Varieties of martial arts

A martial arts “school” is a body of knowledge that, at the very least, defines a certain style of fighting. Some schools go further by seeing the martial arts as defining an approach to life in general. The constant practice rituals strengthen the body and the mind, while the quest to perfect one’s art holds deeper philosophical truths. Of course, not all schools are like this; many are purely practical.

A place where a school is taught is known as an academy or a dojo. It is possible for an academy to teach many schools, if it is sufficiently large; and it is possible for a school to be taught at many academies, if it is sufficiently popular. In fact, the largest academies may churn out dozens if not hundreds of students each year from many different schools. Most will know only the basics of their art, but the best students will command knowledge far beyond their peers. At the other end of the scale, a school without an academy might have only a few wandering masters, who choose carefully the students to whom they impart their knowledge. Such a school could be even more famous (or infamous) than one that is taught at multiple academies.

Mastering a School

A martial artist must be at least 6th character level before she can gain the benefits of mastering a school, even if she manages to meet the prerequisites beforehand. The benefits accrue once the character has satisfied all the prerequisites, and spends at least six months training under the guidance of a master. The training need not be continuous, but any significant break requires the character to start over at the beginning. As a rule, this should happen with any interruption longer than a month, or if more than 50% of the character’s time is spent away from training; however, the DM has final say on what counts as a significant break.

“Mastery” of a school represents mastering the basic techniques taught by the school. These are techniques that potentially anyone can learn, if they complete the required training. At the DM’s option, a school may also contain more advanced learning, reserved for the most exceptional individuals. Such knowledge would be represented by taking a martial arts prestige class that expands on the abilities given here, culminating in grand mastery of a school. You cannot become a grand master simply by accumulating more martial artist levels (or levels in any other base class) or by gaining feats. A prestige class is necessary because learning these secrets takes much more dedication than mastering the basics: if you are to finish the journey, you can’t afford to stray off the path.

A martial artist doesn’t have to have studied at an academy, or attained mastery of a pre-existing school. Many martial artists learn facets of different schools throughout their careers, mixing and matching techniques to come up with a style that’s uniquely their own. In the right circumstances, such a character may be even more dangerous than someone who is technically a “master”.

Creating a School

Here are some guidelines when creating new benefits for mastering a school. Most of these have been said before in other contexts, but they bear repeating.

• Don’t duplicate the mastery benefits of existing schools. A new school should have its own flavor as far as possible, although it can be similar to existing ones.
• Don’t duplicate existing prerequisites. Not only does this reduce the distinctiveness of a school, it makes it easy for characters to accumulate multiple freebies with little or no effort.
• Don’t duplicate unique class abilities. If a character wants to rage or sneak attack, the best way to do it is by multiclassing to barbarian or rogue. As far as possible, you should avoid diluting the identities of the various D&D classes.
• Make the requirements meaningful. If they’re ones that most characters would take, they’re not really impediments to becoming a master — remember that mastery is something that only a dedicated character should be able to achieve. Weapon Focus isn’t a particularly onerous requirement for a martial artist, for example, while Toughness might be.
• Don’t make the requirements too obscure. If a school requires skill ranks in Knowledge (local: Shady Vale), this means only characters from Shady Vale (or are familiar with the area) could become masters. This may cause difficulties later on, when characters from elsewhere want to master the school.
• Aim for a character level of 6th to 8th when someone will be able to satisfy all the prerequisites. This is when the fighting classes get their first iterative attack, and the martial artist’s dodge bonus to AC increases to +2. It’s a good break point for representing someone who has exceptional skill at one style of combat, but isn’t (yet) tremendously powerful.
• Not all schools have to be aimed at martial artists. The examples that follow require feats that only martial artists can take, but you could also create a school that requires Weapon Specialization or the rage ability. You could even create a school that requires feats and abilities from two or more classes, so a prospective master would have to multiclass.
• Feats as prerequisites slant the school toward martial artists and fighters, even if the necessary feats aren’t class-specific. This is because these classes have the most bonus feats to spare. If you create a school that’s meant for spellcasters, for example, the number of prerequisite feats should be reduced to match.
• It’s better to have a powerful ability that can be used a limited number of times per day, rather than a less-powerful ability that is always functioning (such as a constant bonus to AC, attacks, or saves). Always-on abilities are best represented as feats.

Existing Martial Arts Schools

Following are some schools that I've created. Feel free to pick them to bits, use these in your campaign, fold, spindle or mutilate them into something completely different, or whatever.

• The Iron Hand -- A school that concentrates on speed and unarmed combat. It's an example of how the PHB monk might be treated in terms of the martial artist class and feats.
• The Mountain Spirit -- An "internal" school, concentrating on the use of ki and magic.
• Intuitive Archery -- Another introspective school focusing on the art of the bow. It's how I think the Zen archer concept should have been treated, instead of the eminently tepid Order of the Bow Initiate that appeared in Sword and Fist.
• The Crimson Blade -- A more violent swordfighting school that takes the concept of the "will to power" as a starting point.
• Ki Swordsmanship -- Flying warriors, in the Crouching Tiger, Hero and Stormriders style. It's a beefed-up blade dancer, essentially. Includes an example character.
• The Flashing Sword -- A style that's meant to be less overtly Eastern in origin. Like the duelist from Sword & Fist, but with a more supernatural bent.
• The Way of the Shadow -- A martial arts style for those who lurk in the darkness.

Related Material

• The martial artist class
• The list of martial arts feats
• Other combat-related feats

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