Universal Weapon Familiarity

[Snarf]

I'm trying to create an advantage that gives familiarity with all possible weapons for a martial arts themed game. Based on the campaign world I'm going to make and the cost of buying the familiarities the normal way, I've estimated the advantage's value at 30 points.

 

Has anyone else tried to do this yet or seen it done?

[Hitchhiker]

I haven't seen or tried it, but why don't you build a "Common Martial Arts Weapons" category which the characters can buy as a Weapon Familiarity? Take a look at The Ultimate Martial Artist or FREd on page 329 and pick out the weapons you consider common.

[misterdeath]

3 PSLs with all weapons, only to offset Unfamiliar Weapon Penalties @ 3 points each.

 

9 points. Enjoy.

____

 

As a note, I would think (and probably rule) that you still need the Weapon Familiarity and the Weapon Elements to use your Martial Arts with weapons.

 

D

[Alibear]

PSL means Penalty Skill Level, just in case anyone was wondering.. oh and give it a cool name like Weapons Master or somefink.

[tesuji]

yeah, buying off the non-prof penalties will serve the purpose and be much cheaper than 30 pts.

[misterdeath]

more thoughts.

 

My wife suggested that, if you're looking to spend 30ish points...

 

20 Weapon Mastery multipower 30 pt reserve, all OIF (weapon of opportunity) (-1/2)

2u Sharp Things HKA 2d6

1u Blunt Things HA 6d6, Hand to Hand Attack (-1/2)

2u Throwing Things RKA 2d6

2u Blunt missiles EB 6d6.

 

27 points. You pick up a weapon and use the relevant slot. Assess penalty according to unwieldiness.

 

Bonus is that you can add this directly to any martial arts you have.

 

D

[Fur Face]

There was someone on the last boards who used to apply the Universal Translator power and used it in the same way you are wanting. He used it for things like weaponmaster, scientist, transportation FAM & such.

 

You could also do a VPP, but that would cost you about the same as mister_death's suggestion. And since in true wuxia tradition almost anything can be a weapon, you couldn't go wrong there.

 

I've seen the multipower option, but only for translating a power that had access to some kind of weapon or skill. Technically, you need have a weapons element if you want to use any weapon with your martial arts. Even Karate practicioners still need the 1 pt karate weapons element if the want to stack the weapons and martial arts. You could avoid that with combat skill levels with the multipower versus the marial arts.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Kristopher]

A very small VPP should cover it. 3 pt pool, instant shift, no roll. What's that come to? (at work, no book, blah)

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Fur Face

There was someone on the last boards who used to apply the Universal Translator power and used it in the same way you are wanting. He used it for things like weaponmaster, scientist, transportation FAM & such.

 

You could also do a VPP, but that would cost you about the same as mister_death's suggestion. And since in true wuxia tradition almost anything can be a weapon, you couldn't go wrong there.

 

I've seen the multipower option, but only for translating a power that had access to some kind of weapon or skill. Technically, you need have a weapons element if you want to use any weapon with your martial arts. Even Karate practicioners still need the 1 pt karate weapons element if the want to stack the weapons and martial arts. You could avoid that with combat skill levels with the multipower versus the marial arts.

 

Just my 2 cents.

Worldmaker has a set of house rules for his PBEM game that are based off of Universal Translator. They're all typed and ready to steal if you like them. They are at GlobalGuardians.Com

[Wormhole]

the penalty skill level idea sounds like a winner, though I would require them to take Extra Time (must examine the weapon for at least a Full Phase; -1/4) and Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4). Basically you have to carefully examine the weapon for a second or two before you can use it without penalty. I would also rule that the "familiarity" gained is temporary, lasting one adventure at most (unless the character pays XP on the appropriate WF).

[Agent Escafarc]

Remember you must have both Weapon Familiarity and Weapon Element in order to use a weapon with Martial Maneuvers (UMA page 102) so PSL may not be what is needed here.

[Snarf]

Originally posted by Agent Escafarc

Remember you must have both Weapon Familiarity and Weapon Element in order to use a weapon with Martial Maneuvers (UMA page 102) so PSL may not be what is needed here.

 

I guess what I'm actually looking for then, is Universal Weapon Familiarity and a Universal Weapon Element of some sort. Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'm sure I'll be able to work something out with all these ideas.

 

The global guardians has lots of interesting stuff, but nothing specifically weapon related.

http://globalguardians.com/house%20rules/talents.html

They seem to value these universal skill talents as being worth 20 points. I'm not sure how well this applies since Weapon Familiarities don't function quite like skill levels.

 

I think I'm going to do it the 9 point PSL way, throw in a few all combat skill levels, then have everyone buy martial arts styles and weapon elements the normal way.

 

Weapon Master: +3 PSL for Unfamiliarity Penalties, (AP 9).

[misterdeath]

Behold the Power of Cheese

 

Universal Weapon Familiarity Variable Power Pool 3 point reserve, 1 control cost. Cosmic (+2), only for weapon familiarities and weapon elements (-1/2). 5 points.

 

You need to use a Water Parting Shield, you put 1 point into the WE and 1 point into the WF. That gives you 1 extra, just in case you need to pick up something else. You can raise the pool to 4, and net cost to 8, and have two weapons going at once. Cosmic means you can switch it at will, without worry.

 

It's even cheaper than the PSL trick, and more useful, since all your martial arts abilities work just fine with it.

 

Your GM will scream at this, in all probability.

 

But, hey, it fits the SFX.

