not the technique used for the feint.

Originally Posted by Peter V. Dell'Orto

I'm not sure, what's the justification real-world? "I get rid of my recognizable tactics and replace them with tactics no one has ever seen before" is just . . . odd. I'm not sure what that would be. I know beginners can throw off trained people because they do aggressively stupid things which can catch you off guard, but that's not the same thing - it's not really any different than fighting someone who is doing those things on purpose when they are using a style you've never seen before.

Learning a true additional style to throw people off is valid - and I've seen it. When I was in Japan one of my co-workers did sport Capoeira. A Kudo instructor came to his informal class to learn some moves he could insert into his own style to throw people off at the next tournament. It worked too. He went from "fighting guys who know his style" to "using a style they aren't familiar with."

For people who really want a total "includes all, but familiar to none" go with Ultimate Fighting, on MA p. 20. For 20 points you buy Style Familiarity with everything; but only other Ultimate Fighting stylists count as familiar with your style. Yes, it's 29 points including the style, but learning to fight like Remo Williams isn't cheap. ;)

Well, the semi-real-world justification is that before you spent one point buying style familiarity, your character's deceptive attacks were better, in a way that is, technically, impossible for your character to ever experience again after they've bought a single style familiarity.

So by stepping into a dojo somewhere and getting a white belt, you permanently lose your personal fighting patterns, which worked perfectly well up until then? The inspiration here, remember, is a character who was an accomplished fighter before they learned any style. The idea is that they're basically claiming a style familiarity with an undocumented style which has no co-stylists and no optional traits, skills, techniques, or perks they don't already know.

For someone who learned a style first, clearly it's not impossible to still invent an idiosyncratic way of doing things that nobody's seen before. But it's probably hard and likely not as appealing as actually picking up a new style familiarity, which is almost as good and has additional benefits.

...Huh, I think the familiarity rule might have a slight issue. There's no filter on the styles that are considered, which means that having familiarity with Kusarijutsu or Foot Archery can thwart the other guy's familiarity in an unarmed fight. Perhaps only familiarities that include the skill you're using should count... Or even only styles that include the specific technique you're using.