we want more denizens!!!

[Carlos]

Originally Posted by Anders

The swing/thrust dichotomy is so entrenched in GURPS... I feel like martial artists need to shine in other areas to make up for not being as strong in combat.

Any Martial Artist can use Bladed Hands to deal Swing damage (Swing -2) with Karate. Out of the box, if you pick Half-Ogre [20] and Striking ST 2 (Chi, -10%), you will have ST 17 for damage (3d-1 Swing). With Karate bonus, that's 3d+3, possibly a little more with SM+1 Bladed Hands.

That said, while that works pretty well, not every one wants to play a Diablo II Assassin-like Martial Artist. As someone who grew up playing fighting games, I love the idea of a Martial Artist/Monk crushing his enemies with the power of his punches and kicks. But in GURPS terms, Thrust is a terrible way to deal damage. Swing damage is the way.

When the Unarmed Master advantage was presented at Pyramid Magazine #3/61, I was excited by its name. And then I was disappointed when I saw it was nothing more than just a package of 4 Strikers that stacks with Strikers.

Fortunately, just 4 issues later (Pyramid Magazine #3/65), a fellow countryman presented the solution: Natural Weapons. In the article, there is a modification that allows the Natural Weapon advantage to deal Swing damage. That is the answer to make unarmed Martial Artist specialists to shine in combat.

I just hope to see this solution printed in a Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Martial Artists book, so it becomes an official power-up.

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The trouble is that the whole Ye Olden Times fantasy genre is very much about swords (and the elf's bow! and the dwarf's axe!) You might be able to find the occasional kung-fu-cinema-influence exception, but making unarmed combat on par with armed combat is probably not what most fans of the genre want. Which is not to say nobody wants it—a significant minority of players evidently do—but I don't see a way to make everyone happy here.

I'm not sure if it's ever possible to make everyone happy, but what I know is that the more options are available, the more likely it is that players will be happier. And I think the Dungeon Fantasy Denizens series is the perfect place to give the unarmed Martial Artists the options to make them worthy to stand side-by-side with Swashbucklers in terms of combat prowess.