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[Melissa Cane]

Hi, I posted these some time ago in the spanish forum an I'd like a little feedback as how to improve them. Please forgive grammar and spelling mistakes as well as the crappy story for some of them.

By the way does anyone has any ideas for other polearm styles? I found something for Naginatas but it was awfully similar to the Fior de Battaglia style.

Thank you in advance and enjoy.


Weapon disciplines

 Each level of a weapon discipline costs 50 DPs (20 for Weapon Masters). Some have several advanced levels and once you buy the basic level you can buy them all without having to buy the base level repeated times. However, it is not possible to combine them; the player must choose which one she is going to benefit from before rolling initiative. Unless otherwise stated these benefits can be freely combined with Ars magnus and techniques.

E.G: Nagakiyo, mounted archer from the Golden Emperor’s army has mastered both kyudo and yabusame which cost him a total of 150 DPs (60 if he is a WM). However, he won’t benefit from kyudo’s penalty reduction and yabusame’s aditional attack with his bow when he rides his trusty Koku-Ou.

Format
Discipline name.
Fluffy text.

Discipline level: Either base or advanced. If the discipline has more than one advanced level, the original discipline will come between ().  
Prerequisites: Self explanatory.
Discipline weapons: You must be proficient with, at least, one of these weapons to learn the discipline. To benefit from the discipline you must also fight using one of these weapons. If the discipline specifies a combination you must be proficient with both weapons and you must wield them to get the benefits. You can´t, for instance, benefit from Verdadera destreza´s bonus to acrobatics while fighting with a No-dachi.
Benefits: Self explanatory.

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Doppelsöldner
Barbarians from the Icy Wastes usually sell themselves as mercenaries. Being proud in their strength and resistance, they are willing to take the riskiest position in battle as long as they get paid extra (Dopplesöldner means double pay). While they fought in the front lines the most dangerous enemies were enemy pikemen and cavalry so they developed this discipline to fight them on equal ground.

Base level
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 130, Weapon defense skill: 100.
Discipline weapons: two-handed sword, claymore, grosse messer or “montante” (I don’t know how to translate it. It’s a two handed weapon form DK).
Benefits: Increase the weapon´s breakage by 5.
Enemies engaged in melee combat do not benefit from “higher ground” position unless you have been tripped or similar.

Advanced level
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery.
Discipline weapons: two-handed sword, claymore, grosse messer or “montante”, Feats of Strength 80.
Benefits: +10 MK.
If your opponent is mounted or is, at least, one size category larger than you increase your damage by 50.


Fencing
A sword fighting style from the Old Continent. Rarely used by the army, it’s mostly used by nobles and cutthroats. Due to its stylish movements fancy weapons its particularly popular in Gabriel.

Base level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 100, Weapon defense skill: 130.
Discipline weapons: foil, longsword, rapier or saber.
Benefits: When you fight with one of the aforementioned weapons in one hand and a main gauche or nothing in the other, cut in half the penalty to aimed attacks when performing a counter. This stacks with the “precise” rule.

Fior di Battaglia
In Remo, back alley brawls were pretty common. When things went well there were as many of you as there were of them. Sadly things rarely went well, often it was you, a drunk friend and that good looking chap who suddenly dissapeared against ten or twelve of them. Lyse Teria Montana came with the perfect solution to this conundrum when she came up the fencing style now known as Fior di Battaglia.

Advanced level (fencing):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery, Secondary weapon (defensive style) module.
Discipline weapons: Both main gauche and either longsword, rapier or saber.
Benefits: +10 MK.
The benefit from the Defensive style module is applied to an additional attack. Therefore, you don’t get penalties until your forth defense (-30 on the forth, -50 on the fifth and so on).

Le jeu de l'Epee
When you are Gabrielese duplicity is a part of life. You must be able to bare your teeth viciously through a sweet smile or your social life and status are dead. Trickery is not exclusive to business or lovers and thus a sword style based around the idea of deceptive sword fighting slowly developed to what it is today.    

Advanced level (fencing):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery, Sleight of hand 80, Style 40.
Base weapons: foil, rapier or saber.
Benefits: +10 MK.
Once per turn when you attack an enemy, you may test your sleight of hand against the opponent's defense skill. If you succeed, the defender suffers penalties to the defense as if it were an additional defense over which correspond. For example, a person who had defended 2 times before the assault and fails the opposed check defends as if it were his 4th defense instead of the 3rd (applying a -70 to his defense instead of a -50). If you fail the check, your attack is cancelled.

