Topic: Do monks have weapons kata's

[Nealwolf]

I have been a player from antiquity.  I need a ruling on how to run the monk and warrior monk classes in RM to the point of using weapon kata's.  I have always used the martial arts strikes OB on the weapon of choice table to find the damage.  but now have been told that there is no such thing.  please help me out if there is anything that will put this issue to rest.  for an example my monks ob for martial arts strikes level 4 is 40pt and I am using a battle ax as a weapons kata so I look at the battle ax table to find the damage.  maob + dice roll = ba damage.

[markc]

 If you can say what rule system you are using the answer will be more easy. As they are different for Base RM2, RM2+Comp, RMSS, RMSS+Martial Arts Companion, RM2/C+Combat Companion.

Thanks
MDC

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

In RM2 (and in RMSS, before Martial Arts Companion was added), Weapon Katas worked as follows:

1) Using a Weapon Kata incurs a -20 modifier to the OB.

2) First weapon kata is gained when OB of 50 is reached (usually knife for Strikes, and stick for Sweeps), and two additional kata when that Rank/Tier has an OB of 90 or higher (yes, 3 weapon kata for EACH tier/rank of Martial Arts).

3) When using the Weapon Kata, attacks are made on the appropriate Martial Arts attack table. However, the weapon kata deals an amount of extra damage equal to the different of the max damage from the kata weapon's table minus the max damage on the MA attack table, for that given AT.

Thus, a Battle Axe would do the following extra damage for the given ATs

AT 1 (+21 hits)
AT 2 (+20 hits)
AT 3 (+21 hits)
etc.
AT 18 (+8 hits)
AT 19 (+8 hits)
AT 20 (+9 hits)

4) In addition to the normal MA critical strike (if any), the attack also deals an appropriate critical for the weapon, of one less severity than the critical delivered on the MA attack table. Only 1 roll is used for BOTH criticals. If the kata attack uses the Sweeps table, then the extra crit is ALWAYS an unbalancing crit, otherwise it is the most common crit for the weapon used.


In RMC,  this changed a bit. You can find the RMC/X kata rules in either Express Additions #2, or in Combat Companion.

Essentially, the rules are simple, you have to pay DP to acquire a Kata. The character must have enough ranks in the proper Tier/Rank of Martial Arts to purchase/use the Kata though. Also, each kata can do an alternative crit, which is normally one severity less than the one indicated on the table, and the kata weapon does a specific amount of extra damage (some weapons give other benefits, like multiple choice on which alt crit to use, or an alt crit that is of equal severity, etc..)

For Example: a Quarterstaff requires at least 5 ranks in Tier/Rank III Martial Arts (strikes or sweeps), and it costs 8 DP to acquire, and it must be purchased separately for Strikes and Sweeps). When used, the character will deal 8 bonus hits on each attack that deals damage. The Alt Crit is Krush, and  is of equal severity. Also, if the Quarterstaff is used as a weapon kata for Sweeps/Throws, the character gains a +10 to his OB with Sweeps attacks.

[Hurin]

Thanks Rasyr, but could you answer one more question: are you saying that in RMC, there is no -20 for using a kata? I just wanted to confirm that.

Cheers

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Correct, in RMC/X there is no -20 to OB.

However, remember in RMC/X there is also no free Weapon Katas like in RM2. In RMC, the player has to pay development points for each kata, for each style of Martial Arts, and each kata weapon has its own Tier(skill rank) requirements that must be met before it can be learned.

The RMC Weapon Katas also tend to do slightly less bonus damage on average, but you also don't have to figure what that bonus damage would be for each AT either. And finally, in the RMC Weapon Kata, the Alternative Critical replaces the normal critical, it is not "in addition to" like it is in RM2.

[Hurin]

Great, thanks for clearing that up for me!

[mightypawn]

What about Weapons Kata's in RMFRP?  I've searched and found no reference to kata's in RMFRP

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Interesting.....

I just went and looked, and RMFRP actually does not have any weapon kata options given in either version of of its Arms Law (5801 & 5810). Apparently the old ICE cut them from 5801, and then when we redid it as 5810, we missed that and did not add them back in.

The RMSS Arms Law (5520) does contain the same kata rules are found in RM2 (which I described above).

Thus, your choice for RMFRP is to either use the RM2 rules, or to use the RMC rules. (and a basic form of those rules can be found in Express Additions #2).