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 enemyโ€™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 enemyโ€™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.
  • Disarm: If you successfully Defend or Clash with a melee attack, you may take possession your opponentโ€™s weapon or launch if up to 35 feet away.
  • 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.
Revision purchased with:
Improvement from writing up Blow a Candle, Make a Wish spent on improving power: Martial Art Style: Iron Serpent
Revision purchased with:
Improvement from writing up Empress Ekaterina's Hunger spent on improving power: Hands that Reach
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Snow-White spent on improving power: Hands that Reach
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Polite Disagreements spent on improving power: Hands that Reach    (since refunded)
Revision purchased with:
Gift from playing in Nine: The Heart that Fed spent on new power: Hands that Reach    (since refunded)
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Community Passive Gifts

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

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

You also gain the following effects:

  • 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.

This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one elseโ€™s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.

By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within armโ€™s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.

Non-Bloodfiends cannot hold or use this Artifact. They take a Severity 1 Injury each Round they touch or possess of the Artifact. It cannot be prevented or healed by any means until one day after they relinquish possession.

Anyone but this Artifact's true owner must Exert their Mind to wear this Artifact or activate any of its Effects.

This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.

If this Artifact is used by someone other than its true owner, its true owner is alerted and learns the user's appearance, direction, and distance at that moment. The true owner may use a single investigation Effect on them once at any range.

If this Artifact is in no one elseโ€™s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.

Whenever this Artifact is unattended and within 300 feet of its true owner, it will fly back to them. When not held or stowed, it floats beside its true owner, moving with them. While within 10 feet, the true owner does not need to touch it to use it.

This Artifact's true owner must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.

  • The Artifact can fly at a maximum speed of 100 feet per Round and only towards its true owner. This does not grant the Artifact its own Action or Reaction, and it moves at the same time as its true ownerโ€™s Movement.
  • "Cannot be broken" means that damage cannot render the Artifact's Effects unusable, nor can it cease to be used for its primary mundane purpose, if it has one.

You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using Robotic arms to gain the benefits of this Effect.

All Stabilizations you attempt are considered Proper Stabilizations.

You also gain the following effects:

  • Gifted: You get +3 dice on any rolls related to medical care as long as Emergency Medical Care.
  • Sterile: Sanitary conditions no longer matter during medical care. Your patients will never suffer an infection or toxic shock during treatment, even if you are performing surgery in a sewer. You may preserve harvested body parts indefinitely.
  • Surgeon Extraordinaire: You may perform any mundane surgery without inflicting or worsening an Injury, and recovery time is reduced to an hour.

  • All stabilizations being proper stabilizations applies to stabilizations from other Effects such as Heal Wound.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: Anthropomorphic Cat. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living Creature when targeted..

You can squeeze through any cracks and passageways a cat would be able to.

You may make a +2 Weapon Damage Claw and tooth attack without additional equipment.

  • Even though you're targetable as a Creature, you still are also targetable as a Sapient being.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You are permanently and visibly transformed: Sea Naga. You are considered to be a Sapient, Living being when targeted. Your Dexterity is increased by 1 and your Perception is increased by 1.

While in Deep ocean, heat, cold, pressure, and other atmospheric hazards do not affect you, and dangerous local flora and fauna will not bother you unless you give them a reason.

Your appendages can reach an additional 30 feet.

Your body provides you with the functionality of night vision. If used to attack, these "tools" use the same stats as a small knife.

You cannot be mistaken for a normal human. You cannot always use standard human clothes, equipment, vehicles, and facilities, and when you can, you suffer an increased Difficulty.

The Severity of any Injury caused by evil, corrupted, or dark aligned weapons.(especially including weapons of Abyssal amethyst) is increased by 2.

  • You may stretch or retract your limbs once per Round on your Initiative.
  • The increase in Injury Severity stacks with any similar effects, such as the Silver Bullets drawback on Regeneration.
  • Attribute bonuses from multiple sources do not stack. Instead the highest bonus is used.

Stock Passive Gifts

You gain the following benefits at all times.

You may move easily and without a roll in any of the following situations.

  • Pathfinder: You are adept at making your way through crowds, underbrush, and other dense, congested environments. While doing so, you move at full speed.
  • You are able to climb trees and cliffs at your full movement speed.

You only gain the benefits of this effect if you are in an area without a human building within 300 feet.

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.

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

+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +2 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:

  • 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 Stress from Injuries is reduced to 0. Does not reduce Stress from Mind Damage.

You gain the following benefits at all times.

Any Injury you receive heals quickly, reducing its Severity by one level every 6 hours. Any Injuries you receive while this Effect is active do not deteriorate over time. However, any Battle Scars caused by such an Injury will remain unless it is Properly Stabilized as normal.

All Injuries you receive are considered Properly Stabilized. You may also choose to heal any Battle Scar on yourself that may not have been caused by an Injury. Doing so takes one day, and the Battle Scar affects you fully until that time.

Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: any scars that heal this way leave the flesh in that area bluish and semi-transparent, causing you to be viewed as a freak by most people who see you.