In virtually any role-playing game conflict is an inevitability. Most times this means combat. This series will look at different common themes characters take on and how those are interpreted in Fractured Kingdom. We begin this series with a fighting style that straddles both the real and the supernatural worlds: martial arts.
In the world of Fractured Kingdom martial arts have been broken up into 10 different styles. These styles represent concepts within martial arts such as the External Style which favor speed and might represent Wu-Shu, Savate, or Thai Kick-Boxing. External style is one of the core physical styles which also includes the powerful Hard Style and the defensive Southern Style.
Each martial art is comprised of seven Boons or martial techniques that define the style. Here are the entries for the External Style:
External Style – Mundane
Quick, elegant, and potent, the External Stylist relies on speed and agility to bring their opponents down before they can pose a threat. Striking with powerful combinations of attacks, the blinding speed of External Style often dominates the battlefield. Some examples include Wu-Shu, Savate, and Thai Kick-Boxing.
External Boons include:
Movement of Water and Wood (Mundane – Martial Arts – External Style): The External Style attempts to balance many different aspects of fighting: speed, power, beauty. Even the newest of practitioners touch on the ebb and flow of this style.
Pebble Touches Pond (Mundane – Martial Arts – External Style): With their understanding of the movement of battle and of their art, the character is able to move past conventional restraints to react with blinding speed.
Crashing Tide Stance (Mundane – Martial Arts – External Style): The External Martial Artist knows they must control the battlefield to obtain victory. Their training and skill allow them to move through battle with amazing ease.
Avoid the Blade (Supernatural – Martial Arts – External Style): The External Style is masterful in moving with the flow of battle. This training allows the character to avoid wounds that may otherwise be deadly.
Broken Mountain (Supernatural – Martial Arts – External Style): With fine-tuned skill, the character’s movements are almost blindingly quick. Each fluid movement leads into the next, allowing them to quickly recover from their opponents’ actions.
Torrent Falls (Supernatural – Martial Arts – External Style): The character’s speed and ferocity is unmatched as they unleash a barrage of strikes.
Warrior’s Focus (Supernatural – Martial Arts – External Style): The character’s mind is so trained for combat that their actions become second nature. The character has learned to draw on the power of their mental focus and supernatural nature in a fight.
With it’s speed the External Style focus on combinations of attacks or Combos with Boons to increase their accuracy and number of actions that can be taken. While anyone can learn the first three martial abilities of the External Style only a Lucid or Other supernatural being can truly master the style. At it’s highest level the External Stylist can move out of the way of lethal attacks with ease, make multiple attacks before the target is even capable of defending and recover from botched attacks striking again within a fraction of a second.
In the next installment of Combat Styles we will look at the Hulking Brute in comparison and some of the supernatural advantages being Lucid brings to this role.
