Revision as of 19:02, 2 November 2005

Unleashed Inferno Style

A Terrestrial Martial Art by DeadManSeven.

Introduction

So, excusing the stylish and thematic Form, Righteous Devil kind of sucks as a martial art, since not only does it not obey conventional MA tree structure and reads more like an Archery tree, it spends most of its time trying to make up for the failings in flame-arms, rather than emphasising their good points. So here's my replacement, focusing on the more painful aspects that come from a weapon that shoots fire. Because, seriously, flame-arms are too cool a weapon not to have a nifty fu.

Background

The origins of this style lie in the South, the Direction of Fire. It is favoured by mercenaries and bandits, both for its brutal nature and use of common weapons from the area, the firewand and flame piece. Those who learn this style are considered just as volatile and dangerous as the firedust filling the chambers of their weapons. Although this style may be used unarmed, it is rare to see a practitioner without a flame weapon on their person. Although Artifact flame-arms may be used with this style, rare is the individual with either the wealth or alchemical knowledge to keep their weapon loaded.

All Charms in this style are incompatible with armour. This style is Fire-aspected.

Charms

 Shoot From  Caught  With  Lick-of-Flames
  The  Hip   Both Barrels     Defence
       \             \           /
     Capricious    Playing-With-Fire
   Flames of Ruin       Kata
               \         /
                Unleashed
              Inferno  Form
                /       \`
          Docker's    Match
           Clutch     to the
           Method    Kindling
                \       /
              One Last Shot

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

Cost: 2 motes + 1 mote per 2 initiative

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 2

Minimum Essence: 1

Prerequisites: none

The martial artist makes a swift gesture, her hand blurring faster than the eye can see; she is as quick and deadly as the fire from her weapon. She may reflexively reload her weapon without needing to spend an action to do so. Also, she may raise her initiative by 2 for every mote she spends, up to a limit of [Martial Arts] motes. This Charm must be used before initiative is rolled for the turn.

Cost: 2 motes per die

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 3

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisites: Shoot From The Hip

The fire does not care what it destroys. It is indiscriminate and all-consuming, and nothing will stand in the path of its destruction. The character may remove dice from her attack pool and add them to her damage pool, up to a limit of her Martial Arts rating. This Charm’s use must be declared before rolling the attack.

Cost: 1 mote

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 2

Minimum Essence: 1

Prerequisites: none

Meditating on the terrible destructive nature of her craft, the martial artist learns how to cause heavy damage with each strike, as a wave of heat following her every blow. She may re-roll a damage roll, and choose the keep the roll with the most successes. This Charm can only be used once per turn.

Cost: 2 motes

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 2

Minimum Essence: 2

Prerequisites: none

The martial artist scars those who would dare to brave the flames. She rebukes all attacks like a raging bonfire, disfiguring those who stray too close to her fiery core. She may parry lethal attacks barehanded. Also, should she score a number of successes above the amount needed to parry the blow greater than her opponent’s Essence, a gout of flame erupts from her hands, engulfing her opponent and reducing his Appearance rating by one. This cosmetic damage is healed at the rate of a week per Appearance point lost.

Cost: 6 motes

Duration: One Turn

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 3

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Caught With Both Barrels, Lick-Of-Flames Defence

Only a fool would willingly place his hand within a burning flame. The martial artist, her eyes ablaze, taunts the fools, begging them to come closer. Any opponent who successfully attacks the martial artist receives her Essence in dice of damage. The type of damage is the same type she deals with barehanded attacks.

Cost: 5 motes

Duration: One Scene

Type: Simple

Minimum Martial Arts: 4

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Capricious Flames of Ruin, Playing-With-Fire Kata

The character’s anima blazes around her as she assumes the Unleashed Inferno Form, crackling and casting flickering dangerous light on her enemies. She is swift and ruthless as the flames, her foes only serving as fuel for her fury.

The character’s unarmed attacks deal lethal damage, for fire’s purpose is to kill, not subdue. She also learns to rush through her enemies like brushfire through the trees: if she is attacking without a weapon, she may move up to her [Martial Arts] yards after making a successful attack to catch her next opponent; if she is using a flame-arm, she may pour essence into its shots, causing them to engulf her enemies and continue to strike anything behind them. She may strike up to her [Martial Arts] opponents with a single shot, provided they are within range and in the line of fire.

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

Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Reflexive

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Unleashed Inferno Form

Before a fire is smothered completely, it will often leap to one last blaze. So too do the outlaws swearing by the flame piece, who often hide a weapon on their person to catch an unwary opponent by surprise in a false surrender. Drawing from these lessons, the martial artist gains the upper hand on her enemies, pulling a surprise blow he never could have noticed. She may make a single attack, using her Martial Arts rating as a dice pool. This attack may be enhanced by Charms from the Unleashed Inferno Style, despite being reflexive. This Charm may only be used once per turn, after the character’s initiative.

Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 3

Prerequisites: Unleashed Inferno Form

It only takes a single spark to turn a pile of kindling into a burning pyre. Once started, the flames take great effort to stop. The martial artist may emulate this practise in her attacks, as her fists become flames, and her opponents waiting straw men. If her attack is successful, her opponent takes a single die of unsoakable damage at the beginning of each turn, for a number of turns equal to her Essence. The damage is always bashing. This damage die may benefit from the use of Caught With Both Barrels.

Cost: 7 motes, 1 lethal health level

Duration: Instant

Type: Supplemental

Minimum Martial Arts: 5

Minimum Essence: 4

Prerequisites: Docker’s Clutch Method, Match to the Kindling

The flame-arm has neither the speed of the sword nor the range of the bow, but other weapons cannot match it in terms of raw power. It contains fire within a weapon, able to be called forth at the user’s command. With mastery of the Unleashed Inferno Style comes the ability for the martial artist to strike in the same manner as her weapon, waiting for the chance to cause the maximum amount of damage when it is needed the most. The character’s attack is unblockable, and she adds her Essence to the raw damage of the attack. If using a flame-arm, the weapon need not be loaded, as it is pure scorching essence that blasts forth from her weapon.

Comments

This feels much, much closer to what MA should be to me, instead of the (wonderful but as you say inappropriate) Righteous Devil style. Here, you have a style based on the thematic ideal of a Firewand, rather than a style that was made FOR using a firewand. Although, reversing that line of thought, it would be amusing if Snake stylists were forced to attack with a snake ^_^

Anyway, good job. I can find nothing bad as yet to point out, and the style is generally really nice. Perhaps it seems to be verging on Celestial level, but aside from that and the seemingly off-hand damage to an attribute (remember, alchies NEED that attribute) it all seems pretty nicely balanced too!
-- Darloth

Interestingly this has an almost identical Charm tree to my own /BlazingPhoenixStyle, another Terrestrial style designed for use with firewands. That aside, it's fun to note that we appeared to have similar but different ideas on how to do things. - intrigued Moxiane