Expanded unarmed combat rules for TRoS

[Caz]

I'd agree with that

[Tash]

Done, its in the newest version of the rules on my hard disk.

[Vagabond Elf]

Now, I know almost nothing about unarmed fighting except for a bit of Ringen (which is what the Pugilsm & Wrestling proficiencies cover).  But I do know that the differnce in actual reach between an arming sword and a long sword is only a few inches - and that that few inches is more than enough to make it really hard to get past.  Fighting arming sword vs. longsword means going for the longsworder's hands and wrists, because that six inches or so means you'll never reach his body.

I'd think that the extra couple feet of a shortsword would make at least that much difference against a kick.  When the fight starts, I'm going to try an be at a distance where you can't reach me. Then, when you kick at me, I'm going to take a small step back or sideways and cut at your foot.  In fact, I might not even need to cut - just make sure my sword is edge-on when I block the kick.

If you're faster than me, I won't have the block in place, and that's why we're rolling dice.  But you have to be completely past the block - a partial block will mean you've been cut, even if you manage to knock the sword aside and kick me in the head.

Letting the range penalties handle this seem like a simple solution to me.  If you make the ranges of the unarmed attacks shorter, than the unarmed person has to blow dice to get past the sword.  I might see making a kick short against an unarmed person (or a dagger) but not against anything with a "short" or better range.

But I conceed that I have no actual training in kicks vs. swords.