Combat skills

[Green]

I noticed a strange thing with combat skills as I was looking at the core book. All the combat skills are grouped by weapon types, and all are modified by Nimbleness. So, aside from making things easier to follow, why is it that they are described as separate meta-skills? While I ordinarily wouldn't think twice about it, what struck me as strange was how you needed two separate skills to be able to use a spear as both a melee and ranged weapon. Would a more streamlined method be to group weapons by type and leave it at that?

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Green
All the combat skills are grouped by weapon types, and all are modified by Nimbleness.

Would a more streamlined method be to group weapons by type and leave it at that?

Not necessarily. Don't forget that in some cases, some Armed Combat skills could use Strength instead of Nimbleness. I could see someone using Strength with Armed Combat: Spears and Nimbleness with Ranged Combat: Spears.

[GandalfOfBorg]

As well as the fact someone's spear just may be too long to practically throw (ie use in ranged combat). You are just paying for the versatility of the weapon by using it as both a ranged and melee combat weapon. Someone just may be more proficient in throwing the weapon than using in it in melee and vice versa; this system allows for that differentiation.