Subject:  Re: Martial Arts.
        Date:  20 Aug 1998 00:00:00 GMT
        From:  [email protected]
Organization:  Virtual Adepts
  Newsgroups:  alt.games.whitewolf
  
In article <[email protected]>,
  [email protected] wrote:
> I will soon be playing a character where martial arts is a fairly major
> part of his life. He will be a mage using plainjane Brawl rules.

A Mage?  Why aren't you using Do?

> As such, I open this up for debate. Does anyone have any alternate
> suggestions for representing martial arts in the WoD?

Well, I've been messing around with the idea for a while.... I've
got a rough idea that I'll append to the end of this post.  It might
not format really well.

Disclaimer:  this in not meant to accurately portray RL or genre martial
arts, like most Storyteller abilities, it's just a rough guideline.  The
idea consists of two abilities.  A skill for 'hard' or 'external' martial
arts like Karate and Boxing and a knowldege (because I don't think you
could 'fake it') for 'soft' or 'internal' arts like Aikido and Tai Chi.

Agian, please, no one take offense at the blatant inacuracies.  What little
I know about Martial Arts comes from reading game suplements and watching
Aikido demos.

Another thing I can't emphasize enough.  Some of the Martial Arts
'techniques'give you abilities something like Akashic magick or 
other supernatural powers.  These things should never be cumulative, 
since, they are, in a sense, diferent takes on the same thing.  
So never combine Akashic Dim Mak with Martial Art Atemi 
or Dim Mak or Power Focus (all below)

--
Blake 1001, Virtual Adept, Disciple
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/1317/
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Here goes:
=================================================================

Martial Arts: Hard/External Styles   [Skill]
    This skill represents the kind of training a fighter who
concentrates on brutal strength and speed and techniques to
increase force and power would undergo.  Unlike most skills, it's
a supplemental ability, you're not really meant to make rolls
against it.  Instead, you will generally make Brawl or Melee rolls
to use Martial Arts techniques, when you do, you add the lower of
your Brawl/Melee or Martial Arts to the relevant attribute when
determining your dice pool.
     Since this is a skill, it is possible to use its basic
maneuvers without formal training, though at a +2 difficulty.  By
the same token, a character with a dot in the skill could attempt
Advanced Maneuvers he hasn't yet been able to master.  Failing an
untrained use of one of these maneuvers will generally cause the
character to hurt himself (take your own STR damage).
     For each dot in Hard/External Style Martial Arts, you can
pick one basic maneuver.  For the 4th and 5th dots, you have the
option of taking an Advanced Maneuver, instead.  You can buy
additional Basic Maneuvers for 10 exp each and additional Advanced
Maneuvers for 15 exp.  Note that Advanced Techniques border on the
legendary and may not be suitable for many Chronicles.


  *    You can throw a hard punch without flinching - at a
practice bag, anyway.
  **   You've learned all the katas and stances. Boards fear you.
  ***  You can use some nasty maneuvers and really hurt people in
a fight.
  **** You are an expert martial artist and can probably kill with
your bare hands.
  ***** Bruce Lee - or the characters he portrayed, at any rate.

Specialties:  Specific art (Boxing, Kempo, Muay Thai, Karate,
Savat), Individual maneuver, duels, multiple attackers,
demonstrations.

Basic Techniques:

-  Stunning Blow:  if you have this technique, you can add your
successes on any brawling attack to the number of SL of damage you
do.

-  Killing Blow:  if you have this technique, you can choose to
have any brawling attack you make inflict HL damage instead of SL.

-  Breaking Blow:  You can add your dots in Hard Style to your
Strength to break any braced, inanimate object (like a board or a
door, for instance).  You can also use this 'extra Strength' to
harm helpless opponents.

-  Disarm:  You can use a brawling attack to disarm an opponent.
Make the attack as usual and roll normal damage.  If the victim
fails to soak the damage completely, he has been disarmed.

-  Toughness:  Your training includes exercises to help you resist
physical damage (sometimes this involves learning to keep certain
muscles tense, to roll with a punch, or simply enduring lots of
punishment in practice sessions).  You add your dots in Hard Style
to your soak against normal (SL) brawling damage.  You can also
add your dots over 3 to all your soak rolls (ie +2d at Hard Style
*****).  Neither use of this technique is cumulative with actual
armor.

