General MUD ideas

Races
•	Human
•	Stats: No penalties or bonuses
•	Skills: Gain 2 free skill points at character creation
•	Abilities
•	Quick Learner: It takes less time and XP to train skills.
•	Chalcedean (elf)
•	Stats: +2 Agility, -2 Constitution
•	Skills: +1 to archery and trading
•	Abilities
•	Keen Sight: elves can see in the dark and gain a small bonus to spot hidden people/things.
•	Enzi (orc)
•	Stats: +2 Strength, -2 Willpower
•	Skills: +1 to any fighting skill
•	Abilities 
•	Blood Rage: In battle, may succumb to bloodlust, dealing harder and faster blows but paying less attention to defense.  If Enzi learns berserker rage, this improves berserker rage.
•	Kiengir (dwarf)
•	Stats: +2 Con, -2 Agility
•	Skills: +1 to crafting metal or stone objects
•	Abilities
•	Hardy: gain a bonus to resist poisons and getting knocked over/tripped/etc.
•	Parsain (gnome, defunct)
•	Stats: +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength.
•	Skills: +1 to two magic skills or +2 to one magic skill
•	Abilities
•	Sorcerous Lore: Parsains gain a bonus to learning and casting magic.

Homeland
•	Abydos (Egypt, defunct)
•	Races: Human 
•	Abilities: bonus to medical knowledge and death magic
•	Chalcedeon (Phoenicia) 
•	Races: All
•	Abilities: learn new language, bonus to bargaining
•	Chane (Celtic, north)
•	Races: Human, Enzi
•	Abilities: bonus fighting in wilderness, smaller bonus to surviving in wilderness
•	Galicia (Celtic, west)
•	Races: Human, Enzi
•	Abilities: bonus to surviving in wilderness, smaller bonus to fighting in wilderness
•	Hanyu (Han China)
•	Races: All
•	Abilities: bonus to scholarly High skills or bonus to kung fu
•	Hellas (Classical Greece) 
•	Races: Human 
•	Abilities: bonus to swimming and boats, don’t fatigue as fast
•	Kiengir (Sumer, dwarf)
•	Races: Kiengir
•	Abilities: bonus to crafting stone and metal items
•	Khenbish (Mongols) 
•	Races: Human
•	Abilities: bonus to archery and riding
•	Mahajanapadas (India) 
•	Races: Human 
•	Abilities: bonus to any crafting skill
•	Mitanni (Mitanni)
•	Races: Human
•	Abilities: bonus to riding horses and chariots
•	Narbonesis (Rome)
•	Races: Human, Parsain
•	Abilities: bonus to social skills
•	Neustria (Germany)
•	Races: Human
•	Abilities: bonus to resist “divine magic,” bonus to crafting
•	Parsa (Persia, defunct)
•	Races: Parsain 
•	Abilities: magical spells drain less energy
•	Phayul (Tibet)
•	Races: Human 
•	Abilities: bonus to learn and use tantric skills
•	Skaoan (Vikings)
•	Races: Human 
•	Abilities: can go longer without eating, bonus to resist cold damage and weather

Classes/Concepts
•	Warriors 
•	Berserker 
•	Concept: Unrefined technique, focus on dealing as much damage to as many foes as possible, and often while in a berserker’s rage, which enables them to shove off the effects of pain and wounds for a time.
•	Abilities 
•	Adrenaline: second wind and last resort in emergencies like low health, etc.  Notes: high Constitution helps, as well as Willpower.
•	Anything at Hand: skillfully use improvised weapons.  Notes: high Agility helps.
•	Berserker’s Rage: temporarily grant great power and attack speed, ignore pain, but lower defense, takes up a lot of fatigue.  Notes:  good Constitution and Willpower make it last longer (and the fatigue period shorter), and good Agility enables you to get around the detriment to defense.
•	Combination: can build up multiple attacks in succession, with each successful attack having a chance to trigger another one.  Notes: high Strength and Agility are best for success.
•	Conditioning: lasting longer, resisting fatigue, and regenerating Fatigue faster.  Notes: high Constitution helps, as well as Willpower.
•	Everything in Hand: using weapons in both hands.  Notes: high Agility and Strength helps.
