I really dig Fighting Arts. I also love playing characters way out of their depth.
The Learning Fighting Arts section doesn’t explicitly say “no Beginner’s Luck”, but it does only mention instruction and practice-- and there are no strikes or locks in the Universal Actions. Can my character no longer learn to fight by getting beaten up?
I see three ways through:
1: nope, we assume noncombatants are particularly ineffective until they get some coaching.
2: sure, they mimic some Fighting Art they’ve seen some examples of, and can learn the basic skill but no techniques.
3: sure, they create their own “Panicked Flailing” Fighting Art that has some handicapped actions and techniques.
The intent is that some can be learned on their own and some must be transmitted through instruction. So Streetfighting you’ll learn as you go—at least the basics of it. Whereas some of the more esoteric and magical-rooted arts will require a master to provide the mystical knowledge required to start on the journey.
One thing I like about Beginner’s Lucking Fighting Arts is that Techniques are taught and Forms are learned however. So it means you can never be an expert without teaching, but you can still be quite a strong combatant.