Revision as of 17:11, 11 October 2005

Audacious Dancer Style

by DeadManSeven

Introduction

I’m not a big fan of being able to use Martial Arts to help you do other stuff (“I kung-fu these ingredients into a cake!”), but I do like using Martial Arts as a gateway to let characters kick ass with non-combat Abilities. Thus, a style built around dance-fu. Plus, there’s not enough love given to the weapon with the best damn name ever, the God-Kicking Boot! :)

Background

This style treats iron boots (and their Artifact counterpart, the God-Kicking Boots) as unarmed attacks, though not all Audacious Dancers style their weapons in the shapes of shoes: they can range from anything as elaborate as a complex and decorative pair of spurs to as simple as a couple of heavy iron rings worn around the ankles. All Charms that follow Lessons of Calloused Feet are incompatible with armour. This style is Fire-aspected.

Charms

         Lessons  of
       Calloused  Feet
         /         \`
Use-The-Space      Grand
  Flourish        Entrance
         \         /
          Audacious
         Dancer Form
         /         \`
  Style-Over-     Clumsy
   Substance     Partner's
    Strike         Steps
         \         /
         Encroaching
        Space  Method
              |
          Slave  to
         the  Rhythm

(For a non-ASCII Charm tree, click here.)

Cost: none

Duration: Permanent

Type: Special

Minimum Martial Arts: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisites: none

A dancer’s feet become rough and calloused after years of training; so too are the martial artist’s feet honed to be instruments of destruction. The character adds one to the Rate of her kicks, and her Essence to their Defence. Furthermore, once she learns to adopt the Audacious Dancer Form, her Speed modifier for kicking cannot be lower than +0.

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisites: Lessons of Calloused Feet

Not content to hold a fixed piece of ground, the Audacious Dancer constantly moves through her surroundings, bewildering and exhausting her opponents. After making a successful attack (that does not need to cause damage), the character may reflexively travel up to her [Martial Arts]*3 yards.

Cost: 2 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisites: Lessons of Calloused Feet

A flashy entrance is everything. Building on the techniques of a truly dramatic entry, the martial artist learns to draw upon this show-stopping style of movement whenever she needs it. She may travel her full sprinting distance for the turn and still take an action. This Charm can only be used once per turn.

Cost: 5 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Use-The-Space Flourish, Grand Entrance

The martial artist taps her feet in a rapid staccato set of steps as she assumes the Audacious Dancer Form. She is lighter than the air and swifter than a wildfire; her art is peerless.

The character adds her Essence in dice to attempts to disarm her opponents (which are made at a difficulty of 1 if she uses her feet), and adds her Performance to her raw damage for the purposes of determining knockdown. Finally, she may reflexively buy Dodge dice that last for a single dodging attempt at a cost of one mote per die, up to her Martial Arts rating.

This is a Martial Arts Form Charm, and cannot be used concurrently with any other Form Charm.

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Audacious Dancer Form

Sometimes, an audience is more impressed by the aesthetics of the dance rather than the meaning. The martial artist makes a grandiose gesture as she attacks, the pure showmanship catching her opponent off-guard. The character may substitute her Performance rating for her Strength for the purpose of dealing damage. This Charm must be activated before the character makes her attack roll.

Cost: 3 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Audacious Dancer Form

The Audacious Dancer dances - and fights - to win, even if this means crippling her rivals to do so. She stomps hard on her opponent’s foot, ensuring victory. The opponent subtracts the character’s [Martial Arts + Essence] from his running and sprinting distances. This penalty lasts for the character’s [Martial Arts] in turns, at which point the feeling returns to the opponent’s battered foot. This Charm must deal at least one level of damage for its effect to work.

Cost: 3 motes per +1 difficulty

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Style-Over-Substance Strike, Clumsy Partner’s Steps

Moving in close to her opponent, the martial artist can use her agility and speed to slip blows past her opponent’s guard. For every three motes spent, one of the character’s attacks gains a +1 difficulty to defend against, up to her [Martial Arts + specialties].

Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Varies

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: Encroaching Space Method

The Audacious Dancer begins to move to an unheard beat, her every motion part of some grand design. As she follows these steps, she leaves behind a trail of destruction that is beautiful to behold.

For each turn this Charm is active, the character does not roll initiative; instead, she acts on the initiative tic equal to her [Dexterity + Wits], as she must follow the beat that she can sense perfectly. For as long as Slave to the Rhythm is maintained, the character increases her attack and dodge pools by one each turn. If this Charm lapses, the character rolls initiative normally, but loses the bonuses, and must reactivate the Charm in order to build them up again. The point of Willpower spent to activate this Charm remains committed until the Charm ends.

Comments

This is quite possibly the best celestial MA style I've seen for far too long. Wonderful idea, great interpretation, charm names and implementation, and all around good. I commend you, thankyou for reminding me that MA need not be excessively twinky yet can still be cool and original. I have bu one question... is there a maximum to Slave to the Rhythm? Presumably the bonus would reset at the start of a new scene, for otherwise, you could come across an artist who had been dancing since dawn, and had accrued several thousand bonus dice ^_^
-- Darloth

Slave to the Rhythm is capped by the Exalt's type (like all other Charms that don't specify a limit), so Solars, Abyssals, and Sidereals max out at Attribute + Ability, Lunars and Alchemicals at Attribute, Dragon-Blooded at Ability + specialty, etc.; once they hit that cap, they can't get any more dice without using Charms that specifically allow them to exceed their type's Limit. Also, thanks for thinking my style is awesome. :) - DeadManSeven

There is still the possibility of dancing continuously since ages before you're likely to be fighting... Fatigue rolls aside (as most exalts laugh at them, especially when unarmoured) are you intending to mechanically prevent this (probably with a line which says: This charm ends at the end of the scene or whenever the user stops dancing, whichever comes first) or are you intending to have that perfectly possible, if occasionally rather twinky?
-- Darloth