-	-	-	-	-
Dragon	-	-	-	Dragon 164

The martial-arts system is one of the
finest features of the AD&D® 1st Edition
Oriental Adventures  book, but it can still
benefit from more variety. Presented
herein are new special maneuvers that
may be introduced into martial-arts styles
in the campaign.

Some of these new  maneuvers expand
existing categories into more advanced
special maneuvers, such as the Scissors
Kick and Crushing Drop. A second mental
and physical training category is added to
give the DM more choices in the maneuvers that may make up a martial style.
Three of the new special maneuvers presented here were mentioned in previous
articles on the sumo wrestler and new
martial-arts styles for the AD&D game:
Crushing Hug (issue #157, page 351, 
Arrow Cutting (issue #127, page 55), and 
Flowing Water (issue #127, page 50). 
They are repeated here in the list of new special.

These new special maneuvers should be
introduced into the campaign gradually,
especially the more advanced maneuvers.
Some of these new maneuvers may be
tacked onto existing styles, and others may
be used to form new martial styles in the
campaign. Others might be cherished
techniques jealously guarded by martialarts masters who are reluctant to pass
them on to player-character students.
Sumo wrestlers will certainly not be keen
on teaching the Crushing Hug maneuver
to  non-sumotori.

New special maneuvers should not be
made available to PCs without careful
consideration by the DM. Some special
maneuvers are best suited for NPC martial
artists. A PC?s first experience with a new
maneuver should often be at the hands?
or feet?of an NPC antagonist. These maneuvers may add new thrills to an Oriental
campaign without being toys for player
characters to exploit.

Below are the new special maneuvers,
followed by an explanation of each maneuver. The list continues the information
given in Table 70, on page 103 of Oriental
Adventures.

K i c k
    4. Scissors Kick (hard/soft)
L o c k
    5. Crushing Hug (hard)
S t r i k e
4. Double-fist Punch (hard/soft)
T h r o w
    5. Crushing Drop (hard)
W e a p o n
    4. Arrow Cutting (soft)
    5. Throwing Mastery (hard/soft)
M e n t a l   a n d   P h y s i c a l   T r a i n i n g
    7. Slowed Aging (soft)
M e n t a l   a n d   P h y s i c a l   T r a i n i n g   I I   (new)
    1. Light Step (soft)
    2. Controlled Breathing (soft)
    3. Pause and Silence (hard/soft)
    4. Quick Strike (hard/soft)
    5. Flowing Water (soft)
    6. Resuscitation (soft)
    7. Suppressed Desire (soft)

Scissors Kick:  This extremely difficult
kick enables a martial artist to leap upward and deliver powerful head or upperbody kicks to two separate targets
simultaneously. The two targets must be
within 6? of each other for both targets to
be attacked. Each attack is made at  -2 to
hit. A successful kick does normal martialarts damage. If the attacker misses both
targets, he loses his next melee attack
while he tries to regain his footing and
balance. This maneuver works well with
styles similar to tae kwan do.

C r u s h i n g   H u g :   This maneuver is used
primarily by sumo wrestlers but may be
permitted for other martial-arts styles if
the DM so decides. This maneuver is a
powerful bear-hug hold that inflicts 3-30
hp damage per round until the victim is
slain or breaks free. The held character
may break the hold by making a successful to-hit roll at -4. An unsuccessful
Crushing Hug results in a  -4 penalty to
the martial artist?s next attack roll. The
martial artist employing the hold must be
strong and massive, having a minimum
strength of 16 and a minimum weight of
250 lbs.

D o u b l e - F i s t   P u n c h :   This strike is a
two-fisted attack aimed to land simultaneous blows to two separate targets on a
single opponent. Each such punch is delivered at -1 to hit on its attack roll. Each
punch that lands scores normal damage. If
both blows land, then the defender must
save vs. paralyzation roll at -4 or else
suffer a stun or incapacitation result as
explained on page 105 of  Oriental Adventures,  as if the martial artist rolled a natural 20 on an attack. After the -4 penalty
is applied to the saving throw, the result is
compared to the hit dice or level of the
defender to see if a stun or incapacitation
is the result of the failed save. If the result
is a stun, the defender is stunned for 2-12
rounds. If the result is incapacitation, the
character is incapacitated for 1-3 hours.

If the Double-Fist Punch is aimed at the
opponent?s head and torso, the maneuver
is called a U-Punch or Parallel Punch. If
the blows are aimed at the front and back
of the opponent, the maneuver is known
as a Scissors Punch.

