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Sojutsu (pp. 197-198) is but one of the world’s many<br />
spear arts. The spear is a very simple weapon that has seen<br />
extensive use in warfare, hunting, and personal combat<br />
since before recorded history. It survives today as the<br />
bayonet, taught by modern armies as much to instill<br />
aggressiveness in recruits as for combat utility.<br />
Chinese Spear Fighting<br />
4 points<br />
Chinese Spear Fighting is dramatic. A move particular to<br />
Chinese styles, especially cinematic ones, is the fullextension<br />
thrust with one hand on the very end of the pole.<br />
This is an All-Out Attack (Long) that ends in a crouch, inflicting<br />
normal one-handed damage. Cinematic fighters should<br />
use the Flying Lunge technique and the Tip Slash option<br />
(p. 113) extensively, too.<br />
Chinese spears are flexible, allowing arced thrusts. Treat<br />
these as Deceptive Attacks. A decorative horse-hair tassel –<br />
white or brightly colored – is knotted behind the head. This<br />
serves to distract enemies and prevent blood from running<br />
down the shaft (which could foul the wielder’s grip).<br />
Skills: Acrobatics; Spear; Staff.<br />
Techniques: As Sojutsu (pp. 197-198), but add Feint<br />
(Staff) and Sweep (Staff).<br />
Cinematic Skills and Techniques: As Sojutsu, but add<br />
Flying Lunge (Spear).<br />
Perks: Form Mastery (Spear); Grip Mastery (Spear).<br />
Optional Traits<br />
Skills: Spear Art.<br />
Shurikenjutsu stresses readying the shuriken quickly,<br />
without letting the opponent see it. Stylists typically conceal<br />
it in the palm or behind a sleeve. They toss the weapon with<br />
a sharp overhand or underhand motion, spin it sideways, or<br />
throw it while sweeping their hand through a sworddrawing<br />
motion – attacking the enemy by surprise even as<br />
they ready their sword. Treat such moves as either dirty<br />
tricks that use Holdout vs. Perception (see Dirty Tricks,<br />
p. 76) or one of the options under Tricky Shooting (p. 121).<br />
The GM should consider letting practitioners learn a Style<br />
Perk that gives them access to Tricky Shooting if the campaign<br />
doesn’t generally use those rules.<br />
Stylists hurl shuriken rapidly, ideally throwing at least<br />
one per second to deny the foe a lull that he could exploit to<br />
advance or attack. To do this, ready a shuriken in each hand<br />
(possibly using Fast-Draw), throw the one in your master<br />
hand, use the Quick-Swap perk to move the other to your<br />
throwing hand, and Fast-Draw a replacement with the off<br />
hand. Use Rapid Strike with Thrown Weapons (p. 120-121) to<br />
throw two or more blades! Fast-Draw and Quick-Swap let<br />
Spear Fighting<br />
196 STYLES<br />
Heroic Spear Fighting<br />
4 points<br />
This style is based on the heroic stories of <strong>Home</strong>r’s Iliad.<br />
Greek heroes carried two spears and a sword. They were ferried<br />
to battle on chariots but dismounted to fight. They usually<br />
threw one spear and saved the other for melee. The<br />
sword was a backup, used when both spears were lost or<br />
against especially difficult foes. Spear fighters should also<br />
learn Pankration (pp. 188-189) or some form of Wrestling<br />
(pp. 204-206) or Boxing (pp. 152-153).<br />
Greek epics often demonstrated the enemy’s ferocity and<br />
the danger posed by his weapons by having the hero narrowly<br />
avoid an attack that went on to kill his chariot driver.<br />
The GM could treat this as a limited Extra Life!<br />
Legendary Celtic warriors fought similarly, and should<br />
use this style as well. They were famed for being able to run<br />
up volleys of arrows shot at them. See Special Feats for<br />
Cinematic Skills (pp. 129-130) for ideas on how to handle this.<br />
Skills: Shield; Spear; Thrown Weapon (Spear).<br />
Techniques: As Sojutsu (pp. 197-198), but remove<br />
Disarming (Spear) and Sweep (Spear).<br />
Cinematic Skills and Techniques: As Sojutsu, but add<br />
Dual-Weapon Attack (Thrown Spear).<br />
Perks: Naval Training; Off-Hand Weapon Training<br />
(Thrown Spear).<br />
Optional Traits<br />
Advantages: Combat Reflexes; Fearlessness; High Pain<br />
Threshold. A fierce Reputation is critical – it’s usually what<br />
the warrior is fighting to establish!<br />
Disadvantages: Bad Temper; Bloodlust; Overconfidence.<br />
Skills: Shortsword.<br />
Continued on next page . . .<br />
you keep a steady rain of shuriken heading toward your<br />
victim.<br />
Cinematic Shurikenjutsu works somewhat differently.<br />
Rather than hurling a constant stream of shuriken, practitioners<br />
throw multiple blades from both hands simultaneously!<br />
They toss shuriken with such precision that they can<br />
break firearms, shatter chains, and split thick slabs of wood.<br />
Shurikenjutsu still exists, its practices of concealment<br />
and quick throwing unchanged from its combative predecessor.<br />
Students use sharp shuriken to practice on targets,<br />
blunt ones to practice on partners in padded armor. Thanks<br />
to the shuriken’s popularity during the 1980s “ninja craze”<br />
in the U.S., many regard it as a weapon of criminals or<br />
wannabe ninja and treat those who carry shuriken<br />
accordingly.<br />
Shurikenjutsu schools sometimes teach how to throw<br />
knives, too – including the kubizashi (head-displaying knife)<br />
and such larger blades as the tanto (large knife). The GM<br />
can also adapt this style for other thrown weapons, such as<br />
the chakram (p. 214), although the name and Thrown<br />
Weapon skill would certainly change.
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