Armed vs Unarmed Melee combat

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by James Langham2

You might want to have a look at my article on unarmed combat, I found the same problem

I'm guessing you weighted striking slightly more heavily than grappling/escaping? I notice that the top four styles by net bonus are Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, and Military Sambo, which are all grapple oriented (only Sambo has a bonus to Punch, all of them except Sambo have a penalty to kick, and all have bonuses to both grapple and escape). Meanwhile, the five with the largest net penalty are Tae Kwon Do, Fairburn, Savate, Karate, and Muay Thai, all of which are strike-oriented (Savate and Karate are plus in both punch and strike, the other three are all plus in one or the other, and other than Fairburn they're all negative in grapple). The only striking style with more than +1 net is Krav Maga.

[James Langham2]

Originally Posted by The Dark

I'm guessing you weighted striking slightly more heavily than grappling/escaping? I notice that the top four styles by net bonus are Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, and Military Sambo, which are all grapple oriented (only Sambo has a bonus to Punch, all of them except Sambo have a penalty to kick, and all have bonuses to both grapple and escape). Meanwhile, the five with the largest net penalty are Tae Kwon Do, Fairburn, Savate, Karate, and Muay Thai, all of which are strike-oriented (Savate and Karate are plus in both punch and strike, the other three are all plus in one or the other, and other than Fairburn they're all negative in grapple). The only striking style with more than +1 net is Krav Maga.

ACtually, personally I favor grapples and throws having done Jui-Jitsu however that is more to do with my personal preference for a defensive style.

In game terms I wanted a slight differentiation in styles but nothing over the top like some RPGs. While there are slight benefits to certain styles, I think they are roughly equal as some of the methods will be rarely used in play. I initially tried to have all as a net zero but couldn't get certain styles to fit and it became obvious that certain styles while looking balanced on paper would not be in game usage. I would welcome any thoughts anyone has re the balance of the styles.

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by James Langham2

ACtually, personally I favor grapples and throws having done Jui-Jitsu however that is more to do with my personal preference for a defensive style.

I'm similar personally (I've done both Tae Kwon Do and Aikikai). As someone who's slightly shorter than average and with a heavy frame, I don't have the quickness to really be good at a striking style, but I was fairly competent in close with joint manipulation and throws.

In game terms I wanted a slight differentiation in styles but nothing over the top like some RPGs. While there are slight benefits to certain styles, I think they are roughly equal as some of the methods will be rarely used in play. I initially tried to have all as a net zero but couldn't get certain styles to fit and it became obvious that certain styles while looking balanced on paper would not be in game usage. I would welcome any thoughts anyone has re the balance of the styles.

I pretty much agree, since I think most people would be inclined to strike first (it's simpler and has the apparent advantage of doing immediate damage), so bonuses or penalties to the punch and kick side of the skill have a magnified effect due to their higher use rate. Block would probably be the next most used, with grapple and escape moderately common, probably along with throw. Diving blow and headbutt I would think are the least used, since headbutt is harder, less damaging, and has backlash damage.