Supernatural Martial Artists

[The Suave]

I am running a Paranormal Dark Champions game (eerily similar to Manic Typist's Secret Wars campaign) and I need a little assistance.

My players just recently killed a few hard hitting baddies (Rasputin among them) in the last session, so I think it's time to move onto the next plotline. One of the PCs has a pretty strong Hunted: Chinese Tong (I forget which one) so I've been leading them up to a confrontation for a while now.

I have decided that the Tong's hierarchy will include a "team" of martial artists, all with their own theme. I'm probably going to theme each one with one of the traditional Chinese elements. I briefly considered the Zodiac, but I didn't really want the team to be as large as 12, this is still an option though (especially if I aggregated some of the signs).

As another option, they are also being Hunted by the Yakuza, so a similar team of Japanese elemental-themed martial artists would do as well, if that is your inclination.

Basically what I need is some inspiration and assistance in building these martial artists. How do I make them unique yet unified? I don't have very much experience with martial arts as a construct, but I am familiar with the rules and how they work.

So if anyone wants to build a martial artist based on one of the Chinese (or Japanese if you like that idea better, it could work just as well), that would be great, if not, maybe some ideas for powers.

As for point-level, my players (2) are both built on about 225 points. One of them is a hacker with a medium-powered electricity-sfx multipower for combat, and my other player is basically an environment fighter (very effective in combat, but maybe not against MA-level DCVs).

Thanks in advance for any ideas and/or constructs!

[kahuna's bro]

yi lung from HERO system martial arts page128-129 should be a good choice to model your villian team on

[The Suave]

I currently only have 5e books, including the UMA, but unfortunately not HSMA. Thanks for the tip though!

[Steve]

From 5E books, I would suggest getting the Dragon Mandarin supplement. The Sons of the Dragon make a good team.

If you can find it, there's a 4E supplement called Watchers of the Dragon that is a great resource for NPC martial artists.

[kahuna's bro]

I currently only have 5e books, including the UMA, but unfortunately not HSMA. Thanks for the tip though!

if one of theese booksis ninja HERO,try the writeupfor taisheng zhen pages 127-128

[Lord Liaden]

From 5E books, I would suggest getting the Dragon Mandarin supplement. The Sons of the Dragon make a good team.

IMHO this is a good suggestion. The "Four Sons of the Dragon," principal minions of the sorcerous Chinese supervillain Dr. Yin Wu, are four 350-point martial artists with their own distinctive styles, weapons, and mystical abilities, designed to work well as a team, but with a unifying theme: Copper Spear, Golden Axe, Iron Whirlwind, and Silver Hand. Moreover, although Yin Wu himself is by default a high-powered Champions master villain, full character sheets are provided for alternate versions of him for fantasy, pulp, and modern adventure or cyberpunk campaigns. Those could easily be used to make him the mastermind behind your Tong.

The Dragon Mandarin also includes a good-sized grimoire of Chinese Taoist magic spells, drawn from actual Chinese myth and folklore, quite distinct from real or fictional Western magic traditions. It's a 36-page PDF costing only $5.00 US from the Hero online store, here (https://www.herogames.com/browse.htm?keywords=the+dragon+mandarin&categoryID=-1&releaseDate=-1&available=Y&pdf=Y).

[kahuna's bro]

also a good way to make supernatural martial artists is do a corrupt version of the monk with no name aka the bulletproof monk

[Captain Obvious]

The five elements make a pretty good theme...Fire, Wood, Metal, Water, Earth.

Also the four cardinal directions had animal associated with them. I don't recall which animal went with which direction, but they were dragon, tiger, pheonix, and turtle.

[Escafarc]

The five elements make a pretty good theme...Fire, Wood, Metal, Water, Earth.

Also the four cardinal directions had animal associated with them. I don't recall which animal went with which direction, but they were dragon, tiger, pheonix, and turtle.

Here's a chart with the different connections:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthly_Branches

[Captain Obvious]

Here's a chart with the different connections:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthly_Branches

That's not exactly what I was thinking about...that pretty much links back with the zodiac.

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. (http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/ssu-ling.shtml)

[dmjalund]

Copper Spear, Golden Axe, Iron Whirlwind, and Silver HandIt's Metal Men Martial Artists! (now add Mercury Mauler)

[Ninja-Bear]

Ninja Hero 4th had a super villian team name Yoshoo (the elements), and it was Japanese based. There was a powered armor guy who represented metal. A swordsman with magical armor and sword represented fire. Sumo-brick who was earth. A kama girl who was wood. And lastly a wizard with the magical special effect being water.