C r u s h i n g   D r o p :   With this throw,
instead of just throwing the opponent a
certain distance, the opponent is dropped
to the ground, head and shoulders first,
with crushing force. On a successful attack roll, the foe is thrown 1-2? away from
the thrower. The thrown character suffers
double damage from the drop, and, unless
a save vs. paralyzation roll is made, the
character is knocked unconscious for 2-8
rounds. If the attack is unsuccessful, the
attacker is instead thrown to the ground
and automatically loses initiative for the
next round while he regains his feet.

A r r o w   C u t t i n g :   This maneuver is
similar to the Missile Deflection (Movement 4) maneuver, but the art of Arrow
Cutting requires the use of a martial-arts
weapon to block or deflect missile attacks.
If the martial artist attempts to block a
missile attack without the use of a martialarts weapon he has studied, the attempt is
made at -4 on the saving throw. Monks
automatically possess this skill as part of
their Missile Deflection ability.

Missile weapons caught or trapped by
the martial artist?s weapon may often be
used by the character. A blocked shuriken
may be pried free from a bo stick and
thrown back at the attacker, or a spear
may be caught in the chain of a nunchaku
and saved for future use. One melee
round must be spent in prying free any
missile weapon caught in the martial-arts
weapon.

T h r o w i n g   M a s t e r y :   This demanding
skill enables the character to throw a
martial-arts weapon not normally considered a missile weapon. The weapons that
may be thrown with this skill are: fang,
jitte, jo stick, kiseru, nunchaku, sai,
siangkam, and tonfa. All such weapons
have the same range as a thrown dagger.
The weapon does normal damage when it
strikes. A master of this art may throw a
sai with the ability of a skilled knifethrower, or toss a bo stick like a light club.

S l o w e d   A g i n g :   Through various exercises and exotic breathing techniques, the
character slows down his own aging process as if he were wearing a  phylactery of
long years.

L i g h t   S t e p :   The martial artist possessing this ability is able to walk with a
feather-light step. When moving at onehalf his normal movement rate, the martial artist is able to walk with the effect of
a  pass without trace  spell.

C o n t r o l l e d   B r e a t h i n g :   The martial
artist has studied intensive breathing
exercises that allow him to relax his mind
and body and moderate his body?s other
functions. The martial artist gains a +2
bonus to save vs. all forms of fear. The
martial artist also acts as if under the
effect of a permanent  endure cold/heat
spell because the technique enables him to
moderate his body temperature.

P a u s e   a n d   S i l e n c e :   When using this
skill, the martial artist gives up one
martial-arts attack to pause and study his
opponent. The martial artist makes an
ordinary attack roll; success indicates the
martial artist has found a weakness in his
opponent?s style and thus gains a +1
bonus on all attack rolls against that particular opponent for the duration of the
melee. Failing the Pause and Silence attack
roll bestows no penalty other than the loss
of a melee attack. The character may
perform this maneuver as many times as
he wishes, but once the weakness is found
in the opponent?s style, repeated attempts
do not improve the attack bonus above
+1. If the same opponent is fought again
in a different melee, the +1 bonus is not
gained automatically. The Pause and Silence maneuver must be tried anew to
find an opponent?s weakness.

Quick Strike:  This maneuver bestows a
+1 bonus to all initiative rolls made by the
martial artist. Since kensai already possess
this ability at 1st level, they are unable to
improve their initiative bonus any further
by taking this special maneuver.

F l o w i n g   W a t e r :   This maneuver was
presented as a variation of the Ironskin
maneuver in issue #127, but is repeated
here as a new maneuver unto itself. This
maneuver improves the martial artist?s
armor class by +2 through great speed,
agility, and evasion techniques. <link>

Resuscitation:  The martial artist with
this skill is able to resuscitate a semiconscious or unconscious person by stimulating the body with gentle taps to spinal
nerve centers. The martial artist is able to
awaken a person who is stunned or paralyzed by a martial-arts attack if the martial
artist makes a successful dexterity check
on 1d20. The martial artist can also revive
an unconscious or incapacitated person by
making a dexterity check on 1d20 with a
+ 2 penalty. This maneuver requires one
melee round to perform on a single person. This martial skill is sometimes known
in the Orient as  katsu.

S u p p r e s s e d   D e s i r e :   This special maneuver is similar to a minor psionic discipline in the AD&D 1st Edition game,  mind
over body (Players Handbook,  page 113).
The martial artist is able to suppress the
need for food, water, rest, or sleep for a
period of time of two consecutive days for
every level of experience of the martial
artist. After using this ability, the character must spend an equal number of days
in rest and peaceful meditation to recover
the ability to use this maneuver again.