Verdadera destreza
Unlike Gabriel or Remo where having a certain skill in fencing is looked upon with admiration or respect, those who practise the original fencing style are looked with contempt and mistrust in their native Argos. This is because it was developed by mixing kushistani knowledge on anatomy, physics and mathematics and argese ingenuity and battle tactics during the little time Thanos Shetep’s Holy Kingdom lasted. Due to the current relations between the two nations anyone who practices this style its one misstep from being judged as an spy.

Advanced level (fencing):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery, Disarm module, Acrobatics 80, Science 20.
Discipline weapons: Longsword, rapier, saber.
Benefits: +10 MK.
When you fight with one of the aforementioned weapons in one hand and a dagger (parrying or common) or nothing in the other, cancel the penalty to disarm maneuvers when performing a counter. Also you gain a +50 bonus to Acrobatics when used in combat to attack from the flank or the back.


Grima
When the New Continent was conquered by Zhorne many new things reached its people and one of them was fencing. In Pristinia a sword master form Remo named Carlo Vitale, opened a small school and taught them the basic forms of the Fior di Battaglia. However, the trainees found it pretty stiff and often incorporated dance steps and figures into the discipline’s routine and, since they found that the dagger’s  small reach was an impediment when fighting a large number of opponents they traded it for a more common weapon, the club. The new style would be called Grima which is a mispronunciation of Esgrima.

Base level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 110, Weapon defense skill: 110, Dance 40.
Discipline weapons: Both saber and club.
Benefits: Reduce by half the penalties when attacked from behind or the flank.

Advanced level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery, Area attack module.
Discipline weapons: Both saber and club.
Benefits: +10 MK.
When making an area attack while fighting with sword and club, the number of people hit is determined as if it came from a large weapon (affecting 5 people). However, when doing this you can’t benefit from the extra attack granted by fighting with two weapons or the effects of Defensive style module if you have it.


Kenjutsu
In Lannet it is a noble’s pride to be able to bear a weapon. The land’s nearly exclusive weapon, the katana, is a symbol of nobility and the country. Therefore there are over a hundred schools teaching various different styles even if most of them vary in one or two movements.

Base level:
Prerequisites:  Weapon attack skill: 110, Weapon defense skill: 110.
Discipline weapons: katana.
Benefits: +10 bonus to counterattacks when using a katana with one or two hands and nothing or a wakizashi in the other.

Itto – ryu
This style, originally taught in the Karakuma household, is based on keen observation of the enemy and countering heavily whenever he lets his guard down.

Advanced level (kenjutsu):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery.
Discipline weapons: katana.
Benefits: +10 MK.
Increases to +20 Kenjutsu’s bonus.

Niten Ichi – Ryu
Practical people, the Takashi family are the most open minded of the Lanetese houses. Such pragmatism took them to consider using the wakizashi as a complement for their katanas when they fought. However it wouldn’t be until Phaion was created that the Takashi would integrate some western fencing movements in their style and create their signature two bladed style.

Advanced level (kenjutsu):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery.
Discipline weapons: katana, wakizashi.
Benefits: +10 CM
Gain an extra attack that can only be used for counters with the wakizashi.

Muso Jikiden Eishin – ryu
The sword discipline original to the Asakura household is focused on duels. Therefore its main focus is weapon drawing speed and accuracy, meaning to finish a fight in the first movement

Advanced level (kenjutsu):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery, Battojutsu module.
Discipline weapons: katana.
Benefits: +10 MK.
When your katana’s sheathed and you are wielding no other weapons if you win the initiative against an opponent you gain a +10 bonus to the first katana attack against that opponent.


Kyujutsu
In Varja, archery is a serious business. Half martial discipline, half ritual there is an insane number of rules regarding the pre and post shooting. Not surprisingly, there aren’t many dedicated archers in the eastern countries’s armies.

Base level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 150.
Discipline weapons: longbow or daikyu.
Benefits: Increases by a degree the maximum range of a longbow or daikyu shot. This bonus doesn’t let you achieve the distances corresponding to "Inhuman" or "Zen" degrees without the relevant skills.

Kyudo
Kyudo is the final form of the ritualistic part of kyujutsu. It focuses in breathing, position, all in order to shot an unfailing arrow guided by the archer’s instinct.

Advanced level (Kyujutsu):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Etiquette 40, Style 80, Blind fight module.
Discipline weapons: longbow or daikyu.
Benefits: +20 MK.
Cancel the penalties from cover or partial blindness when shooting. Complete blindness only imposes a penalty of-20 to your shot.

Yabusame
One of Shivat’s greatest advantages on its skirmishes with Lanet is its cavalry, specially its mounted archers. Capable of shooting a barrage of arrows in just a few seconds and with enough speed to get away from any charging enemies and power to trample them beneath their horses’s hooves fighting them in an open area means death.

