[HR] Making Techniques Viable (as more than "one-trick" specialists)

[Trachmyr]

I love the system of techniques, however I find that their costs makes them an exceptionally bad investment except for the occasional “One-trick wonders” (notably Arm Lock and Feint). I’ve been looking for a way to allow a player to incorporate more techniques into their character design without (A) weakening them in the long-run, (B) over-powering the character or making taking techniques a “no-brainer” and (C ) without completely rewriting or diverging significantly from the current system. After trying out a number of methods, this is what my most recent House Rule consists of… only tried it out for a few sessions, but so far seems quite balanced.

Thought I’d share for those who are interested and perhaps get some feedback as well!

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Techniques are no longer increased with Character Points, instead their default can be improved by one of the following perks: Skill Techniques or Style Techniques. The difficulty of the technique influences the number of techniques that you may train simultaneously. Targeted Attacks are treated just as any other Hard technique, but Combinations require a separate perk to improve them from default.

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New Perks

Skill Techniques (1/level) - Increase the default by one for four Average techniques based on this skill. Multiple levels of this perk allow you to increase defaults for four more Average techniques, either new ones or ones previously improved. A Hard Skill counts as two Average Skills in all cases. Increased defaults stack from all sources, but the total cannot exceed the technique’s maximum level.

Style Techniques (1/level) - As Skill techniques but requires Style Familiarity. Techniques improved must come from the listed techniques for the associated style, but do not need to share a single skill. Increased defaults stack from all sources, but the total cannot exceed the technique’s maximum level. This is a Style Perk, and should always be considered part of a style’s available perks, however it counts towards the maximum number of style perks allowed.

Combination (1/level) - This allows you to create a combination consisting of two or three maneuvers and buy off the default penalty by one step per level of this perk.

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Example:

Kempo Instructor [150 Points]

Attributes [100]
ST 11
DX 13
IQ 10
HT 12
HP 11, Wil 12, Per 10, FP 12
Speed 6.25, Move 6
Thr 1-1, Swg 1+1, BL 24
Punch 1+0 cr, Kick 1+1 cr

TL8, Native Language (English), Native Culture (U.S.)

Advantages & Perks [37]
Ally (Best Friend in Military, same points, 6-; 3)
Attractive (4)
Charisma +2 (10)
Claim to Hospitality (old friends and past students; 5)
Contacts (Cop buddy, Ususally reliable, Skill 12, 9-; 2)
Fit (5)
Reputation +2 (Helpful & Reliable, Students and past Students, Sometimes; 1)
Dabbler (Baseball at +2, Football at +2, Soccer at +3; 1)
Style Familiarity (Kempo; 1)
Special Setup (Karate Parry > Judo Throw; 1)
Style Techniques 3 (Kempo; 3)
Skill Techniques 1 (Karate Art; 1)

Disadvantages & Quirks [-50]
Debt (-11)
Pacifism (Cannot Harm innocents; -10)
Enemy (Ex, less powerful, rival, 9-; -2)
Sense of Duty (to his Ex; -2)
Charitable (SC12; -15)
Stubbornness (-5)
Distractible (-1)
Humble (-1)
Takes Savoir-Faire(Dojo) very seriously (-1)
Gotta have his coffee in the morning (-1)
Delusion (thinks he can work things out with his Ex; -1)

Skills & Techniques[63]
Accounting (His Dojo) 9 [1]
Area Knowledge (Local Neighborhood) 10 [1]
Carpentry 10 [1]
Cooking (Coffee Making) 11 [2]
Computer Operation 10 [1]
Current Affairs (Sports) 10 [1]
Driving (Auto) 12 [1]
Driving (Motorcycle) 13 [2]
First-Aid 11 [2]
Housekeeping 10 [1]
Leadership 13 [4]
Teaching 13 [12]
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Breath Control 11 [2]
Judo 13 [4]
Karate 14 [D]
Karate Art 17 [20]
Philosophy (Buddhism) 8 [1]
Savoir-Faire (Dojo) 12 [4]
Short Sword 13 [1]
Staff 14 [2]
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Arm Lock 13
Back Kick 12 (15 for Karate Art)
Break Fall 14
Elbow Strike 14 (17 for Karate Art)
Kicking 14 (17 for Karate Art)
Knee Strike 14 (17 for Karate Art)
Spinning Kick 13 (16 for Karate Art)

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In comparison to RAW, to make this character would have required 10 additional character points (14 for techniques minus the 4 points spent on the Technique perks)…

However, if this character was RAW, the 4 points spent in Style/Skill perks would have been siphoned into Karate Art (and thus improving Karate and all Karate based techniques by 1 as well). While overall skill would have been higher, every technique except Arm Lock & Knee Strike would have been 1 level lower than this build.

Gaining +1 to five techniques in trade for +1 to base skill seems to me like a acceptable trade without it being over-powered. And remember that the Style techniques require that the points be spread out amongst multiple skills, limiting individual techniques so that they can’t be improved higher than +1 per character point spent.

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So your thoughts, questions & criticisms would be most welcomed… as would sharing any house rules you use to make techniques more viable than as one-trick wonders.

Thanks,
Trachmyr