Class of the Day?

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

I was going to post a underused CotG class per day. Anyone want me to do that?

[Mace Parshath]

Sounds cool to me.

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

Classes of the Day for December 4, 2005:

Aslyl Okta: Developed by the Rahu Men, the race of four armed mystical giants, Aslyl Okta is ideal for those who either naturally or supenaturally have multiple limbs. The art uses the Zwittentang, a massive club that is designed to be wielded at various times in various manuevers by one, two, three or four arms. It provides a balance of chi skill, martial art technique, katas, invisibility skills and grappling. It does suffer against ranged attacks or foot-based arts, but in hand play it is unparalleled.

D-Shifter: An art developed in the tumult of Chaos Earth, the D-Shifters are master of astral travel, dimensional effects, and have an array of spell-like magic skills including energy expulsion, replicating dimensional spells, reopening a portal, phasing across two dimensions, time travel, or turning into light or energy,

Spatial Mage: The learned flipside of the D-Shifter, the Spatial Mage learns to alter space and time like many other chronomancers or similar, but also masters how to create their own private dimensions, using them as havens, sources of power, storage, etc.

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

Ankaqoq are Inuit shamans who learn numerous shamanic spells, develop a connection with a spirit bear called a Tornaq who is a simply MASSIVE P.P.E. repository (1D4x100+150 in Rifts terms at first level), create Inuit talismans/fetishes/amulets, shape change, learn the Nalussaerunek senses (literally, "to not be conscious of anything"), and some psychic powers.

Qivigtog are Polar Mystics, learning a few scattered nature, exploration, personal conveyance spells, minor psionics, the ability to create an Iceberg Body of incredible strength (personal augmentation), moving like a blizzard with incredible speed and force, shape-changing, creating a spirit weapon, and Nalussaerunek senses.

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

The Arken Warrior has an amazing array of spell-casting and combat ability. They learn War Magic, a powerful variety of magic that includes spells such as Rust Blade (a blade similar to the Blade of Decay in the Treasure of Trials, inflicting decay on each blow); Summon the Archon, summoning an angelic-like creature of diabolic power and nature; and Obliterate, a titanic wall of energy that rolls over all in its path. They use a Spirit of War that they conjure to quickly cast their spells as well as combine sword fighting with magic (the dreaded Arkenas art). They can use the Fist of War ritual to turn a weapon into a focus for a chosen spell. And when casting their War Magic, additional effects, ranging from summoning the undead to conjuring a storm of static lightning, occurs.

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

This is less of a Class of a Day and more of an idea link, but here goes: www.users.qwest.net/~bhegr/D8/ . The various D-8s are analogs to CotG psychic classes and the abilities listed can be seeds for inspiration. The D-8 Bronze is not listed, so here's my notes from when they were up before:

Bronze:
Death Trance
Bio-Regeneration (Superior)
Summon Inner Strength
High Strength
High Endurance
Restore I.S.P.
Restore P.P.E.
Suppress Fear
Deaden Pain
Impervious to Fire
Impervious to Cold
Induce Sleep
Induce Pain
Impervious to Poison/Toxins
Psychic Surgery
Psycic Purification
Healing Touch
See the Invisible
Emergency Bio-Regeneration (in an emergency, for no I.S.P. due to permanent I.S.P. sacrifice, the body heals itself)
Strengthen Body (must concentrate, then the body becomes buffer)
Create Toxin (makes the character capable of creating toxins, like pain, paralysis, hallucination, etc.)
Bio-Regeneration Master (permanent sacrifice of I.S.P. for permanent regen)
Amplified Senses
Reconnect Tissues
Environment Adaption

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

Today's Class is Gun Kata, in four distinct forms, as well as some associated classes!

The core concept of the Gun Kata style is implied by the very name: A formalized application of martial arts. In this context, the formalization is actually scientific or statistical: Through repeated analysis of the likely statistical placement of enemies, their common tactics, and their trajectories of fire, masters of this art are able to both evade incoming attacks (not through reflexes or any kind of "bullet time" effect but through placement and intelligence) and precisely assault foes. The most striking usage of this is presented in the first fight scene of Equilbrium, where Cleric John Preston kills a number of terrorists with automatic rifles with no light!

The Katas break down into two distinct forms and philosophies, termed Fluid and Solid in the rules. Fluid is the one featured in Ultraviolet [Editor's Note: the movies were directed by the same guy, so he featured the same concept in two different forms]. It uses circular motions and more wushu-style fighting, with fluid, soft ki, Aikid-like attacks and forms. The class Hemophage Assassin, a class from the UV world, fittingly teaches this style. Meanwhile, the Solid form is the one used by Preston, with harder and more linear strikes, more emphasis on blocking instead of evasion or parrying, and so on. This means that those with a hard ki focus should probably select the Solid form while a soft-ki geared character can choose Fluid, though they can of course behave oppositely in gun and physical combat. The Grammaton Cleric teaches this style as well as the associated skills of swordmanship, emotion detection, police and detective work, etc.

In game terms, those with Gun Kata get bonuses to gun damage and accuracy as well as superhuman bullet evasion. They also can design Gun Katas with components or elements (i.e. Blindfighting, Multiple Enemies, One Enemy, etc.)

Both incorporate using guns not only as firearms but as melee weapons, often incorporating clips as well. Further, while not required, both do have sword forms.

Conversely, there is a Gun Kumite form, also what the name implies: Instead of the controlled and statistical rigor of the Gun Kata, Gun Kumite practitioners emphasize improvisation, intuition, practicality, utilizing the uncertainty of battle, and formlessness. Instead of rising above the chaos of modern warfare, they delve wholeheartedly into it.

Another martial art involving guns is the Triad Assassin (featured in Mystic China). Its creator is Arsenic Handshake Wu Saih and it uses 9mms virtually exclusively. The advantage of this art is that there is a drastic increase in the number of shots and the damage done by each, and with an ammunition type with a good balance of punch and control as well as a style that is a mix of practicality and preparation.

Then there are the Gun Masters of Rifts China. They learn techniques that combine Chi and Technique with guns to channel effects such as empowering their clips, launching explosive kicks and punches, etc.

The Twanchen One Shot Enbutsu, on the other hand, turn sniper shots into an art form and are a great option for those wanting to use old flintlock and other black powder weapons.

And of course there are people incorporating guns into any number of modern forms: Jujutsu, for example. This can be represented through Merits, Weapon Katas purchased for the forms, etc.

So those are just some of the options for combining gunplay with martial arts sensibility!

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

The Holistic Detective is a type of detective who reasons that, since the world is one united whole, that researching random things will produce knowledge of the case at hand. While Dirk Gently originally used this means as a way to defraud his clients (invariably solving the case anyways), he discovered the real benefit of it among the Old Guard. Holistic Detectives benefit from their method in that they jump past initial assumptions, let the intuitive subconscious roam, and can behave in ways that criminals do not expect.

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

Classes of the Day for October 3, 2006 (yeah, "classes of the day" has become "classes of the five months"):

Phantasm Illusionist:Taken from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, this Class specializes in mass damage to mass groups! All of its spells damage all enemies (virtually no risk of harming allies, owing to its effects), and even better, the spells are even more effective if the character can use illusions, genjutsu, holograms, telepathy/psychic powers, or anything else to make others believe that the spells are real or fear them!

[Frederic Bourgault-Christie]

In response to popular demand, some scythe classes!

The Way of the Whirlwind is a school that features swirling, spinning strikes. It's a great style for those who want to develop constant motion, Whirlwind Attacks, or similar [hint, hint, Hack]. The reasoning is simple: The scythe is unique in that the blade is curved, intrinsically causing a lead when swinging outwards and away. Those who use the style therefore argue that the scythe is uniquely suited to create torque. To reverse the direction, the blade is simply reversed. The style relies on motion and the length of the blade for defense and on constant slashing motions for offense. It is masterful against many opponents. It is excellent at moderate or longer combat ranges but not so good at close or closer.

The Venecia Tiger Guards are technically a polearm and shield class, but they do have a scythe subform. For them, polearms are used as extensions of a shield to protect someone. Sweeping, tripping, blocks, and other moves are their forte.

Peasants in Jaoyherg and other parts of the continent of Videll developed a style called Farmer's Boon or the Gentle Peasant. It takes advantage of the fact that a scythe is totally expected in the hands of a farmer and that someone with a scythe can easily slip into fields of wheat and pretend to work. It goes a different direction from wild slashing and instead makes pinpoint, targeted hacking and piercing motions that are designed to puncture armor and silently kill. It is a defensive art, less oriented towards assassination than the similarly-founded taijutsu and ninjutsu arts, but does include its fair share of evasion techniques.

Thanks to Song, the Shinigami no Oshie and Shinigami no Teisei are also options to pursue.http://cotgrpg.proboards78.com/index.cgi?board=narutojutsu&action=display&thread=1159756449
and cotgrpg.proboards78.com/index.cgi?board=narutojutsu&action=display&thread=1159756390.

And, of course, trainers such as Magus, Zasalmel, Judgment, and others can be used to broaden scythe skills.