Character Gen – Avahur (16 posts)

  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 3 months ago:

    Full Name: Jeff Scott Isaac Coleman

    Common Nicknames:
    Badfur~ Used by somewhere over 20k people. It’s frequently my nickname for online games. I play a lot of them, and have been called Badfur, and answer to it almost more naturally than my given name, for the last 10 or 11 years.

    Avahur ~ Started being called this about 6 or 7 years ago. Also used in gaming situations, and is the name of quite a few of my characters in Dungeon and Dragons games, as well as more recently, my characters in Rift, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. That aside, it’s far more unique and recognizable than Badfur.

    Calafalas aka Cala ~ So far only used by people that knew me when I played World of Warcraft. I played that game for about 5 years, and met quite a few people in that time, some of which I’ve come to know in other situations that still call me Cala, even knowing my actual name. It also has been used as a last name for some characters.

    Those are the most common, but I can list another 10 ish which are mostly variations of Badfur with a variety of ranks, (General being the most common among them), having been in communities with a rank structure that is military-esque.

    There is a list of fourteen attributes in Multiverser:
    My personal thoughts on these:
    –Persuasion (the ability to get people to do what you want) : below average
    –Charisma (likeability over the long term, the ability to keep friends) : per friends/family/teachers I’m an acquired taste.
    –Animal Magnetism (overall attractiveness, being the center of attention) : bad for the most part, however, with cats, it’s very good.
    –Strength (primary muscular ability) : Terrible
    –Stamina (physical endurance) : Bad
    –Resistance (mostly against disease) : Above average (People get sick around me, and I generally don’t. When I do get sick, I’m better in a day or two.)
    –Density (a game stat–ignore this)
    –Flexibility (the ability to put your foot in your mouth literally) : Above average. Can you touch your elbows behind your back? I can. Putting my foot literally in my mouth? I can kiss my feet, but I won’t, because that is disgusting.
    –Agility (most of coordination and dexterity not included in other stats) : Above average – it’s where the strength and con ended up.
    –Hand/Eye (the ability to coordinate your actions with your sensory information, such as targeting) Excellent
    –Intellect (raw intelligence) Above average
    –Intuition (the talent of subliminally collecting information and subconsciously processing it into accurate “hunches” about people or events) Eh…
    –Education Level (how much schooling you have) average
    –Will Power (innate stubbornness) bad, I’m not stubborn, however I am very lazy.

    First, do you believe that you are or might be outstanding, on the order of the top two percent or one out of fifty, on any of the attributes listed there?

    Yes: Hand/Eye Coordination. I’ve been playing a variety of video games since I was about 2, so, for the last 19 years. I have also fired weapons, rifles being my favorite, with fairly decent accuracy. Not a professional marksman by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m better than the average joe. One out of 50? Easily. Probably one out of 75.

    Second, how intuitive are you? Do you notice more than most people, are you aware of details in your surroundings, do you have good hunches and instincts about people, places, events? How do you compare to others in this regard? Raw intuition: Slightly above average. I’d say I rank much higher in the common sense department, which others might factor into intuition. In areas of light / during the day, attention to fine details is very good. At night, not even close. I can’t read small print past the length of my arm, for the most part.

    Third, what is the last grade of school or degree program you completed or attended? I’m currently in college, which a few years under my belt, but my preferred style of learning isn’t common, I find, in college, so it’s been rocky at best. Still, I have a firm grasp of the English language, which is more than I can say for many people my age.

    For weaknesses, all I want to know now is whether you have any medical conditions or limitations, including vision irregularities and allergies.

    I have glasses to read anything beyond 10 feet away, as well as distinguish fine details at night. However, within arm’s length, I have superb vision and attention to detail. Bananas don’t sit well with me, and peanuts (and most nuts) will kill me.

    You should also include a physical description of yourself, including gender, height/weight, coloring, hair style, and natural and artificial body markings.

    Alright, so, I’m 5’10.5, male, 126 lbs, green eyes, salt and pepper hair, more pepper than salt. (Noticeably going gray when viewed from above), I’m 21, I wear sweatshirts, long-sleeve shirts, and pants (usually sweatpants) year round. Up the length of my left and right arms I have a variety of faded scars, due mostly to street fighting when I was 10/11 years old. There is a scar on my right knee, as well. I’m also extremely pale.

