Limiting Combat Maneuvres

[Jarec]

As Combat Maneuvres seem to be a topic of conversation right now I thought I'd pitch in with something I'm using on my game that works quite well. I only allowed about half the combat maneuvres as default ones, plus 2 they could pick from those that remained. In game if they want to learn any of the other maneuvres they will need to find a teacher and learn them.

In practice this means that for the most part they have all the ones they need for their default (cultural) weapons but if in future they decide to move to some new weapon from outside their cultural background they may not get the full benefit of the weapon without some additional training.

 

[almightygm]

A GM buddy of mine were actually talking about doing something like this as well. You could also make them purchasable via earned Hero Points like Heroic Actions (though they wouldn't require a Hero Point to use like Heroic Actions). Getting a teacher is a nice, natural way of handling it, too, though the buying with Hero Points might reflect that they've learned the ability on their own.

Would you mind sharing which ones you chose as the "Defaults"?

 

[RosenMcStern]

Having characters learn combat manoeuvers could be a very good idea. This can also make life a lot easier when you wish to introduce CMs not included in the basic rules, as people could start thinking "Why wasn't my character able to do that before?"

We took a similar approach with our Dragon Lines game, which has become available in the shops in the US and UK this week (caveat: it is for Basic Roleplaying and not for RuneQuest, so the system is not exactly the same). Basically, each Martial Arts style a character knows allows him or her to gain special combat manoeuvers, or even super-powers and spells for fantasy styles, but he or she can only gain one extra tactics per 10% skill he has in that Martial Arts style. This means that as the character progresses in skill, his or her combat options increase in number.

 

[Jarec]

I actually produced a cut down character generation document crib sheet for my players as they only came from a limited cultural background. This is what I included with regards to combat manoeuvres.

During initial character generation your character gains the following Combat Manoeuvres:

Bash Opponent, Bypass Armour, Bypass Parry, Change Range, Choose Location, Damage Weapon, Enhance Parry, Maximise Damage, Redirect Blow, Slip Free, Stand Fast
Select Two
Bleed, Blind Opponent, Disarm Opponent, Entangle, Grip, Impale, Overextend Opponent, Pin Weapon, Regain Footing, Riposte, Stun Location, Sunder, Take Weapon, Trip Opponent

Additional Combat Manoeuvres can be learnt in game through training with a suitable teacher.

I don't think any of the players have been dissapointed with the options although one of them has currently got a secondary weapon that is slightly crippled, a spear without Impale, but has already managed to convince another player to teach him Impale in return for various favours in return.