Bishimons Blessing + free raises.

I usually count called shots as additional damage if there is not a stated goal that the player wants to accomplish with the called shot (ie tear a hole in clothing). I once took called shots in a first-blood duel so as to be able to cut the opponent's off-arm, thereby limiting the amount of real harm done by an already superficial wound (took the lowest damage dice). For effects like that, I like called shot doing nothing-by-default. It had no real mechanical effect (I didn't gain honor or glory for the manuver), but I get to tell the story about how the Daidoji tried to thug her way past me in Winter Court and came away bloodied for it - but in no danger of being seriously harmed.

Excerpt from my houserules: Called Shots: A Called Shot to the head requires 4 Raises instead of 3. Typical effects: Torso: special maneuvers require 1 more Raise for the duration of the Skirmish. Arm: +10 TN penalty to all Skills involving the use of the arm. Leg: movement speed halved. If the Attack Roll exceeds the TNtbH by 10 or more, also knocks target prone. Head: 1-round TN penalty equal to the difference between the Attack Roll and the TNtbH, with a minimum of +10.

Excerpt from my houserules: Found the problem. Called Shots: A Called Shot to the head requires 4 Raises instead of 3. Typical effects: Torso: special maneuvers require 1 more Raise for the duration of the Skirmish. Arm: +10 TN penalty to all Skills involving the use of the arm. Leg: movement speed halved. If the Attack Roll exceeds the TNtbH by 10 or more, also knocks target prone. Head: 1-round TN penalty equal to the difference between the Attack Roll and the TNtbH, with a minimum of +10. And here's the other problem. You've made manuvers that are stronger than nearly every School Rank Technique out there. OF COURSE THEY'RE BROKEN, and doubly so with BB.

Found the problem. Considering the consensus on this forum is that the RAW don't work, I fail to see why having houserules should necessarily have to be a problem. It would seem *not* having houserules would be much more of a hindrance. I should know, my newbie group asked for a houserule free game - after two incredibly torturous hours of 'gaming' (I can only use the term by stretching the definition beyond breaking, since at least half that time was spent arguing about how things were supposed to work), that concept got shot down with extreme prejudice. And here's the other problem. You've made manuvers that are stronger than nearly every School Rank Technique out there. OF COURSE THEY'RE BROKEN, and doubly so with BB. I beg to differ, and I have the empirical experience to be confident I'm correct.

Found the problem. Considering the consensus on this forum is that the RAW don't work, I fail to see why having houserules should necessarily have to be a problem. It would seem *not* having houserules would be much more of a hindrance. I should know, my newbie group asked for a houserule free game - after two incredibly torturous hours of 'gaming' (I can only use the term by stretching the definition beyond breaking, since at least half that time was spent arguing about how things were supposed to work), that concept got shot down with extreme prejudice. The RAW don't work in a comparatively small number of cases. The vast majority of rules questions are caused by incomplete or outright incorrect reading of the RAW. And here's the other problem. You've made manuvers that are stronger than nearly every School Rank Technique out there. OF COURSE THEY'RE BROKEN, and doubly so with BB. I beg to differ, and I have the empirical experience to be confident I'm correct. When your group discovers leg shots with bows, and the Fleet advantage, you'll think differently.

Leg: movement speed halved. If the Attack Roll exceeds the TNtbH by 10 or more, also knocks target prone. I find this one to be pretty powerful. I might make the knockdown condition be 20 over.

When your group discovers leg shots with bows, and the Fleet advantage, you'll think differently. Straight Knockdown is probably just as good. If you have a couple of ranks in Fleet and increased your Water Ring, you don't need to halve anyone's speed any more to stay out of their melee range. Some Techniques increase a PCs speed as well. Horseback archery is quite popular too, because of this exact tactic. In short, with this I'm really not putting anything in that couldn't be emulated in a number of ways already. If you have a problem with bows being too powerful, I can completely understand - but that problem exists with or without this houserule. Leg: movement speed halved. If the Attack Roll exceeds the TNtbH by 10 or more, also knocks target prone. I find this one to be pretty powerful. I might make the knockdown condition be 20 over. That's reasonable, but don't forget that straight damage slows you down too and it gives extra TN penalties (and of course, enough damage makes you outright *dead*). My PCs, when they want to accomplish this effect, usually stick with just the two Raises necessary whereas otherwise, they'd probably Raise a couple of times for damage too. It depends largely on the individual targeted, but in the majority of cases it's worse for the target to be hit for maximized damage than for damage plus significantly reduced speed. I've been thinking of limiting this knockdown effect to melee attacks only, but that really wouldn't solve ranged combat issues anyway so there's no urgent reason.

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