>Has anyone already seen (or created) a kung-fu style character, and if
>so, how did they (you) do it?
Rules were actually given for such characters in Hero Wars but that's outdated.
>I have no problem with either modifying an occupation like 'foot
>soldier' or making one up from scratch but I keep fluctuating between
>- skills
>- talents
>- wizardry's mechanism
>- Theism's mechanism
>when it comes to representing the various martial styles and
>disciplines.
Short Answer:
It depends on what you are looking for.
If you want an ordinary martial arts that involves beating people up (wrestling, boxing, rugby league), just make up a style name and let the player pick whatever stunts he wants to do as talents (leaping kick, spear tackle, break fingers, grab testicles, punch through wood, five point exploding palm etc). If he wants to be flashy, then he can concentrate via the self-rock teaching or a similar method (which might involve observance of a taboo - such as no sex - rather than carry around a rock), in which case he can use his talents as active magics with all the light and sound that implies.
If you want a martial artist that is struggling to become connected to the world by joining up with a mystical cult, then the standard is given by the Star Archer cult (HQ p57) which teaches one feat, one charm and one spell. Supposedly you can get some major juju out of that but the details are not given and I would treat it as a Secret.
Deeper Answer (not for grasshopper eyes).
The Star Archer cult is of Vithelan origin and grounded in Vithelan metaphysics (ie Vith's mystical outlook being superior to the outlooks of theism, sorcery and animism) and the relevant myth is Revealed Mythologies p57-58). There are other mystical outlooks that are based on different metaphysics. Among them are the Kralori Draconists and the Lunars.
Judging from the example of Thrunhin Da (Men of the Sea p27), most Kralori dragon worshippers have magics that are indistinguishable from the magics of theists, sorcerers and animists. When a Kralori is attempting to become a Dragon, I think they undertake additional magics and initiations too complex to summarize here. So if you are creating a draconic* fighting cult, think of the style of fighting that you are aiming for. Are they worshipping some dread divinity? Make the cult theistic. Are the warriors devoted to some abtruse philosophy? Make it sorcerous.
The Lunars. I should point out that this is only a guess and that when ILH-2 comes out, the guess will probably have its arse kicked. Lunar mystical practice is based upon the Lunar cycle. The quester takes three descending steps that takes him to the limits of existance and three ascending steps that returns him to the real world. Somewhere along the way, a seventh step occurs and the Lunar receives a spark of illumination. Hence the Lunar mystics practice the three descending steps and the three ascending steps over and over again to broaden and deepen their illumination.
Since the Way embraces everything, it doesn't matter whether the magic of those steps are feats, affinities, charms, spells, talents etc so long as the magic is of Lunar origin**. There may be constraints on the magic used for a stage of the cycle but that's too complex to go into here. The magics of the first and sixth steps are typically the Lunar's strongest, while the magic of the third and fourth steps are his weakest.
So what a Lunar martial artist has is a repetoire of six stances. When he's in combat, he fights for a while in the first step and shifts to a different method/magic in the second step. If the combat finishes before he dances the sixth step, then the opportunity for illumination is wasted. However the longer he takes in each step during the combat, the more intense the illumination***.
--Peter Metcalfe
*I say draconic as opposed to Kralori because some Kralori are of Vithelan persuasion, others might be Teshnans while a few may just be plain evil.
**what power does lunar illumination have? I have no idea. All will hopefully be revealed in ILH-2.
***How does the GM determine when the Illumination occurs if he does not know whether illumination has occured until the battle ends? The best way would be for the Lunar to remember when the Illumination occurred when he reflects on his experiences after the combat.
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