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 3 months ago:

    Excellent; I’ve got that together without any questions (which the others here will tell you is pretty rare).

    You’ll find the next instruction post for the skills section here, I believe (if the link works right); let’s see what skills you’ve got.

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 3 months ago:

    First, I need to know if you have any skills at all at which you would be considered professional or expert. Professional means that you could be paid for work doing that, and expert means that professionals would consult you for advice.

    Professional level? Coding, specifically HTML, though I can learn just about any programming language. Both my parents are programmers, and HTML is currently the only one I know well enough to be paid for.

    Second, do you have any skills on the cutting edge of technology, such as in robotics, genetics, space travel?

    Would programming count? If so, I’d list that. I could ramble about others, but I think that’s the only one close enough to matter at this stage.

    Third, do you have any abilities you would consider psionic or magical? I’m open minded about this, but my brain hasn’t fallen out either.

    None that come to mind.. at least.. none that I would consider psionic or magical. (Though, this contains going over skills I know fall into either category that another character of mine had, and seeing what I’ve got that’s close.) So, short answer of no.

    Fourth, have you studied any martial arts or acrobatics?

    Yes, I know bits and pieces of jiu-jitsu (several classes, observation, and reading), and I’ve had a few lessons on fighting with daggers. Combine that with some knowledge I picked up from actually getting into fights when I was younger, and that sums up most of my practical knowledge. Theory is another matter entirely.

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 3 months ago:

    O.K., let’s talk about your martial arts.

    You’ve had several classes in Jiu-jitsu, with some supplemental input, but I take it you would consider yourself a low-level amateur. I have a version of a martial arts style that in theory mimics Jiu-jutsu–it’s really a game style based on a game style published by another company, but let me give you the way it is described there and see if that sounds like what you know.

    The style is fast and defensive. Fast means not only does it involve a lot of movement, it gets more attacks than a “slow” style. Defensive means that its emphasis is more on avoiding being hurt yourself and less on hurting your opponent.

    The style is weapon-adverse, that is, it does not use weapons, and if you are holding a weapon it interferes with your ability to use the style abilities.

    Its basic attack form is the throw, that is, any technique that involves pulling and leveraging the opponent so that he impacts a floor or obstacle. As such, your hand is the essential body part–you would have very limited ability in the style if you were handcuffed behind your back.

    I should ask whether you learned anything you would consider a “special maneuver”. The way to identify a special maneuver is from the perspective of how you anticipate using the style in play. You can say that you are falling into stance (or “activating the style”), and thereby get the bonuses including its defenses; that assumes that if someone attacks you, the standard defensive techniques of the style will reduce his chance to hit/injure you. You can also say that you are using the style to attack, and that will give you a nondescript attack of the appropriate sort for the style. It might be, though, that there would be special things that you, as a user of the style, would want to do–a disarming technique, an attack that does extra damage, a special parry, an immobilizing technique, anything about which you can imagine yourself saying, “I want to do X, which I learned to do as part of the training in the style,” apart from simple attacks and defenses. If you have such techniques, we’ll want to add them to your sheet so we can say that they do this, and this is how good you are at them.

    I have all the same questions for your lessons on fighting with daggers, plus the question of what you want to call it. “Knife Fighting style” is sufficient as far as I’m concerned, as long as we agree so we can both know what we mean when we say it. I want to know whether it is fast or slow, aggressive or defensive. In this case it obviously uses a weapon, so I want to know whether it is weapon dependent in the sense that you would not be able to use much of the style’s strengths were you disarmed (which is what I expect) or weapon-utilizing, which means that the weapon techniques are part of a style that includes other kinds of attacks and defenses as well. I also want to know about maneuvers for this style.

    Good?

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 3 months ago:

    Alright, to start with, I have no idea how to throw someone. Well, I know what *should* happen, but I don’t know how to initiate that. I mix and combine unarmed combat styles to suit the situation, I don’t know how to throw, but I do know how to disable, and to strike in a manner which will impair, or kill, depending on the instruments used. Hands are important yes, but so are arms, elbows, legs, and feet. Feet to kick, legs to move, and arms to position, and possibly grapple. I don’t have any particularly special maneuvers (as in defined, named maneuvers). If given an option to get into a stance, it would be the basic combat ready stance used in the army. It provides a decent amount of protection to vital areas, and gives me room to work with.

