MartialArts/BehemothTopplingSTyle

Behemoth Toppling Style

• back to Ambisinister.
• back to MartialArts.
• back to TerrestrialMartialArts.

Regarding feedback: So far there is only one truly synergistic charm in the style. I'm wondering if I should rework the mechanics of the intiate charms to inluce a synergistic aspect. I'm also a little unsure as to the power balance of the pinnacle charm. Of course, any other comments are also welcome.

Background

This style was developed post Usurpation. With the Solars gone and the Lunars otherwise occupied, defending Creations borders fell on the compartively frail shoulders of the Terrestirals. Though originally designed to give the weaker Dragon Bloods a fighting chance against some of the more powerful creatures lurking at the edges of Creation, the style has maintained its usefulness in combating the Anathema menace. Practioners are encouraged to fight in groups, and their training reflects that.

Weapons and Armor

This style may be used with any armor. All attacks made with Spears or Dire Lances are considerd to be unarmed for charms in this style.

Charms

Insect Stings The Dragon</b>
<b>Cost: 1 mote
Duration: instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:: None

As even the smallest insect can pierce the hide of a creature meany times its size, practioner's of this style can penetrate even the most impregnable of armors. Double the martial artist's raw damage for the purpose of over coming hardness. This charm may only be used if the martial artist is unarmed.

Vulnerablility Exploiting Strike</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:: none

Even the toughest carapace has its weak spots. Practioners of this style are trained to strike at these points in order to inflict maximum damage. This charm allows a BTS practioner to re-roll a damage roll and forces them to accept the roll with the most successes. This charm may only be used once on any given damage roll. This charm may only be used if the martial artist is unarmed.

Fly Wing Evasion</b>
<b>Cost: 1 mote per two dice
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:: none

Creatures of great bulk and mass have a difficult time striking, tiny, fast moving targets. So too is it difficult for a heavily encumbered foe to strike a BTS practioner. The martial artist may add two dice for every mote spent to a dodge roll. No more dice may be added than the difference between the target's and the martial artist's soak or the practioner's martial arts rating +1, whichever is lower. If no dodge exists, this charm may be used to create one. The martial artist's soak must be lower than his opponent's in order to use this charm.

Darting Sting Attack</b>
<b>Cost: 1 mote per die
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms:: none

An insect may land wherever it likes upon a slow moving creature. Those who study the BTS style learn to strike with equal precision. For every mote spent, the martial artist may add one die to an attack roll. No more dice may be added than the difference between the target's and the martial artist's base intiative or the practioner's martial arts rating +1, whichever is lower. This charm may only be used if the martial artist is unarmed. The martial artist's iniative must be higher than his opponent's in order to use this charm

Behemoth Toppling Form</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One Scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:: Insect Stings The Dragon, Vulnerability Exploiting Strike, Fly Wing Evasion, Darting Sting Attack

Through rigorous training, the basic techniques of this style become second nature, programmed into the very muscles and essence of the practioner. He fluctuates between perfect stillness and quick, darting action, never remaining where a foe wants and always striking in the most advnatageous fashion. So long as Behemoth Toppling Form remains active, practioners need only activate a charm once in order for it to effect every applicable roll in a single turn. This benefit only applies to the prerequisite charms of the form. This will provide a persistant dodge for every turn the martial artist pays Fly Wing Evasion's Cost. The martial artist must be unarmed in order to maintain Behmoth Toppling Form. Only one form type charm may be active at any point.

Pinion the Beast</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 mote per turn
Duration: One Turn
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:: Behemoth Toppling Form

By using his own mass and targeting key joints, BTS practioners are capable of slowing even the mightiest of creatures. The practioner makes a martial arts roll with a difficulty equal to the permenant essence of his target. The target may contest this roll by rolling strength or dex plus brawl or martial arts at standard difficulty. If the martial artist succeeds he inflicts a single, un-soakable level of lethal damage. In addition, the target is unable to move or dodge, and receives a penalty to their intiative and parry pools equal to the practioner's martial arts rating, effective immediately. These effects last until the start of the martial artist's next turn. Once activated, the martial artist need only pay 2 motes to maintain the effects of this charm. For every consecutive round a martial artist maintains Pinion the Beast, he receives a bonus die on the contested roll. These dice count as charm dice and the martial artist may not receive more dice than his martial arts rating. This is a synergistic charm. For every Terrestrial using Pinion the Beast against the same target, lower the difficulty of the contested roll by one for all characters, to a minimum of 1. In addition, each Terrestrial receives a number of bonus dice, equal to the number of participating Terrestrials, on the contested roll. These bonus dice are cumulative with the dice gained for maintaining the charm over consecutive rounds. Remember, no combination of dice from these bonuses may exceed a given participant's Martial Arts rating. A character must be capable of inflicting lethal damage in order to use this charm. Damage is only inflicted with the initial application of this charm. This charm may only be used if the martial artist is unarmed. This charm may be placed in a combo despite its non-instant duration.

