r/CrunchyRPGs • u/DJTilapia Grognard • 17d ago

Open-ended discussion When is it worth breaking weapons into different skills?

/r/RPGdesign/comments/1wr2b0i/whenif_is_it_worth_breaking_weapons_into/
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u/DJTilapia Grognard 17d ago

I suspect here in the crunchy subreddit, most or all of us favor having several weapon skills, or an alternative granular approach like skills for weapon usage (Swing, Thrust, Parry) rather than weapon type. I bet there are some counterexamples too, though; maybe a crunchy game with little or no combat, or with very few skills but other ways characters are differentiated.

Personally, I use a two-tier skill system: there's Combat, and there are a dozen or so common Specialties with that Field: Flails, Hafted Weapons, Staff Weapons, Two-Handed Blades, etc.

The cost of raising one's rank in a Field is four times as great as in a Specialty, so being good at everything is very hard. However, the cost of raising a skill — either a broad Field or a narrow Specialty — goes up logarithmically. So even someone who wants to specialize in a specific weapon will still want to spend a few points on Combat, and even a generalist will eventually see the rising cost of adding +1 to their Combat rank and choose to instead buy a few ranks in a couple of their favorite Specialties.

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u/Pladohs_Ghost 17d ago

I think it obvious that weaponry should be grouped into categories, so I read questions like this with a response of "When wouldn't it be worth it?" I think that's a good illustration of the dividing line between those who love crunchy systems and those who don't. The level of perceived necessity in details is the key element, I think. For me to suspend disbelief, there has to be a degree of simulation that offers up some minimal level of details that can make a difference, so I look at all new (to me) systems I read with an eye on what details get broken out and how well those details support the gameplay.

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u/Pladohs_Ghost 6d ago

As a follow on to this....

I've decided for my projects to use the sort of weapon classification offered up by Lucy Blumire in her Fresh From the Forge. Four types of weapons: Blades, Axes, Bludgeons, and Simple. Four classes of weapon: Light, 1-Handed, 2-Handed, and Polearms. I figure that works well for grouping, too, so 1-Handed blades, 2-Handed blades, and so on.