Sword School - Bloody Valentine

[GuardianTempest]

Love is a powerful force, some would even say that it's too powerful. People could be driven to great acts out of passion, or be brought to crushing despair. And then there are those who are filled with so much love that they...burst. Legends say that there was a schoolgirl who could no longer contain herself and sought to pour out her feelings to another. She either murdered everyone who got in the way of her romance, or she carved her devotion into her boyfriend's corpse. She then grew up into a lovely housewife who passed her teachings onto to her daughter, who passed it onto her daughter and maybe a few close accomplices, who then passed it onto their daughters, and so on. That's how the Bloody Valentine method was created.

The key skill for Bloody Valentine is Persuasion, to clearly inform someone of your deep love. Parrying weapons are the favorite choice of this Sword School as their short length brings people a little closer in their "intimacy". Learning this style requires very little training (if any) as all one needs is a deep love and the willingness to express it as directly as possible. Recently, some Vampires are flocking to this Sword School because they too are infatuated...with blood, that is.

Level 1: Apprentice

- Weapon (Parrying): Use Parrying weapons with your martial maneuvers.

- Action (Charge): Use Charge actions in martial maneuvers.

Level 2: Initiate

(-2) Hearts Aflutter: This attack can only be used on someone who was adjacent to you at the end of your last turn.

(2) Incision Calligraphy: This attack gains the Torturous property.

Level 3: Journeyman

(-1) Skill (Persuasion): As a part of this attack, make a Persuasion test against the target's Static Defense. If it fails, the attack fails.

(2) Endorphin Rush: If this attack hits and you didn't attack a different target in the previous round, add +2 to your Speed and melee damage rolls until the end of combat. This bonus is lost if you hit a different target or you fail to land an attack with this advantage for one round.

Level 4: Master

- Mastery (Yandere Simulation): You may choose one opponent as your Senpai in any given combat. Gain +1 to Resilience and +1k1 when attempting to resist enemy or environmental effects as long as Senpai is (2*Speed) meters away from you or closer. You also suffer the opposite penalty (minimum of 1 Resilience) if you're outside that range.

(3) Laceration Marriage: If this attack deals wounds, the target suffers an amount of Rending wounds to the same hit location if he takes a Full Action or Extended Action on his next turn.

Level 5: Grandmaster

(4) Honeymoon Surgery: This attack does not cause critical damage effects that would directly kill the target. You recover Hit Points equal to the number of wounds dealt if the target becomes or is critically wounded.

[GuardianTempest]

Pffffhahahahaha, wasn't expecting this, were you?

Two days ago I was thinking about retooling Smiling Flourish. I also wanted to give Novice another martial school that uses a different social skill (Lucky Break for Deceive, Shrinking Violet for Persuasion, something else for Charm). I looked at the School Equivalency and saw that Shadow Hand has a lot while Iron Heart and Diamond Mind have little. Tiger Claw alternatives all use All-Out Attack or Multiple Attacks with very little variety in weapons.

I wanted to fix that by making an alternate Tiger Claw school that uses Parrying weapons. Persuasion was picked because I figured it could be used to represent self-expression and since Tiger Claw (and friends) is about being primal...I ended up making a yandere Sword School. So the next day I spent brainstorming with the boyz and here I am. Oh, I also ended up with another Sword School idea as well, finding out another way to represent Charm.

Hearts Aflutter is worded in a way that lets you apply it to the Charge action (as you chase your Senpai across the battlefield). The capstone advantage is a more brutal version of Foxhound Protocol's Hands of the Patriot. As implied by the OP image, I wanted to add self-injury synergies like "If the target is yourself, <effect> instead" or "If you're dealt wounds in the previous round, <effect>". I couldn't add it though, couldn't figure out a good execution.

Here's the original draft for Yandere Simulation (tell me if you think this is more suitable): You may choose one opponent as your Senpai in any given combat. You deal +2k0 damage to anyone who deals wounds to him, makes a social attack against him, or ends their turn within 5m of him; these conditions stack (you deal +6k0 to those who do all three). Having a Senpai gives you a -2k0 penalty to attack rolls against everyone else.

Previous drafts of Endorphin Rush and Surgical Marriage:

(3) Endorphin Rush: If this attack hits, increase your Speed by +2 and attacks with this advantage deal an additional +1k0 damage to the same target. This cumulative bonus lasts until the end of the encounter and is lost if you miss, hit a different target, or did not use this attack for an entire round.

(3) Laceration Marriage: Gain a point of Resolve and remove a level of Fatigue if this attack deals critical damage.

Another amusing point: The advantages seem to parallel a typical yandere confrontation.
- Level 1: Yandere approaches (charges towards) you with a knife.
- Level 2: Yandere cuts you a bit, this freaks you out.
- Level 3: Yandere is chasing you.
- Level 4: Yandere has caught you and is enjoying it.
- Level 5: ...



I really want to make the capstone have separate benefits for hitting the Head and Gizzards.

Also, there's another Sword School in the works as well, but it's nowhere near as complete but I do have ideas. I just have to keep my themes cohesive. I nearly strayed too far from the original idea once.

EDIT: It seems I changed the name of this school out of sleep deprivation. I have reverted that change.

EDIT 2: Laceration Marriage changed from limiting the amount of wounds dealt by the target's next attack, to decreasing the target's Speed

EDIT 3: Capstone advantage changed to be simpler. Here is the previous one for comparison.

If this attack deals critical damage, it gains an additional effect depending on where it hits. Hitting the Arm severs the hand while hitting the Leg severs the foot, if those parts are already missing then the rest of the limb is amputated instead. Hitting the Body inflicts Blood Loss, if the target already has it then he rolls to avoid bleeding out instead. Hitting the Head or Gizzards forces the target to roll on the Shock Table.

The idea with the current version of Honeymoon Surgery is that you benefit from keeping someone alive yet close to death. In case the grammar isn't clear, if the target would die then the attack does no damage and instead heals you.

EDIT 4: Honeymoon Surgery revised again, this time so it can synergize with Incision Calligraphy. Enjoy indulging in your sadism.

[GuardianTempest]

Laceration Marriage revised thanks to insertnamehere providing ideas. I would've made it last until the end of the encounter but it would shred people if multiple instances of that effect were applied to the same target. The previous version of the advantage was the target getting -2 to speed for each wound dealt, until your next turn. If his Speed dropped to zero then he's Immobilized as well. While that is a good effect, it would be redundant since the user becomes faster with Endorphin Rush anyway.

I considered making Incision Calligraphy cheaper but Torturous deletes Resolve and, unlike spells, there's little risk to doing it repeatedly on the same target. I also considered removing the "same target" restriction for Endorphin Rush but I wonder if it would be too good for its cost then (and how it would affect the school's gameplay style).

That should be it for this Sword School. Now to wait until someone breaks the game with it, then act on balance feedback.

[GuardianTempest]

Endorphin Rush made easier to use. I'm thinking of buffing Laceration Marriage as currently you only make the most of it if you're already dealing massive damage. Maybe make the additional wounds equal to martial adept level?

Also, in hindsight, Prometheans and the like really get the short end when going up against Honeymoon Surgery. Getting crit 5 in a hit location isn't a death sentence unless it hits them in the gizzards.