Reighnhell:Pai Mei This write up is based on the martial arts master from Kill Bill Vol.2 Virtue: Charity; Strangely, Pai Mei thought is art freely if the student proved themselves worth teaching and willing to put up with his abuse Vice: Pride; Pai Mei was bigoted and arrogant, and would not train a student until after they had been sufficiently humbled.
WyrdHamster:I will disagree and think he should have Hope & Envy, by Guardfians of the Veil called Old Crook, classical example of "punish mentor". He wants to teach and let others to be true to they arts ( Hope, idealism ), but in the same way he was so much cruel to his students, they needed to become so humble, that almost insane (Envy, wickidness ).
High Quabalist:Anyone ever stat up Jack Burton from "Big trouble in little China"? I loved that movie...
Reighnhell:Duncan MacLeod “The Highlander” This write up presents Duncan Macleod as he was through most of the Highlander television series. Virtue: Justice; Duncan is honorable and noble, and seeks to protect the innocent and punish the wicked. Vice: Pride; Duncan moral code is very rigid, and his sense of right and wrong often makes him intervene in situation where his aid is neither asked for nor appreciated. Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 4 Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 4Duncan is over 400 years old. His physical attributes represent a well rounded warrior in top physical condition. Duncan is bright and exceptionally clever, with remarkable tenacity. He has the presence of born leader and manages to keep a level head in most situations. Merits of Note: Allies (Amanda, Connor Macleod, Joe Dawson, Mythos, Ritchie Ryan), Ambidextrous, Brawling Dodge, Danger Sense, Decapitating Stroke, Disarm, Eidetic Memory, Fast Reflexes 2, Favored Weapon (Dragon Katana), Fighting Finesse (Katana),FS: Boxing 3, FS: Fencing 5, FS: Grappling 3, FS: Kung Fu 5, FS: Staff Fighting 3, FS: Two Weapons 3, Fresh Start, HP Driving 3, Language (Gaelic, English, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, German, and Arabic), Iron Stamina 2, Quick Draw (Melee), Meditative Mind, Striking Looks, Unseen Sense (Immortals), Weaponry Dodge, Wheelman Special Merit: Decapitating Stroke (OOOO) Prerequisites: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Weaponry 4, requires an edged weapon You can decapitate an opponent in a single clean stroke. Such an attack incurs a -3 penalty against a resisting opponent, and an exceptional success must be scored to cut through muscle, sinew and bone. If the damage inflicted is enough to fill the targets health boxes with lethal damage, their head is struck off (all health boxes filled lethal damage are automatically converted to aggravated damage). Needless to say, this kills most targets outright. Drawback: This attack requires the expenditure of 1willpower; this expenditure does not grant any bonus dice. Skills of Note: Academics 3 (History), Athletics 4, Brawl 5, Computers 3 (Forgery), Crafts 3, Drive 3(Muscle Cars), Empathy 3, Expression 2, Firearms 2(Rifle), Larceny 3(Conceal Weapon, Escape), Intimidation 3, Investigation 3(Immortals), Medicine 2 (Battlefield), Occult 2, Persuasion 3 (Women), Socialize 3(Carouse), Politics 3 (Scottish), Ride 3, Stealth 3, Streetwise 2(Paris), Subterfuge 3, Survival 4 (Highlands), Warfare 3 (Highland), Weaponry 6 (Swords) AbilitiesThese are the abilities Duncan shared with the other immortals he encountered. By the end of “Highlander: The Series”, Duncan had a Quickening of 6 due to the shear number of Immortals he vanquished in a relatively short time and is estimated to have slain 176 other Immortals. Dragon Katana: Duncan uses a Katana with an ivory hilt carved into the shape of a dragon. It is crafted by a master, and has a higher durability than normal for a Katana. Damage: 3L, Size: 2/L, Durability 5 Immortality: Duncan is immortal. He hasn’t aged a day in 400 years. He heals extremely fast; he recovers 1 bashing damage/turn, 1 lethal damage/15 minutes, 1 aggravated damage/hour. He is also immune to conventional infection, sickness and disease. Even if his health boxes are filled with aggravated damage, he will return to life within the next 24 hours. This type of Resurrection reduces the Immortals Quickening by 1(to a minimum score of 1). Immortals heal without scarring, unless the damage was to the neck or throat. Duncan, like all Immortals, is sterile and he cannot sire children. One of the few ways to permanently slay an Immortal is by decapitation or destruction of the head. Decapitation can be accomplished as a Killing Blow on a helpless target, by filling a targets health boxes with aggravated damage on a targeted attack to the head, or by use of the Decapitating Stroke Merit. The only other effective method to kill an immortal is complete destruction of the body (immolation, dismemberment, or pulverization). Asphyxiation (such as drowning or being buried alive) render the Immortal dormant until such a time as they are exposed to air again, at which point the recover as normal .Quickening: An Immortal has a trait called Quickening, which is measured in ranks from 1-10. This trait measure and Immortals overall power, and can only be increased by taking the heads of other immortals. In addition to the Quickening trait, an Immortal also has a pool of Quickening points. An Immortal can spend a number of Quickening points a turn equal to their Quickening trait. Each Dot of Quickening increases the maximum amount of Quickening Points an Immortal can store (1/10, 2/11, 3/12, 4/13, 5/14, 6/15, 7/20, 8/30, 9/50, 10/100). A Quickening score above 5 also allows the immortal to raise Attributes and Skills beyond 5 (Maximum equal to Quickening trait) Quickening points recover naturally at a rate of 1 per day. Whenever an Immortal would regain Willpower from their Vice, they may recover a point of Quickening instead; If they would recover willpower from their Virtue, they may recover 3 Quickening points instead. Finally, a desperate Immortal may sacrifice a Dot of their Quickening trait to fully refill their Quickening points. Attribute Boost: An Immortal can reflexively spend 1 point of Quickening to boost any attribute by 1 dot for 1 scene. Immortal Edge: An Immortal may reflexively