A long sword would be a dangerous weapon; a club would be damaging.
Martial arts styles convey damage category bonuses to martial arts skills. Simply using a sword is not a martial arts ability, but using a sword as a martial arts weapon is. (See above for differences between using a sword as a tech/bod weapon).
2@5 Use Sword; Tech(what is it.. 2@ something, 3@ something I think?) is for using a sword in combat situations as a technological weapon. As it is a tech skill, it uses the BRA for tech, the bias level for tech x2, the SAL of the skill, and the martial strike value of the user vs. the target value of the target.
With a martial arts weapon, you use the SAL of the martial arts weapon (listed under a seperate skill heading than the style and a seperate skill heading from the Tech skill, as it is a Bod skill), the bod bra, the ablx2 for bod, and the msv against the tv of the target.
I would say that they use either a tech method for the sword, or a bod method for the sword, but not likely both. (Sure, some guys might use both, but I doubt these guards will have been cross-trained that intensely). I find it most likely that they all use the tech skill for their swords and have an aggressive weapon-adverse hand-to-hand style to fall back on if they lose their weapon. Being as you've described them as being slow, it is likely to be a slow aggressive rf1 style form hands and arms with 25 to 30 distributable points.
You're the gm, though. So, certainly, don't let my prejudices get in the way of your story.
Ok, more questions but I'm getting closer to having the next game post up. How do I handle the armor they're wearing? The book mentions giving them a cover value for it, but I'm not sure what I do once I have the cover value.
They just have chainmail vests on.
yay mechanics!
I actually do enjoy talking about mechanics.
As I recall, you did recently get a Big Book, so remember, Appendix 4 = Your Best Friend.
Page 432 in Appendix 4 has a table to help you determine how much cover each individual piece of armor provides.
The percent of cover is put as a direct penalty against all incoming attacks (except for very specific instances which I can't even think of right now). IE, you have a target value of 1@1 and you're wearing jointed full plate, that's -11 for TV and -95 CV (cover value) for the plate armor, or -106 chance to hit.
Yeah. Plate mail is sick.
You have a 2@1 TV, a slitted helmet (6 CV), two low leather boots (2 CV each), two fingered leather gloves (2 CV each), two lower leather leg bracers (3 CV each), two upper leather leg bracers (3 CV each), two lower and upper leather arm bracers (that's four at 2 CV each), and a shoulder to waist chest and back cover, leather breastplate, that is, (12 CV), it's -21 for the TV and -46 for the CV, or -67 chance to hit.
The knight's answer to the martial artist is cover value.
Ok, I'll say they have an open hat then too (looking at appendix 4:'s percent cover.
When it says 12% for should to waist back or chest cover does that mean having both is 24% or having both is still 12%? In this case it doesn't matter the way the numbers fell, but just for future reference.
As you get ready to strike the guard is being hit with a quick slashing motion from the merc and is starting to look in rough shape. He counters with a strong blow, which deflects off the chainmail rather sadly.
You miss with your attack but brace yourself for any incoming attacks.
They both slash at each other but only manage to keep the other alert.
The merc slips up slightly and leaves an opening that the guard takes, with a quick slash across the unprotected face. In the moment the merc is staggering from this you hit him solidly as he stumbles to the floor, dying.
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First half of round's rolls was above then I had their second attacks in the minute:
43 Guard
73 Merc
Hit chance is 35% after cover value.
Second minute:
34 Guard (7 damage:won initiative)
46 Merc (Miss)
11 Kyler (2 damage)
Merc was at 8 damage (GE roll from before) so 15 after guard and your 2 takes him to 17 which is his DV.
It's 12% for both, 6% for only one or the other.
I'll go on to the next, still in style.
You're consistently moving back towards where you last were with the group then?
You move along and see a similar skirmish, with neither side appearing to have the edge, but both looking like they are about to fall.
The guard you helped earlier rushes into the battle which currently consists of an ineffectual melee (why does spellcheck not like me using melee and not offer the correct spelling?), meanwhile you strike the merc solidly, making him pay a bit more attention to you.
Could you describe how you envision your martial art so I could give a bit more flavor? Is it kick oriented, punch oriented, mixture or what?
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Guard 1 67(miss)
Guard 2 45(miss)
Merc 80(miss)
Kyler 37(4 dam)
Merc was at half health (8) so now at 12.
It was described on page 1, it primarily uses grappling to use my opponent's weight, center of gravity, and momentum against them, and small joint manipulation; small joint manipulation is illegal for obvious reasons in almost all MMA competitions, and primarily targets fingers. It's illegal because small joints are so easy to break multiple times. Many "stated" grappling moves would be considered leveraged attacks or positional attacks, as they change the position of the enemy, but basic style attacks should be approached as maneuvers which either push, pull, both (generally), snatch, at a moment which injures the foe but does not imbalance them; pushing them into a wall, or grabbing the victim and thrusting the user's fist or arm or body or knee into the victim's elbow or body or leg or what have you, or snatching and twisting a finger or arm (or leg or toe or head).
By my reckoning, I should have at least four attacks a round if I use only basic style attacks and have a 1@ MSV; this because no later than 8 I developed the style and devoted time training to it, and at 4 weeks per skill point advancement I should have gained professional sal in not more than 52 weeks. It does depend on their fighting style, but I'd feel comfortable if we went minute by minute (round by round) instead of attack by attack.
To be clear on a point already covered, if they're using a martial arts style, they don't use the tech skill for sword use, they use a bod skill for it, and if they're using the tech skill for sword use, they aren't using a martial arts style.
Of course, it's a sure thing that they have more than one attack per minute as well; you already touched on their 2@ MSVs. If they are 2@ with the sword as a tech skill and all have 2@ MSVs, they all also get four attacks. If they all use fast martial arts styles, rf2, are professional in the style, and have 2@ MSVs, they all get 8 attacks in a round.
and with that rules recap...
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You say he's paying attention to me? I'll go for a cause auto-injury.