I love unarmed melee fighter concepts. What traditional game has your favorite unarmed combat? Ever played a memorable fist fighter character?
>>96803571AD&D 1E
For the love of all the gods, stop it with this dumb idea that if you want to play a competent unarmed fighter, you MUST be a kung-fu wizard with magical ki-powers.
>>968035711d4 damage that's all you get but don't worry flavour is free with some exceptions
>>96803571A grappling expert is surprisingly feasible in Honor+Intrigue and genuinely dangerous, though they have to be aware of their enemy's buddies, of course.
>>96803571you options basically boil down toa) storygames where method of attack is just flavor (Maid, Broken Worlds)b) heroic fantasy magic punching man (DnD from 3rd onwards) c) hyperautistic games that do combat second-by-second and let you choose between 10 stanced and 20 way to throw a punch that will have varying efficiency depending environment, type of opponent, weather, and position of the celestial bodies (GURPS)
>>96804161Oh, and by the way, this is without any gay ass Hong Kong phooey needed.
only tangentially related but this thread gave me a sudden idea:in what games might it be viable to take the Fiorepill, and make a build that turns swordfighting into grappling?
>>96804150Who are you talking to?
>>96804196Or good games, where method of attack is rules, and unarmed combat is balanced and viable relative to every other option.
>>96803571Song of Swords.
>>96803571Prowlers and Paragons.
>>96803571I'm not too experienced with it yet but I like the way Cyberpunk2020 does it, I think it's pretty solid.
which systems have the best rules for Improvised Weapons? They always seem to be drastically underpowered compared to other options, usually because there is no 'high quality' or 'magical' version of them like there is for other equipment, and that's if you can even use them without eating some kind of huge penalty
>>96808466The best I've ever seen was Legend. Normal weapons had three properties while improvised weapons had two or three while lacking item bonuses to attack from magical items, so they didn't scale inherently...But the combat maneuver specialist track assigned extra properties from a pool you picked, letting you be really flexible with them as is, and unlocked a feat that caught the number of properties up to regular weapons, applied any item bonus to attack you had on your natural weapons to any improvised weapon you were wielding, let you grab a new one for free once per round, and let you break them on an enemy for a sizable bonus to combat maneuvers.
>>96804161Same in original Barbarians of Lemuria if the character goes all in with strength and right boons.
>>96803571Realistic unarmed combat in GURPS really fucking sucks when going against armed combatants, but that's a feature not a flaw.Cinematic unarmed combat when combined with Fantastic Dungeon Grappling, Imbuement Skills, and Natural Weapons is fucking awesome and nothing in any other game I've ever played has ever compared.
>>96803571I'll tell you a little example of something that happened last time I played an unarmed fighter in my current preferred system.>Sneaking in ventilation ducts>see two guards with shotguns>drop from duct on one guard, using legs to grapple him, then use hands to disarm him, taking shotgun>shoot other guard with shotgun>smack the first guard hard enough with butt of shotgun to knock him out.>jump out before he falls and end up standingThis wasn't planned or me adding "fluff", it was all resolved mechanically, no improvisation required, no need to make up rules on the spot.another example from a different game>goblin charging at my character>parry his strike with my hand, grabbing his arm>pull him into the ground, and deliver an axe-kick to the back of his head as he is down, killing him.This took 30 seconds to resolve, and it was 4 rolls (+damage roll)The system?GURPS
>>96804878I noticed you responded to a post that gave concrete game examples but you didn't actual mention a game in your own post.Why is that?
>>96808466Realistically, a real weapon is just going to be better than improvised weapon.I've played a game that added some ninja power bullshit that gave the ninja bonus damage for the first time he used any weapon in a fight, and there was a perk that allowed ninjas to "Improvise" weapons with the same stats as real weapons (so a broom handle would do the same damage as a real sword, a rope would work like a kusari chain, etc).I had some fun just picking random shit from the battlefield and using it. I liked grabbing chopsticks and throwing them like knives, or using rope to grapple the enemy before smacking them with random branches.The game?It was GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Ninja
>>96809894Why would I bother? You're not here to learn anything and you certainly aren't going to run or play any games.
>>96808466
>>96810083What a strange non-sequitur.Usually, when you reply to a post that means you want to make some sort of point or engage in conversation, assuming you're not here to troll. If you believe nothing good can come from replying to this thread, why are you here?
>>96810132It isn't a non-sequitur, it is completely correct and it bothers you that I so easily read your true intentions, which is you replied almost immediately. Your next reply to me will be seen through just as easily.
>>96808466For non-scenery improvised weapons, I would just treat them as either a club or a sword (same weapon bonus either way), depending on what it is and how it's being used. Equally as effective as using a real weapon, but of course you don't get the benefits of Custom Gear.
>pls reply to menahAnyway, besides GURPS, what other games are in the category of >hyperautistic games that do combat second-by-second and let you choose between 10 stanced and 20 way to throw a punch?
You lose.
>>96804208It really says something when the general idea and meme in everyones mind is that unarmed combat is inextricably tied to asian martial arts or that even western shit doesn't have its own weeb shit moments even if they don't have specific named abilities and a million layers of cultivation
western media is TRASH
>>96804150I mean if you don't have some kind of special reason or advantage to not having a weapon then you're literally just a swordguy without his sword.Like why would not bringing a weapon have any advantages otherwise? You're unarmed.