 

D

[Snarf]

I don't think anyone would even consider buying a weapon familiarity for the normal 2 or 3 point cost if they could get all of them plus weapon elements for 5 points.

 

But really, if anything, you haven't gone far enough:

 

Do Pretty Much Anything: 13 pt. VPP, 6 pt. Control Cost, Cosmic (+2), (AP 31); Only For Skills (-1/4), (RC 25).

 

Bump the reserve up to 23, if you want to do hard stuff.

[Kristopher]

The WF/WE Cosmic VPP fits a very specific type of effect that's appropriate for certain characters. They can pick up any weapon and use it. If you're looking at a martial artist, you might want to limit it to non-ranged weapons only for -1 instead of -1/2, but other than that it's not at all cheesy provided that it's restricted to characters who really should have it.

 

The "Do Anything" pool is conceivably appropriate for a very certain type of character, but they're going to be orders of magnitude more rare than the "pick up any weapon" types.

[Snarf]

Originally posted by Kristopher

The WF/WE Cosmic VPP fits a very specific type of effect that's appropriate for certain characters. They can pick up any weapon and use it. If you're looking at a martial artist, you might want to limit it to non-ranged weapons only for -1 instead of -1/2, but other than that it's not at all cheesy provided that it's restricted to characters who really should have it.

 

The "Do Anything" pool is conceivably appropriate for a very certain type of character, but they're going to be orders of magnitude more rare than the "pick up any weapon" types.

 

I want the characters in this campaign to be able to pick up and use anything, including guns, since I've got MATRIX FEVER.

 

The main reason I chose penalty skill levels is because it feels simplest and closest to the correct SFX to me. What I want to do is cancel out a specific penalty. Also, forget about universal weapon elements, I think I'd rather have everyone buy weapon elements the normal way. I feel like VPPs are a last resort, and avoidible this time.

 

I would use the VPP method in a future game where I need more flexibility, but I would probably require a minimum investment of at least 15 or 20 points.

[Alibear]

As a GM, if someone came to me with that "Extra Mature Cheese VPP" I would smile demurely and then tell him to "Take the offending article away from me and never sully my vision with such shite again!"

[Snarf]

I know it's cheesy but sometimes it's useful anyway if you want to allow a powerful ability that fits a character concept. For example, I offered a similar ability to a robot character to represent his ability to download and store a certain amount of knowledge skills. Allowing stuff like this changes a campaign but sometimes you'll want it to change in certain ways.

[Alibear]

Good Point. Cyberpunk would be an example of where we need to tweak the rules to conform to genre. The weapon master schtick is not one of those times though, IMHO.

 

Anyway good point Snarf.

[JmOz]

As for the MA issue, can I sugest having your MA just be skill levels with all combat (Or all Melee or Ranged, as you prefer), then you do not need to worry about the weapons elements.

 

Add in this bit of cheese: +20 Str, No Figured characteristics (optional), -1/4 No lifting

[Kristopher]

The problem with skill levels of various sorts is that they're not Weapon Elements, and the use of a weapon with MA manuevers requires the corresponding WF and WE. Am I wrong about that?

 

If that's accurate, then all the PSLs and CSLs and OSLs in the world won't allow you to use your MA manuevers with weapons.

[misterdeath]

Nope. You're not wrong. Need WE and WF for martial arts.

 

What Jm is suggesting is to not buy martial arts at all, just buy Str w No Fig (-1/2) and Only with "Martial Arts" Maneuvers (-1/4). 20 points of Str would cost 11 points. You'd get the equivalent of 4 DCs of maneuvers.

 

Add some CSLs, and forget using Martial Arts at all.

 

That's the beauty of the Multipower I gave earlier. Just buy CSLs, and away you go.

 

You pick up a stick, or a sword or a whathaveyou and it's part of the OIF (focus of opportunity). It does 2d6 + Str K or Str + 6d6 N damage.

 

The weapon itself doesn't matter at all. It's just the SFX. You don't need WE and WF for things you paid points for after all.

 

D

[Snarf]

Originally posted by Kristopher

The problem with skill levels of various sorts is that they're not Weapon Elements, and the use of a weapon with MA manuevers requires the corresponding WF and WE. Am I wrong about that?

 

If that's accurate, then all the PSLs and CSLs and OSLs in the world won't allow you to use your MA manuevers with weapons.

Say what? Uh oh...

 

Could you point out the page and paragraph number where these rules are?

[Kristopher]

FRED, pg 265. Under Weapon Elements.

[Snarf]

Weapon element is required for using weapons with martial maneuvers, unless it is the default for the style. In heroic campaigns, a character can only buy weapon elements for weapons he has a familiarity with. So the 9 point ability is crippled in heroic campaigns, if that character wants to use weapon elements. To me, it seems fair that it's a rather limited ability, since it's awfully cheap.

 

This doesn't affect my campaign at first, since everyone will be using kung-fu or plain weapon strikes. But it may eventually cause a problem if players decide to start improving their martial arts abilities. I'll need some sort of backup if that happens.

 

20 Weapon Mastery multipower 30 pt reserve, all OIF (weapon of opportunity) (-1/2)

2u Sharp Things HKA 2d6

1u Blunt Things HA 6d6, Hand to Hand Attack (-1/2)

2u Throwing Things RKA 2d6

2u Blunt missiles EB 6d6.

I like this multipower, but I want an ability that would let them use absolutely any weapon, like machine guns, ray guns, nets, boomerangs, paste blasters, baldness bombs, or whatever. Maybe it should be a VPP.