illustration of kicking found on page 133 of Ring Dream. This actually appears like it might be a Shin Kick which strikes with the leg (like a Knee Strike) rather than the normal version which strikes with the foot (like a Stamp Kick). Whether it is a limb or extremity is important to know when delivering a kick may deliver damage to the kicker.
Kicking is a Technique introduced in Basic Set: Characters. It is also abbreviated Kick on GURPS Martial Arts 90.
- Technique Name: Kicking
- Difficulty: Hard
- Prerequisite: Brawling or Karate
- Default: Primary Skill-2
- Maximum: Primary Skill
- Damage: thr cr, standard skill-based damage bonuses apply
- Book/Page: Basic Set p 231; Martial Arts 75
Chihuahuas[]
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-3.html#SS3.2.32
"Having a chihuahua hanging off your knee should certainly give -4 when kicking, for instance"
This is mentioned under Binding, which seems to deviate from B71's more absolute restriction:
- You cannot use any limb that has been grappled – or bite, if your neck or head was grappled.
This indicates you CAN use a grappled leg (by dog or by binding) to kick, just using the -4 penalty, contradicting the Basic Set.
Classic to 4e changes[]
Reach changes[]
Kicking used to be limited to reach 1 in 3e except for those using the Karate skill.
- B101 "A kick has a Reach (see p. 102) of 1 without Karate training."
- B114 "The Karate skill allows you to kick in close combat - something normally forbidden."
In 4E, both Brawlers and even untrained people kicking using DX-2 are able to kick in close combat, it no longer requires karate.
Damage changes[]
Page 73 of the Hellboy Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game mentioned something similar, but also imposed a custom damage penalty for it's use:
- If you have Karate skill, you can kick at close range, but for -1 damage.
It's unclear if it invented that rule in isolation, or if the -1 damage rule appears anywhere else in other books.
Skill changes[]
Page 51 of the Hellboy RPG also seemed to make Karate kicks JUST AS ACCURATE as karate punches:
- "When you punch or kick, roll against Brawling to hit (at -2 for kicks),"
- "When you punch or kick, roll against Karate to hit,"
Page 73 reiterated that:
- It is treated much like a punch, but roll against the best of DX-2, Brawling-2. or Karate.
This differs from 3Es basic set, such as B51 "If you kick, roll against Karate-2"
Hellboy had no -2 penalty, making kicking just as core a use of the karate skill as punches were. This has not been seen in any of the RPGs.
This did not entirely remove the incentive for punching (it still avoids the chance to fall down on a miss) but make kicks much more attractive, since they were more damaging but not less accurate if you knew karate in the Hellboy RPG.
This is a critical factor for Kareteka characters such as Abe Sapien (pg 92) or Orson Gaines (pg 95) knowing they were able to kick at skill 14/15 rather than 12/13.
In 3E basic set terms this can be represented by buying off the penalties of the kicking technique. A point in karate (in the Hellboy RPG only) essentially had 2 points in that technique already paid off.
The downside which perhaps counterbalances it, is suffering the -1 to damage (mentioned in previous section) to their close-combat kicks, which is a penalty absent in the basic non-Hellboy version of Karate.
tails[]
The following were "maneuvers" (techniques in 4e terms) on page 114 of 3e's GURPS Martial Arts
- Hook Kick (Tail)
- Kicking (Tail)
- Spin Kick (Tail)
- Sweeping Kick (Tail)
This treated the tail of the Kaa species as being like a leg (perhaps even foot) in this respect.
In other approaches, tails have been dealt with as being a striker, so this is an interesting contrast. Namely since strikers count as weapons for parrying purposes, while legs do not.
Defaults[]
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=35268 specifies how 4e prevented other kicks defaulting to kicking like it did in 3e which made it too cheap.
Too bad 4e GURPS Martial Arts didn't do that for Finger Lock!
see also https://gamingballistic.com/2013/07/15/falling-down-head-kicking-for-fun-and/ in Gaming Ballistic
Postures[]
MA98's Postures, Hit Locations, and Techniques gave some new rules by MA 99:
- when standing remove -1 to kick the leg or foot of a standing man
- all kicks prohibited when kneeling
- aerial kicks / back kick prohibited when sitting or lying face-up (supine)
- all kicks but back kick are prohibited when crawling or lying face-down (prone)
- lying supine gives -1 damage but removes -2 from penalty fromkicks/sweeps