Perk to remove the double dagger?

[Anders]

What would you charge to remove the double dagger notation from a specific weapon (e.g., the maul)? A perk? A perk + Weapon Mastery?

[mlangsdorf]

Either have ST[1] of at least 1.5 times the weapon's listed ST (B 270), or a total of ST and levels of Huge Weapons (ST) (Powerups Perks p 6) of at least 1.5 times the weapon's listed ST.

So to use a full size halberd or maul without readying it every turn, you need either ST 19, or some combination of ST, Arm Strength, Striking ST, and Huge Weapons (ST) that totals 19. ie, Strong McFast has ST 13, Arm Strength 1, Striking ST 2, and Huge Weapons (ST) 3 and can swing his halberd every turn.

[1] Arm ST and Striking ST also count here.

[johndallman]

Exactly what part of ‡ do you want to remove? Being tremendously strong already works; a maul requires ST 13, and ST 20 will let you use it two-handed without it becoming unready when you attack. Do you want that to be possible at ST 13?

[thom]

As an alternative to the Perk route; you could spend 10 CP to get Extra Maneuver (Ready one weapon only) to allow the PC to ready the weapon after each attack...

thom

[JulianLW]

Here's a thing you might want:

Balanced Swing

Hard Technique; Default: Prerequisite Skill-3; cannot exceed prerequisite.

Prerequisite: Any melee weapon skill.

When using a weapon with "U" in the Parry stat, you may attack with Balanced Swing to return your weapon to the guard position immediately after your strike. This lets you parry with it normally afterward, effectively ignoring the "U." This is a special Defensive Attack without the damage penalty; it thus cannot be used with Committed Attack or All-Out Attack, both of which prevent parries anyway, or with any of the other options for Defensive Attack.


This is from PK’s MyGURPS, here: https://www.mygurps.com/index.php?n=Main.NewTechniques.

[Plane]

I think there's already a perk to have ST purely for meeting weapon requirements in power-ups.

[Sam Baughn]

The Huge Weapons (ST) perk gives you +1 ST for the purpose of meeting ST requirements of weapons only. It applies to all muscle-powered weapons. Extrapolating from the rules for Weapon Master it seems that 'one specific type of weapon' is considered to be worth half the cost of 'every muscle-powered weapon'. That makes me think a perk which gave you +2 ST for the purposes of meeting ST requirements for a specific weapon would be fair. If it doesn't help with getting you to the minimum ST to use weapons without a skill penalty, but specifically only to get to the limit where you don't have to ready between attacks, then +3 ST per point looks reasonable to me.

Monster Hunters Power-Ups 1 has the Ready-Steady ability, which is basically a variant of Extra Attack allowing a ready instead of an attack. It is just as expensive as normal Extra Attack, but works regardless of ST requirements, works on all weapons, and can be used to draw, sheathe, etc. as well as just avoiding 'the double-dagger problem'. On the other hand, it doesn't negate skill penalties for being below minimum weapon ST.

[Varyon]

Honestly, the ‡ notation is kind of bizarre. It seems more appropriate, at least to me, for there to simply be a general rule that weapons for which you don't meet the MinST requirement can be used without a to-hit penalty if you're at or above 0.7xMinST, but when used in this fashion they become Unready after each attack (that is, the way ‡ works is generalized to all weapons). Current ‡ weapons would simply have their MinST increased.

[Plane]

Probably what'd be nice rather than a hard cap for dagger ST would be allow everyone the option to re-ready the weapon in less time with a skill roll but then people with low ST get a penalty on that roll.