bullfighter skills

[Not]

I want to build an adventurer that's formerly a bullfighter. Would you make that a professional skill, or put points into animal handling, dance, cloak, and sword?

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Not

I want to build an adventurer that's formerly a bullfighter. Would you make that a professional skill, or put points into animal handling, dance, cloak, and sword?

The latter, except subbing out Performance (Optionally Specialized) for Dance and adding Thrown Weapon (Spear), probably at a higher level than Sword. It's not meant to be a fair contest, the sword is just to administer the dramatic coup d'grace after the beast is on its last legs anyway.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Not

I want to build an adventurer that's formerly a bullfighter. Would you make that a professional skill, or put points into animal handling, dance, cloak, and sword?

That basically depends on how formidable you want bullfighters to be in other engagements. One could view it as Performance skill plus Stage Combat, or use Animal Handing (Bovines, likely with an optional specialisation), Cloak, Dancing, Performance and an appropriate kind of Sword. That's probably Broadsword, and a bullfighting sword seems to be similar to an Estoc (Martial Arts, p. 227). Bullfighters seem to use a Targeted Attack (Broadsword thrust, vitals) technique, but I doubt it's applicable to humans.

[Fred Brackin]

Bullfighting might even be a peculiarly specialized Martial Arts Style offerring Enhanced Dodge with that being possibly aspected or gaining bonuses from the Cloak skill.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Bullfighting might even be a peculiarly specialized Martial Arts Style offerring Enhanced Dodge with that being possibly aspected or gaining bonuses from the Cloak skill.

Oh, now that's a good idea.

[Sam Baughn]

Originally Posted by Not

I want to build an adventurer that's formerly a bullfighter. Would you make that a professional skill, or put points into animal handling, dance, cloak, and sword?

For a PC, you should use any reasonable excuse to load up on skills which will be useful in adventuring. If you're a chef, you can take Knife, if you're a woodcutter, you get Two-Handed Axe/Mace, and if you're a bullfighter you absolutely get Cloak and a sword skill, even if realistically they might not be that great in a fight.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Not

I want to build an adventurer that's formerly a bullfighter. Would you make that a professional skill, or put points into animal handling, dance, cloak, and sword?

Rather than all these skills, consider Professional Skill (Bullfighter).

If the GM is willing it could give you the benefits of Animal Handling when dealing with fighting bulls, Broadword when making All-Out Attacks to the bull's Vitals, Cloak when attempting to enrage, direct, or distract it, and Karate when attempting to Dodge its horns.

Also consider that matadors work their way up from being picadors and/or banderilleros. The former gives them Riding and Spear skill, the latter Knife.

All should have Performance.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Rather than all these skills, consider Professional Skill (Bullfighter).

If the GM is willing it could give you the benefits of Animal Handling when dealing with fighting bulls, Broadword when making All-Out Attacks to the bull's Vitals, Cloak when attempting to enrage, direct, or distract it, and Karate when attempting to Dodge its horns.

Also consider that matadors work their way up from being picadors and/or banderilleros. The former gives them Riding and Spear skill, the latter Knife.

All should have Performance.

I wouldn't recommend that approach. Professional skills in GURPS never include weapon/combat skills; Soldier, for example, doesn't include Shield, Spear, Shortsword, Lance, Polearm, or any specialty of Guns. So you would have to take at least Broadsword, Cloak, and Karate, and on your accounting also Spear (or Lance?) and Knife. You don't get much simplification if you still have to buy those skills.

[Anders]

You could make it a Bang skill, although it would be a very narrow one.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Anders

You could make it a Bang skill, although it would be a very narrow one.

Except the "only useful in a bull fight" condition makes the skill basically worthless for an adventurer. Seriously if it's a straight up color skill like that I wouldn't bother with a ! skill, just rule all of that is included in the normal Performance (Bullfighting) (or equivalently Stage Combat (Bullfighting) skill, though I personally consider all Stage Combat skills forms of Performance too).

I mostly agree with Sam here. Yeah if this is just a bit of color you can just drop 1 or 2 points in Performance (Bullfighting); but if this is supposed to be an *important* bit of background you want to include stuff that will be useful in an adventuring context - which means non-specialized somewhat related skills that most bullfighters might not have, but you, being the amazingly talented hero-in-the-making that qualifies as a PC, managed to learn from the training anyway.