Uz is Fightin' agin.

From: Daniel McCluskey (Volt) <"Daniel>
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 12:02:24 -0700

(some day i will CONSISTANTLY remember to change the *&$%* subject line...)

Martin Laurie re: troll unarmed combat...

        they'd make the best punchers there could be.

I would tend to disagree... for several reasons. Physical:
- - Trolls tend to be kinda roundish, physically more suited to a
wide round swing than a stabbing motion. I will whole heartedly agree that Uz are the best Slappers in the world (and would pack a pretty mean Haymaker) but I feel pretty strongly that the stabbing motion required by most punches would be Very alien to your average Uz.
- - Those protruding Tusks... do YOU wanna punch a couple of pointy
spikes? I imagine that the Tusks exist largely as a defence for the trolls (relatively) fragile Nose. Just keep your head low and get free Bite damage every time your opponent attempts to punch.
- - Trolls tend to hunch over when stressed. Not the best posture
for fisticuffs, but wonderful for Wrestling. This indicates that a "fistfight" between trolls is likely to look more like Sumo than Thai Boxing.
- - I disagree that there is a problem with grappling/bite.

	he problem with all grappling martial arts.  Sure you can
	immobilise one guy and sit on him till you win the grappling
contest but 
	if he has a friend there you could be in trouble.

But it's really hard for the friend to hit you while you're grappling his buddy. "I parry with your friends face..." and the bite is the Perfect way to avoid wasting time "sitting on him" Grapple, immobalize, bite his head off, and pummel the friend with the corpse. Or in friendly combat, skip the bite and just ask "how come you hitting your friend Ulg?"
- - The other weapons used by trolls are all Swing/Smash sort of
things. It makes sence to me that they would use the same sort of movements for armed and unarmed combat.
- - It's much easier to bite something that isn't moving anymore.
And you don't risk breaking a tooth. I consider Bite to be a finishing move... not used untill the opponent is subdued.

Cultural:
- - Mom gets mad if I break Ulgh's nose (or mine for that matter) by
headbutting... Trolls need their snouts to see correctly and getting them shattered by a lucky jab is just way too painfull and difficult to repair to be common brawling practice (kinda like kicking in the nuts for hoomenz) Slapping the ears is Much more effective -- disrupt their sonar without doing enough damage to get Mom (ie: big healing spells) involved.
- - Trolls fight ALOT... if they habitually attempted to inflict
permanent damage, there would be even fewer Uz than there are now. Wrestling and Slapping are a perfectly effective way of establishing dominance without Killing each other. Like I mentiond before, Sumo is the obvious choice of Fighting style for Trolls. Face off, Cast spells, slap each other silly, or push the other guy around or over. (note: anyone who thinks that slapping is silly of "sissy" has never been slapped by anyone who knew how to put their weight into it ;-)
- - Punching in the Gut is also very poor form against the
females... Trolls simply CANNOT afford to abort a pregnancy under any circumstances. It's very likely "just not done." The Boys prolly avoid punching each others tummy too, just to ensure there arn't any accidents when Big Sis gets ornery.

danm

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