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TECHNIQUES: THE ILLUMINATED ORDER OF THE MARTIAL ARTS

Format

Each Martial Art is connected to four Abilities and a Prime - either a Virtue, Attribute, or occasionally something stranger. Advancement must be made in every area in order to qualify for future levels of power. The Ability requirements do not change, but the Prime requirements vary from Martial Art to Martial Art. One of the four Abilities is always a combat Ability, and is often Unarmed.

Awakened Essence

In order to practice the supernatural martial arts, a character must first purchase the Awakened Essence knack. This knack provides no benefits save for granting the character the benefits of Essence, and allowing them to purchase Techniques and raise their Essence. Note that Awakened Essence is also required in order to be a Thaumaturge.

Student Techniques

Student Techniques are the weakest and least costly of the Martial Arts. Each Martial Art has a single Student Form, the first Technique that must be learned in order to advance along that tree. Once this is done, the character may learn any Student Techniques that she wishes; each has the same prerequisites as the Student Technique.

With the exception of the Student Form, all Student Techniques are instant-duration effects with minor powers. They can be easily disguised and are not obvious to most onlookers as being more than natural.

Student Forms require one prerequisite Ability to be rated at 3, two more at 2, and the last at 1, and for Essence to be rated at 1.

Adept Techniques

The most common techniques of the Enlightened, the Adept Techniques serve as a bulwark of power. More powerful than the Student Techniques, they are nonetheless generic enough to be useful in many situations, and to grant enough power to survive them.

Like Student Techniques, Adept Techniques require a character to first master the Adept Form. They tend to be Instant or Until Next Action in duration, but a few can be Scene-length or have strange durations. These forms are sometimes secretive, and sometimes obviously martial arts.

Adept Forms require one prerequisite Ability to be rated at 4, a second at 3, and the last two at 2, and for Essence to be rated at 2. In addition, learning an Adept Form requires the character to know both the Student Form and at least two other Student Techniques of the same style.

Master Techniques

The most powerful techniques that mortals are likely to see, Master Techniques are the greatest that most martial artists can aspire to. These manuevers are almost always Obvious in nature, as they unleash the raw power of the style in question.

Master Techniques require a character to develop Master Forms of the same style, as the earlier levels do. Master Forms require one prerequisite Ability to be rated at 5, a second at 4, and the last two at 3, and for Essence to be rated at 4. In addition, the character must have learned Adept Form and at least three other Adept Techniques of the same style.

Pinnacle Techniques

Only the rarest and strongest martial artists ever learn these techniques. Extremely costly and amazingly powerful, even grandmasters rarely unleash them, due to the degree of commitment to the fight that they require.

Once again, Pinnacle Techniques require the character to first learn the Pinnacle Form. Pinnacle Forms require one prerequisite Ability to be rated at 6, all other prerequisite Abilities to be rated at 5, and Essence to be rated at 6. In addition, the character must know the style's Master Form and at least three other Master Techniques.

Technique Restrictions

Techniques function as Charms from the Solar 2nd Edition corebook for all purposes. The only exception are Comboes. A Combo with no Obvious Charms in it is not Obvious. Otherwise, there is no difference.

Learning Techniques

The martial arts were meant to be taught. Learning them without proper training is exceedingly difficult.

The Student Form cannot be learned without a tutor or very good training manual. It is simply impossible to develop on its own. Furthermore, a character who has not yet attained the Adept Form spends x8 normal training time if they attempt to design or develop a new Technique.

Learning Adept Form without a tutor is also x8 normal training. Once it is attained, developing new Student or Adept techniques is only x4 normal training time.

From Master Form onwards, training times are only x2 to develop new Techniques without being taught.

However, there is an additional requirement. In order to design a new Technique, characters must temporarily commit Essence and Willpower. The Essence commitment is equal to the tier of the Technique x3, and the Willpower commitment is equal to the tier of the Technique. This commitment lasts for the total training time of the Technique.

Creating Styles

In order to create an entirely new style, different requirements exist. The character must have attained Pinnacle Form in a style that shares two of the four Abilities chosen as Form Abilities, and must meet the prerequisites for the new style's Pinnacle Form. Otherwise, the character may develop a Student Form exactly as though developing a new Student Technique, and progress from there.