[Basic] Skill of the week: Breaking Blow

[johndallman]

Breaking Blow is an IQ/Hard esoteric martial-arts skill, with no default, requiring Trained by a Master. It's only usable with unarmed attacks, and costs 1 FP per use. It's -10 to skill to use instantly, -5 with a turn of concentration, -4 after two turns and so on. There are also penalties for a target made of strong materials. On a success (roll after you hit) you get an armour divisor of 5 against a braced, inanimate, homogeneous target, and it is treated as Fragile (Brittle), which seems to mean (it being inanimate) that if your damage exceeds its HP, it is smashed utterly.

If you're in a cinematic campaign, which is likely if you have TbaM, you aren't restricted to inanimate targets, the AD works against any armour or force field, and homogeneous opponents are treated as Fragile (Brittle). Obviously, using this with Power Blow has the potential to punch through lots of DR, or injure yourself badly if you critically fail the roll. Luck is advisable. The RAW does not say so, but I'd be tempted to rule that the AD(5) means that the target's DR is divided by five for the rules under Hurting yourself (B379).

Naturally, Martial Arts is the first place to look for more details. I've seen real people demonstrating something that looks like Power Blow on TV, and Martial Arts provides Unusual Training (Breaking Blow, only on well-braced objects, out of combat) as an example of using an esoteric skill without TbaM. Martial Arts also offers Breaking Blow with melee weapons, and as a cinematic skill in many styles. Action 3: Furious Fists has it in style and talents, and Chinese Elemental Powers has a couple of abilities that enhance it. Dungeon Fantasy has it for martial artists, Martial Arts: Yrth Fighting Styles has two styles that use it, and interesting rules options for interactions between chi powers and magic, and Fantasy deals with chi-as-magic. Gun-Fu has Breaking Blow (Guns). Power-Ups 3: Talents has several talents that enhance this skill, which are frankly welcome for an IQ/H skill mostly used by DX-based characters, and often used at substantial penalties for lack of time.

I've never used this skill in a game: I recall a time when it would have seemed appropriate, but airship passenger cabin doors are too flimsy to make it necessary.

What have you done with this skill? Is its use confined to NPC little old men, or do PCs get to smash things with it?