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Flowing Gun Kata

This is a Martial Art for use in a modern exalted setting using a lot of Matrix like effects and I also drew heavy inspiration from the movie Equilibrium.

Background

In the near future the Exalted have returned to save the beleaguered World of Darkness. This Martial Art was developed by a Dawn cast master who decided he did not want to have to choose between gun combat and hand to hand combat. The charms in this tree are compatible with all pistols and when specified even add to a firearms ability roll. Compatible with armor that has less than -2 mobility penalty.

Charms

Marksman’s Masterful Aim</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote/die
Duration: Instant
Type: supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: None

This charm focuses on the preternatural ability exalted have to surpass all normal mortals. Every mote spent on this charm grants the Marksman 1 extra die on a MA attack or Firearms attack. The total dice added cannot exceed his skill total.

Wicked Gun Palm Slap</b>

<b>Cost: 2 motes
Duration: instant
Type: supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: Marksman’s Masterful Aim

The practitioner of this style learns the ability to use his own gun as a melee weapon. The PC’s MA attacks are lethal and add 3 to the base damage of the attack. This is not a ranged attack.

Gunslinger’s Graceful Dodge</b>

<b>Cost: 1 motes/die
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: Marksman’s Masterful Aim

The exalt wraps essence around himself to seem to slow down time as he leaps to safety away from an attack. Every 1 motes spent gains him 1 die for a reflexive dodge.

Gunslinger’s Mercurial Attack</b>

<b>Cost: Varies
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: Gunslinger’s Graceful Dodge

The character flows with soft and unhesitating grace through the motions of firing her weapon. Before the character takes her first action for the turn, the player must declare how many attacks the character will make this turn. Each extra attack costs 3 motes of Essence. This charm is compatible with MA and firearms attacks. Obviously, a character cannot attack more times than she has ammunition.

Gunslinger’s wicked Pistol Whip</b>

<b>Cost: 1 mote per health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 1
Prereqs: Wicked Gun Palm Slap

The character focuses her Essence into her weapon and swings a terrible blow against her opponent. If the blow is successful, the character’s attack does an additional die of damage against her opponent for every mote of Essence she spent activating the Charm. Characters cannot spend more Essence activating Gunslinger’s Wicked Pistol Whip than they have dots of Strength. Note: the Essence cost of GWPW must be spent before the attack roll.This is a MA attack only, not firearms. If a non-magical material weapon is used to do more automatic damage successes than its damage rating, it will probably break.

Flowing Gun Kata Form</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence:2
Prereqs: Gunslinger’s Wicked Pistol Whip and Gunslinger’s Mercurial Attack

The Gunslinger moves in one long flowing motion where he seems almost perfect. He is always where he needs to be when he needs to be there almost like the entire combat dance were choreographed ahead of time. Add MA to firearms attacks, MA attacks, all MA damage is lethal, he has no minimum range, and may default his action to a cascading dodge (just like Mantis style only a dodge not a parry).

Marksman’s Perfect Shot</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Flowing Gun Kata Form

A marksman of this caliber has almost no need to aim; he points his weapon in the general direction of his target and fires allowing essence to do the aiming for him. This charm adds his MA/2 in automatic successes to any firearms roll.

Marksman’s Assassinating shot</b>

<b>Cost: 5 motes + 1 mote per health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Marksman’s Perfect Shot

The marksman lines up his shot and wraps entropy laden essence around the bullet and fires. This is a piercing attack and halves the targets soak value and also adds 1 to the base damage for every 2 motes spent in this way.

Marksman’s exploding Ordinance</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Marksman’s Assassinating Shot

The Exalt charges his bullet with volatile essence and once fired the bullet turns to a barely contained explosion. Upon impact the bullet explodes and adds a number of automatic damage successes equal to the Exalt’s MA.

Marksman’s Deadly Countenance</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Flowing Gun Kata Form

The exalt screws up his face in extreme anger and charges into battle. All who wish to stand against him in combat must make a successful valor check or be at a die penalty equal to the Exalt’s MA.

