A lot of people agree that Warriors, for the most part, are a relatively inferior combat profession. Too much dependence upon outside spells, surprisingly weak AS compared to some magical professions like Paladins . . . they aren't unplayable, but there is a discrepancy. Well, this morning I was randomly considering one of my characters whiping out a forging hammer to attack with, and my immediate thought was "Oh wait, that wouldn't work, he has no AS in that weapon area". Suddenly I realized it was a little strange that my character could be utterly devoted to swinging one type of weapon, but be literally 100% unskilled at swinging another. It simply doesn't make sense, and then I had an idea. So I'm just going to throw this out there.

What if the GMs implimented a Warrior-only mechanic which allowed knowledged in weapon skills to provide a net bonus of AS in other weapon skills? Ultimately, a Warrior's AS is limited by his weapon training (2x per level) and his combat maneuvers (2x per level, and apparently won't go up despite being a regular request). With no significant source of outside AS, a Warrior very easily hits their maximum AS per level wall . . . this is contradictory to their design in terms of Redux, where training in specific skills like Physical Fitness or Dodging will improve Redux, even if it is not the most efficient method of doing so. So why not allow for something similar with weapon training?

Case in point:
Joe the Barbarian has 100 ranks in One Handed Edged Weapons. At 200 skill, that provides 200 AS to his attack power while using a One Handed Edged Weapon. Now, what if he were to train 100 ranks in One Handed Blunt Weapons? Surely this knowledge would offer SOME improvement to his combat ability, right? So suppose that training in a secondary weapon skill allowed you to recieve an AS bonus equal to 50% of your ranks in that second skill (ranks, not skill, otherwise this would be too abusable). Why, this would both encourage Joe to diversify, but would also provide a boost of 50+ AS for him while using OHE! Furthermore, while using OHB, he would recieve a similar +50 AS from his Edged Weapon training.

Now, Joe's sister Tina, she's a pretty buff gal. She has 200 ranks in Two Handed Weapons, 150 ranks in Polearms, and 100 ranks in Brawling. Her 2-Hander AS would naturally be 300+ from her weapon training, but with 150 ranks in Polearms, she could recieve 50% of those ranks, or an AS boost of +75. Meanwhile, having a THIRD skill, she could recieve 25% of those ranks as an additional bonus, so thats another +25 AS from her Brawling. This leads to the following:

- Her 2-hander AS rises from 300 to 400 (300 + 75Polearm + 25Brawling)
- Her Polearm AS rises from 250 to 375 (250 + 100Two-hander + 25Brawling)
- Her Brawling AS rises from 200 to 350 (200 + 100Two-hander + 50Polearm) (AND UAF WOULD ALSO SHOW AN IMPROVEMENT!)

My immediate gut instinct is to remove Ranged and Hurled from this equation, albeit perhaps allowing them to synergize with each other and only each other. However, I am not the biggest warrior player around, nor do I use either of these combat forms.

This would provide A) a significant yet expensive method of improve Warrior AS B) Brings weapon training to a place that is "similar" to Redux training and C) Gives Warriors a reason to diversify weapons. The exact numbers I used (50% of ranks for highest secondary skill, 33% of ranks for 2nd highest secondary skill, and I would have said an additional 10% of ranks for all additional skills) are entirely created to show a point, not to be the specific amount they provide. This was meant to be a demonstration of a concept, rather than a specific outline for exactly how much AS was provided.

Thoughts?
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I like the ideas, as well. The system of the game's origin had like extended rules that followed these lines.

Farmer's right in that the 'unchecked' increase in attack strength would be problematic -- especially in light of the current Position De La Finros (slow combat down).

I still like the ideas, because frankly it supports diversification, and the best of warriors were always more awe-inspiring because they were so diversified.

Doug

>From my understanding (I have no first hand experience of this, mind you), end-game warriors suffer from enough lack of balance compared to similar professions that gaining 100 AS would not be truly unbalancing.

I'm not sure what this 'suffer from enough lack of balance compared to similar professions' you're alluding to means but 100 AS is going to be noticeable.

-farmer

I like the thinking with these ideas. It would be fantastic way to encourage diversification, for which there is currently zero impetus, except at far, far post cap and then only for "cool" factor. There would have to be some sort of calculus-based asymptotic mode of diminishing returns, because otherwise, yeah, we'd just have massively post cap warriors with insane AS...and what warriors need isn't insane AS...they just need a bit more AS than they currently can get.

And even though I know it's been repeatedly stated that this will never happen, I still think the best way would be to allow 3x CMANs...I just feel I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the low-hanging fruit in terms of obvious fixes to the shabby warrior AS issue...despite of how much herbicide might have already been sprayed on that fruit, no matter that the tree it was hanging from was chopped down and its stump burnt and its roots unceremoniously ripped from the soil, and no matter how much salt was subsequently sprinkled on the earth upon which it stood so that nothing would ever grow again.

Despite all of that, I still think it bears mentioning.

*Mohrgan grins cheerfully*