Brainstorming Ideas for a Celestial MA Style

[Flagg]

I had the idea to make a Martial Art that was focused on fighting the Fair Folk. I have a few ideas, but not enough to round out a whole Style. I was hoping for some inspiration from you guys.


I was thinking of calling it Iron Warrior Style, since cold iron is inimical to the Fae. The theme of the Style would be becoming the embodiment of stasis and order.


Here are some effects I've thought of, in no particular progression:

• A Charm which allows the character to see past any illusion, and discern glamour from "reality".
  
• A Charm which transforms the character's hands into cold iron, allowing them to parry lethal attacks unarmed, as well as causing aggravated damage to the Fair Folk.
  
• A Charm which wards off all Fair Folk and Wyld-touched creatures within a range (MA*3 yards, maybe), forcing such creatures to spend Willpower to move in closer. This would probaqbly be the Form Charm.
  
• A Charm which stabilizes reality for a short radius around the character (Essence yards?), in or out of the Wyld. All works of glamour would turn to dust when entering this area. The area would move with the character. This would probably be the pinnacle Charm.

As you can see, this list does not a full Style make. I'd like to add in a few generally useful combat Charms, such as Extra Action, or attack/defense bonuses, but I'm not sure how to keep this in theme.


Also, any ideas on a good signature weapon?


Thanks in advance.


-S

 

[Kajata]

Hmm... for signature weapon, maybe a simply staff?  No frills, just a wholesome device of butkickery?

 

[Flagg]

Hmm... for signature weapon, maybe a simply staff?  No frills, just a wholesome device of butkickery?

I was thinking this as well. I can't think of a weapon that better exemplifies order and simplicity than a big, straight stick. They often come ironshod, as an added bonus.


-S

 

[Flagg]

I thought of one more effect: A strike which, if not resisted, prevents the target from changing its form for a duration (MA turns?). Maybe as an added evil bonus, this could apply to Lunars and Spirits as well?


-S

 

[Zaramis]

I don't know if something else covers this, but one thing could either make the user immune to being changed or transformed in any way, or revert all transformations back to his normal self.. or both


I dont know much about faeries tho, I only read some little bit about them using something like this to attack? shaping or something?


I might be completely wrong and then my entire idea is junk.

 

[Zaramis]

And a simple, iron chain would work well as a weapon for it too, no balls at the ends or anything, just a chain.


Chain links meaning the bonds of which reality is made, sort of

 

[Obsidian Silence]

• A Charm which allows the character to see past any illusion, and discern glamour from "reality".

-S

Discerning reality from the fake is already something inimical to high essence beings so if this is the case of a charm it should be something better than what someone already get to see through an illusion

 

[Obsidian Silence]

Also, any ideas on a good signature weapon?


-S

while the staff is a good signature weapon because of previously stated reasons, hands and fists of essence users are very intrinsicaly orderly. just due to the nature of the essence user.


(plus due to players guide descriptions bare handed MA styles are more powerful than styles with weapons.)

 

[Obsidian Silence]

Don't mind me im drunk and can't spell

 

[Jakk Bey]

Iron Chain, Iron Bells--paired--and Iron Ring.


Iron Chain for obvious reasons.


Iron Bells--variations on the big hand bells--which not only are heavy, and can be used for bludgeoning, but the sound that the bells make coud be incorporated into Charms to run the Fae into the hills.  


Iron Ring--a variation of the large brass rings seen used by Sammo Hung and often used in Beijing Opera.  Big, used to parry, used for striking, binding, and symbolizing the unity of the Creation.  Think about a yard in diameter, something you can easily put your torso through for ease of carrying, and shuck down your shoulder pretty fast.  Also, Charms could be channelled to allow others to see truth through its ring.  Again, sound carrying from striking the ring could come in handy for sound based Charms.

 

[Persell]

Here's a few extra ideas to add to the nature of the style.


-Metal Covers the Skin- a soak charm that would cause Essence damage to Fair Folk who decided hitting an Iron Man is a good idea.  Won't stack with armor.


-Iron Reality Defense Prana- Able to defend against shapping combat.


-Repeating Steel Hammer- Essentially repeat the last action with the same amount of success- provided it wasn't this charm.  All conditions must be the same.  Can't use any other charm enhances unless comboed with the charms in question.


-Cold Iron Heart- Temperary immunity to mind-dominating effects- however, all Compassion checks fail (outside of those based around the Great Curse).


Best I could come up with in 10 minutes of thought.  As a side note, this is a potent Martial Arts style.  It may need a high starting Essence.  But I'll leave that to people who can actually balance things.

