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I believe I've mentioned before that we allow selecting martial arts as skill programs in our games. Now that I'm breaking down all the martial arts in another thread this gives us some numbers we can use in figuring out just how many skilll programs each martial art equals.

Since Basic HtH is available as a secondary skill, we'll be using that as a starting point.

Basic HtH
Ent. Req.: None
Skill Cost: 1 year.
Total Stat. Bonuses: 0
ApM: 5 total
MAP: 0
Total Combat Bonus: 22
Combat Moves: 10
Skills: 0

Using these numbers we can get the start of a basic formula.
ApM: 1-5 = 0 skills, 6-10 = 1 skill, 11+ = 2 skills.
Total Combat Bonus: 1-22 = 0.5 skills, 23-44 = 1.5 skills, 45-66 = 3.5 skills
Combat Moves: 1-10 = 0.5 skills, 11-20 = 1.5 skills, 21-30 = 2.5 skills, 31-40 = 3.5 skills
Additionally,
Total Stat. Bonuses: Chi Bonus = 1 skill.
1-6 Phys./Ment. Stat Bonus = 1 skill, 7-12 Phys./Ment. Stat Bonus = 2 skills.
1-20 S.D.C. bonus = 0 skills, 21+ = 1 skill.
Total MAPs: 1 MAP = 1 Skill
Skills: 1 skill = 1 skill

Okay, this gives us some numbers to play with. The two biggest skill programs I've been able to find are Helicopter Aviation and Armor & Artillery which both have a total of twelve skills. So 0-12 skills = 1 Skill program, 13-24 = 2 skill programs, 25-36 = 3 skill programs, 37-48 = four skill programs, and 49-60 = five skill programs.

Let's look at some martial arts so we can come up with some examples.

Aikido
Total Stat. Bonuses: x2 Chi = 1 skill
+6 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 1 skill
ApM: 3 total = 0 skills
MAP: 5 total = 5 skills
Zenjorike: 3 total = 3 skills
Total Combat Bonus: 33 = 1.5 skills
Double Chi @ 10th. = 1 skill
Combat Moves: 14 = 1.5 skill
Skills: 4 = 4 skills
Overall Total: 18 skills = 2 skill programs.

An Yin
Total Stat.Bonus:+5 Chi = 1 skill
+2 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 1 skill
ApM: 4 total = 0 skills
MAP: 3 total = 3 skills
Mudra: 12 total = 6 skills
Total Combat Bonus: 13 = 1.5 skills
Double Chi @ 13th = 1 skill
Combat Moves: 10 = 0.5 skills
Skills: 5 = 5 skills
Overall Total: 19 = 2 skill programs

Ba Gua Zhang
Total Stat. Bonus: +10 Chi = 1 skill
+2 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 1 skill
ApM: 5 total = 0 skills
MAP: 6 total = 6 skills
Total Combat Bonus: 16 = 1.5 skills
Double Chi @ 10th = 1 skill
Combat Moves: 18 = 1.5 skills
Skills: 3 = 3 skills
Overall Total: 15 skills = 2 skill programs

Bak Hok Pai
Total Stat. Bonus +10 Chi = 1 skill
+6 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 1 skill
+10 S.D.C. = 1 skill
ApM: 6 total = 1 skill
MAP: 7 total = 7 skills
Zenjorike: 1 total = 1 skill
Total Combat Bonus: 19 = 1.5 skills
Double Chi @ 10th = 1 skill
Combat Moves: 21 = 2.5 skills
Skills: 4 = 4 skills
Overall Total: 21skills = 2 skill programs.