Advanced Techniques:

-  Lighting Strike:  You can throw a punch so fast that your
opponents can't see it coming.  You can make a regular brawling
attack, stunning blow, killing blow, or disarm attempt that your
opponent cannot attempt to dodge or block, unless they have a
Martial Arts skill equal to your own.  Alternately, you can launch
a flurry of blows - add your dots in Hard Style to your Dex+Brawl
pool, but only for purposes of splitting that pool (at least in
half) for multiple attacks.  For instance, if you had Dex, Brawl,
and Hard Style at 4 each, your normal dice pool is 8, but if you
split it, you have 12d to distribute, though no more than 6d to
any one attack.  In either case, you can add your dots in Hard
Style to your Initiative dice pool.

-  Power Focus:  You can strike with superhuman force.  Add your
success on any brawl attack (except Stunning Blow or a Soft Style
attack) to your damage dice.

-  Knife Hand/Tiger Claw:  You can actually cut or rend flesh with
your bare hands.  This maneuver inflicts STR+2 dice of HL damage,
and is truly terrifying to most opponents.  You can use Power
Focus or Atemi (but not both) in conjunction with this maneuver.
(Alternately, your ST may allow you to make as special brawling
attack at difficulty 8, which inflicts your STR (no modifiers) in
dice of Aggravated Damage.)


----------------------------------------------------------------------


Martial Arts:  Soft/Internal Styles    [Knowledge]
    This Knowledge represents the understanding of special
techniques that give you a particular advantage in hand to hand
combat.  It is a Knowledge, rather than a Skill, because the
untrained have no chance of imitating it's techniques.  Likewise,
a basic (1-3 dots) student of Internal Styles cannot attempt
Advanced Techniques.  Also, though classed as a Knowledge, it
costs as much to advance as a Skill (in those games where
Abilities have different costs).
     When using any Martial Technique use the lower of the
characters Martial Arts or other appropriate Ability when
determining his dice pool.   For instance, a character with Brawl
**** and Internal Style ** using a Throw maneuver would have his
Dex + 2 dice in his pool.
     For each dot in Soft/Internal Style Martial Arts, you can
pick one basic maneuver.  For the 4th and 5th dots, you have the
option of taking an Advanced Techniques, instead.  You can buy
additional Basic Maneuvers for 10 exp each and additional Advanced
Techniques for 15 exp.  Note that Advanced Techniques border on
the legendary and may not be suitable for many Chronicles.

    *   You've shown up for Aikido class every week for a while
now and some of it's starting to make sense.
    **  You have learned a few tricks that might help you in a
fight, if you remember to use them.
    *** You can defend yourself against armed and unarmed
attackers with an excellent chance of success.
    **** Your knowledge makes you a dangerous, almost uncanny
opponent, untrained fighters have no chance against you.
    ***** O Sensei (Mori Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido).  The
Akashics are looking to recruit you... or learn from you.

Specialties:  Specific art (Aikido, Tai Chi Chuan), Individual
maneuver, philosophical aspects, multiple attackers,
demonstrations.


Basic Techniques:

-  Throw:  Make a brawling attack or block against an opponent, if
you score at least one extra success, he also falls.

-  Disarm:  Block or grab an opponent, if you score at least one
extra success, he drops his weapon.

-  Lock:  Add dots is Soft/Internal Styles to your STR to
immobilize and opponent (use Brawl to grab him).  If the Lock
isn't broken, the victim takes his own Strength in dice of SL
damage from struggling.

-  Escape:  Add dots in Soft/Internal Styles to your STR to 
escape from a Lock or conventional Brawling grab manuever.

-  Enhanced Dodge:  When facing more than one opponent, you can
add your dots in Soft/Internal Styles to your Dex+Dodge pool for
purposes of splitting your dice pool (at least in half) only.
Thus if you have DEX 3, Dodge 5, and I/S Styles at 4, you can have
a total Dodge pool of 12 dice, so long as you assign no more than
6d to any one dodge attempt.  This bonus can also apply to
splitting between dodge and another action.  If the above
character also had Brawl 2, for instance, she could have a pool of
9d to split between Brawl and Dodge (with no more than 4d (9/2) in
Brawl, and no more than 6d in Dodge)

Advanced Techniques:

-  Nerve Touch:  Inflict 2 SL + 1 SL (not dice) per success with a
Dex+Brawl roll.

