Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Lord Stone]

It seems to me that unarmed fighters get a lot more options to increase their damage output than armed fighters. Okay, Improved Martial Artist may not be the strongest of Edges, but they can also load in Brawler and Bruiser and in the Legendary levels they can buy up to 5 instances of Martial Arts Master.

Despite this there seem to be very few options to increase raw damage output for armed fighters... which would mean that in a setting without magic weapons... armed fighters are much more limited when it comes to damage output.

Is there something I am missing?

[Zadmar]

Personally I'd rate the edges as follows:

Brawler: Strong, worth 1⅓ edges.

Bruiser: Very weak, worth ⅓ of an edge.

Martial Artist: Decent, worth an edge.

Improved Martial Artist: Weak, worth ⅔ of an edge, but unlocks:

Martial Arts Master: Strong, worth 1⅓ edges.

Martial Artist plus Brawler is already better than a longsword, although you're investing two edges into it. Bruiser isn't worth taking. Improved Martial Artist is weak, but you recover the loss if you take Martial Arts Master even once.

In my games I've replaced the lot, but if I were still using them I'd probably combine Bruiser and Improved Martial Artist into a single edge, and drop Brawler and Martial Arts Master.

A character with Strength d8, Brawler, Martial Artist, Improved Martial Artist, and five Martial Arts Masters has invested 8 edges into unarmed combat, which is pretty excessive. But it also means their fists have a higher average damage than even the most powerful High Explosive tank shells, which isn't something I consider appropriate for all settings.

[Clint]

Just make up a version of those Edges (other than Martial Arts) that apply to a specific weapon like Trademark Weapon does.

Brawler > Weapon Technique
Bruiser > Weapon Proficiency

Martial Arts Master > Slayer
(requires Imp. Trademark Weapon instead of Improved Martial Arts)
_________________
Clint Black
Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager

www.peginc.com