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(Date Posted:01/05/2006 05:47:57)
I know there's been another post on this somewhere, but I couldn't find it.I've always liked the idea of the Yael school, twirling dancer flashing blades, beautiful and deadly. I really really wanted to like the mechanics of the school, too, but I just couldn't reconcile the knacks (Disarm, Double-Parry and Feint) with the Mastery abilities, or really with the school concept.So I was sitting around on my lunch break the other day, pondering imponderables and thinking about 7th Sea when it occurred to me to codify my thoughts on the School and to suggest an alternative.First Thought: Yael is (or ought to be) the predecessor "sister-school" to Soldano. Soldano is a wild leaping two bladed style which supposedly derives from a crescent style, but as written, Yael and Soldano have only Double Parry in common. The "old crescent trick" whirl is possessed by the Castillian school and not the crescent one.Second Thought: Yael is not just a fighting school, it's an art form. It's used to entertain as well as fight, and yet there's none of that really represented in the school. (Art is used as fighting but fighting is not used as art.)With those two thoughts in mind, I reenvisioned the school rather drastically...Yael:Yael is one of the oldest schools in the Empire of the Crescent Moon and one the most refined. In the Empire dancing is almost solely purview of women and fighting is almost solely the purview of men. The Yael tradition is therefore the subject of much friendly historical debate as to whether it was founded in antiquity by women who wanted to fight or men who wanted to dance. Whatever its origins, Yael has survived the century as much because of the phenomenal grace of its performances as for its utility in battle.A Yael duelist performs a spinning, twirling dance in battle, using their lithe bodies, flashing, steel, long ribbons and diaphanous silks to weave a smoky curtain of deception to beguile their opponents before suddenly lashing out in a brief whirlwind of bladed mayhem that cuts their foes to shreds.The Primary weakness of the Yael School is that its practitioners can become so caught up in their performance that they can forget they are in a fight.Nationality: CrescentCurriculum: Fencing, Performer.Knacks: Tagging (Fencing), Wall of Steel (Fencing), Whirl (Fencing), Exploit Weakness (Yael)School Bonus: Free raise per mastery level with the Dancing knack when not in combat.Apprentice: No Off Hand Penalty for fencing weapon. As long as the Yael Dancer has two fencing weapons in hand, they may spend Two actions, Only one of which need be current to make two attacks against a single opponent.Journeyman: May add rank in Dancing to Footwork, Parry(Fencing), Attack(Fencing), and Tagging (Fencing) rolls.Master: When making a tagging roll, the Yael dancer my opt to attempt to dazzle an opponent, leaving him stunned and or disoriented by her flare and grace. Instead of stealing a drama die, the Yael dancer steals the opponent next action die + 1 action die per three raises. (This ability only works on human opponents or things the GM rules can be beguiled)You may fire when ready...
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So, you choose suicide as an active defense.
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