Martial Arts

For as long as one metahuman has had beef with another metahuman, we've been looking for more effective ways to beat the hell out of each other, whether it's been with blunt objects, sharp objects, or just our bare hands - and thus martial arts was born. In the earliest years of their development, the martial arts across the globe had a very Darwinian progression: if they were ineffective, the user died. If they were effective, the user lived and passed on that information. The introduction of firearms to war, and the resulting ability of minimally trained gunners to mow down skilled melee fighters with relatively little risk to themselves relegated most martial art styles to pastime status - until the Sixth World came about. The emergence of cybernetically enhanced fighters who could react quickly enough to literally dodge bullets, mystical warriors who could sense danger and avoid it before it landed, and metahuman bodies which were simply too tough for low caliber bullets sparked a resurgence in the martial arts as practical exercises.

Acquiring a martial art happens during character creation or advancement; styles are purchased with nuyen. Each martial art is associated with one or more categories of techniques. When a character first learns a martial art, they receive the signature technique for free. The remaining techniques from the categories associated with the style may be learned separately.

Unless stated otherwise in the technique's description, Grappling and Striking techniques may only be used unarmed, and Weapon techniques may only be used with weapons.