Martial Art Style: Iron Serpent Like a coiling constrictor, crush your opponent with unrelenting force

4
You possess superhuman unarmed combat ability.
Used by Jenny Thorndike, Created by donniecesar.

Short, but sharp claws grow from the widow's fingertips. Her martial arts are an original product of the Widow's relentless martial arts training and her fastly mutating body: the Iron Serpent is a physically demanding style focused on grappling, immobilization, and powerful, precise and disabling strikes. Inspired by the movements of constrictor snakes, this style emphasizes controlled, heavy actions that apply constant pressure, overwhelming opponents with both physical dominance and precision attacks to vulnerable areas. Unlike lighter, quicker martial arts, Iron Serpent relies on wearing down the opponent through relentless holds, chokes, and joint locks, while leveraging surprise strikes to blind spots when the enemy is immobilized.

Key Principles:

Constriction and Immobilization: Practitioners of Iron Serpent should excel in grappling techniques that focus on tightly controlling the opponent's body. Chokes, locks, and body-weight pins are designed to restrict the enemy’s movement and breathing, gradually sapping their energy.

Heavy, Controlled Movements: Every movement in Iron Serpent is deliberate, focusing on using body weight and leverage to apply maximum pressure with minimal energy loss. It relies on solid stances and grounded techniques, designed to prevent easy escapes and maintain constant pressure.

Opportunistic Strikes: Aim to exploit opponents that are restrained, controlled or surprised. Practitioners strike with precision and these strikes, whether punches, elbows, or kicks, target weak points such as joints, ribs, neck, or behind the head, using the enemy’s weakness to avoid retaliation and maximize damage.

Endure, Disable, Overpower: The Iron Serpent style requires great endurance, both physical and mental. It focuses on wearing down the opponent over time, applying slow, constant pressure or chiping but disabling strikes until they can no longer fight back. Practitioners must remain patient, waiting for the right moment to strike with overwhelming force.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Overtrained Left Hand.

You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Brutal Strikes: If your attack inflicts a Battle Scar, you may choose which of the appropriate-severity Battle Scars the target suffers. If it causes a less severe Injury, you may inflict a Minor Battle Scar of your choosing.
  • Point Control: Called Shots that you attempt only require a Contested Outcome of 2 for small targets and 4 for tiny targets.
  • Finesse: When Attacking a single being, you may limit the Severity of any Injury you inflict or determine a maximum Wound Level, including Incapacitated. You may also choose to make this Injury properly or improperly stabilized, or to keep it unstabilized.
  • Jiu-Jitsu:When you successfully grapple an opponent, you may choose to also deal damage to them equal to the Contested Outcome on the grapple roll.
  • Precision Strikes: You may use Dexterity instead of Brawn to Attack and Defend. If you would successfully incapacitate a target using Finesse, you may opt to knock them out for one hour instead of having them suffer an Injury.

  • The total damage of a ju-jitsu grapple-attack is equal to your Outcome minus their Outcome. Bonus Damage from the Bonus Damage Parameter does not apply to damage dealt through this Enhancement.
  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

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Community Passive Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in unarmed combat.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).

You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Fight Circle: Mob Outcome bonuses do not apply to Attacks or Grapples against you within melee range. Any Attack or Grapple made against you after the first each Round is made at a -3 dice penalty.

  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with Swords.

+2 dice to all rolls with Swords. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using Swords.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Heroes Heart: Roll mind to go along with any plan involving harming innocents.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Point Control: Called Shots that you attempt only require a Contested Outcome of 2 for small targets and 4 for tiny targets.
  • Finesse: When Attacking a single being, you may limit the Severity of any Injury you inflict or determine a maximum Wound Level, including Incapacitated. You may also choose to make this Injury properly or improperly stabilized, or to keep it unstabilized. If you would successfully incapacitate a target, you may opt to knock them out for one hour instead of having them suffer an Injury.
  • Two Swords are better than One: If you are wielding more than one melee weapon, you may Attack with all using the highest Weapon Damage, plus 1 for each additional weapon. If you reserve a weapon, any Clash or Defend roll you make is -1 Difficulty, and mob penalties are ignored. Maximum +5 Damage from bonus weapons.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with Gardening Tools.