[Ninja-Bear]

Or another thing you could do. (Which I always wanted to do- but never did is), make a team of bad shaolin monks. Each monk specialize in one of the shaolin arts; Dragon, Crane, Leopard, Tiger, and Snake. Or take a cue from TMNT and have four ninjas each specialized in a different weapon.

[Escafarc]

Back in '80s there was a comic where the martial artists were the personification of the Shaolin Animals some good others evil. I believe it was called Beast Warriors of the Shaolin or something like that.

[Mindscape]

I remember a similar series. There were 12 bracers that represented the Zodiac. Worn normally they gave a person abilities loosely related to the animal (snake=stretching, pig=immobility,etc). The bad guy, however, would corrupt the bracers so that a person that wore them turned into a hybrid of man and beast that was under his control. Don't remember the name sadly.

[GoldenAge]

In Epic City there's the Peacock Master who is the ancient master of a martial artists from all over the world who were based on anamorphic identities:

The Iron Tahr (Himalayas)
Mongoose (India)
La Loup (Canadian): The Wolf
Wildcat (American)
bị tu tội danh từ (Vietnameese) Clouded Leopard
xī shuài / 蟋蟀 (Mandarin China) Cricket
Baek-ho / 백호 (Korean) White Tiger
Ocelot (Columbia)

Write-up for Clouded Leopard HERE (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/73692-EPIC-CITY!-(Campaign-Art-amp-Collateral-Material)?p=1878498#post1878498)

[Checkmate]

Take a look at this thread. If you read through it you may get some inspiration: Clicky (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/76987-Lantern-Corps...Only-Not?p=1945247#post1945247)

[kahuna's bro]

than name ,mindscape is LEGEND OF THE DRAGON

[Shigeru]

Watch the classic kung-fu flick FIVE DEADLY VENOMS and use that as an animal-based inspiration for martial artists with semi-unique kung-fu styles.

[lapsedgamer]

From 5E books, I would suggest getting the Dragon Mandarin supplement. The Sons of the Dragon make a good team.

If you can find it, there's a 4E supplement called Watchers of the Dragon that is a great resource for NPC martial artists.

Agreed. Dragon Mandarin and Watchers of the Dragon would give you what you need.

[Haerandir]

My first instinct was to model them on Rain, Thunder & Lightning from Big Trouble in Little China.

[Lord Liaden]

Agreed. Dragon Mandarin and Watchers of the Dragon would give you what you need.

Well, given the PC point totals The Suave cited in his OP, the Sons of the Dragon would probably need to be toned down a little so as not to overwhelm the heroes, but the basic concept seems appropriate. And Watchers Of The Dragon is filled with interesting martial arts villains that could be adapted, albeit most of them are independents and not thematically linked.

However, WOTD does feature a team, Iron and Gold, which could work very well. They're Chinese twin brother and sister raised to serve the Cult of the Red Banner, a major villainous group in the Champions Universe. Both are capable (but not superhuman) martial artists, but they're armed with a pair of enchanted swords which give them special powers, one made of iron, the other of gold.

[Lord Liaden]

My first instinct was to model them on Rain, Thunder & Lightning from Big Trouble in Little China.

As it happens, our own Michael "Susano" Surbrook has Fifth Edition stats for the "Three Storms" on his marvelous website: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsmovie/moviechar.html#BTILC . But those guys will definitely need their power reduced to fit The Suave's game parameters.

OTOH Lightning vs. the electric-powered hacker PC could be interesting. :cool:

[greenbriar]

Back in '80s there was a comic where the martial artists were the personification of the Shaolin Animals some good others evil. I believe it was called Beast Warriors of the Shaolin or something like that.
you are correct rituals were used to transform the animals into human form.

[Remjin]

I think the whole Ninja mythos has a whole set of symbols (can't remember how many, but less than 12, I think) if you want them to kill a hoard of ninjas. That's always fun. =)

Other than the elements, there's always something based off of the "5 Deadly Venoms" like the same-named movie. =)

Otherwise, others have given great published sources to base your villains on. I also like the Shaolin animal style ones that Ninja-Bear mentioned.

Japanese elements are Fire, Earth, Air (Wind?), Water, and Void aren't they? That would make for an interesting villain team as well.

Uh-oh, just noticed there's a page 2... doh.

[Remjin]

My first instinct was to model them on Rain, Thunder & Lightning from Big Trouble in Little China.
That would be totally awesome. =)

[Susano]

As it happens, our own Michael "Susano" Surbrook has Fifth Edition stats for the "Three Storms" on his marvelous website: http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptationsmovie/moviechar.html#BTILC . But those guys will definitely need their power reduced to fit The Suave's game parameters.

OTOH Lightning vs. the electric-powered hacker PC could be interesting. :cool:

Eventually to be rebuilt in 6E.