Brawling once again

phiwum · 03-04-2021, 03:49 PM

I don't know how I've overlooked this so long, but I realized that Brawling is even more powerful than I thought. I've long thought (like Skarg has repeatedly pointed out) that Brawling is one point shy of using a dagger.

But in HTH it's worse than that. Brawling gives +2 damage to bare hand damage. In HTH, bare hands do +1 over ST damage already, so a ST 9 fighter in HTH does 1d damage if he has brawling. This is exactly as much as an ST 9 fighter does with a dagger in HTH.

Thus, Brawling removes the most pressing need for the Knife talent, without the need to draw a dagger when your opponent initiates HTH.

Am I missing something here? Are there limits to Brawling I don't see? (The text mentions bar fighting -- maybe you get the bonus only in locations where you can buy a drink?)

I've seen people argue against the +1 bonus in HTH or even that "fighter" means the bonus only applies to non-wizards or something. In general, I'm okay with HTH being deadly, but a one point skill that makes drawing a dagger irrelevant is bugging me.

I've also seen Skarg argue for dropping the dirty fighting clause, if I understand correctly. I'd consider dropping it from HTH so that a dagger is still better than unarmed, I suppose.

03-04-2021, 03:49 PM	#1
phiwum Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Boston area	Brawling once again I don't know how I've overlooked this so long, but I realized that Brawling is even more powerful than I thought. I've long thought (like Skarg has repeatedly pointed out) that Brawling is one point shy of using a dagger. But in HTH it's worse than that. Brawling gives +2 damage to bare hand damage. In HTH, bare hands do +1 over ST damage already, so a ST 9 fighter in HTH does 1d damage if he has brawling. This is exactly as much as an ST 9 fighter does with a dagger in HTH. Thus, Brawling removes the most pressing need for the Knife talent, without the need to draw a dagger when your opponent initiates HTH. Am I missing something here? Are there limits to Brawling I don't see? (The text mentions bar fighting -- maybe you get the bonus only in locations where you can buy a drink?) I've seen people argue against the +1 bonus in HTH or even that "fighter" means the bonus only applies to non-wizards or something. In general, I'm okay with HTH being deadly, but a one point skill that makes drawing a dagger irrelevant is bugging me. I've also seen Skarg argue for dropping the dirty fighting clause, if I understand correctly. I'd consider dropping it from HTH so that a dagger is still better than unarmed, I suppose.