By David Eber.
What follows are the various weapon schticks available to characters who have them listed in their character type. Weapon schticks allow characters to do a variety of spectacular and deadly maneuvers and tricks with non-firearm weapons. They are, by and large, very similar to the gun schticks, and characters may take multiple schticks in certain abilities to do gain cumulative benefits. The Feng Shui rulebook only lists a few different types of melee weapons. Rather than try to produce an exhaustive list of those weapons here, Game Masters and players are encouraged to add the weapons of their choice to the game. It shouldn't be too difficult to figure out the damage ratings of weapons. Just compare them to the weapons already listed, and find the closest match.
Characters can acquire new weapon schticks during the course of play by spending experience points. The cost to acquire a new weapon schtick is (8 + x) per schtick, where x equals the number of weapons schticks you will have once you acquire the new one. Characters who have a current Action Value of 11 or less in their Martial Arts skill can't acquire weapon schticks during the course of play.
The following archetypes may swap gun and/or fu schticks for weapon schticks during character creation at a 1:1 basis:
This schtick allows characters to do all kinds of flashy maneuvers using paired weapons, and to put a serious hurting on an opponent by hitting him with those two weapons at once. The character needs to be using a paired set of weapons. Any two weapons that can be used one handed are okay, such as two swords, two knives, sais, nunchaku, tui-fu, and so on. Ideally, the character should be using the same weapon in each hand, but the GM may want to let this slide (e.g., sword and dagger combos). When you successfully hit an opponent with the Both Blades Flashing schtick, the number of wound points suffered by the opponent is figured as follows:
Total damage rating of both weapons - (opponents' Toughness x 2) + Outcome = wound points suffered.
If you buy only one schtick's worth of Both Blades Flashing, any attacks you make with it are at a -2 Action Value penalty. If you buy two schticks in it, the penalty is -1. If you buy three schticks, the penalty is 0. For each additional schtick you purchase, you gain a +1 Action Value bonus when using Both Blades Flashing.
For each schtick spent on Quick Draw, add 1 to your initiative result at the beginning of each sequence. If you add to your initiative result in this manner, you must attack with a melee weapon as your first action of that sequence.
You have extremely keen senses, and you are always aware of what is happening around you, even when you appear to be distracted. You are rarely surprised by ambushes, traps, and hidden dangers. When the GM makes a check on your behalf to see if you spot such things, you get a +2 bonus to your Perception Action Value for each Razor-Edged Senses you've purchased. If you succeed in a Perception check and can usefully respond to the situation by using a melee weapon or dodging, the Outcome of that check is applied to that first Martial Arts task check.
Purchasing this schtick allows a character to deflect bullets fired at him back at the character that shot them. The defending character must declare that they are actively parrying. Then, if the parry is successful, the character must make a Martial Arts task check with his opponent's dodge value as the difficulty number. If the check is successful, the shooter is hit by his own bullets. The damage inflicted is equal to the normal damage of the gun plus the outcome of the Action Result from the Martial Arts check, minus the shooter's toughness of course. Note that this all takes place during the same shot, though the character using the Ricochet Strike incurs a shot penalty of -1, since the use of this schtick requires an active parry.
The use of this schtick requires a melee weapon with which to parry. If the weapon is four feet or longer, there is a +1 bonus to the parry check. If the weapon is two to four feet in length, there is no bonus or penalty. If the weapon is less than two feet in length, there is a -1 penalty. GM's will have to rule whether or not characters using this schitck can deflect and redirect other projectile weapons, such as arrows, sorcerous blasts, energy weapons, and so on. If you purchase one schtick in Ricochet Strike, you receive a -2 Action Value penalty to both the parry and the Martial Arts check. If you purchase two schticks in Ricochet Strike, you receive a -1 Action Value penalty. If you buy three schticks, the penalty is 0. For each additional schtick you purchase, you gain a +1 Action Value bonus when using Ricochet Strike.
For each schtick spent in this ability, you can select one specific melee weapon as a signature weapon. This weapon might be an ancient ceremonial katana, a "lucky" pearl handled buck knife, his first real set of nunchaku, and so on.
If you have one schtick in Symphony of Slaughter, you can subtract 1 from the shot cost of any attack on an unnamed character or characters. If you have two schticks in Symphony of Slaughter, you can subtract 2 from the shot cost of any attack on an unnamed character or characters. Shot costs cannot be reduced to 0 or a negative number. If you have three schticks in Symphony of Slaughter, you put down unnamed characters on an Outcome of 4 or more. If you have four schticks in Symphony of Slaughter, you put down unnamed characters on an Outcome of 3 or more. You can't spend more than four schticks in this ability.
You are especially skilled at finding the tiny chinks in your opponent's armor. For each schtick you spend in True Strike, you can ignore 2 points of an opponent's armor. True Strike cannot be used to ignore an opponent's toughness.
Characters who have purchased this schtick are masters of the body, human and otherwise. They have studied both the scientific and Chi-related aspects of living beings, and they know how to exploit this knowledge to strike at the weakest part of a human body. Characters who use this schtick must focus intently on their opponents during combat, waiting for just the right moment to strike an exposed vital area. This means that characters using this schtick may not actively dodge in combat, and that they have a -2 penalty to their passive dodge Action Value. Attacks made by this character are rolled as normal, but if the attack is successful, the character using the Vital Blow schtick ignores his opponent's toughness entirely when figuring damage. This schtick always has a minimum length of three shots, and it may only be directed against named characters. If you purchase one schtick in Vital Blow, you receive a -2 Action Value penalty your Martial Arts check. If you purchase two schticks in Vital Blow, you receive a -1 Action Value penalty. If you buy three schticks, the penalty is 0. For each additional schtick you purchase, you gain a +1 Action Value bonus when using Vital Blow. You may never reduce the penalties to your passive dodge Action Value, no matter how many schticks you purchase.
Your character has dedicated himself to the study of one particular type of weapon. As a result, he is especially proficient in its use. Characters who take this schtick may select one type of hand to hand weapon (e.g., katana, nunchaku, sai, etc....) That character inflicts +2 damage when using any weapon of that type. For each additional schtick spent on Weapon Master, you may select an additional class of weapon. Note that Weapon Master is only superficially superficial to the Signature Weapon schtick. Although the character gets the bonus on a wider range of weapons (all katanas instead of just one specific katana), they gain none of the other benefits afforded by a Signature Weapon. Further, if a character has a Signature Weapon and the Weapon Master schtick, and the Signature Weapon is of a type for which the PC gets a bonus from the Weapon Master, the PC only gets the bonuses afforded by the Signature Weapon for that particular weapon, and not the bonuses from the Weapon Master schtick. In other words, they only get +3 damage with their Signature katana, not +5 damage because they've also chosen katana as their Weapon Master schtick.
Last modified: June 25th, 1997; please send comments to durrell@innocence.com.