•	Feat of Strength: can channel extreme strength in a single task like a damage roll or moving a heavy object every so often, can also result in single powerful blow that can knock down or stun someone; better chance in a rage; has a chance of hurting oneself.  Notes:  high Strength and Willpower help.  Constitution lowers the chance of hurting oneself.
•	Lion’s Heart: warcry to intimidate enemies, inspire allies.  Notes: high Willpower helps.
•	Screaming Missile: can pick up objects, even other people, and hurl them.  Notes: Strength and Agility are useful for this skill.
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Adrenaline, Anything at Hand, Berserker’s Rage, Combination, Conditioning, Everything in Hand, Feat of Strength, Lion’s Heart, Screaming Missile.
•	Fighter
•	Concept: The tactical and flexible warrior who typically trains to utilize any form of weapon, armour, and fighting style available, sometimes specializing in certain styles and forms of combat, even including leading skirmishers and warriors.  Western-type Fighters from D&D.
•	Abilities
•	Fighting 
•	Skills immediately used and useful in combat.
•	Weapon Specialize: focus on certain weapon
•	Archery: bows, crossbows.  Notes: Agility and Perception are most useful here, but Strength is needed to draw some of the more powerful bows.
•	Brawling: unarmed fighting, not as refined as kung fu, but the techniques can be powerful without needing a whole lot of training or skill.  Notes: Strength is the most important aspect here, with Agility a somewhat second.
•	Jab: fast, not too powerful
•	Body Punch: hit torso to wear out enemy
•	Wrestling: grapples, sometimes taken to the ground
•	Hard Blocks: meet power with power
•	Chain Weapons: chains, whips, kusari-gama.  Notes: Agility is paramount.
•	Heavy Weapons: heavy clubs, tetsubo, ono.  Notes: Strength & Constitution.
•	Knives: daggers, short blades.  Notes: Agility, very little Strength needed.
•	Polearms: glaives, pole-axes, etc.  Notes: Strength, Agility, Constitution all needed.
•	Spears: spears.  Notes: Strength, Agility, Constitution all needed.
•	Staves: quarter staves, short sticks.  Notes: Agility & Strength.
•	Slashing Swords: longsword, broadsword, katana, dao,  etc.  Notes: Agility & Strength needed.
•	Thrusting Sword: rapier, shortsword, etc.  Notes: More Agility than Strength.
•	Style Specialize: focus on certain way of fighting, such as single sword, sword and dagger, shield and sword, twin axes, etc.
•	Above weapons by themselves
•	Certain combinations of wielded weapons (twin knives, rapier/main-gauche, etc.)
•	Using certain weapons with a shield (hoplite spear & shield)
•	Fighting in certain conditions and terrain
•	Fighting from horseback.  Notes: Agility and lots of it.
•	Called Shot: accurate blows aimed at specific locations.   Notes: Mostly Agility and Intelligence to land a called shot.
•	Taunt: witty repartee in battle, can infuriate enemies so they forget what they were doing and interrupt tasks.  Notes: Intelligence and Willpower.
•	Armour: proper way to wear and move with armour to deflect blows with minimal damage to armour and self.  Notes: Agility, lesser extent Intelligence & Constitution.
•	Shield: proper way to wear and move with shield to deflect blows with minimal damage to shield and self; also shield smashing.  Notes: Agility, Intelligence, Constitution.
•	Parrying: interposing your weapon against an enemy’s attack.  Notes: Agility.
•	Off-Hand Parrying: using an off-hand weapon to defend against an enemy’s attack.  Different from Parrying in that Parrying focuses on your primary hand’s weapon for parrying and blocking.  Notes: Agility.
•	Skirmishing: dealing with multiple attackers and coordinating a team.  Notes: Intelligence, Perception.
•	Protecting: how to protect someone effectively from other attackers.  Notes: Agility & Intelligence.
•	Tactics: seeing how an enemy fights and responding effectively.  Notes: Intelligence, Perception.
•	Knacks 
•	Some specific moves that can be trained to fill out a warrior’s list of tricks and maneuvers to use in battle.  They’re actual commands, not passive skills.
