Trained Strength for Striking [TG]

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

I think my issue will be that High skill In gurps rewards you by

a). bypassing armour (hitting where it's not)
b). target areas where damage is multiplied (hitting where it hurts)

Adding to raw damage would seem to be double dipping both and to an extent removing (a) as advantage. This last will have a knock on effect on higher skill in combination with set ups etc where your leverage your higher skill but at the cost of being able to target higher value locations.

Once you've reached skill at DX+4, what we've essentially done is decreased the cost of boosting skill to [2.67] per +1 (rather than [4] per +1) and required the character to take a level of Striking ST (Single Skill -20%*) [4] for every +3 to skill. This probably isn't unrealistic - skilled practitioners build muscles that are specific for their skills through practice - although one could certainly make the argument that it's unbalanced (in which case you could take the table and require characters to purchase Striking ST to match it). The real issue is that humans in GURPS simply deal too much damage compared to how armor protects, but that's not exactly a difficult fix (simply increase the DR of armor, and give firearms an armor divisor).

Essentially, skilled practitioners hit harder and more accurately. There is indeed synergy between these two, which makes highly-skilled warriors dangerous, but I'm perfectly fine with that.

*Limitation value taken from Extra Attack. A higher value may be appropriate here - Unarmed Only applies to more than one skill (although many of those skills allow weapons, which this wouldn't) and is -40%, which may be more appropriate and would reduce cost to [3].

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

That said I can't help but think everyone will chose a weapon that have the higher progression rate as a matter of course. Simply because the advantage of doing so will be too great to ignore.

The progressions are for skills, not weapons, and a higher progression almost invariably means a more difficult skill. A character with Brawling (Easy skill, Average progression) at DX+7 has paid [24] for his skill and +3 to his Striking ST. A character with Karate (Hard skill, Fast progression) at DX+7 has instead paid [32] for his skill and +4 to his Striking ST - if his GM allows it, he would have been better off (from a damage standpoint) investing those extra [8] into Striking ST 2 (Single Skill -20%) and had a +5 to Striking ST. Heck, this makes me think my current (unposted-as-yet) draft of my Combat Skills Overhaul is wrong in making Fast progression a +2 to skill difficulty, but I think I'm going to stick with that anyway and probably disallow Striking ST (Single Skill), which honestly doesn't make sense as its own Advantage if you're giving it away as a high skill bonus.