 

[wordman]

• A charm (maybe the top of the tree) which allows the character to ignore gossamer created items. His attacks pass through gossamer armor. Gossamer weapons pass right through him.
  
• An attack supplemental that, in addition to damage, capitalizes on the fair folk's feeding grace, force-feeding it motes equal to that virtue for each success (limited by attacker, if desired). Having now "infected" the fair folk with your Essence, you can control it for a time. Maybe this is more "influence" than "control".
  
• An attack that, instead of damage, makes a point of gossamer controlled by the target explode.
  
• An attack that, instead of damage, takes possession of one of the fair folk's graces (assuming they own it to begin with).
  
• Something that forces the fair folk into making a binding oath.

 

[DeepFlowingRiver]

iron gauntlets could also be a good weapon choice, symbolizing the iron fist of no change. Of course if you have a charm that changes your fists to iron anyway I am not sure you would need them.


Maybe a charm that allows you to see glamour or fae around you even if they are hiding by detecting the chaos, kind of like fae radar.

 

[wordman]

As a side note, this is a potent Martial Arts style.  It may need a high starting Essence.

I'm not sure that's true. It would certainly be potent against Fair Folk, but would be nearly useless against anyone else. It think you can make a case that martial art A and B (that have roughly the same cost) are balanced if A is general, but weaker and B is more powerful, but against a very limited target. In this case, you can crank the power level even more, as the Fair Folk are good at doing something that would provide them an excellent defence against this martial art: influencing non-fair folk to fight for them.

 

[wordman]

Also, any ideas on a good signature weapon?

What if you allowed four weapons: staff, cup, sword and ring. By virtue (pun!) of symbolic link, the weapon you used would provide bonuses against certain types of charms (staff against conviction, ring against temperance, etc.). Or maybe they are more effective against those with like feeding graces, and less effective against those without.


Or, perhaps they work defensively, boosting your like virtue for defensive rolls. Or something.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Cup and Ring could work well with the idea of the bell and iron ring earlier...

 

[Hanat-Osul]

How about:


-an attack that forces the raksha's adjurations, spells, & other weavings to manifest physically, attached to him like iron weights?  You could use this to either inflict a huge mobility penalty on it or subtract from its Dex.  Against other beings... I dunno.  Turns a Solar or Lunar's Limit score against them? a Siddy's Paradox?


-the next technique up the ladder: turn the raksha's Graces to iron inside them, causing unsoakable agg damage.  Again, not sure ab. other creature types.


-a counterattack vs. shaping (that also has limited utility against sorcery?): "Iron Law of Creation Riposte," or what you will.  Reflexive that lets the artist roll a parry vs. the shaping; if successful, the raksha takes a bunch of bashing damage as his attempt at reality-manipulation is forcefully rebuffed.

 

[wordman]

Following up on my four weapon idea, I have an idea for the structure of the  tree.


Suppose the root of the tree were four charms:


Staff Bars the Staff


Ring Bars the Ring


Cup Bars the Cup


Sword Bars the Sword


Mechanically, these double their corresponding virtue when using it to defend against Fair Folk or Spirit charms, so long as the corresponding weapon is being wielded. Further, each charm puts the exalt on "the path" of that weapon and allows the exalt to consider attacks with that weapon as unarmed.


Now, only one of these charms is required to proceed up the charm tree, but many charms along the way provide effects based on which "paths" the exalt knows.


For example, maybe the next charm up the tree something like Avoiding Other's Dreams, a general shaping dodge charm, but it can only be used against shaping charms corresponding to the "paths" the exalt is on. In other words, say the exalt learns Cup Bars the Cup and then learns this dodge charm. It's effect would only be useful against Cup shaping attacks. Later, if he learned Ring Bars the Ring, Avoiding Other's Dreams suddenly becomes effective against Ring shaping as well.


Same with the form. Maybe it gives bonuses for using path weapons. And so on.

 

[Flagg]

While that is a very cool idea, wordman, it makes the style all but useless outside of shaping combat.


My idea was to have something more practical for kicking Fair Folk ass inside Creation.


-S

 

[Forn Clakes]

I still love the idea of a big, iron stick.


~FC.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Perhaps use those ideas for Charms for the upper tiers, an a branch of the tree that lets folks choose how they'll approach their asskickery.


I'm partial to the idea of using Grace style weapons.  Ring, Bell, Staff, and Sword, and perhaps Chain as well. You could develop the style along five seperate paths as well, which goes thematically well in the Creation.  Using the Chain to represent the Creation as a Form weapon has all sorts of neat connotations, especially for the poor bastiches who get looped up in an iron chain, and then beat down with a weapon form later on cooresponding to their Graces.  


It would go a long way to earning the artist a hefty dose of hate from the Fae...