Ok then, let’s talk about martial art.  Actually basic martial arts are covered by corresponding skills, but character can also learn special techniques that will provide bonuses and special effects.<br/><br/>Techniques are tied to specific weapons, in the words of the ancients only a fool uses spear for a shield, too narrow and too sharp.  In addition techniques differ in level of difficulty and you cannot use or even learn techniques unless you have same or higher level in the corresponding martial skill.  And while techniques might be named the same they are different for different weapons, which means two weapons technique for daggers for instance is not the same as the one for swords and in fact the dagger one is level 1 difficulty while sword one is level 4.<br/><br/>All techniques are a bit harder to perform than the basic moves (+1 to ST) but they do make up for it in other ways.<br/><br/>Here are the techniques that are available to each skill with corresponding levels<br/><br/>Close combat weapons<br/><br/>Bangshu (stick)<br/>Level 1 : Double Blow, Charge, Hold At Bay<br/>Level 2 : Knock-out, Total Block, Whirlwind Block<br/>Level 3 : Double Block, Combination, Mystification<br/>Level 4 : Disarm, Strangle<br/><br/>Hand-to-Hand<br/>Level 1 : Throw<br/>Level 2 : Trap, Strangle<br/>Level 3 : Direct Hit, Charge<br/>Level 4 : Disarm, Combination, Whirlwind Block<br/><br/>Chuishu (mace)<br/>Level 1 : Knock-out<br/>Level 2 : Hold At Bay<br/>Level 3 : Total Block, Charge<br/>Level 4 : Repel, Combination<br/><br/>Daoshu (dagger)<br/>Level 1 : Direct Hit, Two Weapons<br/>Level 2 : Feint, Double Block, Mystification<br/>Level 3 : Total Block, Combination<br/>Level 4 : Disarm, Charge<br/><br/>Dunshu (shield)<br/>Combat Techniques may only be used with the small<br/>round shield, since the larger type of shield is too large<br/>and unwieldy.<br/>Level 1 : Total Block, Trap<br/>Level 2 : Repel, Charge<br/>Level 3 : Disarm, Double Block<br/>Level 4 : Two Weapons<br/><br/>Jianshu (fencing)<br/>Level 1 : Direct Hit, Total Block, Trap<br/>Level 2 : Double Block, Feint, Charge<br/>Level 3 : Double Blow, Disarm, Whirlwind Block<br/>Level 4 : Two Weapons, Combination, Hold At Bay, Mystification<br/><br/>Qiangshu (spears and lances)<br/>Level 1 : Repel, Charge, Hold At Bay<br/>Level 2 : Double Blow, Double Block<br/>Level 3 : Direct Hit, Total Block, Whirlwind Block<br/>Level 4 : Strangle, Combination, Mystification<br/><br/>Distance combat weapons<br/><br/>Gongshu (longbow)<br/>Level 1 : Snapshot<br/>Level 2 : Long Shot, Double Shot<br/>Level 3 : Double Target, Masterstroke, Indirect Shot<br/>Level 4 : Strike Through, Ricochet, Combination<br/><br/>Nushu (crossbow)<br/>Level 1 : Long Shot, Snapshot<br/>Level 2 : Combination<br/>Level 3 : Strike Through, Masterstroke<br/>Level 4 : Ricochet<br/><br/>Short throwing weapons<br/>(dagger, short sword, hatchet, dart)<br/>Level 1 : Snapshot, Indirect Shot<br/>Level 2 : Ricochet, Masterstroke<br/>Level 3 : Long Shot, Combination<br/>Level 4 : Double Target, Double Shot<br/><br/>Long throwing weapons<br/>(lance, spears, javelins)<br/>Level 1 : Masterstroke, Snapshot<br/>Level 2 : Combination, Indirect Shot<br/>Level 3 : Strike Through, Long Shot<br/>Level 4 : Ricochet<br/><br/><br/>And here are the descriptions:<br/><br/>Close combat Techniques<br/><br/>Knock-out (the bear strike)<br/>You aim at the opponent’s head and if everything goes well knock the opponent out for several rounds.<br/><br/>Trap (the snared blade)<br/>You lock the opponent’s weapon with yours (you weapon might be especially designed for it, or you simply trap enemies weapon against the wall, furniture etc).  Enemy can eventually break free, but you might hold him for long enough, and you can try to break opponent’s weapon while it is trapped<br/><br/>Charge (ox charge)<br/>Well you charge the enemy, potentially you can deal more damage this way, and charge basically combines move and attack in one action but the opponent get bonuses to active defense.<br/><br/>Combination (the way of all possibility)<br/>You can use two techniques in one attack but it cannot be same technique twice.  Combinations are even more difcult to perform than a simple technique so difficulty is raised by 2 instead of 1.<br/><br/>Double Blow (the dragon’s claw and tail)<br/>Two strikes are delivered with a same weapon for example you attack trust with a sword and then follow up hilt punch to the head. Second strike is even harder to land and the damage of both strikes is reduced… but it might still be batter then a single strike.<br/><br/>Direct Hit (the sharp thorn)<br/>You attack some exposed point such a opening in the armor or in case of the creatures with tough natural armor some weak spot such as for instance eyes. Opponent armor values is reduced by 2<br/><br/>Disarm (the way of peace)<br/>You inflict no damage but if you succeed you can disarm your opponent and even capture that weapon for yourself.  