Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/MAandTNs

Martial Arts and Target Numbers

Last edited by Rebecca Borgstrom on 10-19-2003 at 04:34 AM

It's an unusual Sidereal who lowers target numbers to 4 for martial arts very often. You only get three picks of World-Shaping Artistic Vision ever; do you really want to spend them enhancing the only Ability you can enhance arbitrarily far in other ways? An Ability where you always have other good uses for those three Charm slots, and where too many attack successes may actually be bad?* And without WSAV, how often are you going to be lowering MA target numbers, given that it's also a universal ability that (accordingly) lacks the Sidereal-only target number manipulation f/x?**

Rebecca

* Martial Arts attacks often do funky things. In a lot of cases, I'd rather roll 7 successes against a high-end Solar, have them use persistent and active defenses, and hope that they screw up the rolls, than have them look at a 30-success attack and say, "Heavenly Guardian Defense."

** Not 'never', because of Charms like Salt into Ash Sleight, but it's pretty rare.

P.S. Mind, I expect a lot of them wind up lowering TNs to 6 for "Barehanded Combat" or "Seven-Section Staves" or something, because it makes them feel clever, particularly if they're a brawler or melee type for the first stage of their lives. I just don't see going beyond that as typical. :)

Rebecca Borgstrom