Back to Altair Ogram Ashkabaken
Hand to Hand Martial Arts
Martial Arts Known: Aikido, Tai Chi Chuan, Drunken Fist, Silat, and HEMA.
Weapon Choices:
Silat: Karambits
Aikido: Katana
Tai Chi Chuan: Spear
Drunken Fist: Improvised Weaponry such as bar stools, ladders, ect
HEMA: Large Axes.
Maneuvers Known: 10
Counter Throw:
Directing an attacker’s momentum
against him, the martial artist sends him flying into the nearest
wall… or the ground… or worse. A basic soft-style maneuver,
this remains an effective technique. When the martial artist
is attacked, make a resisted roll of Dexterity + Martial Arts
against the attacker’s Dexterity + Brawl, Melee, or Martial Arts
(depending on the Ability that the opponent is using to attack).
If you score more successes than your attacker does, then you
deflect the attack and may – immediately and without having
to divide up your dice pool – try to throw him (as below). If
you fail the throw, you still sidestep his attack.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1, Athletics 1 (soft style)
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 6
Damage: As Throw Actions: 1
Throw
Having grappled her opponent (or used a
counter throw, above), the martial artist slams him into
a convenient surface. In game terms, the attacker needs a
Dexterity + Martial Arts dice pool equal to, or higher than,
her opponent’s Dexterity. With a successful roll, the martial
artist can throw her opponent up to one yard for each success
she scores on her attack roll.
So long as she’s got a straight shot at the location, she can
choose where her opponent lands. When he lands, he takes damage
based on her strength. If he’d been charging her at the time he was
thrown, the impact also inflicts an additional +1 die for every 10
feet he’d been traveling at the time (+10 dice maximum).
If the impact inflicts more than three health levels in
damage (after soaking), the opponent must make a Stamina
roll (difficulty 8) or else be stunned for one turn.
Should the martial artist throw one opponent into another
one, the flying enemy inflicts one die bashing damage for
each point of Stamina he has, plus one additional die for the
momentum and impact if one or both of the opponents were
moving at the time. (A Stamina 3 bad guy, for example, who’d
just run 20 feet before being thrown would inflict five dice of
bashing damage on his buddy.) Throwing one opponent into
another one adds +2 to the roll’s difficulty for that throw, but
it does indeed smash two birds with one throw.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts (any style) 2
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: hard 7/ soft 6
Damage: Strength + movement/B Actions: 1
Death Strike
Aiming a rigid hand at an organ, joint, or
other incapacitating location, the attacker directs devastating
force at that target. This strike inflicts lethal damage.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 3 (hard style)
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 5
Damage: Strength +2/L Actions: 1
Deflecting Block
Evading an attacker’s blow, the martial
artist redirects the attacker’s force against her. In game terms, the
defender rolls Dexterity + Martial Arts in Phase Two: Defense.
Each success subtracts one success from the attacker’s roll. If the
defender scores more successes than his attacker, then the attacker
must roll Dexterity (difficulty 8) or else fall to the ground (or smash
into a nearby surface), taking her own Strength in bashing damage.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 2 (soft style), Athletics or Acrobatics 2
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 6
Damage: Attacker’s Strength/B Actions: 1
Dragon Tail Sweep
A spinning leg sweep that knocks an opponent sprawling. In game terms, the effects work like a throw,
but the martial artist doesn’t need to grab her opponent first.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1 (hard style), Athletics or Acrobatics 1
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 8
Damage: Opponent’s Strength/B Actions: 1
Elbow/Knee Strike
A quick, brutal blow with an elbow
or kneecap, usually directed at a vulnerable spot at close range.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1 (any style)
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 5
Damage: Strength +1/B Actions: 1
Spinning Kick
Our martial artist spins around and plants a solid kick into the object of his attention.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 2 (hard style), Athletics or Acrobatics 2
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 6
Damage: Strength +3/B Actions: 1
Joint Lock
Having already grappled his opponent, the
martial artist applies pressure to joints and pressure points. If
he chooses to exert force against that spot, he can dislocate or
break limbs, joints, or possibly even the neck.
