Martial Arts Styles include Perks to represent the additional training that some stylists get: a pole-arm fighter learns how to instantly change grips to adjust the reach of his weapon, while a Roman legionnaire knows how to fight in formation and defend the next man over with his shield. It seems to me there should also be style Quirks, to represent the downsides of specialized training.
- Basic Style Training - You're familiar with a style that was self-taught, learned through painful experience on the streets, taught to you by a fraud, or just stripped to its essentials. You may be very able at executing the attacks and defenses you know, but your repertoire relies on the simplest of moves. You can ignore -1 in Feint and Deceptive Attack penalties from co-stylists with the Basic quirk. Anyone who knows your style without the Basic Quirk, and anyone who knows a style that covers all the weapon skills in your style, can ignore -1 in Feint and Deceptive Attack penalties from you! Basically, anyone who has enough training to pick up a full Style Familiarity knows all of your limited number of moves, even if they've never fought anyone from your style before.
- Aggressive Style - You were taught an extremely aggressive form of your style that concentrates on overwhelming attacks but neglects defending. Whenever you make an Evaluate, Wait, Defensive Attack, or Attack maneuver, you have a -1 on all defenses. The defense penalty on the Wait maneuver goes away if you convert it into a Committed Attack. If you ever learn a style without this quirk, you must buy off this quirk for all your styles.
- This perk is especially appropriate for ABA Bando,
Kachin Bando, Italian School Fencing, Hung Gar Kung Fu, Kenjutsu, Krav Maga, MCMAP, Sambo, Muay Thai, and Naginatajutsu.
- Defensive Style - You were taught a defensive style that waits for an opening before making an attack. You have -1 on any attack roll made during a Move and Attack, All-Out Attack, Committed Attack, or Attack maneuver, unless you chose to Evaluate your target on your previous turn or you converted your maneuver from a Wait on this turn. If you ever learn a style without this quirk, you must buy off this quirk for all your styles.
- This perk is especially appropriate for Aikijutsu, Boxing, Chin Na, Dagger Fighting, La Verdadera Destreza Fencing, Kajukenbo, Goju Ryu Karate, Isshinryu Karate, Kusarijutsu, Longsword Fighting, Pa Kua Chuan, Pankration, Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Shortsword Fighting, Sojutsu, Sword and Shield Fighting, and T'ai Chi Chuan.
Style quirks should not count against the quirk limit. A stylist can only have one quirk per Style Familiarity perk.
These are cool. Kachin Bando doesn't deserve the Aggressive Style quirk. Structurally secure defense before attacking is a style trait. I'll have to think of a good quirk for the style . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm going by the write-up in MA, which is a full paragraph on "an aggressive style... Committed Attack or even All-Out Attack (Strong) is a favorite way to knock an enemy out." There were a couple of styles that I felt I was making a judgment call on based on the descriptions, but Kachin Bando wasn't one of them.
DeleteI will, of course, defer to someone who actually knows what he's talking about =)
I would love to see mechanics for a "secure defense, then outrageous attack" style, since it seems fairly common in MA write-ups (Capoeira, Kuntao, Pollaxe Fighting, etc). Or really some other options - these were the most obvious 3, but there could be more out there.
It's just that the quirk you're suggesting makes using less than full-one risky attacks a defensive trap for someone practicing a lot of style - and I know the style I train doesn't really do that. After all, what "Whenever you make an Evaluate, Wait, Defensive Attack, or Attack maneuver, you have a -1 on all defenses." means is, -1 to all defenses, unless you sacrifice them otherwise, or buy off this quirk. That's pretty big. I can say with long experience that you won't get that in Kachin Bando because the assumption is the opponent is trying to harm you, and while you want to put the guy down ASAP, you don't give up your defenses to do it.
DeleteI was thinking more about the style quirks. I think it's a good idea, but I think just about everyone would see the quirks you've got written up as "things to buy off ASAP" rather than things you'd want to take and keep as ways to further differentiate styles. If they were less harsh (-1 to lots of attacks, and -1 to lots of defenses, are both pretty rough), more demonstrative of a style in general than a slant toward aggressiveness/passiveness, I think they'd be even better.
ReplyDelete