Kangaroo Style CMA
Kangaroo Style was developed out in the deepest parts of the South-West, by a Dragon-Blooded martial artist of the early First Age. He had been exiled from the civilizations of Creation by his Sidereal master, who intended for him to meditate on his many failings of temperance, to return only when he had meditated on his own nature, and its place within Creation. The Terrestrial found the exercises recommended to him to be rather dull, so he instead set off for the closest town, where he spent a few years partaking in the local brew, lounging around in bars, and generally earning a reputation as an easy-going sort of chap.
By this time, a fellow (and far more successful) student of the same Sidereal passed by to see what had become of her erstwhile rival. Finding him relaxing in the sparse shade of a desert tree, she became enraged, and challenged him to a duel. He responded, in the local parlance, that she should cease her worries. This was perhaps an ill-advised action in terms of flippancy, as she had been training under a Celestial while he whiled away the months, and promptly beat him so badly that he was bedridden for several weeks.
As she left, fuming at the perceived slight done to her by his apathy, the dubiously-motivated martial artist pondered the world (in between wincing and picking at bandages). Upon becoming able to stand, he set out into the true wilderness that lies before the Pole Of Fire. While his experiences there were hardly what his sifu might have anticipated, containing multiple hallucinogenic episodes, the desperate pursuit of a kidnapped shamaness from the back of a wild simhata, and the martial artist's incapacitation by The Righteous Devil himself, it ultimately bore fruit.
Returning to the town, the martial artist wished those who knew him a good day, fashioned a hat hanging with jade corks wrapped with prayer-strips, and left to find his former rival. She attacked him on sight, her fists slicing through the air with the whipping serenity of the manta ray.
His response was to unleash a blazing new martial art, drawn from the rising heat of his heart, the searing strength of fire, and the bounding, tenacious soul of a creature he'd found a strange kinship with in his journey of meditation – the kangaroo. Caught off guard, the rival fell to a kick to the chin that burned with the fire of the martial artist's anima, and the sweet, warbling music of his soul.
Acknowledged by his sifu (though the fact that his spiritual journey had only solidified his rambunctiousness was somewhat exasperating), the martial artist headed back into Creation, his rival dogging his heels at every Direction. What accounts remain suggest that they went through a number of romances before finally returning to their master's school in Yu-Shan, where they became honoured (if diametrically opposed) instructors for the rest of their days.
Weapons and Armor: This style cannot be practiced in armour. The Charms of this Style treat attacks made with iron boots, cestuses, fighting gauntlets and their artifact equivalents as unarmed attacks.
Complementary Abilities: Thanks to this Style's physical regimen, practicioners must have at least three dots in Athletics to learn its Charms.
Kangaroo Style is a Martial Arts Style developed by Revlid.
Legspring Startle Technique
Cost: 0-3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
Leaping into battle, the martial artist surprises all with the speed and surety of his movements, a dynamic entry that leaves his opponents dumbstruck and fiststruck. This Charm may be used in two different ways.
• The martial artist may use it to supplement an action to rise from prone, making it a diceless reflexive action. This usage only costs one mote, which is reduced to zero motes if the martial artist jumps immediately upon rising.
• The martial artist may use it to supplement a Join Battle action. He adds (Martial Arts) automatic successes to his roll. This usage costs three motes. If the martial artist jumps as part of his first action upon entering the combat, he is immediately refunded one of these motes, effectively reducing the Charm's cost to two motes.
If the martial artist is in Kangaroo Form, this Charm counts as an innate power rather than a Charm activation.
Boxing In One Bound
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Legspring Startle Technique
Some laugh at the kangaroo, this strange, rabbit-like beast, which hops thither-and-hither with its young tucked in its belly. The natives of the South-West know the creature better, and do not laugh. The kangaroo's claws are long, and its kicks powerful enough to drive them deep into the flesh. This Charm supplements any unarmed attack, adding raw, pre-soak damage dice equal to the distance in yards jumped by the martial artist during this action, to a maximum of (Strength + Martial Arts + Essence) dice.
Thumping Ribcrusher Kick
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 3, Essence 2; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Knockback
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Boxing In One Bound
The martial artist kicks off his foe, sending them flying backward, and using the force of their defeat to propel himself to safety. Whether he will retreat, or use his new position to launch another bounding attack is entirely up to him. This Charm supplements any unarmed attack. It ensures that the martial artist's enemy is sent flying backward one yard per dice of raw, pre-soak damage. The martial artist may reflexively jump up to the same distance in the opposite direction – if he jumps the full distance, this Charm's cost is decreased to three motes. If the target strikes a hard object, they immediately stop, and both they and the object take one die of bashing damage for each yard they would have otherwise travelled (this may be upgraded to lethal damage if they strike a particularly dangerous object). If this is enough to destroy the object, they continue travelling in that direction, at one yard per excess health level of damage inflicted.
Kangaroo Form
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 2; Type: Simple (Speed 5, DV -2)
Keywords: Form-type, Obvious
Duration: One Scene
Prerequisite Charms: Thumping Ribcrusher Kick
Shaking his legs loose, the martial artist takes a tense, ready stance, hunching slightly while holding his fists high and together, as though to box. His leaps are the most notably effected, as his legs bend with an Essence-enhanced economy, storing energy for further bounds. While this Charm is active, the martial artist's unarmed attacks cause lethal damage, and he may parry lethal and ranged attacks without a Stunt. In addition, the martial artist may reflexively jump once per action, on his action tick. This does not replace his move actions. Further, the martial artist's maximum jump distance is increased by (Martial Arts).