spend 2 Quickening to give their next Weaponry attack with an edged weapon the 9-again quality. If the Immortals Quickening is 5 or higher the attack gains the 8-again quality instead. Sparks often leap from the blade when this ability is used. Immortal Zeal: When using any Merit that requires a willpower point to activate, the Immortal may instead spend 2 Quickening points. They may not spend Willpower the turn this ability is used. Rapid Healing: An Immortal may reflexively spend 1 Quickening to automatically heal a level of lethal damage. Supernatural Defense: The Quickening trait functions as a Supernatural Resistance Trait. Quickening Experience: An Immortal can only increase their Quickening score with Quickening experience. Quickening experience is gained whenever an Immortal takes the head of another Immortal in single combat. They immediately gain a number of Quickening experience equal to the slain Immortals Quickening trait. This transfer of power always takes the form of a localized electrical storm, inflicting a number of boxes of lethal damage to the victorious immortal equal to the slain immortals Quickening. Increasing Quickening costs New Rating x 8 in Quickening experience. Quickening experience may be converted into normal experience for improving other traits and abilities at a rate of 2 Quickening experience/ 1 normal experience. The Game: Immortals battle each other to the death. This perpetual war is known simply as “The Game”. Immortals engaged in the Game observe certain rules. The first is that each confrontation is one on one combat in a location removed from mortal eyes. Other Immortals are forbidden to interfere. The second is that holy ground is neutral territory, and no hostilities can be initiated on consecrated land. Whether this is a supernatural dictum or common etiquette is unknown, but legends speak of two immortals who dueled on holy ground at Pompeii minutes before its destruction. The third is the motto “There can be only One”. There will come a time called “The Gathering”, when the last few Immortals will be drawn to each other to bring the Game to its conclusion. In theory, the last Immortal will have the combined strength and knowledge of every other immortal that had ever lived. What exactly such a being would be capable off is unknown, but such power would be enough to change the world...or destroy it.
shinryu:apologies, the stream of consciousness approach isn't the most readable. let's take an example: fencers, alice and bob. for sake of the example, let's assume they have identical relevant stats:dex 3, wits 3, weaponry (fencing) 3(4), weapon finesse: fencing, and fighting style: fencing 4. so their attack pools become 7 and their tactical health levels start at six (dex + wits), with a defense of 3. effective starting attack pool is then four dice. we will arm them with rapiers, so a guaranteed two levels of damage + successes if they get throughround 1: alice gets initiative. opens with the traditional all out attack, plus willpower: nine dice. the expect on this is three successes, which in an auto-damage context is pretty severe. feeling aggresive, bob returns in kind, increasing both their pools to 12 dice. in a normal game, such a tactic is suicidal: the expect becomes six health levels. this is not the sort of thing that wins fights. here, it's maybe not the best bet, but it's a valid tactic. consulting my handy dandy rng, alice rolls but two successes, while bob gets 3. this leaves their tactical health levels at 4 and 3, respectively. neither is hurt, but bob has improved his position considerably. depending on your narrative bent, you can even describe this as a battle of footwork and positioning, entirely; no actual attacks need to be thrown.round 2: bob gets initiative (keep in mind we are rerolling, here). deciding to press his advantage, but worried about potential counterattack, bob decides to feint. he's down to four dice, now, but any successes reduce alice's thls and render her next defense moot, he cannot actually damage her if he depletes those thls, however. alice chooses to dodge, cutting bob's pool to one chance die. amazingly, bob gets one success. alice's thls are now 2. on her turn, alice rolls her dex + wits and obtains 2 successes. they are now even in thls, 4 and 4. she's bought his feint, but she's backed off and gained some better positioning.round 3: bob gets initative again. feeling saucy, bob decides it's time for the all out moulinet. nine dice. alice, being out defense anyway, decides to go out swinging with an all-out attack + willpower: bob muffs it, unbelievably, missing totally, but alice gets an exceptional success, five dice. this eliminates all of bob's thls and hits, for one success + 2 levels of damage.round 4: bob wins initative, and decides that discretion is the better part of valor; he declares a dodge, and rolls dex + wits to regenerate 2 thls. alice decides to press the advantage with an all-out attack, giving her three dice versus the dodge. one success, and bob is down to 1 thl again. alice is still at four. round 5: alice wins init. down to one thl, now's the time: all out moulinet. bob dodges, but since he's on the bottom of the turn he cannot regenerate thls yet; seeing this, he chooses to go for a riposte. alice throws three and misses, and bob pounces, getting six dice and rolling three successes. both down to a thl, the next round is critical.round 6: both dodge, given their predicaments. alice regenerates 3 thls; unlucky bob regenerates none... in the shuffle of fakes and footwork, alice has a decisive advantage on bob.and so on. under conventional automatic damage rules, alice is down four health levels and bob is dead in round three. in this circumstance, we have a drawn out, tactical duel, in which management of tactical health levels gives the players an option to exercise more judgment about appropriate maneuvers. i'm not necessarily advocating bringing this out for every single encounter (although i think it could work in every combat, keeping in mind multiple opponents are just going to drag your thls down faster). but if you have a dramatic duel on your hands, it's a lot better than the best duelists of the ventrue stabbing each other for four damage every round, i think.