USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006- Main Rules

Welcome to the rules thread for the 2006 verion of my on-line KMC Matrix game!

These rules are designed to be the most efficient and fun yet. However, Matrix combat is quite detailed, so there is still quite a lot to be digested here.

Once you get practice using them, it will all look pretty simple. But before then, looking through these rules should very much help you understand the game. Any potential new players- please look through all of these before deciding whether to play.

Use this thread to check how to fight, what your powers are, and how to create characters

Thanks for your interest!

The Basic Game Mechanic

This game uses a dice ‘pool’ system, which means the better you are at something, the more dice you roll.

Using basic six-sided dice, the principle is that each die you roll that shows a 5 or a 6 is a success. The more successes you get, the better you have done! Simple as that. On-line, I’ll be doing the dice rolling for you, of course.

Even a single success is enough to get something positive in most rolls. If a task is particularly difficult, this is normally represented by you being able to roll less dice. Sometimes, though, additional successes will be required. In combat, additional successes translate into extra damage.

Your dice pool is normally made out of combining a stat with a skill. For example, a roll to spot something will be based on your Perception stat and your Observation skill combined, so if the first was 2 and the second was 3, your final pool would be five dice. Your Dexterity stat plus your Intrusion skill would be used to pick a lock. Of course, you all want to know how good you are in a fight, so I’ll make that clear right now- Strength plus your Martial Arts gives your final score for beating people up, whilst Dexterity plus Guns does it for shooting.

More details on stats and skills- including how to get them- follow below.

Example- Glitch is driving like mad to reach the hardline before the Agents reach him. Needing to save time, he crosses the line into oncoming traffic. Inevitably, a huge truck is coming his way and he needs to get out the way pretty quick! This requires a very quick spin on the steering wheel, and so uses Dexterity. Glitch has a Dexterity of three and a Drive of 2. This gives him a total dice pool of five. He rolls a 1, a 1, a 3, a 5 and a 6. The 5 and the 6 are both successes. The other dice are ignored. Glitch gets two successes, and that is definitely enough- he swerves out the way in time!

If Glitch had been in a tunnel with less room to manoeuvre, the task would have been more difficult. Two dice, in such an instance, would have been taken away from his pool, so he would only have had three to roll.

This base system covers just about all mechanics in the game!

Character elements

There are three distinct and important parts to your character- his stats, his skills, and his powers. Or hers, of course.

Stats

Stats represents your basic physical and mental capacities. All of you are highly motivated warriors in a serious war, so you are no slouches. In a war against real-world machines and computerised programmes, however, the competition is tough.

There are six stats: The first three are physical, the last three mental.

STRENGTH- Gives you your basic ability to shift stuff, but also is the base for your ability in hand-to-hand combat, so this stat can be about general physical fitness rather than just about being a bodybuilder

DEXTERITY- Gives you your basic finesse and delicateness, handy for sneaking around and fixing stuff. Also sets your basic ability to use guns. Yay!

TOUGHNESS- Although sometimes used as a skill- when running long distance, for example- the main use of toughness is that it directly sets how much damage you can take.

INTELLIGENCE- How smart you are! Useful for all manners of thinky stuff in game, but to maintain RPing, this stat will not solve problems for you- and definitely will not provide philosophical answers!

PERCEPTION- Your ability to spot things and notice stuff going on around you, from clues at a crime scene to a person acting shiftily

CHARISMA- Your natural charm and ability to impress, but also your basic ‘cool’ level, which does of course have a certain stature in The Matrix.

These stats are, for game purposes, out of 6. However, the Human maximum in any of them is 4. For AIs this is different, but you guys are stuck with your biological limits.

Inside the Matrix, it is a different story- Humans can push their physical capacities beyond the real world boundaries. Your Mental stats are still maximised at 4, though.

Skills

Skills represent stuff you are particularly practiced at. Because all dice pools make use of your stats, there isn’t anything you guys are truly rubbish at. It is assumed you are all basically competent at most things. Skills, therefore, represent particular specialisms. Even a single skill point represents hard training in that area. Any roll where it is deemed that such training would be a virtual necessity (including all firearms and martial arts rolls), then if you have no skill but are rolling on the stat alone, you need 6s on the dice for a success, not 5s.

Skills are split into two types- Known and Downloaded. Known skills are things you actually learned the hard way in the real world. Downloaded skills are those you have had ‘fed’ into you using the advanced mental implantation techniques as seen in the first film.