•	Arc
•	You know how to fire ranged weapons at arcs to increase your range for a shot.  Calls for a bit of Agility.
•	Bear Hug
•	You can try to initiate a grapple with this technique or use it during a grapple to deal extra damage.  Enemies that try to escape your grapple and fail take damage as well.  Mostly Strength with a bit of Agility.
•	Beat
•	You can try to strike an enemy’s weapon or knock his stance off balance with your weapon to open up their defense for your next attack.  Mostly Agility and Perception.
•	Bind
•	You can grapple, grab, or immobilize an enemy’s weapon.  If the bind succeeds, their weapon can’t be used until they break free (requiring strength and their weapon skill).  Note that trying to bind weapons with an empty hand might damage you, and certain weapons are better at binding (such as a rapier with a swept hilt or a longsword with pilons at the hilt, or two weapons).  Takes Agility and weapon skill, of course.
•	Bob ‘n’ Weave
•	You can take a very agile and continuously moving stance in combat, aiding your Dodging to some extent; you can also focus this on a particular enemy to gain a better bonus at dodging against that foe (but no bonuses against others).  Takes a lot of Agility, of course.
•	Charge
•	You run and charge with your weapon at a foe.  This works best with long piercing weapons (such as spears) and heavy swinging weapons (maces, axes, clubs).  There is a chance of knocking a foe down (though you might fall with him, or miss the charge entirely, trip and fall before or after your foe, etc.)  Mostly Strength with some Agility.
•	Corps-a-corps
•	You can body-check an enemy as well as try to get inside the deadly range of longer weapons to render them less effective against you (although you likewise won’t be able to use longer weapons while so close to a foe).  This can give some benefits to grappling and using short weapons like knives.  Takes mostly Agility and Strength.
•	Conceal
•	You can hide a weapon on your person (or at least make it look unassuming).  You can later draw and attack with this weapon to attempt and get a surprise attack.  Smaller weapons (like knives) or “disguised” weapons (such as a garrote-necklace or a cane-sword) work best.  Agility and Perception needed here.
•	Disarm
•	You can try to take an enemy’s weapon away from him, either by sending his weapon spinning away with a deft flick of the wrist, hitting his weapon hand, or grappling the weapon and wrenching it away.  Factors include the weights of your respective weapons, your Agility, the enemy’s Strength, and your weapon skills as well as your Disarming skill.
•	Feint
•	You can try to fake out an enemy, making it seem as though you’re attacking in one direction while you attack from another to catch the enemy flat-footed and get around stuff like parrying, dodging, and shield (but his armour will still be there, though at somewhat reduced AC value for a feint attack).  Needs Agility and Perception.
•	Lance
•	This ability covers charging attacks made while mounted (as opposed to Charge, which is your own running).  Lances and spears work best for these attacks, while two handed weapons are more difficult to use with this attack.  Needs Agility and to a lesser extent, Strength.
•	Lunge 
•	This covers a sudden thrusting attack, best works with a piercing weapon, often with spears, rapier, shortswords, and knives.  Needs Agility.
•	Missile Defense
•	When you use this command/skill, you set yourself up to be more ready to defend yourself against missile weapon attacks, though you leave yourself somewhat more open to melee attacks.  Needs Agility and Perception.
•	Multiple Attacks
•	While advancing your various attacking skills will eventually naturally net you some natural attacks, using this skill will try to get you a number of extra attacks in a round, though at the expense of some accuracy.  Needs Agility.
•	Pin 
•	This is a particularly tricky called shot whereby you make an attack and try to pin a foe against something (the wall, ground, a tree, etc.), or just jam your weapon straight through a foe without regards to pinning them to something, which works best with a piercing weapon.  You can try to pin their clothing to immobilize them or try to outright impale them.  Needs Agility and Strength, with some Perception.
•	Pommel Strike
•	You can try to gain an extra attack using the opposite, often non-business end of a weapon.  This can be things such as a sword’s pommel or even the butt-end of a spear.  Certain weapons are specially prepared for this maneuver (such as a hoplite’s spear, which has a spike on the bottom).  Mostly Agility.