Righteous Assault Against the Wicked</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Marksman’s Deadly Countenance

When the marksman gets attacked he reacts instinctually and lashes out however he can against the bold foe to attack him. This charm may be activated as a reflexive counterattack charm (even when no damage is done or the attack is dodged/parried) using either Firearms or MA and add your MA score to the counterattack.

Blazing Pistol of Dawn’s Light</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence:4
Prereqs:Righteous Assault Against the Wicked

When activated the pistol glows brightly with a hot fire reminiscent of the powerful dawn sunrise. All damage done using the pistol as a melee weapon is aggravated.

Blaze of Glory</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 lethal health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 5
Prereqs: Blazing Pistol of Dawn’s Light and Marksman’s Explosive Ordinance

This is the ultimate attack in this MA style. Charges his shot with raw essence and fires one incandescent bullet at his target. In flight the bullet assumes the form a of a minute comet and strikes his target with a loud thunderclap flinging the target back with the force of a charging bull. This charm adds the exalt's essence to the damage, doubles knockback effects, and (because of the loud thunderclap) the target is at -2 dice for the rest of the scene.

comments

A few of these charms should look familiar. I took a couple of some of these charms directly from the archery tree, modified others, and created others from nothingness. Looking forward to your comments ~ Insanewizard

Please forgive the ramblingness of my comments. I'm making this up as I go along:

OK... first of all, check out Power Combat in the Player's Guide. Trance of unhesitating speed has been updated to a less rediculously expensive version, and you should consider doing the same for Gunslinger's Mercurial Attack. In other news... you have straight up die adders in your martial art. Normally I'd react negatively towards that - straight up die adders are the province of melee and archery - but it depends on what you're doing with this style. Is this, like Righteous Devil Style, a special style meant to accomodate a special weapon (guns) or, is there a Firearms ability in your modern exalted setting, and this style is meant to exist alongside it. In the former case, it's all well because the style is meant to make firearms as cool as archery. In the latter I'd drop the die adders. The same goes for Gunslinger's Graceful Dodge, except even more so. Why is there a slightly sucky version of an ordinary dodge charm in a martial arts tree? If someone wants that charm, let them buy dodge!

Speaking broadly, I have issues with your pistol whipping charms. They don't scan well for me. A few would be ok, as a cute sideline in a style about shooting things, but you've got an awful lot of them.

Flowing Gun Kata form is way, way too powerful. Extra actions equal to Martial Arts? Adding to both gun combat and straight-up martial arts? Bonus to all dodges and a small reflexive dodge against all attacks? Limit this thing down, a lot!

And finally, I'm not a fan of your master technique. It doesn't seem to match the rest of the style. Everything else you've put in this style is cool, calculated, smooth, and perfect, but then your mastery technique is an outrageous charge of firey death that probably kills you? Doesn't scan.

I hope this is useful. Just to clarify: I like your basic idea, and I happen to be one of that shameful company that thinks that an Exalted modern setting, replacing the Hunters with someone more like the Solars, making the Werewolves into degenerate Lunars, and so on would be pretty sweet. - Seraph

While I do think your style does look nice, it should be clear that since Archery charms can be used with fire wands, other 'fiery' weapons, crossbows (except for multiple shot per turn type charms), and light implosion bows (as opposed to medium implosion bows and lightning balistae) that you should be able to use your archery charms with guns... but that's just me. ~ haku

Hi Insanewizard! First of all let me say that I like the idea of a gun kata-esque/Matrix styled MA, and think it's a good fit for ExMod. However as a general comment, the charms seem to be both overly powerful and overly expensive, and I think there are issues with the thematics of certain charms within the tree. Is this a ranged style? a pistolwhipping style? It doesn't seem to make up its mind. Also, what guns is this style compatiable with? All guns? Pistols? And is it armour compatiable?

Marksman’s Masterful Aim - A basic dice adder. Which is usual in MA, but not unprecedented. The price is right for an offensive adder, though the fact it can add to Firearms rolls is a little confusing. I assume you mean it adds to MA rolls involving the Firearms compatiable with the style.

Wicked Gun Palm Slap - A useful little charm. It may be undercosted, though. Tiger Style (which opens with a similar charm) suggests that it should cost 2m.