Solid concept. The only hole I see is the Dedicated Martial Artist getting shortchanged in the deal.
Let's take a look at the example of, say, a Wandering Free Agent. He starts off with 1 Martial Art form of choice. On top of that he gets 6 total skill programs at level 1 (either a Language program or the Oriental Culture program plus 2 Basics, 1 Espionage, 1 Military and 1 Gizmoteer) which could be traded for up to 3 more Martial Arts forms, maybe 2 dependent on how your formula works out with other forms like Ninjitsu or Zanji-Shinjinken and such. True enough, he wouldn't be much of an agent by trading in ALL of his skill programs for Martial Arts, but still, even giving him 1 more form throws the balance off a bit to me. If there were a way the Dedicated Martial Artist could trade in Skill programs to get a 3rd or even 4th form I coulod see balance getting restored. Of course the old out of sacrificing Martial Arts Powers for Skill programs could be done, but let's face it, the reason ANYONE takes a Martial Arts form is to be able to kick ass in hand to hand and I'm pretty sure very FEW people are willing to sacrifice the powers. Even if someo0ne does make a DMA and sacrifices powers to get skill programs to get Martial Arts, he would still come up short compared to someone that already has the programs to spend.
On a final note, what's to stop a guy from learning literally dozens of Martial Art forms by spending skill programs, getting additional forms, spending the powers for more programs, spending those programs on more forms, and on and on...
Of course all of this is just a humble opinion. Maybe with a bit more tweaking a workable thing could be figured out. keep at the drawing board for now though.

JuliusCreed wrote:On a final note, what's to stop a guy from learning literally dozens of Martial Art forms by spending skill programs, getting additional forms, spending the powers for more programs, spending those programs on more forms, and on and on.

Ah, that's one thing I forgot. If you use this system, you cannot sacrifice MAPs to get Skill Programs. I never agreed with that anyway. If you look at any of the styles I've created you'll see they're lacking that sentence.

JuliusCreed wrote:Of course all of this is just a humble opinion. Maybe with a bit more tweaking a workable thing could be figured out. keep at the drawing board for now though.

I agree, it does need a bit of tweaking. I've been thinking about adjusting the skill cost for S.D.C., for example.

Bak Mei Kuen
Total Stat. Bonus: +5 Chi = 1 skill
+7 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 2 skills
+10 S.D.C. = 1 skill
ApM: 4 total = 0 skills
MAP: 7 total = 7 skills
Zenjorike: 1 total = 1 skill
Total Combat Bonus: 13 = 0.5 skills
Double Chi @ 8th = 1 skill
Combat Moves: 15 = 1.5 skills
Skills: 3 = 3 skills
Overall Total: 18 skills = 2 skill programs

Cha Chaun
Total Stat. Bonus: +3 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 1 skill
+15 S.D.C. = 1 skill
ApM: 8 total = 1 skill
MAP: 6 total = 6 skills
Total Combat Bonus: 37 = 1.5 skills
Combat Moves: 18 = 1.5 skills
Skills: 12 = 12 skills
Overall Total: 24 skills = 2 skill programs

Chao Ta
Total Stat. Bonus:+7 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 2 skills
+10 S.D.C. = 1 skill
ApM: 4 total = 0 skills
MAP: 7 total = 7 skills
Chao Ta Kata: 3 total = 3 skills
Total Combat Bonus: 16 = 0.5 skills
Combat Moves: 25 = 2.5 skills
Skills: 6 = 6 skills
Overall Total: 22 skills = 2 skill programs

Chi Hsuan Men
Total Stat. Bonus: +5 Chi = 1 skill
+2 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 1 skill
+10 S.D.C. = 1 skill
ApM: 4 total = 0 skills
MAP: 8 total = 8 skills
Total Combat Bonus: 34 = 1.5 skills
Combat Moves: 9 = 0.5 skills
Skills: 4 = 4 skills
Overall Total: 17 skills = 2 skill programs

Request please!

Poe Pat Mei # of skills equivalent please.

Pao Pat Mei
Total Stat. Bonuses: +10 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 2 skills
+10 S.D.C. = 0 skills
ApM: 9 total = 1 skill
MAP: 6 total = 6 skills
Total Combat Bonuses: 31 = 1.5 skills
Combat Moves: 18 = 1.5 skills
Skills: 6 = 6 skills
Overall Total: 18 skills = 2 skill programs

Mantisking wrote:Pao Pat Mei
Total Stat. Bonuses: +10 Phys.&Ment. stats. = 2 skills
+10 S.D.C. = 0 skills
ApM: 9 total = 1 skill
MAP: 6 total = 6 skills
Total Combat Bonuses: 31 = 1.5 skills
Combat Moves: 18 = 1.5 skills
Skills: 6 = 6 skills
Overall Total: 18 skills = 2 skill programs

Thank you!