(TFT) possible sword skill

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

Cas suggested:

>How about this for a skill - in a couple of fantasy books I read lately
>(Robert Jordan or GRR Martin, can't remeber now) they talk about specific
>sword attacks  -'Man Bites Dog' or 'Dancing with dragon' or whatever
>
>what about for 1pt talent a specific sword attack such as:
>
>DOUBLE ENTENDRE: cost 1 talent; IQ 12 Prerequisite: Fencing
>Can only be used when fencing is active (eg adjDX 14). Cannot be used with 2
>handed weapon

Love it. But I might allow the second attack (only) to hit right front,
right side, or rear hexes. Remember the swordfight in the hall in "Princess
Bride"? Go through that frame-by-frame, and you'll see Inigo get the
next-to-last guy *directly* behind his back, by reversing his sword and
stabbing beneath his arm. I *loved* that.

In general, one of the TFT over-simplifications that *almost* made my list
is that skills are too "quantized". In other words, a swordsman is either
useless (doesn't have the talent), studying, or proficient. His level of
proficiency is governed only by his DX - but that also governs his
proficiency in all other skills. It's impossible to be a great swordsman
but a poor Ax/Mace wielder - either you've got it or you don't.

However, fixing this would require a serious rewrite to the rules, I think.
But you can come close by adding talents that let you build on certain
skills. This is already there to some extent - Fencing, Two Weapons,
Missile Weapons, Thrown Weapons, the whole UC series. More talents, like
"Double Entendre", are exactly what I'd like to see.
							- Mark
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