My thoughts on ambidexterity

[Gilleon]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster.

Just wanted to throw this idea into the ring, as i couldn't find an article addressing it.

All too often the Ambidextrous special rule is used simply to avoid negative modifiers, however natural ambidexterity is rare, most people of course are right handed, very few (about 10% i have been told) are left handed and probably less than 1% are naturally ambidextrous. Just to be clear i have no idea if these numbers are accurate or not.
Of course, Ambidextrous can be conferred by certain item upgrades, but this is something imparted, rather than an inherent or trained ability.

I was however reading an article that mentioned trained ambidexterity, in other words learning to use one's off hand to nearly the same degree as one's main hand. Those lefties that i know will attest to trying to use their right hand for writing (as an example), with mixed results.
I do know that some military units do train their soldiers to be partially ambidextrous, as a skilled combatant can used their handedness to their advantage.
The gist of what i am suggesting, is that perhaps trained ambidexterity should be more common, perhaps a -10% modifier for off hand actions for a character that has trained themselves.

Of course, all thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

[Koval]

This basically ports in a mechanic from Dark Heresy, which is fine and deals with the "ambidextrous" problem rather nicely in my opinion. Just make a note of "right hand preference" or some such and we'll know that the character's off-hand is his/her left.

[Gilleon]

Thanks Koval, I was thinking of stating it in the character's special abilities as "Trained Ambidexterity", as it would take time and training to achieve, and thus count against a character's abilities. Forgot to mention this in my previous post. Thanks for reminding me. 

[Nymie_the_Pooh]

I have a cousin that was born left-handed.  Her mother made her do everything right-handed growing up so she has what equates to learned ambidexterity.  Her natural inclination as an adult is to use her right hand for everything (she'll grab things with that hand without thinking for example), but she is slightly better at manipulating things with her left hand.  Due to her not working the fine motor skills with her left hand she isn't as good with it as she probably would be if she was allowed to use her left hand growing up.  It probably wouldn't reflect as a difference in shooting a gun with either hand, but for things like handwriting she would take a slight penalty to both hands if carrying her over to a game system with ever so slightly more of a penalty going to her right hand.  She can right eligibly with either hand, but calligraphy is pretty much out of the question.

[Quickdraw McGraw]

I personally like this and believe this is the correct way to handle the ambidextrous problem.  I find myself in one of those low percentile groups.  In my family it's hereditary that our lefts are just as functional as our rights.  But I've always used my right hand more due to living in a right handed world.  This was encouraged by my grandfather and my dad.  Both of which were marksmans in the army.  I never went into the military but have scored slightly higher with my left than my right when I applied for my G license to carry while I guarded.

I don't feel I'm anyone special but between years of martial arts, kendo and amatuer competition shooting, this is a good example of trained ambadextry.

[MarcoSkoll]

I'm not quite so enamoured with it, as Inquisitor simplified (whether intentionally or not) handedness.

If you introduce cases of weak handedness (like half-ambidexterity) you have to start wondering about strong handedness (like someone who's a total clod with their off-hand) as well. Then you may have to think about whether the dominant arm should be stronger (as it usually is in real life), etc, etc.

Adding half ambidexterity as an option has the potential to be seen as more acceptable because it's "less cheesy" or add to the stigma of taking fully ambidextrous characters... or indirectly, by adding the possibility of "stronger" handedness, the possibility to add a stigma for giving characters even a standard penalty.

I am not, however, saying this is a bad idea. But I do think some people are mistaking what the issue is.

The system, in of itself, is flawed only in its strengths - that it provides sandbox exploitability. The problem is down to making choices based on game mechanics rather than because it's any appropriate character element.

Most of my characters, my brain just decides their handedness for me with no thought as to game mechanics. I have... seven (IIRC) characters between systems who are ambidextrous: Two are naturally ambidextrous with no hand preference (although naturally is a bit of a stretch - one's genetically engineered, the other's a mutant), one was naturally "close enough" and capitalised on it,  three trained into it (two naturally right handed, one left), and the other's a cross between a penitent psyker and a pit fighter (so it's bionic, in this case).

Only one of them picked that up as a result of the game mechanics. He was proving pretty useless with his twin pistols (BS 52, short range pistols... an extra -20 for the off-hand made it fairly useless), so when I redeveloped his character, she picked up ambidexterity so she was a bit more effective in game. (Yes, those are the right pronouns).
And even then, it's been explained and integrated into her background.

So, I don't strictly think there is any "ambidextrous problem" as Quickdraw put it, at least not as part of the rules. It's still an issue that's down to player mindset. But for those who might wish to add granularity to the system... well, go ahead, provided you don't take it out against those that don't.

[Quickdraw McGraw]

If you introduce cases of weak handedness (like half-ambidexterity) you have to start wondering about strong handedness (like someone who's a total clod with their off-hand) as well. Then you may have to think about whether the dominant arm should be stronger (as it usually is in real life), etc, etc.

So, I don't strictly think there is any "ambidextrous problem" as Quickdraw put it, at least not as part of the rules.

Marco makes a good point.  I spoke before I thought.  Of coarse, on the other hand (No pun intended).  Many GM's have made modifications to the Lightning reflexes ability.  So if it's a problem in someone's circle, then I say sure. 

But, don't miss understand me.  There is nothing wrong with the rules.  It's just the over exploitation of some rarer abilities newbies and power-gamers are fond of.

However, if Ambidexterity is about 1% of the population.  Then in the future where there are a million planets in the Imperium.  I can't imagine it would be uncommon to have Inquisitors cherry-picking from the populace.

Josh

[Gilleon]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, very much appreciated. Marco, you make some excellent points, i wasn't really trying to "fix the ambidextrous problem" - as you say there isn't one really, i just felt the system was a little too simplified in this case, and that giving grades of handedness might help. Your points are well made though i think, especially with regard to avoiding the stigma of taking Ambidextrous.

P.s. and off topic... I absolutely love your armoury article, I've gone back through almost all my old character sheets and reworked them with the (frankly better) examples you have given. It's an absolute blessing that one. Not that I'm trying to kiss up or anything. 

[MarcoSkoll]

If you do want to use grades of handedness then don't let me stop you. If it's a quirk that adds depth to a character, but doesn't overcomplicate things - then that's fine.
But I do still think that saying that the Ambidextrous skill could only represent perfect or natural ambidexterity and thus apply only to a tiny fraction of characters might be a bit extreme.

As for the Armoury... well, as that's my own experiment in adding extra granularity to a simplified system, it's not entirely off-topic! (But the fact I need to get V6 finished is.)