So I did a sorta half-done thing to unarmed combat some time ago, and since then I've been trying to poke away at one of the more classic archtypes to Shadowrun: the kung fu adept.
And I don't think it can be satisfactorily done.
That isn't to say it's impossible. Of course you can make an adept who can punch. But can you make an adept who can punch, but who also has literally any reason at all to be such? Can you increase unarmed effectiveness as an adept in ways you couldn't without 'ware or without using a sword?
And to be frank? No. No you cannot.
First, let's cover the problems with unarmed combat. Then I'll look into the "benefits" and you'd better believe there are some gigantic sarcasm quotes there, because I'll be knocking over all of those benefits.
Problems - Melee attacks are all complex actions, yes? Except, without smart planning and, to be frank, using a workaround that might not have been intended, it is in fact possible to attack as a simple - or free! - using melee weapons (for what it's worth, you use either the Iaijutsu martial art technique, or for adepts, the Quick Draw power). This allows melee adepts to slam on Agility Boost before getting nice and bloody, while martial artists are bizarrely enough stuck sighing and taping the floor for their round.
- Even the most basic weapon - your crappiest knife - does 1P. Unarmed does 0S. At it's most, it does 4P, It has no reach. It has very little to no armor piercing.
- It feels cool to finally get your giant don't mess with me claymore. It feels cool to break into the armory and lovingly lift up that assault cannon. It feels cool to add that sweet new super strong focus to your collection. But your punches? Not so many upgrades to be found there. This is sorta of a minor point, but it's still, well, a point.
- Killing Hands Kinda Sucks
- This is one of the weirder things. Like, yes, punches have potentially a much higher accuracy - but with no weapon foci, you're less likely to REACH that. Consider that a weapon focus a) costs less then .5PP worth of karma to bind and b) gives you a boost to your attack pool on top of letting you attack spirits. Killing Hands is just...puny, in comparison.
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"Benefits"- Cannot "lose" your weapon
- I will below go into why this is a garbage benefit that shouldn't actually be considered below.
- This is a real short list isn't it?
- Oh wait that adept power that makes your fists also do fire damage, except it doesn't actually add extra damage
- and costs an action to know what nevermind
Why I think unarmed is made to be terrible, and I know some of this will be mentioned so lets get this out of the way now:Largely, crappy punches mostly boil down to three main problems. This is stuff that kinda hits the industry as a whole, but I'll mainly focus on how it hits Shadowrun.
1) "Realism." The scorn I have for immersionist theory could fill several books, so I'll be brief. The general theory I have heard is that "of course it's weak - you're just punching someone!" Nevermind that it never fails to be bizarre that this is where the line is drawn for realism's sake in the world of dragons and magic - the fact is, adepts
are already magic. Like, they already have access to "a wizard did it!" Why don't they have better magic-punches?
2) Overvaluing the inability to be disarmed. When was the last time your character lost ALL their weapons - completely and utterly - and was immediately in a situation where they needed one of their specifically missing weapons to survive? They lost their pistol and, what do you know, literally no guards here use a pistol. Your swordswinger no longer has his sweet daikatana, and gosh, not a single soul to be found had a knife on them. Thank goodness for Punch Dude. How long ago was that?
And how often does it happen? Because unless it's like 50% of your games, congratulations on making one archtype that the game constantly tells you is absolutely viable much weaker for the sake of a potential corner case that happens once in a blue moon. And don't even try to talk to me about scanners, there's a plethora of ways to get guns through, and you can even buy KNIVES MADE OF RUBIES to slip through those.
3) "But then why use a weapon?" The main failing to this point is simple: unarmed fighting IS a weapon. Sure, in the dark ages of tabletop games (aka the 70's), when there was no such thing as fighting styles, and all you had was OD&D and a Fighter class that did 1d6 damage regardless of weapon, I guess? But nowadays, few games come out where fighting is reduced to a single binary point of "what weapon do you use?" Each fighting style is just that - a style. Each weapon choice, broadly speaking, should be viable either or both for reasons of style, or because they all have advantages and/or disadvantages. Which means unarmed needs to be considered more then just "the backup," given how many resources you have to pour into it just to make it a viable backup!
Why I'm focusing on adepts:Because they're the only ones who need it.
Like, there's a lot of ways to make rad unarmed fighters. I think spurs are pretty rad. Having super dense bones and giant weirdo thick knuckles to punch dudes with is kinda rad. BONE SPIKES are rad in an also kinda dumb 90's sorta way. Like, there's a TON of different ways to increase your unarmed damage!
They just all cost essence.
It's just...
weird that adepts have nothing. Like, isn't that their entire schtick from when they first started? They were the mystic hoodoo kung fu dudes who punch you with magic.
What makes this all the more irritating is how great it is in Shadowrun: Returns, especially the most recent one in Hong Kong. Punch-adepts are
rad. You have adept-specific abilities just for punchin'. Killing Hands adds damage and stacks with your punch-weapons (in fact, spiking killing hands can get you some of the best damage in the game!). There's a unique weapon for punching that's just plain cool, so you have something to go with the top tier guns, super strong mage spells, awesome weapon foci, etc. And the reason for all of this is that they stopped looking at unarmed fighting as "something to do when you lose your gear I guess" and instead looked at it as the legitimate character archtype that Shadowrun presents it as.
So to finish...well, what am I missing? What's the cool adept punch ability that makes it totally worthwhile compared to other options? Or is it just a bad secondary option that I should've never considered? Should I just give up and make hybrids or full sammies for my punchmen?
