Cthangband

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There is a way of fighting, in Cthangband, which does not involve weapons, but rather the human (or whatever) body. It is called Martial Arts. Warrior-Monks and Zen Monks start with some slight skill already established, and of course any character can learn.

There are two requirements to use Martial Arts: you may not wield a melee weapon, and you may not wear armor of weight more than 10-20 pounds, depending on skill. (Currently, shields count as armor.) If you wield a weapon or wear heavy armor, your Martial Arts skill is ignored, and you are treated as an ordinary fighter in melee.

Martial Arts has the following advantages:

• Potentially devastating melee attacks
• Increased armor class while not wearing armor
• Increased speed

Martial Arts melee attacks vary in power, and it is never certain what sort of attack an opponent will be open to each turn. Martial Artists with greater skill will usually get better attacks. The attacks are:

Description	Minimum skill	chance to use	Damage	Special
hit	0%	100	1d1	none
punch	2%	100	1d4	none
kick	4%	100	1d6	none
strike	6%	100	1d7	none
knee	10%	95	2d3	may stun males
elbow	14%	95	1d8	none
butt	18%	90	2d5	none
ankle kick	22%	90	3d4	may lame
uppercut	26%	88	4d4	stun 6
double kick	32%	85	5d4	stun 8
Cat's Claw	40%	80	5d5	none
jump kick	50%	75	5d6	stun 10
Eagle's Claw	58%	75	6d6	none
circle kick	66%	70	6d8	stun 10
Iron Fist	74%	65	8d8	stun 10
flying kick	82%	65	8d10	stun 12
Dragon Fist	90%	65	10d10	stun 16
Crushing Blow	96%	65	10d12	stun 18

"chance to use" reflects the difficulty of setting up a powerful blow. Even a master may not be able to execute a Crushing Blow.

A Martial Artist gets one blow at skill 0%, and one additional at skills 20%, 40%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%.

A Martial Artist gains armor class by not wearing armor. For each location (head, body, cloak, hands, feet, shield) a Martial Artist leaves bare, he or she gains:

Location	Armor Class gained	Maximum AC gained
Body	3/4 skill	75
Cloak	(skill - 26)/6 if over 30	12
Shield	(skill - 16)/6 if over 20	14
Head	(skill - 4)/6 if over 8	16
Hands	skill/4	25
Feet	skill/6	16

so a master Martial Artist can get an armor class of 160 when naked.

A Martial Artist gets a speed bonus equal to one twentieth of his or her skill.

All contents of these pages Copyright 2000 by David H. Thornley.