Professional Documents
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Martial Descriptors
Chi: Martial powers are often described as harnessing the internal energy of spirit, will, or life force,
called chi (Chinese) or ki (Japanese). This may or
may not be the same as other types of life force
(see the Life Powers profile) and in some settings,
chi is a supernatural or mystical power, associated
with spirits and magic, although it may not be the
same as the magic descriptor. Gamemasters should
consider the interaction between chi and other,
similar, descriptors in the context of the setting.
Chi-based powers may be part of an array of
Alternate Effects sharing the descriptor, all drawing
upon the characters chi. So you might, for example,
have a Chi array with Breaking Blow, Chi Balance, Chi
Focus, and Kiai Shout, the three lowest cost powers
as Alternate Effects of the power with the highest
cost, but usable only one at a time, due to the need
to refocus the characters chi on a different use.
Martial: Powers with this descriptor are broadly
related to fighting, but most typically refer to different kinds of martial arts, whether known real-world
styles or fictional martial arts existing only in the
Martial Features
Potential Feature effects for martial powers include:
Ability Modifiers
Some martial powers involve modifying the characters
basic Strength Damage effect, or possibly some other abilities, to reflect extraordinary training or talent. In some cases,
these modifiers reflect a permanent change in the trait and
are applied directly. In others, particularly Strength Damage,
they are more often Alternate Effects of that trait, leaving
the basic trait unchanged and usable in its basic form.
Some examples of modifiers applied to abilities and other
traits include:
Alternate Resistance for Strength Damage targeting nerve clusters or vital spots, bypassing Toughness and resisted by Fortitude or Will instead.
Impervious Toughness, possibly Sustained, to represent breath- and muscle-control, and use of chi, to
harden the skin and resist harm or avoid the worst
of an attack.
Offensive Powers
Since martial powers focus on fighting, offensive powers
are the most common, ranging from particular fighting
techniques to enhancements of a characters fighting capabilities.
Analyze Style
By observing and analyzing a foes fighting style and technique, you can find weaknesses you can exploit to your
advantage. If the target fails to resist, you gain an advantage due to the drop in the targets active defenses until
the target manages to cover the opening by realizing
(through defensive fighting skill) what you are doing. A
variant form of this power may impose different conditions, such as Impaired and Disabled.
Analyze Style: Perception Ranged Affliction (Resisted and
Overcome by Will; Vulnerable, Defenseless), Conditions
Limited to Your Attacks, Limited Degree, Insidious, Subtle 2
points +1 point per rank.
Berserker Rage
You can fly into a berserk rage in combat, making you
strong and fearless, but heedless of your own safety.
The GM may set a limit on the ranks of Strength you can
gain from this power, or allow additional Strength-based
Damage to be layered on top of the Enhanced Strength.
Berserker Rage: Enhanced Advantage 1 (Fearless), Enhanced
Strength, Sustained, Quirk (1 to active defenses, 2 points) 1
point +2 points per additional Strength rank.
Breaking Blow
With a moment of focused concentration, you can strike
through an object with tremendous force, allowing you
to smash wood, or even stone and steel, with your bare
hands. You may combine this with a Power Attack maneuver for additional effect.
Breaking Blow: Strength-based Damage, Penetrating, Limited
to Objects, Activation (move action, 1 point) 1 point for rank
2, +1 point per additional rank.
Chi Strike
You focus your internal energies into a powerful unarmed
strike, greater than just your physical strength. This power
often has a flaw like Tiring to represent the drain on the
wielders energy.
Chi Strike: Strength-based Damage 1 point per rank.
Dim Mak
You have mastered the legendary dim mak, or death
touch attack, allowing you to introduce poison chi into a
targets system that eventually destroys them from within.
Progression beyond incapacitated takes the characters
condition to dying. Some forms of Dim Mak are also Insidious and Subtle.
