Difference between revisions of "MartialArts/LivingWeaponStyle"

Revision as of 21:48, 13 May 2005

Living Weapon Style

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This is my first Martial Arts style. So don't kill me. Also, the true Kung Fu is used unarmed.

Background

Soon to come

Training

Also coming soon

Weapons and Armor

Living Weapon Style is an Unarmored and Unarmed style only. It may never be used when wielding a weapon or when wearing armor or a shield.

Charms

Bronze Body Technique</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 2
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: None

The character strengthens their body with essence. For the remainder of the scene, they may use double their stamina when calculating their bashing soak, may soak lethal damage with their whole stamina score, and may even soak aggravated damage with half their stamina.

Steel-Hand Strike</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2
Prereqs: Bronze Body Technique

The martial artist learns to make lethal use of the body as a weapon, using essence to become a weapon, if only for a moment. Add 1/2 the martial artists martial arts score to both the accuracy and damage of one attack. This attack does lethal damage. Dice added DO NOT count against the dice cap.

Iron Palm Prana</b>

<b>Cost: 2+ motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 2

Prereqs: Bronze Body Technique

The martial artist focuses his essence, guiding his hands to intercept an attack. Add 2 dice to a single martial arts parry for each mote above 1 spent on this charm. This alows the martial artist to pary lethal damage without a stunt.

Living Weapon Form</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: 1 Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 3
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Steel-Hand Strike, Iron Palm Prana

The martial artist assumes the Living Weapon form, flesh made into a weapon of his own devising. For the remainder of the scene he adds his martial arts score to his bashing, lethal, and aggravated soak. He gains a hardness equal to his permanant essence score. His attacks do lethal damage, and he may pary lethal damage without a stunt. In addition, the martial artist may always act as is he was armed or unarmed as is beneficial to his baehanded attacks, even during the same atack.

Example Crimson Sun, a Gold Faction sidereal, finds himself battling a behemoth in the depest south. Anyone who strike the behemoth barehanded takes fire damage, but Crimson Sun may act is he was armed, in this respect. Anyone who strike the bemehoth with a weapon risks the weapon catching on fire. Wisely deciding not to ignite his hands, Crimson Sun decides to act for that purpose as if he was unarmed. Now all he has to worry about is behemoth itself ....

Shield-Body Defense</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes
Duration: 1 Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Living Weapon Form

The martial artist infuses himself with essence flows, toughening his flesh to be as hard as a shield, and intercepting blows. For the remainder of the scene, add the permanant essence of the matial artist to the difficulty to attack him. If the martial artist is under the effects of the Transcendent Weapon Warrior (see below) add the appropriate magical materials bonus for a thunderbolt shield.

Invincible Armor-Self</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes, 1 WP
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Shield-Body Defense

The martial artist becomes an unbreakable weapon, even if only for a moment. For one attack, he gains hardness equal to his soak.

Spear-Foot Strike</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Living Weapon Form

The character moves with the speed and reach of a spear, lunging forward impossibly fast. This charm may be activated at any point before the character has acted in a turn. The character acts immediately, before anyone else on the same initiative, if there are any. You may move up to double your full move, and attack. The attack is so fast and suprising, it may only be dodged or paried with a charm. If you use this charm to try to go before someone who always goes first in initative (or another weilder of this charm) roll between the two normally, though both go before any other participants. You may only use this charm once in a turn.

Flashing Hammer Fist</b>

<b>Cost: 3+ motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra Action
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Spear-Foot Strike

The character strikes with the speed and impact of a hammer, repeatedly battering his foe, even in the toughest armor. Gain an extra attack for each 3 motes you spend. You may not gain more attacks in this manner than your martial arts. All attacks /must/ be at the same target. This damage is piercing.

Staff-Arm Block</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Living Weapon Form

The martial artist knows that a weapon may be used to defend, as well as to attack. He brings an essence laden hand up, instinctively, to block any attack with his full dex + ma pool (plus defense modifiers, if any).

