HorsemanDeath/SmithStyle

Smith Style MA

Note to self: Add some fire effects here, too. Dunno where or how. Just do it, cause I told you.

The title is a place-holder for a later, grander name, for my first Martial Arts tree. Feel free to jump in to harrangue, comment, suggest, or otherwise provide feedback. In fact, I'll likely need all the help I can get. ;)

I'll post this to the proper place in the MA area once I have a concrete title. No need creating future dead links.

The focus of the style is that of the smithy: the fire, metal, tools (hammer, tongs, vise, anvil), and man. I've tried to demonstrate some of this in the tree by going three routes after the form charm: defense, offense against live targets, offense against equipment.

Hammers are treated as unarmed for use with this style. I'm considering allowing bracers as the only armor.

Stoking Fury's Forge
Cost:
Duration:
Minimum MA: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prereq: None
Increases Initiative.

Hammer on Iron Technique
Cost: 1 mote per 2 dice
Duration: Instant
Minimum MA: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prereq: None
Provides additional damage dice on an attack. Motes spent before attack is made.

Form Charm
Cost:
Duration: Scene
Minimum MA: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prereq: Stoking Fury's Furnace, Hammer on Iron
Damage from bashing to lethal. Add MA score to both soak pools. Can parry lethal damage barehanded.

Steel Rending Blow
Cost:
Duration: Instant
Minimum MA: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prereq: Form
Damage done is applied to weapon, armor, or similar item, not person. 5MM items may be temporarily damaged, but not destroyed. Effects on 5MM last until end of scene. (Damage applied halved, then subtracts from item's stats?)

Forge Heart Hands
Cost:
Duration: Instant
Minimum MA: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prereq: Steel Rending Blow
Hands glow red-hot. Attacks made as piercing damage, halving armor soak.

Biting Jaws of the Vise
Cost:
Duration:
Minimum MA: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prereq: Form
Increases difficulty to break hold +2. Adds 1 extra damage die per round held, to a maximum of MA score in dice.

Journeyman's Song of Iron
Cost:
Duration:
Minimum MA: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prereq: Biting Jaws of the Vise
Two attacks in the same turn on one target. Alternately, may parry one or two attacks from the same target.

Master's Song of Steel
Cost:
Duration: Scene (?)
Minimum MA: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prereq: Journeyman's Song of Iron
Multiple Attacks, Varied Targets, Counter-Attack

Striking Sledge Attack
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Minimum MA: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prereq: Form
Stuns target for [damage – target Stamina] turns.

Steel Body Prana
Cost: 1 WP, 10 motes
Duration: Scene
Minimum MA: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prereq: Striking Sledge Attack
Removes ping damage.

Sparks Burn the Apprentice (title needs work)
Cost:
Duration: Reflexive
Minimum MA: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prereq: Steel Body Prana
Returns portion of pre-soak damage inflicted on user to melee / hand-to-hand attacker. When the Exalt is struck, sparks fly from the impact, showering the attacker, dealing damage.

Comments

Random idea, for the Form: Soak Lethal with full Bashing soak, Gain Lethal Soak as hardness vs Heat and Fire effects (including environmental, and Fire aspect DB animas, that Dragon Vortex Charm, etc). - Nikink Nice outline btw!

I agree with the theory of hardness against fire/heat, it just seems right. More to my thoughts, though, I'd say the form (and the tree, in general) is missing the high-damage attacks I'd expect from Smithies. The concept of hammering away, bending even metal, seems to me to be a damage-type effect (or at least soak reduction?), not one of increased die pools and soak. - GregLink

Thanks, Nikink! I hadn't even thought about environmental soak against heat and fire. Duh on me. I'll look to include that. There are some pieces that I still feel are missing, but I can't pin down what they are, exactly. Hopefully I'll get some real wording and fluff in here in the next week or so.

Edit response to Greg. As I was reading your input, I was thinking to myself how obvious that should be. Granted, it has been some months sonce I've even looked at this until just this week, so I can't remember what I was thinking when I started this. You've got me quite interested in completing this now. - HorsemanDeath

What about changing the fire-and-stones strike-like charm (second in the list?) to one of damage increasing, rather than die-pool increasing? Or perhaps allowing soak reduction? - Ah, I know! Ignore metallic armor! That's a fun smithy-type effect! As for armor, I'd say be sure to allow at least buff-jackets. The heavy aprons you wear in smithing are similar in size and weight, and I'd think allow a good middle-ground on soak for the practitioner. Reinforced jackets may even be disallowed, at your opinion. As for the general feel of the penultimate charm, I like it a lot, but as you mentioned, it can use a bit of mechanical work. I'd suggest that perhaps you do some sort of effect where an opponent's "over" successes (those beyond required to hit you) turn back on him in some fashion. Provides an interesting strategic advantage, and implies that those who snake right next to you to do the most damaging blows are the ones that take the most damage from it. Perhaps note that "Anytime the martial artist is attacked in hand-to-hand combat, the attacker is hit by thrown sparks. These sparks are treated as a counter-attack effect, and cannot be caused by another counter-attack type effect. This counterattack effect explicitly allows other counter-attack effects, such as Solar Counterattack, to also be used by the Martial artist against the same incoming attack. This counterattack is considered to have a number of attack successes equal to the number of successes scored by the attacker in the initial attack, and do the martial artist's Essence/2 in bashing damage."

Just some random ideas. - GregLink

I do recall using some of the melee charms as the groundwork for the attacks, which would be why a few look familiar. I can completely see the allowance of buff jackets, and ignoring metal armor (at later levels, since the effect is downright nasty against plate-wearing tin-cans like the Dyansts) is brilliant! I'll be sure to include those on the rewrite.

On the penultimate charm, I like your idea of over successes being used. In effect, the opponent's attack is returned on himself in full (pre-soak). Very nice. Beefs it up a bit where I was trying to stay low. (I was designing this in a player's mindeset, not ST. Thus, I tried to stay underpower when possible.) The counterattack effect text had me somewhat confused until I reread it. You've got me thinking that this is almost a second form charm, instead of a reflexive. Perhaps this is the bridge charm to a mastery tree at some later point.

Thanks for the input, Greg. Much to play with there. - HorsemanDeath

Oh, no problem. Thing is, I've always wanted a style similar to this. I can't help but do my best to make it awesome. - GregLink