(07-02-2013, 07:51 PM)Myal Wrote:1) Seeing as how most of the activities have some sort of fighting involved when outside of the city, would many characters opt for "I am just an explorer" role that specifically excludes them from combat of any sort? I agree that a warrior of high ability will likely be all of those things you outlined, but they'd be foolish not to know how to kill somehow, with their life on the line and all. Given at how dangerous the world can be outside the city limits, an untrained or even a character of average fighting ability can get pwned for good. When I try to put myself in the shoes of my character, it's often a life or death situation (which is why he didn't rush off to fight the Empire like everyone else at the end of 1.0, afraid to die) when faced with the forces of Eorzea... I have had trouble putting away the fact that it's a game and my character can't really die.(07-02-2013, 02:01 PM)Curtis West Wrote: After all, our characters are special. No no, I don't buy into the whole "Main storyline hero" plot, but rather the realistic expectation of my character to NOT die as easily as an average warrior. He is above being fodder, and I think if you do not want your character to even be considered talented, you also have to face the fact that they would realistically die early on from something a talented warrior may survive (think dungeons, ambush, etc.) So, I assume if my character, or anyone else's doesn't die off easily, and survives these crazy "adventures" they are in fact either naturally talented or very dedicated and hard working.
Does a knack for surviving automatically imply skill in combat, though? Maybe a character is just quick on their feet. Maybe they're cunning and avoid dangers to begin with. Maybe they're just plain lucky.
After all, Frodo survived that crazy journey of his and I'm pretty sure he would never be able to wield a halberd even if he trained all his life.
(07-02-2013, 02:01 PM)Curtis West Wrote: If we assume most if not all PC characters are talented in one way or another, much like a talented / naturally gifted athlete, they can be above average at any fighting style.
I'm not sure about that. Suppose there is a knife expert. He doesn't have extraordinary strength: he just has good stamina, a nimble feet to close in on enemies and the precision to strike soft, weak points. Could he wield a great axe? Could he even lift the thing?
You might argue that considering that he's talented in combat, if we gave him some months to train, he'd be able to use the great axe reliably. But then he'd be less nimble due to all the lifting muscles he'd develop. His hands would be less accurate due to the heavy strain he'd constantly give them. He'd be less of a knife expert.
Why would he learn a great axe at all, then? From his point of view, it'd be better to just continue to hone his skills with knife, to be even more effective using the ability that had served him well all his life.
Frodo was also a main hero of the whole story, which I'd argue probably doesn't apply to every character in XIV. Think of the side characters, or the other hundreds of people who died in those epic battles. That's likely a better comparison! lol
2) Actually the idea that you lose agility when you're big isn't really the case. It's one of those things (like wielding a single weapon makes you better than having experience in multiple weapons) that makes sense on paper but... consider again gifted athletes. (After all, warriors are by the very nature gifted athletes first and foremost.) Those guys in the NFL are HUGE, 240lbs of muscle (if not more) and very quick. Athletically inclined people can do this because of fast-twitch/slow-twitch muscle fiber composition. (You can google more about this if you care to, I wont bore you.) My thought is that our characters are basically "NFL equivalent" compared to the rest because they simply overcome odds, travel in time, can face down huge threats and survive over and over again (IC'ly).Â
With this in mind, a character wielding a knife is likely quicker than if he was holding an axe, but neither of those skills impair the other. Growing lean muscle doesn't equal being ridiculously slow with a dagger. Both of these activities (as well as any fighting in general) are short-burst, high intensity, and anaerobic. Basically as far as one's body, there is no difference. The only difference is in skill with the weapon... which we are not taking into consideration here, because this is about potential ability.
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