Downloaded skills are just as much yours as Known skills- they work both in and out the Matrix- and if you know a skill and have it downloaded, the two combine. However, just as with stats, the Human limit with any skill is 4. It is possible to stretch reality to get a skill past 4, but this would only be active inside the Matrix.

The skills are:

COMPUTERS

DRIVE

GUNS (includes operating heavy weaponry)

FIX-IT

HOVERPILOT (flying Matrix ships, real world)

INFO (choose something you know about, like Machine tactics or Matrix criminal underworld)

INTRUSION (covers all sneaking and breaking in things)

MARTIAL ARTS (includes acrobatic ability)

MEDICINE

OBSERVATION

PERSUADE

PILOT (as in aircraft)

SABOTAGE

Powers

Powers represent your ability to bend reality within the Matrix and pull off impossible effects. They generally make your character more powerful, and in emergencies you can push the limits to pull off truly spectacular effects, though this will render the power unavailable for a while.

Whilst Powers derive from a mix of your martial arts styles, and so can in theory can be changed as you change your download setup, they really represent your ability to focus and transcend the false reality of the Matrix. Every single thing a Power does is in some way impossible. No matter what, they can never, ever work in the real world.

Knowing how to use your powers is at the heart of the game and will lead to success or defeat- especially for the Combat path, but it is very important for everyone. The nature and types of Powers is covered below.

Toughness and Refresh Rate numbers

These convert into Wounds capacity and powers untappable as follows:

1: 30 wounds (Toughness); Untap one inactive power (Refresh)

2: 40 wounds (Toughness); Untap two inactive powers (Refresh)

3: 50 wounds (Toughness); Untap one active and two inactive powers (Refresh)

4: 60 wounds (Toughness); Untap two active and three inactive powers

5: (Unknown)

6: 80 wounds (Toughness); Untap three active and all inactive powers (RefresH0

You may want to ask how to get a Toughness of 5 or Refresh of five or six. Well... I'm not telling.

Character Creation

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Character creation consists of three steps:

1. Template and stats

First, you must choose a template, one of Hacker, Veteran or Natural. They are described below.

Once you have chosen your template, you can choose your physical stats, following the rules given. All stats start at 2. Remember, Strength is used for Martial Arts, and Dexterity is used for Guns.

Your template also gives you your basic skills.

2. Role, skills and boosts

Secondly, you must choose your downloaded role within your template. Each Template has three roles- Fighter, Gunner and All-Rounder. Fighters and Gunners get specific bonuses to their chosen specialism. All-Rounders have to split their skills but get better use of downloaded powers.

Your role will also tell you what other increases you can get. This fits into several types:

a. Stat boost. This increases any physical stat to 4 in the Matrix only!. If the stat is naturally 4, it increases to 6 instead.

b. Skill package. These are packages of skills designed by Zion programmers that make you particularly competent in range of related skills. All skills in a package gain two points. There are four packages available:

OPERATIVE- Drive, Intrusion, Sabotage

SUPPORT- Drive, Fix-It, Medicine

COVERT- Intrusion, Observation, Computers

SOCIAL- Leadership, Observation, Persuade

However, package skills do not combine with Known skills. If you take a package in a Known skill, the Known skill becomes deleted. However, the lost points may be applied to buy a different skill instead. This must be a skill you do not already have. Packages can only increase a skill once. If multiple packages are affecting the same skill, it still only goes to two!

c. Free choice points. These can be spent increasing skills on a 1 for 1 basis, to a maximum of 4. Two free choice points will also buy you a stat upgrade. However, if you already have such an upgrade, the cost increases by the amount you already have, so a second upgrade will cost three points, and a third one will cost four. You can also buy extra skill packages for two points each.

There is also such a thing as a Skill Boost, which increases a skill Known at 4 to be at 6 (in the Matrix alone), but this is not relevant to character creation.

Combine your various sources of skills together to get the final total. Remember, the four sources are Known, Role, Package and Freebies.

3. Powers

Once all the above has been done, you may pick your powers! Pick as many as your role dictates. GUN POWERS COST DOUBLE!

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THE TEMPLATES

The Hacker

The Hacker is an elite soldier of Zion, an experienced combat operative who is at the peak of his/her physical fitness. The Hacker is very talented, and has a sheer mental determination that means they are very good at pushing physical limits inside the Matrix. Hackers are stronger and faster than any other character type, and can also be highly combat skilled.

Hackers are the only character type allowed to have their real-world physical stats at 4.

STATS: Distribute seven points among your stats. Hackers may only have one mental stat at 4.

