• 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
• 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
• Flying Kick: Leaping through the air, the martial artist
combines her body weight and momentum into a powerful blow.
• • Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1 (hard style), Athletics or Acrobatics 1
• • Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 7
• • Damage: Strength +2/B Actions: 1
• Hard Strike/ Soft Strike: Here’s a basic combat blow,
focused with more skill than a wild punch. The hard variant
involves a clenched fist or rigid fingers (the Tiger Claw
technique), whereas a soft blow typically involves tripping
the opponent or otherwise using his own force to hurt him.
• • Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1 (any style)
• • Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: hard 5/ soft 6
• • Damage: Strength +1/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
• Nerve/ Pressure Point Strike: Targeting a vital location,
the martial artist directs precision force against it. If the attacker
scores at least three successes to hit his opponent, then the
opponent must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 8) or else be
stunned on the next turn. A botch on that roll stuns her for
three turns instead.
• • Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 3 (any style)
• • Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 7
• • Damage: Strength +3/B 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. This maneuver acts as a
dodge, with a thee-dice bonus and Dexterity + Martial Arts as
the dice pool involved.
• • 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
• Snap Kick: Focusing her energy on a simple yet effective
kick, the martial artist directs her lower body strength into the blow.
• • Minimum Ability: Martial Arts 1 (hard 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
• 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
•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
• Vital Strike: A sharp-handed blow to an organ or joint inflicts lethal injury.
• • Minimum Ability: Martial Arts (hard style) 2
• • Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 7
• • Damage: Strength/L Actions: 1
• Withering Grasp: Grabbing his foe in a painful hold,
the martial artist inflicts damage and may disarm her as well.
To get the weapon from an enemy’s hand, the martial artist
must score at least three successes; with five successes, he can
take it away from her and use it himself in a following turn.
• • Minimum Ability: Martial Arts (soft style) 3
• • Roll: Dexterity + Martial Arts Difficulty: 7
• • Damage: Strength/B Actions: 1\\