MartialArts/TwofoldLionStyle
Contents
Twofold Lion Style Information
Twofold Lion Style was crafted in the middle years of the First Age by two Sidereals both independantly and simultaneously. They had both mastered the charms up to the form charm when they met and discovered that they had seemingly both crafted the same martial art at the same time. Somewhat embarrassed they agreed to meet once one of them had finished learning up to the pinnacle charm and the one who got their first would be credited with its invention.
They next met and as fate or quirk thereof would have it they both had mastered the style at the same time. What they learned next though was more surprising though, each had crafted a different style that used the exact same base build up charms. They agreed on a name for a style, but neither one ever claimed invention for the style.
Due to the common base charms when someone wants to learn this style and is ready to learn a charm after the form charm they must pick a path. Do they stick to the male or female side of style, each side having its own strengths and theme of powers. The Male side mimics the majesty and nobility of the lions, while the lioness side mimics the deadly hunting skills and power of them. One you have chosen a side to learn you can not learn any of the other side. You need not be of the same sex as the side of the style you want to learn and master. In the first age the Sidereals did eventually figure out how someone could learn both but such knowledge has been lost in the second age.
Twofold Lion Style uses Tiger Claws as its signature weapon though practitioners of this style call them Lion Claws instead.
Twofold Lion Style Charms
Claws of the Lion
Cost: 2 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 3 Minimum Essence: 1 Prerequisite Charms: None
Fingers curved in the shape of claws her blows with her hands carry the lethal sharpness of a lions claws to both rend and grip. The Martial Artist does lethal instead of bashing with her hand to hand attacks. If you have Tiger Claws on or their artifact equivilants then they count as clinch enhancers when you use this charm. This charm can be used during a clinch.
Hidden Cat's Sight
Cost: 5 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Claws of the Lion
It is said cats can sense and see the hidden things of our world. This is just folklore really, though casts do have a keen sense of sight when left in the dark. The character using this charm gets both the common belief and the truth as a benifit. She may see dematerialized spirits and see as well in the dark as a cat. This does not help in complete darkness but does eliminate the penalties for most low light situations.
Tall Grass Step
Cost: 4 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: None
The character moves slowly, crouched behind cover as she stalks towards her prey. The character must move at no more then a quarter her normal movement and have at least cover for one quarter of her body. Unless the character draws attention to herself, or her targets have magically enhanced senses to use she will not be noticed. Should she move faster then a quarter speed or leave cover this charm fails.
Holding in the Roar
Cost: 5 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 3 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Tall Grass Step
With a deep breath in preperation of a loud kiai the character holds the sound within herself. This adds a subtle force and emphasis to her words letting her add her Martial Arts ability score to all herpresence rolls.
Twofold Lion Form
Cost: 5 motes Duration: One Scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Holding in the Roar, Hidden Cat's Sight]
The character adopts the attitude of the lion, fast, strong, deadly, powerful. Tough bone and sinew and hard muscle resist hits, while powerful hands both worry foes and strengthen your attacks. While a character has this form up she subtracts her essence from rolls to hit her. She adds her MA score as a bonus to her initiative. She adds her Martial Arts ability score to her bashing damage soak and she now inflicts lethal with her bare hands. A character can not use armor when using this form and can not have more then one form up at a time.
Male Side
Roar of Essence
Cost: 5 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Twofold Lion Form
With a mighty shout the Martial Artist unleashes an essence enhanced kiai which sows fear into her opponents mind. All opponents who hear this must succeed at a standard Valor roll or flee for the characters Martial Arts + Essence turns.
Thundering Heaven Roar
Cost: 4 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Roar of Essence
Her mastery of the style grows, and the power of her voice is amplified and strengthened ever further. Once again she unleashes a powerful kiai, one that can be heard for a mile around her. Those infront of her though, within an area of her Martial Arts in yards wide and her Martial Arts * 10 yards forward suffer far more. Anyone caught in the effect must make a Stamine + Endurance roll at a difficulty equal to their own Perception score. Failure means they lose one point of Perception for a scene. In addition all those caught within the blast take the Martial Artist's Essence + Martial Arts in dice of bashing damage unsoakable by armor.
Ferocius Lion Bite
Cost: 4 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Twofold Lion Form
With a lunge and a strike the character latches on to her foe, a simple strike now a hold. The exalt makes an attack or splits her actions for attacks as normal. Should she hit the target though the attack is considered to have been a clinch action and a clinch is initiated. Any further split actions are lost. In addition she adds her essence to her damage for that first turn of clinch resolution.
Throat Crunshing Lock
Cost: 3 motes per turn Duration: Varies Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Ferocious Lion Bite
Once into the clinch with a target the exalt begins to crush the life and fight from her foe. Each turn after the turn the clinch is initiated the target loses one die from her clinch rolls. This adds up over each turn. Should the target escape and be put into a clinch again the penalty starts back at 0 and builds from there.
Quiet Cat Terrain Wisdom
Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One hour Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Twofold Lion For
The exalt meditates for one hour and during this time local cats come by and visit for a short time and then go. After the hour is up, you awake from your meditation and know information and layouts of the area as known by the cats in it. This can impart things like who is where, what things are where, and if a cat has overheard it or seen it, interesting things done or secret things said. Anything besides the layout of the area and who is in it is up to the ST. This charm is less and less effective when their are less cats around.
