My kung-fu martial arts house rule

[Jed Clayton]

I may have borrowed an idea here and there from other popular RPG systems, but I think it is nothing too outrageously different or too alien to the rest of the MRQ rules:

I wanted to come up with a quick-and-dirty method of giving martial artist characters a way to do more damage than a human would ordinarily do with just a punch or a kick. I figured that adding a flat bonus like +5 or +8 through Damage Boosting (or through the famous Bladesharp rune magic spell) wouldn't be exciting or distinct in the long run. Adding a number of dice for an increment in the martial art's skill percentage was my next idea. I thought, maybe +1D6 for every 20% or so, until seeing that this would be far too much ... maybe too much too soon when comparing it to all the usual weapons. A 2D6 weapon is very dangerous in MRQ, so I didn't want to add big bucketfuls of dice like in GURPS or the Hero System.

Still, I liked the idea of giving true martial artists an edge over characters that just used the Unarmed skill, and I thought such an edge should be "more punch" for higher skill.

Here is the formula that I think would work in a RuneQuest context:

- The character must have Martial Arts as an Advanced Skill first.
- Divide the percentage in Martial Arts by 5.
- Take one-fifth of the Martial Arts percentage, then add that result to STR+SIZ on the table for Damage Modifier. This add is called "martial arts strength" in my house rules. It works just like additional points in STR, but only for specific martial arts maneuvers of a specific style.
- Read the total on the Damage Modifier chart: you'll get that bonus die roll as a bonus to any damage dealt with the character's specialized martial arts attacks.

For example, a master with STR 11, SIZ 14, and a skill of 150% would get +30 to STR+SIZ. His total in the left column would read 11+14+30 = 55.

This total grants him a new Damage Modifier of +1D12, much better than his usual modifier of +0.

A super-duper formidable grandmaster might still have STR 11 and SIZ 14, but around 250%. That fellow could add up to +2D8 to a martial arts punch, making it as dangerous as a hit with a two-handed sword.

 

[Magistus]

You should add this to the MRQ Wiki.

 

[TRose]

Sandy Petersen has some rules for martial arts in his stuff on Kralori mysticism. I have a copy I printed out long time ago, will see if I can find a site that still has them up as you might want to take a look at them.

 

[Jed Clayton]

You should add this to the MRQ Wiki.

Sure, I'd love to. How do I do this?

 

[Magistus]

How about this do you mind if I post it for you, you can then create an account and add to it later.

 

[Utgardloki]

I've long had the exact same idea, adding 1/5 the character's Martial Arts score to STR+SIZ to determine damage bonus for a martial arts strike. It's a really good idea.

I've been wondering whether it should be 1/5th or 1/10th. But I guess 1/5th works.

 

[Shadow Queen]

woudnt it come under Unarmed Combat and then improved Unarmed combat?

 

[atgxtg]

But, shouoldn't any such bonus apply to weapons too? Someone with Sword or Axe at 250% shouldn't be outdamaged by fists.

 

[GbajiTheDeceiver]

It sounds like a good general rule for all combat skills, but it does highlight a problem with martial arts in RPGs - is it just a power-boost for unarmed combat, or do you want to accurately model various real-world techniques (where a successful attack might not even do any damage, but still be effective)? And either way, how do you balance it with regular attacks?

I favour the "power-boost" approach myself, as otherwise - unless you get a really good set of basic actions down - you run the risk of having your martial arts rules get out of hand. I'd keep this as a general all-round rule for everything (so that the 90% dagger person can do more damage than a 15% sword person - nice!), maybe rebalancing the damage modifier table so that bonusses kick in 10 or so points higher, then use incremental chunks of the martial arts skill to give successively higher damage dice (d3/d4/d6/d8/d10).

 

[Jed Clayton]

How about this do you mind if I post it for you, you can then create an account and add to it later.

Sure. Please go ahead and do that. You've got my approval.

Since I will be playing with the MRQ rules for quite some time to come, it'll make sense to create an account over there.

Thanks.

 

[Jed Clayton]

woudnt it come under Unarmed Combat and then improved Unarmed combat?

Maybe so.

I haven't thought much about that one, yet. I imagined some karate or kung-fu styles as Advanced Skills, that is all. Martial arts could overlap with Unarmed (brawling, boxing, streetfighting), of course.

 

[Magistus]

Ok added under Combat, but the dirrect link is http://mrqwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Martial_Arts

 

[atgxtg]

Gbaji,

I've been tinkering with an SPQR inspired Damage bonus for a BRP variant that might work for MRQ. (lots of letters!).


Calculate db as (STR+SIZ)/5-4.

db die
-4 -1d8
-3 -1d6
-2 -1d4
-1 -1d2
+0 +0
+1 +1d2
+2 +1d4
+3 +1d6
+4 +1d8
+5 +1d10
+6 +1d10+1d2 (or +2d6)
+7 +1d10+1d4
+8 +1d10+1d6 (or 2d8)
+9 +1d10+1d8
+10 +2d10
etc.

Note that this gives a smother progression, and is easier to figure off the fly.

In fact, if you wanted to, you could use the chart to modify a weapon's damage die rather than db, shifting up the chart 1 for every 25% in Martial Arts skill (and/or weapon skill).

 

[Utgardloki]

It sounds like a good general rule for all combat skills, but it does highlight a problem with martial arts in RPGs - is it just a power-boost for unarmed combat, or do you want to accurately model various real-world techniques (where a successful attack might not even do any damage, but still be effective)? And either way, how do you balance it with regular attacks?

I favour the "power-boost" approach myself, as otherwise - unless you get a really good set of basic actions down - you run the risk of having your martial arts rules get out of hand. I'd keep this as a general all-round rule for everything (so that the 90% dagger person can do more damage than a 15% sword person - nice!), maybe rebalancing the damage modifier table so that bonusses kick in 10 or so points higher, then use incremental chunks of the martial arts skill to give successively higher damage dice (d3/d4/d6/d8/d10).

I like that idea, and will have to use it in my own campaigns.

 

[Shadow Queen]

a runequest Ninja package

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

Grand IDea there. Concider the following though, add a bonus based upon the type of attack used Punch, Kick, Throw etc.... Would give a better differential on it.. Instead of all attacks doing the same thing.

 

[Jed Clayton]

Grand IDea there. Concider the following though, add a bonus based upon the type of attack used Punch, Kick, Throw etc.... Would give a better differential on it.. Instead of all attacks doing the same thing.

Oh, I've thought of that.

I was going to do that, write it all down properly at some point, but right now I don't have a good reason to do so, because my campaign is not heavily focused on martial arts, or even on fighting in general.

I want to differentiate between kicks, punches, nerve twists, strangleholds, and so on, but I wasn't going to make it as detailed as the add-on rules in GURPS Martial Arts 2nd Ed. (still an excellent book if you like any kung-fu, karate, wrestling, wuxia movies, etc.).