MartialArts/NorthernHunterStyle
Northern Hunter Style Martial Arts
This is my first attempt at a martial art style for Exalted, or anything else for that matter.
The style is one developed by Exalts from the north who are from semi-nomadic tribes which follow and hunt the various large game of the area (mammoths, elk, reindeer). Its signature weapon is the spear and it is not compatible with armor.
To see a picture of the tree, look here.
Snow Hare's Tread
Cost: 4 motes Duration: 1 scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: None
The large feet of the snow allow it to walk on snow and not sink, it's claws allow it to grip the ice and gain traction.
A Hunter with this charm active can walk atop snow as if it were soft dirt; he leaves shallow, but easily visible footprints. Also, he has normal traction on ice. Neither of these effects extends outside of the above cases - the Exalt can not walk on quicksand or mud, nor does he have good traction on a surface slicked with oil, for example.
Swinging Tusk Parry
Cost: 1 mote/2 dice Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Snow Hare's Tread
The mammoth can easily bat aside an attack with its tusks. By emulating it, so can the hunter.
The character may trade Essence for dice to block any hand-to-hand attack that she is aware of, at the cost of 1 mote per 2 dice. The player cannot use more dice to parry any single attack than her Martial Arts+Dexterity dice pool. If there are an odd number of dice in her pool, then the fractional mote left over after buying the last die is lost.
The character can parry lethal blows without a stunt when using this charm.
Reindeer Alertness Prana
Cost: 6 motes Duration: 1 scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 2 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Mammoth Piercing Blow
The keen senses of the reindeer make it difficult to ambush or ambush.
For one scene add Essence in dice to any pool to detect an ambush or avoid being surprised.
Sprinting Reindeer Technique
Cost: 3 motes/multiplier Duration: MA in turns Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 2 Prereqs: Reindeer Alertness Prana
Even the strongest bull reindeer knows it is better to flee and live to fight again than to die pointlessly.
For every three motes spend on this this charm, the Exalt increases his sprinting speed by one factor (e.g. 3 motes doubles, 6 motes triples, 9 motes quadruples, to a maximum of factor of his Martial Arts score). At the end of the charm, the Exalt must make Stamina+Endurance roll with a difficutly equal to the factor or spend 10 - Stamina turns catching his breath (-2 dice on all actions while catching breath).
Wolf's Keen Tracking Method
Cost: 4 motes Duration: 1 scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Snow Hare's Tread
The martial artist adopts the keen senses of the snow leopard for tracking his prey.
The hunter adds Essence dice to rolls for tracking or locating his quarry.
Wolf Pack Ambush
Cost: 2 motes + 2 motes/ally, plus 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 3 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Wolf's Keen Tracking Method
Knowing how to track one's prey is only one facet of the hunt. The next piece of the hunter's puzzle is attacking without being noticed - the quicker the kill the better.
The Exalt and up to his Essence in allies can each perform a single dice action (or activate a simple charm) before combat has commenced and initiative is rolled. The quarry must not know the location(s) of the attacker(s), but may be suspicious of their presence. The quarry can make a Wits+Awareness roll at a difficulty equal to the Exalt's essence to defeat the effect, in which case initiative is rolled normally, but the attackers gain a bonus equal to the hunters Martial Arts instead.
Northern Hunter Form
Cost: 8 motes Duration: 1 scene Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 3 Prereqs: Swinging Tusk Parry, Sprinting Reindeer Technique, Wolf Pack Ambush
The hunter passes from student to adept when he learns this charm. His prey's attempts to fight back are easily countered, its attempts at flight easily overcome, and the hunter's blows more dangerous.
For the duration of this charm, the hunter may refexively parry, with his full parry pool, a number of attacks or which he is aware equal to his Martial Arts score. He adds his Essence in dice to all pools related to tracking. Finally, he can convert damage dice to automatic damage at a cost of 2 motes per die to a maximum number of dice equal to his Martial Arts score (this is an effect of the form and doesn't count as charm use).
Mammoth Piercing Blow
Cost: 6 motes Duration: Instant Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Northern Hunter Form
The hide and hair of a mammoth are thick and difficult to pierce, to overcome this, a hunter makes a devastating leap attack to drive his weapon deep into his quarry.
The hunter makes a single attack and cannot split his dice pool. He must be at least at least 3 yards away from his prey, and adds twice his Martial Arts score in yards to his leaping distance. If the hunter is wielding a spear, the damage is piercing; if he is barehanded, he inflicts lethal damage. If the attack is successful, he converts his Strength in damage dice to automatic damage.
Relentless Hunt of the North
Cost: 10 motes, 1 willpower, 1 health level
Duration: Special Type: Simple Min. Martial Arts: 4 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Northern Hunter Form
The master of this style is hunter who can not be deterred or evaded. He will persue his quarry tirelessly until it is brought down. The hunter must select one being to be the target of the hunt.
