Mister E Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 A professional rivalry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 P.S.: Warrior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 If we go system-nonspecific, the only things a warrior needs to be competitive are: The ability to hit things hard. Exactly what this means is very system and game specific. In a game where magic (and thus things like invisibility) are common, he may need a way to actually find his enemy, he's going to need a way to consistently land attacks (CSL, high stat.s whatever) and he's going to need a way to blow through the target's defences. That can be big damage, defence avoidance, or whatever. A warrior who can't dish out consistent high levels of hurt is basically just ablative armour for other PCs ... at best. The ability to mitigate incoming damage - high defences, a big pool of HP, high evasion skills, block. If you can't do this, you don't even make very good ablative armour: too much effort is spent by the other PCs on keeping you alive. That's actually it, pretty much. Everything else is gravy. Personally, if I'm playing a fighter type, I like to add in a noncombat specialty (sneak, face guy, information guy, etc) - exactly what, is not important, but I like to have something to do when "AM SMASH!" is not the preferred option. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 The skill of maintaining/repairing weapons is nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 The skill of maintaining/repairing weapons is nice. Eh. Even if you are playing in a game that tracks that sort of thing - and I never have - you can always get someone else do do major repairs. Historically, that's what most warriors did. As for minor maintenance, that can be pretty safely assumed to be included in your basic weapon training. Most people who learn to use a weapon have at least a basic idea of how to clean and carry it. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Eh. Even if you are playing in a game that tracks that sort of thing - and I never have - you can always get someone else do do major repairs. Historically, that's what most warriors did. As for minor maintenance, that can be pretty safely assumed to be included in your basic weapon training. Most people who learn to use a weapon have at least a basic idea of how to clean and carry it. cheers, Mark Thus most warrior tupe packages sshould gain Weaponsmith at the familiarity level of 8 or less. Enough to facilitate a basic repair job or to maintain their weapons (a +3 to the base roll) but for anything morr difficult they go to the local blacksmith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nah, I'd say that weapon maintainence would be part of Weapon Familiarity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 If the character in question truly is a career fighter that continuously gets involved in quite a bit of walking between towns/cities, then an associated bare minimum of competency in that area seems all but obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nah, I'd say that weapon maintainence would be part of Weapon Familiarity. Exactly. We don't require "FAM: Clothes, 8-" so that people can tie their shoelaces, or require Asian characters to buy "PS: Asian Food handling, 8-" so that they can eat with chopsticks. Some things - many things, in fact - are so basic they can (and should) be assumed. Any modern western character can be assumed to know how to use an ATM or a mobile phone, drive a car, purchase food in a supermarket. Any medieval fantasy character can be assumed to know to eat bread carefully, how to negotiate a muddy street or take a casual dump outside without getting filthy, how to haggle over prices, etc. Skills and skill points should be (IMO) reserved for those aspects that define a character - in other words those things that are unusual or unique to him or her, or which are important to what they do. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Any modern western character can be assumed to know how to .... purchase food in a supermarket.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yes, there are some customers who really makes one despair. For my part, thankfully, they were very few and far between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Exactly. We don't require "FAM: Clothes, 8-" so that people can tie their shoelaces, or require Asian characters to buy "PS: Asian Food handling, 8-" so that they can eat with chopsticks. Some things - many things, in fact - are so basic they can (and should) be assumed. Any modern western character can be assumed to know how to use an ATM or a mobile phone, drive a car, purchase food in a supermarket. Any medieval fantasy character can be assumed to know to eat bread carefully, how to negotiate a muddy street or take a casual dump outside without getting filthy, how to haggle over prices, etc. Skills and skill points should be (IMO) reserved for those aspects that define a character - in other words those things that are unusual or unique to him or her, or which are important to what they do. cheers, Mark I would say that it depends on the individual game and how much detail they want to add to their game. Sure, most rpgs dont have a clothing skill, but i have played games that had a "wardrobe and style" skill that could be used to great effect fkr roleplaying situations, and the group i played with for years liked the concept of that skill so much that they ported it into just about every game they played (including Hero), so i wouldnt say that it is always a default assumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Plus, this thread is about a warrior being competitive. Aside from being a viable combatant in general, you could take this subject line literally ("keeping competitive in an arena/gladiatorial combat") or less literally ("keeping competitive in an economy that demands warriors"). With the latter interpretation in mind, i'd say that knowing even a little about maintaining/fixing/crafting weapons (subsets of knowledge often subsumed under one Skill) puts you a cut above (no pun intended) competition with an otherwise similar skill set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Actually - again just going off real life and history here - when recruiting mercenaries (or even volunteers who need to be trained) "Do you know how to maintain your weapon?" is not a question that is often asked (simply because the answer just isn't that relevant). It's not that maintaining weapons is unimportant. It's just that a) there are people who do that sort of thing. They don't have to be (usually weren't, in fact) warriors. b ) you're being hired as a warrior, not a weaponsmith c) if you don't know even the basics, somebody can teach you in a spare half hour. Even in an economically pressed situation, it's a pretty safe bet that a warrior who can do that isn't going to get any extra jobs because of it - unless you feel like taking up weaponsmithing as a job. It's not a bad skill to have as a fantasy adventurer (I've had characters myself who have had it) - just not one that is likely to be more than flavour, and certainly not something that I think should be required. Here's a simple acid test: as a GM, how many of you have asked players to make "routine weapon maintenance skill rolls"? If the answer (as expected) is never/almost never then that tells you how frequently PCs should be expected to buy it. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Is there not an optional Instructor Skill somewhere in the game? I can't find it. The ability to train others to be fighters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Yes - at least in The Ultimate Skill for 5E. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Is there not an optional Instructor Skill somewhere in the game? I can't find it. The ability to train others to be fighters. Without referrencing The Ultimate Skill, that is normally achieved via Professional Skill: [blank] Instructor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted February 19, 2015 Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 PS: Swordsman PS: Swordsmith PS: Swordsmanship Instructor WF: Swords Weaponsmith: Muscle-Powered HTH KS: Swords KS: Swordsmen KS: Swordsmiths KS: Swordsmanship Instructors Tactics Analyze: Combat Technique Leadership Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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