Crescent Moon Style

By Exarkfr, in Balance Issues

This kata triggers off Attack actions made within range 1-2, and lets you Strike the offender.

Shouldn't it use your weapon's range, instead ?

If you have a katana (R1) and someone attacks you with a yari (R2), the kata will trigger, but you won't be able to Strike.

If you have a yari (R2) and someone attacks you with a katana (R1), the kata will trigger, but you won't be able to Strike.

If your opponent attacks with a knife (R0), the kata won't trigger, even if you have a R0 or R0-1 weapon

It uses weapon range. A character attacking you or person you are guarding at these ranges will trigger a chance to perform a Strike manuever using any of your readied weapons, but Strike manuever itself will use the weapons range. So if you are wielding a naginata and someone at range 1 attacks you, you can kick them, but not Naginata-slash them.

That's what I'm saying...

What I'm asking is : shouldn't it use your weapon's range (ie your Strike range) as triggering range.

If you don't have a valid Strike to use, the trigger is wasted. Example: Someone attacks you from Range 2, but you don't have a range 2 weapon.

Remember, you will be ALWAYS able to strike at Range 1 - your unarmed strikes are always readied weapon, so you can always decide to kick someone at range 1, even when using a Naginata. Unability to fight back at Range 0 seems to be intentional, as it makes things like being swarmed by wolves still scary - without it, you would be able to just Guard yourself safely, and there would be no counter play.

Is my english that bad ? Or am I misunderstanding you ?

I don't feel like you are answering my question, but only restating what caused that question in the first place.


Why have the kata trigger if you can't Strike ?

Because you can have multiple weapons readied, with different ranges. So kata gives you an Strike action, which you then use with one of your readied weapons (and you are going to have between 1 to 3 readied weapons at a time), which have different stats, including different possible ranges. Game logic here is:

Did anyone within range 1-2 strike you or person you are guarding? If yes, you are granted a Strike against that person. Proceed with normal rules for "Strike" from now on.

Again, if you want to write the kata to trigger against a character "within weapons range", you would need then to specify which weapon, if you have multiple weapons readied, etc. This way is just easier and flows smoother.

1 hour ago, WHW said:

Because you can have multiple weapons readied, with different ranges. So kata gives you an Strike action, which you then use with one of your readied weapons (and you are going to have between 1 to 3 readied weapons at a time), which have different stats, including different possible ranges. Game logic here is:

Unless you're counting bite and kick, 1-2, as punch requires one or more hands. If you do count them, 3-4.

For a whatever weird reason, they are actually grips of "Unarmed" Weapon, but it's a really weird artifact of the "set the grip" rules. Technically, you should state if you are preparing your kick/punch/bite at the start of each turn, which is.....annoying.

Also, the use of the new Water opportunity can let you reduce the minimum range of your weapon. You could always use that with a naginata.

But my confusion with this kata comes from another point (copy what I mentioned in the scaling defense thread): As written it would seem that it lets you strike back EVERY TIME someone attacks you or your charge (does not say « the first time » or « once »). I strongly feel the intention is to allow only one counterattack per round rather than virtually unlimited attacks but does anything support this? For good measure, I would remove the TN bonus from Guard or Center after exercising the option to hit - seems more in line with the description and power level of a rank 2 technique...

On 15/11/2017 at 10:23 PM, WHW said:

For a whatever weird reason, they are actually grips of "Unarmed" Weapon, but it's a really weird artifact of the "set the grip" rules. Technically, you should state if you are preparing your kick/punch/bite at the start of each turn, which is.....annoying.

The Unarmed weapon has the Natural quality which means it's always prepared unless your limbs are bound or uh, missing. Even if your hands are full, you can still throw elbows or kicks.

Yes, but your entire "body" is a single Unarmed weapon with multiple possible grips. So you need to decide at the start of the turn if you "grip" your kicks or your punches, for example.

On 18/11/2017 at 6:11 AM, WHW said:

Yes, but your entire "body" is a single Unarmed weapon with multiple possible grips. So you need to decide at the start of the turn if you "grip" your kicks or your punches, for example.

Hehe yeah that’s a bit quirky... but practically speaking you will chose that “grip” at the start of turn, so hopefully at that time, you know if you want to hit someone who’s close (bite), far (kick) or in between (punch). And if you want to change your mind for this particular “weapon” I would not sweat it.

But guys, seriously though, Crescent Moon Style... does it allow only one counter attack or is it broken as written?

It felt broken on paper until we noticed that enemies in group situations will generally ignore you if you focus on turtling yourself and go for other people, or if you are alone, can just go into range 0 and ignore the crescent. So we roll with "infinity".

Hmm yeah, it can be “neutered” so to speak.. but still feels broken if, even only in theory, it allows multiple attacks at rank 2.