The Ghost:TMAs/Path of the Stave Church Style

This wood aspected style is fairly common throughout the majority of creation. Focusing on the use of common walking sticks and quarter staves and their artifact equivalents as combative weapons this style is favored by insurgent rebels and the rare common villager who manages to achieve enlightenment.

History of the Path of the Stave Church Style

The origins of the Path of the Stave Church Style lie in the depths of history, before even the Primordial War. Back in those days it was practiced by human renegades struggling to overthrow the Dragon Kings and the Raptok agents that hunted them and was known as Righteous Wooden Beam Style. Several of these human rogues became exalted when the battle lines of the primordial war were drawn up, and among the Wood aspected dragonblooded they style was especially common.

However, as the war came to a close other wood aspected styles which did not rely on props such as staves came to be more popular and widespread and the style fell out of favor for most of the First Age. This only changed during the Time of Cascading Years when the style's last three surviving masters spent nearly 2000 years in an isolated manse called The Stave Church which suddenly found itself at the center of one of the largest temporal shards of creation. By the point at which time was restored to it's proper flow they had made the Stave Church the center of a large theocratic nation based around martial discipline and personal development and their style was practiced to a greater or lesser degree by thousands of people across hundreds of square miles. Since that time the style has risen and fallen in popularity but never come nearly as close to being lost as it was before Era of the Stave Church.

Famous Practitioners of the Style

The names of the original practitioners of the Path of the Stave Church Style are lost to history, some believe as part of the "Three Spheres Disaster" as are those of the dragonblooded heroes who first popularized the style during the Primordial War, it is not until the Era of the Stave Church that the history of this style again becomes clear.

The 'Three Great Masters' are by far the most famous of the practitioners of the Path of the Stave Church: Being comprised of Luke Garou, a wolf totem Full Moon Lunar, Kami Chorezon, his Zenith Caste Solar Mate, and Juraku Sune their Wood Aspect Sifu in the style. These three masters were reuniting at a minor manse on the borders of the River Province to consult on the matter of their concern over the fact that they appeared to be the last three masters of the style left in creation when the temporal disruption which began the Time of Cascading Years occurred. The three of them realized within a matter of days what had occurred and with potent charms explored the borders of their temporal shard, finding it to be several hundred square miles in area, in real world terms roughly as large as The British isles. They were wise enough not to attempt to cross the borders and after determining the size and shape of their shard retreated to The Stave Church to formulate a plan. Over the next year of time within their shard they began gathering students at The Stave Church and training them in Righteous Wooden Beam Style, including the other three dragon blooded who had been trapped in the shard with them and had not immediately and foolishly tried to pass the temporal border. These students became the core of an army they raised over the next five years and then over 50 years used to unite all areas of the shard under their aegis. It was at this time that the other four capstone charms of Path of the Stave Church style appeared and began to be used by some of their students, though no one has ever been able to discover exactly why. Over the ensuing 1900 years this style became nigh universal among the people of their shard, both in honor of their leaders and for the utility of some of it's more advanced charms, and when the Time of Cascading Years ended they became one of the most powerful nation states in the pre-Second-Deliberative Realm.

The Style Today

Though some wood aspected dragonblooded, particularly outcasts and lost eggs, practice the Path of the Stave Church Style today most of it's practitioners are mortals with enlightened essence. The style is taught in monasteries across the threshold and is common among itinerant monks and the rare peasant farmer who manages to enlighten their essence and find a sifu, who often will seek out such people to teach the style to. It is most prevalent in the scavenger lands and the eastern forests but is known everywhere except the blessed isle where the Immaculate Order has successfully suppressed it's use by anyone except a few lost eggs for the past 302 years since the Unbroken Rushes Rebellion.

