I read Graham's post last night, but unfortunately yesterday was one of those days that got blown to bits, so I did not really finish all I wished I could do. I am going to address Scott's concerns first.
Zero intensities means that the individual is incapacitated and dying; he is not quite dead. Generally speaking, I hold that -1 intensity means that you are dead, and if you're a verser you are gone, but that at 0 you have what might be a few seconds to a few minutes. For dramatic purposes, you could probably croak out a few words of a good-bye, but you could not use those few words to cast a spell; you could reflect on what is happening, and I would probably allow a brief telepathic message, but you could not perform any lifesaving skills on yourself. In a very dramatic fight, I might allow that someone reduced to exactly 0 intensities who is due an attack in that minute can roll for one last attack, a sort of "collapsing on the opponent and driving the knife into his gut" sort of thing. I would not allow anything so dramatic as drawing another weapon. There is a lot of room for referee discretion here, but the one thing that is excluded is that the character takes action to keep himself alive.
Note that there are some actions which will preserve the life of an indig dropped to 0 or fewer intensities, if they are taken immediately. Such actions will work on a verser only if the verser is at 0 intensities (not lower) and someone else performs them. Serious life-saving techniques can save an indig who is below 0, but not a verser, because he is not there anymore. Such techniques can save a verser who is at 0.
On beating someone senseless and unconscious without any skills, well, the first thing to notice is that unless the attacker is uncommonly good as a natural fighter (i.e., has a 2@ martial strike value), attacks with his hands and feet are going to be annoying, most of them painful but not injurious, and the injurious ones doing only a single intensity of damage. Since the attacker cannot ever do two intensities of damage, and the defender cannot fight once that blow reduces him from 1 to 0, you can bring the man to 0 and have him still alive, unless the attacker decides to land a killing blow on his fallen victim.
In the alternative, you can use a "can't fight any longer" rule. After all, annoying blows which do not injure still hurt. Using stamina and resistance, you can determine that after a number of blows based on one of those scores (say, half the resistance) the pain is becoming too much, and the defender must make a stamina check for every blow sustained thereafter or pass out from the pain. If you prefer, you can base it on the best of stamina, resistance, and will power, and allow that anyone with martial arts skill or blow impact absorption is immune to this effect because of training.
Now, for the martial arts style:
Fighting is inherently dangerous, and you will never find any method of fighting that will never hurt or never kill someone. The best you can do is minimize damage. But you can do that.
The first thing I would suggest is to create a defensive style by giving the style a strong negative damage modifier on its attacks, and using those points to build up sit mods and damage mods against incoming attacks. This creates a sort of "I can't hurt you, but I can keep you from hurting me" style. Don't take negative sit-mods on the attacks, but expect that the "ordinary" attacks are going to do minimal or possibly no damage, and that you are not going to use these. Then go for maneuvers from this list:
- Quick Stand, B4@4 tumble to erect position, no time penalty to return to feet after fall or throw, untargeted success roll.
- Fall Impact Absorption, B4@6 fall shock absorption, damage category penalty on falls and related impacts, untargeted success roll.
- Blow Impact Absorption, B4@7 roll away from blows to reduce damage, damage category penalty on untargeted success roll.
- Evasive Tumbling, B4@8 RS=SM against all attacks in minute on untargeted success roll by tumbling maneuvers.
- Great Jump, B5@6 jump to 20 times size, uses one attack, RS/2' up and/or away, may turn to face any direction while in the air, +10 die mod for distance purposes only with 10' run, untargeted success roll.
- Immobility, B6@9 non-moveability, avoids any attack which moves target, untargeted success roll creates sit-mod against such attacks.
- Foot Sweep, B7@2 tactical movement is a basic annoying attack, opponent must make a simple agility check to avoid falling; (unmodified) annoying damage on fall.
- Fake, B7@2 tactical movement, uses attack, gives +10 sit-mod on next attack, untargeted success roll.
- Fallen Fighting, B7@2 positional, can fight normally when down, untargeted success roll to activate.
- Panoramic Awareness, B7@2 intensified senses, can detect visible opponents in any direction, untargeted success roll, always in effect (roll to negate surprise).
- Fighting Blind, B7@2 intensified senses, penalty reduced to -5 for all dark and blind conditions if not silenced, untargeted success roll required, always in effect.
- Missile Escape, B7@4 special dodging, success avoids any known missile attack, untargeted roll gives immunity for a full minute or combat period, negative sit-mod for high-speed missiles such as from high-tech weapons.
- Following Finger, B7@4 attack analysis, on success -10 sit-mod on opponent attacks, +10 sit-mod on attack success rolls, ignore cover.
- Muscle Blocking, B7@4 improved defenses creates +10 sit-mod against attacks doing inertial damage if no armor is worn, untargeted success roll required.
- Attack Catch, B7@5 anti-attack, catches limb or weapon, attack success roll against weapon establishes it, and attack success roll against weapon escapes it, automatic attack success by weapon or attack form if failure on attempt to catch weapon.
- Immobilizer, B7@5 anti-attack, secures opponent with one hand on failed resistance check, attack success roll bonused by discounting cover, escape as attack against weapon with a -30 sit-mod.
- Missile Catch, B7@5 disarming, catches the weapon. Baseline is thrown weapons. Arrows/small primitive propelled missiles at -10, -20 for low-velocity bullets, -30 for high velocity bullets; additional -10 for siege engines.
- Choking Grasp, B7@7 special damage, no damage, opponent successful attack releases, or on failed stamina check once per minute (multiply for stamina) RS/20 minutes unconscious, standard attack success roll establishes it.
- Limb Twister, B7@7 incapacitation, renders limb useless RS/4 hours on failed stamina check, damaging attack, -10 sit-mod, attack success roll bonused by discounting cover.
- Pain Inflicter, B7@7 special damage, RS/20 minutes pain, ±10 sit-mod on attacks both ways in the user's favor, standard attack success roll required.
- Stunning Strike, B7@7 special damage, resistance check or stunned RS/20 minutes, standard attack success roll required.
- Paralyzing Strike, B7@7 special damage, resistance check or unable to move RS minutes, standard attack success roll required.
- Blinding Strike, B7@7 special damage, temporarily blinds opponent RS/20 minutes on failed resistance check.
- Remote Strike, B7@9 non-contact damage, at SAL-10' separation, normal poke attack, pain inflicter, stunning strike, or paralyzing strike, limited as those attacks, standard ranged attack success roll required.
- Control Resistance, B7@9 anti-magic, anti-psionic, anti-technology defense, counters all mental attacks, untargeted success roll, always in effect.
- Alert Rest, B10@2 counter weakness or fatigue, one hour alert rest equals two hours sleep, untargeted success roll with +30 sit-mod.
I've listed those roughly in bias order; a good teacher would always start with the lowest biased skills and work up, but you do not need to have skills at each level/intensity. Some of these increase your defensive capability, and some give you the kinds of attacks you want--not all of them without damage, but if you are going to render someone's arm useless it is going to injure him.
Anyway, that should give you something with which to work.
--M. J. Young