The target must be visible at the time the charm is activated, or the hunter must possess an item through which he may know his quarry: a article of clothing which has been worn recently and against the skin (i.e. not a jacket or cloak), a lock of hair, or even a toenail clipping - it must be either part of the victim or a fairly personal belonging.
For the next lunar month, the hunter always knows the direction in which his quarry lies. He must continually pursue his quarry, and need not rest or sleep. If the hunter chooses to attack, the maximum wound penalty the foe has suffered since the charm began is immediately reinstated (but not the wounds themselves). The difficulty of parrying or dodging the hunter's blows is increased by his Martial Arts. The essence and willpower remain commited for the duration but the health cost is not paid until the charm ends.
If the hunter wishes, he can attempt to end the charm early. Doing so requires a willpower roll at a difficulty of his opponent's Essence. This can only be attempted once per day and successive attempts incur a cumulative +1 difficulty.
Antler Entanglement Stance
Cost: 6 motes Duration: Instant Type: Reflexive Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 4 Prereqs: Northern Hunter Form
Like the antlers of the bull elk, the hunter can parry blows and entangle weapons.
The hunter adds Essence in automatic successes to a single parry. If the parry is successful, roll extra successes + Martial Arts versus opponents Wits + combat ability to disarm. Unarmed opponents will have the attacking limb numbed and rendered useless for a number of turns equal to the hunter's Martial Arts score.
Flurry of Tusks Charge
Cost: 8 motes, 1 willpower Duration: Instant Type: Extra Action Min. Martial Arts: 5 Min. Essence: 5 Prereqs: Flurry of Tusks Charge, Antler Entanglement Stance, Relentless Hunt of the North
An enraged mammoth can be a deadly foe if it decides to charge through its attackers tusk first to escape them.
The hunter moves his full sprinting distance and attacks each enemy who falls within attack range of his path once, up to a maximum of Dexterity enemies, with his full attack pool. If there are more targets than the hunters Dexterity score, he can choose which ones to attack - he need not attack the first targets along the path.
If a target takes enough damage to be subject to knockdown or stun effects, the difficulty of the roll to resist is increased half the hunter's Strength, rounded up.
Comments
Okay, I'm feeling sort of semi-confident about this. But, only semi-confident. Any corrections on power levels and costs would be greatly appreciated! - Qaphsiel
Here we go. :) I like the concept, especially the idea in my head of the Bull of the North leaping around like a frog. That being said, there are a few small problems:
- Mammoth Piercing Blow is too powerful for a first tier, pre-Form Charm. It's simply too effective; I'd suggest putting it "up" the tree closer to the Form. Second, from the description you give, it sounds like this should be a Simple Charm, not a reflexive?
- Swinging Tusk Parry references the melee pool- I'm guessing this is a typo? In any case, you should probably be specific about whether you can just get (Ability) dice, in which case it's a little low power, or it's the full Dexterity + (Ability) pool, in which case- eh, about right for a preform Charm, but closer to a no-requirements one than a second tier.
- Wolf Pack Ambush looks like it needs an Essence surcharge for the person using it- perhaps it should be 2 + 2 per ally + 1 Willpower, or maybe 3 + 2?
- Northern Hunter Form looks pretty good, except for the damage thing. I'm not sure it should be so cheap, given that it doesn't count as a Charm use.
- Flurry of Tusks Charge: Looks good, but it looks more like a cap charm, than an immediately post-Form Charm.
- Horned-Snow Hunter's Blow: For this one- hmm. I'm not sure, honestly, that Celestial Martial Arts should have a Perfect Attack. I've always seen those as being either exclusively Solar, and maybe Ess 6-ish Sidereal, as a part of other, Weird effects.
- Overall: Looks good, although it's shifted up in terms of power from what I think of as the baseline for Martial Art Charms, except for STP. It's a nifty concept. :)
- Ahhh, thank you so much for the comments. For the most part you hit on the spots I was most concerned with. I took out HSHB, made HTC the cap and moved MPB above the form, and added a base charm that is fairly weak (as recommended by Borgstrom in her MA guidelines). Thanks for catching a couple of just plain goofs too: yeah PMB should be simple and the dice adder cap in STP. -- Qaphsiel
- Looking good now. :) You've got a lot of scene-longs, but they're mostly noncombatish. So- works! :) - IsawaBrian
- Spiffy. Thanks so much for your feedback! -- Qaphsiel
Bumped up the cost and effectiveness of MPB a little to reflect its higher position in the tree. -- Qaphsiel
- *chuckles* Looks good, but you accidentally returned MPB's prerequisite Charms to None.
- D'oh!
