Quest for the Eighth Sea, Martial Arts
Martial arts in Q48S are a hidden discipline, known to many but practiced by only a few. They are *not* hand to hand fighting systems, for the most part- martial arts masters are smart enough to know that the Way of the Empty Hand usually loses to the Way of the Really Sharp Sword. Instead, martial arts in this world are a systematic and disciplined approach to fighting that concentrates on the practice of certain distinctive maneuvers and techniques that allow the artist to sharpen his skills and do surprising things in combat. At higher levels, the discipline of the martial arts allows users to control their qi energy more effectively, granting supernatural power. Martial arts are generically known as "kung fu", a phrase that literally means "hard work", or "the Path". There are many styles, and in practice each master can call his style whatever he wants. If he can beat up enough people, it'll probably stick.
It is *not* necessary to be a martial artist in order to be a good fighter in this system. Martial artists spend their time studying forms and flashy moves, and can do things in combat that a more prosaically trained warrior would never attempt. All this time spent on unusual maneuvers, though, means that martial artists are often not as effective at basic swordplay as someone who just concentrated on getting really, really good at the fundamentals. You may know the Deadly Scorpion strike to pierce his vitals and cause excruciating damage, but someone who just spent a lot of time getting good with his sword may still be able to just lop off your head. Generally, about a third to half of the pirate clans' fighters actually bother to find a master and undertake formal martial arts training.
(If you want to get technical about it, our muscle-brained swordsman is practicing a martial art too, one which just focuses on improving swordplay without any specific named exercises. In the BESM system I wrote this in, this particular "art" is reflected by just taking levels in the appropriate attack and defense skills.)
Learning the Path is hard, mostly because finding someone to teach you is hard. Pirates have the easiest time, one of the few compensations of living under sentence of death- the clans originated the Path, and many masters live on their ships and on the islands they control. Most masters serve a specific clan, training their young bloods in exchange for support from the clan leadership, and obviously it's easiest to study with one from your clan- although the disciple-teacher bond is considered important enough that if you really "click" with another master you may well be accepted. There are a few non-aligned masters living on the pirate islands and the islands of the New Kingdom, if you can find them- the ones that have renounced the clans tend to be reclusive, local governors tend to get nervous about having schools of trained warriors living on their islands unless they're *really* sure that the master likes them. And there are some rumored to train the Son of Heaven's Outer Palace Guard, but don't count on finding them unless you're willing to sell your soul to one of the Palace Guards stranded in the New Kingdom when this mess got started.
Once you've found a master and groveled sufficiently to convince him that he should teach you, look forward to a few years of getting up at dawn and training pretty much full-time on strength, endurance, flexibility, and fighting. Q48S masters don't tend to go in for the "sweep my house every day" kind of training unless they think you're getting cocky, but of course you'll be so grateful to your master that you'll be only too happy to fetch his water and wood, cook his food, and so forth. It'll be an idyllic life of running with clay weights tied to your waist, punching heavy planks of wood, and repeating the same sword exercises over and over until your fingers bleed.
But after a few years of this, you'll know how to do one or two things that will really make your enemies go "Huh?" before they die.
Although most students do eventually leave their masters to seek their fortune, smart students also wait to do this until their master considers them at least minimally trained and offers his blessing. That way, you can return to him later when you feel you're ready to learn more, and chances are he will teach you. If you sneak away in the middle of the night, you'll probably get used for sparring practice if you're foolish enough to come back. And if you're a member of a pirate clan and decide to defy a master of your clan or an allied clan, expect your life to become significantly more interesting over your next few assignments. Your master probably thinks you need a lesson in humility, and chances are that he either taught one of the people who controls your fate or knows the master who did. If you insulted another clan's master or you're not technically a pirate, you might still have to deal with students being sent to use you as a training dummy. Hope you learned something before you snuck off, grasshopper.
This is all in BESM Second Edition, because that's what I wrote the setting up in.
Martial arts in Q48S are represented by taking the following advantages:
Advantages from the main book: Jumping (up to Level 4), Kensei: Blind Fighting, Lightning Draw, Judge Opponent, and Precise Stroke, Heightened Awareness, Heightened Senses, Stealth (up to Level 3, for either sight or hearing, costs 5 EP/minute to use), Focused Damage (costs 10 EP/use)
Changes to book advantages:
Kensei (Judge Opponent): Make a Soul + (Highest Attack skill) roll to use this, and you must have fought a similarly trained (GM's discretion, but should be from the same "school" of fu) opponent before. If you succeed, take a +2 on all attack and defense rolls against that opponent, since you know their kung fu.
New Advantages:
Paralyzing Strike- 3 pts. Allows a Called Shot to paralyze an opponent's arm or leg. 10 EP/use.
Disarming Strike- 3 pts/level. Level 1 allows the character to use the Disarm rules from the Advanced Combat chapter. Level 2 eliminates the penalty for disarming attacks in melee. 10 EP/use.
Critical Strike- 3 pts/level. Allows the character to use the Called Shot to Vital Spot rules (pg. 156). Level 2 reduces the penalty to +2/0, Level 3 eliminates it. 10 EP/use.
An'Chi- 2pts/level. Each level allows tiny (assassin's dagger, needle), small (dagger, shortsword) or large (broadsword, fighting chains) to be concealed under any reasonably sized clothing at the GM's discretion.
Throwing Mastery- 4 pts. Allows the character to use mundane objects (stones, pens, eggs, chairs, chickens, small children) as throwing knives or shuriken as appropriate.
Escape Artisty- 3 pts. Allows a Body + Acrobatics roll to escape any bonds that allow any movement at all in arms, legs, or neck. 5 EP/minute in use.
Blood Parry- 2 pts. Take 5 DP for a +4 to defend any one attack. Yes, this is the infamous catch-parry.
Unique Fu- 4 pts. You are immune to the Kensei: Judge Opponent ability, automatically on your first combat with a given opponent. On the first subsequent contest, apply a modifier equal to (10-Opponent's Soul) to their Kensei roll, and reduce the roll by 1 for each subsequent combat. If the roll is made, their Judge Opponent works on you normally.
You should be prepared to have opponents exclaim: "Your fu is unique!" frequently.
Traceless Walk- 3 pts/level
Level 1: You are harder to track. Apply a +3 penalty to all rolls made to follow your character's trail.
Level 2: You leave no tracks, even in the softest mud. Any attempt to track you must be based on other signs (broken reeds, bits of cloth left on nettles) or it fails automatically, GM should assign appropriate penalties- +6 at least, and may require a certain level of tracking skill to even make the attempt.
Level 3: You can walk on paper, or on the edge of a moving ship, without making a roll.
Level 4: You can run across water, or any surface as long as you keep moving. Don't stop if you're over lava.
Dim Mak- 10 pts. If you successfully hit an opponent, you automatically do critical damage (pg. 146) with a +2 on the roll. At GM's discretion, unimportant characters (scrubs) may die instantly. 20 EP/use. The "Hand of Death" is one of the most feared techniques in the islands- few are taught it, but many more fear it. The authorities will swiftly follow up any reports of people dying at a single blow, and a martial arts student who draws attention to himself (and thus his school) by misuse of this technique may find his teacher calling on him to administer a little corrective action.