Regal Lion Stance
Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower Duration: One scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisite Charms: Quiet Cat Terrain Wisdom, Throat Crushing Lock, Thundering Heaven Roar
The character is resplendent in the might of the king of the animal world. Those who would dare to seek to harm her must succeed at a difficulty 2 Valor roll and should they botch they will flee. Due to instinctive fear and difficulty facing the character the difficulty for the exalt to hit a foe is reduced by one. Natural animals around the character will understand and obey the commands that the character gives.
Lioness Side
Padded Feet Step
Cost: 5 motes Duration: One scene Type: Simple Minimum Martial Arts: 4 Minimum Essence: 3
Light footed, the exalt steps on silent feet creating no sound of her passage. She adds her MA to all stealth rolls, and cancels out the penalty of any step based sound difficulty raisers such as squeeky floorboards, dry leaves, etc. She also does not set off pressure plate traps. A smart character, and a perceptive one might take note of the traps she does not set off, to lead those who might chase her to later and have them suffer the consequences of.
Attack of the Pride
Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Extra Action Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Padded Feet Step
Like a pack of lions striking out to take down a single foe the character can attack like several lions, all working to defeat their pray. She rolls her MA score and for each success she may take an extra action that turn. She can not split her dice pools the turn she uses this charm. The actions need not be attacks.
Ripping Throat Claw
Cost: 4 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Twofold Lion Form
Her hands blur, and soon her prey is dead at her feet, throat bleeding into the dirt. Her attacks ignore armor, including shields. Only a targets natural soak works to reduce damage.
Pouncing Lion's Leap
Cost: 3 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 2 Prerequisite Charms: Ripping Throat Claw
The character leaps, hands slashing and flashing to cut down and cripple her foe. A character using this charm doubles successes for purposes of determining additional damage dice after the defense is rolled. Furthermore the character may leap up to her Martial Arts * 10 in yards each time she uses this attack. She need not actually attack to use this charm and if she leaps to an wall or surface can cling there, though has to climb up normally afterwards.
Nature's Bloody Cycle
Cost: 6 motes Duration: Instant Type: Supplemental Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 3 Prerequisite Charms: Pouncing Lion's Leap
Nature is not kind to animals or mortals. Very quick and lethal often enough. With this charm the exalt on a successful roll on her part, ignoring any rolls the target makes, kills her foe instantly. This charm only works on creatures that do not soak lethal with their stamina.
Running Rending Claw
Cost: 5 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Minimum Martial Arts: 5 Minimum Essence: 4 Prerequisite Charms: Nature's Bloody Cycle, Attack of the Pride
The strength of one and the strength of many are at the female lion's disposal. Powerful in her own right, she can work together as well, striking when the moment is right. You must wait until everyone else has acted. You ignore the dice pool attack penalty from PC and in addition for each init tick you wait you get one extra die for attack rolls. These attack dice can be used to create pools and any pool created with this gets the bonus from weapons and can be supplemented with other charms or effects.
Comments
- Do you want the weaponry effect of Claws of the Lion to be usable only when initiating a clinch, or also during it? If the second, then you need to specify that this Charm can be used in a clinch.
- At first glance, Hidden Cat's Sight seems to have low requirements and cost for what it does. Compare Spirit Sight.
- Tall Grass Step is a cool idea - but it seems like a very weak Charm; a standard-difficulty Willpower roll is hard even for most mortals to fail. I'd consider a Stealthy version of the Graceful Crane Stance effect - no one will notice you unless they have magical perceptions, as long as you don't do anything to call attention to yourself.
- Quiet Cat Terrain Wisdom is neat, but I don't like it as part of a Martial Art. It's just not martial enough.
- On a similar note, I'd like some ideas of how Padded Feet Step can be applied combatively - it's really thematic and cool, so...
- I'd up the cost of Pouncing Lion Leap to 3 motes because of its jump bonus.
- Nature's Bloody Cycle has an odd condition; why did you choose it?
- Running Rending Claw is very frightening. I would playtest it carefully.
- Made alterations based on your first two comments, while I note your dislike of Quiet Cat Terrain Wisdom I see it like a zen sudden understanding type thing. Might make a few changes to make it more Martial Arty. I choose the condition for Nature's Bloody Cycle because the lethal soak thing is pretty much what defines a basic mortal or animal. Something you can just bat at and it dies. This entire style remains untested, as do most of my charms. Should someone test it before I do please let me know how it works. Hope all this helps. -BogMod
- That's what I suspected the logic was; basically I see no reason not to use Essence as a metric instead. Particularly because some critters have soaks of unknown provenance. - w
I gave this martial art to a lunar that went to a sidereal for guidance on how to kill a Solar who had murdered someone she cared for. The Bronze was only happy to help since the Solar was a pain in his side as well. Granted, this was the Lunars NPC background. Fought the player Solar with it. The Solar had cannon Mantis Style. The Solar lost pretty quickly. Granted, it is hard to say if it was from the difference in Exalted Type or MA Style. But I do like this MA. The only thing is the final ultimate charm, it needs some restriction. If you have a 20 MA and you say you go down to tic 1, that is like 19 extra dice! Like wow. - Savare
- What if it still did not let you add more then your attribute to any one attack? So say your using it and your dex is 7 for this lunar. With it no more then 7 dice could be added to one attack, or if an attack was created it could be up to your normal pool plus seven dice? -BogMod