Advanced level (Kyujutsu):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Ride 80, Shot on the run module, Many targets module (the modules would be “Disparo en movimiento” and “Varios blancos” from the Director’s screen but I don’t know how they were translated).
Benefits: +10 MK.
When you shot while riding you gain an extra attack.

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Circus mortis
When Rah decide to conquer the world he needed troops who wouldn’t bend over despite the hardships they may face. To reach this goal he trained them in a style that focused on resistance to hardships such as fighting wild beasts after a week of fasting or forcing them to practise their “katas” on burning iron ledges over a bottomless pit. A few of his soldiers survived the war and hid in the lawless territory of Dwänholf, were they performed in clandestine rings, where large quantities of money were bet, in order to survive. As the country has barely changed from these times, the discipline survives but has added a few theatrical moves to entice the public.

Base level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 130, Weapon defense skill: 100, Endure pain 20, Style 40.
Discipline weapons: Both shortsword and buckler or both trident and gladiator’s net.
Benefits: When you use Endure pain to reduce the effects of pain or fatigue the degree you reach with your roll increases by one, this bonus doesn’t let you achieve the "Inhuman" or "Zen" degrees without the relevant skills. Contrary to the usual this bonus does not depend on which weapons are you using and may be used alongside the benefit from any other discipline.

Retiarius
Reitarius fought using a net and a trident. Since their equipment was cheap, there were many of them in Rah´s army. Since the can lay their opponent helpless and torture her to the public´s delight they are greatly prized in the underground rings.

Advanced level (Circus mortis):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery.
Discipline weapons: Both trident and gladiator’s net.
Benefits: +10 MK.
Whenever you make a grapple with your net, increase the weapon’s strength by one. This stacks with quality increases.

Secutor
Secutors fought using a shortsword and a small shield. Since their equipment was more expensive and they often wore armor they usually had higher ranks in Rah´s army. Nowadays they are mostly used in pit fights against nobles´s private armies since they make the fight last longer.

Advanced level (Circus mortis):
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery.
Discipline weapons: Both shortsword and buckler.
Benefits: +10 MK.
Reduce by 5 the initiative penalty for using a buckler.


Landsknecht
The establishment of the pikemen corps also known as Landsknecht was the achievement that raised Tadeus Van Horseman to the position of Warlord. These men were trained to fight side by side, never breaking their formation, holding back the enemy cavalry and foot soldiers while the archers did their job.

Base level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 130, Weapon defense skill: 100, Composure 40.
Discipline weapons: Pike.
Benefits: When fighting a charging or remote enemy increase your attack against him by 10.

Advanced level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Weapon defense mastery.
Discipline weapons: Pike.
Benefits: +10 MK.
Increases to +20 the base level’s bonus.


Tercios
Argos´s pride and joy, the Tercios are a recent innovation in the argese army. Meant to fight alongside the pikemen, the Tercios are composed of unflinching riflemen capable of rapidly reloading their harquebus. However, there aren’t many since firearms are pretty expensive and scarce.

Base level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack skill: 150, Composure 40.
Discipline weapons: Harquebus.
Benefits: When you have your harquebus ready to shoot increase your initiative by 10.

Advanced level:
Prerequisites: Weapon attack mastery, Composure 80, Sleight of hand 40.
Discipline weapons: Harquebus.
Benefits: +10 MK.
Reduces the reload time of the harquebus by 1.

[alphawhelp]

I really like some of these, though, I didn't read them all (you posted quite a lot).  But I wanted to say that traditionally, one of the biggest benefits of polearm type weapons was to stand perfectly still and brace against a charge so that the enemy would charge directly into the tip of your (spear/pike/halberd/whatever), so I would suggest maybe something like...


Base Level
Prerequisites: Weapon Attack Skill 50, Weapon Defense Skill: 90
Discipline weapons: Halberd/Lance/Trident (possibly others), Composure 50 (it takes guts to stand perfectly still while being charged)
Benefits: +10 MK
When making a counterattack against a charging opponent, add (some bonus) to the counterattack roll.

It's worth it to think about.

[Melissa Cane]

Well, I've got the Landsknetch style which works on that principle with the pike. But i'd like some other thing for polearms. I was thingking of something like the D&D feat spinning halberd but I'm not so sure.

And I think I might add the composure requirement to the Landsknetch style as i really like the idea.

