Shadorun without the shadowrun rules

[Switchblade]

In all the years I have been playing I have never seen anyone who is a fighter type max out willpower over body. And I have never played with a GM who does it with the NPCs. Or vice versa mage types who max out both body and willpower.

Wow! There I was thinking all characters came with maxed out willpower as standard. Our group thought the combat pool was king and Q+I+W were typically prioritied over everything else just to survive. Dodge was seen as better than soak. (Titanium and dermal sheafed trolls withstanding)


And people used reach????

Once Cannon Companion came out every NPC and his dog seemed to end up with the Close combat manuvre. Drived our troll nuts. Mind you, every PC had it too so we couldn't complain.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Wow! There I was thinking all characters came with maxed out willpower as standard. Our group thought the combat pool was king and Q+I+W were typically prioritied over everything else just to survive. Dodge was seen as better than soak. (Titanium and dermal sheafed trolls withstanding)

Yep. The rationale is that, at its heart, it's resource maximization; having more dice available in your combat pool, which is the most heavily-used of the pools in the game, means more dice available throughout play. It's a long term investment that pays off more the longer you play your character. Also, all three of the involved attributes are good to have at high levels for other reasons as well; Quickness and Intelligence for Reaction*, and Willpower for magical defense.

* - In Shadowrun, especially SR2, it's the race to go first. Speed Is Life.

And people used reach????

Once Cannon Companion came out every NPC and his dog seemed to end up with the Close combat manuvre. Drived our troll nuts. Mind you, every PC had it too so we couldn't complain.

We really didn't touch martial arts. There was one NPC who seemed to, but we shot him.

I do like, at first glance, how SR4's martial arts are handled.

Brad

 

[Switchblade]

* - In Shadowrun, especially SR2, it's the race to go first. Speed Is Life.

It wasn't so bad in SR3 with the combat pool allowing dodge. I actually did quite well with a combat character who only had no speed boosts and always went slower than our "decker". Though mostly I did it to wind up our resident powergamer it turns out you can get some quite nasty cyber if you don't spend any essence on wires

 

[mmu1]

I even posted about my Willpower 10 street sam earlier in the thread...