Finally, upon entering Kangaroo Form, the martial artist gains (Essence) stored legsprings, and acquires an additional one every time he jumps. He may expend any number of legsprings (to a minimum of 3) as a reflexive action, allowing him to make a jump with a maximum distance in yards equal to the number of spent legsprings, or else increase the distance of a normal jump by that amount. All stored legsprings vanish at the end of this Charm's duration.
As a Form-type Charm, the first time the martial artist uses a Charm with a Flaw of Invulnerability during the same action Kangaroo Form is activated, it adds a two Willpower surcharge to its activation cost.
Dynamic Form Transition:
Kangaroo Form may be reflexively assumed in the following ways:
• If the practitioner moves into the engagement range of at least five opponents with a single jump.
Boisterous Boomer Barrage
Cost: 4m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 9)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Counterattack
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Kangaroo Form
The kangaroo is not a peaceful creature. Indeed, it takes umbrage like a sour drunk, and boxes just as wildly. Getting a kangaroo to drop a grudge is near impossible, for it must always have the last word, the last hastily-swung blow. This is a trait inherited from their ill-tempered ancestor, a great behemoth who carried entire towns within her armoured pouch. The martial artist may use this Charm whenever he is hit by or successfully parries an attack, allowing him to launch an unarmed counterattack that is resolved in Step 9 of the original attack. If the martial artist uses this Charm more than once in the same tick, each use past the first benefits from a cumulative one-mote discount, to a minimum of zero motes.
Diminutive Pouch Warrior
Cost: 6m; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Until clinch ends
Prerequisite Charms: Boisterous Boomer Barrage
Gaia smiled to see the first true kangaroos spring out into Creation, for she saw her own maternal prowess reflected in their joey-bearing pouches. The martial artist now condenses his anima into an Essence-formed homunculus that extends from the spiritual chakras of his gut, grappling with the enemies of its 'parent'. The Emerald Mother would approve. This Charm supplements a clinch attack or a roll to gain or maintain control of a clinch; if the martial artist is successful, then he may make rolls to retain control of the clinch reflexively for as long as it lasts, allowing him to take other actions within that clinch without a flurry. In addition, he may jump with his grappled opponent, following the same guidelines (minimum [Strength + Athletics] rating, etc) as dragging them.
There-And-Back-Again Kata
Cost: 3m; Mins: Martial Arts 4, Essence 3; Type: Reflexive (Step 1)
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Kangaroo Form
The kangaroo leaps toward its enemies, breaking those who would threaten its family in a flurry of frantic punches, scything kicks and mutilating bites. It retreats only to get a run-up. This Charm may enhance any unarmed attack the martial artist makes as part of a flurry of unarmed attacks, reducing the multiple action penalty that attack suffers by two, and increasing any onslaught penalties the opponent's DV suffers from by one. The bonuses granted by this Charm increase by one if the martial artist jumped toward his target before attacking, or by two if he jumped directly away from the target earlier this tick.
Potato-Sack Derision Technique
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 3; Type: Extra Action
Keywords: Combo-OK
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: There-And-Back-Again Kata
Early in their dominance of Creation, a Solar scholar of the Zenith Caste was baffled by the motions of the kangaroo. Calculating their energy-expenditure as though they were a sack of potatoes being picked up and moved from leap to leap, it was impossible to him that they should move as they did and still be able to forage enough to stay alive. His Lunar mate was unable to hide his amusement, for he knew the kangaroo saw each bound as the same as the last, a linked chain rather than a series of unwieldy hops. This Charm gives a character a magical flurry consisting of up to (Martial Arts) unarmed attacks. These attacks ignore Rate, and suffer no multiple action penalties. The total DV penalty for this flurry is equal to the highest penalty for any one attack.
However, the martial artist must make a reflexive jump of no less than three yards in between the resolution of one attack and the start of the next – if he is unable to do so and still have a valid target for an unarmed attack, the flurry immediately ends. This Charm does not provide him with the ability to make these reflexive jumps, only the need.
Burning Marsupial Soul
Cost: 5m, 1wp; Mins: Martial Arts 5, Essence 4; Type: Simple
Keywords: Combo-OK, Obvious
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Potato-Sack Derision Technique, Diminutive Pouch Warrior
Of all the marsupials of Creation, the kangaroo is the most hotblooded. The possum is too timid, the wombat too sturdy, and the bandicoot too foolhardy. The koala, perhaps, might be a rival, were they not touched by Hegra and her comatose brother. Channelling the furiously righteous Essence of the kangaroo, the martial artist's legs (or his clenched fists) burst into flame the colour of his anima, extinguished only when their force is spent. Upon using this Charm, the martial artist immediately gains two "banked" flames, to a maximum of two. While a martial artist has two flames banked, he ignores (Martial Arts) points of wound penalties, or half that with only one flame banked, rounded down. Flames may be expended in two different ways:
• A flame may be reflexively expended at a cost of six motes in Step 2 of any attack directed at the martial artist that he is aware of, perfectly parrying it even if it would normally be unblockable. As a unique Flaw of Invulnerability, this may not parry attacks that carry the Crippling keyword.
• A flame may be reflexively expended in Step 1 of any of the martial artist's unarmed attacks. If the attack would have missed or been parried, then it hits, calculating its raw damage based on an assumption of 0 attack successes. If it would normally have hit, it may inflict a single (non-amputation) Crippling injury of the martial artist's choice, regardless of whether it causes any levels of damage.
No more than one flame may be expended per tick, unless the martial artist has a tail or similar appendage to lean back on, in which case he may expend two flames.
