Lightfoot Style

Lightfoot Style is a canonical Common Martial Art Style for Weapons of the Gods. In this game, all Martial Arts fall into categories of availability (how hard it is to find teachers): Common (easily found), Uncommon (must join a clan or organization to learn) and Rare (must prove oneself at great lengths to one’s clan to learn).

Destiny Cost: Free (No Buy-In and the First Technique is taught during training).

Note that while this Style is canonical for Weapons of the Gods, it has been submitted by the publisher/writer and may be copied and distributed freely. This does not extend to any other martial arts style for the game, only Lightfoot Kung fu. This has been done in aid of the game, given that all martial artists in the game know this style.

Description

The oldest human dream is to fly; so this style is perhaps the very first form of all kung fu to be devised. Perhaps that’s why you can use any color of chi to invoke it; the dream is that old and that dear, that chi flows so easily into it to create the oldest favored effect… first great leaps, then into the sky. This form is practiced by virtually every martial artist, and for good reason; it allows the insanely rapid travel and long flying leaps that allow a kung fu warrior to outmaneuver any merely mundane fighter. Please note that Lightfoot techniques have the benefit of changing what would be an Athletics action (requiring a full action) into a kung fu technique… which is a free action. This is why martial arts warriors can have extended battles while flying through the air!

Signature: Wuxia heroes (or villains) using this style seem to move through the air on invisible wires, with great grace and speed; they pirouette and spiral and bound like gazelles or glide like seagulls through the sky.

Type: Free (Athletics). Default Critical Successes: None.

Weapons and Armor

Lightfoot Kung fu is a non-combat style of martial arts, and as such does not lend itself to any weapon use, while wearing heavy armor can double the chi cost of its techniques.

Techniques

Surefoot

Level: 1 Destiny Cost: None (all martial artists know this technique in their training) Chi Cost: 1 Any Chi

While using this technique, you can cling to walls like a spider, climb at your running speed, run on water, and take no damage from falling no matter how far you plummet. You may also recover from being Downed in the next round by bouncing to your feet using this technique. Note that there are instances and conditions where this technique will not work!

Run Like A Deer

Level: 2 Destiny Cost: 2 Chi Cost: 2 Any Chi

This technique makes any attempts to Cover Ground by running a Free Action.

Mobility Bonus: You may put on sudden bursts of speed for the entire round, which allows you to add +5 to your Dodge rolls… but only if you describe the maneuver that you’re using the technique with (each time!), including any landscape features as supplied by the Sage or the player.

Headlong Flying Leap

Level: 3 Destiny Cost: 3 Chi Cost: 3 Any Chi

This technique acts like Run Like a Deer, only for Jumping as well as Covering Ground. With a successful Athletics roll as a Free Action, against an Everyday ( 18 ) difficulty, you make long flying leaps, ten yards for each result die from your roll. You fly at a rate of ten yards per round. Note that if you take damage while in midair, you may have to make an additional Athletics roll to continue on to your landing point without falling and being Downed.

Mobility Bonus: You may perform incredible aerial maneuvers for the round, usually off some local item or piece of landscape, which you must describe vividly each time. You may not add in incongruous things to do these maneuvers off of; they must fit in and make sense, or your Sage will disallow the +10 bonus to Dodge that you can gain from using this technique in tandem with your maneuvering, or may only grant you +5 instead of the full amount possible.

High As The Clouds

Level: 4 Destiny Cost: 4 Chi Cost: 4 Chi of Any single Color.

This technique grants actual flight through the air - Make a successful Everyday Athletics roll ( Difficulty 18 ) as a Free Action. For every result die, you can fly a mile. You fly at a rate of twenty yards per round, and you may fly until you set down or use up your distance, whichever comes first.

Mobility Bonus: Like Headlong Flying Leap, only even more so. You may perform fantastic aerial maneuvers for the entire round, which you must describe vividly each time, including your body’s reaction to weapon or physical impacts against your opponent. You may not add in incongruous things to do these maneuvers off of; they must fit in and make sense, or your Sage will disallow the +15 bonus to Dodge that you can gain from using this technique in tandem with your maneuvering. Again, the Sage may choose to grant a lesser bonus according to the strength of your description, or possibly to other factors.

Infinite Endurance

Level: 5 Destiny Cost: 5 Chi Cost: Investment of 1 Chi of each Color.

Used with another Lightfoot technique of lower level, this allows one to remove the limit of distance and time of that technique, until it is released or the warrior suffers a full Health level of Damage. The martial artist can also hover (ordinarily not possible for Lightfoot techniques), which usually require some sort of motion. Note that this technique cannot be invoked if you are already suffering Chi Flow Loss to any color of your Chi!

Supernal Speed

Level: 6 Destiny Cost: 10 Chi Cost: 10 Any Chi.

This technique makes you speed personified; the more erudite scholars like to call this technique “Velocity Transformation”, but they’re the only ones to ever do so. When this technique is invoked, you get the following effects: 1.) You always go first. When up against someone else with this kung fu, compare your Athletics roll with theirs, with the highest Speed breaking ties. 2.) You gain a +20 to all Dodge rolls for the round. 3.) You may make a free additional attack each round, after everybody else’s. 4.) You can make lightning dashes of 30 yards per free action spent instead of the usual ten, allowing you to leave combat without your enemies getting the usual opportunity attack as you depart. Only other practitioners of Supernal Speed can hope to compete with you directly in any contest based on quickness of movement; then it is a normal opposed contest.