Schradinger

The Everlasting Arena: Main Thread

Mountains are big places. Personally, I'd prefer it if you didn't interrupt willy-nilly. Having any character, even a boss, barge into someone else's fight unannounced and without OOC permission is just plain bad sportsmanship (and your post seems to imply that you intend to do just that).

The Everlasting Arena: Main Thread

Lalliman said
If only we had someone shock resistant to tank that electrocution ability. We gotta be careful not to let Arthur touch us.

You'd only know about that if Adrian told you beforehand, but for the sake of making the fight interesting, let's just say he did.

Star wars-free for all/team battle

Except that almost everything you learn in wrestling puts you in a position to be beaten by someone who knows Jiu Jitsu. Everything gets switched around and the stuff that works in wrestling just makes things easier for an opponent using Jiu Jitsu. That's simple fact coming from a guy trained in both. It's not the same thing as pitting a boxer against a Karate fighter. In that scenario, both opponents try to hit each other, and both can work equally well because one style isn't meant to capitalize on all the strengths of the other and turn them into weaknesses. That's how it is with Jiu Jitsu and wrestling. Everything good in wrestling becomes bad in Jiu Jitsu. Or most of it at least.

But yeah. Philosophical debate, more or less.

Posthumous edit: You're right, Gracie's didn't start MMA, I meant to say they started what would become the UFC.

Star wars-free for all/team battle

The wrestler being at a disadvantage isn't a belief, it's a fact backed up by real life. The guy that I train with has experience in both wrestling and Jiu Jitsu, and knows for a fact that Jiu Jitsu beats wrestling every time. The Gracie family (who more or less started MMA), took on all comers and wiped the floor with every single wrestler that stepped up to take the challenge. No one could beat them until the other fighters started picking up Jiu Jitsu. Power is nothing but a detriment if your opponent knows how to use it against you.

Edit: It's Shien that specializes in creating openings (which despite being under the same heading, isn't the same style as Djem So. There are too many differences), Djem So specializes in overwhelming your opponent with powerful strikes.

Star wars-free for all/team battle

I agree on every point except that Soresu is at a disadvantage against Djem So (and the fact that Obi-wan being overwhelmed makes the point moot. Prior to that point he had disarmed two of Grievous' sabers using purely lightsaber combat, something no other jedi had done). In every other instance (even in real life) where power is used against redirection, it's power that gets the short end of the stick. Again, Jiu Jitsu vs wrestling is the perfect example. Wrestlers are trained to use power and ferocity to dominate their opponent, where Jiu Jitsu practitioners are trained to use their opponent's own body, power, and ferocity against them. 9 times out of 10, given equal levels of skill and appropriate conditioning, Jiu Jitsu will win simply because it no longer matters how powerful or ferocious the wrestler is.

The primary difference between Soresu and Shien is that Soresu waits for an opening while letting the opponent wear themselves down, and Shien works to create an opening to exploit. Djem So, on the other hand, is not even remotely as reserved as either Soresu or Shien (which should really be its own style). Sure, Soresu on its own won't beat any other style, but only because it has no offensive moves. The thing is, that doesn't matter because every jedi learns form 1 before they can move on to another, which gives them the offensive options to utilize once their opponent gives them an opening. No duelist uses strictly a single style. Every time a Djem So user deflects blaster bolts, that's Soresu. Every time a Makashi user vaults over their opponent, that's Ataru. The point I'm making is that a Soresu specialist has an advantage over a Djem So specialist because they can outlast them every time, then utilize the offensive measures learned from form 1 to finish the job. The powerful swings Djem So requires are unequivocally more tiring than the subtle dodges and parry's of Soresu.

All that said, I need some help deciding if I should use a force user or a mercenary. :P

Star wars-free for all/team battle

It's actually Jensaarai, unless the group/person you're referencing spells their name differently. Either way, a fan opinion does not make something fact. As it is applied in canon, Soresu has no outstanding shortcomings when used in a lightsaber combat situation. Quite the opposite, in fact. The reason they sent Obi-Wan after Grievous was because he was a master of Soresu, and that style was particularly well-suited for fending off Grievous' four-saber style, which utilized primarily power and ferocity (the same tenets of Djem So). Grievous defeated (and killed) dozens of other jedi in single combat throughout the clone wars, and Obi-Wan was the only one to ever even disarm him, much less defeat him. Even Mace Windu was outmatched and had to resort to the force instead of his saber skills (crushing Grievous' organ cage and giving him the iconic cough).

The point being: How was Obi-Wan even still alive if Soresu is an inferior style for lightsaber combat? Simply having superior skill clearly isn't the reason, since Mace Windu had just as much skill as Obi-Wan yet was unable to overcome Grievous in lightsaber combat. Even Anakin, who was more powerful and had as much training in Djem So as Obi-wan did in Soresu (Obi-Wan didn't start training in Soresu until after Qui-Gon died), couldn't break his defense, and paid for it with his limbs.

Whatever source book you're drawing from isn't backed up by the evidence in the movies, whereas my source is primarily the movies.

Star wars-free for all/team battle

You didn't answer the first question.

Star wars-free for all/team battle

Which of those sources says that soresu is inferior to every other style in lightsaber vs lightsaber combat?

It was lightsaber combat as a whole that was based on kendo, especially in the original trilogy, not Djem So specifically.

Star wars-free for all/team battle

Where are you getting your info?

Star wars-free for all/team battle

Oh, and regarding the fact that he's a duelist, there are many powers that focus on that, such as battlemind and force rage. Both of which your character already seems to use.