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PlainDre wrote:If you'd combine Nightbane with Ninja's & Superspies...how would you go about granting characters the option for special martial art forms (however excluding the "exclusive" forms) and still maintain game balance?

Misfit KotLD wrote:I want to say to upgrade to a N&SS form, it's four skill slots above what is needed to take HtH Martial Arts. So if the OCC gets HtH MA to start, it's four skills to take a specific martial art. If it starts with HtH Basic, it's two more to reach MA then four more to reach form level. And I find it's not unbalancing at all. It adds flavor for me.

Scrud wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:I want to say to upgrade to a N&SS form, it's four skill slots above what is needed to take HtH Martial Arts. So if the OCC gets HtH MA to start, it's four skills to take a specific martial art. If it starts with HtH Basic, it's two more to reach MA then four more to reach form level. And I find it's not unbalancing at all. It adds flavor for me.

~Six skills after martial arts for an exclusive HtH

PlainDre wrote:Is this possible without causing too much game imbalance? If so, how to do this?

Well, let's get down to the nuts and bolts. "What's this gonna cost me?"
1. The character has to have or be able to learn HTH Martial Arts. [Okay, we can keep this, not a problem. However a little clarification is in order. Characters with, or with access to the following Hand to Hand Skills are not eligible for this option; Any Rifter style, Assassin, Commando (when Martial Arts is unavailable), Cyber Knight Zen Combat (Hell no I ain't giving CKs access to any martial art styles, they're already munchy enough), Dragon Combat, Evasive Combat, Gladiator, Talitsu, Tarlock Martial Arts, and Teng-Jutsu (when Martial Arts is unavailable). Characters with, or with access to any of the Rifts Japan or Rifts China Hand to Hand skills (with the exceptions of Tao Jen Qiang and the aforementioned Teng-Jutsu (if they've got it) AND Judo, which doesn't have a N&S counterpart exactly (unless you want to allow the Agent style corresponding to Judo)) can upgrade to the N&S/MC version with a reduced skill cost (see below).
2. The character must be able to learn Boxing. [Stays]
3. The character must spend the required Other skills to learn Hand to Hand Martial Arts, if they don't already have it [Stays]
4. The character must spend 4 Other skills for a non-Exclusive style or 6 Other skills for an Exclusive style (or exchange two secondary skills per Other skill needed). [This is where we make the biggest change. Technically, I should go through each OCC and determine what the exact breakdown of OCC/Other/Secondary skills (initial selections only) is for each class and then generate an overall average, or some weird stuff like limiting styles (or Exclusive styles) to Men of Arms OCCs. I'm not going to do that though. In order to keep it simple, the character loses ALL OCC Weapon Proficiencies, and Half their Other skills, unless the Half the Other skills is less than 4, in which case they must spend 4 Other Skills (or substitute 2 Secondary skills per Other skill needed) for a Non-Exclusive style. For an Exclusive style, they lose All OCC Weapon Proficiencies & Physical Skills as well as All their Other skills, unless they have 6 or less Other skills, in which case they must spend 6 Other skills (or substitute 2 Secondary skills per Other skill needed). For Rifts Japan and Rifts China characters with one of the special Hand to Hand skills, they lose the Hand to Hand skill, any Martial Art Powers known (including the Mystic Martial Art Powers in Rifts China), any Psionic abilities known (including Trained to Sense & Manipulate Chi, Powers of Meditation, Chi Healing (Wai Chia Wu Shih), Chi Gung Powers & Master of Internal Energy (Chi-Gung Seng Ren), and Demon Queller Body Hardening), & all OCC Weapon Proficiencies (especially the one gained from any trained to Sense & Manipulate Chi power) to upgrade to the appropriate martial art style (i.e. HTH Aikido to Aikido, etc). For Rifts Japan and Rifts China characters wishing to learn a different martial art style, they lose all the aforementioned stuff AND have to spend 4 Other skills (for a Non-Exclusive style) or 6 Other skills (for an Exclusive style) (both including the two Secondary skills for one Other skill option). For the Soothsayer, Spirit Host and Blind Mystic PCCs from Rifts China 2, they use the standard selections for other characters instead of the special ones for RC2 characters with martial art skills.
5. Regardless of skills available, only the RJ and RC characters with martial art skills can learn more than one Martial Art Style (by sacrificing ALL their Other skills in addition to the loss of the various special powers, skills and abilities). Standard Exclusive limitations apply.
6. The following Revised Ninjas & Superspies and Mystic China martial arts are not Exclusive: Aikido, An Yin, Ba Gua, Bak Mei, Bok Pai, Ch'a Ch'uan, Chao Ta, Chi Hsuan Men, Chin-Na, Choy-Li-Fut, Gui Long, Han Yu, Hsing-I, Lee Kwan Choo, Li Chia, Liang Hsiung, Mien Chuan, Moo Gi Gong, Pao Pat Mei, Sankukai Karate, Shan Tung, Shih Ba Ban Wu Yi, Snake Style, Tai Chi Chuan, Taido, Tang Su, Te, Tong Lun, Triad Assassin, Yu Sool, and Zanji Shinjinken Ryu
The following martial art styles are considered Exclusive (meaning they must be the first style learned by the character): Drunken Style, Fong Ngan, Fu Chiao Pai, Hsien Hsia*, Hwarang Do, Isshin Ryu, Jujutsu, Kuo-Ch'uan, Kyokushinkai, Monkey Style, Ninjutsu, Pao Chih, Shao Lin, Sumo, Tae Kwon Do, Thai Kick Boxing, Tien Hsueh, Wu Shu Tsung**, Wui Wing Chun, and Xing Chiao.
*Note: Hsien Hsia, if taken, can be the only martial art learned by that character.
**Wu Shu Tsung is listed in its description as being a requirement for Chinese espionage agents. This note should either be removed, or a reasonable solution should be found which would make the style available for espionage agent O.C.C.s ( I recommend additional loss of skill programs).