Interesting Martial Arts Advantages and Powers

[John_A_Tallon]

The idea here is to share interesting work-ups for martial arts types. I'll start with a Chi power I came up with based on an idea a player had:

The Chi Plate is a dish sized packet of defensive chi energy that is shaped prior to a fight starting and held ready until needed. It can be shifted around the entire body, and can be used to passively protect a single limb, part of the torso, or any of the other discrete hit locations on a character. The chi plate can also be used to actively parry with, and is valid for precognitive parries. After attempting to parry an attack it passively defends the part of the body the attack was aimed at until either another parry attempt, or the user moves the plate at the start of his next turn. Note that if the parry attempt failed, the plate provides no protection against that particular attack. A second attack against the same location after the failed parry will be affected by the plate's DR.

Mechanically it is an extra arm (for the ability to parry) coupled with leveled damage resistance which has the Force Field enhancement. This is very useful since the Chi Plate will take the first hit, and any damage that gets through will then hit the armor, and then finally the user's tough skin DR (if any). The "arm" is too short to effectively attack with, but parrying is possible. Since the plate is sized appropriately to protect a single hit location, but it can be moved around, it is priced to match Partial: Torso -10% (the least of the single hit location limitations).

Chi Plate
Extra Arm 1, Chi Plate (No Physical Attack, -50%; Short, -50%) -80% [2]
Damage Resistance 1, Chi Plate (Force Field (Chi Plate Only) +20%, Limited Defense (Physical Attacks) -20%, Partial: A single hit location -10%, Preparation Required: Weakened Without Preparation -10%.) -20% [4]

A newbie to the technique might only be able to manage 2 or 3 DR and may have additional limitations like Costs FP. If Costs FP is used, charge the cost on a per-minute basis. An advanced master could manage 20 DR, perhaps learn how to harden the plate, or may even be advanced enough to buy off Preparation Required entirely. This power is meant to be a highly versatile ability that synergizes well with Precognitive Parry while being potentially more reliable than a power that has the Requires Active Defense limitation. It's a power intended to grow with the character, unlike something like Ghost Shirt, which gives you a lot of utility up front. I suggest it only be made available to characters who have been Trained by a Master or who have similar special backgrounds or other similar powers.

[Keiko]

I could definitely see an ability like this in certain martial arts genres. It would work very well in a shonen anime inspired campaign, for instance. If my GURPs-fu was more developed I could comment further but I like the idea.

[Varyon]

You'll want to add Force Extension to the Extra Arm to prevent it from being damaged (due to parrying unarmed, or being specifically targeted), and Low/No Signature on both may also be appropriate (if the Chi Plate is hard to detect or outright invisible). So, if it's all visible you're looking at [5] for the "arm" and [4]/level for the DR, if it's all invisible it's [7] for the "arm" and [5]/level for the DR. You'll want to consider the Chi Power Modifier as well, of course.

I really like this idea, and it would make a pretty solid Power-Up for the Martial Artist in DF.

[GodBeastX]

We had a martial artist who could eat a watermelon and spit seeds at people in rapid fire attack. A very entertaining ability.

Most our player group doesn't tend to like "Chi" abilities to be outward. They like the more subtle chi where you can go "You're already dead" and people don't realize it.