Dim Mak: Affliction (Resisted and Overcome by Fortitude;
Fatigued and Impaired, Disabled and Exhausted,
Incapacitated), Extra Condition, Progressive, Reversible
1 point + 4 points per rank.
Ear Boxing
A double-strike to a targets vulnerable ears provides a
distraction. This power is an effective power stunt for
Strength Damage for a martial artist faced with an incredibly tough or otherwise invulnerable target.
Natural Fighter
While some gain their fighting talents from years of study and
training, others are naturally gifted, or supernaturally gifted,
gaining some advantages from esoteric arts, the blessings of
higher (or lower) powers, mystical insights, and so forth.
Natural Fighter: Enhanced Advantage 1 point per rank.
Defensive Powers
Defensive martial powers rely on greater acrobatic and
fighting skill to avoid harm or strike back at attackers.
Catfall
Training and technique allow you to easily land on your
feet after a fall and to twist, tumble, and roll so you suffer
no harm in the process.
Catfall: Enhanced Advantage 1 (Instant Up), Movement 1
(Safe Fall), Limited to distance rank 0 2 points.
Counterstrike
Your fighting reflexes are so highly attuned that simply
attacking you risks a forceful counterattack. The powers
rank is limited to the Damage rank of your normal attack,
typically Strength Damage.
Ghost Fighting
Deflecting Projectile
You know esoteric techniques to focus your inner energies to strike ghosts and other incorporeal supernatural
beings, where material attacks normally would not.
Ghost Fighting: Strength Damage Affects Insubstantial
1 point (half Damage rank) or 2 points (full Damage rank).
Kiai Shout
You have learned the art of kiai, a fierce battle shout, combined with breath control and harnessing your personal
energy to produce a variety of effects. The basic kiai shout
is intended to rattle and unnerve your opponents, leaving
them vulnerable when you attack.
Kiai Shout: Cone Area Affliction (Resisted and Overcome by
Will; Dazed and Vulnerable, Stunned and Defenseless), Extra
Condition, Hearing-Dependent, Limited Degree 1 point
per rank.
Movement Powers
The athletic skill and agility associated with martial
powers may allow characters to move in unusual ways,
giving them a tactical advantage in combat.
Feather Step
You can stand on surfaces that normally would not
support your weight, like a thin tree branch, sheet of
paper, or the top of snow, without sinking or damaging
the surface, and able to move normally.
Feather Step: Movement 2 (Trackless, Water-walking), Limited to
solid surfaces 2 points.
Run up Walls
You can run short distances up or along vertical surfaces
like walls. You can only do so while moving (you cannot
stand still on a vertical surface) and only for one move
action, after which you must move to a horizontal surface
or fall. With an Acrobatics check, you can run up a wall,
then kick off and flip over and behind a pursuer to catch
them by surprise. Treat this like a use of Agile Feint (Heros
Handbook, page 79).
Run Up Walls: Movement 2 (Wall-crawling), Limited to one
move action, Limited to while moving 1 point.
Wire-Fu
You have superhuman leaping and acrobatic abilities, like
the wire work of characters in martial arts films. Typically
this power is fairly automatic, but you might apply the Acrobatics Check Required modifier to lessen its cost.
Wire-Fu: Leaping 1 point per rank.
Utility Powers
Martial utility powers enhance a fighters ability to overcome or ignore obstacles along with various side benefits
that extend to things other than just fighting.
Blind Fighting
You have trained to move and fight without the use of your
eyes, allowing you to more easily deal with darkness, blindness, and foes concealed from you in various ways using
only your ears. Some users of this technique are truly blind,
compensating with this power for their fighting skills.
Blind Fighting: Senses 2 (Accurate Hearing) 2 points.
Chi Balance
Manipulating trigger points and meridians and using your
own internal energy allows you to balance an align a patients energies to treat and cure various maladies. Healing
modifiers like Energizing, Persistent, and Restorative are
common for this power. A Quirk involving the treatment
taking at least 10 minutes (making it usable only outside
of action time) is also common, worth 2 points.
