Reducing the number of weapon skills

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Oh no. -4 is generally "no one will bother with it". -3 Defaults are theoretically useful bt you seldom see them used. You need to get down to (at least) -2s before you see them used at all often.

You need a main skill at Attribute +3 before defaulting to Skill-4 is even as good as a single cp in the Skill itself. That's 12 cp in your "main" Skill. That's a lot for someone who's not a weapon's master.

It'll probbaly be much more efficint in the long run to buy up Dex and spend single cps to get that broad range of weapon Skills even if you find uses for them. I had a character who was basically a profesional duelist and that's what he did. Even though his Two-handed Sword-24 gave him Broadsword-20 he bought up the Skills as normal rather than trying to create a web of Defaults. A single cp gave him Skill-21 in any weapon (22 in Knife).

DX is just a better investment than a single high skill. The only real reason you'd want to do that is if you have another attribute at a high level that your off-attribute skill is good enough for and you can't explain Attribute Substitution. For instance, an IQ20 character with a single weapon skill is great.

But as for that -4, the point was really for high skill users. People with high DX don't need it, it's the characters who invest heavily in a given skill that do. With -4, you can know you can pick up any weapon and be fine with it if you are amazing with any given weapon. (Then again, I also use a house rule that makes buying up from default not a trap)

Originally Posted by Kromm

Honestly, I believe that would be worth a playtest! Things I'd change:

• I'd make all three skills Very Hard. That's easier to remember and doesn't hint that the designer believes armed melee combat is simpler than other combat. (If anything should be easier, Ranged Weapons – which replaces Beam Weapons, Crossbow, Gunner, Guns, Liquid Projector, Thrown Weapon, and other DX/E skills – seems like the right choice.)
  
  
• I'd add strict, perk-governed familiarity with specific weapons – not merely types. Without the perk, you'd fight at -2 to skill. So you'd see people with Melee Weapons (DX/VH) and a couple of perks like "Weapon Familiarity (Long Axe)" and "Weapon Familiarity (Small Knife)," or with Melee Weapons (One-Handed Swords) (DX/H) and a couple of perks like "Weapon Familiarity (Rapier)" and "Weapon Familiarity (Large Knife)."
  
  
• I'd add a "Skill Modifier" stat to weapons that works much like the "Parry" stat, but that gives a bonus to attack, feint, etc. with simpler weapons. For instance, most knives might get +2 or even +3 (so they're effectively Easy), weapons commonly given to levies and recruits (notably spears) would get +1 or +2, most weapons commonly used by professional warriors would get +1, but swords would get 0 for requiring so much study to master, while flails and other weirdness would get 0 for being ungainly.

I definitely agree on ranged weapons. I could even see making it Average, even though that would make Bow better (but then Bow could just get -1 to use). I'm not entirely sold on the perk, though. Maybe you get one weapon for free that you can use at full skill and everything else is -2?