KNOWN SKILLS:

Computers: 2

Drive: 1

Fix-It: 1

ROLES:

Fighter- Gain +3 Martial Arts. Gain one stat boost and one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may only spend one point on Guns. Gain a permanent +1 to your Martial Arts pool. Gain 12 fu powers. You may not buy gun powers. Cache size: 4. Refresh rate: 1

Gunner: Gain +3 Guns. Gain one stat boost and one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may only spend one point on Martial Arts. Gain a permanent +1 to your Guns pool. Gain 12 fu powers. You may not have more than two Paths. Cache size: 4. Refresh rate: 1

All-Rounder: Gain +2 Martial Arts and +2 Guns. Gain one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may not spend more than two points on combat skills. Gain 14 fu powers. Cache size: 5. Refresh rate: 2

The Veteran

The Veteran is a long-serving solider of Zion. No old men serve on the front lines; Veterans are those into their late 30s, maybe 40s or 50s. They no longer have the sheer physique of youth and this translates into the Matrix, where everything seems that bit harder than it used to for them.

However, Veterans have long careers behind them, and have accumulated many known skills. They have fought, with fists and guns, for so long that the elements of fighting have become burned permanently into their minds. Veterans are also more mentally developed than their fellows, and their long experience of fighting in the Matrix has left them highly flexible in combat.

Veterans may chose at what point in the turn they swap a power between the cache and download grid. They may still only swap one power per turn, however. Veterans also have +1 to their Refresh rate; this is already accounted for in their roles.

STATS: Distribute seven points among your stats. Your limit for physical stats is 3.

KNOWN SKILLS:

Martial Arts: 1

Guns: 1

Computers: 1

Drive: 1

Fix-It: 1

Hoverpilot: 1

Info: Sewer System: 2

ROLES:

Fighter- Gain +3 Martial Arts. Gain one stat boost and one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may not improve combat skills. Gain a permanent +1 to your Martial Arts pool. Gain 12 fu powers. You may not buy gun powers. Cache size: 4. Refresh rate: 2

Gunner: Gain +3 Guns. Gain one stat boost and one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You You may not improve combat skills. Gain a permanent +1 to your Guns pool. Gain 12 fu powers. You may not have more than two Paths. Cache size: 4. Refresh rate: 2

All-Rounder: Gain +2 Martial Arts and +2 Guns. Gain one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may not improve combat skills. Gain 14 fu powers. Cache size: 5. Refresh rate: 3

The Natural

The Natural is a new recruit to Zion with little or no experience behind them of actual combat operations. Their physique is not fully developed and they are not yet fully skilled in Matrix fighting, but their sheer determination is undeniable. Where Naturals really shine is their ability to focus their minds and defy reality in the Matrix. Naturals are better than any other template at continuously pulling off ‘impossible’ moves- it just comes naturally to them.

All Naturals get +1 to their cache size and +2 to their Refresh rate. This is already reflected in their Roles.

STATS: Distribute six points among your stats. Your limit for physical stats is 3.

KNOWN SKILLS:

Computers: 1

ROLES:

Fighter- Gain +3 Martial Arts. Gain one stat boost and one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may not improve combat skills. Gain a permanent +1 to your Martial Arts pool. Gain 12 fu powers. You may not buy gun powers. Cache size: 5. Refresh rate: 3

Gunner: Gain +3 Guns. Gain one stat boost and one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may not improve combat skills. Gain a permanent +1 to your Guns pool. Gain 12 fu powers. You may not have more than two Paths. Cache size: 5. Refresh rate: 3

All-Rounder: Gain +2 Martial Arts and +2 Guns. Gain one skill package. Spend four free choice points. You may not improve combat skills. Gain 14 fu powers. Cache size: 6. Refresh rate: 4

Fighting and Weapons

Always a favourite part!

Fighting

Fighting is very simple. You make a combat roll (either Strength plus Martial Arts, or Dexterity plus Firearms), and if you score any successes, you have hit! Subtracted from your roll to hit is your opponent’s defence score. What is your Defence score based on, you ask? The answer is nothing. You have no Defence score at all, unless a Power is giving you one! This means that mooks never have any defence.

Also subtracted from firearms rolls to hit is any cover that the target is in. Unlike Star Wars, where Jedi can happily charge down hordes of battle droids, the tactical use of cover in this game is important, and charging down SWAT teams is liable to get you shot up.

It is very easy to hit in this game. You can expect to take damage quite often. Combat rolls are often about how hard you hit, rather than whether you hit at all. If you manage to get a foe to miss entirely, then that is a very good achievement. Even Mooks hit quite often, unless you have taken measures to protect yourself.

