Which martial arts are great for speedsters?

[whswhs]

My speedster, La Gata Encantada, started out with Smallsword Fencing. During the course of the campaign she began studying some form of karate. She also had an absurdly high Acrobatics skill and use it for acrobatic dodges.

Bill Stoddard

[Captain-Captain]

If it's to be used against other speedsters, I'd take or build one that emphasized evasive defenses, throws and trips. High speed impacts can do plenty of damage for the character.

[davidtmoore]

At the risk of repeating others, and looking at pure mechanics rather than style, your high speed gives you:

- A good Dodge but no particularly special Parry or Block, unless your game permits multiple levels of Combat Reflexes, or his speedster power includes one or more levels of Enhanced Defenses.

- Lots of damage on the Slam attack.

- Vulnerability to trips and to attacks while moving.

So what you want, basically, is a style that emphasizes Dodges over Parries or Blocks, and that prefers Move or Move and Attack (or All-Out Attack to Slam), and that helps with Evasion.

I'd actually look at the Sumo Wrestling skill as aforementioned, and maybe look at designing a speedster martial art yourself: Acrobatics, Karate, Sumo Wrestling. Drop Kick, Push Kick, Springing Attack, Sweep Kick, Flying Jump Kick. Slams, Acrobatic Feints, Enhanced Dodge. Call it denkoujutsu ("lightning-fighting") or something.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Why is grappling so bad for speedsters? Grapple-Armlock-Throw is pretty nasty.

QFT. The Speedster in my game doesn't have this, but if you built yours with (for example) some ATR, some extra Striking ST justified as extra force from moving super fast, and high Wrestling you could do some really brutal things to people in a short period of time, some of which use swing damage and/or neatly circumvent the ever-popular Tough Skin -40% DR.

[Ragitsu]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

If you're shopping for cinematic powers, arts with lightwalk will effectively muffle the tell-tale footpatter below the speed of sound giving you the element of surprise, and Zen forms may enhance your awareness the better to detect wire traps and other special hazards of high speed running.

By the way, HOW does a speedster with Stealth mask their approach when they are going to break the sound barrier?

[panton41]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

No grappling/wrestling.
a good ranged skill
are, in my opinion, primary.

The main character of the video game Mirror's Edge uses Judo extensively, mostly in the form of tosses and grapples and holds leading to using her or the attacker's momentum to do damage. In addition if she does get a weapon (normally guns, I don't know if the game engine even allows blades) she has one magazine then tosses it.

She also has Karate and Acrobatics, which allow for some pretty nifty running and jumping attacks when combined.

I'll admit it's one of the few games that I think is probably more difficult to control with a keyboard because while the mouselook is great, your fingers and thumb get quite a work out trying to do what it takes to press three or four keys in the right order with the right timing.

[Ragitsu]

Faith is agile, but not a speedster.

[Jasonft]

Grappling would seen to lose many of the tactical advantages of being a speedster, but throws and strikes (armed or unarmed) would benefit.

Aikido would seem to work quite well but I might be biased on account of a Youtube clip I saw recently where the founder of the discipline did a demonstration against four opponents. It was absurd how easily he was throwing them around the mat.

[Celjabba]

When i said no grappling, i was thinking to avoid Close Combat, as being grappled negate your advantage.

But i was thinking of a fast running-speedster.
For a fast acting speedster (ATR), it is something else.

Celjabba

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Why is grappling so bad for speedsters? Grapple-Armlock-Throw is pretty nasty.

That's three of your turns where you are stationary and have one or both hands occupied.