Knife-Hand Riposite</b>

<b>Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Min. Martial Arts: 4
Min. Essence: 3
Prereqs: Staff-Arm Block

The martial artist /is/ a living weapon. While he blocks blows with one part of his body, the rest is still a weapon able to strike at his foe. Anytime the martial artist parries a blow, and gets even one sucess, he may activate this charm to counter-attack at his full dex+ma pool. Add one die to this attack for each pary sucess greater than the opponents' attack. (This counts towards the exalts dice cap). The exalt may not add any dice to his counterattack if he dodges the attack.

Trancendent Weapon Warrior</b>

<b>Cost: 8 motes, 1 WP
Duration: 1 Scene
Type: Simple
Min. Martial Arts: 5
Min. Essence: 4
Prereqs: Invincible Armor Self, Flashing Hammer-Fist, Knife-Hand Riposite

The martial artist finally assumes the ultimate technique of the style, his body now a weapon with a direct link through his anima, a living artifact. The martial artist gains a number of points equal to double his MA, which he may assign to speed, accuracy, damage, rate, defense, or soak. A point devoted to soak grants 1 pt to all his soak values. Each time he invokes this charm, he may assign the bonuses accordingly, though a new version replaces, and does not stack with an extant version. In addition, the martial artist gains the magical material bonuses (though no other traits) as if he was striking with a weapon, and wearing a set of armor made of the material to which he most easily attunes. In addition, this supernatural afinity with one of the five magical materials means he cannot be broken. While he may still be damaged, he cannot lose limbs, eyes, organs, or any other part of his body, without an attack capable of destroying one of the five magical materials. The dice added by this charm do NOT count against the martial artists dice cap.

Comments

Only one comment. Your first charms, Steel Hand Strike and Iron Palm Prana, are die-adders. That makes this martial art pretty powerful, as the one thing martial arts generally lack is straight-up die adders. I'd be worried about that overpowering the style. -Seraph

I've considered it. But there are a few other charms with flat out dice adders. From Tiger to Violet Bier of Sorrows. Also, charms which add a fixed amount (MA, or Essence) tend to be significantly cheaper to use than a pure dice adder, even more so as you're paying extra, in this case. In any case, this is a bread and butter MA. It has no wierd attacks, and cannot be used with a weapon, at all. This means it's automatically down several attack/damage dice from a style that allows a weapon, or artifact weapon. By the time you figure out the minuses from something like, say a sword allowing martial art, you're essentionally only adding something like your MA score anyway, and at a higher cost. On a related note, I'm considering adding a bonus similar to the immaculate styles, to help compensate for the fact that you;re always bareheanded. Feedback on that idea? - Scrollreader

Too much, too fast, too cheap. You heard the whole spiel on IRC. It's everything I fervently desire in a MA tree, which is why I would never allow it. - Ketrus

Tweaked, costed, and thus far, finished. Comment! - Scrollreader

Steel Palm Prana still seems a little overpowered... it should be 1 for 1 maybe? Aside from that, seems good... very, very good, so maybe it still needs to be upcosted a bit. Seriously, this MA does everything, from parries to attacks to counterattacks to peircing damage to difficulty to hit and almost everything else besides. It's thematically very nice though.
-- Darloth

Well. I think a truly unarmed style is already down several dice in almost every category from an armed style. And this style is a defensively focused style, without any dodge enhancers. Also, it's already slightly more expensive than many other styles. As always though YMMV. What charm(s) in particular do you have a problm with? - Scrollreader

I'd suggest making it cost 3 motes and adding ones MA to Defense (as if using a weapon). It seems more in-theme. I agree, though, that this Style is just... too good. It has no weak points and is truly terrifying in conjunction with die-adder charms external to the tree. If you want to try to alleviate this without changing too much, you could probably just make many of the charms less mote-efficient. Also, I'd scrap the MM bonus to Shiled Body Defense. It is already a rather powerful charm... -szilard