When you get hit, you take damage. Damage is equal to the amount of successes rolled on the attack, plus the damage rating of the weapon. A solid hit does about five points of damage. The average character can take 50 points before dropping, so you can get away with it a few times. Damage is not literal in this game- it is considered a well-blocked attack is one you still take a few points of damage from, and obviously damage from guns attacks is hardly meant to be seen as taking bullets in the chest and then going on. Damage represents an increasing weariness and erosion of luck from your character until you hit your capacity and take a disabling or fatal blow. It is possible a target may be armoured, in which case damage is directly reduced by armour. For players, armour is most likely being provided by a Power, so is not literally armour but a defensive technique.

If you take more damage than your capacity, you are out of a fight and possibly dead, depending on circumstance.

Mooks are a little different. Mooks are the endless amount of unnamed foes you meet- security, police, even some low power Exiles. Their job is to be fought- and often die- in large numbers, yet in groups they are a threat. Mooks don’t take damage, instead you have to accumulate successes to kill them, so most weapons are as good as any other at Mook killing. Three successes will kill the average Mook, though armour or other circumstances can make them tougher, by lowering the number of successes you roll.

The Combat Round

Everyone can choose to do one ‘thing’ in a combat round; normally, moving can be safely integrated with attacking or shooting, but it depends on circumstance.

At the start of each round, I roll one die for you, and one die for the bad guys. Highest goes first that round! If it is a draw, then on the first round, you guys get to go first. On all subsequent rounds, draws mean that the side who went second last round goes first this time. Note that you all move first or last as a group, it is never some of you, then some bad guys, then the rest of you.

Also at the start of each round, I draw a card from a small pack of cards I will have which will indicate if anything special happens during the round. This is very important in relation to your powers (see below), because it dictates how when you get to Refresh exhausted powers.

The small deck consists of the Two to Ten of Hearts, the Aces of Spades and Clubs, and a Joker.

If I draw any of the Hearts, then nothing special happens that turn and the card is discarded. It becomes less likely I will draw hearts next time though!

If I draw an Ace, then any Agents in the combat will power up as they draw more System Resources.

If I draw a Joker, then it is Refresh time! Powers refresh, according to your character’s refresh rating, and the deck is shuffled back together with the discard pile and the process starts again. However, Agents also power up when you guys refresh…

Weapons

Everyone has some idea about what they want to take on others with- from fists to knives to swords to various types of guns. All-rounders have to think about both Melee and Ranged combat, of course!

When picking a weapon, you want to think about three things:

1. Does it fit my style? Other than just being about cool, weapons should fit your powers. Obviously, using a sword if you took no powers that use swords makes you less dangerous than you could be. It is similar with guns. Big pistols like Desert Eagles are designed to be used on their own- smaller guns or Machine pistols work better with Both Guns Blazing.
2. Damage. So long as you land a hit, the damage of a weapon becomes a very significant factor, and it is not hard to land hits. High damage weapons are very valuable indeed. Some weapons have a * rating, which means they are good at killing Mooks, giving you two extra dice when Mook fighting.
3. Encumbrance. This acts as the break on otherwise powerful weapons. Each weapon has an encumbrance size, as does ammunition. First of all, you cannot carry more than 12 points of encumbrance. Secondly, if you are carrying more than 8 points worth of weaponry it is damn obvious to anyone you are carrying hardware. Thirdly, some powers only work if you are below a certain encumbrance level- the difference between Trinity in a tight suit and Neo in an enormous trenchcoat. Neo was packing half a dozen guns, whilst Trinity often goes in for a more mobile, unarmed approach.

Guns

Guns have some extra issues to bear in mind.

AMMUNITION- guns need hardware to work, sadly. Rather than tracking each individual bullet, guns have a simple ‘ammo rating’ which tells you how often you can fire them before they run dry (it is up to you how many times you fired each time, for stylistic reasons, but one way or another you fired the last bullet when you fired as many times as your ammo rating).. Reloading pistols or machine pistols will half your die pool in the turn you do it. Reloading an SMG, shotgun or rifle will actually burn up your entire turn. Eventually you will run out of clips, at which point you must either waste time scavenging or find other options. A viable alternative tactic is to carry spare guns rather than spare clips, and not waste time reloading.

BURST FIRE- Some guns can fire in bursts, and in fact if they can, it is mandatory (this being The Matrix, where everything is extreme). Burst fire guns have a low ammo rating, because you fire off several bullets at once, but give +3 to your dice pool when firing them, which is very handy indeed!

