Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

Leopard Style

By TheScreenJockey

Charms

Flawless Sweep Attack</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes 
Duration: Instant 
Type: Supplemental 
Min. Martial Arts: 2 
Min. Essence: 1 
Prereqs: None

The sweep attack is a useful and powerful tool – it simultaneously damages an opponent and knocks him from his feet. Often the damage is only a secondary concern, and it is the opponent’s loss of balance that truly matters. This Charm takes that desire into account. With this Charm, an Exalted may perform a Sweep that never fails to knock an opponent from his feet. The player rolls the Sweep attack and resolves the damage in the usual manner. However, when the opponent makes his reflexive Dexterity + Athletics roll to avoid being knocked down, a number of dice equal to the Exalted’s Martial Arts Ability are subtracted from his dice pool.

Feline Grace Meditation</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes 
Duration: Instant 
Type: Supplemental 
Min. Martial Arts: 3 
Min. Essence: 1 
Prereqs: Flawless Sweep Attack 

The character infuses her anima with Essence, granting her the grace, balance, and agility of a leopard. By invoking this Charm, she may add a number of dice equal to her Martial Arts score to a single Athletics roll.

Low Stance Counterthrow</b>

<b>Cost: 2 motes 
Duration: Instant 
Type: Reflexive 
Min. Martial Arts: 4 
Min. Essence: 1 
Prereqs: Feline Grace Meditation 

From the Low Stance (one of the two stances most often associated with Leopard style), the character becomes capable of catching any limb extended in attack and using it to throw or hold his opponent. The character may immediately make a Clinch, Hold, or Throw attack in response to any hand-to-hand attack directed against him. Except for this limitation in what sort of attack may be made, this Charm is identical to the High Stance Counterattack Charm (see other).

Leopard's Dance of Avoidance</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes 
Duration: One turn 
Type: Reflexive 
Min. Martial Arts: 2 
Min. Essence: 1 

To parry armed attacks, one must have a weapon or special Charm. And to Dodge them, one must have the Dodge Ability. For the duration of the turn, the character may substitute his Martial Arts Ability for the Dodge ability when avoiding attacks. The character may even declare a Full Dodge, using his Dexterity + Martial Arts pool as the base. Except for the Ability being used, these are identical to normal dodges in every way.

Cat-in-a-Box Kata</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes 
Duration: Instant 
Type: Reflexive 
Min. Martial Arts: 3 
Min. Essence: 1 
Prereqs: Leopard's Dance of Avoidance 

Anyone who has attempted to hold or restrain a cat knows that this is nearly impossible. Students of Cat Style soon learn the secrets of becoming unable to be held. By activating this Charm, the character may instantly escape any Clinch or Hold. There is no roll by either the character or his opponent – the character simply escapes, and nothing can be done about it. The use of this Charm does not negate the damage done by a Clinch attack – it merely allows the character to escape it in the next instant (or whenever she chooses). This Charm is explicitly permitted to be used in a Clinch, for obvious reasons.

High Stance Counterattack</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes 
Duration: Instant 
Type: Reflexive 
Min. Martial Arts: 4 
Min. Essence: 1 
Prereqs: Cat-in-a-Box Kata 

From the High Stance (one of the two stances most often associated with Leopard style), Essence guides the character’s lead hand and foot, allowing her to strike when her enemy moves in to attack. The character may immediately make an attack with her full Dexterity + Martial Arts dice pool against anyone executing a hand-to-hand attack against her. This attack is made after the opponent’s roll to hit, but before damage is determined. This attack is not an action and does not subtract from dice pools. A character may make as many counterattacks as she has Essence to pay for, but may only make one counterattack for each time she is attacked. Additionally, a character cannot use this Charm in response to another counterattack Charm.

Leopard Form</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes 
Duration: One scene 
Type: Simple 
Min. Martial Arts: 4 
Min. Essence: 2 
Prereqs: High Stance Counterattack, Low Stance Counterthrow 

The character moves and fights like a feline, waiting for her opponent to attack and countering all blows. The character also climbs, jumps, and falls like a cat. For the duration of the scene, the character may respond to all incoming hand-to-hand attacks with an immediate counterattack with his full Dexterity + Martial Arts dice pool. In addition, he may add his Permanent Essence to all dice pools involving climbing, jumping, and soaking damage from falling. This Charm is incompatible with the use of armor. Characters cannot use more than one Martial Arts Form-type Charm at a time.

