Realistic Rules

[stranger38]

Realistic Rules
Hello everyone, please help me with this:

We're playing a Last of Us game and i'm playing a archer/smuggler. Our game is mildly (i mean, VERY mildly) cinematic and my main combat style is of course archery

Have all the fixings:
Arm ST +3
Bow ST 1 (Striking ST 2 bow only -60%)
Striking ST 1 (as per Martial Arts)
Strongbow

With this i was trying to eek as much as possible from my bow and was thinking about a technique to raise a little more, my Bow-ST.

Something like a Hard Technique that each +2 gives +1 in Bow ST. Is that realistic?

It would be like this:
Pull Heavy Bow (H)
You know how to pull really heavy bows
Each 2 points paid in this technique allows for +1 ST por the purpose of pulling heavy bows

And about Bow ST. Martial arts allows for Striking ST +1 at max, but a single level in Striking ST for bows is realistic?

[naloth]

Personally, I'd favor both accuracy and rate of fire over adding a point or three to raw damage. Heroic Archer and a high Fast Draw is your friend. We also allow perks to avoid extra rolling on routine (repetitive) tasks if your final skill is 17+, which saves on dice rolling for things like Fast Draw and Bow loading.

As an aside, I don't believe there's any rule from preventing you from using a bow that has a higher minST than your current ST. You'll be at -1 skill per point over and suffer additional fatigue after each battle, but you'll do more damage with that bow. As a bonus you can switch to weaker bow matching your ST for accuracy when you need it.

[James P]

Originally Posted by stranger38

And about Bow ST. Martial arts allows for Striking ST +1 at max, but a single level in Striking ST for bows is realistic?

I'm not sure how Striking ST applies to bows, unless you're throwing the bow at him? You'd need Arm ST or just plain old ST. You're not actually striking anything.

But if you're using Martial Arts, you should consider the Heroic Archer (aka Gunslinger for Bowmen) advantage.

If water is likely, the Naval Training Perk voids the negatives for firing from a rocking rowboat. And Sure-Footed does the same, for bad footing. Thus he could stand on wet rocks, ice, or a rocking rowboat, and still shoot like he's on stable land. Hell, he could stand on a bunch of wet rocks ON a rocking rowboat and still shoot like he's on stable land.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by James P

I'm not sure how Striking ST applies to bows, unless you're throwing the bow at him? You'd need Arm ST or just plain old ST. You're not actually striking anything.

Don't get hung up on the name. Striking ST is what you use to do damage, regardless of what actual muscles are involved.

[James P]

Originally Posted by Anders

Don't get hung up on the name. Striking ST is what you use to do damage, regardless of what actual muscles are involved.

Sure, but it specifically states that it's not increased ST, which means it's not helping with a bow... whereas Arm ST achieves the same effect (raising ST, for the purpose or archery), but directly.

I guess either works, but Arm ST just seems more logical, to me. But the difference between "Arm ST +4 [12]" and the combo "Arm ST +3 [9] and Striking ST 1 [5]", is only 3 points, though.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by stranger38

It would be like this:
Pull Heavy Bow (H)
You know how to pull really heavy bows
Each 2 points paid in this technique allows for +1 ST por the purpose of pulling heavy bows

This is what Strongbow is. You can ask your GM if he'd allow making it a leveled perk - I might allow it but probably not for a realistic game.

[stranger38]

Thanks a lot guys for the replies.

[stranger38]

Ah, qlmost forget:
Martial arts says that a single level of striking st is realistic.
But that's a general striking st. Could be a specific striking st level like (knife only) be realistic?
What i mean is: is it realistic to have striking st 1 and striking st (knife) ?

[Anders]

It could represent some kind of exotic training. Borderline realistic.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by stranger38

But that's a general striking st. Could be a specific striking st level like (knife only) be realistic?
What i mean is: is it realistic to have striking st 1 and striking st (knife) ?

A natural consequence of heavy training in anything physical is building up the muscle groups involved in the activity, so I’d say that’s largely fine (there is the issue that some training should result in increased strength for other activities, but it’s fine to have that below GURPS resolution). Technical Grappling introduced the concept of Trained ST, where at certain skill levels you got a boost to effective ST when using that skill. While that was specific to grappling, a lot of us have extended it to most physical skills - Boating (for when using personal ST to row), combat skills, etc. While your GM may not be using TG, you could use it as justification to buy further Lifting/Striking ST (whichever your GM deems appropriate for bow use)... although note you’ve already got your first +2 ST in the form of Strongbow.

A bit of warning, however - just because several things taken in isolation are realistic doesn’t mean the combination of them necessarily is. In this case, Strongbow + Arm ST + Lifting/Striking ST, each at their maximum allowable levels, may be over the edge. Consider that various flavors of trick shooting with a bow are certainly realistic (see Lars Anderson), and using a bow in battle is certainly realistic (see history), but actually pulling off trick shooting in a battle really isn’t - at least not with the kind of reliability you need to not get killed.