Once a student master's the nine charms of the Path their training is considered complete. Their sifu dismisses them to travel the world alone and meditate on their achievements and do good in the world with what they have learned. Those that may have observed their sifu use one of the five capstones and ask to be taught it are refused: they are told that true mastery of the style cannot come from without but only from within. As such it is common for two different sifu's of the style trained by one master to learn different capstone charms, and only in the most unusual circumstances are people learning one of the final five charms able to train with a teacher's guidance, typically taking double or even quadruple the amount of time to master one of the five as it might if they could have instruction. Most Path of the Stave Church masters warn their students that this will happen early on and repeatedly during their training, but those that do not often find their prized students who are ready to become masters themselves often grow bitter and vengeful, and the style is known to be fairly fractious as some masters of the style are bitter rivals of their own teachers. Those that try to 'correct' this practice often either reconcile with their teacher or grow so bitter and disgusted with their 'failure' that they abandon teaching altogether: it is a peculiarity of this style that four of the five capstone charms CANNOT be taught, a person can only learn them through self discovery and personal development. Some monasteries teaching this style overcome this limitation to a degree by sending prospective masters to isolated locations where they are to focus solely on achieving one of the five mysteries, but this is not always effective as it can take a long time to gain the necessary experience while training alone in isolation.

The Fifth and original capstone of the style normally cannot be taught either, but rare scrolls and Sifu's of the original Righteous Wooden Beam Style still exist in a few places through out the threshold who are capable of teaching Grace Beyond Nature Mastery. Some of these Sifu's take the stance that the unteachable nature of the other four capstone's is proof of their inferiority and stage duels with their users to 'prove' RWBS's 'Superior Nature', contributing to this style's notable fractiousness.

There also are dozen's of schismatic dojo's teaching versions of this style 'developed' by isolated mortals and outcastes without a sifu. Many hundreds of people through out the threshold know this style but not it's name, having learned it on their own. Such 'Ganagare' often believe themselves to have developed a wholly new style and give it many outlandish names such as 'Pole of Fury Style', 'Farm Defender Style', or 'Old Man Style' under which they instruct students of their own. These schismatic dojos rarely last beyond the death of the original sifu, and those which do almost invariably eventually accept that their style is actually a variant of the Path of the Stave Church. A few however, including the three 'styles' listed above, have developed their own independent followings, who often are at odds with both the practitioners of the Path of the Stave Church and Righteous Wooden Beam Style.

Bellow are Breif Prasies of the current condition of this style in each of the Five Cardinal Directions and Autochthonia. Storytellers are encouraged to expand upon this material for their chronicles if they allow this style in their games.

Schism upon Schism: The Scavenger Lands

The greatest flower of the Path of the Stave Church lay on the borders of the Scavenger Lands during the Time of Cascading Years, and it is here that the highest numbers of it's practitioners can still be found. However in a land wracked by internal strife this style too is a house divided against itself: with hundreds of dojos and monasteries which teach this style or one of it's variants scattered across the region like acorns from an oak tree.

Weapons and Armor

This style must be practiced with Quarterstaves, Batons, Sticks, Canes, and Staff Slings or their artifact equivalents which are treated as 'form type' weapons. It may not be practiced while wearing armor with any fatigue or mobility penalty, but is NOT actually incompatible with armor. The style also is 'imperfect' and except where noted otherwise may not be used without a form weapon.

With a stunt it also may be practiced with improvised weapons or scenery similar to the above, such as rakes, shovels, pitchforks, wooden beams, and flagpoles: though the stunt must make use of the haft of the weapon not any blades or other protrusions.

Complimentary Abilities

Though not strictly required students of Path of the Stave Church style will find a high compassion helps them perform better, and that the Performance ability is required to use some charms. Those far advanced in the style typically have both stats at 3 or better, which makes them well liked by the common folk of much of the threshold.

Charms of the Path of the Stave Church Style

The following is a list of the charms of the Path of the Stave Church Style, both the nine charms of the Path itself and the Five distinct 'Mastery' charms.

The Basic Style

Though the Path of the Stave Church Style has five distinct capstone charms the road which brings a person to that choice does not vary. Nine charms must be mastered by the person who would learn one of the five 'master' charms and be acclaimed a Sifu of the Staff. These nine charms are referred to by the practitioners of the style as the Path of the Stave Church, a reference to the long lost temple where this style was once taught and in which for a time the last 3 masters of the style dwelt during the period known as the Time of Cascading Years.

