Skill Adaptation Perk

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by Lupo

Why should any player improve that many Hard techniques (or even 1/5 of them) instead of simply raising the underlying skill? It's both more effective and mechanically simpler (and way cheaper).

Martial Arts styles containing that many techniques prove to be only "theoretical" in actual play and character design, since most techinques are rarely if ever improved...

Options, it's always nice to have options. And giving a list of options also gives an idea of limitations. That's what I love about Templates/ Lenses: kindof "this is what's commonly available, if you want something more exotic you'll need a good story."

But, yes, there a Lot of options in there. Really only expect them to take something like Suit Familiarity, Close Combat (Shortsword) and Disarming (Brawling).

[Anaraxes]

If there are too many techniques, a style seems to me to lose its stylishness. There's nothing particularly distinguishable about it if anybody can do anything. Then, since no one will learn more than a few of the techniques in actual practice, two practitioners of the same mega-style might not have any techniques in common at all. One guy is off doing head locks and another guy is doing spin kicks to the head or something. They don't look like the same "style" of fighting at all. Certainly, it's most effective for the PCs if they have every option available and can get lots of extra perks, but the color seeps out of the mechanic.

[thulben]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

If there are too many techniques, a style seems to me to lose its stylishness. There's nothing particularly distinguishable about it if anybody can do anything. Then, since no one will learn more than a few of the techniques in actual practice, two practitioners of the same mega-style might not have any techniques in common at all. One guy is off doing head locks and another guy is doing spin kicks to the head or something. They don't look like the same "style" of fighting at all. Certainly, it's most effective for the PCs if they have every option available and can get lots of extra perks, but the color seeps out of the mechanic.

If all of the techniques in a given style have defaults to the style's underlying skill, then practitioners of that style will all have exposure to those techniques and the ability to use them. It's just that they specialized differently and so will be better at different things than other practitioners of the same style. That's how (in my experience) it works in the real world: you practice (and get good at) what you think is cool/useful.

[Kromm]

Nearly every style teaches people the basics first. For unarmed styles in the current edition, that means some mixture of Boxing, Brawling, Judo, Karate, Sumo Wrestling, and Wrestling – and occasionally other skills, like Acrobatics. (I'm ignoring Combat Art/Sport, Games, Philosophy, etc. to focus on combat styles, but that doesn't change a thing.) Every technique that defaults to the style's basic skills is fair game for stylists in a fight, but the style will have certain moves it favors, and those are what the techniques list is for. Every stylist will practice those techniques more than others, but the improvement won't be worth a full +1 or more in game terms . . . unless he really specializes. The techniques list tells you what dedicated students are likely to focus on and gives you a roleplaying reason to try certain techniques at default in a fight (and possibly improve them later).

Outside of straitjacket McDojos, this is how things actually work. Sure, there will be students learning the basics. However, there will also be experienced guys drilling and sparring to work on techniques they regard as important. There will be the guy with a wicked uppercut, another guy with scary RNC skills, and so on. You'll be able to see their style in their moves – that's what Style Familiarity is for – but it would be unrealistic to assume that they all use the same moves. These days, especially, lots of styles really do have a pretty broad palette of techniques to teach; you probably can go in and see two guys grappling on the floor, two more boxing, another guy throwing kicks at a bag, and a whole line of novices paired off for standing grappling.

The karate that came back over the Pacific after WWII did a lot of harm to how people perceive martial arts, unfortunately. Lots of folks think it's about standing in a line, practicing the same N moves, then doing kata. The McDojos that sprung up to teach this stuff didn't help, as they isolated styles from their traditional teachers, who generally valued innovation and adaptation (Bruce Lee didn't invent that, he just brought it west!), and they eliminated cross-training in other local styles. Movies just piled on, with actors doing kata in fights and making goofy proclamations about recognizing so-and-so style from its punches or fearing such-and-such style's secret move. That's mostly a snapshot of a rarified situation – things were better before and things have become better since – and Martial Arts attempts to rectify that picture by focusing on traditional combat arts and modern-day MMA more so than rigid styles.