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Old 05-19-2022, 09:24 AM   #1
Michael Thayne
 
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Default [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

Been thinking about how to make life a bit easier for players who want to play katana masters. Here's what I came up with:
Two and a Half Hands

You are a master of wielding "hand and a half" weapons. You effectively have an invisible third arm that can only be used to give you a second hand on a melee weapon that you are holding in one hand and which you could use one-handed. If a weapon has a higher ST requirement for one-handed use than two-handed use, you must still meet the one-handed ST requirement.
I think this is pretty balanced. It can be viewed as an extremely limited variant of Extra Arm (Weapon Mount), or a melee variant of the Army of One perk. Thoughts?

(Also: I might be reinventing something that's already floating around somewhere out there, which I'd be curious to know if true.)
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Old 05-19-2022, 12:31 PM   #2
Polydamas
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Thayne View Post
Been thinking about how to make life a bit easier for players who want to play katana masters. Here's what I came up with:
Two and a Half Hands

You are a master of wielding "hand and a half" weapons. You effectively have an invisible third arm that can only be used to give you a second hand on a melee weapon that you are holding in one hand and which you could use one-handed. If a weapon has a higher ST requirement for one-handed use than two-handed use, you must still meet the one-handed ST requirement.
I think this is pretty balanced. It can be viewed as an extremely limited variant of Extra Arm (Weapon Mount), or a melee variant of the Army of One perk. Thoughts?

(Also: I might be reinventing something that's already floating around somewhere out there, which I'd be curious to know if true.)
What problem is this meant to solve? You can use a katana in one hand or two, and if you use the second hand you get benefits in GURPS.
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Old 05-19-2022, 12:40 PM   #3
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

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What problem is this meant to solve? You can use a katana in one hand or two, and if you use the second hand you get benefits in GURPS.
Presumably you get two-handed damage, parries etc and can also wield your wakazashi.
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Old 05-19-2022, 12:51 PM   #4
Michael Thayne
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

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What problem is this meant to solve? You can use a katana in one hand or two, and if you use the second hand you get benefits in GURPS.
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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Presumably you get two-handed damage, parries etc and can also wield your wakazashi.
Yeah, basically. You also get a better default for the Reverse Grip technique.
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Old 05-19-2022, 12:58 PM   #5
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

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What problem is this meant to solve? You can use a katana in one hand or two, and if you use the second hand you get benefits in GURPS.
My guess would be the Perk would allow you to use the Two Handed Sword skill when wielding the katana in one hand (because with the Perk your one hand counts as two), as well as getting the improved damage and - IIRC - Parry associated with that skill (I think a katana swung with one hand has Parry 0U, while one swung with two hands has Parry 0, but I could be misremembering; regardless, as I noted in the Force Sword thread, there's an optional rule in Martial Arts that halves the iteration penalty for multiple parries for a two-handed weapon, and this would presumably benefit from that). This would let you wield another weapon or a shield in the offhand (or grapple a foe, drag a downed ally, etc), ride a horse into battle without being reliant on the Hands-Free Riding Technique, continue to fight effectively if one hand/arm is crippled, etc. Oh, and in a campaign inspired by Rurouni Kenshin, you could totally use battojutsu (which is very much a one-handed thing in that anime/manga) without having to rely on Broadsword skill.
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Old 05-19-2022, 03:42 PM   #6
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

Looks good.

A nice combat perk, especially for one-armed characters.
In a way, it's a variant on the Giant Weapons perk.
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Old 05-19-2022, 05:04 PM   #7
Polydamas
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

But so far I do not see a problem, I just see a way in which this perk makes a fighter more effective and removes an interesting, tactically meaningful choice (one-handed or two?)

It reminds me of how D&D 3e handles bastard swords: pay a Feat, get a one-handed weapon which does the next larger die than ordinary people's weapon. Mechanically simple and balanced but boring!
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Last edited by Polydamas; 05-19-2022 at 06:05 PM.
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Old 05-20-2022, 01:08 AM   #8
Michael Thayne
 
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

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But so far I do not see a problem, I just see a way in which this perk makes a fighter more effective and removes an interesting, tactically meaningful choice (one-handed or two?)

It reminds me of how D&D 3e handles bastard swords: pay a Feat, get a one-handed weapon which does the next larger die than ordinary people's weapon. Mechanically simple and balanced but boring!
Hmmm. I do sort of see where you're coming from, though the status quo is that GURPS strongly disincentivizes trying to master both one-handed and two-handed sword use. At first I thought you could address this issue with the Weapon Adaptation perk, but Weapon Adaptation really isn't designed for this. There might be a third option I'm overlooking though.
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Old 05-20-2022, 02:26 AM   #9
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

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Originally Posted by Michael Thayne View Post
Hmmm. I do sort of see where you're coming from, though the status quo is that GURPS strongly disincentivizes trying to master both one-handed and two-handed sword use. At first I thought you could address this issue with the Weapon Adaptation perk, but Weapon Adaptation really isn't designed for this. There might be a third option I'm overlooking though.
I'm not sure your perk does this either. Instead of having a swordsman master one skill for the sword, you have them still needing both skills, but now getting the benefits of both one and two-handed use.

This also doesn't really reflect any possible real world training because most of the benefits of two-handed use are very much a consequence of grip.

Although I am not sure why Weapon Adaptation doesn't work here.
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Old 05-20-2022, 05:22 AM   #10
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Default Re: [Martial Arts] New perk idea: Two and a Half Hands

I see it less as an Extra Arm (Weapon Mount; One/Two-Handed weapons only) and more like Striking ST (One/Two-Handed weapons only).
As for tactical choice, the most important benefit of one-handed weapons is being able to use a shield but given the character concept, I don't think that would be the case so I see no problem here.
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