•	Power Block 
•	When you start using this skill, you focus a lot on hard blocks, eschewing other forms of defense such as dodging (though you keep armour, shield, and parrying) and when you make a successful parry, shield block, or hard block, you can try to damage the enemy or their weapon.  Strength plays heavily into this.
•	Reflection
•	Lets you temporarily learn a technique that an enemy uses against you.  Waiting on Steve for input on how the make this into MUD code.  Requires Intelligence.
•	Riposte
•	Entering this command sets you up for making an immediate attack on an enemy upon a successful parry, shield block, or block of some sort.  Requires Agility.
•	Shield Bash
•	You can try to slam someone with your shield, possibly stunning them.  Requires Strength and Agility.
•	Stop Thrust
•	Instead of trying to block or otherwise go complete defense against an enemy’s attack, you can set yourself up for attacking as an enemy attacks, knocking their weapon out of the way even as you bring your own weapon to bear against them.  Requires Agility and Perception.
•	Tagging
•	You inflict light, almost non-damaging wounds to a foe, but steadily maneuver your blows to try to wear the enemy down and gradually build up bonuses to your attacking and damage rolls when you finally unleash “the big one.”  Requires Agility and Intelligence.
•	Throw
•	You throw something, be it a weapon or other object, at a foe.  Requires Agility and Strength with some Perception.  Weapons made to be thrown, such as knives and javelins, work best.
•	Trick Riding
•	You can do various maneuvers while riding, such as stand while riding, hang off of one side of the mount for cover, get your mount to trample a foe, and the like.  Requires Agility and Intelligence.
•	Unarmed Off-Hand
•	(Formerly Snap Kick)  Sometimes in battle, the warrior wielding a weapon sees an opening that he can take with an empty hand or foot.  Using this command lets you make a sudden unarmed attack (if both hands are occupied, then you’ll deliver a kick) and so forth.  Requires Agility and some Strength.
•	Wall of Steel 
•	You can forego your attacks to concentrate on making a flashy defense, lashing out to all sides with a weapon to increase your parrying substantially and have a chance to harm those who come too close.  Requires Agility and Constitution.
•	Whirl 
•	You can make try to make a wide, powerful attack to hit all of the foes currently engaging you within melee range.  Heavy swinging weapons are best for this sort of multiple-enemy attack, such as swords, axes, and maces.  Requires Agility and Strength, with some Constitution.
•	Maintenance 
•	Skills useful outside of a fight and keeping one in fighting condition.  
•	Weaponcraft: making, maintaining, knowing, enhancing weapons.  Notes: Constitution, Agility & Int.
•	Armourcraft: making, maintaining, knowing, enhancing  armour/shield. Notes: Constitution, Agility & Intelligence.
•	First Aid: basic techniques for physical wounds, broken bones.  Notes: Agility & Int.
•	Conditioning: fighting longer, resisting fatigue, calisthenics.  Notes: Constitution, Willpower.
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Archery, Brawling, Chain Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Knives, Polearms, Spears, Staves, Slashing Swords, Thrusting Swords, Style Specializations, Called Shot, Taunt, Armour, Shield, Off-Hand Parrying, Skirmishing, Protecting, Tactics, Arc, Bear Hug, Beat, Bind, Bob ‘n’ Weave, Charge, Corps-a-corps, Conceal, Disarm, Feint, Lance, Lunge, Missile Defense, Multiple Attacks, Pin, Pommel Strike, Power Block, Reflection, Riposte, Shield Bash, Stop Thrust, Tagging, Throw, Trick Riding, Unarmed Off-Hand, Wall of Steel, Whirl.
•	Ranger 
•	Concept: The wilderness warriors, scouts, skilled at guerilla tactics, skirmishing, and surviving with minimal supplies, and famous for archery ability.
•	Abilities 
•	Wilderness Survival: hunting small game, tracking people down, finding water, identifying terrain and hazards.  Notes: Agility, Intelligence, Perception.
•	Scouting: stealth, better awareness of environment, sharper senses.  Notes: Agility, Perception.
•	Bow Mastery: better range, accuracy, damage with bows.  Notes: Agility, Perception.
•	Fletching: lore, making, maintaining, enhancing bows and arrows.  Notes: Agility & Int.
