Martial Arts: Realistic Techniques
Many of these techniques are difficult – and some are dangerous to the user – but all are realistic. The GM could allow even the flashiest of them in a high-realism campaign.
Acrobatic Stand
Average
Default: Acrobatics-6.
Prerequisite: Acrobatics; cannot exceed Acrobatics skill.
This represents training at quickly regaining your feet in a fight; see Acrobatic Stand for details. A successful roll lets you go from lying down to standing as a single Change Posture maneuver; on a critical success, you do so as a "step." Failure means you go to a sitting posture. Critical failure leaves you lying down, wasting your turn.
You can also use Acrobatic Stand to go from crawling or sitting to standing as a step. In this case, failure means you stand as a Change Posture maneuver, not as a step. Critical failure means you fall down!
Modifiers: A penalty equal to your encumbrance level.
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Kicking
Hard
Default: Brawling-2 or Karate-2.
Prerequisite: rawling or Karate; cannot exceed prerequisite skill.
Kicking covers all kicks not defined as standalone techniques: crescent kicks, hook kicks, rising kicks, roundhouse kicks, snap kicks, etc. Knowledgeable players are free to embellish, but in all cases, a kick requires an attack roll against Kicking and inflicts thrust crushing damage. Use Brawling or Karate skill – not Kicking – to determine the damage bonus, and use only the highest bonus. If you miss, roll vs. Kicking or DX to avoid falling down.
Combine Kicking with Committed Attack or All-Out Attack for devastating kicks like roundhouses or stepping side kicks, or with Defensive Attack for close, jabbing kicks. Add in Deceptive Attack for fast snaps and other tricky moves, or Telegraphic Attack for slow kicks with big windups.
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Using Your Legs
Much as you can kick as well as punch, you can use your legs to grapple. To do so, you must be facing your adversary and not pinned. You have -2 to DX or skill, but +2 to ST. The DX penalty stems from using your legs, not from posture. You only suffer penalties for a non-standing posture against a standing foe; Low Fighting and Ground Fighting affect these normally. Your enemy's posture might give additional penalties to grapple certain hit locations from some postures; see Postures, Hit Locations, and Techniques. If you grapple with legs from a standing start, you avoid all posture penalties but end your turn lying face-up. It counts as a step to leap up, use your legs, and fall; see Change Posture.
Grapples using legs allow all the usual follow-ups – takedown, pin, strangle, bear hug, Neck Snap, etc. – at -2 DX, +2 ST. You can learn leg-based versions of grappling techniques for this. Each is a separate technique with an extra -2 on its default. All get +2 ST – or +1 to damage, if there's no ST roll. Options include:
Leg Throw: As Judo Throw, but defaults to Judo-2.
Lower-Body Arm Lock: As Arm Lock, but defaults to Judo-2 or Wrestling-2.
Lower-Body Head Lock: As Head Lock, but defaults to Judo-5 or Wrestling-5.
Lower-Body Leg Lock: As Leg Lock, but defaults to Judo-2 or Wrestling-2.
Triangle Choke: As Choke Hold, but defaults to Judo-4 or Wrestling-5.
See Also
Realistic Techniques
- Martial Arts: Realistic Techniques
- Martial Arts: Techniques That Aren't
- Martial Arts: Optional Rule: Targeted Attacks
- Martial Arts: "Go for the eyes!"
- Martial Arts: Dirty Tricks
- Martial Arts: Using Your Legs
- Martial Arts: Optional Rule: Combinations