Thus Spake Zargrabowski/ArmedVsUnarmedCombat
On 25 Mar 02, at 10:59, Douglas Vandenburgh wrote:
- Wargamers have a nice saying about tactics like that. "The historical record does not support that tactic." In other words, the tactic isn't one they used in that time period. Either it wasn't tried or it wasn't effective.
Wrestlers routinely win most shootfights. Also, I think that all throughout history, the tactic of 'I hold you while he hits you' has been a winner and routinely practiced in melees, and let me tell you, it's a winner in Exalted as well.
- This is the mindset I tend to apply to gaming. I don't see that there's any historical support for your tactic. Clearly, fielding an army of unarmed fighters would be cheaper than fielding an army armed with armor and weapons. You wouldn't have to grant land and titles to nobles or samurai. Despite these advantages, the unarmed army tactic doesn't seem to have had any adherents. This leads me to believe your assumption of its effectiveness is erroneous.
Fielding an army of unarmed Exalted is definitely cheaper than fielding an army of armed Exalts. It looked to me like the letter you were responding to was a discussion, specifically, about the balance of power between Exalted fighters in Exalted. Normal mortals in Exalted, and people in the real world, desperately need weapons and armor. For Exalts, there are other options, because even the weak ones don't bleed to death or get gangrene or get crippled from injuries, and most of the ones that fight weaponless can shrug off a blow from a greatsword.
Geoffrey C. Grabowski\\ Exalted Developer, WWGS\\ raindog@white-wolf.com
On 26 Mar 02, at 15:23, Douglas Vandenburgh wrote:
- The seed of the discussion was someone's complaint that an all Brawl character didn't seem able to keep up with the Daiklaive bearing Melee guy.
The guy with a normal straight sword can't keep up either, really. One of the people in this equation is whipping a sharpened bulldozer blade around his head. That guy also needs that bulldozer blade in his hand to fight effectively. Sure, this can be gotten around, but the fact that you absolutely must have your weapon ready means you buy Charms and Combos and get special items and Hearthstones to protect you from this danger. Exalted culture is even built around this, and Exalts take their daiklaves to dinner with them. God help you if you get disarmed and have to break your attack pattern. Without a weapon, you are nothing, and your efforts to compensate for that one way or another are generally going to be at least as expensive and troublesome as the Brawler's efforts to get his fists to do the damage of a sharpened bulldozer blade.
- There are obviously character design considerations here, but a barehanded Exalt doesn't appear to keep pace with someone swinging a magic sword. The melee fiend is going to collect a lot more scalps from the extras. The two schools of thought are that Brawl got screwed and No, Brawl didn't get screwed. I say it didn't. What do you think?
I think Brawl is probably the weakest of the trees presented, but it isn't as weak as often lamented, because it's very blindside-resistant and very deadly if you're willing to Dragon Coil someone while another PC multiattacks them rather than trying to be a hero on your own.
Geoffrey C. Grabowski\\ Exalted Developer, WWGS\\ raindog@white-wolf.com