[alphawhelp]

Well, here is a "Staff Fighting" merit from World of Darkness, which explicitly says it can be used with polearms, maybe use it for inspiration in Anima

Prerequisites Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Weaponry 2 (scale is from 1-5) Weaponry 3 is required to use it with Polearms instead of staff
Trip · (This is basically a trip attack, so maybe give a bonus to performing the Take Down maneuver)
Temple Strike ·· (This is basically a knockout attack, so maybe some kind of bonus to the Knock Out maneuver)
Dangerous Radius ··· (This is basically an area attack, except you cannot choose to exempt your friends if they are in the radius, it also hits everyone within three yards/meters)

[Gimp]

I like the core ideas for a lot of them, but some appear odd for their price in the base rules or compared to similar martial arts skills.
 
Fencing is extremely powerful, dropping the penalty for making a directed attack against the head or heart to -15 for Precise Weapons on a counterattack.  Since counterattacks give a bonus to the attack roll fairly quickly, that makes the possibility of a critical strike much more probable.  While the extra bonus only applies to the rapier and foil, with the right Ki abilities and strength to boost their damage, they become pretty scary weapons.  A +5 Quality rapier wielded by someone with strength 8, Presence Extrusion, Aura Extension, and Increased Damage is starting with a base damage of 80, which can reach the 10% Life Point threshold for a critical hit rather quickly for most human targets.  Adding Precise I like, but stacking with Precise is a bit much.  I worry more with things like Increased Critical to add to it.
 
Fior di Battaglia gives two extra defenses without penalty.  To get that with martial arts would take Advanced Lama followed by Supreme Lama.  The requirements are slightly higher, but the cost is lower, especially for the Weaponmaster as opposed to the Tao with the reduced costs.  Requiring Attack Mastery is more significant than 80 Style, and the MK and defense bonuses for Lama are higher, but the extra bonus for Weaponmasters for all of the advanced skills bothers me.  Is there a typo, and the Weaponmaster should only get their 50% reduction (25 DP), or are you trying to make Weaponmasters more appealing with the 60% price reduction?
 
Le jeu de l'Epee and Verdadera Destreza are both really interesting, as are the Varja based skills.  Grima looked good, though I found it less interesting.  One other typo was in Kyudo, which referenced Kenjutsu instead of Kyujutsu for its base skill.
 
There's some really nice work with these.  Kudos for your efforts.

[Melissa Cane]

Thank you for your help.

I'll take a look at the staff style you propose and then post it if I get any ideas.

On fencing I thought it would fit the theme, low damage accurate attacks. After all you can do this with sambo and it extends to all your attacks counters or not, so you could be dealing 30 + 10 (Strenght 8 as in you example) + 10 (Aura Ext.) + 10 (Inc. Dmg) = 70 damage which would break the 10% threshold as easily as the combination you stated above. Not only that but it allows you to perform grapples, disarms trips and area attacks at half the penalty, and you can increase the damage benefits even further by using another martial art with high damage output such as Shotokan, Boxing or Muai Thai or by wearing gauntlets wich would add +10 or +20 to your base damage. Remenber you may only benefit from ONE combat style at a time even if they are form the same tree (No Verdadera destreza + Fior di battaglia at the same time, not on my watch).

On Fior di Battaglia it "forces" you to buy a module (useful or not you are still being "forced" to expend extra DP) as well a to forfeit the largest advantage of two weapon wielding (the extra attack). As you said the requirements are a bit higher than the equivalent martial art (Lama this time) which can be combined with other martial arts as we did before with Sambo and render you inmmune to penalties for extra attacks until you are attacked for the fifth time (Supreme Lama + Base Lama Tsu).

Regarding the extra MK, all advanced levels give a little extra MK since extensive training in a physical discipline allows you greater control over yourself (Well mostly fluff reasons. I can't imagine a "Powerhouse" character who relies on more than two or three advanced styles and a 10 MK increase for 40 DP and situational benefits is a little inconsecuential). The reduced cost is due to the similarity with the Tao and to continue the WM's ability to... Erm... "master" weapons. I believe that if this makes everyone's favorite tuna cans a little more appealing it's a side effect (while heliping them escape the tuna can cliché) I can live with .

Again thank you for your reviews, I really appreciate them.

[Rii Nagaja]

Alot of knowledge and effort has gone into this. I allways found the excuse in the rulebook ("why aren't there martial arts for weapons" - "because the most fitting style is inside the weapon attributes allready") a bit shabby, because there are definitly different possible styles for one weapon, and both the real world and other fiction work (e.g. Star Wars) reflect that.

[Koenken]

It looks like a lot of interesting ideas. I did not read through it all. A agree the cost of some of them seemed low for the benefit given.

I will have to keep an eye on this and maybe make some suggestions after getting more familiar with the game system.