Weaponry reference

This is where you check the numbers that go with the weapons. The ‘Type’ designation is for use with powers that only work with certain sorts of weapons. All Guns are ‘Type- Gun’.

Encumbrance sizes work as follows:

Tiny: 0, but two Tinies count as a Small.
Small: 1
Medium: 2
Large: 4
Very Large: 8

Barehanded: Damage 1, Type- Barehanded

Knife/knives: Damage 2, Small, Type- Knife

Katars: Damage 2, Small, Type- Katar

Nunchaku: Damage 2, Small, Type- Nunchaku

Dual Staves: Damage 2, Small, Type- Twinned

Sais: Damage 2, Medium, Type- Twinned

Hook Swords: Damage 3, Large, Type- Twinned

Twinned Swords: Damage 3, Large, Type- Twinned

Staff- Damage 3, Large, Type- Spear

Sword- Damage 4, Large, Type- Sword

Spear- Damage 4, Very Large, Type- Spear

Light pistol (e.g. Glock 17)- Damage 1, Small, Ammo 6 (tiny clips)

Light Machine Pistol (e.g. Glock 19)- Damage 1, Small, Ammo 3 (tiny clips), Burst Fire

Machine Pistol (e.g. Uzi, Ingrams)- Damage 1, Medium, Ammo 5 (tiny clips), Burst Fire

Large Pistol (e.g. Desert Eagle)- Damage 2, Medium, Ammo 3 (tiny clips)

Sub-machine gun (e.g. H&K MP5)- Damage 2, Large, Ammo 5 (small clips), Burst Fire

Shotgun- Damage 3*, Large, Ammo 8 (medium clips), bonus die pool at close range

Assault Rifle (e.g. M16)- Damage 3*, Very Large, Ammo 5 (small clips), Burst fire

Powers

Ok, here we go, folks…

Powers, or Tricks, or Schticks, or whatever you want to call them, are the reality-busting supermoves, whether acrobatic, hand to hand, or gun based, that you guys pull off whilst in the Matrix.

BASICS

Your characters will have between 12 and 15 powers, depending on your template and role. When a combat starts, you have to choose between four and six (again, depending on your template/role) that are actually active. These schticks are said to be in your cache, nicknamed ‘The Hot Zone’. The rest of your powers are stored in your ‘Download Grid’, and are not doing anything. They are spare.

At the end of each turn, as you shift your style, you can swap one power from your grid with one in your cache- but you can never increase the maximum amount of powers that you can have working for you. As befits their greater instincts, Veterans can swap powers around during the turn, not only at the end of it, though they can still only make one swap a turn in total.

Some powers are noted as being ‘Auxiliary’. Auxiliary powers never need to be loaded into your cache- they always give you their benefit; if you took them for your character, they work.

Powers often note that they must be used with a certain weapon, or barehanded. You can have both weapon and barehanded powers loaded, but when you attack in a round you must decide whether to use your weapon or just your fists. Barehanded atacks are always available, no matter what you are carrying. You can only carry one weapon at a time. Drawing a new weapon is automatic and occurs whenver you want- however, it takes a turn to put away any weapon that is Medium sized or larger. You can simply drop a medium or larger weapon with no time loss.

Some powers ‘Conflict’ with others. You may never have two Conflicting powers in your cache at the same time.

BENEFITS

Powers can give up three different benefits

Basic Effect: All powers give you a basic effect which is simply always running if in your cache. This might be an increase to your combat pool, or extra damage, or armour… you do not need to specify you are using such a power, they just work. You can, however, specify if you do NOT want to use a power for a turn (for example, you might want to pick between barehanded or weapon powers in a single turn, or not use the Path of the Venerable Grasshopper, which gives you a less accurate but more damaging attack).

Note that bonuses are not cumulative. If a power gives you +1 to your attack and another gives you +2, the final bonus is +2, not +3. Any exceptions to this will noted.

Super Effect- the ‘Tap’: All powers can be ‘tapped’ to give a super effect, as would be represented by bullet time in the films. This gives some sort of very powerful bonus to you indeed. However, when you Tap a power, it becomes exhausted, and does not work again until ‘refreshed’ (see the combat rules above).

Some powers are noted as ‘Triple Taps’, which means they can be tapped three times before they become exhausted. If a Triple Tap power is not exhausted when a refresh turn comes, the amount of times it has been tapped returns to zero.

Some powers are noted as ‘Slow’. Slow powers do not refresh until the end of combat, so you can only tap them once.

