This 'crafting system for combat maneuvers is part of the upcoming Future Core rulebook. Only a few folks playtesting in the last few months will have seen this, as I have been holding it back as a little surprise. It has proven very fun for playtesters. Most characters don't start with a signature move - after all, you need to have bought the constituent exploits first - so they are an option for slightly more advanced characters.
A character's exploits can often form the building blocks of a more complex, spectacular move. While characters can always combine exploits on the fly to create a variety of maneuvers, many train in particular combinations and gain expertise in a specific, spectacular act. These combinations are called signature moves. A signature move might be unique to a character, or it might be a technique taught in some school of combat.
To learn a signature move, a character must take the Signature Move exploit; the exploit is taken once for each signature move the character requires, and may be repeated.
Design a valid combination of exploits and actions which you can already perform and which together constitute a unique maneuver. You should name your signature move. To use your signature move, you must spend a LUC die. If you are unable to form a LUC pool, you may still perform one signature move per day. A signature move costs one action or reaction (even if the constituent parts would normally cost more than one action), and does not count as a usage of any of its constituent exploits for the round. If any of the constituent exploits of the signature move have a dice pool cost to perform, use the largest of those costs. If any of the constituent exploits grant a damage bonus in form of extra damage dice, use the largest bonus only. Any damage multipliers are applied before additional dice are added. When rolling your dice pool for the signature move, all dice explode (i.e. any sixes get re-rerolled and added to the total).
Below are three example signature moves.
Dive & Tap (combines Dive For Cover, Quickstand, and Double Tap). If a ranged attack misses you, you may immediately move half your speed as a reaction and throw yourself prone, quickly rolling back to a standing position, and then responding with a double-tap at the target, firing two shots at a dice pool cost of -2d6 for each.
Reacting Willow (combines Sidestep, Throw, and Opportunistic Stomp). When charged by an attacker, you casually step aside, causing him to rush past you; as he does so, you grasp a limb and casually flip him through the air. The target is thrown 5' into an adjacent square and knocked prone, at which point you stomp on him, doing your natural damage. This maneuver costs -2d6 of your attack dice pool.
Vertical Takedown (combines Death From On High and Piledriver). You pay 3d6 and drop down on your opponent from at least 5' above him, performing a graceful rolling maneuver which inverts your target and slams his head into the ground. Both you and the target end up prone. You do double your unarmed damage, with an extra 2d6 damage bonus. The target is stunned until he shakes that condition off.
A character's exploits can often form the building blocks of a more complex, spectacular move. While characters can always combine exploits on the fly to create a variety of maneuvers, many train in particular combinations and gain expertise in a specific, spectacular act. These combinations are called signature moves. A signature move might be unique to a character, or it might be a technique taught in some school of combat.
To learn a signature move, a character must take the Signature Move exploit; the exploit is taken once for each signature move the character requires, and may be repeated.
Design a valid combination of exploits and actions which you can already perform and which together constitute a unique maneuver. You should name your signature move. To use your signature move, you must spend a LUC die. If you are unable to form a LUC pool, you may still perform one signature move per day. A signature move costs one action or reaction (even if the constituent parts would normally cost more than one action), and does not count as a usage of any of its constituent exploits for the round. If any of the constituent exploits of the signature move have a dice pool cost to perform, use the largest of those costs. If any of the constituent exploits grant a damage bonus in form of extra damage dice, use the largest bonus only. Any damage multipliers are applied before additional dice are added. When rolling your dice pool for the signature move, all dice explode (i.e. any sixes get re-rerolled and added to the total).
Below are three example signature moves.
Dive & Tap (combines Dive For Cover, Quickstand, and Double Tap). If a ranged attack misses you, you may immediately move half your speed as a reaction and throw yourself prone, quickly rolling back to a standing position, and then responding with a double-tap at the target, firing two shots at a dice pool cost of -2d6 for each.
Reacting Willow (combines Sidestep, Throw, and Opportunistic Stomp). When charged by an attacker, you casually step aside, causing him to rush past you; as he does so, you grasp a limb and casually flip him through the air. The target is thrown 5' into an adjacent square and knocked prone, at which point you stomp on him, doing your natural damage. This maneuver costs -2d6 of your attack dice pool.
Vertical Takedown (combines Death From On High and Piledriver). You pay 3d6 and drop down on your opponent from at least 5' above him, performing a graceful rolling maneuver which inverts your target and slams his head into the ground. Both you and the target end up prone. You do double your unarmed damage, with an extra 2d6 damage bonus. The target is stunned until he shakes that condition off.
Last edited:
