Many people who are familiar with the Fuzion rules from Champions: New Millennium, or from the PDF file on the web have probably noticed that the Martial Arts Plug-In provided therein — while serviceable — is nowhere near as complete or flexible as the systems provided by the Hero System, especially in Steven Long's excellent Ultimate Martial Artist. [Especially since it isn't even in the newest version... — Sixten]
The goal of this article is to begin to expand the systems in Fuzion by replacing the maneuver list from the existing Martial Arts Plug-In with that of the UMA. I have provided straight conversions for those that prefer them, but the real object of this effort is to bring those maneuvers into line with the design decisions that were made in creating the Fuzion combat system.
There are several concepts that are used in the UMA and in this material — such as Disabling strikes — which are not included in the existing Fuzion rules, and these are explained following the descriptions of the maneuvers themselves. I have also included some notes on the nature of the changes that were made to the maneuver descriptions, and the elements of the Fuzion system that motivated them.
I conclude with some brief notes on how to modify the maneuver creation system included in the UMA to build maneuvers that are compatible with these conversions.
If you have any comments or questions on this material, I'd love to hear it (so that I can improve these conversions). Also, since I intend to expand upon this base to include a style creation and learning system for Fuzion, I want to make sure I've got it right. You can reach me at fuzion@sfko.com.
Since I know that some people would rather just have basic conversions of the UMA maneuvers to the Fuzion terminology, without any of my mucking about with the numbers, I have provided a separate table of unmodified maneuvers (the explanations of terminology below are relevant to these, as well).
However, as anyone who is familiar with the Hero System maneuvers is doubtless aware, the maneuvers in the original Fuzion Martial Arts Plug-In underwent some modification to bring them into line with the new damage system, and other such relevant Fuzion rules. The following table reflects the bonuses and costs that have been recalculated to bring them into line with these design changes. Those maneuvers that were included in the Plug-In have been marked with an asterisk (*).
The name of the maneuver is in the first column, followed by its cost in Hero points (see below for cost conversions). The REF (offensive) and DEX (defensive) modifiers for that maneuver are listed next. These modifiers last until the character's next Turn. Finally, the effects of the maneuver are summarized in the last column; see below for details.
Hand-to-Hand Maneuvers
| Maneuver | Cost | REF | DEX | Damage/Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballestra | 5 | +2 | -2 | STR+2 Strike; requires Move at start of Phase |
| Basic Strike | 3 | +1 | +0 | STR+1 Strike |
| Breakfall* | 4 | - | - | Stand up as a Free Action |
| Breaking Throw | 4 | -2 | -2 | Grab one limb; STR-2 Killing Strike, Disable; target falls |
| Choke Hold | 5 | -2 | -1 | Grab one limb; 2DC NND(2) |
| Counterstrike | 4 | +2 | +2 | STR+1 Strike; must follow Block |
| Crush | 4 | +0 | +0 | STR+3 Strike; must follow Grab |
| Defensive Block | 5 | +1 | +3 | Block; Abort |
| Defensive Strike* | 5 | +1 | +3 | STR Strike |
| Defensive Throw | 5 | +1 | +1 | Block; STR Strike; target falls |
| Takeaway Throw | 5 | -2 | -2 | Grab one weapon, +2 STR to Take it away; target falls |
| Eye Gouge | 4 | -1 | -1 | 2 Phase Sight Group Flash |
| Fast Strike | 4 | +2 | +0 | STR+1 Strike |
| Flying Dodge | 5 | — | +4 | Dodge all attacks; Abort; may follow Run |
| Flying Tackle | 5 | +0 | -1 | STR+v/10 Strike; you and target fall; may follow Run |
| Grappling Throw | 4 | +0 | +1 | STR+1 Strike; target falls; must follow Grab |
| Joint Break | 3 | -1 | -1 | Grab one limb; STR-2 Killing Strike, Disable |
| Joint Lock/Throw | 4 | +1 | +0 | Grab one limb; 1DC NND(3); target falls |
| Killing Strike* | 3 | +0 | +0 | STR-2 Killing Strike |
| Killing Throw | 4 | -2 | +0 | STR-2 Killing Strike; target falls |
| Legsweep | 4 | +2 | -1 | STR Strike; target falls |
| Martial Block* | 4 | +2 | +2 | Block; Abort |
| Martial Disarm* | 4 | +0 | +0 | Disarm, +2 STR to Disarm roll |
| Martial Dodge* | 4 | — | +5 | Dodge all attacks; Abort |
| Martial Escape* | 4 | +0 | +0 | +3 STR against Grabs |
| Martial Grab* | 5 | +0 | +0 | Grab two limbs, +2 STR for holding on |
| Martial Strike* | 4 | +0 | +2 | STR+1 Strike |
| Martial Throw* | 3 | +0 | +0 | Target falls |
| Nerve Strike* | 4 | -2 | +0 | 2DC NND(1) |
| Offensive Strike* | 5 | -2 | +1 | STR+2 Strike |
| Passing Strike | 5 | +0 | +0 | STR+v/10 Strike; may follow Run |
| Reversal | 4 | -1 | -2 | Escape, +3 STR to Escape; Grab two limbs |
| Root | 4 | +0 | +0 | +3 STR against Shove; Block; Abort |
| Sacrifice Disarm | 4 | +2 | -2 | Disarm, +2 STR to Disarm roll |
| Sacrifice Lunge | 4 | +1 | -2 | STR+v/10; may follow Run |
| Sacrifice Strike | 5 | +1 | -2 | STR+2 Strike |
| Sacrifice Throw* | 3 | +2 | +0 | STR Strike; you and target fall |
| Shove | 4 | +0 | +0 | +3 STR to Shove |
| Takeaway | 5 | +0 | +0 | Grab one weapon, +2 STR to Take it away |
| Takedown | 5 | +1 | +1 | STR Strike, target falls |
| Weapon Bind | 4 | +1 | +0 | Bind, +2 STR to Bind |
Ranged Maneuvers
| Maneuver | Cost | REF | DEX | Rng | Damage/Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defensive Shot | 3 | -1 | +2 | +0 | Strike |
| Distance Shot | 5 | +0 | -2 | +6 | Strike; happens at end of Phase |
| Far Shot | 5 | +1 | -1 | +4 | Strike |
| Offensive Shot | 4 | -1 | -1 | +0 | Strike; +4DC |
| Quick Shot | 4 | +1 | +0 | +0 | Strike; +2DC |
| Ranged Disarm | 3 | -1 | +0 | +0 | Disarm, +2 STR to Disarm roll |
| Trained Shot | 4 | +0 | +0 | +2 | Strike; +2DC |
| Trip | 3 | -1 | +0 | +2 | Target falls |
Since a bare table of names and modifiers isn't that much help, let's turn now to what's new and different in this set of maneuvers.
The maneuvers described above make use of several mechanics which are not present in the "stock" Fuzion rules, or need slight modification for our purposes (this is noted in the descriptions of each maneuver). Also included below are any special notes about specific maneuvers.
While the weapon is bound, it may not be used to attack, and the bound character halves his defensive AV against attacks from thirds parties. Both characters are at normal AV's against one another. Further, the bound character may not move away from the attacker until he breaks the Bind. The attacker may break the Bind by moving away from the defender during his Turn. The attacker may also — during his Turn — make a STR + Martial Arts + 3d6 roll against a Difficulty of 14, and if successful, may shove the defender back up to 2 m/y, as long as there is room for him to do so.
It is worth noting that the one limb that the Choke Hold Grabs is always the head, and that while in the Choke Hold, the target cannot speak or shout.
A Disabling maneuver must target a limb, and does not suffer any hit location penalties for doing so. Such a maneuver cannot be used to do general damage, or on non-limb targets. The maneuver does damage as normal, and uses the usual damage multipliers for the limb struck, but if the amount done (either before or after multipliers) is more than half of the target's full Hits, then the limb that was hit is Disabled. The exact effects are left to the GM's discretion, but no Disabled limb may be used to make an attack of any kind.
Those manuevers that have Flash elements operate just like the Flash power in the Superpower Plug-In. Extra Damage Classes used with this manuevers will each add one Phase to the Flash effect.
A few words about Grab (a full discussion of the rules introduced in the UMA is outside the scope of this article, unfortunately).
In the basic Fuzion rules, a Grab immobilizes your opponent almost completely. For the purposes of these maneuvers, we consider it to only Grab two limbs (people have five limbs: two arms, two legs, and a head).
A character may attempt to Grab more than the maneuver's one or two limbs, with several important modifiers. First, each set of limbs (one or two, as defined by the maneuver) must be rolled for separately, and in order. Second, for every additional set of limbs Grabbed, the characters takes a -2 penalty to each roll. Third, if any of the rolls is failed, no further limbs may be Grabbed.
Example: Steven Seagull attempts to Joint Lock all of Jackie Cheung's arms and legs. Since the Joint Lock only Grabs one limb, he must roll separately for each, and each of those rolls is at -6. If he manages to lock both arms, but fails to grab the first of Jackie's legs, he may not attempt to Grab the other leg.
Performing a Grab normally requires both hands to perform at full STR, the exception being maneuvers like Joint Lock which only immobilize one limb, and may be performed with one hand. If the attacker only uses one hand to execute a two-handed Grab, he will be at -1 STR to perform the Grab, and will only get half of the maneuver's STR bonus.
Defense against this attack is wearing rigid solid armor, or having Lack of Weakness. No STR, only Extra Damage will increase this maneuver's damage. Refer to C:NM: Alliances for the full rules for No Normal Defense attacks.
These maneuvers may be performed after a Move or by themselves as normal, but you may also Run in your previous Turn to gain extra velocity for the maneuver (see description of the velocity-added maneuvers, below).
Although this maneuver does include a Block element, the GM should normally not allow it to be used against any maneuver other than the Shove. If the character using Root fails to Block the Shove, he still gets the full STR bonus to resist the Shove.
Maneuvers with the Shove element are again essentially STR vs. STR rolls (as for the Grab and Bind maneuvers). If the person Shoving is successful, he may essentially do Knockback to the defender in the amount of one Knockback "unit" per two points of STR in the Shove maneuver (thus for the basic Shove described above, you could Shove an opponent two units).
Similar to the Move By and Move Through maneuvers in the base Fuzion rules, for every 10 m/y of relative velocity of the two combatants, this maneuver does an additional Damage Class of Stun damage. So if you and the target each move 10 m/y toward each other, and then you perform this maneuver, it would do +2 DC.
By now, I'm sure some of you are wondering what the changes are that I have been alluding to between the Hero Martial Arts systems and the Fuzion versions. These changes break down into three broad categories: damage, killing damage, and throwing.
Thanks to Bruce Harlick at Hero for helping to keep me on the right track with this material.
In both Hero and Fuzion, the damage done by martial arts attacks is based on the amount of Strength the martial artist has. In Hero, an average person inflicted 2d6 of STR damage, and normal human maximum was 4d6. In Fuzion, the scale of Stun damage remains the same, but the amount of damage a character can be expected to do changes. The average character in Fuzion still does 2d6, but normal human maximum becomes 7d6 Stun.
Accordingly, the damage added by maneuvers was — on average — halved. So while a Hero Offensive Strike added +20 STR (+4d6 Stun damage), the Fuzion version adds only +2 STR (+2d6 Stun damage). The maneuvers from the UMA have been rescaled accordingly.
While the scale of Stun damage remains pretty constant between Hero and Fuzion, the Killing Damage system has changed radically. As can be seen in the Superpower Plug-In, making as attack do Killing Damage is now a flat Adder. Maneuvers that do Killing Damage now use your Strength as a base damage, and apply the same -2d6 penalty as the Killing Blast.
Because of the differences in how the combat Round is divided, the Hero concept of Half-Phase Actions does not exist in Fuzion. Thus, being Thrown is a more severe disadvantage in Fuzion than Hero, because you are required to spend a full Action to stand up (unless you have Breakfall). Maneuvers with the "target falls" element have thus become more expensive in Fuzion, because they incapacitate your opponent to a much greater degree. Correspondingly, the "you fall" element has become slightly more of a disadvantage.
Much of the number crunching that was done to arrive at the numbers I've used in this article was done by recosting the various options in the maneuver creation system in the UMA, and seeing what happened. Above I've explained why these changes were necessary; as to the final modifications that were made, they are summarized in the following table. The rest of the maneuver elements can stay as-is.
| Maneuver Element | Old Cost | New Cost |
| Target falls | +1 | +3 |
| You fall | -1 | -2 |
| + v/10 | +1 | +2 |
| +1 STR | +1,+2 | +2 |
| Killing Damage | +3/DC | +3 |
| +1/2d6 NND | +1,+2 | +2 |
| 1 Phase Flash | +2,+4/d6 | +3 |
As to the actual cost to the player, there are two approaches you can take. The first and easiest is simply to declare that all maneuvers cost two Option Points (as they do in the existing Plug-In). The second, and perhaps more balanced, is to add up the cost of a style using the Hero point costs (on the 3-5 point scale) and then divide by two to obtain the cost in Option Points. On average, this is still two points, but if a player creates a style using all 5-point maneuvers, they will pay slightly more for it than a player whose style contains a good mix of maneuvers.
With this expanded list of maneuvers, you should feel free to modify or expand the styles detailed in the Fuzion Martial Arts Plug-In, or to create your own with the rules therein. In further articles, I hope to expand this material to eventually detail a full replacement for the existing Plug-In.
Good gaming!