Some archaic documents refer to a 'Righteous Wooden Beam Style' and a few can even teach it. This style is identical to the Path of the Stave Church save that it's only capstone is Grace Beyond Nature Mastery, the other four capstones having been developed later.

Twirling Baton Distraction

Cost: 3m

Minimums: Martial Arts 1, Essence 1.

Type: Supplemental

Duration: Instant

Keywords: Combo-OK.

Prerequisites: None

Description: By spinning his weapon in a hypnotic whirl the practitioner of Path of the Stave Church style may distract foes at a critical moment. This charm supplements a join battle roll, allowing the practitioner to add (The lower of Martial Arts or Performance) dice to the roll. These dice count as dice from charms for the purposes of dice pool maximums.

Up and Over Attack

Cost: 4m

Minimums: Martial Arts 2, Essence 2

Type: Supplemental

Duration: Until Next Attack in Flurry.

Keywords: Combo-Basic, obvious.

Prerequisites: None

Description: The practitioner of Path of the Stave Church style learns to use their stave or baton to aid their fighting by vaulting their opponent to strike at their undefended back, taking them by surprise.

This Charm Must be used as part of a flurry. The Path of the Stave Church style practitioner takes a jump action and roll's their (Strength + Athletics + Relevant Specialty). If they score more successes than their opponent's Parry DV they vault over their opponent and the next attack in the flurry is considered unexpected. If the opponent's parry DV exceeds their roll the opponent may make a single counter attack against the martial artist with a readied weapon. If this attack scores even one level of damage the flurry is interrupted, ending the Martial Artist's turn, and the Stave Church practitioner must roll (Dex + Athletics) at a DV equal to the damage or fall prone at an adjacent location of the opponent's choice.

This charm is abnormal among the charms of the style in that it may be used without a form weapon, and therefore is frequently the first charm of the style that students are taught, the other being Spinning Baton Distraction.

It's Just My Walking Stick

Cost: 6m

Minimums: Martial Arts 2, Essence 1.

Type: Reflexive

Duration: Instant

Keywords: Combo-Basic, Social.

Prerequisites: None

Description: By feigning weakness and infirmity leaning on their walking stick the Path of the Stave Church Style exerts a seemingly sourceless natural mental influence to allow the individual to retain their 'crutch' and cease to see it as a weapon.

Persons with a dodge MDV less than the practitioner's (Essence + Compassion) must roll their own compassion and fail in order to deny them their walking stick or staff, no matter what fate may befall them for failing to take it away. However, if the consequences merely for allowing the invalid their 'crutch' would be serious such as dismissal or torture they are expressly permitted to roll conviction to suppress their compassion. Person's with a MDV higher than the practitioner's (Essence + Compassion) are subject to a Subtle (Manipulation + Performance) attack to convince them to allow the 'walking stick' anyway. If the attack beats their MDV they are convinced that the invalid is harmless and allow her to take the 'crutch' through the checkpoint or other zone. This charm is ineffective once join battle is rolled or if the practitioner does not adopt a posture of infirmity and helplessness. Those effected by this charm may spend willpower to resist the social attack as normal.

Path of the Stave Church Form

Cost: 5m

Minimums: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2

Type: Form Type

Duration: One Scene

Keywords: Combo-OK.

Prerequisites: Twirling Baton Distraction, Up and Over Attack, It's Just My Walking Stick

Description: Adopting the stance of a road weary traveler and centering their essence along their base, palm, and spirit Chakras the Path of the Stave Church practitioner becomes clearly in tune with her weapons and the world around her, gaining the following benefits.

1: As long as the Path of the Stave Church Form is active all other charms of the style have their mote costs reduced by 1. This can reduce costs to zero and stacks with other effects which reduce mote costs.

2: Any condition which would reduce the user's DVs is lessened by 1 so long as they keep hold of their walking stick or other form weapon.

3: The User gain's bonus dice on any performance based rolls equal to their compassion. In the case of prayer rolls these dice instead become automatic successes.

One Chopstick Discipline

Cost: 1m

Minimums: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2

Type: Reflexive

Duration: One Action

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious.