    I also tend to do more combos, like, using a hand (right, for example) to parry an incoming attack (or to grab their wrist), sidestep to their side, use foot to the back of their knee, apply pressure to upper center back (and lean on it) while using left hand to grab neck / face and knee into their back (source of pressure). Fairly nonlethal, and quick enough to catch your average joe off guard. Even against someone expecting it, it has a fair amount of options. Every other step or so can be altered. Ideally the person would end up on the ground, and I’d be able to go from there.

    Dagger techniques are slightly different. For these I do have 3 different stances, each with their own slight benefits. The major of each, however, is being able to defend against attacks from people of any size.. High, medium, and low stance. Take for example the previous combo. If attacked by someone trying to thrust at me, spare hand to parry, side step, and then dagger to temple, (or throat, depending on preference) Temple is easier from the position, but the throat is better for negotiation. They have a weapon? Great, another option is to sidestep to opposite side (inside their reach) using arms to keep their arms from coming in. Easier with a weapon, more efficient with two weapons, but doable with none (fingers, pens, pencils, knives, anything really can be used as a makeshift dagger. Car keys, for example. It has a point, and can be gripped like a dagger.)

    Granted, there are other options for other situations, but those are what came to me first. It’s also definitely a dagger fighting style. It focuses on thrusts for damage. Knives typically are more of a slashing weapon.

    In terms of offense vs defense, both are fairly balanced. I personally am more of a defensive person, but quick strikes are key and present in both cases. I am not a strong person, but I’m fairly quick, and that is all I need with appropriately placed strikes.

    The two specific combos I mentioned are my defaults in each case. With slight variations based on circumstance, (Like sidestepping, then sweeping the leg to kneel into an attack on their throat) they would be my “special” attacks, aside from parrying, and attacking.

    Oh, one specific maneuver I recall from jiujitsu is when you have someone’s wrist, you can take it in a circular motion toward them (at their shoulder), and then down to your waist. That will bring basically any adult sized male or female to their knees. You then rotate your body, with your waist, while holding onto their wrist. They will be on the floor, you will have their wrist/hand, and your feet are free to A. step on their chest and keep them there, B. step on their face/forehead (they’ve got more options with the lower half of their body in that case), or C. step on their throat. Note: The throat is a common target for me in any situation. It disorients / kills the resolve to fight in mostly everyone. Can’t breathe? Well, good day to you, sir.

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 3 months ago:

    That’s very informative, but I’m having difficulty parsing it into something helpful.

    Let’s separate the two styles for the moment and work on the first. We’ll call it Jiujitsu, to avoid any confusion.

    It seems to me that part of what we have to accomplish is getting you to think about the style in terms of game mechanics. From your descriptions, I’m thinking that the first style is rather aggressive, putting its emphasis on bonuses to attacks. (The second style you describe with emphasis on defense, the attacks secondary, but we’ll get to that.) It also seems to me to be fast, and to be weapon-adverse–you would not be able to do most of the moves you describe if you had a weapon in your hand, as it would be in the way.

    My use of the word “stance” has confused you, so the easiest thing is for me to drop it and instead put this in mechanical sense. When you want to use martial arts in a combat situation, because it is a skill you have to use the skill successfully. There are two ways you can “activate” the skill in most cases. One is simply to attack your opponent in a way that will only work if you use the style; you roll to see if you hit, and modifiers are included to that end. The advantage is that a single roll determines that your style bonuses are effected and that you hit the opponent; the disadvantages are that any and all defenses the opponent might have (armor, force fields, evasive or parrying skills) are penalties not only to your chance to hit but also to your chance of activating the defensive benefits of your style. In essence, a miss leaves you flat-footed, not ready to defend. The other option is to roll the style itself, an indication that you are mentally and physically preparing yourself for combat in a particular style. This takes zero time in the game world–you simply do it–but it makes the difference between being “ready” and being “not ready”. If you fail the roll, you are “not ready”, and again caught flat-footed; but there are several advantages. One is that you can still activate the style the other way, by a successful attack. One is that if you don’t have the initiative (but were not surprised) you can still roll to activate the style and get the defensive bonuses against your attacker’s attacks before you have the opportunity to strike back.

    The short of it is that when I say “get into stance” I mean the same thing as when I say “activate the style”, which is the same thing as making that mental and physical adjustment into “ready” as opposed to “not ready”. The stance itself is unimportant from a mechanics perspective; it is assumed.

