Watched the newish Netflix Crouching Tiger sequel the other day and got into the mood for some Wuxia type action. For context my ideal Wuxia game is heavily inspired by Jade Empire.

What are some good "builds" to pull off Wuxia style stunts? My first though is Air Kiho, an experienced character with a good Air Ring can have unarmed attacks with a range of a 100 meters and move vertically. Combined with the Taoist Blade School you have the classic wire-fu swordsmen.

What about some of the other options? Are there good ways to get consistently potent unarmed damage? Are the big, bruiser martial artist and deft, impossible to hit unarmed fighter possible? Or will they quicky die to a katana?

The one thing missing I think is the ability to take out 2-4 bandits/mooks with a single attack. The minion rules don't really support transferring excess damage, do they? Are there any good area type attacks?

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 5:22 PM, swammeyjoe said:

What are some good "builds" to pull off Wuxia style stunts? My first though is Air Kiho, an experienced character with a good Air Ring can have unarmed attacks with a range of a 100 meters and move vertically. Combined with the Taoist Blade School you have the classic wire-fu swordsmen.

What about some of the other options? Are there good ways to get consistently potent unarmed damage? Are the big, bruiser martial artist and deft, impossible to hit unarmed fighter possible? Or will they quicky die to a katana?

The Kakita duellist isn't the best at low levels, but at high levels approaches one of the samurai icons of the iaijutsu master. The school mastery ability, Strike With No Thought, is a very anime-esque ability, going from a standing start with a sheathed blade to delivering a severity 13 (i.e. fatal) critical to an opponent regardless of stance or armour from beyond spear range in a single action.

Tatooed monks are perfectly capable of holding their own against armed opponents. They get essentially the same ability as a Taoist Blade, but whilst the Mirumoto can only select a limited selection of Kiho for their school ability, the Togashi can do the same with defensive Kiho to get burst effects. The Body Is An Anvil is pretty awesome since anyone attacking you is likely to find themselves unarmed as well.....

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 5:22 PM, swammeyjoe said:

The one thing missing I think is the ability to take out 2-4 bandits/mooks with a single attack. The minion rules don't really support transferring excess damage, do they? Are there any good area type attacks?

Thunderclap strike is the only obvious one other than magical 'splash' attacks. Using to apply strife to minions and make them flee is the other best option I can think of.

That said, the Shosuro Infiltrator's mastery ability, The Final Silence, is pretty epic, auto-killing one nearby minion per turn for the duration of the conflict in addition to your other actions.

On 6/11/2019 at 4:44 AM, Magnus Grendel said:

The Kakita duellist isn't the best at low levels, but at high levels approaches one of the samurai icons of the iaijutsu master. The school mastery ability, Strike With No Thought, is a very anime-esque ability, going from a standing start with a sheathed blade to delivering a severity 13 (i.e. fatal) critical to an opponent regardless of stance or armour from beyond spear range in a single action.

Tatooed monks are perfectly capable of holding their own against armed opponents. They get essentially the same ability as a Taoist Blade, but whilst the Mirumoto can only select a limited selection of Kiho for their school ability, the Togashi can do the same with defensive Kiho to get burst effects. The Body Is An Anvil is pretty awesome since anyone attacking you is likely to find themselves unarmed as well.....

Thunderclap strike is the only obvious one other than magical 'splash' attacks. Using to apply strife to minions and make them flee is the other best option I can think of.

That said, the Shosuro Infiltrator's mastery ability, The Final Silence, is pretty epic, auto-killing one nearby minion per turn for the duration of the conflict in addition to your other actions.

Yeah, Air Fist (with Air Ring 4+) + Thunderclap Strike + Taoist Blade School can drop 4 damage on everything within 100 Yards and then push them a couple ranges bands away.

Not possible for a starting character, especially since you need a title for the Kata access (but there already is one for Rank 3 Kata), but totally doable for more experienced heroes.

Question. Is there a generic Opp spend to give Strife? I know fire can add 2 for 1 Opp, can other Rings add 1?

11 minutes ago, swammeyjoe said:

Question. Is there a generic Opp spend to give Strife? I know fire can add 2 for 1 Opp, can other Rings add 1?

Not exactly. But other rings can do it less efficiently by 'buying' fire using one of the choices from the beginner rulebook (if your GM allows it). e.g.:

"Air +: Choose a Water or Fire opportunity from this table and resolve it. The cost of this Opportunity is double its normal cost."

So you can apply strife to an opponent for (fire), (air/earth) or (water, since you need to 'buy' in an intervening ring first).