Prerequisites: Path of the Stave Church Form

Description: As students advance in Path of the Stave Church Style learn to use their staves and batons as tools more than weapons.

The user of this charm may treat a staff or other form weapon they wield as an extension of their arm, including their hand, using it to retrieve objects from high shelves or punch the buttons of a control panel in a first age manse from four feet away. Through a series of ultra refined movements enhanced by essence they can balance a pin on the tip of their staff or other form weapon and even maneuver it finely enough to sew. While this charm is active they may treat the end of the form weapon they wield as if it were their own hand for all purposes related to undertaking actions with this utensil.

The name of this charm comes from the standard first step of training it, by learning to eat one's food using only a single blunt chopstick. It often is difficult to train this charm at full speed due to the rising difficulty of mastering the increasing muscular control and reflexes and essence manipulation required, and typically the student will take around three times as long as normal to master a charm of this difficulty due to having to pause in their studies to refocus their essence and undertake their maintenance regimen of their martial abilities. This charm is in fact known as the 'heart breaker' by masters of the style due to the number of students of the style who abandon their studies in frustration at the difficulty of mastering this charm.

Pole Spinning Assault

Cost: 4m,1wp

Minimums: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2

Type: Extra Action

Duration: One Tick

Keywords: Combo-OK, War.

Prerequisites: Path of the Stave Church Form

Description: Surrounding someone close to achieving full development in the Path of the Stave Church Style is not the wisest of decisions. Vaulting off the ground using their staff or other form weapon they strike at the foes who have surrounded them with their booted feet, kicking faces and other sensitive areas with great force.

When activating this charm the practitioner of the Path of the Stave Church Style may make a flurry of attacks using kicks against all persons adjacent to them. This Flurry takes a flat penalty to each attack equal to the number of attacks made instead of the usual flurry penalties. The damage of these attacks may be enhanced by Iron Boots or similar weapons which are treated as unarmed attacks for this charm.

If used in the context of mass combat the practitioner may flurry a number of attacks in one action against a single unit which has 'encircled' theirs up to their essence at no penalty.

Aged Hickory Infusion

Cost: 2m/D or 5m

Minimums: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2

Type: Enhancement

Duration: One Scene

Keywords: Combo-OK.

Prerequisites: One Chopstick Discipline, Pole Spinning Assault

Description: In the Hands of a serious student of Path of the Stave Church Style any stout stick can be a lethal weapon. There are two versions of this charm, learning the first of the two versions of this charm a character masters costs the normal amount of experience, learning the second of the two only costs one point. Not all dojos of Path of the Stave Church Style teach both versions.

One Version of this charm allows the practitioner of Path of the Stave Church Style to add dice to the damage rating of any of the form type weapons of this style at a cost of 2 committed motes per die added. They may add no more than their Essence dice to the damage rating in this way. Weapons with multiple damage ratings may only have one of them so enhanced.

The other version of this charm allows the practitioner to change the damage type of the form type weapons of this style from basing to lethal for 5 committed motes.

Both Versions last until the end of the current scene, and motes committed to these charms may not be uncommitted before that happens or another effect forces the charm to end.

Fanning Rota Defense

Cost: 8m +2m per previous time used in the scene.

Minimums: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3

Type: Reflexive, step ?

Duration: Instant

Keywords: None

Prerequisites: Aged Hickory Infusion

Description: The twirling spins and maneuvers practiced for show and distraction when the student of the Path of the Stave Church Style began his training now become more practical and useful. By infusing his weapon with essence and twirling it into the path of an incoming attack the practitioner can deflect incoming blows. This charm constitutes a semi-perfect parry against a single attack, with the following restrictions:

1: The charm is subject to one of the flaws of invulnerability appropriate to the exalt type of the user chosen when the charm is learned. In the case of users that either are not exalts or do not have a list of such flaws use those of solars.

2: This charm cannot be used to block attacks which cannot be parried.

3: If the attack would deal more raw dice of damage than the weapon used to block has damage rating it is broken in blocking the blow and rendered useless unless repaired. This restriction only applies to non-magical weapons.

