Challenging the professions: Martial artist

[Dalin]

Another take on the feng shui idea might be a dungeon (or location) whose feng shui has been corrupted. The martial artist can use Esoteric Medicine (Chi) to diagnose and treat the place. This would require traveling to specific locations throughout the area. Plenty for room for combat and traps, but also scenes where the rest of the group needs to defend the martial artist while he/she takes enough time to fix each issue. The martial artist might also need to use Autohypnosis or Meditation to "align their Chi" and get insight as to the next imbalance. To add a chiropractic element, some fixes might require Breaking Blow, Power Blow, or Pressure Points.

[tbone]

Thanks, all, for the ideas. Chi-related "tests" sound fun, like the hot cauldron carry (I know I've seen that in a movie; something with Jackie Chan?), or the tests given to "Grasshopper" in Kung Fu (a show that my dad watched often; I remember the famous opening).

Feng shui sounds like a great cover for all kinds of weirdness. Bad things are happening because of bad energy flow; to fix it, the heroes will have to relocate a tomb here, knock a hole in a wall there. . . . It doesn't have to make architectural sense, just feng shui sense.

That can power some chi-tinted versions of the ever-popular "retrieve/relocate/replace Item X" type of quest. It also makes for a martial artist version of the exorcisms/purifications that clerics get to do.

Thanks again; will play with these ideas. (And if anyone has more thoughts on "Ways to challenge [some profession]", that'd be good fodder for another thread.)

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by tbone

Thanks, all, for the ideas. Chi-related "tests" sound fun, like the hot cauldron carry (I know I've seen that in a movie; something with Jackie Chan?)

That's a classic story about the shaolin monks, so you'll see references to it all over the place. The fun bit is spotting the more subtle references, where you see the burn scar of the tiger and the dragon on the secretly-a-martial-arts-badass' forearms, from performing this test.

EDIT: Or more indirectly, people who get dragon and tiger tattoos on their forearms to try and imply they're caudron-lifting badasses even though they're not.

[Black Leviathan]

Throw a monster at them with an attack with a linked spiritual poison, like a pressure-point attack that has a crippling or sickening effect and esoteric medicine or guided meditation is the quickest way to remedy the sickness.

[tbone]

(Previous post deleted because it was almost certainly a spammer, but the reply is fine so I'm leaving it alone.)

Originally Posted by byronunise

couldn't a Cha based martial artist be based around intimidating or even down right terrifying his opponent?

I don't see where martial artists have any special abilities allowing this, other than a little bonus from Kiai, but it'd certainly be possible to build such a power, dipping into GURPS abilities and using the Chi power mod.

Or for a really simple bit of play: Invent a foe that's unusually frightened by a good Kiai yell. (Watching the martial artist scatter a horde would be fun.) Or a chi-themed demon guarding a passage, who'll only withdraw if the martial artist defeats him in a Kiai "yell-off".