    Next, we have the problem of what is the “ordinary attack”. We will want to deal with what you have called “combos”, and figure out exactly how we want to handle them, but the starting point is more simple. You will presumably at some point say “I am going to attack him using my jiujitsu.” At issue is what does “attack” mean in that unspecified context. In Karate, it would mean you were going to use any of various types of simple hand strikes. In Tae Kwon Do, it probably means that you will use one of the several basic kicks. Which one you will use is at that point not important. What is important is that the karate student cannot use a simple attack if his hands are tied behind is back, and the tae kwon do student cannot use a simple attack if his feet are bound. Thus we need to identify the “simple” attack form. Is it a strike, a push, a kick, a throw, a grapple? Is it a poke against a nerve junction or joint? Is it an attack with a weapon? If you were to say that your character “attacks” using this style, what do you envision in the simplest such situation, when you are not using a combo?

    That’s enough to get us started on this.

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 3 months ago:

    For me, it’s aggressive counter-attacking. Divert or avoid the first attack, and counter attack. Or, divert / avoid the first 100 attacks, and counter attack. It’s, in my opinion, defensive aggression. I defend against an attack, or series of attacks. Did I successfully defend? If so, look for an opening. If there is an opening, counter attack. If they aren’t out of position, or expected the defense, wait for an opening. Rinse and repeat. Did I fail to defend? Retreat / back up, and try to defend again. Did I succeed? If so, look for an opening.. and so on. For activation, option two is more accurate. Am I ready to defend? If so, the style is activated.

    Something to that effect, at least, as I see it.

    Issues two, ordinary attack. Well, there is no default, in my opinion. Ok, not entirely true. If I use a default attack, and if that attack is likely to succeed where I target, then the default is a “punch” using the base of my hand, to their neck. Am I at a disadvantage with my hands tied? Yes. I will also likely be unable to speak..

    Alright, slightly joking on that one. I’m Italian, we speak with our hands. But in terms of mechanics it’d be easier to say that “attack” can be qualified as a punch. At least as far as generic “I attack x” goes.

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 2 months, 4 weeks ago:

    Divert or avoid the first attack, and counter attack. Or, divert / avoid the first 100 attacks, and counter attack.

    This to me makes it sound as if it is primarily defensive: you only attack as an afterthought, focusing primarily on avoiding being hit.

    For activation, option two is more accurate.

    Sorry, again we have a communication problem. I am, personally, pleased that option two is “more accurate” because it’s how I see martial arts working in general and the concept I prefer. But that’s not really part of the description of how a style works–all styles have both options. If you have the opportunity to ready yourself, that’s good; if you don’t, you can still move into the style as you begin to attack, if necessary. But that’s not a big deal, just a misunderstanding. For our purposes, if you anticipate getting into a fight you should specify that you are getting ready to fight in this particular combat style.

    We’ll note that it is a strike style with preference to the hand as the basic attack.

    Sorry this is taking so long, but part of it is communication trouble, and part of it is that I’ve been a bit less than top performance the past week or so. I’m torn concerning how fast or slow this style would be. On the one hand, you seem to be mostly defending, and that would suggest that the style is relatively slow; on the other hand, you tend to use combos, and that suggests that the style is fast allowing you to get multiple attacks into the minute. But let me look at the combos.

    I also tend to do more combos, like, using a hand (right, for example) to parry an incoming attack (or to grab their wrist), sidestep to their side, use foot to the back of their knee, apply pressure to upper center back (and lean on it) while using left hand to grab neck / face and knee into their back (source of pressure). Fairly nonlethal, and quick enough to catch your average joe off guard. Even against someone expecting it, it has a fair amount of options. Every other step or so can be altered. Ideally the person would end up on the ground, and I’d be able to go from there.

    I think I can make that two attacks, the first a tactical Wrist Grab B7@2 use one hand to grab attacking limb and shift to expose rear, sacrifice initiative, creates +15SM on next attack. The second then would be a Full Body Takedown rear attack B7@3 only works from behind, does base annoying damage, puts opponent in prone position unless successful check versus agility (RS=S/D/N), +5SM.

