I was wondering what has been discussed (if anything) about adding non-sanctioned dueling schools. One thing that was nice about 1e was that you had Swordsman Schools that provided benefits but were not recognized by the Swordsman Guild. This helped allow characters to have an improved fighting style but not be officially recognized.
With the way Dueling Styles really impact combat in 2e, it seems harder for characters to contribute in combat without having a dueling style. However, there are going to be characters who want to be better at combat but for whom being members of a dueling guild don't make sense. What do others think? Have we had word on this officially? Has anyone thought about an advantage that would accomplish this? Maybe a 4-point instead of 5-point? Maybe some way to 'learn maneuvers' individually without the whole dueling school 5-point investment?
I don't know about "unsanctioned" styles, but it does seem there's talk of a "Duelist Lite" Advantage over on reddit, which gives the Hero (or Villain) a small smattering of Duelist Manuevers (Slash, Parry, and a third of choice) but no style bonus.
To be honest, I don't see being unsanctioned as being that big of a detriment to a Duelist Hero to warrant any sort of rebate, as it just means you can't legally challenge someone to a duel. Going by the fluff/setting text in 1e splats (including Swordsman's Guild), there's a number of ways to work around that caveat, and in some nations (Castille and Vodacce stand out) it's largely ignored or given lip service at best.
It's possible that there really won't be a difference between sanctioned and unsanctioned styles, seeing as how Torres was unsanctioned in 1e when it was introduced in the Castille splat, though it's listed as a sanctioned school in the Swordsman's Guild splat. Then again, I recall seeing that Rogers was due to get an official treatment in the upcoming Pirate Nations splat, so if there's any difference in the devs' minds between sanctioned and unsanctioned styles, that's where we'll probably see it.
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I reduced the cost to 4 for one of my players, gave him no special move and made it clear that he wasn't sanctioned. It bit him in ass when he wanted to challenge a Vodacce ship's captain who then turned to up with an official of the duellist's guild to the duel!
I could see denying the PC the style bonus as part of being unsanctioned as being worth a 1 point discount on the Duelist Academy Advantage, though it still leaves the Hero with a lot of combat options, most of which are going to be the bread and butter ones like Slash, Parry, Lunge, and Riposte (if facing a Villain with a Dueling style).
Granted, that does beg the question of how many steps does a Hero Story to become sanctioned have? It probably shouldn't be a 1 point story, since that's pretty cheap and stupidly easy to accomplish. Personally, I'd think it should be a 3 point story at least, though perhaps a 2 point story if the GM is feeling generous.
Dono's Gaming & Etc Blog
http://jedimorningfire.blogspot.com/