Gunslinger’s Graceful Dodge - Too expensive for a dodge adder. Defensive adders should be cheaper than offense, or at least shouldn't cost more. I'd suggest dropping the cost to 1m/die, or maybe making it 3m for +MA dice.

Gunslinger’s Mercurial Attack - As Seraph noted, this should cost less. 3m per attack seems to be about the accepted standard (from the Abyssals Book, the PG modifications to charms, and VBoS style), though since it is an MA and preform, possible it should have a restriction, such as all at different targets or all at the same target, or something else. As an additional point, with your Form as currently written, this charm becomes worthless once you have the Form, which is generally not a good thing for an MA. However, your form as written is overpowerful so ...

Gunslinger’s wicked Pistol Whip - Another copy of a solar charm. In general, MA should be sub-solar in level, especially pre-form, but 2m/HL seems a little steep, so I'm not sure. Also, I take it from the name, but not the text, this only works with hand-to-hand, rather than ranged attacks.

Flowing Gun Kata Form - As noted above, the form is way overpowered (and overcosted). A form should cost around 5-6m, and have effects comessurate with that cost, as it is, your form adds a minimum of 4 dice to all MA attacks (and, as written, even Firearms attacks that don't involve MA), 4 dice to all dodges, including the ability to make a reflexive dodge, and 4 extra attacks a turn. It's the last effect that is really too much. Rather than increasing the cost, I'd suggest toning down the effects. You might want to have a look at Air Dragon Form, for example.

Marksman’s Perfect Shot - I guess the intention on this is meant to be "Any Martial Arts attack involving a firearm", rather than "Any attack involving a firearm". Though this may seem weird, I think the charm is both too powerful and too costly. 6m is a lot to spend on supplementing an attack but also, +4-5 successes is quite a lot. Possibly you might want to make this cost around 4m, and add say MA/2 successes. The lower cost makes it more usuable, while the lowered effect is more reasonable.

Marksman’s Assassinating shot - Possible this could stand to be cheaper, maybe 3m and +1 per extra HL.

Marksman’s exploding Ordinance - Before I can really comment on this, I need to know what it does. Does it add the successes on to the normal damage roll? Does it convert damage dice? Does it inflict them in lieu of all other effects? Are they soakable?

Marksman’s Deadly Countenance - This charm seems rather out of place in the tree, with all the others being fairly precise, though the cost seems roughly right.

Righteous Assault Against the Wicked - This charm is very expensive for a counterattack, though it is also quite good as MA counterattacks go. Possible the cost could be reduced to 6ish motes.

Blazing Pistol of Dawn’s Light - Expensive, but cool visuals none the less. In fact, on reflection, the cost is about right.

Blaze of Glory - I know the effect is "going down in a blaze of glory", but I think this charm perhaps encourages this overmuch. 4 HL is a massive cost to pay, even for 10+ attacks at +5 dice each (which again, is a little over the top). I'm also not sure about the thematics of it, as Seraph noted. Most of the rest of the style postform is about marksmanship and sharpshooting, then this is raw fury ... It needs changing I feel, though what into, I don't know.

I hope these comments are useful for you. - Kraken

Thank you all for the comments and help. As you all probably know I am relatively new to Exalted and since there is no hard and fast system for creating charms and MA trees I am dealing with trial and error. That said I have taken most of your suggestions to heart and reworked the tree quite a bit. One thing I did want to clarify was this MA style uses the pistol both as a melee weapon and a ranged weapon. I highly recommend watching the movie Equilibrium, mix it with the martial arts of The Matrix; and you will get a good idea of what I think exalted modern combat is like. Enjoy~ Insanewizard

I'm curious as to why Gunslinger's Mercurial Attack is a simple charm and not an extra action charm.- Ambisinister

Corrected ~ Insanewizard

I feel there's a bit of confusion arising out of the fact you've made a MA tree that involves ranged attacks using firearms. Indeed, would it be necessary to even take most of this tree when you could get charms that do the same thing (although only for firearms) in the firearms tree? Flowing Gun Kata is a good idea, certainly, but I'm not too sure on the execution. If anything, make it so that you need minimum levels of Firearms to take certain charms. - trithne