Martial Arts Questions

EskrimadorNC · 08-31-2021, 12:16 PM

I'm working on a campaign that is sort of The Running Man + The Hunger Games + Escape from New York, but will focus around the PCs being skilled unarmed/armed warrior and having to fight their way through a gauntlet of gangs and other foes to win their freedom.

In doing so, I'm digging really deeply into Martial Arts as I am going to use the different styles, techniques, and perks to differentiate the characters from one another.

This deep dive has raised a few questions for me that the books don't sufficiently answer, or maybe that I just haven't look hard enough, so I'm asking the community for assistance.

1. Is there a reason why all of the various KICKING Techniques (Axe Kick, Back Kick, Jump Kick, etc.) default to Karate instead of Kicking? It gets REALLY pricey to improve more than one of those techniques, and seems like if you focus on getting better at "kicking", then all of your kicks should improve, not JUST your "front snap" or whatever the KICKING technique covers.

2. Choke Holds. So Tracheal Chokes inflict crushing damage to the neck AND suffocation (FP loss), but what about Blood Chokes? I know they are used predominately to induce FP loss, not Injury, but do they still cause MoV damage? The write-up in Martial Arts isn't super clear...and you can read it like the MoV in the QC causes immediate FP damage, and maintaining the choke causes 1 FP/sec after that, but I'm not sure that is correct.

3. The text for Ear Clap mentions that it is generally more effective if you clap both ears rather than 1, but based on the text, it seems like all that does make the victim Deaf for 2d seconds. I get how debilitating that can be in a multi-threat combat environment, but mechanically it just doesn't seem impactful at all for the IMMEDIATE fight...certainly not worth compromising your ability to Defend (AoA Double) or drastically reducing your accuracy because of Rapid Strike penalties. Am I missing something?

4. The Drop Kick test is a little ambiguous in how it is resolved. It's clear that it requires a Move and Attack and at least 1 yard of movement. It's clear that the damage the Attacker rolls is Slam Cr dmg +2. What's not clear is if the attacker takes damage too like in a Slam (seems odd for that maneuver to cause damage to the attacker). And if a hit results in only one damage roll, does that mean the defender automatically has to roll DX or fall prone? Since 1 is more than double 0, is it an automatic knock down if the defender suffers 1 or more points of damage?

08-31-2021, 12:16 PM	#1
EskrimadorNC Join Date: Jul 2015	Martial Arts Questions I'm working on a campaign that is sort of The Running Man + The Hunger Games + Escape from New York, but will focus around the PCs being skilled unarmed/armed warrior and having to fight their way through a gauntlet of gangs and other foes to win their freedom. In doing so, I'm digging really deeply into *Martial Arts* as I am going to use the different styles, techniques, and perks to differentiate the characters from one another. This deep dive has raised a few questions for me that the books don't sufficiently answer, or maybe that I just haven't look hard enough, so I'm asking the community for assistance. 1. Is there a reason why all of the various KICKING Techniques (Axe Kick, Back Kick, Jump Kick, etc.) default to Karate instead of Kicking? It gets REALLY pricey to improve more than one of those techniques, and seems like if you focus on getting better at "kicking", then all of your kicks should improve, not JUST your "front snap" or whatever the KICKING technique covers. 2. Choke Holds. So Tracheal Chokes inflict crushing damage to the neck AND suffocation (FP loss), but what about Blood Chokes? I know they are used predominately to induce FP loss, not Injury, but do they still cause MoV damage? The write-up in Martial Arts isn't super clear...and you can read it like the MoV in the QC causes immediate FP damage, and maintaining the choke causes 1 FP/sec after that, but I'm not sure that is correct. 3. The text for Ear Clap mentions that it is generally more effective if you clap both ears rather than 1, but based on the text, it seems like all that does make the victim Deaf for 2d seconds. I get how debilitating that can be in a multi-threat combat environment, but mechanically it just doesn't seem impactful at all for the IMMEDIATE fight...certainly not worth compromising your ability to Defend (AoA Double) or drastically reducing your accuracy because of Rapid Strike penalties. Am I missing something? 4. The Drop Kick test is a little ambiguous in how it is resolved. It's clear that it requires a Move and Attack and at least 1 yard of movement. It's clear that the damage the Attacker rolls is Slam Cr dmg +2. What's not clear is if the attacker takes damage too like in a Slam (seems odd for that maneuver to cause damage to the attacker). And if a hit results in only one damage roll, does that mean the defender automatically has to roll DX or fall prone? Since 1 is more than double 0, is it an automatic knock down if the defender suffers 1 or more points of damage?