Magic Martial Arts

[Tywyll]

Has anyone created MA styles around magic casting? I know it was mentioned in FH, and I was thinking about the idea... though obviously they would be Techniques or something, that allowed easier use of Mana for different effects.

Has anyone done anything like that? If so, do you mind sharing?

[PhilFleischmann]

Well, not quite. But I did design a "Zombie Martial Art" - a certain specialized fighting form that obviously must be taught/imbued somehow into zombies to make them more effective in combat. It's based on two principles:

1) That zombies feel no pain.
2) To be as scary and creepy as possible to the one who has to fight them.

Thus, it has lots of "sacrifice" maneuvers, and lots of grabs and takedowns.

And I suppose anybody could learn the style, especially if they're inured to pain somehow. Perhaps a magic spell grants someone "Takes No STUN" temporarily, or something like that.

But it isn't really magical, per se. Probably not what you were looking for.

[Manic Typist]

Hm...

I don't suppose you could just call it SFX?

[Tywyll]

Hm...

I don't suppose you could just call it SFX?

No, not since I am looking at the mechanical applications of the MA system to a magic system, as mentioned in FH. I want to know if anyone's done it and if so what effect did it have (good or bad).

[LordGhee]

Ran a short WuXia campain, orther that everyone had some type of Ma and power effects it felt like a fan hero campain.

Lord Ghee

[Captain Obvious]

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...hlight=stances

Similar to what you're asking for, anyway.

[Lucius]

Ran a short WuXia campain, orther that everyone had some type of Ma and power effects it felt like a fan hero campain.

Lord Ghee

Fan hero?

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary notes that some highly skilled martial artists are said to be able to kill with one of those paper fans by inflicting a lethal paper cut right across the throat....

[Tywyll]

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...hlight=stances

Similar to what you're asking for, anyway.

Yes, that is definately similar to what I mean.

What I specifically mean is something like this:

Aldeni Flame Triumphant Style

The Aldeni are a people that are closely tied to strife. As their Queen of Fire leads, so do they follow. As she embodies the fire that burns and grants life, so to do they emulate this principle. Through her teachings they have developed methods of manipulating mana that go beyond simply casting spells.

Maneuver Phase Cost OCV DCV RNG Effect
Fire Guides the Way ½ 4 0 0 +2 Standard
Mirage Defense ½ 3 -1 +2 - Standard
Unyielding Inferno ½ 4 -1 -1 - Strike +4DC (2 w/RKA)
Fire Burns Quickly ½ 4 +1 0 - Strike +2DC (1w/RKA)

Fire Guides the Way-The caster summons additional power from the elemental plane of fire to boost the range of one of their spells.

Mirage Defense-Almost all Aldeni magic is fire related. Even spells that aren’t can benefit from this technique. As the caster draws on the energy to cast the spell, power briefly pours out around them, obscuring them from view and making it harder to hit them (though it does slightly obscure their own vision).

Unyielding Inferno-Marries the destructive nature of fire with any spell to cause it to burn more strongly and inflict more damage. The spell is destablized and the caster left sluggish by the overwhelming power they are drawing in, but only for a moment.

Fire Burns Quickly-This is a quick, accurate burst of power that is the mainstay of Aldeni Warcasters. The spell is focused and more brutal.

[Killer Shrike]

Its just a SFX.

[Tywyll]

To Martial Arts? That's not right, certainly not in the case as mentioned in FH. For example, how would you buy Ranged MA maneuvers if you did not have a power construct to add the effects of MA to? By that I mean that most characters do not naturally have a ranged attack (humans at best has Str, useable at range, IAF-thrown object of opp). I don't think that's what was meant in the FH section.

Or did you mean something else?

[AmadanNaBriona]

To Martial Arts? That's not right, certainly not in the case as mentioned in FH. For example, how would you buy Ranged MA maneuvers if you did not have a power construct to add the effects of MA to? By that I mean that most characters do not naturally have a ranged attack (humans at best has Str, useable at range, IAF-thrown object of opp). I don't think that's what was meant in the FH section.

Or did you mean something else?

Well, thats all just a matter of the default Weapon Element for the martial art, and what additional WE's are allowed within the art. As it stands, there are no "weapon familiarity groups" established anywhere for spells, as that'd be very campaign specfic. In a Superheroic game I could see "magic" as its own WE, whereas in most Heroic level games like normal FH you'd probably build in groupings based on your own game background.