    SM stands for Situation Modifier or Sit-mod, which is the number of points added to (or sometimes subtracted from) a skill check such as an attack. The first skill indicates that you have the normal chance of success attacking the wrist for no damage, but if it is successful it puts you behind the opponent and gives you +10 on your chance of success on the next attack; the second skill indicates that because it only works if you are behind your opponent, you get +5 on your chance of success if we know that to be true, and it does not work otherwise.

    RS stands for Relative Success, which refers to the fact that a higher successful roll is a better result, and thus equals the value of the die roll. When it is couched in an X/Y/Z configuration, it means that if the roll is successful up to 50 the result is X, to 80 it is Y, and above that it is Z. Here it says that the agility check is “S/D/N”, which means a simple check for any success, a difficult check for a higher success, and none for an extreme success. The check means that the opponent can avoid being knocked prone if he is sufficiently agile.

    Oh, one specific maneuver I recall from jiujitsu is when you have someone’s wrist, you can take it in a circular motion toward them (at their shoulder), and then down to your waist. That will bring basically any adult sized male or female to their knees. You then rotate your body, with your waist, while holding onto their wrist. They will be on the floor, you will have their wrist/hand, and your feet are free to A. step on their chest and keep them there, B. step on their face/forehead (they’ve got more options with the lower half of their body in that case), or C. step on their throat. Note: The throat is a common target for me in any situation. It disorients / kills the resolve to fight in mostly everyone. Can’t breathe? Well, good day to you, sir.

    We seem to have a Wrist Grapple Takedown B7@3 (because it’s going to hurt whether or not the opponent resists), base damaging, if wrist is successfully secured opponent brought to supine position unless strength check RS=S/D/N. It is followed by some other attack which you indicate to be in essence a held attack that is a threat of harm, but which could as easily be a kick. We’ll have to work on those later; this is getting us started.

    I’m also thinking from these that you’ve got a relatively fast style, but that you’ve got strong defensive sit-mods, so we’ll give it an attack multiplier of 2 and a -20 Defensive Sit-mod (which means that it reduces the chance of your opponent to hit you by 20 percentage points).

    The next question is whether you consider yourself an average amateur at all of these skills–
    –Juijitsu B7@1
    –Wrist Grab B7@2
    –Full Body Takedown rear attack B7@3
    –Wrist Grapple Takedown B7@3
    –or whether you are better at some and worse at others.

    After that, I’ll put this together on your sheet, and move to the dagger style.

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 2 months, 4 weeks ago:

    –This to me makes it sound as if it is primarily defensive: you only attack as an afterthought, focusing primarily on avoiding being hit.

    Well, allow me to clarify this. I am a defensive person. Given an option I will defend, rather than attack something. The style CAN be offensive. However, because I am someone that prefers defense over offense, any style I use, will be a defensive style, even if it was meant to be offensive. For the most part, at least. If the style has to be one, or the other, then yes, it is defensive.

    —Sorry this is taking so long, but part of it is communication trouble, and part of it is that I’ve been a bit less than top performance the past week or so. I’m torn concerning how fast or slow this style would be. On the one hand, you seem to be mostly defending, and that would suggest that the style is relatively slow; on the other hand, you tend to use combos, and that suggests that the style is fast allowing you to get multiple attacks into the minute. But let me look at the combos.

    No problems on my end for it taking so long. This isn’t my first time through character gen for a verser, or for any game. Besides, if I tried to explain Avahur, as a verser, it would surely take a couple weeks. 21 or more worlds (stopped counting after 20), and such a wide variety of experiences. Krillis knows what that’s like as he gm’d for me on that one.

    —The next question is whether you consider yourself an average amateur at all of these skills–
    –Juijitsu B7@1
    –Wrist Grab B7@2
    –Full Body Takedown rear attack B7@3
    –Wrist Grapple Takedown B7@3
    –or whether you are better at some and worse at others.

    I am better at the wrist grab due to EXTENSIVE practice over the course of the last 15 years. I had an annoying sibling that liked to punch me. Grabbing the wrist and restraining was something I became quite good at.

    The wrist grapple takedown I’m more proficient at than taking someone down from behind (Rare are the times that I have actually had to take someone down from behind. I’ve only done that once or twice, usually it never reaches that point.) I’ve used that maneuver quite a few times in practice, and plan to teach it to my sister the next time I see her.

    edit: Clarification and explanation on various points. Also, editing from my phone sucks, thus am now on a computer. It seems I can’t quote text via editing this post.. — will have to do, it seems.

