Longes wrote:So, unarmed is a sucker's game?
It depends on what kind of game you're playing. If you're ever in a situation where a ten-foot-tall man with a a freaking polaxe would be conspicuous, unarmed has a lot going for it. Security cannot take your hands away, though good magical security might turn you away after reading your aura.
On the other hand, you cannot beat the sheer power a Troll with a giant weapon throws around. Melee weapon trolls are better than guns against heavily armored opponents.
Anyway, regarding Killing Hands, Deadly is better than Serious if you're a human, because then you're maxing out at 6 power and your opponent will probably have enough armor to knock that down to 2, so he's scoring successes on 5/6 of his soak dice. You want that extra damage, then. If you're a troll, it's less of an issue.
A human adept with Killing Hands starting out will be rolling 12 dice vs TN 4. That's an average of 6 successes.
A troll adept with a Reach 2 advantage will be rolling against TN 2 (or forcing his opponent to roll against TN 6, if he's sadistic) He'll also be rolling 12 dice, but he's going to average 10 successes. Because Melee is an opposed test, he'll always hit, and the human adept always won't, baring extreme luck.
If the human adept does hit, the Troll is going to be soaking with at least 6 dice. The human is going to be soaking the troll's attacks with at most 6 dice. Likewise, the Troll will be soaking against TN 2 if he has a secure jacket. The human will be soaking against TN 2 if he has security armor and a helmet and the troll only has base strength. He's probably going to be soaking at TN 9 or 10. Which means that he's not soaking at all.
However, if you're up against people who aren't troll adepts, with polearms, the equation changes. If you have lots of dice and they don't, you can kersplat them. It's Melee adept vs Melee adept that's the sucker's game in this scenario. You go melee against gunbunnies and let your gunbunnies shoot the ninjas.
But if you want to melee everything, then you need all the edges you can reasonably get.
A troll adept with Killing hands is better, though. He's rolling 12 dice at TN 3, average of 8 successes. He's got at least 5 power, probably closer to 10. He's going to steamroll everything except a polearm adept or an armored vehicle.
But yes, in melee, Reach is king. It's a very powerful melee modifier. It can reduce your TN, or increase your opponent's. Worst case scenario for the unarmed adept vs the troll is that unarmed adept is rolling vs TN 7. Average of 2 successes on 12 dice. While the Polearm adept is rolling vs TN 4 and getting 6 successes.
TN modifiers are extremely powerful, and reach is a very easy one to control.