I like the MA example you gave, and was thinking about whipping up a similar example. It fits in a number of examples of the Fantasy Genre. Right off the top of my head the Sword of Truth series springs to mind... Zed and Nathan both strike me as having Magic based Martial Arts. To tie in with what I was sayingabove... your example Art looks like it'd have as a default Weapon Element "Fire Magic". Access to a compatible Fire Magic Attack would be a prerequisite for art just like a bow is required for Zen Archery. Whether the required attack form is free or costs points is irrelevant to the construction of the Martial Art itself.

[Tywyll]

Well, thats all just a matter of the default Weapon Element for the martial art, and what additional WE's are allowed within the art. As it stands, there are no "weapon familiarity groups" established anywhere for spells, as that'd be very campaign specfic. In a Superheroic game I could see "magic" as its own WE, whereas in most Heroic level games like normal FH you'd probably build in groupings based on your own game background.

I like the MA example you gave, and was thinking about whipping up a similar example. It fits in a number of examples of the Fantasy Genre. Right off the top of my head the Sword of Truth series springs to mind... Zed and Nathan both strike me as having Magic based Martial Arts. To tie in with what I was sayingabove... your example Art looks like it'd have as a default Weapon Element "Fire Magic". Access to a compatible Fire Magic Attack would be a prerequisite for art just like a bow is required for Zen Archery. Whether the required attack form is free or costs points is irrelevant to the construction of the Martial Art itself.

Thanks! I've thought it was a cool idea ever since I noticed it in FH. Never tried it though, and yeah, that was my thought to... namely that spells are no different (mechanically) from a bow, so why not allow them to benefit from a MA style?

I'll probably stat up a Tryshallan (Elven) style and post it as well. Different maneuvers for a different feel.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Thanks! I've thought it was a cool idea ever since I noticed it in FH. Never tried it though, and yeah, that was my thought to... namely that spells are no different (mechanically) from a bow, so why not allow them to benefit from a MA style?

I'll probably stat up a Tryshallan (Elven) style and post it as well. Different maneuvers for a different feel.

Go for it.
I could even see a style, probably what in Martial Arts terms would be considered an "inner" style, that was based on acheiving a zanshin like "combat trance" that could work as both a weapon based and magical MA style (expanded WE groups, in other words).

[Vondy]

The 4th Edition The Ultimate Mentalist contained an application of Martial Arts to Psionics that could be easily ported over (with minor edits) for use with a magic system.

[Kabluey]

I've not read the section in FH (I have the book, but haven't read most of it), so I don't know what it talks about in there.

But I did come up with my own set of magical martial arts. I based it on the rules out of Ultimate Martial Artist, but I added some of my own elements. The main purpose is to allow casters to cast spells in different ways or with different modifiers. For instance, like many GM's, I require a skill roll for magic. So I added a Careful Casting maneuver that gives a bonus to the skill roll and also includes a modifier to the spell failure roll (I use a table for spell failure effect). I also have Defensive Casting, which increases the caster's DCV and gives a smaller bonus to the skill roll. Then I have other maneuvers like Overwhelming Spell, which is basically like Offensive Shot but has spell skill level associated modifiers as well. Obviously, these are just variations on the standard martial arts, but I did add some other stuff. The Dispell Spell, for example, maneuver allows one to abort to Dispell, and Quick Spell allows one to cast a spell in a single phase (all spells default to Extra Segment) at the cost of skill roll penalties.

I can't really say how well this will work, though. The one wizard character has three maneuvers, but he generally only uses two of them, switching between Defensive Casting and Careful Casting depending on whether he is in combat or not. I'm a little surprised he hasn't picked up some of the other maneuvers, but I suspect that's because I started them out with so few points (100 pts) and so they're all spending their XP on stuff they feel they need to complete a basic character. The wizard, for example, has actually been using his XP to bump up his CON because he doesn't like getting CON stunned. So for him, at least, getting extra maneuvers seems pretty low on the priority list. I've been planning to throw a wizard at them who uses the maneuvers to see if that inspires him any, but so far I've not pushed it. My hope is that over a longer campaign, as the characters build up more points, the maneuvers will become more used.