Bonus effect: Many powers (but no gun powers) have bonus effects, which allow helpful effects to happen when the opportunity comes.

Some bonus effects are ‘offensive’. You can use one bonus effect for every set of three 6s you make in a combat roll. The higher your combat pool, the more likely you are to be able to use offensive bonuses!

Some bonus effects are ‘defensive’. These depend on your opponent messing up when attacking you. This is represented by your opponent rolling more 1s then he does successes. This does not happen very often but it happens enough to be useful, and is just as likely to happen regardless of how skilled your opponent is.

EFFECTS

Powers cause effects that require rules not seen in normal combat:

Blocks: Blocking an opponent undoes their defences. If you block an opponent, your next attack on them ignores any defence or parry ratings that they generate.

Parries: Parries are very powerful. Your parry rating actually takes away from the amount of successes your foes get against you, which makes you hard to hit and reduces damage taken even if they still do.

Post-tap: A Post-tap can be declared after the roll is made, unlike most taps which have to be made before you know how well the roll goes.

Retreat: A retreat allows you to escape combat with no bonus attack given to your foe.

Stagger: Staggering a foe leaves him vulnerable. Your next attack on that foe, so long as it happens next turn, gets two extra dice.

Stun: A stun is a more powerful Stagger, worth three extra dice to your next attack

Thrown: A throw attack has an automatic damage of zero, though it can have spectacular effects depending on scenery. They automatically destroy Mooks. People recover very quickly from throws in the Matrix, but when you Throw someone you can either treat them as being Stunned for you next attack, or you can safely Retreat from combat immediately.

Unstoppable: A move with Unstoppable Damage means that a minimum amount of Damage will be inflicted on that hit, regardless of armour or parry ratings of your opponent (against Parries, this means a hit will still hit even if reduced to zero or fewer successes).

Note that things like Stuns or Throws don’t do anything to the person on the receiving end, who can carry on as normal (other than receiving damage from the attack, of course!). They simply give bonuses to the attacker who pulled off the effect.

POWERS LIST

'Paths' are Martial Arts powers. They do not boost Gun attacks, though Gun users can still use them defensively.

The Path of the Passive Wings

The style of both defence and attack by watching your opponent and waiting your chance

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain a Defence of 3 against all foes with a lower Perception than you

Tap (Post): Turns a successful barehanded attack into a Throw with +4 damage.

Bonus (Defensive): Throws your foe, but only if you are not using a Melee weapon.

The Path of the Clever Fox

The style of countering Melee weapons

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain a Defence of 3 against all attacks from melee weapons

Tap: Instead, gain a Parry of 4 against melee weapons

Bonus (Offensive): Add the damage of your opponent’s weapon to the damage of your barehanded attack

The Path of the Defensive Master

The style of protecting yourself by outsmarting your foe, and of intelligent flexibility

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain a Defence of 3 against all foes with a lower Intelligence than you

Tap: Swap this power with one in your Download grid. That power immediately refreshes if tapped.

Bonus (Defensive): Block your opponent if you are not carrying a melee weapon

The Path of the King on the Water

The style of true style! Your imposing presence unnerves foes.

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain a Defence of 3 against all foes with a lower Charisma than you

Tap: All attacks made against you this turn by foes with lower Charisma than you miss automatically

Bonus (Defensive): Made a free attack on your opponent if you are not carrying a Melee weapon

The Path of the Storm Turtle

The style of avoiding gunfire by acrobatic movement

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain a Defence of 3 against all gun attacks; or 4 if the gun attack uses Burst Fire

Tap: All Gun attacks made against you this turn fail

Bonus (Defensive): Your opponent wastes an extra point of ammo trying to hit you

The Path of Life’s Armour

The style of protecting yourself

Works with: Any

Effect: Increase your armour rating by one

Tap: Increase your armour rating by another two, and your parry rating by 3

Bonus (Offensive): Make two points of damage from a barehanded strike Unstoppable

The Path of the Sharpened Scales

A general style of increased deadliness in all combat. Conflicts with the Path of the Brilliant Scales.

Works with: Any

Effect: Either gain +3 to your attack pool or +1 to your damage

Tap: 4s on your dice count as successes this turn

The Path of the Brilliant Scales

A general style of increased deadliness in all combat. Conflicts with the Path of the Sharpened Scales.