+2 dice to all rolls with Gardening Tools. You may Defend against firearm attacks from any range using Gardening Tools.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Dismember: If one of your attacks causes a Battle Scar, you may choose for it to be some form of dismemberment, depending on the Severity of the Injury you caused.
  • Two Swords are better than One: If you are wielding more than one melee weapon, you may Attack with all using the highest Weapon Damage, plus 1 for each additional weapon. If you reserve a weapon, any Clash or Defend roll you make is -1 Difficulty, and mob penalties are ingored.

On Electroreception:
Hezalea remembers a creature that functioned solely on the detection of electrical waves and neurological activity. She remembers the way it towered over her, the way she nearly jumped into its maws, and had to be pulled back by a terrified robot. It was all a blur, but the sparks of memories rushing back will never cease to disorient her.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your senses are enhanced in the following way.

  • Electroreception: You may detect electromagnetic fields, electric currents, and even neurological activity in a 50 foot radius from yourself at all times. When detecting neurological activity, you learn nothing but the creature's rough size.
  • Hearing: You may hear sounds of sub- and hyper-sonic frequencies, allowing you to hear tiny things (mice, insects, etc) better, and pick up on the vibrations of massive things (earthquakes, atmospheric disruptions, etc) long before others.

Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Battle Scars you receive cannot affect these senses.

Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Nyctophobia.

  • Examples of overloading a sense include: an explosion causing temporary deafness, a bright light causing blindness, a sedative causing numbness, etc.
  • When you are within 50 feet of range, your electroreception sense is sufficient for aiming.

You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level each day, starting once it becomes stabilized. Battle Scars caused by your Injuries will remain. Any Injuries you receive stabilize automatically and do not deteriorate further.

Stock Passive Gifts

You gain the following benefits as long as you are in werewolf form, and you are engaged in unarmed combat.

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).

You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Brutal Strikes: If your attack inflicts a Battle Scar, you may choose which of the appropriate-severity Battle Scars the target suffers. If it causes a less severe Injury, you may inflict a Minor Battle Scar of your choosing.
  • Jiu-Jitsu:When you successfully grapple an opponent, you may choose to also deal damage to them equal to the Contested Outcome on the grapple roll.

  • The total damage of a ju-jitsu grapple-attack is equal to your Outcome minus their Outcome. Bonus Damage from the Bonus Damage Parameter does not apply to damage dealt through this Enhancement.
  • Unlike the Ability Brawl, this Effect does not affect small weapons such as knives.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Intellect rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Intellect (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Brilliant Deduction: You may spend five minutes pondering an enigma, puzzle, or mystery, and roll Intellect at Difficulty 8. Success will reveal a clue or other tidbit that you have otherwise missed. Limit once per enigma.
  • Insufferable Know-It-All: Any social rolls you make are at +1 Difficulty, and if someone else can answer an informational question or solve a puzzle before you do, make a Trauma roll. The Difficulty of this Trauma roll cannot be reduced by any means.

  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits as long as the attacker isn't important enough to have a name.

You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.

  • This Effect’s Armor rating cannot be increased by any other Effects.
  • When shredded, it returns to full potency in one hour.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Your Charisma rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Charisma (Cannot be used on combat rolls or Power activations).

You also gain the following effects:

  • Party Animal: You are welcome at, and will be granted entrance to, any social gathering or party, at least as an observer.
  • The Price Of Fame: Any sightings or recordings of your activity can easily be traced back to you. Even when disguised or using an alias, people always get a Perception check to recognize you.

  • A "social gathering" might include a birthday party, after-work drinks, a ski trip, or yoga in the park, among other things. It likely would not include a cult gathering to summon a demon, Congressional negotiations over a contentious bill, etc.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits as long as engaged in combat with wooden longbows.

You receive +2 dice to all rolls using wooden longbows. Reloading is a Free Action, and drawing your weapon does not require a Quick Action as long as it is on your person.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Bullet Parry: You may use a Reaction to Defend against any Melee, thrown, or projectile Attack in range of your Attacks.
  • Bullseye: If you are not making an attack or activating an Effect, any projectile you fire will be considered a complete success without needing to make a roll.