Wary Leopard's Sight</b>

<b>Cost: 3 motes 
Duration: One scene 
Type: Simple 
Min. Martial Arts: 4 
Min. Essence: 2 
Prereqs: Leopard Form 

The character channels his Essence into not his senses, granting him a cat’s ability to see in darkness and an awareness of subtle changes in his visual environment. For the Charm’s duration, the character suffers no penalties from lack of lighting. Fog, snow, and the like may still obscure a character’s vision, but a lack of light will not. In addition, the character can instantly perceive anything in his line of sight that moves, even if it were otherwise hidden. So an animal stalking though underbrush using its natural camouflage, or a person moving about while hiding in a bush will become visible to the character. Other attempts at stealth function normally, but even the slightest movement is visible.

Furious Feline Frenzy Attack</b>

<b>Cost: 6 motes, 1 willpower 
Duration: Instant 
Type: Extra Action 
Min. Martial Arts: 5 
Min. Essence: 3 
Prereqs: Wary Leopard's Sight 

Leopards avoid combat whenever possible, seeking to catch an opponent off-balance and flee. But when cornered or outnumbered a leopard can be a deadly and furious opponent. With this Charm, the character may internalize his Essence, becoming capable of lashing out at multiple opponents at once. Upon activating this Charm, the character may make one attack against every opponent within reach. It is up to the Storyteller to determine who is and is not within reach, but anyone who can be attacked by the character will be. The character utilizes his full dice pool for each attack, and is only limited by the number of possible targets. Because dice pools may not be split in the turn this Charm is used, it is desirable to combo it with a defensive Charm. The player need not attack everyone within reach – he may decide to spare allies or certain opponents.

Comments

I've always kind of liked this style, though I'm not sure why. It could use some changes, though:

• Feline Grace Meditation is slightly weak for where it is in the tree. Maybe reduce cost to 2, or even 1.
• Leopard's Dance of Avoidance I just don't like. I'd replace this effect with the an ability somewhat like Five-Dragon Blocking, but using dodge instead of parry, and only lasting the turn. That is, for the rest of the turn, you could add Essence dice to any Dodge roll. This would allow reflexive dodging using only Essence dice. This would maybe require an increase to 4 motes.
• High Stance Counterattack is rendered useless by the form. Not sure how to fix that though. Maybe if the charm instead reduced attackers pool?
• The Minimum Essence ratings are almost universally a point low.

- Wordman

I'm a little disturbed by the pseudo-perfect clinch avoider charm, as well as the psuedo-perfect 'detect motion' charm. Both, according to the charm description, are infallible, providing no roll or other mechanic, and speaking in absolutes. If you want them to be perfect, say so (and I'll immediately decry them for having perfects in an MA style) or give some other mechanical statement to support it, such as giving a 'total' success (where all dice are counted as one success automatically) or by providing some other way for a Solar Brawler to maintain a clinch if he's the Essence 8 super-clincher with oodles of perfects. Also note that in regards to clinches, the standard rule for 'defense trumps offense' is a tough one, as in a clinch, you're both attacking and defending. Hence, allowing you to leave a clinch reflexively leaves some really weird issues, such as me clinching you on initiative tick 20, all of my initiative 19 buddies stabbing at you (unable to dodge), then reflexively leaving on initiative 18, just before you act (and thus crush back) on initiative 17. Weirdness. -- GreenLantern

Good point. Maybe change the charm text to something like: "This charm may only be activated when a clinch or hold attack is made against you and provides a reflexive dodge of the attack with a dice pool equal to Dexterity + Martial Arts. When dodging the clinch or hold of somone with an Essence rating equal to or less than yours, all your dice automatically succeed. If your opponent has a higher Essence than you, convert your Essence in dice to automatic successes. If you dodge successfully, you may move yourself away from your opponent a number of yards equal to your Dexterity. This charm may be used to dodge, clinches or holds that are not normally dodgable but, if so used, only the dice pool to dodge is provide, none of the automatic successes."

How would you fix Wary Leopard's Sight?

-- Wordman