•	Animal Handling: training, identifying, calming.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Tanning: skinning and harvesting animal corpses, making leather objects such as clothing, armour, tools out of bone, etc.  Notes: Agility & Int.
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Wilderness Survival, Scouting, Bow Mastery, Fletching, Animal Handling, Tanning. 
•	Samurai 
•	Concept: Noble warriors, expected to be skilled at sword, bow, spear, and horsemanship, wielding the blades of their ancestors as well as maintaining high levels of social decorum and high skills.  To gain any training in the samurai’s arts, they must be either born into the samurai caste or somehow gain entrance, such as being accepted as a vassal to a daimyo and getting oneself entered into the lineage records of the Imperial Court.
•	Samurai are expected to maintain certain levels of decorum and behavior in accordance with the warrior’s code, with loyalty, martial skill, filial piety, etc.  If a samurai was found to be committing deeds their daimyo did not like, they could be chastised or made into ronin and find it greatly difficult to remain in the Jade Empire and receive training.
•	Some preliminary stuff here: http://www.ultimate-realms.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39 
•	Bujutsu 
•	The general arts of war that all samurai train. 
•	Called Shot: being known for skillful, dextrous, accurate strikes.  Notes: Agility & Int.
•	Iaijutsu: fast draw to block/respond to attack or to attack; with high enough skill level, will automatically draw a Japanese type sword when attacked to block or attack, thus nullifying the surprise round.  Notes: Agility & Perception.
•	Sword & Bow: bonus when wielding definitively Japanese swords and bows, in accordance with the “samurai sword myth” and requisite training of the most honorable weapons, but being practical military men, won’t totally overshadow other weapons like yari and naginata.  Notes: Agility, some Strength.
•	Zanshin: ultimate awareness, detecting hidden things.  Notes: Perception.
•	Mushin no Shin: acting without fear or confusion.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Kenjutsu no Kamae: stances of samurai fighting
•	Jodan: offensive and presenting, bonus to attack, but being more vulnerable to enemy strikes, emphasize downward cuts.
•	Chudan: middle stance, default.
•	Gedan: low ward, very defensive, but can make fast thrust strikes.
•	Kasso: morning fog, penalize initiative and # of attacks, but raise defense and give attack bonus.
•	Dragon Tail: penalize initiative, defense, and number of attacks until “triggered,” to make reverse kesa giri to bonus attack and damage.
•	Kenjutsu: ways of using the samurai’s swords; katana, wakizashi, nodachi, tachi
•	Kiri-Oroshi: great falling straight-down cut.
•	Kesa-Giri: diagonal falling cut; also reverse kesa-giri, diagonal rising cut.
•	Tsuki: thrust.
•	Kusa-Giri: “cutting the grass,” a horizontal cut to legs, belly, or neck.
•	Ryu-ha Bujutsu 
•	The style specific techniques and so forth revolving around the teachings of certain warriors.  Note that some styles teach various weapons while other styles only concentrate on certain weapon(s) used in certain ways.  The various Ryu-ha Bujutsu will act something like the Kung Fu styles, in that you have to be using a certain style to use the signature techniques within (until you get an incredibly high skill level and are able to use techniques from various styles regardless of what style you are using at the time, if any; the “from formlessness to form, from form to formlessness).
•	Itto Ryu (One Sword Style)
•	Weapons: concentrates on wielding one sword; most often katana.
•	Not Losing: greatly enhances Dodging.  Notes: Agility, Perception, Willpower.
•	Study the Foe: Study an enemy to gain bonuses to attack and damage to him the longer you study.  Notes: Perception.
•	Mutoken: “no mind sword” to attack smoothly without fear or distraction; raise zanshin and iaijutsu against ambush.  Notes: Willpower.
•	The Final Measure: Powerful kiri oroshi on a studied foe.  Notes: Perception, Strength.
•	Niten Ichi Ryu (Two Heavens as One Style)
•	Weapons: katana, wakizashi, nito; higher level, even wooden weapons.
•	Nito: can use katana/wakizashi in tandem.  Notes: Agility.
