TrialBySchmendrick/AscendingEarthVsEvenBlade

Trial started: {date}
Trial completed: {date}

Home: Ascending Earth - Ambisinister, Sammael Strahd

Sammael is a serene and even tempered giant. He moves with the forced cautiousness and delicacy of one with a massive strength and the desire to avoid unintentionally causing harm or inflicting damage. He supports his dojo whole heartedly and practices the martial arts as a means of physical and mental development and conrtol. Sammael is confident in both his own abilities and the instruction and integrity of his school's styles, and is willing to demonstrate his confidence against anyone who seeks to challenge him. One of his favorite sayings is "Although the mountain is shaped by conflict and adversity, its presence is eternal. My shape is still rough, but I shall endure any hardship that come to my being."

Sammael possesses two artifacts: an heirloom from his family, and a gift given to him by his brother. Versprechung der Erde (Promise of Earth) is a White Jade Reinforced Breastplate (10L/9B, 8 hardness, -1 mobility, 0 fatigue, attune 4) traditionaly given to the second son of the main Strahd line. It is an exquisititely crafted, though simple piece; the only decoration geometric inlays of iron. 37 Bergkieselsteine (37 Mountain Pebbles) is a White Jade Dire Chain (spd 4, acc 0, damage 9B, defense +2, rate 2, attune 3, tags M, R) crafted for Sammael by his brother Karl. Inscribed on each of the 37 links is a meditation on the nature of stone and metal.

As part of his pursuit to master the three Seaonal Earth styles, Sammael has begun intense weapon training to supplement the well rounded techniques and methods encouraged at his dojo. (Fighting Chain +3, 1st MA Excellency, 3rd MA Excellency, Harmony of Steel, Well Honed Blade, Finely Polished Hauberk) (While Armored +1, 3rd Dodge Excellency) (Ox-Body x2)

Sammael knows a single combo, Dominating Press of Earth, which combines Crushing Blow with Weight of Mountains.

Away: Even Blade - IanPrice, "Ikkaku"

Ragara Ikkaku is a loudmouth, prone to duel at the slightest provocation, utterly convinced of his personal superiority in combat. Upon learning of the open challenge issued by a certain family of martial arts schools, he immediately set out to defeat them. Hailing from Chaowin Registrophe's variant of the Even Blade Style, he... excuse me. "Master Lord Chaowin Registrophe, First of Heaven's Chosen." Ikkaku gladly duels anyone who refuses to state the full name and title. Yet, obnoxious as he is, there is an air of playfulness around this fighter - duels to the death are a game to him. Unsurprisingly, his aspect is Fire.

His red Jade Reaper Daiklave (Speed 3, Accuracy +3, Damage +5L, Defense +1, Rate 3, Attune 5) and Hearthstone Bracers (Speed of attacks -1, +3 Dodge dice, Attune 4) are nameless, but have been passed down since the Shogunate, and Ikkaku loves to tell stories of the many battles they have been in. His exceptional Reinforced Breastplate (Soak +7L/+6B, Mobility -0, Fatigue 1) was made for him, and still bears quite a few dents and nicks that couldn't be removed with casual maintenance.

Ikkaku is extremely focused in his training, favoring a strong offense over other options (Swords +3, First Excellency, Martial Arts; Feinting +1, First Excellency, Stealth; Effortlessly Rising Flame, Falling Star Maneuver, Athletics; Third Excellency, Dodge).

Combos

Flaming Meteor Cut

• Falling Star Maneuver (supplemental, 1m/2 damage)
• Fiery Garda Force Attack (supplemental, 4m piercing + 1wp break parrying weapon)
• Deep Cut (simple?, 3m1w?, cripple if damage successes?)

Brilliant Fivefold Comet Rain

• Flashing Zephyr Speed Stance (supplemental, 4m MA attack flurry is -1 speed min 3/+1 accuracy/+1 rate)
• Close Your Eyes and Look (supplemental, 2m learn one vague thing about opponent's charms and double his DV penalties)
• Falling Star Maneuver (supplemental, 1m/2 damage)

Signs

• The Musician: Second Edition rules in place
• The Pillar: Schmendricks are considered to be Terrestrial Exalts, complete with aspects, with 5 charms besides their styles and 4 dots of specialties.
• The Sorcerer: Each combatant has two Combos with up to 3 charms each.
• The Guardians & The Spear: 4 total dots of Artifacts and Hearthstones.
• The Captain: Ascending Earth Schmendrick given 3 extra charms due to the disparity in size of styles.
• The Mast: Using an average of dice pools instead of rolling.
• The Banner: Combatants have met on an open crossroads. A bit of shrubbery, a signpost, and the horses they rode in on provide potential stunt-fodder.

Transcript

Tick 1

Flavor text describing the events, stunts, etc.

