My kung-fu is stronger than yours.
This archetype bears resemblance to the Warrior. Like he,
Martial Artist has dedicated his life to violent combat.
Unlike Warrior, Martial Artist doesn’t hone his skills because
he needs them; rather, to him, the art of combat is
reason in itself. He seeks peace of mind by honing his body
to a weapon. However, those who seek martial prowess are often
drawn to situations where such pover is needed. Under the mask
of harmony, every avatar of this archetype seeks to be the
best, THE master of martial arts. “My kung-fu is stronger
than yours!” is not a cliche for these avatars; it’s thing they
must answer, for they know that their kung-fu is stronger.
And when that happens, even the most peaceful master utters
the words: “Know, that I kill on will.”
Masks: Shaolin Monk(Traditional Chinese), Bruce Lee(Modern),
Pai Mei(Cinematic).
Symbols: Dojo, meditative position, proper clothing, oriental weaponry
and black belt are the symbols of martial artist.
Taboo: The Martial Artist must never pick a fight. He can properly
challenge other warriors, but can’t just go beating people to pulp in bar.
Also, martial artist must keep up facade of ascetic life; no drugs,
no sex, no junk food etc. Only exception to this is alcohol; public
consciousness is riddled with tales of “Drunken Masters”, who pull
off amazing stunts while on heavy liquor.
Channels:
1-50%: Beginning martial artist learns to control himself. Whenever
he would flip at his Rage trigger or is under Violence-stress, he
can make Avatar: Martial Artist skill check. On success, he can ignore
the situation and continue to behave normally.
51-70%: Experienced martial artists are fast. Some attribute this to
Chi-energy, others to long years of training and those in the know
to the fact that people believe them to be fast. Once per combat,
martial artist can make Avatar: The Martial Artist check. If succesfull,
he can add the sum of the dice to his Speed stat, for the number of rounds
equal to the ones digits on the roll. If this takes his speed stat over
100, he gets all the bonuses mentioned in “Expectional Stats”.
71-90%: Look, without wires! Hong Kong -movies constantly show
martial arts masters doing nearly impossible stunts, like jumping over
people(and buildings), standing on the sword-blades, running up walls
and that kind of stuff. Player describes what kind of stunt he is going
to try. If GM decides it’s possible, then he makes Avatar: Martial Artist
check. If succesfull, the stunt succeeds. However, it’s advised that
truly impressive feats(jumping over buildings etc.) require matched
success. Failure in using this channel leads always to very spectacular
and painfull botch(getting castrated while jumping over person holding
katana etc.).
91%+: When martial artist of this level hits, people break. Quite simply,
whether it is wood, car hood, bone, flesh or brick wall matters not.
The Martial Artist does firearms-damage with his hand-to-hand attacks.
With no damage cap. This channel is always active, unless martial artist
states otherwise.
Oh, forgot:
Suspected avatars in history:
Bruce Lee was certainly Avatar, perhaps even Godwalker. And just go to look at your local karate, kung-fu or han moo do -group. You have good change to spot at least one avatar who unconsciously channels this archetype.
nice ‘un, but a couple of comments:
a. just generally – the warrior isn’t only about violent actions. it’s about a dedication to a cause. one CAN be a warrior for peace & harmony.
b. the first channel sounds like something pretty simple, like a basic mind/soul skill “staying calm when i’m pissed”, common for teachers, shop clerks but not by parliament members. surely there’s something especially martial artsy? dunno – the ability to ignore pain? the ability to automatically have the basic knowledge how to use any hand-to-hand weapon?
c. there’s a big diffrence between the diffrent martial art styles and ‘ways’. so fora kung-fu monk who spent his life smashing his head on a brick wall, pain is minor. for a tae kwon do (if you call it a martial art and not a sport) artist, jump kicking someone off a horse is day to day action. the channels should be more around using the diffrences between the styles, instead of trying to find a general common ground. this is especially obvious with your proposed first channel – tae kwon do, for example, makes students more aggresive, unlike the ancient chinese ways.
I somewhat agree with you, but I point out: Archetypes aren’t what is real, but what everyone believes about the given subject. Millions of average John Does on the street know that martial arts teach self-discipline, so self-disciplince is what you get. Also, millions of John Does can’t tell you a difference between kung-fu and karate. And as the first channel allows the Avatar to ignore Violence-based stress checks, not just take automatic hardened notch, I wouldn’t allow anyone to take such power as a normal skill.
And remember, Avatar of Martial Artist doesn’t even need to know how to fight. If he can play the part convincingly, it’s all that is required.
You make some very good arguments here. However, be careful about your statement concerning “Drunken Masters”. Such people were masters of “Drunken Boxing”, a martial art based on the theory that the fluid and clumsy motions of a drunkard are actually a very effective means to strike at or defend against an opponent. Those who practice Drunken Boxing are not drunk–they just act that way.
But when most people think of drunken boxing, I’m willing to bet they think of the Jackie Chan movie, in which he fuels his mighty powerz with copious amounts of booze.