GURPS Martial Arts - Home

To execute a Piledriver, you must first grapple your opponent
with two hands by the arms, torso, or legs. Resolve this
as an ordinary grapple. Your foe may defend normally.
If your enemy fails to break free on his turn, then on your
next turn, make a Piledriver roll to turn him head-down and
drop to a sitting posture. This counts as an attack. If your
victim’s weight exceeds your BL¥4, you aren’t strong enough
to pick him up – your attack fails automatically but you
must still roll to see if you critically fail!
Your victim may defend at the usual penalties for being
grappled. If he knows the Wrestling skill, he can counter
your move by pivoting to make the attack mechanically difficult.
This defense counts as a Wrestling parry and is possible
even if your foe has no hands free.
Martial-arts legend features countless “ultimate techniques”
taught only to advanced students. Kung fu has
dim mak – the “death touch” – with supposed origins in
13th-century Taoist medicine. The rapier masters of the
16th and 17th centuries reputedly attacked with the botte
segrete, or “secret strike,” while 18th-century smallsword
masters defended with the parata universale, or “universal
parry.” These were the irresistible force and immovable
object of European swordplay. The list goes on.
Most fabled techniques have prosaic origins. Death
touches and similar strikes have their genesis in physiology,
not esoteric medicine. When healers discover new
human frailties, warriors seek to exploit them in battle; see
New Hit Locations (p. 137) for examples. This isn’t magic
– a sufficiently skilled fighter can target any body part he
wishes, given a reason to do so.
This doesn’t stop rumors about secret techniques from
arising when one man defeats another with a strike to an
unusual target. An example is the coup de Jarnac. Guy de
Chabot de Jarnac killed François de Vivonne de La
Châtaigneraie (one of France’s greatest swordsmen) on
July 10, 1547, in France’s last legal duel. He used a feint
followed by a cut to the hamstring. This is immobilizing
but not usually fatal, but La Châtaigneraie – mortified that
an inferior defeated him in this way – refused medical aid
and bled to death. It wasn’t long before dishonest masters
were offering to teach the coup de Jarnac to gullible,
wealthy students!
Tactics, like medicine, developed gradually. Lunging
with a sword seems obvious – anyone can attempt it
in GURPS (see All-Out Attack (Long), pp. 97-98) – but it
wasn’t common before the 16th century. Until the lunge
became widespread, swordsmen who used it to defeat foes
were spreading the legend of a botte segrete. Similarly,
when lighter blades enabled the sword to rival the buckler
and main-gauche on defense, tales of the parata universale
followed. This is just the standard fencing parry described
in Fencing Weapons (p. B404).
In a realistic campaign, effective secret techniques
shouldn’t exist. If the GM enforces Limited Maneuver
Selection (p. 113), however, an untrained fighter won’t
have access to all of the combat maneuvers and options in
Secret Techniques
86 TECHNIQUES
A successful Piledriver does thrust+4 crushing or
thrust+2 at +2 per die, whichever is greater, plus damage
equal to your ST bonus from Wrestling (+1 at DX+1, +2 at
DX+2 or better). Apply this to the skull. Immediately afterward,
you can attempt a pin as a free action. Your opponent
may resist as usual – but he’s still grappled and may be
stunned or otherwise suffering from his injuries.
If your Piledriver fails for any reason but being too weak
to lift your foe, including a successful enemy defense, you
still drop to a sitting posture. You must also roll vs. HT. A
failed HT roll means you sit down too hard, strain your gut,
etc. Apply the damage you would have inflicted to your own
torso. Critical failure on the Piledriver roll means you end
up sitting and injure yourself automatically (no HT roll).
the Basic Set and Chapter 4, many of which are quite
effective. Should he experience these at the hands of a
well-trained opponent (and survive), he might spread
rumors of secret techniques. The GM shouldn’t let the
truth slip until the PCs see this “amazing” move in action.
Still, every tactic was a brilliant new discovery at some
point. The GM is welcome to forbid maneuvers or options
that he feels warriors wouldn’t know about in his setting.
He might let skilled martial artists buy knowledge of these
tactics as perks – one per option, maneuver, or rarely
known hit location. Those who witness such moves can try
them . . . but until they spend that point, treat their efforts
as ordinary attacks and defenses.
In a cinematic game, secret moves definitely exist – as
cinematic skills and techniques, or even as special powers
(see Chi Powers for Martial Artists, p. 46). Dim mak might
be the Pressure Secrets skill or the Hand of Death (see
Innate Attack, p. 46). The botte segrete might be the Flying
Lunge technique.
In any game, unethical instructors might claim to teach
secret techniques. The GM may rule that these are totally
ineffective, and work as described in Useless Techniques
(p. 95). Alternatively, they might be horribly risky – like the
infamous coup de D’Artagnan, a botte segrete from The
Three Musketeers.
A typical “risky” secret technique is Hard, defaults to
Melee Weapon-4 or Acrobatics-4, and can’t exceed the controlling
skill. When used, roll a Quick Contest between the
attacker’s technique and highest of the target’s Per, Body
Language, or best melee combat skill. If the attacker wins,
his foe’s active defense is reduced as per a successful feint
(p. B365). If he loses or ties, his adversary automatically
defends against the attack and the technique-user has -3 to
defend against his opponent’s next attack.
Whatever the truth about secret techniques, people
tend to believe in them. Martial arts-related Delusions (see
Delusions, pp. 53-54) about invincible moves are appropriate.
In the interest of good player-GM relations, the GM
should consider permitting PCs who pay points for risky
secret techniques to take related Delusions to defray the
cost!