MeiRen/SolarBrawl
I wanted to remake Brawl. Its got one or two very cool and powerful Charms, but they come in the form of cool tricks rather than universal staples. Compare, Dragon Coil Technique or Thunderclap Rush Attack to Excellent Strike or Fivefold Bulwark Stance. Now, the cool tricks are cool and all, but its not enough. Brawl should have some more generic Charms, and here they are.
The philosophy with these was too do somethinga little different from the Melee and Martial Arts trees. I wanted to avoid reflexive defenses, 30 die attacks, and other things which are already supported in other ablities. I like 30 die attacks as much as the next guy, but Melee can already do this. I wanted to make Brawl unique. Specically, I wanted it to feel fast, brutal, and messy.
The resulting Charms can, I think, dish out a lot of in ahurry quickly. You can very quickly get some very impressive attacks, but with no reflexive defenses, and no scene length charms at all, you're going to have to win quick or die. The most important Charm is probably Chamption's Poise, which allows you to make up your own comboes on the fly.
These Charms are designed to function independantly of the normal Brawl tree, although they start with Sledgehammer Fist Punch.
Golden Fist</b>
<b>Cost: 2 Motes Type: Supplemental Length: Instant Prereq: 3 Brawl, 2 Essence, Sledgehammer Fist Punch
Iron is heavier than wood; lead, heavier than iron; Gold, the heaviest of all. A child may carry a load of wood to market, but to carry a load of iron a man is needed. For a load of lead, a horse is needed. For a load of Gold, a God is needed. As with trade, so with war.
Using this charm, the Brawler's blows take on the weight of unmixed Gold. They effortlessly punch through any attempts to block them: One attack you make may not be blocked, only dodged.
Barbarian Charge</b>
<b>Cost: 2 Motes Type: Supplemental Length: Instant Prereq: 3 Brawl, 2 Essence, Golden Fist
The Exalt using this ablity denies his opponent time to prepare his defense. The Exalt employing this Charm quickly covers the distance between himself and his opponent. You may move up to Dexterity + 10 yards before making a Brawl attack. You may use this Charm only once per turn.
Hair Trigger-Temper</b>
<b>Cost: 4 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: One Turn Prereq: 5 Brawl, 3 Essence, Murderous Body of Man
Where others scramble for their weapons or adopt esoteric forms, the brawler goes for the throat: The Exalt using this charm automatically wins Iniative this turn. However, all your dice actions for the turn must be Brawl actions. (Unarmed attacks, Unarmed Blocks, and Brawl Charms.) If you have a Martial Arts form active, you immediatelly lose the benefits of the form, as the disciplined approach of the Martial Artist and the wild swings of the brawler are incompatible.
Hundred Bulls Smashing</b>
<b>Cost: 4 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: One Turn Prereq: 3 Brawl, 2 Essence, Murderous Body of Man
The Exalt takes one the raw destructive aspect of one hundred rampaging bulls. This turn, you automatically win Iniative and deal +6 damage with all attacks. However, all actions you take this turn must be brawling attacks. You may not defend, even using reflexive parries such a Dipping Swallow Defense or Flow Like Blood.
Blade-Turning Gesture</b>
<b>Cost: 5 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: Instant Prereq: 5 Brawl, 2 Essence, Golden Fist
You may turn your opponent's blow againist him. If your opponent attacks with a Melee weapon, you may activate Blade-Turning Gesture to make a Reflexive parry using your full Brawl+Dexterity pool. If you succesfully block the blow, any additional succesus on the parry roll are considered to be a reflexive counterattack, which your assailent may block or dodge normally. If your attack hits, you use your opponent's strength and weapon bonus to calculate damage.
The counterattack part of this Charm does not activate againist Solar Counterattack or other counterattack charms. You may still use it for the reflexive block, however.
Thousandweight Soul Stance</b>
<b>Cost: 6 Motes, one Willpower Type: Reflexive Length: One Scene Prereq: 5 Brawl, 3 Essence, Blade-Turning Gesture
All your attacks carry the metaphorical and magical weight of pure gold: until the end of the scene, attacks you make may not be blocked, only dodged.
