Wuxia Fighting Arts: Frost Fist

I’ve been experimenting with making some more wuxia-themed fighting arts. Here’s one.

Frost Fist

This water-based style finds its inspiration in stillness, silence, and hunger. Frost Fist entails cultivating the body’s yin by submerging one’s body in icy baths and exposing it to freezing winds until the chill of winter seeps into one’s very soul, manifesting as a bitter cold that steals one’s enemies’ very breath.

Exponent Form Skill Actions
2 Bare Fist (Palms only) Frost Fist grants the Avoid, Block, Feint, Push and Strike actions.
Techniques Instruction Ob Physical/Phil. Ob Practical Ob
Polar Palms Instruction Ob 1 Forte Ob 1 Frost Fist Ob 1
Icy Vortex Instruction Ob 2 Forte Ob 2 Frost Fist Ob 1
Breath-Stealing Ice Wind Instruction Ob 2 Forte Ob 3 Frost Fist Ob 3
Frozen Hammer Fist Instruction Ob 3 Forte Ob 3 Frost Fist Ob 4
Ice Floe Hand Instruction Ob 3 Forte Ob 4 Frost Fist Ob 4
Blizzard of Blood Instruction Ob 4 Forte Ob 5 Frost Fist Ob 5
All-Devouring Glacier Instruction Ob 5 Forte Ob 6 Frost Fist Ob 6
  • Polar Palms: Biting cold emanates from your fists! Increase the Weapon Power of your bare fists by +1.
  • Icy Vortex: Snow and ice crystals swirl around your fists, leaving white trails in their wake. Increase the Weapon Power of your bare fists by an additional +1 and increase their VA by +1.
  • Breath-Stealing Ice Wind: When you invoke this technique (using the Change Stance action), anyone who attacks you in Fight while you’re using this technique is rimed by frost from the extreme chill your aura exudes.
    • This is a stance entered via the Change Stance action. This stance lasts until you change stance (including hesitating or being knocked down) or disengage, or your opponent disengages from you. You can only adopt one stance at a time.
    • Anyone engaged with you suffers +1 Ob to Strike and Great Strike against you until you drop the technique.
    • Mastering this technique grants you +1D advantage on tests to resist cold or cold-based attacks (including the Excess Yin flaw of All-Devouring Glacier).
  • Frozen Hammer Fist: Ice covers your hands at will, turning your palms into devastating weapons. You now have access to the Great Strike action with your fists.
  • Ice Floe Fist: Like the iceberg whose bulk lurks beneath still waters, your ruthlessness has untold depths that erupt unexpectedly in savage, icy-cold fury!
    • Increase the Weapon Power of your bare fists by an additional +1.
    • Gain +1D advantage to Strike, Great Strike and Feint when using your fists.
  • Blizzard of Blood: When you invoke this technique, your yin surges, causing frost to coat your entire body and a killing chill to exude from you.
    • You may now Great Strike with your fists in 1 action.
  • All-Devouring Glacier: Like the life-stealing glacier, your freezing aura smothers and engulfs everything that stands against you.
    • This is a stance entered via the Change Stance action. This stance lasts until you change stance (including hesitating or being knocked down) or disengage, or your opponent disengages from you. You can only adopt one stance at a time.
    • Your icy aura causes your opponent(s) to lose their breath. If you successfully inflict damage on your opponent(s), you also put them in a 1D lock. Subsequent successful Strikes while in this stance increase the lock by 1D each. You do not need to maintain contact with your opponent(s) to maintain the lock, but it will end if you drop the technique, disengage from your opponent, or your opponent disengages from you. Your opponent may break the Lock by using the Avoid action and testing Forte with an obstacle equal to the current level of the Lock. Meeting the obstacle reduces the Lock by 1. Additional successes may be spent to reduce the Lock on a one-for-one basis.
    • This technique can be used to extinguish fires. Minor fires can be put out at will; for more significant blazes, test Forte: Bonfire Ob 2, House Ob 3, Manor Ob 4.
    • Flaw: Excess Yin. While maintaining this stance, your limbs slowly freeze from the excess yin surging through your body. At the end of each exchange while maintaining this stance, make an Ob 2 Forte test. Increase the obstacle by 1 for each subsequent exchange spent in the All-Devouring Glacier stance. Failure indicates you suffer a wound equal to your Frost Fist skill exponent. (i.e., if you have Frost Fist B6, you suffer a B6 wound.)
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You’re very good at making these.

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Thanks! I feel like the hardest part is finding the right theme, but once you have that, things start to fall into place. Once I was satisfied with the descriptive paragraph at the top, the rest seemed to flow.

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