Mechanics of one fighter

Mechanics of another fighter. If a fighter makes an attack, use the attack steps. Second Edition, for example, would be:

1. Attack specifics, including charm use.
   1. Additional details, like countercharms
   2. Or other responses to the attack made during this step
2. Defense declaration
3. Attack roll
4. Attack reroll
5. External penalties
6. Defense reroll
7. Base damage
8. Soak
9. Counterattacks
10. Result

Conclusions

A section for what was learned

Initial Negotiations

Well, I'm not willing to wait for more challengers for too long. For this, I'd like to see Chaowin Registrophe's variant against Ascending Earth. Same signs we used for our last two battles against each other would be fine. (though if you ever reconsider on the Mast, I do find that it makes these things go more quickly) Since there's more potential for Combos in these styles (both of them, really), I've upped the number allowed by The Sorcerer by one. Finally: my understanding is that nobody pays a surcharge on pan-elemental styles like Even Blade, but I don't own the relevant books, so they're not in front of me at the moment. If I'm wrong, I'll trade in the Third Dodge Excellency for the appropriate Style Formulation charm. - IanPrice

My work schedule has been crazy, but I'm back! On to the Trial comments:

• Due to the difference in total charms between your style and mine (10-7) i'll be taking 8 extra charms instead of five. Would it throw off the results you are looking for if I took some charms from your other two seasonal earth styles?
• I'm totally fine with the signs as they stand. If you want to run with the Mast, let's give it a go this time. Regarding terrain, I was thinking maybe we could try some more neutral terrain this time around, a big field or a crossroads perhaps.

-Ambisinister

Mast, Captain and Banner it is. Totally cool for you to take from the other two Earth styles, or even any of the other ones if you see fit. - IanPrice

I apologize for the delay, but I'm still flip flopping between two sets of equipment and which charms to take. Resplendent would make an excellent support style for this one, but I don't really meet it's complimentary ability requirements.-Ambisinister

I'd be willing to set Schmendrick's requirements to the minimums for the resplendent charms for this fight. - IanPrice

I did mean by that, "Craft (Earth) 5 is fine by me." Also, question about Fiery Garda Force Attack: if parried unarmed using a stunt or charm that allows that, what happens when that willpower is spent? I'd say the parry goes away, and if the attack inflicts damage then the parrying limb is probably crippled in some way. Is this fair? Other thoughts? - IanPrice

Still need to come up with some combos. A few points:

• I have a question for you, Ian: The hardness granted by my form is determined by (MA + Essence), can that MA value be increased via the First Excellency? (In a similar fashion as the 1st athletics excellency and lightning speed for solars).
  
• Regarding your query, and pendind a reply from Shataina, it's hard to say. It can't break artifacts. How durable would you say someone using Blade Deflecting Palm is? Vulnerability to magically aided parries is a pretty standard Terrestrial Limitation.
• To balance your offer of craft five, I'd be more than willing to give you melee 5. It'd spice things up a little.

-A.

I would say it can, against single attacks like any other excellency use. Would be a seperate expenditure from enhancing your DV of course. See below for why I don't think vulnerability to magically aided parries is reasonable in this instance, re: Fiery Garda. - IanPrice, taking the Melee 5, though not sure what he'll do with it.

For what it's worth, Fiery Garda makes the attack piercing, it does not make it inflict lethal damage.-A.

I guess I'm good to go. I'd take a second combo, except I don't have any charms to make it with. I offered you melee in case there were any melee charms with a rating of 5 pre-requisite that may have interested you.-A.

I'll get things started soon then, or you can start if you want. - IanPrice

Player Chat

A space for the combatants to discuss things with each other.

Observer Comments

Fiery Garda Force Attack: This is easy to resolve. One of the co-author is a wikizen. Ask her. Ask Shataina. - TonyC

Good point. Email tossed off in her direction. - IanPrice

A less conclusive answer is to note that parrying doesn't necessarily mean putting your hand in front of a blade. That's really hard to do. Instead, most unarmed vs. armed parries are actually against the wielder's body - usually the arm, specifically, preventing the blade from reaching it's destination. Having said that, it's not unreasonable to believe that an unarmed parry has much less to worry about. That is, if I'm reading the problem correctly. If what I wrote makes no sense, forgive me. -- GreenLantern, really chiming in unnecessarily

My concern boils down to this: if it doesn't even get around unarmed parries, then the charm is absolutely useless. For 4m, I do lethal with my attack... wait, I'm using a sword already most of the time with this style. For the extra 1wp I do nothing at all against the defenses I'd really care about penetrating. I'm still waiting for a reply from Dustin, who wrote the charm. Since this is a public forum, I'll go with the author's intent, even if it seems to make the charm a big waste of resources. - IanPrice

I've been corrected about the effects there, so a big part of this arguement is wrong, and I rescind it. - IanPrice