Homebrew Sword School: Executioner's Calling

[sandova]

A long trial, an even longer walk, ending in a single swipe. This is still the fate of many in the wheel, but for some, this process is their daily business. It has been said that there once was a prisoner's revolt so violent that the judges sentenced the entirety of the prison to death, and called for the executioners to go forth and bring back the heads of the rioters. This act became known as the 'Executioner's Calling', a name later used for the sword school developed in those hellish halls.

Perception is the key skill used for Executioner's Calling, because you need to see what, where and how you execute those beneath your axe.

Executioner's Calling has school equivalency with Stone Dragon

Level 1: Apprentice

-Weapon (Two-Handed): Use Two-Handed Weapons with special attacks

-Action (All-Out Attack): Use All-Out Attack actions in martial maneuvers.

Level 2: Initiate

(-2)Execute: This attack can only be made against a stunned or prone opponent

(3)Crippling Strike: Targets hit by this attack have their speed halved for the rest of the scene. Enemies can have their speed halved only once per scene this way.

Level 3: Journeyman

(-1)Skill(Perception): As part of this attack, make a Perception check against the Static Defense of the target. If it fails, the attack fails.

(3)Apprehend: This attack gains an additional 3 meters of reach. If it hits, you pull the target in and force it to become engaged in melee with you.

Level 4: Master

-Mastery (Decimate the Weak): Special attacks you make deal +2k0 damage against targets with critical damage.

(4)Hemorrhage: Targets wounded by this attack suffer Blood Loss.

Level 5: Grandmaster

(5)Headsman's Guillotine: This attack deals +1k0 damage for every two hit point the target is missing, and +0k1 for every point of Critical Damage the target has when the attack is made.

[Lestat]

Outside of fixing the formatting: Apprehend isn't that useful. There are multiple shift/teleport advantages that let you get close enough to continue attacking while engaged in melee, there are extra range advantages that are much more efficient, and there are bull rush/momentum/forced move advantages that let you dictate where the enemy goes. There are also plenty of grapple/immobilize/shove prone advantages too. 0.33 meters of reach, and 0.33 meters of pull per point is just extremely inefficient, and unlikely to have use even if you're setting up traps/spell zones since you'll be in whatever space they're in too.

I assume its supposed to represent pulling people with the beard of an axe. If that's the case then making it have hyper range would be odd. If it let you shove people it'd be really close to other abilities. I think it could make an interesting passive applied to all weaponry attacks if it also ended movement, making people unable to escape when you opportunity attack them back in. No matter what though in its current form it's unlikely to see use as there's no universal opp. attacks when closing distance unlike D&D, which is what extra range is typically revered for in those games.

[username]

I think Apprehend would work better switched with Hemorrhage (or is it a play on words of Hemorrhage and Rage?), since blood loss is pretty harsh. Unlike Rain of Red Death and things similar to it, Hemorrage requires the attack to wound rather than just hit, but that mostly limits what it can be applied to easily since 1 wound isn't hard to inflict.

Apprehend isn't great in a vacuum, but the key to it is the phrasing I think. It isn't that you can hit someone 1 meter away and pull them in 1 meter, is it that you can hit them 1 meter away further than whatever you could otherwise and pull them in to melee. 1 Meter isn't great, but say a character casts bloodwind. At level 4 that is 40 meters, which becomes 41 with Apprehend, and if you hit someone 41 meters away they are now pulled to you an engaged in melee, extremely useful against ranged enemies or those trying to flee, letting you instantly close the gap. It would stack with the other sword school advantages you reference too. Sword Beam as well, which is useful since the granted attack type is All Out Attack.
If you want to be really unfair, fly into the air with the combination. The target is pulled to you and then, presumably, drops. With good spacing you could end up doing an extra 20+ wounds. You could drag people underground or through walls as well. The phrasing may need to change a little to prevent such set ups.

The flying section isn't really the intention though. I believe this sword school was made during a game wherein Sandova was playing a Gank Spanker and it was intended to combine with the Gank Spanker's existing extra reach and other functions.

Making it a passive would be too restrictive and at the same time a bit too strong due to those combos mentioned before, while not really preventing people from escaping melee since a Shift action doesn't provoke so even if it ended movement it wouldn't function on opportunity attacks, only Delays.
It wouldn't hurt to give it a little extra reach though. An extra 2 or 3 instead of just 1 extra meter would make it more functional on its own with what it is intending to do or with other advantages within the school. It's best used on a standard attack, that way it can be used with an opportunity or delay attack. 3 Meters is enough to be used at everything that tries to squat in Point Blank range of you and a bit beyond that. Useful for those people that think it is a great idea to Full Auto at 1.9 meters away, forgetting that it provokes.

[sandova]

Bump to show the (small) changes made
Switched Apprehend and Hemorrage and added 2 extra meters to Apprehend's range boost