•	Red Leaves Cut: can cleave through enemy’s parrying weapon/shield/armor and so forth.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Wood is Steel: can even use “sword only” techniques with wooden weapons.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Jigen Ryu (Merciful Eye(?) Style)
•	Weapons: larger swords like katana and nodachi.
•	Kiai: spirit shout to paralyze/impose penalties on weak willed foes.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Hitotsu Tachi: powerful charge/slash.  Notes: Strength, Willpower.
•	Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (Yagyu family Divine Shadow Style)
•	Weapons: Katana, wakizashi, tanto, spear, unarmed.
•	Sword of the Mind: resist fear and mind control, great presence can make enemies fight less effectively.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Muto: bonus to disarm, can disarm even weapons while unarmed.  Notes: Agility.
•	Mugai Ryu (None Other Style)
•	Weapons: katana, little bit of wakizashi.
•	Sanctity of the Duel: bonus to fighting only one enemy.  Notes: Perception.
•	Focused Iaijutsu: higher damage on iaijutsu strike, higher chance of iaijutsu parry when ambushed.  Notes: Agility, Strength, Perception.
•	Choking Range: no penalty when fighting indoors or enclosed spaces with katana or wakizashi.  Notes: Agility.
•	Owari Kan Ryu Sojutsu  
•	Weapons: spear, basket spear, little bit of wakizashi and katana.
•	Long Reach: can make long thrust with spear (more with basket spear, or kuda-yari, with the sliding basket or metal tube) to hit a foe at a longer range than spear would allow, may catch foe off-guard.  Notes: Agility, Strength.
•	Engetsu Stroke: eviscerating move with basket spear.  Notes: Agility, Strength.
•	Hozoin Ryu Sojutsu (Spear Style of Hozoin Kakuzenbo)
•	Weapons: spear, hozoin spear, some unarmed.
•	Far Hook: use crosspiece to disarm or trip at a range with hozoin yari.  Notes: Agility, some Strength.
•	Hayashizaki Jinsuke’s Batto Jutsu (Sword Drawing Art)
•	Weapons: tachi, katana.
•	Death in the Scabbard: Higher attack/damage version of iaijutsu strike.  Notes: Agility, Perception.
•	Sasaki Kojiro’s Tsubame Gaeshi (Turning Swallow Cut)
•	Weapons: katana, nodachi.
•	This is a rapid multi-strike sword attack (striking downward from above and then instantly striking again in an upward motion from below “like an eagle climbing again after swooping down on its prey”) whose training method also imparts greater speed in general with large swords like the nodachi.  Sasaki Kojiro used this technique famously while wielding the nodachi named Monohoshi Zao.  Notes: Agility, Strength.
•	Banzo’s Kenshi no Shin (Sword Master’s Mind)
•	Weapons: none, this isn’t a weapon technique or style.
•	Bonus to Zanshin and Defense in general.  Notes: Perception, Willpower.
•	Tessu’s Kennin Fubatsu (Invincible Fortitude)
•	Weapons: none, this isn’t a weapon technique or style.
•	Resistance to fatigue and negative status effects that affect fighting ability.  Notes: Willpower.
•	Shinsengumi’s Hira-tsuki (Parallel Thrust)
•	Weapons: katana, wakizashi.
•	Powerful horizontal thrust, if miss, chance to catch enemy with wide sideways slash.  Notes: Agility.
•	Saitoh Hajime’s Hidari-tsuki (Left Side Thrust)
•	Weapons: katana, wakizashi.
•	Builds off of the Hira-tsuki.  Left handed surprise thrust.  Notes: Agility.
•	Okita Soushi’s Sandan-tsuki (Three Piece Strike)
•	Weapons: katana, wakizashi.
•	Builds off of the Hira-tsuki.  Three rapid attacks; every successful blow increases the accuracy and damage of the next strike.  Notes: Agility.
•	Elite Takeda Clan Bajutsu (Cavalry)
•	Weapons: tachi, spear, mounted combat
•	Bonus to melee attacks while on horseback, better bonus when charging while riding and wielding a yari.  Bonus to resisting attempts to un-horse you.  Notes: Agility, Riding skill.