Rampart of the True Champion</b>
<b>Cost: 3 Motes Type: Supplemental Length: One Turn Prereq: 5 Brawl, 3 Essence, Golden Fist
Elephants do not worry themselves with fleas, champions do not worry themselves with amateurs. Any attack againist you made using 6 dice or less automatically fails. This includes lethal attacks and archery or thrown attacks, but not attacks that are magical in nature.
Body Like a Brick Wall</b>
<b>Cost: 5 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: One scene Prereq: 5 Brawl, 3 Essence, Rapart of the True Champion
To the Champion fighter, "armed", and "unarmed" is of little importance. All lethal attacks made againist you are considered to be bashing: you may block them unarmed, soak them using your bashing soak total, and they deal only bashing damage. This charm has no effect on attacks that deal aggravated damage.
-CrownedSun's "My Body, My Weapon" I like the idea that you Brawl attacks are flexible and customizable, but I'm not sure how much I like giving Brawlers bonuses as though they had a weapon. Maybe a very weak weapon? Hmmmm....
-Crimson Palm Counterstrike, solar version thereof.
-Thematically: Arrogance, foolishness, hubris. "I can do this cuz I'm so great", "oh, you idiot, you thought you could ________", "No one can hurt me, because I'm great", et cetera.
-Immune to Bashing Damage.
-greater flexiblity: you're using your own native weapons, you can manuveur more easily than someone carrying around a 6 foot golden sword.
-deliberate advantage againist those using Melee weapons. Yes, its unrealistic, but it strikes me as a cool idea. Melee weapons have much more raw power, but there's something just brutal about a good punch. Also, it might create a situation where the Brawler is on equal or greater terms with a swordsman, but gets his ass kicked by a martial artist. That just feels right somehow.
Murderous Body of Man</b>
<b>Cost: 2 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: One turn Prereq: 2 Brawl, 1 Essence
While a sword may appear as a deadly weapon, a trained fighter looks upon the body of each and every human being as a deadly weapon. Certainly, the Exalt's is: This Charm allows you to parrty lethal attacks and do lethal damage with your attacks for one turn.
(branches off in two directions)
Purity of Rage</b>
<b>Cost: 2 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: One Turn Prereq: 3 Brawl, 1 Essence, Hardened Veteran Attitude
For the Exalt using this Charm, nothing but himself and his opponents exist. All discipline, all worldly concerns, all restraints vanish. You gain +4 Accuracy on one attack. You may only benefit from the Killing Focus once per turn. If you have a Martial Arts form active, you immediatelly lose the benefits of the form, as the pure rage of the brawler displaces the more reasoned approach of the Martial Artist.
Hundred Bulls Smashing</b>
<b>Cost: 4 Motes Type: Reflexive Length: One Turn Prereq: 3 Brawl, 2 Essence, Golden Fist
The Exalt takes one the raw destructive aspect of one hundred rampaging bulls. This turn, you automatically win Iniative and deal +6 damage with all attacks. However, all actions you take this turn must be brawling attacks. You may not defend, even using reflexive parries such as Dipping Swallow Defense or Flow Like Blood.
Feedback
I like the look of a lot of these, but they seem, as a whole, to be a little inexpensive... -Suzume
- Then again, it's Brawl. Odds are that even if you use one of these charms to get +6 to damage, you're still doing a bit less than or equal to the guy with the Daiklaive who doesn't need a charm to have his level of damage. Hundred Bulls Smashing seems like a charm you wouldn't want to use in a fight against more than one opponent (personally, it's rare to encounter a single antagonist). Things like Rampart of the True Champion are poorer than other Resistance charms that provide hardness (e.g. Iron Kettle Body in the PG version). The biggest problem I see is references to things that don't appear there. Purity of Rage refers to Killing Focus, and the introductory text refers to Chamption's Poise. ~ Andrew01
