This skill works with both single and two handed blunt implements (aka clubs & staffs). Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but this sounfs like just about any club or club like weapon would fsll under this skill. Almost like the make shift weapon side of Brawling with bashing weapons (chairs, broomsticks, the handle of your spear, (ect).
I never thought much about it before (when I hear the word “cudgel” I think “really big Club”) but, gave it some thought aftre I read the Appropriate Weapons thread by Savage Yinn.
Is this skill too broad in scope as written? Should we limit it to club and staff? And if so, doesn’t it make the “Staff” skill obsolete?
At the very least, I’d imagine that the “Staff” skill acts as a nice little FoRK for “Cudgel”, when you’re using it to bash someone over the head. I also suspect that trying any sort of tricky maneuver with a Staff merits the Staff skill.
Just like you get to do special stuff with Martial Arts (oops, I guess I mean “Boxing”) that you don’t get to do with Brawling (I’m not saying you would get the M.A./Boxing maneuvers, just that one could make a case for a little more finesse with a more specialized skill.
Not to mention the Forks you could do.
I like it, THANKS.
In this thread, Luke casually mentions allowing combatants with the staff skill to make push actions with the staff.
So I my intent is to knock him down and my task is to use my (Weapon Skill) to perform the Push action. It then falls to the G.M. and group to decide if my task is relevant for my intent. (“I knock him down with my Staff” works better than “I trip him with my Clamore”) and a more specified skill can be counted on for more finesse than a generalized skill. (Anyone with the cudgel skill can defend themselves with a staff, but it doesn’t mean they fight like Bruce Lee.) ?
Also, now that I think about it, look at the Tools listed for each skill. Staff requires a staff. Cudgel requires “a big stick”.
If you’re rolling Cudgel with a staff? That staff is a “big stick”, as far as you’re concerned. You can’t use any cool or sneaky maneuvers with it, because it’s just a big stick! But it’s good for whacking people over the head.
Cudgel refers to a one-handed club. See also club, baton, chair leg, etc… The strictest (and probably Burning Wheeliest) reading would say that if it’s a one handed club you use the cudgel skill; and a two handed club-like thing would use the staff skill. I’d also put things like canes under the cudgel skill for purposes of beating someone (though they’d probably break as most canes aren’t designed for fighting).
Larkin is quoting directly from the skill; I checked. 
It works for one-handed or two-handed, and staffs are explicitly included.
Correct. It’s perfectly OK for there to be overlap in the weapon skills. They are not meant to be fully exclusive. You can even use a mace with the Cudgel skill. It goes the other way as well. See Found Weapons on page 555. You can use a Found Weapon with your weapon skill as well (a stick with your Sword skill, for ex.). You could also use a knife, for example, with your Brawling skill. It would count as a Found Weapon and therefore have an Add of 2, though.
So we use what skills we have to perform our tasks with whatever suitable or applicable things we have on hand (as long as it makes sense for the scene and can be justified with the skill, like using a staff like a training sword even if the g.m. / group decide to inflict special circumstances like lower power add or changing weapon speed.) My intent is to wow the crowd with my fancy staff techniques I shouldn’t task that with my cudgel skill. (Even if I do make cool Bruce Lee sounds.)
The rules clearly demonstrate that cool Bruce Lee sounds only act as a FoRK for decapitations.
Yeah. I think that’s it. After all, modern HEMA saber aficionados train with singlesticks or wasters and kendo enthusiasts train with shinai.
Another thought on this that should have been obvious to me is to check the skill exponent. If the character is an expert with whatever skill he is using the flashier stuff becomes easier than nominally prscticed was. (Jackie Chan can make almost anything look impressive). I would still give an advantage to someone with a specialized skill with their weapon and a disadvantage with a similar weapon. (Just because I’m trained with my Katana doesn’t mean I can use my fathers Saber)