The player rolls Dexterity + Martial Arts to grapple his
opponent (see Grapple, above), then may immediately (without
dividing his dice pool between attacks) roll Dexterity + Martial
Arts to inflict damage. Each success rolled inflicts one health
level’s worth of lethal injury.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 2 (any style), Athletics or Acrobatics 2
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 5
Damage: Successes/L Actions: 1
Snake Step
Shifting away from the blow, our martial
artist deftly sidesteps a close or ranged attack. Naturally, he
must be able to see it coming first. A successful roll acts as a
dodge attempt with an additional three-dice bonus.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1 (any style), Athletics or Acrobatics 1
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: hard 6/soft 5
Damage: N/A Actions: 1
Thunder Kick
A devastating flying kick. Hurling himself
through the air, the martial artist focuses his chi and mass into
a strike potent enough to end most fights immediately. In
game terms, each success adds one additional die to the kick’s
damage. A character cannot use the Thunder Kick more than
once every five turns, however, as it demands intense focus and
commitment to the blow.
Minimum Ability: Martial Arts (hard style) 3, Athletics or Acrobatics 2
Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 7
Damage: Strength +3 + successes/B Actions: 1
Weapon Maneuvers
Karambit/Dagger moves
Bind:
Sweeping her antagonist’s weapon up with her
own, a defending fighter uses gravity and leverage to prevent
her enemy from using his weapon this turn. Essentially, this
technique involves a block that denies the opponent the use
of his weapon until he can break the bind. Unlike a typical
block or parry, however, this maneuver succeeds automatically
if the defender makes her roll.
As the opponent attacks, the defender captures his weapon
with her own. A successful roll represents a successful capture
attempt, which deflects that attack and immobilizes both weapons
(meaning that neither party can use them) until either the
defender ends the bind or the opponent successfully breaks free
as described under the Grapple maneuver (Mage 20, p. 421).
Both parties can use other attacks – kicks, head-butts,
punches, etc. – during a successful bind. Due to the close
range, occupied attention, and lack of leverage and space,
however, attacks other than head-butts add +2 to their usual
difficulty. Other opponents, however, subtract -2 from the
difficulty of trying to hit either fighter while their weapons
are bound.
Bind attempts typically begin with the defender maneuvering
her opponent into position – often with a held action, a
Feint (see below), a taunting remark, or some similar enticement
to strike. That enticement isn’t necessary, but it’s a common
tactic that – if successful – reduces the difficulty of the Bind
maneuver itself to difficulty 6, not 8. This enticement requires
an additional action before the Bind attempt itself. As with
other two-action moves, this enticement could be performed
within the same turn if the player chooses to employ a multiple
action (detailed in Mage 20, pp. 388-389).
Obviously, this is a hand-to-hand fighting technique that
typically demands weapons that are strong and rigid enough to
bind and be bound (blades, staves, clubs, etc.). That said, an
especially flexible weapon (like a chain, whip, or rope) could
be used to capture an opponent’s weapon too… and with such
weapons, this is a popular technique.
Roll: Dexterity + (Ability) Difficulty: 6/8
Damage: N/A Actions: 1+
Curtain of Blood:
With a superficial slash above his
opponent’s eyes, the attack spills a bit of the red stuff into
her vision. The resulting distraction sets him up for a better
shot… or possibly for a quick retreat.
It takes at least two successes on the attack roll in order
to cause that blood to flow. The “curtain” effect kicks in one
turn after the slice is made. The cut itself is too shallow to
cause damage; until the target can clear her eyes and staunch
that flow of blood, however, she’s using half of her usual dice
pools. (Stopping the flow requires one full action unless the
opponent can close up wounds through force of will or innate
healing abilities.) Naturally, this attack means nothing against
opponents who do not bleed, or whose faces are protected
from cuts and incidental blindness.
Roll: Dexterity + (Ability) Difficulty: 8
Damage: N/A Actions: 1
Jab:
A short, quick stab at the opponent tests his defenses
and skill. The attacker also adds +1 to the difficulty of her
opponent’s next attack against her, due to the fast, defensive
nature of this move.
Roll: Dexterity + (Ability) Difficulty: Weapon +1
Damage: Weapon -2 Actions: 1
Lightning Parry:
With a massive blow or a flurry of
blazing-fast strikes, the character deflects incoming shots from
a host of attackers. Despite implacable odds, she remains – for
the moment – untouched. En garde, gentlemen!
The difficulty for this maneuver is 6 + 1 for every attacker
beyond the first (+2 for three attackers, +3 for four attackers,
and so on). With five successes or more, she breaks the opponents’
weapons, too, forcing them to roll their Willpower
(difficulty 7) or back away in fear.
