Back in 2022 I wrote about merging weapon skills, but I was thinking about merging unarmed combat ones even before that. The reasons are the same: to remove redundancies and simplify skill selection, particularly in games where unarmed combat is not a big focus.

There’s also another “philosophical” reason for me as well: the current spread of unarmed skills is perhaps GURPS’ last vestige of a very Nineties view of martial arts styles. Karate is better than Boxing is better than Brawling, and knowing one of them does not help with learning another one at all. The same goes for the grappling skills.

GURPS 4th Edition tried to move away from this a bit by having more defined niches for each skill, but I think that’s kind of the opposite of what I want to do. Let’s have styles be represented by the actual style rules, and let’s make the skills into a simple set of building blocks whose names are free of baggage.

The Skills

In campaigns where the rules of this post are in effect, I want to use the following list of unarmed combat skills.

None of the skills have a default, but you can still take part in unarmed combat using your unmodified DX. In this case, you have a -3 penalty to parry non-thrusting melee attacks.

Unarmed Striking (DX/Average)

This skill combines Brawling, Boxing, and Karate. It represents training in forcefully hitting people with your appendages. Roll against skill to hit, or against skill -2 for a kick.

If you know this skill at DX level or higher, you can parry up to two attacks per turn without penalty, one per free hand. There is no penalty to parry non-thrusting attacks, and you gain a +3 bonus if you retreat instead of a +1.

If you know this skill at DX+1 level, you get +1 per die to the damage of your unarmed strikes. This increases to +2 per die at DX+2 level or higher.

Any techniques that defaulted to one of the original skills now default to Unarmed Strike instead, using the most favorable among the listed defaults.

Grappling (DX/Average)

This skill combines Judo, Wrestling, and the grappling parts of Sumo Wrestling. It’s training in performing holds, locks, throws and takedowns, and on avoiding the same.

If you know this skill at DX level or higher, you can parry up to two attacks per turn, one per free hand. There is no penalty to parry non-thrusting attacks, and you gain a +3 bonus if you retreat instead of a +1.

If you know this skill at DX+1 level, you get +1 to your ST for all grappling-related rolls. This increases to +2 at DX+2 or higher.

If you use Fantastic Dungeon Grappling, you get a +1 per die bonus to your Control Point rolls at skill level DX+1, and +2 per die at DX+4 or higher.

Any techniques that defaulted to one of the original skills now default to Grappling, using the most favorable among the listed defaults.

Shove (DX/Easy)

This skill is just the “shoves and slams” bits of Sumo Wrestling. Use it instead of DX when performing or resisting these maneuvers.

If you know the skill at DX+1, you get +1 to any related ST rolls, and +1 per die of damage on slams. These bonuses increase to +2 at DX+2 or better.

Notes

Yes, I an essentially taking the best parts of each skill and mashing them together. Yes, this does make unarmed combat skills both cheaper and more appealing. No, I don’t think it makes them better than armed combat.

Unarmed Striking gives you a lot despite being Average, but so does any weapon skill, including the new-and-improved Knife from our post on weapon skills. We’re still in a place where you need to invest plenty of points in support abilities if you want to catch up to weapon users. Without them, you still deal way less damage and have a chance a chance to wreck your limbs by striking someone in armor or failing to parry an armed attack.

The damage bonus progression in Unarmed Striking is slightly nerfed compared to the one from Karate, but that’s balanced by the skill being easier. To get that +2 per die for this skill you end up spending the same amount of points you would for Karate.

Grappling does allow you to perform defensive Judo Throws for a price that’s 4 points cheaper. I don’t see this as a problem.