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 2 months, 4 weeks ago:

    O.K., I’ve listed these skills:

    1@5 Juijitsu B7@1 fast defensive weapon-adverse +0 Att SM -20 Def SM Attx2
    2@1 Wrist Grab B7@2 use one hand to grab attacking limb and shift to expose rear, sacrifice initiative, creates +15SM on next attack
    1@2 Full Body Takedown rear attack B7@3 only works from behind, base annoying damage, puts opponent in prone position unless successful check versus agility (RS=S/D/N), +5SM.
    1@6 Wrist Grapple Takedown B7@3 base damaging, if wrist is successfully secured opponent brought to supine position unless strength check RS=S/D/N.

    Now I want to talk about the dagger style, which we’ll call Dagger Fighting Style. It appears to be weapon-based but to be weapon-utilizing rather than weapon-dependent, in that apparently you can retain the defensive abilities of the style and use some of its non-weapon attacks if you are disarmed. Correct me, as always, if I’m wrong. It again seems to be fast and defensive; since you say that all styles you use would be used in a defensive mode, we’ll assume you learn them that way as the norm. Again the suggestion that you perform combinations is influencing my view of the speed, on the assumption that you will do X+Y not as a single move but as two moves that you could do separately (just Y, or X+Z). Am I right so far? What else is particular to this style?

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 2 months, 4 weeks ago:

    There are 3 different stances which each have their advantages. A high, medium and low stance. Low stance is good when fighting people that are taller than me. Or needing to attack a lower target. This is a one handed weapon fighting style. Daggers in one hand only. It leaves the other hand to parry. Yes they can be used separately. Let’s take the opening two moves in the combo. Parry with my left hand, and then a stab with my right. That is one option. I can simply parry, and then retreat. Alternatively, I can stab someone without parrying.

    If attacking a chest isn’t an option (And usually isn’t. Rib cage is a good protection without pinpoint aiming, which I don’t have. My knowledge of the human anatomy isn’t so great that I can pinpoint an attack between ribs on the fly of someone I don’t know.) Attacking the kidneys, or stomach in general, aiming upwards behind the rib cage, towards lungs and/or heart. Low stance is good for that. If my right hand has a dagger, it is held near my stomach, while my left hand is near my face. Parrying high attacks and attacking low. Medium stance has both hands around my chest area. In easy reach of parrying attacks aimed there, but also close enough for higher or low attacks without too much trouble. High stance has my dagger raised above my head with my parrying hand down low, where my dagger would be in low stance. Parry in one area, and attack from another.

    It’s fairly flexible, in that changing between stances of high medium and low only takes about a second or so. It’s just moving my arms around. Feet stay the same of one foot in front, aiming towards my target, and my other foot in back, sideways, for balance. This allows for easy turning and pivoting… not entirely unlike footwork for fencing. Except focus isn’t on forward and back. Forward and back is doable, but pivoting is more common.

    Best way to describe footwork goes into a combo. Step one left hand to parry attack. Several options here. I can just parry to the side and be inside his range for a close attack (to the gut, for instance). This isn’t exactly preferable as (s)he can stab me in the back fairly easily like this. If I parry by grabbing their wrist, I can take my rear leg (typically my right), and swing it behind me in an arc, and rotate my body so that my back is to him. My forward foot in that case will have rotated to where I was point. My left hand would be on his/her wrist, and my back would be to his arm. From here I can take my dagger and with the momentum gained from pivoting swing it into his head, from up high, or if I bring it low, I can attack his lower sides . Or I can attack his other arm… but I’ll effectively be behind him, facing mostly away from him.

    Instead of attacking, I could also kick from behind and run away, as I’ll already be facing that direction. I can also grab wrist, sidestep, and attack. In all cases, footwork is important. If I can’t use my feet, the style would be pretty hard to use in that form. I could improvise, of course, but it wouldn’t be the same as doing a routine I know works.

    So. to sum this up.

    Combos – X + Y, but X and Y can be done separately. Z may even be an option. Separate attacks used together.
    Dagger Fighting Style – Footwork is extremely important. I can use the style unarmed, or substituting a weapon this isn’t a dagger, (Pen, pencil, finger, etc, but attacking with those is less than ideal and DOES limit me quite a bit.) For example, when I learned the style, it wasn’t using a dagger, but a tree limb. Tree limbs are cool, but it isn’t a dagger. Grip is different, as is feel, and how it moves through the air. Tree limbs CAN be poking or smacking someone, but a dagger is usually stabbing. Different styles of daggers can be used different ways, but the way I’m familiar with using stabbing weapons.