-  Atemi:  Add 1d of damage per success to any brawl or melee
attack.  This does not combine with the Advanced 'Hard' Technique,
Power Focus.

-  Chi-Flow/Root:  You can direct your internal energies to exert
great force or hold yourself immobile.  Add your dots in
Soft/Internal Styles to your STR for purposes of moving great
weights, pushing opponents or resisting being pushed or pulled in
any direction.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Martial Arts: Legendary Techniques

If your ST allows, you may be able to learn one of the following.
Learning a Legendary Technique costs 7 freebie points, or 30 exp.
Legendary Techniques are almost magickal themselves, and cannot be
combined with any other sort of supernatural power.


Dim Mak:  This is the infamous 'Death Touch,' and should probably
be simulated by appropriate supernatural techniques, like Akashic
Sphere Magick.  However, if the ST wants normal humans to be able
to learn such things, a character who has already learned the
Advanced Techniques of Atemi, Nerve Touch, and Power Focus, can
attempt to learn Dim Mak.  Dim Mak inflicts 1 HL of damage per
success on a difficulty 8 Dex+Brawl roll.  This requires only a
touch - so the victim may not even be aware of it.  Damage can be
caused to occur immediately, or at a set time, hours, or even days
hence.  Dim Mak cannot be soaked, and can be made Aggravated with
the expenditure of a Willpower point.  Most Supernaturals can
resist Dim Mak (Vampires and Wraiths are immune, Werewolves soak
with Gnosis, Mages with Arete, Changelings with Banality).


No-Touch Technique:  This is the reputed ability of some Martial
Artists to affect opponents or objects without even touching them.
Some Aikido masters can pull this off in demonstrations, mainly
because their students expect it, but the true ability is much
more impressive (if it exists at all in the Chronicle) Mori
Ueshiba, for instance, was said to have flipped over a trolley car
with a single Ki shout.  A character who has already learned
Throw, Enhanced Dodge, Chi-Flow/Root, and Power Focus can attempt
to develop the No-Touch Technique.  This technique allows the
character to use Martial Techniques and brawling attacks on
opponents up to one meter/success away (this uses up successes, so
a Nerve Touch that would have done 6 SLs at HTH range, would do
only 4 at 2m and would fail completely beyond 4) or to use them at
normal hand-to-hand distances with a -2 difficulty.


Zanshin:  This is a mystical state of mind that reputedly renders
the Master invincible.  Whether it exists is, of course, highly
debatable.  To learn Zanshin, the character must first master
Enhanced Dodge, Chi-Flow/Root, and Lightning Strike.  Zanshin
allows the master to fight with deceptive grace and inhuman speed.
He can add his dots in the lower of Hard or Soft Styles to his
combat dice pools for all purposes.


Flowing Water:  This legendary ability allows the master to avoid
any attack directed at him - Aikido-ka explain it as becoming one
with the universe, and to attack the universe is an absurdity.  A
character must have already learned Escape, Enhanced Dodge, Chi-
Flow/Root, and the No-Touch Legendary Technique, in order to
possibly develop Flowing Water.  Mastery of the Flowing Water
Technique allows the character to make a free (without splitting
dice pools, and in addition to any other actions) Dex+Dodge roll
against any number of attacks or attackers in a given turn, even
those that he may not be consciously aware of.  Though it requires
it as a prerequisite, Flowing Water cannot be used in conjunction
with Chi-Flow/Root, nor can any Hard/External Techniques be used
in conjunction with it.


Iron-Skin Protection:  This is the legendary power supposedly held
by the Shao-lin priests and the fighters of the Boxxer Rebellion.
It is unlikely to work in front of skeptical witnesses, especially
when firearms are involved - much like Hedge Magick.  To learn
this Technique, the master must have already learned Toughness,
Knife Hand/Tiger Claw, Power Focus, and Chi-Flow/Root.  Iron-Skin
Protection adds one die to the character's soak roll per dot in
the lower of his Hard or Soft Styles.  Iron-Skin soaks all
attacks, including firearms and aggravated damage.  It is well
known that the Boxxers (at least the vast majority of them) did
not really posses this ability, it was merely a ploy by their
leaders to bolster their courage.  It is entirely possible that
the same would be true of any character buying the technique.


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