Cultural Weapons Skills & specific Weapon Skills

[Dedicemancometh]

Question; If a character has a Cultural Weapon Skill, say (Swords), at a given level, say 3, and then spends XP to buy an individual Weapon Skill of a weapon that would fall within that group, say Longsword at level 1...

When that character uses the Longsword are they using it at 3 or 1? Or do they stack to 4?

I realize that there may be an incentive to identify a particular cultural-group weapon to receive a specific Weapon Skill in that it can later be favoured, but does that mean that the proficiency level of that Weapon Skill is useless or discounted until it surpasses whatever the corresponding Cultural Weapon Skill level is at?

Kind of confused.

[zekrish]

In this case i would let a character simply buy a specialty for a specific weapon within the weapon group and just apply the bonus when such a weapon is used.

[zedturtle]

Improving a Weapon Skill from a Cultural Weapon Skill

It is possible to buy a level for an individual Weapon skill belonging to the category of a Cultural skill group the hero already possesses, starting from the proficiency level of the Cultural Weapon skill.

Note that the individual weapon skill starts at the level of the cultural weapon skill. So if you have (Swords) 3, you can go to Long Sword 4. In fact, here's the example:

Lifstan has a Cultural Weapon skill for (Swords) at 2. His player wants to spend his Experience points to get him an individual skill rating in Long Sword: to do so, he spends 6 points and gives Lifstan a Long Sword 3 (starting from his Cultural skill level of 2).

Note that Lifstan is not paying for all three levels of Long Sword, just the difference between (Swords) 2 and Long Sword 3. Also note that he keeps (Swords) 2 as well... I originally misread this rule as a conversion, when it's an expansion.

[Dedicemancometh]

Thanks!