Does anyone else think the prerequisites for the Talent Sidearm are bit much for a benefit that is not so super great? Specifically, requiring both of the Two Weapon Wielder Talents seems unnecessary and kind of prohibitive of a good time. The pistol and the sword are so iconic both the Sergeant and the Commissar; it doesn't seem like you should have to jump through so many hoops to equip their default load out. Additionally, at least as I read it, Sidearm isn't really better than either of the Two Weapon Wielder Talents. As I see it, they all seem about equal in terms of benefit/versatility. I'd say just treat it like a different flavor of Two Weapon Wielder with the same (at this point non-existent) prereq's. What do y'all think?
Sidearm
Sidearm is the talent that reduces the penalty for fighting with melee and ranged weapon to zero, just like gunslinger does for fighting with two pistol.
Provided you have ambidextrous and two weapon fighting.
It is a good and useful talents…
I think they should change this a bit too, here is my idea:
We have Blade Dancer, Gunslinger, and Sidearm. I think they should consolidate these into one talent called, like, Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting (prerequisites - WS 30, BS 40 and Two-Weapon Wielder (Melee and Ballistic) or WS 40, BS 30, and Two-Weapon Wielder (Melee and Ballistic)). And it should include all the things those three do. I think is a good idea for many reasons, just as the way talents can cost huge amount of points. Also, because as it is there isn't really much benefit for getting Sidearm, just use both melee or both ballistic. You'll save a bunch of points and you can get it quicker because getting both BS and WS to 40 could take up to 4 advances to get as opposed to just the one or two advances that it would take to get just one or the other up to 40. And without the right Aptitudes don't even think about it, you'll spend as much exp getting Sidearm as another person does getting Gunslinger (for example) and then Eye of Vengeance and Mighty Shot.
hmm perhaps it would be best to instead give two weapon wielder three options melee, ranged, and mixed, with one you can only fight with two melee weapons the other two ranged weapons well the third grants you the ability to use one melee and one ranged. its really not any stronger than either of the other and infact is weaker in alot of ways, at ranged your stuck generally just using one gun, in close you get to use both but the pistol will be single fire only so you wont be useing swift/lighting twice in a turn.
this would make being able to do all three more expensive than right now but it would keep the cost of useing any of the three options the same regardless of which rout is chosen.
Sidearm as it is now is still a better option than how it was earlier. Back then you needed TWW (Melee), TWW (Ranged), Gunslinger, Blade Dancer and Ambidextrous to be a competent "Gun and Sword in accord" fighter. By introducing Sidearm they cut down on the need to get Gunslinger and Blade Dancer.
Librarian said:
hmm perhaps it would be best to instead give two weapon wielder three options melee, ranged, and mixed, with one you can only fight with two melee weapons the other two ranged weapons well the third grants you the ability to use one melee and one ranged. its really not any stronger than either of the other and infact is weaker in alot of ways, at ranged your stuck generally just using one gun, in close you get to use both but the pistol will be single fire only so you wont be useing swift/lighting twice in a turn.
this would make being able to do all three more expensive than right now but it would keep the cost of useing any of the three options the same regardless of which rout is chosen.
Like this.
Librarian said:
hmm perhaps it would be best to instead give two weapon wielder three options melee, ranged, and mixed, with one you can only fight with two melee weapons the other two ranged weapons well the third grants you the ability to use one melee and one ranged. its really not any stronger than either of the other and infact is weaker in alot of ways, at ranged your stuck generally just using one gun, in close you get to use both but the pistol will be single fire only so you wont be useing swift/lighting twice in a turn.
this would make being able to do all three more expensive than right now but it would keep the cost of useing any of the three options the same regardless of which rout is chosen.
I would maybe instead make Two Weapon Wielder a single talent that allows you to wield two weapons of any sort. My only real concern with that is handling the first aptitude. Maybe just needing either WS or BS for that? Blade Dancer, Gunslinger, and Sidearm could all stay the same, though I would like to see sidearms prerequisites brought down to WS 35 and BS 35. As it is, it's ridiculously expensive for a Sergeant or Commissar to use both their melee and pistol weapons.
Heber_Helios said:
With no penalty, sure. However, with just ambidextrous, a player could at least wield both weapons at the same time, and make only single attacks with the weapon they feel most useful. That is to say, wield the bolt pistol and chainsword, and just use the chainsword while in melee, and save the bolt pistol for ranged combat.
Sure, not glamorous or awesome, but it gets the job done.
Librarian or Heber_Helios' solutions both sound like much better options to me. I think I might actually favor the latter if only because then you have that the later (Gunslinger/Bladedancer/Sidearm) tier to diversify. Mainly, it just really bugs me that you have to drop SO many points into talents to fight with a sword and a pistol, when it isn't really better than sword/sword or gun/gun.