[Basic] Skills of the week: Blind Fighting and Invisibility Art

[johndallman]

Blind Fighting is Per-based and reduces or negates vision penalties for darkness, blindness or an invisible opponent for attacking and defending in melee combat. If you have Zen Archery or a corresponding skill for other ranged weapons, you can use it with Blind Fighting to attack at a distance without being able to see your target.

Invisibility Art is the IQ-based art of passing unseen without actually being invisible, apparently based on a combination of hypnosis and stealth.

Both skills are esoteric martial arts skills with prerequisite advantages: Trained by a Master or Weapon Master for Blind Fighting, Trained by a Master for Invisibility Art. They also have a special connection; possession of Blind Fighting appears to make you immune to Invisibility Art. It's unclear if that only works if you're deliberately using Blind Fighting, or you just get an immunity along with the first point in Blind Fighting. Either way, Blind Fighting is very worthwhile if it's available and you qualify for it.

Martial Arts doesn't actually add much detail to Blind Fighting or Invisibility Art, although it adds two chi-based talents, Inner Balance and Forceful Chi, which affect these skills and show up in several other books. The skills, naturally, appear in many martial arts styles. It also adds two even more esoteric skills, Sensitivity and Hypnotic Hands, which work with Blind Fighting and Invisibility Art respectively.

High-Tech and Gun-Fu have a lot of material on using these skills with gun-based martial arts, with Gunslinger replacing TBaM and WM. Powers provides hooks for associating them with various power sources. Magic suggests them as possible core skills for Ritual Magic. Supers has a form of Invisibility Art for use against telepathic powers. Underground Adventures makes Blind Fighting useful in moving without light. Power-Ups 2: Perks has the Chi Resistance perks for resisting esoteric skills.

It is possible to be too mindless to be affected by Invisibility Art, as Zombies points out. Psionic Campaigns suggests esoteric martial arts skills with psionic prerequisites, rather than exotic training, and Horror has ways to use them as Dark Arts.

I've never played in a campaign where these skills were available. My only formidable martial artist was an construct with high skills, HT and DX, but mundane training. They seem like good fun, though; what have you done with them?