Ranged Martial arts...

[umbra]

I would like to make some more ranged martial arts attacks, but making custom maneuvers has me stumped. for example there is a hth attack called Joint Break that I would like to try to do ranged. Any ideas?

[zornwil]

Ultimate Martial Arts covers this on page 99. I don't want to repeat that text, would you elaborate on the actual damage and other effects of this attack, including SFX?

[umbra]

Joint Break=Grab One Limb; HKA1/2d6 (2DC), Disable

Joint Lock/Throw= Grab One Limb; 1d6 NN(7); Target Falls

 

My stumbling block is that there is no grab maneuver for ranged martial arts. But if you can trip, can't you maybe either pin someone to a surface (like a wall) or shoot a arrow into a joint, thereby incapitating it without doing a lot of damage to the victim (besides rendering the joint usless)? I know you can't use anything other than normal damage, all I want is the special effect of rendering the joint useless (the grab effect would just be a bonus if it's possible).

[Simon]

I'd say "no". A lock or a throw is independent of defenses. You can be armored to the gills...it won't keep you from being thrown. It will just prevent the landing from doing much damage.

 

What you're talking about is very different....you would be ignoring someone's defenses and doing damage (BODY damage) to the joint. You could have a normal take out Superman with that attack.

 

If you want to have defenses come into play, then I'd just define it as a Basic Shot and let Hit Location and disabling rules come into play to take care of the disabling of the joint.

 

YMMV, just my opinion, etc....

[umbra]

But they already have that maneuver for HTH.. so it is already legal. So if Ninja boy did that to Superman using the HTH maneuver, it would totally be by the book. (maybe not fair, but by the book). When making up new maneuvers you can take a restrictive element...

[Simon]

The maneuver for HTH does not automatically disable the limb. It is just an HKA (a relatively small one at that). Defenses apply. If you attempt that maneuver on a well-armored opponent, nothing will happen except that you will have grabbed their limb.

 

To mimic that at range, all you need is Basic Shot. Use it with your RKA and you're good to go.

 

If you want to grab someone at range, then you'll need to build an Entangle and then convince your GM to let you use Ranged Maneuvers with it.

[umbra]

I don't mind if it doesn't automatically disable the limb, I just want the chance to try. The Ultimate Martial Artist says on page 92, qoute " like other maneuvers, which target specific parts of the body, maneuvers with the disable element do not suffer hit location attack roll or damage penalties or bonuses". So in effect Ninja boy might actually hit Superman (if he rolled well enough to hit Superman normally) and then the full damage of the attack (minus Superman's defenses) would be applied to just that joint. Ninja boy would have to either do equal to Superman's body in body damage or double his body in stun to disable (he would also have a chance to roll a CON roll to see if the joint is just impaired) So it's not a really over powered maneuver, but would be very effective against normals or some supervillians without killing them.

[Simon]

Again, all you need is Basic Shot and then add in OCV bonuses to it to offset the hit location modifiers. Or buld a custom Maneuver in the Strike basis and add in OCV bonuses directly.

[Simon]

To be clear: there is no reason that an attack that is accurate enough to spear someone's elbow joint at range would not also be just as good at targeting any other small area. So OCV bonuses for the maneuver work best.

[zornwil]

Originally posted by umbra

Joint Break=Grab One Limb; HKA1/2d6 (2DC), Disable

Joint Lock/Throw= Grab One Limb; 1d6 NN(7); Target Falls

 

My stumbling block is that there is no grab maneuver for ranged martial arts. But if you can trip, can't you maybe either pin someone to a surface (like a wall) or shoot a arrow into a joint, thereby incapitating it without doing a lot of damage to the victim (besides rendering the joint usless)? I know you can't use anything other than normal damage, all I want is the special effect of rendering the joint useless (the grab effect would just be a bonus if it's possible).

 

One thing you can do is build the regular ranged Martial Arts maneuver to do normal damage WITHOUT the disarm, then add the disarm as a "Power Advantage" (see page 104 of UMA). The base for disarm = the maneuver's strength minus 5. Take that base

[umbra]

There already is a ranged disarm maneuver, which I have. I want something that will have more lasting effects (i.e. can't use arm for rest of this battle) instead of disarm (they pick up the weapon again) or trip (they stand up). The ability to target and render a joint unusable would be really great... but doing it with range is my problem. Adding a bunch of levels to hit wont work as it would make the maneuver too expensive... (hitting a joint would be at least as hard as hitting the head, if not worse at least to my GM).

[zornwil]

Sorry, my post was inaccurate, I was in a hurry. There's also "bind" at a STR-10 base, I think that's what you'd want for the SFX of their limb not being useful. There's a "ONe Limb" -5 element value but I'm not quite sure if that's applicable. I tend to think so.