I was glancing over my written notes in preparation for updating Graham's sheet from live play when I came across the scrawled rough outline for this, and I thought it would be fun to write it up, so I did. This is the fighting style I used for Black-Handed Barnabas Crupp, feared far and wide as a canny captain and a brutal brawler. He has, so they say, never lost a fight. Of course, they also say that he's a werewolf, that the Devil once threw him out of Hell, and that this one time he drank human blood when he ran out of rum, so make your own judgments.
In any case, here for your enjoyment is a martial arts style suited to any highly skilled yet woefully unrefined ne'er-do-well with which you'd like to challenge your overly-cocky players. I present to you (for lack of a more imaginative name):
Black-Handed Brawling
Fast Aggressive Weapon-Utilizing, Hand/Arm
Attack Multiplier 2
Offensive Modifiers: +30 damage mod
Defensive Modifiers: -10 damage mod
The style focuses on brutality, seeking to attack the opponent in the most damaging ways possible while absorbing his blows with a minimum of hurt. Disarming techniques are eschewed in favor of a weapon-catch, as the opponent isn't expected to survive long enough to justify divesting him of his weapon permanently. Fall impact absorption and quick stand techniques anticipate the chaos of a barroom brawl while the knockdown skill contributes to that chaos and the improvised weapon skill takes advantage of it. The psi Self Control rounds out the package with a nod to the style's defensive philosophy: "grit your teeth and ignore it."
Maneuvers:
B4@6 Fall Impact Absorption, untargeted, RS = -DC (any distance or direction)
B7@1 Stomp, targets a prone opponent without sacrificing an upright posture, base annoying
B7@2 Quick Stand, untargeted
B7@3 Knockdown, a powerful blow designed to send the opponent sprawling; takes a –10 SM, base damaging, target travels RS/20 feet
B7@3 Sickening Crunch, an intensified damage grappling maneuver; the user seizes some portion of the opponent (possibly his torso) and breaks it (possibly with his forehead); -10 SM, uses two attacks, base damage dangerous
B7@5 Seize Limb, catches the opponent's weapon arm with the skilled user's left hand on a successful opposed skill check
B7@6 Improvised Martial Weapon, user may seize any object to use as a weapon if he succeeds at an untargeted skill roll with a –10 SM (RS = efficacy of the weapon, e.g. < 10 is RF1 annoying, > 80 = RF2 lethal); subsequent use of the weapon is unpenalized; +DC for style and possibly MSV, but never for SAL in this skill
P5@0 Self Control, success allows the user to immediately retry a failed attribute check against pain, exhaustion, or inebriation that would otherwise penalize combat effectiveness
Me like.
I'd also like to see a few more like this, and then linked at MJ's site.
Eric
Curse you! Now I'm dreaming up fictional martial arts styles when I should be writing live-play summaries and/or sleeping. I've got five brewing that I'll post as soon as they come off the burners.