Tales of the Jewel

There's been some concern that having slings as part of an also often used skill, Athletics, is imbalanced.

This poll will address how slings are handled in future games.

I'm a fan of as is, not the least of which is that it's part of my build.

But I don't think it's unbalanced. Slings have a low strength cap and in the current rules they are prohibited from open carry. I think athletics is befitting of a peasant weapon.

I don't think they're forbidden from open carry though? Iirc only iron and lead bullets are?

That said, I'm really alright with them as is too

I mean technically one would not be allowed to use a sling within the city. But given that it's just a strap of leather I haven't been rolling to see if it gets noticed when just walking around.

Cassim wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 04, 2022 3:27 pm

I'm a fan of as is, not the least of which is that it's part of my build.

Understood. I would allow some adjustment of points if it was the decision.

Slings in athletics is fine by me

I mean long term, I've always thought thrown/slung weapons should be it's own weapon skill. Something used for darts or javelins, slings and such. Apart from the weapon skill or athletics in general. On the other hand, I don't think it's imbalanced or anything like that. Slings aren't exactly overpowered weapons, and Athletics as a skill doesn't feel overpowered with it.

Honestly, Athletics is one of the weirdest skills for me in 4e. Like, you can be super athletic with the skill, but it doesn't help you with dancing or playing Kemari or a lot of other stuff that feels very athletic. So I've always wanted an overhaul of it in general. But I won't go on that tangent.

TLDR: I wouldn't mind either way; A throwing skill would be cool, but leaving them as is seems fine.

My main issue with another skill is bloating.

I already feel 4e has a bit more skills than it needs. Also doesn't help that some weapon skills (and weapons) are quite bad.

Like... when was the last time someone's done a chain weapons specialist? Or even Polearm, which is not that bad (that said - LBS polearms have some oddities too).

Having another skill for ranged weapons, as I said to Sven in a conversation on Discord, means non-combat specialists will have to invest in another skill AND Athletics (Assuming they want to be able to climb, etc as well) instead of piggybacking onto Athletics. Bit of an XP burden, although it might be OK if we want to make it 3ven harder for non-combat characters to have something to do in combat (I don't like that option so much, but I do understand some might).

But then the problem is that combat focused characters would suffer even more of a tax. They already had to focus on their weapon skill(s) of choice, plus Athletics if they wanted to be able to move around better, jump, etc. And now they have to invest in a third skill besides that if they want to be able to throw things. So EVEN MORE of an XP burden on them.

So in the end I get the feeling it ends up just being an XP burden on everyone. Also doesn't "exactly" make sense In terms of logic as throwing a knife, a dart and a spear don't quite work the same way. But mostly I'm worried that it spreads XP on skills even thinner in a ruleset that already has that problem a bit, at least imo.

One possible upside of a thrown weapons skill is that it could get its own Mastery Abilities. Might make for interesting thrown-specific builds, but otherwise I don't quite like having another extra skill to be able to do things.

Honestly bloat is the reason I voted to condense all Ranged weapons into one skill.