...And Bare Its Vitals</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One Turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms:: Pinion the Beast

BTS practioners learn to further exploit a foe who has already been encumbered by Pinion the Beast. After removing a foe's mobility, the martial artist may reduce the protection provided by its thick hide. If the martial artist already has the target under the effects of Pinion the Beast, he may activate ...And Bare Its Vitals to reduce its soak by his Martial Arts rating until his next action. The martial artist may only invoke this charm once against a given foe in any round. A victim's soak may not be lowered below its permenant essence through any application of this charm. This charm may be placed in a combo despite its non-instant duration.

...And Hinder Its Fangs</b>
<b>Cost: 2 motes
Duration: One Turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence:  2
Prerequisite Charms:: Pinion the Beast

BTS practioners learn to further exploit a foe who has already been encumbered by Pinion the Beast. The martial artist may further reduce his foe's mobility by hindering its ability to strike back. If the martial artist already has the target under the effects of Pinion the Beast, he may activate ...And Hinder Its Fangs to subtract a number of dice equal to his Martial Arts rating from his foe's attack pools until his next action. The martial artist may only invoke this charm once against a given foe in any round. A victim's attack pool may not be lowered below its permenant essence through any application of this charm. This charm may be placed in a combo despite its non-instant duration.

Behemoth Slaying Blow</b>
<b>Cost: 5 motes, 1 Lethal Health Level, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:: ...And Bare Its Vitals, ...And Hinder Its Fangs

Masters of the Behemoth Toppling Style know that they must defeat their foes quickly or perish. Every strike must count if they are to be victorious. Through rigorous training, a BTS practioner may channel his anima through a strike to insure it will be as deadly as possible. The martial artist makes a standard martial arts attack adding his permenant essence to his accuracy. The martial artist may also re-roll all damage dice which fail to come up as a success in the intial roll. In addition all 10's rolled count twice for the purpose of determining damage. This charm may only be used if the martial artist is unarmed

Comments

Refer to the top of the page for the stuff I'd especially like help with.

I'd suggest Pinion the Beast cost more to initiate and then less to maintain. Otherwise, additional dice next turn or not, people are going to be ending it and then reactivating it to get the auto-level of damage again. Maybe... 5 or 6m to activate, but only 1 per turn to maintain?
-- Darloth (yeah, me again.)

While I'm here, Darting Sting Attack currently works as written even if the martial artist is going much slower than his target. Is that the intent of the charm, or is it only supposed to work if the martial artist has a higher initiative, as I suspect is the case? This also applies to Fly Wing Evasion, although with soak totals rather than init, obviously.
-- Darloth

Another thing - It makes more sense to me if you state you're halving the target's hardness for an attack as opposed to doubling the raw damage 'for the purposes of hardness', since the 2nd one implies you're changing the amount of damage you do, even though you're not. It's up to you, but I believe it would be clearer if you halved (and then rounded down) hardness of target instead.
-- Darloth

Finally, although only Pinion the Beast is actually synergistic, both of the followup charms for it are highly effective when used by more than one person on the same target, enough so that they can be considered synergistic and would probably be overpowered if they got even -more- benefits from it. As to the pre-form charms, they seem generally helpful rather than synergistic... you could change it, but the first few charms of a martial art are generally helpful rather than stylistically perfect, I think so that people can pick a few up and get use out of them straight away. Nicely structured, themed and implemented Terrestrial martial art though, nice work.
-- Darloth

This is a terribly spiffy style (makes me think of dragoons from the Final Fantasy series; is that the image you were going for?), but there's a couple of things I want to pick at. Why are ...And Bare Its Vitals and ...And Hinder Its Fangs not Instant, if they can be placed in Combos? Reflexive Charms can still have caveats like 'Can't use more than once a turn' or 'Can't use against multiple opponents', or whatever. Also, is there a reason Insect Stings The Dragon doubles damage vs hardness instead of just halves hardness? The doubling thing just seems a bit clunky. The Form is boss, though. Very novel idea. - DeadManSeven

Darloth-I like your suggestion for Pinion the Beast, it fixes that little loophole nicely. I'm setting the maintenance cost at 2 motes to keep it in-line with ...And Bare Its Vitals and ...And Hinder Its Fangs.

You are correct about my intent regarding intiative on both of those charms.

For both you and DeadManSeven: My original intent for Instect Stings the Dragon was a charm which would insure that an attack could do minimum damage against foes with high hardness. Do you guys think allowing the charm's effect to ignore hardness entirely is too over powered for a pre-form TMA?

I don't think it's powered wrong (it's pretty dead-on for a Terestrial effect in my eyes), just that the mechanics are weird. If you cut hardness in half, it's the same thing as doubling damage for the purpose of hardness, just that one is a more commonly-seen way of wording in canon Charms. - DeadManSeven

DeadManSeven-I was pretty sure that because the effects lingered "until the martial artist's next action" the charm's duration would have to be one turn.

Ah, so. Poor reading on my part. :) - DM7

This doesn't have to be the case. There are some Instant duration charms which have effects that linger. The 'duration' of the charm is simply how long you have to leave the motes committed. Currently, you have to commit the motes for an entire turn, but can still combo it. If it were instant, you could spend the motes, and theoretically regain them at the end of that same action, if you stunted nicely. As such, this way is slightly less powerful.
-- Darloth

Thanks for the feedback guys. This is my first TMA and I was a little unsure as to where the appropriate charm balance and power level should be.