Chi Balance: Healing (chi) 2 points per rank.
Chi Focus
By focusing your internal energy through meditation
techniques, you can enhance your abilities in different
Chi Reading
You can read or scan the internal energies of another
creature, feeling their degree of health and balance from
those energies. Among other things, Chi Reading is useful
for diagnosing blockages and other maladies involving
a subjects chi. Note that the base power is not ranged,
requiring you to examine the subject close up (although
you are not required to touch). To read chi from a greater
distance, apply an additional rank of Senses for Ranged.
Chi Reading: Senses 3 (Detect Chi, Acute, Analytical) 3 points.
Second Wind
Your determination, willpower, and perhaps internal
energy allow you to shake off the effects of damage and
keep fighting. Once you have used your Second Wind in a
conflict, you cannot use it again until you have had an opportunity to rest (resetting the Trigger modifier).
Second Wind: Healing, Triggered 1 (when suffering two or more
degrees of damage), Limited to Self 1 point + 1 point per rank.
Martial Complications
The power of mastering combat comes with its own complications, and martial characters may deal with some of
the following.
Disability
Obsession
Similarly, some martial artists bear the scars of their training and experience and might have other disabilities
including (but not limited to): hearing loss, lost appendages (a finger or two for a former Yakuza, for example, or
a whole limb from a duel or accident), or limited mobility.
Scarring and other cosmetic damage is covered under the
Prejudice complication, as it affects how others see and
react to the character, rather than limiting any abilities.
Power Loss
Enemy
Martial artists often have enemies, or make them during
their fighting careers. The most common type of enemy
is a former fellow student, pupil, or even teacher at odds
with the characters beliefs. Perhaps a former classmate
or pupil wants secret knowledge the character possesses,
or simply envys the characters success. A foe defeated
in a previous fight might come back looking to even the
score, obsessed with revenge (see Obsession) or a need to
restore lost honor.
Honor
Honor is a common theme for warriors of all stripes, so
those focusing on martial powers often have strong
codes of honor and behavior, following the way of the
warrior in one fashion or another, whether the Bushido
of the samurai or the Code of the Old West. Amongst
other things, honorable warriors keep their word and do
not take undue advantage of opponents, seeking to win
through as fair a test of mettle as possible. They can count
on less honorable foes trying to take advantage of their
code, and must rely on being more capable than them to
ensure honor wins out.
Motivation
Martial types tend to be highly motivated, since they
wouldnt have such extraordinary levels of ability if they
were not! Each is driven by a different cause, however.
Some simply seek to Do Good with their abilities, while
others feel the weight of Responsibility upon them,
perhaps due to oaths they have sworn to teachers,
mentors, or family. Other wielders of martial powers seek
Justice for wrongs done to them or to loved ones, or
simply to promote justice for all.
Rivalry
When characters are the best at what they do others
are going to come along to test that assertion. Masters of
different forms of combat often encounter young Turks
eager to make names for themselves by defeating a legendary foe, and martial artists are themselves often quite
proud of their abilities. They may find it hard to resist an
opportunity to prove them in the heat of combat against
a worthy adversary. Indeed, a true master may spend considerable time looking to find such a foe, in order to discover if there is anything more to learn.
Weakness
One weakness associated with martial powers and fighting styles is an otherwise powerful style or fighting technique with a serious flaw, leaving the character open
or vulnerable to a particular kind of attack, if someone
knows how to exploit it. For example, a particular practice
of gathering and controlling chi might leave the character vulnerable to a precise strike to the solar plexus, which
causes the gathered energy to explode out of the body
and leaves the victim incapacitated. Or aligning to a particular type of martial energy or element, say fire or metal,
might leave the character vulnerable to an opposing force
like water, cold, or fire.
Often this type of Weakness complication starts out as a
Secret instead; the character working to keep the truth
about the Weakness from getting out so enemies can
exploit it. Once it is known, it goes from being a Secret to
a true Weakness (at least for that particular foe).
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