On the down-side if you fail, opponent gets one free simple (no taos or techniques) counter attack<br/><br/>Two Weapons (the whirlwind of blades)<br/>You use two weapons to defend yourself better. Both active and passive defense values are increased.  However since you are focusing on defense your attacks in that exchange suffer penalty.<br/><br/>Double Block (halt the rain of blades)<br/>You can attempt to block two attacks in the same exchange.<br/><br/>Strangle (the boa constrictor)<br/>You try to strangle the enemy with you hands or weapon, instead of normal damage the strangulation rules apply.  Enemy might be able to break free though. Strangulation rules basically means enemy loses 2 points of BoL a round and also suffers damage equal to strangler’s Metal for each action that attack spends strangling.  (we’ll discuss normal damage rules later)<br/><br/>Feint (false carelessness)<br/>You trick an enemy into attacking by providing a false opening.  You defend against such attack much easier and if you defend successfully the opponent has his defense reduced for your next attack.<br/><br/>Mystification (the torrent of blades)<br/>Says you execute complex sequence of actions that confuses the opponent making it easier to get through his defense. Mechanics of this one are complex but basically you announce how many actions are in a sequence and make a special roll that is adjusted to produce higher results.<br/><br/>Hold At Bay (the hedge of thorns)<br/>You create a dead zone around yourself with your weapon.  Enemies have hard time attacking you and if you defend successfully they take damage from your weapon.  Perhaps the best thing about this techniques it works no matter how many opponents around you.  You can’t do anything else while performing this technique.<br/><br/>Total Block (the citadel)<br/>You take a defensive stance, in this round you defense is greatly increased but your attacks suffer for it.<br/><br/>Whirlwind Block (the cyclone of blood)<br/>If you succeed in your active defense you can you can immediately counter attack.  Both active defense and counter attack are harder to do than usual though.  Also you cannot do it if you already attacked that exchange or attack again after this technique till the next exchange.<br/><br/>Throw (the way of the tornado)<br/>Opponent take no damage but he falls to the ground. He must spend an action to get up and he can’t use active defense while on the ground.<br/><br/>Repel (the advancing storm)<br/>Your relentless attacks force the enemy back, if attack rank succeeds enemy must back-off number of yards, if he can’t for example because his back is to the wall – he takes additional damage<br/><br/>Distance combat Techniques<br/><br/>Combination (the way of all possibility)<br/>Same as for the close combat<br/><br/>Masterstroke (the eye of the master)<br/>You can fire at anything within you weapons average range without concentrating or taking aim. You can also attack weak points this way similar to Direct Hit close combat technique<br/><br/>Double Target (the deadly breeze)<br/>You can fire at two different targets in one action, harder to hit than one, and damage reduced for both shots… but you do get 2 shots<br/><br/>Double Shot (teeth of the snake)<br/>Very similar to the technique above except you get two shots at the same target, instead of one at two different ones<br/><br/>Strike Through (eye of the needle)<br/>If enemies are stupid enough to line up you can shoot through one and hit another one behind him. Obviously both can try to dodge/block separately, and the shot is harder to make than the normal one, and after passing through the 1st guy the projectile has its damage reduced… but it might still be worth a shot (a pun is intent ended ;) ).  Also if the 1st target successfully dodges then the damage to the second one is not reduced and it is much harder for the second one to dodge since he wasn’t exactly expecting your shot.<br/><br/>Ricochet (the blind assassin)<br/>You can bounce the projectile of the hard surface to hit enemy outside your field of vision or behind the cover.  The shot is harder than normal techniques, but on the plus side it reduces and potentially completely negates enemy’s cover bonus<br/><br/>Indirect Shot (the curve of death)<br/>You can make the projectile to follow a complex trajectory curving around the obstacles.  The difficulty of the shot goes up by one for every obstacle you want to bypass.  But you don’t care much for such little things like people, trees, market stoles or other things that might be in the way of the shot.<br/><br/>Long Shot (the cry of the falcon)<br/>You suffer no penalty when shooting/throwing from long or extreme range<br/><br/>Snapshot (the lightning of Heaven)<br/>Wu Xia version of wild west :)  You try to get your shot in before the enemy has a chance to act. +3 to initiative in this exchange.<br/>