Martial Arts: Facing multiple opponents

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

Thing is strong for their size is a relative term (you could be ST10 and be strong for your size is you were very light for example) ST14 is an absolute value.

Don't get me wrong you could be ST14 and strong for your size, but you size would still be quite 'big' for an acrobat. I.e St14 is strong for lots of sizes.

This is an important, oft-overlooked point!

My tango prof probably weighs 100 lbs. soaking wet . . . she's so tiny that if I botch a step, I can pick her up without even meaning to do so. She's also all muscle in a way that only a career circus performer, dancer, and Pilates instructor can be after a few decades. I'm certain that if she deigned to do something as unladylike as wrestle, she could defeat most 100-lb. women on the street. This manifests as DX, in my view – DX for Dancing, for Acrobatics, and for Wrestling. Involving ST is a red herring.

Strength-to-mass ratios range through a relatively narrow band for humans, much like GURPS DX, while absolute strength is highly extrinsic, much like GURPS ST. What complicates things is that DX also abstracts balance, hand-eye coordination, flexibility, and reaction speed, much as IQ abstracts tons of unrelated stuff. I'd simply say, "A high power-to-mass ratio is one way out of several to justify good DX," and leave it at that. I definitely wouldn't worry about involving ST, not even Arm ST or Lifting ST.