Advanced Combat Styles

Advanced Combat Styles

Without exception, the advanced fighting styles are rigorous and exacting in their training and application, and are profoundly tied to their cultures of origin. Advanced styles are only usable with a very specific version of the type of weapons covered by its prerequisite skill(s). Beyond that, some styles specify a certain size or design of the phys-rep itself. For all of the styles, however, the skill prerequisites obey the following rules:

If a style only requires a weapon skill, a character must have level 6 in that skill to learn the advanced style. If a style requires both a weapon skill and a peripheral skill, then the character must have level 5 in the weapon skill and 3 in the other.

All advanced styles have a base cost of 20 and follow normal skill progression. Denizens of a school’s homeworld receive the standard 5 CP discount on level 1. Advanced fighting styles do not normally progress beyond level 6.

Like magical schools, fighting styles must be taught by someone who already knows them, with both student and teacher spending a downtime action for this purpose. More than that, however, Advanced styles can ONLY be taught by someone who has completely mastered the school itself, achieving level 6 in it. Once the basics are taught, a character may progress through the skill with no further training needed.

If a style doesn’t specify any armor restrictions, it has none. If the style does not explicitly employ a shield, however, none may be used with it.

Note: the specific abilities gained with an advanced weapon style must be found out in play.

*Note that these are abbreviated to save space; more specific requirements are listed in each section.

Wurm-Slaying Style

Homeworld

Rock of Storms

Prerequisite Skills

Axe 6

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with two Battle Axes of identical length.

This fearsome style of combat focuses entirely on overwhelming offense and aggression, as delivered by a pair of whirling battle axes. Practitioners of this style are particularly adept at crippling their opponents with terrible strikes, and are capable of fighting even when seriously wounded.

Wurm-slayers are monster hunters and beast-killers who are expected to approach mortal combat without fear or remorse, over and above the normal stoic fatalism of the denizens of the Rock of Storms. More importantly, practitioners of this style hone their skills so that, after they die, they may be found on the forefront of the last battle, contending with the wurm itself.

Noble Paladin Style

Homeworld

Realm of Castles

Prerequisite Skills

Mace 5, Shield 3

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with both a war mace and a small shield.

Noble Paladin style is defensive and self-sacrificial in nature, with its users being particularly good at protecting their allies. Still, Noble Paladins quickly learn techniques to overcome the limitations of their weapon, while performing devastating attacks against their opponents.

As can be imagined by its name, Noble Paladin style is practiced exclusively by the nobility of the Realm of Castles. Noble Paladins are closely associated with the Order of the Horn, as well, taking as their charge the defense of this pacifist brotherhood (a relationship which has had its share of conflict, unsurprisingly).

Double Soldier Style

Homeworld

Realm of Castles

Prerequisite Skills

Sword 6

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with a maximum length greatsword (62”).

Double soldiers are shock troopers, capable of disrupting and breaking up large groups of opponents, as well as quickly taking down foes in single combat. Also, this style has several cunning tricks which allow its practitioners to use their Greatsword in surprisingly versatile ways, and to overcome the difficulties of using a single large weapon.

In the Realm, Double Soldiers are often commoners, and they are so named because they are expected to perform as much as two normal troopers, with twice as much risk…and for twice as much pay. Castle Bellicose is famous as a training ground for Double Soldiers—among other things—and many would-be practitioners travel there to learn the style.

Scholar’s Sword Style

Homeworld

Empire of Perfect Unity

Prerequisite Skills

Sword 5, Scholarship 3

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with a single, minimum length longsword (34”).

The Scholar’s sword is a difficult and subtle style, focusing on effortless defensive maneuvers and deceptively powerful attacks, intimately tied to the imagery and craft of scrollwork and calligraphy. Practitioners of this style learn to use their sword as if it were inseparable from them, and can perform astounding feats that border on the supernatural.

This style dates from before the time of the great philosopher, and its origin is lost to history. The Scholar’s sword is most often practiced by high-ranking and affluent citizens (particularly among the youths of magistrate households), whose duties are light enough to allow them the time to master this, and other rarefied disciplines. Practically, however, the Stone Lions make best use of the Scholar’s Sword in defense of the North Wall.

Hidden Justice Style

Homeworld

Dark Mountains

Prerequisite Skills

Polearm 6

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with a staff.

Hidden Justice is a cunning and secretive style that employs the humble staff as a potent weapon against the minions of the dark lords. This style is highly defensive, but it does incorporate disabling attacks and potent, deceptive offensive maneuvers, as well.

As the peasantry in the Dark Mountains are forbidden weapons—and the rebellion draws its ranks mostly from the peasantry—it is only natural that they develop a fighting art that exploits the “facelessness” of simple common folk. What Praetor would suspect a lowly farmer with a staff? Of all the advanced fighting styles, hidden justice is the newest, and the abilities it grants are about immediate, brutal, and cunning utility, rather than esoteric perfection.

Sky-Cutting Style

Homeworld

Desert of Brass

Prerequisite Skills

Thrown 6

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with maximum length throwing daggers or chakrams (12” length/diameter).

Sky-Cutting style is an exotic weapon form that focuses on overwhelming speed and dynamic flair. When using this styles’ allowed weapons—large throwing daggers and chakrams—practitioners can overwhelm opponents with cascades of razored steel. This style is also notoriously difficult to defend against, while its users themselves learn defensive maneuvers otherwise thought impossible with thrown weapons.

In the Desert of Brass, Sky-Cutting style finds its home among adventurers and explorers, who value mobility, speed, and a sense of visual style. Adventurers make a name for themselves in part because of the image they project, not just for what they might unearth from ruins buried beneath the desert sands.

Blithe Lancer Style

Homeworld

Undersea

Prerequisite

Skills Polearm 5, Shield 3

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with a spear and buckler. The weapon itself must have a maximum length head (12”).

Blithe Lancer Style is an alien weapon form designed for the three-dimensional “battlefield” of undersea, and is often, though not exclusively, used in mounted combat. Despite these facts, Blithe Lancers are well at home on land, for this style’s fundamental nature is that of adaptation and flow. Practitioners learn to overcome and transcend the limitations of their weapon and shield, and they also master techniques which focus on accuracy and economy of motion.

In Undersea, the primary devotees of this style belong to the Urvashim School, and members of this fighting organization use its secrets to defeat the great leviathans which threaten the cities. It can be argued, however, that the Urvashim love the art of combat for its own sake, and that the thrill of competition and danger motivates them far more than duty. If so, this style is well named.

Twin Fang Style

Homeworld

Goblin City

Prerequisite Skills

Close Weapon 6

Restrictions

The practitioner must fight with two daggers of identical length.

Twin Fang style is brutal, deadly, and silent. Practitioners of this form learn how to swiftly kill an opponent with precise strikes from their twin daggers, as well as to exploit advantages in stealth and positioning. It goes without saying, but this style is ideal for the quiet disposal of one’s enemies, though it has some abilities geared for more “stand up” fights. This fighting school is popular in the underworld of Goblin City—to the extent that the whole place isn’t actually an underworld—often used by toughs and enforcers who prize concealability and close-quarters bladework. Still, this style remains an advanced fighting method, and has its…eccentricities.