Works with: Any

Effect: Either gain +3 to your attack pool or +1 to your damage

Tap: All dice that do not show a 5 or 6 when you roll them this turn are re-rolled once

The Path of the Swooping Eagle

The style of exploiting a foe who becomes vulnerable

Works with: Any

Effect: Increase your bonus pool when attacking a Staggered, Stunned or Thrown opponent by 1. Your Throws gain one point of Unstoppable damage, and do +1 damage in total.

Tap (Post): Use if you threw your opponent. Attack him again immediately; 4s count as successes for this attack and all damage is Unstoppable.

The Path of Healing Chi (AUXILIARY)

Your resonance with the flow of life in the Matrix makes you a better medic

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain +2 pool in all medical related rolls

Tap (Slow): As an action, heal 10 damage on yourself or a nearby player

The Path of Abundant Leaping (AUXILIARY)

Free your mind, and make that jump…

Your encumbrance must be under four to make use of this power

Works with: Any

Effect: Turn one die into a 6, after rolling, on any acrobatic roll

Tap (Slow): Make a jump at four times normal height or distance

The Path of the Walking Willow (AUXILIARY)

Move in such a way that it makes it harder for anyone to hit you!

Your encumbrance must be under two to make use of this power

Works with: Any

Effect: Increase your defence by one. This increase is cumulative with another Defence source.

Tap: Increase your defence by another four, for a total of five, all of which is cumulative.

The Path of the Shadow’s Companion (AUXILIARY)

Be one with the shadows, and approach your foes unseen

Your encumbrance must be under two to make use of this power

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain +3 pool in any stealth roll

Tap (Slow): Automatically pass a stealth roll

The Path of Natural Order (AUXILIARY)

Guns rarely find their mark on the quick

Your encumbrance must be under two to make use of this power

Works with: Any

Effect: Gain +1 Parry against all Gun attacks

Tap: Gain another +2 Parry against Gun attacks, for a total of +3

The Path of the Hands of Light

The style of deadly efficiency when unarmed

Works with: Barehanded attacks

Effect: Increase your attack pool by four

Tap: Increase your attack pool by another six, for a total increase of ten

Bonus (Offensive): Your barehanded damage increases by two for this attack

The Path of the Healthy Tiger

The style of great power behind unarmed attacks

Works with: Barehanded attacks

Effect: +2 barehanded damage

Tap (Triple): Get an extra attack on a foe when he attacks you. Your attack goes first.

Bonus (Offensive): Get another +2 barehanded damage, for a total of +4.

The Path of Dim-Mak

The style of blows against pressure points and weak areas

Works with: Barehanded attacks

Effect: Ignore all armour

Tap (Post): Reduce your opponent’s Strength to zero for one round

Bonus (Offensive): Stun your opponent

The Path of the Venerable Grasshopper

The style of impressive use of your feet!

Works with: Barehanded attacks

Effect: Decrease your attack pool by two but get +3 damage

Tap: Instead, increase attack pool by two and damage by 4. Successful hit also Throws target

Bonus (Offensive): Stagger your opponent

The Path of the Jade Emperor

The style of Samurai swordfighting. Conflicts with the path of the Silver Prince

Works with: Sword attacks

Effect: +2 damage

Tap: Instead, get +4 damage

Bonus (Offensive): Stagger your opponent

The Path of the Silver Prince

The style of acrobatic swordfighting. Conflicts with the path of the Jade Emperor

Works with: Sword attacks

Effect: +1 attack pool. +3 Defence against all close combat attacks.

Tap: Instead, gain +3 attack pool and +2 Parry against all close combat attacks

Bonus: Three points of your damage are Unstoppable

The Path of the Lone Bamboo

The style of astonishing Polearm moves

Works with: Spear attacks

Effect: +2 to your attack pool, or +4 against Mooks

Tap (Post): Retreat after dealing your damage

Bonus: Throw your opponent

The Path of the Iron Butterfly

The style of rapid knife attacks

Works with: Knife attacks

Effect: -1 damage, but you make two attacks each round

Tap (Triple): Make another Knife attack

Bonus: Reduce the amount of times this tap power has been used by one.

The Path of the Preying Mantis

The style of twin weaponry. The effect of this Power changes according to which twin weapons you are wielding. You do not need to take this power more than once- it works for all the twin varieties.

Works with: Twinned attacks

Twinned Swords
Effect: +2 attack pool. You may attack two different opponents in melee range each turn

Tap: Another +2 attack pool, and attack all opponents in range

Bonus: +1 damage and a * rating

Hook Swords
Effect: +1 attack pool. When attacking someone wielding a Melee weapon, instead gain +3 attack pool and +2 defence, both of which are cumulative.

