So, trying to decide on my characters potential unarmed specialization; I was planning on him having some plain unarmed CQC style stuff for hopefully some underground fight circuits, something like that. ;D So, I thought Martial Arts... but then I wondered...

What -does- Martial Arts actually cover? Does it cover everything without the use of a weapon? Which to me is strange, because that sounds far too good to be true - like taking Blades (+2 Bladed Weapons). And I assumed it wasn't meant to be in reference to the Martial Arts in Runner's Companion, which came out after core, for obvious reasons...

If you don't have Arsenal, then presume that it covers any situation where the character is using martial arts (as opposed to just head-butting/punching/kicking somebody); personally I force them to describe their intended action in lavish detail, using fanciful names.

If you do have Arsenal, there are clarifications for the Martial Arts specialization of Unarmed Combat.

And keep in mind, you really can have any specialization. You can have "Kicking Stupid Bastards In the Head +2" or "Wuss-Slapping +2" or my personal favorite "Monkey Steals the Peach +2"

Personally if I were your DM I'd make you actually specialize in one style as opposed to just "Martial Arts".

Funky. =3 Thanks.

Monkey steals the Peach.... that is just mean *g* (Yeah i know that move)

Also one could specialize in "Arms", or boxing, or kicking.. or Attack or Defense. Its not so good under most circumstances. But if you are unable to do one thing and not the other... I as a GM would try to build some circumstances where you can't use your style. Maybe if your legs are too wounded to do your jiggly thing with capoeira (Or it is to narrow a place) Or someone uses a style perfectly suited to whoop your ass, if you keep on fighting in your style? (That would be of course masters decision, there are no rules for that.) But a specialisation shouldn't be ALWAYS +2..., or should it?

My current characters in game dependent/girl friend has Unarmed (Bitch Slap): 2 (4). Yes she is an Ork sista who don't take no mess.

What I have found is that nearly everyone "specializes" in Unarmed Combat if they take it.  Yes, this was because of the great bonuses that the Martial Arts specialization permitted.  In the end, it's not unbalancing because I simply started having most if not all of my mooks "specialize" too.  Security guard?  Not only can he fight Unarmed, he took the 12 week self-defense course offered by his firm gaining him Unarmed (Corporate Karate.)  The gangers on the street?  They have Unarmed (Street Fighting).  Most character's can use their specializations most of hte time.  So what is the net effect at hte end of hte day?  Every one is still an egg with an even bigger hammer. Balance is maintained and the game is that much more deadly.  

The Martial Arts "loophole" is nothing new.  I have been running SR since 3rd came out.  Back then everyone specialized in MA as soon as they figured out what a tidy bonus it was.  That was when I started specializing most of my mooks as well. It's never been a negative factor in the game from my viewpoint. And I try to use it as a roleplaying part of hte game.  I get the characters to describe the action they are taking instead of just rolling X number of dice and stating "I hit him with 4 successes"  I much prefer "I give him a big whip kick to the chest with my Doc Marten, rolling 4 hits." (Not a called shot, jsut descriptive.) And I would reply (if they were successful) "He staggers back, his arm reflexively grabbing his side and by agonized the look on his face, you probably bruised or broke more than a few of his ribs. He straightens with a grimace and strikes a pose that reminds you of hte Karate Kid's Crane.  You think this guy knows how to fight."  More descriptive, more memorable (for both me and them.)

I never adopted the fighting styles in the Runner Companions because

1. By the time those books came out everyone had already created their characters and I didn't want to have to change rules.

2.  Why complicate even more a game that is already pretty intensive?  The combat works and I don't see the need to allow even more tweeks and twiddles.  It forces me to spend more time with them and really only appeals to the munchkins in my opinion.  I am good with Unarmed Combat (Martial Arts) 4(+2).  If they want to be more descriptive in their fighting, great, but it's jsut fluff.



Vlad

Specializing in martial arts violates the first rule of specializations: a specialization must not always be usable. Even the devs were aware of it since they tried to patch it with the example of an area too narrow for martial arts.

What I would do is allow specialization in maneuvers instead of martial arts. It is not always available, but the player knows for sure when it is. That's good enough to me. It looks much like what AH and Ravor said, but it's crisp and integrated in the ruleset.

personally, i would handle martial arts as being a specialisation in something that a specific martial art happens to be good at. that is, if you chose a martial art with a lot of skill in holds and pinning people (i would think wrestling), you would put your specialisation as wrestling, but you'd get the bonus only when using subdual combat or something (even though wrestling is more than that, but you're covered in the "everything else" by the fact that you also have unarmed combat at some rating)

once you have arsenal, i'd probably just look at what abilities the martial art provides, and give you the bonus only when you're performing maneuvers or using those specifically listed martial art abilities.

I added in specialisations for Unarmed Combat based on the type of opponent. Nothing else made much sense. So you could specialise in fighting opponents who were larger than you, smaller than you, armed, whatever. It felt realistic. I could well see someone who felt inadquate next to trolls and specialised in fighting larger opponents. Similarly, that troll is probably used to picking on people smaller than him and less effective when facing someone who has a similar reach so he can't keep them at distance or who has similar mass so his throws don't work nearly as well, etc.

The way we rule it at our table is based on the other specializations listed, things like block and parry. We basically said that a specialization in "martial arts" equates to a focus on the offensive side of unarmed combat - hurting the other guy. That keeps it more-or-less in line with the rest of the specializations and doesn't help when you're taking incoming blows. It would depend on your character's focus how you go; If you're a mage with terrible physical stats or the stereotypical "nerdy" decker, then you might choose to specialize in dodging.

It's simple, it's in line, and it works so far... so long as the PCs are hitting first. *grin*