Martial Arts: Monstrous Styles

Martial Arts: Monstrous Styles

My friend who goes by the moniker of Comrade Point and who helped me a lot with various issues on this blog and also was a participant of arena combats wrote up a couple of martial arts for monsters - imps and aboleths. Check them out!

Imp Claw to Claw - 5 points

This style is typically used by imps, but parts of it can be suitable for other creatures such as quasits or mephits and particularly wicked fairies might learn this style from a devil.

Imp stylists are at a huge disadvantage against most foes due to their small size, so they typically resort to ambush tactics using their personal invsibility spell and flight.

An Imp will typically begin combat either by using an Eye-Rake from invisibility against an unprepared foe, or attempt to slice its neck with their claws if they feel more confident. When forced to fight on more even terms they will use their stinger to deliver a poison, then fly away and wait for the target to die or become weakened.

Against opponents of their own size who are also capable of flight they will try to ambush as normal, but when forced to fight their wings often put them at a disadvantage in maneuverability so they will attempt to slam or aerial sweep its target to disrupt flight before fighting.

Legendary Imp stylists have great mental strength from the tortures and suffering of hell and can block out pain, poison or attempts to sway their mind, can sense not merely the presence of good people but their moves in combat and carve magical sigils or pentagrams into their foes.

Imp stylists often go on to learn animal martial arts styles to fight more effectively in their animal forms or attempt to learn dark magic to supplement their style.

Skills: Aerobatics, Flying; Brawling; Stealth.

Techniques: Aerial Sweep (Brawling); Aerobatic Recovery; Evade; Eye-Rake; Targeted Attack (Stinger/Vitals); Targeted Attack (Punch/Neck); Wing Buffet (Brawling).

Cinematic Skills: Autohypnosis; Body Control; Breath Control; Mental Strength; Sensitivity.

Cinematic Techniques: Human Missile; Initial Carving; Roll with Blow.

Perks: Sure-Footed (Windy); Unusual Training (Initial Carving on foes who cannot take active defenses); Unusual Training (Sensitivity on targets you have used Sense Good on).

Optional Traits: Animal Combat Styles P#3-111; Cautious; Magery; Trickster.

Non-Imp Options: Wicked fairies and other creatures tend to use poisoned swords as they lack a stinger. Add Rapier to skills and replace Targeted Attack (Stinger/Vitals) with Targeted Attack (Rapier Thrust/Vitals).

Partially inspired by Winged Victory from Pyramid #3-14.

Aboleth Mind-Body Combat - 6 points

Aboleths are proud, old creatures, despite what it may appear to humans they do not "brawl" every movement of their tentacles is part of an art form a human could not hope to match in a lifetime of study.

Aboleths mostly rely on psionic or magical prowess in combat, but they are incredibly strong and dangerous creatures even when forced into physical combat, capable of striking repeated vicious blows with their tentacles that leave survivors drowning in air, gasping for water.

Psionic combat is the first choice for most aboleths, using mental blow to stun foes, then snap their necks. Against foes who are resistant to telepathy aboleths can use their extra attack to do a double ear clap, leaving their opponent deaf and stunned for a neck snap. When facing multiple foes aboleths like to sweep their tentacles to knock down high priority targets, leaving foes vulnerable to a barrage of tentacle strikes or a neck snap.

When fighting underwater aboleths are not afraid to use their size to their advantage and use slams, but rarely bother with this kind of tactic on land where they move more slowly and prefer to use neck snaps. Against opponents without necks or spines, aboleths rely on repeated rapid strikes or mystical might.

Even if you are a large psionically powerful tentacled monster, the only way to learn this style is by tearing it from the mind of an aboleth, an impossible feat. No aboleth would ever willingly share the secrets of this style, or any of the secrets of their race.

Cinematic practitioners of Mind-Body Combat can shove their tentacles though eye sockets or into the vitals, strike pressure points with their tentacles and catch or destroy the weapons of puny adventurers. Not all aboleths bother to learn to defend themselves physically but those that do should all be trained by a master (themselves) and of high skill level, owing to their perfection(ism) and long lifetimes in which to study.

Skills: Body Language, Karate; Mental Blow; Sumo Wrestling; Telerecieve.

Techniques: Aggressive Parry (Karate); Crack (Karate); Ear Clap (Karate); Neck Snap; Return Strike (Karate); Sweep (Sumo Wrestling).

Psionic Techniques: Feint (Telesend); Independent (Telerecieve); Instant Read (Telerecieve); Lasting Blow (Mental Blow); Mind Trap (Mind Shield); Multiplicity (Telerecieve); Reflective Shield (Mind Shield).

Cinematic Skills: Blind Fighting; Mental Strength; Mind Block; Pressure Points; Pressure Secrets; Sensitivity.

Cinematic Techniques: Hand Clap-Parry; Lethal Eye-Poke; Lethal Strike; Pressure Point Strike; Snap Weapon.

Perks: Psionic Feints; Psi-Technique Mastery (Techniques in this Style); Skill Adaptation (Crack defaults to Karate); Skill Adaptation (Return Strike defaults to Karate); Tactical Reading; Technique Mastery (Neck Snap);Warrior Psi.

Optional Traits: Boxing or Sumo Wrestling based on IQ; Long Thumbs; Skill Adaptation (Eye-Gouging defaults to Sumo Wrestling); Eye-Gouging; Additional Psionics or Magical abilities.

Partially inspired by Ishin-Denshin from Pyramid #3-69.