4: When learning this charm the student chooses one category of weapon against which it is infective from the following list: Archery Weapons: Thrown Weapons: Melee Weapons: manufactured Martial Arts Weapons: or Natural Weapons such as teeth, claws, stingers, or bare hands/feet. (If using the Shards of the Exalted Dream Rules for Firearms, add that as an option for this flaw.)

In all other respects this charm is considered a perfect parry.

Cane Achieves Pole Vault Practice

Cost: 3m

Minimums: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3

Type: Supplemental

Duration: One Action

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious.

Prerequisites: Aged Hickory Infusion

Description: The mobility of one near to mastering the Path of the Stave Church transcends the limitations of common people and overawes those inexperienced with the path. By activating this charm the practitioner may extend their form weapon to ridiculous lengths, tripling their jumping and leaping distances and allowing them to make attacks against people normally out of reach. This extension of their weapon is very short lived and has different cosmetic effects depending on the practitioner, such as beams of shimmering force for a solar, or the staff actually growing like a tree and then withering away to dust for a wood aspect, but always is obvious to onlookers. This arguably is the flashest charm of the style. This charm allows practitioners to strike targets no more than ten yards away if used as part of an attack, though targets further away may be easily struck by flurrying a jump using this charm and an attack also using it.

The Five Mysteries

The following Five charms each represent one perfected understanding of Path of the Stave Church Style. Only one such charm may be learned, and having learned one such charm prevents the user from even attempting to train the others. There are reports that practitioners who reached Essence 6 were able to surpass this limitation but no such sifu's have emerged since the end of the first age to confirm this allegation. As mentioned above it is a peculiarity of this style that the five capstone charms cannot be learned from a teacher, they must always be learned from self instruction, and taking correspondingly longer to learn.

Stave of Legends Mastery

Cost: 5m

Minimums: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3

Duration: One Scene

Type: Enhancement

Keywords: Combo-OK, War

Prerequisites: Fanning Rota Defense, Cane Achieves Pole Vault Practice

Description: The touch of some among the Sifu's of Path of the Stave Church Style can make their weapons legends among legends. When this charm is activated the weapon with which the chosen practices the Path of the Stave Church Style has it's MM bonuses doubled. If the practitioner is a mortal using an artifact weapon they instead gain the magical material bonus of that weapon as if they could fully attune to it. This mastery has no effect on weapons which are not artifacts, and the artifact must have basic attunement already active to be effected by this charm.

Empty Hands Mastery

Cost: 5m,1wp or 10m,1wp

Minimums: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3

Duration: One Scene

Type: Reflexive

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, War

Prerequisites: Fanning Rota Defense, Cane Achieves Pole Vault Practice

Description: Some of those who practice the Path of the Stave Church Style learn to transcend the need for props such as canes and staves, instead temporarily drawing such tools from raw essence and force of will. When using this charm the master summons forth a mundane example of the form weapons of this style from essence and willpower. The weapon persists for the scene and then fades from existence as though it had never been, only the wounds it has left on the master's foes marking it's passage through the universe. This quasi-real force construct is treated as a non-magical weapon in all respects, and do not gain any benefits of increased quality or being essence constructs. The type of weapon is determined in the instant the charm is activated and may not be changed their after in that scene without reactivating the charm.

If used in the context of mass combat this charm costs 10m,1wp but may equip the master's entire unit with weapons identical to his own for the scene.

Grace Beyond Nature Mastery

Cost: 5m

Minimums: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3

Duration: One Scene

Type: Supplemental

Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious, War

Prerequisites: Fanning Rota Defense, Cane Achieves Pole Vault Practice

Description: The Quality of the weapon matters little to those who master this charm, being able to use a punky fallen branch and a fire hardened hickory stave with equal effectiveness. While the Sifu of the Staff has this charm active any of the mundane weapons which are form weapons of this style which he uses are treated as their artifact equivalents for the duration of his use in the scene. If the user is one of the chosen they are treated as being composed of Green Jade* and are considered attuned at no cost. If the user is a mortal, ghost, god, fae, or other being besides an Exalt they do not gain any material bonuses. This charm has no effect on non form weapons or weapons that are already magical.

