@Lithium said in CofD and Professional Training:
Let's say you were going with an all out rahu build: 5 into physical, 4 into mental, 3 into social.
STR 4 DEX 1 STA 2
Brawl 5 to start, specialization in martial arts or street fighting or Claws or grappling or whatever
Purity 2 to start with gift that adds purity to str for 1 essence for the scene.
Dalu form is +2 STR
All Out is +2 dice
Willpower is +3 dice
Okay, so just the above: anyone, including a Mortal, can get +5 dice to an attack if they go All-Out and burn a WP. So, that's not unique to the race, that's just something you can do.
The gift you're referring to, I think, is Bloody-Handed Hunter. That requires Purity 3, which you can't start with. It also requires that you have the Siskah-Dur condition. But let's suppose you do the below, and sink 8 XP into getting Purity 3 and Strength 5. Then, sure, I will grant that you have made a PC with 21 dice for a Brawl roll.
On review, you can't get Body as Weapon because that requires Stamina 3. You also can't get Martial Arts, which requires Dexterity 3 and other stats. And you can't get Berserker 3 because that requires Iron Stamina 3, which you can't get without Stamina 3. Can't get any of the Fighting Merits, actually, not even Relentless Assault.
But, yes. You've got the build. Which is made all the more lethal with Full Moon 1 (8-again on Brawl rolls). And that's Lethal damage in Dalu, presuming you're using claws.
So I have to assume that Vampires have a way to get more strength than a mortal, and that mages can do something similar with magic if they wanted to.
Well, sure. Strength 5 + Brawl 5 for a vampire to begin with. You can buy Disciplines up to get Vigor 5 with 6 XP if you're a Nossie or Daeva. And then, you can go All-Out and spend a WP, and get 20 dice too, 21 with a specialty in brawling. And you could make that really painful by spending a BP, which'd give a +5L bump, if you hit. Still only a 10-again roll, though.
And, yeah, I guess you could get a Mage up there; I think that my PC, who didn't max out her stats all the way, could pull 16 pool with +2L in a strike (with no magic or magic-related merits). And I guess the Shrike could have had Brawl as an Asset Skill (she doesn't), which means that a mortal could have an 16-die, +2L attack at 9-again without supernatural means.
But the cost. For the supers, it takes the spending of XP to get where you want. For mortals, it doesn't: just 7 merit points to get 16 dice and +2L.
As an aside, let's say you have Professional Training, and you permit it across the boards (which I think Reno does? and which the CoD rules imply). As a Werewolf, you could take a profession that gives you Brawl as an Asset Skill. Then, you could take Moon-Kissed to bump that up to 8-again. You could easily build a very, very deadly Dex-based Irraka that can dish out 15L with 8-again that doesn't need to strike from shadows, but, if it did, then that could make the attack a Rote action. Which is way over-and-above what Rahu do, and are pre-destined to be really good at.
That's why I said before, the merit kind of unbalances things for vampires and werewolves (especially vampires). And then, if it is applied in a discerning fashion, you get the complaints. And then, you get the complaints that you aren't following the rules (which you aren't), and there's all this yelling and screaming and blah.
Then, you get me and @surreality, who have our opinions and reasons and simply decided: fuck it.
I know why others have their opinion, and I'm trying to express mine. But you're right, the builds are possible: I just hadn't sat down to do so until now.