    As you can probably notice, both fighting styles share similarities, and switching between the two wouldn’t be that hard.

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 2 months, 3 weeks ago:

    From what you tell me of the stances, they are not that important to the mechanics of the style from a game perspective; you move between them adopting the one that gives you the best advantages, but beyond the situational aspect they don’t make a difference in your overall combat abilities. That is, you might be able better to hit or defend against certain kinds of opponents in certain stances, but it isn’t as if one stance makes it easier to hit and harder to parry against all opponents and another does the opposite. It will be assumed that you’re using your best stance.

    We’ll assume you have skill in the dagger as a martial arts weapon; that means that when you use it it is as if it were an extension of your body. We will go with weapon utilizing, because 1) it appears that the parries are done primarily with the unarmed hand and 2) the mention of a kick indicates that you have weaponless attacks within the style.

    Because you mentioned the other style first I’m going to guess you’re better at it, and thus put this slightly below that, and the use of the dagger slightly below the style because you started training in the style first, using a stick. If you want to include stick as another weapon we can do so. I’m seeing this as a bit more aggressive than the other. Thus:

    1@4 Dagger Combat Style B7@1 fast defensive weapon-utilizing +5 Att SM -20 Def SM Attx2 weapon oriented
    1@3 Dagger Martial Arts Weapon B7@1
    1@3 Kick standard attack B7@1 base annoying

    The one problem I see for switching between the two is that you cannot use the jiujitsu with a weapon in your hand, so you would have to drop it or sheath it to free your hands. Otherwise, the way the system works you can incorporate maneuvers from either style into the other at will.

    If you’re happy with this, we’ll do equipment.

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 2 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Happy indeed. Everything looks fine. Though, while I said I can kick, it isn’t so much a part of the style, as an extension of my options. Footwork is important. I can get behind someone, which gives me options, such as kicking. That isn’t to say I would do it, but if the need arises, I could potentially utilize kicks.

    In terms of other weapons.. I’m not sure if there is a category for this, but how about improvised weapons? Sticks, pens, pencils, anything long and pointy really, can be used in the style. I was trained with an improvised weapon.. a stick.

    Anyway, equipment. Currently wearing a blue sweatshirt (Fleece), well worn. It’s got a pocket over my heart (Zipper), and a zipper extending down from the top to the middle of my chest. For a reference, if you look at my facebook page, my profile picture is almost exactly what I’m wearing right this instant. I have a longsleeve green half-turtleneck shirt beneath it. I am also wearing tan cargo pants, with a black belt that has a fleur de lis for a belt buckle. The pants have pockets, 2 in the rear, two up top (where normal pockets are) and 2 in the legs. You can see a book sticking out of one in the profile picture. That is a fairly large book, and these are fairly deep pockets. Black water resistant socks, and black running sneakers, with lime green stripes. (Puma’s size 14) Navy blue underwear.

    I’ve got a black and red laptop bag, which I don’t use to carry a laptop, but instead to carry all sorts of other things. Such as my nook, and nook charger. The nook is in a protective case, and on the nook is over 100 fantasy books, some of which might also be classified as science fiction. (Glen Cook’s Darkwar trilogy, for example.) The bag has 4 small pockets on the outside, and on the inside is a decent amount of room.

    By which I mean it was meant to carry my laptop with a 17 inch screen. It’s not extremely big, but it IS right next to me, and is a means to carry things. Measurements are not my strong suit, so, I can’t give you specifics, but it’s enough to carry a decent amount of small stuff. I’d compare it to a type 1 bag of holding, but again, I don’t know how to describe it better than that.

    Weapons, I have some.

    Specifically, a dagger… more of a stiletto, really. And 2 smaller daggers, which can be sheathed into my black leather bracers. I don’t know how well links work on here, and again, you can do some digging on my facebook albums to see them yourself. But assuming links DO work here, then these 2 pics should show you exactly what I am referring to.