• (See Oadenol's Codex page 21 for statistics.)

Righteous Wooden Beam Style

It is a peculiarity within the Path of the Stave Church Style that this charm may be taught through instruction: however this instruction can generally only come from certain ancient scrolls which predate the Time of Cascading Years and limits the time that may be spent training to 4 hours per day meditating on the scroll's koans and mantras, which effectively negates the training time advantage from having an instructor. An intact example of one of these scrolls would be worth at least a resources 4 purchase to those who understood what was being offered, and many many people would be interested in acquiring one by means fair and foul, including many masters of the style. As an added benefit an intact scroll also can teach the thumaturgical procedure Essence Enlightening Sutra and all of the charms of the base style, which are not subject to the 4 hour limitation. Many Hundreds of such scrolls exist, but most are hidden away in the tombs of the Anathema or the ruins of Dragon King cities, and few if any are written in a language other than Old Realm or High Holy Speech. Hundreds more partial scrolls exist which are still intact enough to teach Grace Beyond Nature Mastery, and most can teach at least 50% of the other charms of the style and/or Essence Enlightening Sutra.

A few rare Sifu's of Righteous Wooden Beam Style can teach the charm themselves, which allows full training limits. These sifu's are all one's who had their instruction from another such sifu or a fully intact scroll. When such a student learns Grace Beyond Nature Mastery in this way they must make a simple (Performance + Compassion) roll, only if they succeed can they teach the charm to their students. They may retry this roll at no penalty once per year that they spend studding the scroll's koans and mantras or memorizing the same from their sifu for an hour a day. This ability to teach Grace Beyond Nature Mastery is the sole-but-key difference between Righteous Wooden Beam Style and the modern Path of the Stave Church Style.

Eternal Student Mastery

Cost: -

Minimums: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3

Duration: Permanent

Type: Permanent

Keywords: None

Prerequisites: Fanning Rota Defense, Cane Achieves Pole Vault Practice

Description: There are those among the Sifus of the Staff who are not content with their mastery of one Martial Arts style but long to learn more. These rare few sometimes discover this mastery. The Sifu of the Staff who learns this charm may forever treat the form weapons of Path of the Stave Church Style as form weapons for any Terrestrial Martial Art for which they know a form type charm Subject to the following restrictions.

1: The weapon must be similarly sized to the weapon for which it is substituted. A baton could work for a knife but a staff could not, where a staff could take the place of a lance or spear but not a Cetus.

2: The weapons may not be used with charms that call for specific weapons, such as fighting chains, whips, or bare hands, and may not be used with ranged attacks at all.

3: Similar to above this charm may not be combine with the charms of another 'imperfect' style.

Special: At essence 5 and each level of essence thereafter this charm may also be applied to one specific Celestial style, subject to the restrictions above.

Many Weapons Transcendence

Cost: -

Minimums: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3

Duration: Permanent

Type: Permanent

Keywords: None

Prerequisites: Fanning Rota Defense, Cane Achieves Pole Vault Practice

Description: Just as some masters of the style go on to study other forms of martial arts some times a student of other styles will achieve complete understanding of Path of the Stave Church Style, these few often learn this capstone, allowing them to use the form weapons of their earlier styles with the charms of Path of the Stave Church Style.

The Hidden Master who learns this charm may treat the form weapons of any Terrestrial Style which he has learned the Form Type charm of as form weapons for the purposes of Path of the Stave Church Style: subject to the following restrictions.

1: The weapon must be similarly sized and shaped to the weapon for which it is substituted. A great sword or spear could take the place of a staff, or a hatchet that of a Stick but a 'spread the water knife' will never work with Path of the Stave Church Style nor will a fighting chain or razor harness. (Seven Section Staffs are a questionable case: when in doubt about this or any other weapon ask your storyteller.)

2: Like the charm above this charm may not be combine with the form weapons of another 'imperfect' style.

Special: At essence 5 and each level of essence thereafter this charm may also be applied to one specific Celestial style, subject to the restrictions above.