David Dunham wrote:
>
>
> LC
>
> I think you're making things more complicated than they need to be.
>
It seems terribly simple to me. "Does it make sense to the players?"
>
> There are three categories of broadness. In the combat example it
> would be something like
>
> Mercenary : Unarmed Combat : Laughing Dragon Martial Arts
>
> When abilities in more than one category are used, the more specific
> ones get a bonus.
>
So two things at the level of "unarmed combat" would be viewed equally.
>
> IMO it gets confusing if you say that some Spear fighting is more
> specific than other Spear fighting. Unless the skill is specifically
> named: Boar Spear, being a hunting skill, would be less specific than
> a Spear skill used in combat. (But the situation would be reversed
> against a boar.)
>
Yes. Agreed. about the boar thing.
>
>
> And you're right, the whole rule is PC focused. Nobody cares about
> the colorful abilities the GM comes up with. The idea is to encourage
> players to come up with abilities more interesting than "Warrior" or
> "Strong," which don't spark creativity the way something like
> "Laughing Dragon Martial Arts" does (it's possible to come up with a
> scenario revolving around other members of this school).
>
Yes. And both of these are apparently fixed keyword abilities, so it
isn't a question of that.
Look, I don't have Sartar. Personally, I wouldn't have put spear
fighting in a Farmer keyword anyway.
But they are apparently in the book.
>
>
> Like Jeff, I've read much Icelandic literature about fighting
> farmers. But the idea of an ordinary character up against
> professionals is pretty common. You want the hero to be able to
> succeed thanks to his drives, not face certain doom because he didn't
> train with a military unit
>
And again, I'm saying that depends on the story you're telling. IF your
heroes are fighting farmers, of course they shouldn't be punished for
not training with a military unit. But considering one of the other PCs
*is* from a military unit, presumably you don't want to undercut his
niche too much.
As I've said - do they players care? Then enforce it.
LC