Combining kicking techniques with The Kicking Technique

[Der Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

Step 1) Buy Karate or Brawling.
Step 2) Buy Kicking.
Step 3) Buy the Technique Mastery (Kicking) perk for a whopping 1 point.
Step 4) Kick everything.

Who cares if it is more expensive? It's also more effective, kicks do more damage than punches.

Thats fine so far but this is only one kind of kick...
If I also have to do this for Lethal Kick, Back Kick etc... the cost goes out of reason

As for the more effective, this is true but already balanced by the fact of risking to fall down IMO.

[Smirg]

Or just buy Karate with an optional specialization to kicking, this has more or less the same effect Toadkiller suggests and doesn't require the introduction of a new skill but rather uses a system option that is already there.

Compared to regular Karate, you basically get +1 to kicks and -1 to punches for the same cost (or effectively, plain kicks and punches will have the same effective skill without any techniques, with kicks being just more effective range- and damage-wise).

[Der Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Smirg

Or just buy Karate with an optional specialization to kicking, this has more or less the same effect Toadkiller suggests and doesn't require the introduction of a new skill but rather uses a system option that is already there.

Compared to regular Karate, you basically get +1 to kicks and -1 to punches for the same cost (or effectively, plain kicks and punches will have the same effective skill without any techniques, with kicks being just more effective range- and damage-wise).

DX 10 Boxing 15 = Punching 15 and Kicking 8
What I want is Kicking 15 and Punching 8
and the same ratio for kicking techniques vs. punching techniques not just for blunt kicking...

Kicking Skill
You have trained to use your legs in close combat. If you have arms at all you merly use them for balance. Etc... Blah Blah Blah...

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Der Wanderer

No its not point-crock, its trying to figure out how to make a martial-artis (not necessarly a human one) who is better in Kicking (skill wise not necessarly ST) than punching and this should include all kicks and it should not cost (much) more than the reversed situation where punching is superior to kicking...

For me, the defining aspect of a "kick" (in GURPS terms) is that it is inherently unbalancing to throw one. You go from your most stable usual stance (standing upright) to an unstable one (one foot, or none if you jump). You also are using a limb that is usually not a manipulator. So in my opinion, almost by definition you can't be better at "kicking," which is unbalancing yourself to deliver a blow with a load-bearing limb, than "punching," which I consider throwing a strike with a manipulator limb - certainly not at equal point value.

For quadrupeds, one might say that either all limbs can "punch," since you only need to lift one off the ground, leaving you still stable with the remaning, or define some as primary manipulators (forepaws for cats) and others as primarily power motivators (back legs for cats).

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Come to think of it, I see almost no Techniques defaulting to other Techniques. Shouldn't there a positive experience transition between many Techniques, particularily between similar kicks?

But how many similar kicks are different enough to be different techniques?

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

For me, the defining aspect of a "kick" (in GURPS terms) is that it is inherently unbalancing to throw one. You go from your most stable usual stance (standing upright) to an unstable one (one foot, or none if you jump). You also are using a limb that is usually not a manipulator. So in my opinion, almost by definition you can't be better at "kicking," which is unbalancing yourself to deliver a blow with a load-bearing limb, than "punching," which I consider throwing a strike with a manipulator limb - certainly not at equal point value.

For quadrupeds, one might say that either all limbs can "punch," since you only need to lift one off the ground, leaving you still stable with the remaning, or define some as primary manipulators (forepaws for cats) and others as primarily power motivators (back legs for cats).

Hmm quadraped martial arts? Bring Back Bun FU!

[carllarson]

I don't see many physiologies using kicking as humanoids do. Many of our kicks are defined by our joint structures. A humaniod body does not lend itself to kicking better than punching.

Felines don't kick, they either use their front paws to claw, or grab you and rake you with their rear claws while you can't get away.

Many quadrapeds only kick when at least one pair of legs is braced for balance, and in limited arcs.

A semi-bipedal species, such as T Rex, would generally use their stronger leg claws to rake after securing the foe with teeth. They use their tails to balance their bodies.

Now, nonhumanoid martial artists, yes, there could be a species that has a physiology effective for kicking, even better at kicking than punching. However, in that case, I'd probably use the reverse of the skills for such a species. And so, instead of kicking technique, there would be a punching technique. And kicks would default to the core skill, as now, perhaps with a lesser default penalty. But not necessarily.

[Kromm]

You know, nothing prevents somebody from saying that "punches" with Brawling (or Karate . . . whatever) use hind limbs for some nonhuman species, and would be kicks from a human perspective. Using the MA design system, Punch Defined as a Kick would be:

Kick (-2)
Damage penalty, -1 (+2)
No chance of falling (-1)
Reduced maximum reach, 1 to C (+1)

Now you have a kick -- a real kick, with the hind limb -- that has the reach and damage of a punch, and defaults to full skill. Take Technique Mastery with it and go to town.

You can't be better with all high-powered, unbalancing kicks than with all punches . . . that doesn't make a lot of sense. But if the kick isn't a high-powered or unbalancing one, who cares?