Unless she has extra actions within a single turn, the
defender cannot do anything this turn except deflect the incoming
assaults. As a rule, this trick should work only against
blade-fodder mooks, not against serious antagonists; for details,
see Mook-a-Palooza, Mage 20, p. 414.
Realistically, this maneuver should apply only to hand-tohand
attacks; martial arts movies, though, use this technique
against missile weapons all the time.
Roll: Dexterity + (Ability) Difficulty: 6+
Damage: N/A Actions: 1
Riposte:
Following through on a previous parry, the
attacker takes advantage of his surprised opponent and delivers
a rapid counterstrike. This maneuver must follow a successful
block or parry, and can be performed only with hand-to-hand
weaponry. A fighter with multiple actions in a single turn
(thanks to Time 3, a multiple-actions dice pool, or some other
advantage that allows her to act more than once within that turn)
can perform this maneuver in the same turn as the parry itself.
Roll: Dexterity + (Ability) Difficulty: Weapon -2
Damage: Weapon Actions: 1
Shiv:
Wrapping herself around her opponent, the attacker
shoves a short stabbing weapon into a sensitive location
– an armpit, the belly, a helmet’s eye-slit, and so forth. As an
extra benefit, the attacker restricts her opponent’s ability to
move, making him vulnerable to other attacks from interested
parties. The attacker herself becomes more vulnerable too, but
desperate circumstances demand desperate measures.
A two-action maneuver, the shiv “technique” requires a
successful Grapple maneuver first. (Again, see Mage 20, p. 421.)
Assuming she’s successful, the attacker uses her next action to
shove a short stabbing weapon (dagger, stiletto, hatpin, spike,
etc.) into the vulnerable spot. This demands a second roll
(Dexterity + Melee) but lets her ignore all protections from
armor while inflicting a bit of extra damage too.
This attack’s base difficulty is 7; however, a target with very
few vulnerable spots (that is, covered except for eyes and /or
with only small chinks in their armor) raises that difficulty to 9.
So long as the attacker keeps her weapon in the target,
she can twist it around and inflict an extra level of aggravated
damage per turn. This damage cannot be soaked unless the
target is essentially immune to harm caused by weapons digging
around in his innards. Werewolves, vampires, dragons,
and similar critters can attempt to soak such damage because
they’re just that tough to kill; cyborgs and so forth, though, can
have their workings seriously messed up by this sort of thing.
(Spirits and ghosts, lacking physical substance, can’t be harmed
by a shiv attack unless the fighter employs a weapon that can
hurt them, they’ve already materialized, or both. Zombies,
skeletons, and other critters that lack functioning organs are
unfazed by such mayhem.)
As with the Bind, Grapple, and Stabbing Frenzy maneuvers,
the attacker remains vulnerable to other assailants.
Characters who take shots at her subtract -2 from their usual
difficulties; if they miss, however, they hit her target instead.
Roll: Dexterity + Melee Difficulty: 7/9
Damage: Weapon +1 + Special Actions: 2
Stabbing Frenzy:
Armed with a short-bladed knife, the
attacker ducks inside the opponent’s reach and unleashes a
storm of rapid jabs and stabs. It’s a risky attack, because the
attacker cannot dodge or counter any assaults at such close
range; the sudden massive trauma involved, however, usually
occupies the opponent’s attention that turn. That said, the
attacker is vulnerable to other opponents, who subtract -2
from their difficulty when trying to hit him. Thus, this is a
sort of sacrifice technique, best used in a one-on-one fight.
On a similar note, this attack is useless against armor that’s
thicker than 2 points of protection. These zero-range stabs
have no momentum behind them, and so cannot penetrate
thicker types of armor.
Because it depends upon using a short, fast weapon to
stab the target at exceedingly close range, this maneuver can
be performed only with short knives (switchblades, pocket
knives, stilettos, etc.), razor blades, needles, broken bottles,
small hand axes, or spiked fist-load weapons. There’s no room
in this frenzy for slashing or elaborate technique – it’s just a
brutal, desperate barrage. Hence, this maneuver employs either
Brawl or Melee, not any form of refined martial art.
Roll: Dexterity + Brawl or Melee Difficulty: 4
Damage: Weapon +3 Actions: 1