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=228696370964&set=a.224983025964.147787.655475964&type=3

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=400496375964&set=a.400496130964.184926.655475964&type=3

    Misc:
    Wallet, with $18 in it, 10, 5, 1,1,1.
    Car Keys (has a few cards on it.), and a long blue lanyard strap.
    Cell phone (android smartphone)
    cell phone charger (I always keep it in my bag)
    2 pens, one black ink, one blue ink.
    12 unused mechanical pencils. (Bought a case a while ago for this semester)
    1 mechanical pencil partially used. How you would measure this though, I have no idea.
    Gloves. These are Black with silver, and the thumbs and left most finger can be used to use touch screens (special material for it.)
    Glasses case, with glasses inside. Sage green case. I only use glasses at night, when trying to read something further away than the length of my arm that isn’t in big letters. Eyesight is not that bad, but reading at a distance isn’t my strong suit. I usually don’t need it, since I work at the computer all the time, and read books a lot.

    I think that is everything.. I can’t think of anything I’m missing..

    Edit: Except that I did see what I’m forgetting.

    Digital watch (I forget it’s there most of the time.)
    Ipod, with headphones
    Water bottle (blue, stainless steel)
    A boxcutter. (I worked at target for a while, unloading trucks, opening so many carboard boxes, and stocking shelves. I’ve got a boxcutter or two lying around still. Only know where one is currently, though.)

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  • Profile picture of M. J. Young M. J. Young said 2 months, 3 weeks ago:

    I’m not sure if there is a category for this, but how about improvised weapons?

    That actually falls under several different categories, but in this particular case it would almost certainly be a B7@6 Improvise Martial Weapon, which in this particular configuration allows you to survey the area to find a weapon of an appropriate type. It’s generally defined either very broadly or very narrowly, the broad definition assuming that you can adapt objects as blunts, edged cutters, choppers, stabbers, flex weapons, and so on, for use in the style, the narrow that you can use a particular kind of object such as a rope, or such as a tablecloth, that fits within a narrow definition. I’m thinking that your version might be some sort of middle ground version, in which you can adapt any sort of straight stabbing implement including chopsticks, forks, railroad spikes, tree branches, or pens as long as you can hold them in one hand near one end. If that’s a correct understanding, I can add that to the sheet.

    Questions on the equipment:

    –Is the belt buckle removable or stitched in place?
    –I would normally make all daggers “damaging” (a damage category in Multiverser which might be equivalent to anything from d3 to 2d4), but you indicate that one of yours is larger than the other two, so I’m wondering if I should be noting any difference in their potential. I’m exploring the idea and while I have a lot of ways I could make one better or the others worse, I’d like your take on it before I decide anything.
    –Does the digital watch have special features, such as alarms, time zones, calculator, data file, stopwatch, countdown timer?
    –At the present moment is there water in the water bottle?
    –Do you consider the boxcutter a viable martial arts weapon in your hands?

    I think that is everything, but I’m going to wait for your answers on these points before I launch a game thread for you, and I will admit that it is partly because I just finished running a tropical island game and don’t feel like putting you there (it’s my standard convention/demo starter world, for reasons I’ve mentioned before and will undoubtedly mention again) so I might just put you in some other world if I can settle on one to my liking by tomorrow.

    –M. J. Young

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  • Profile picture of Avahur Avahur said 2 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Yes, that is a correct understanding. Straight stabbing implements would be ideal for the style.

    The belt buckle is attached. I don’t see a way to remove it, without disassembling the belt. Though that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a way to do so.

    The two small daggers I’d put at a d4 each with the bigger one being classified as a short sword at a d6. That, however, is just my opinion. The smaller ones noticeably do less damage (feeling the tips with my fingers). They are sharp, but are more rounded in shape. They don’t come to a point as quickly. The larger one is a stiletto.

    For reference see:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gunners_stiletto_01.jpg

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiletto

    The digital watch has an alarm, stop watch, and light.

    At the moment there is nothing in the water bottle (note, however, that it DOES have a clip, to hang easily from belt loops, and such)

    The boxcutter is a poor martial arts weapon in anyone’s hands. I could use it as a weapon, yes, but it would be far from ideal. I can adapt fairly quickly in most situations I find. I’ll work with what I’ve got. If all I’ve got is a boxcutter, then I’ll be using it in a variety of ways. I can think of a few off the top of my head.

    For starter world, if I may, can it not be an ice planet? Not only do I hate the cold, but I’ve had 1 character start on an ice world. Something new would be awesome.

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