[House Rules] My (slightly) more generous weapon defaults.

[aesir23]

This issue has come up a couple of times in the past at great length in other threads. I thought I'd present my house rules on the subject of weapon defaults to see what people think.

Combat with different weapons is much more similar in real life than GURPS indicates. A skilled swordsman is not going to fight like a novice when he picks up an axe, his experience with the distance and timing of fighting will give him a definite edge.
In addition to the listed defaults: Axe/Mace now defaults to Broadsword -4, and Shortword -4; Two-Handed Axe/Mace defaults to Two-Handed Sword -4, and Staff -4; Broadsword defaults to Axe/Mace -4; Shortsword defaults to Axe/Mace -4; Two-Handed Sword defaults to Polearm-4, Staff -4, and Two-Handed Axe/Mace -4.
If two melee weapon skills don't have defaults listed, they now default to each other at -6.
Brawling now defaults to Axe/Mace -5, Two-Handed Axe/Mace -5, Staff -5, Broadsword -5, Jitte/Sai -5, Knife -5, Shortsword -5, Two-Handed Sword -5, and Tonfa -4. You can never receive a damage bonus with fewer than 4 points in Brawling, even if your skill is greater than DX +2.

Similar changes could be made to the Ranged weapon defaults, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Thoughts, comments?

[EDIT] Removed Defaults that were worse than the existing ones.

[gilbertocarlos]

I think it is better to make every character with at least 5 points in combat skills, to take one point in brawling, because almost every martial art teaches these as well, also, if the guy have combat reflexes, let him have a +1 default bonus in every weapon.

[Harald387]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

I think it is better to make every character with at least 5 points in combat skills, to take one point in brawling, because almost every martial art teaches these as well, also, if the guy have combat reflexes, let him have a +1 default bonus in every weapon.

Combat Reflexes is already a bargain at twice the price[1]; adding further value to it is an iffy proposition at best.

"Almost every martial art teaches these as well" is covered nicely - for those games that care - by enforcing Styles from Martial Arts; it's certainly /possible/ to learn Kendo without ever really learning how to throw a decent elbow or drive a knee into someone's groin.

That said, I think there's definitely room to improve defaults between weapon skills, and the OP is a good start.

[1] Enhanced Dodge [15] + Enhanced Parry (all) [10] + Enhanced Block [5] is 30 points on its own, and when you add in the bonuses vs. mental stun and fright checks, getting the whole package for 15 points is just awesome.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by Harald387

the OP is a good start.

Thanks! curse you minimum character limit!

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

I think it is better to make every character with at least 5 points in combat skills, to take one point in brawling, because almost every martial art teaches these as well,

Well, if you're using styles, you find that not every style does teach brawling.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

also, if the guy have combat reflexes, let him have a +1 default bonus in every weapon.

Do you mean a bonus to using weapons at default, or a bonus to the defaults (which sticks around when you improve from default)?

Either way, you can still end up with the greatest swordsman on earth being unable to defend himself with an axe as well as a novice with a higher natural Dex. This is an unacceptable result to me, and contrary to my experience in the martial arts.

[gilbertocarlos]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Well, if you're using styles, you find that not every style does teach brawling.

But almost everyone teaches unarmed combat.

Originally Posted by aesir23

Do you mean a bonus to using weapons at default, or a bonus to the defaults (which sticks around when you improve from default)?

Using weapons at default

Originally Posted by aesir23

Either way, you can still end up with the greatest swordsman on earth being unable to defend himself with an axe as well as a novice with a higher natural Dex. This is an unacceptable result to me, and contrary to my experience in the martial arts.

If you only pu sword skill on him, sure, but almost every great swordsman have a basic training in other weapons, the unacceptable is a player with DX10, and 40 points in Sword, and only that, not other weapon skills.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

the unacceptable is a player with DX10, and 40 points in Sword, and only that, not other weapon skills.

Okay, let's say that he has DX 12, Broadsword at DX +4, and Two-Handed Sword, Shield, Spear, Knife and Judo; all at DX.

Should he really be worse at fighting with an axe than a professional athlete with no combat skills and a DX of 14?

The two most important (small 's') skills in combat are distance and timing, they are both effected by the weapon you're holding, but not so much that everything you've learned is useless if your weapon has a different weight distribution.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by aesir23

Okay, let's say that he has DX 12, Broadsword at DX +4, and Two-Handed Sword, Shield, Spear, Knife and Judo; all at DX.

Should he really be worse at fighting with an axe than a professional athlete with no combat skills and a DX of 14?

The two most important (small 's') skills in combat are distance and timing, they are both effected by the weapon you're holding, but not so much that everything you've learned is useless if your weapon has a different weight distribution.

Distance and timing are very important, but those should be subsumed into DX, which is why as someone is improving their weapon skill their DX should be going up as well.

Or perhaps a "talent" with certain weapons at certain distances and improvements in melee timing...

Not really sure how to do that type of thing with GURPS.
It might be rather generous to say that the 24- skilled swordsman who never picked up an axe has a 20- default when using that axe.


We could say that instead of base DX in the default replace it with Melee DX equal to DX + (Sum of melee skills)/10.

In other words, if your base DX is 12 and you have 30 points in melee skills, then your Melee DX would be 15 and your default Axe skill would be 10- instead of 7-.

[Azinctus]

Originally Posted by aesir23

If two melee weapon skills don't have defaults listed, they now default to each other at -6.

Cool. I think this is entirely appropriate.

In LARP we switched weapons a lot and good sword fighters were good with any weapon. There were tricks to learn for the axe or staff but they weren't all important. Attributes count but they aren't everything.

[Polydamas]

Also, one of the main things that high weapon skill represents is ability to act effectively under stress, and most of that should carry over whatever you have in your hands (though a new type of fight, or using weapons you are unfamiliar with, is stressful in and of itself).