Tap: Ignore all Defend and Parry of opponent

Bonus: +1 damage and a * rating

Sais
Effect: +1 Defence, cumulative with another Defence bonus. Also +1 parry if opponent is using a Melee weapon.

Tap (Triple): Make an extra attack

Bonus: +1 damage and a * rating

Staves
Currently, Staves act as lighter Twin swords.

The Path of the Defiant Farmer

The style of relentless blows with the nunchaku!

Works with: Nunchaku attacks

Effect: +2 to attack pool, or +4 against Mooks.

Tap (Triple): Make an extra attack on a foe who just attacked you; your attack comes first.

Bonus (Offensive): Reduce the amount of times the tap power has been used by one.

The Path of the Piercing Claw

The style of deadlly blows from punch daggers and wrist blades

Works with: Katar attacks

Effect: Ignore any armour rating your opponent has.

Tap (Triple): +1 damage

Bonus (Offensive): Reduce the amount of times the tap power has been used by one.

Gun Powers

Remember, Gun powers cost twice as much to take when creating characters.

Both Guns Blazing

Blow away your foes with one gun in each hand! Conflicts with Carnival of Carnage and 10000 bullets

Works with: Guns

Effect: Both guns consume ammo, but damage is set to 3*

Tap: +4 attack pool

Carnival of Carnage

Coppertops move too slowly. Blow those Mooks away with ease! Conflicts with Both Guns Blazing and 10000 Bullets

Works with: Guns

Effect: Make two gun attacks this turn, though both must be against Mooks

Tap: Make another two gun attacks this turn against Mooks, for a total of four.

Eagle Eye

Precision attacks with astonishing accuracy

Works with: Guns

Effect: Ignore all armour and cover

Tap: Each success rolled does two damage, not one

Lightning Reload

No time to waste! Get that ammunition back in your gun so fast that no-one sees you do it.

Works with: Guns

Effect: SMGs, shotguns and rifles load like pistols. Pistols automatically load for no penalty, though only one reload a round.

Tap: Reload for free (even if already reloaded this round) and make an extra attack

Bullet Time

Leap and twist through the air as you shoot, making it much harder to draw a bead on you…

Works with: Guns

Effect: You can only make Gun attacks, and cannot use cover. All mooks need 6s on Guns rolls to get successes against you.

Tap: As above, but all named characters need 6s for successes on Guns rolls against you. All mook gun attacks miss automatically.

10000 Bullets

Hit your foe again… and again… and again… and again… Conflicts with Both Guns Blazing and Carnival of Carnage

Works with: Guns

Effect: After you hit a foe, make an extra attack on him, at -3 to your pool.

Tap: After you hit a foe, make an extra attack at him, at -2 to your pool. Repeat this process until you either miss or need to reload.

Straight Shooter

No messing. Your killer instinct puts foes down fast.

Works with: Guns

Effect: Your first success rolled on each attack does two damage, not one.

Tap: All your damage inflicted is Unstoppable.

Gameplay example to follow here

Well, we are up and running, folks!

Please feel free to ask questions.

Nice. Now you just need to let me know what the effects are of those three sword powers 😉

Just checking I've got this right. But could I take all three, have Jade Emperor and Preying Mantis in the cache, then at the end of a round, swap JE for Silver Prince for a different style?

Also - twin swords = twin katanas 😄 Yipee!

Is triple taps the same thing as counters?

That's the only real question I've got.

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel
Nice. Now you just need to let me know what the effects are of those three sword powers 😉

Just checking I've got this right. But could I take all three, have Jade Emperor and Preying Mantis in the cache, then at the end of a round, swap JE for Silver Prince for a different style?

Also - twin swords = twin katanas 😄 Yipee!

Yes you can swap the two Conflicting powers. In fact, it probably works very well like that, because then even if you tap one, you can swap the other in after.

Conflicts are only there to stop people using things at the same time. This is normally because they would work too well together! So chances are, if you want to take a power that conflicts with another, both are actually useful to you.

Lana- yes they are. Counters make less sense online.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

...

And I lied. I have a second question.

When do we get to start play?

Theretically I guess we are still on to begin training by the end of the month.

I'll read it all when I have time, but looks great Ush any idea on how much powers we will be able to get?

Well, it depends on your character.

Gotta say, certainly took less time to type than the last lot...

Cool, Looks good. Gonna be fun!

It all looks good, and understandable, too!

What's the reason for the encumberance maximums on some powers being so low (i.e. the Walking Willow)?