Reducing the number of weapon skills

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Kromm

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)."

That seems overly harsh, although if instead of thinking of it as "You suffer a penalty without Familiarity," we think of it as "-2 is normal (essentially the skill is DX/VVVH), Familiarity represents focusing on a specific weapon," I feel it becomes more palatable. That said, if I opted for this route, I'd probably have Familiarity be for weapon groups (roughly matching with the old skills, or perhaps my shorter list).

Originally Posted by Kromm

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.[/LIST]

Honestly, if we think of all the various Melee Weapon skills (for example) as Optional Specializations of a master Melee Weapon skill, we could probably make the last simply DX/H, have weapons governed by Easy skills be at +1, Average at +0, and Hard at -1, for similar results to what you are describing.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I would personally break down Melee Weapons into two VH skills: One-Handed and Two-Handed, with One-Handed including Cloak and Shield.

There's a lot more in common with using a spear one handed and two handed than there is in using a knife and a one-handed flail, so if you're lumping a lot of skills together already, one-handed vs two-handed really isn't a good divider.

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

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?

Don't forget, there are DX/H ranged skills - Blowpipe, Sling, and Net. Taking from the above idea, however, we could make the Ranged skill DX/H, with the majority of weapons (thrown weapons, guns, beam weapons, etc) at +1, the tougher ones (like bows and atlatls) at +0, and the really hard ones (like slings) at -1.