•	Genryu’s Tessen-jutsu (Iron Folding Fan technique)
•	Weapons: tessen 
•	Skillfully use iron folding fan as a weapon; deflecting weapons, using it to bludgeon and press against pressure points, snapping it open to distract a foe and feint, hiding smaller weapons with the fan’s movements.  Notes: Agility.
•	Kyubajutsu (Mounted Archery)
•	Weapons: dai-kyu, mounted combat
•	Skillful archery on horseback, even from a charging mount and the like.  Notes: Agility, Perception.
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Called Shot, Iaijutsu, Sword & Bow, Zanshin, Mushin no Shin, Kenjutsu, Itto Ryu (Not Losing, Study the Foe, Mutoken, The Final Measure), Niten Ichi Ryu (Nito, Red Leaves Cut, Wood is Steel), Jigen Ryu (Kiai, Hitotsu Tachi), Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (Sword of the Mind, Muto), Mugai Ryu (Sanctity of the Duel, Focused Iaijutsu, Choking Range), Owari Kan Ryu (Long Reach, Engetsu Stroke), Hozoin Ryu (Far Hook), Death in the Scabbard, Tsubame Gaeshi, Kenshi no Shin, Kennin Fubatsu, Hira-tsuki, Hidari-tsuki, Sandan-tsuki, Bajutsu, Tessen-jutsu, Kyubajutsu.
•	Spellcasters
•	Internal 
•	Those whose power tends to be natural talent; like the Sorcerers from D&D.
•	Their advantage comes from speedy learning and manifestation of their powers with very little training.  Their power hinges only on the power of their own spirit, and can only grow with experience.
•	Their disadvantage is that only a lucky few are able to truly “branch out” from their inborn talents without extensive training.  Many are highly specialized and find it difficult to do things “in a different way” once they discover the initial method to unlocking a certain magical talent.  
•	Some gain their powers through twist of fate, others through notable lineage, others through being born in certain locations or at certain times, etc.
•	Internal spellcasters have an overflowing amount of magical energy stored in their spirits and show great aptitude for Evocation, being able to hurl the power stored in their spirits with but a thought.
•	External 
•	Those whose power comes from another, typically sentient force, be it a god, demon, or other extraplanar and powerful being; Clerics, Druids, demon-pact Sorcerers and so forth from D&D.
•	Their advantage comes from usually having teachers readily available, and being able to utilize and learn various aspects of their patron.  
•	Their disadvantage is that their powers are entirely within the domain of their patron (most patrons take a dim view to someone who “moonlights” patrons).  In addition, their power is entirely sustained by their patron, who can call upon them to perform services for them and in extreme cases revoke their pact of power at any time.
•	While each patron varies in the sort of power they are able to grant their chosen, such spellcasters generally have a great talent for Summoning creatures akin to their patrons.
•	Scholars
•	Those whose power isn’t in-born or granted, but “taken” and understood through scholarly learning; the Wizards and Incantationists from D&D.
•	Their advantage comes from the fact that given time, one of these types can learn to create and duplicate virtually any form of magical effect.  They can also choose whichever magical disciplines to specialize in and altar many parameters of their spells and rituals, unlike Internals and Externals, whose paths are set before them by some other power.
•	The disadvantage of the Scholar type is the sheer amount of time, patience, and resources required to develop magical prowess.  Theoretically, anyone can learn to be a Scholar type spellcaster (though some take to it quicker than others with a sharp mind and so forth), but when this type of spellcaster runs into a new type of magic or a brick wall in their research, they must often start entirely from scratch.
•	Scholars tend to excel at Thaumaturgy because of the tremendous amount of effort put into generating their magical effects with no “shortcut” available to them.
•	Magical Skills 
•	Evocation 
•	These spells are generally the easiest to produce, but also the easiest to accidentally overpower and explode.  Evocation magic revolves around the usually unrefined gathering of raw forces and energy to either hurl against a foe or defend oneself without any prior preparation or rituals.  Usually among the first type of magic taught to apprentices because it’s the easiest to get discernible effects, it is the favored type of magic for magical combat.
•	Having skill in Evocation is useful for Thaumaturgy, as the large amounts of energy one can summon for Evocation magic can be put to good use powering the expensive and time-consuming rituals of Thaumaturgy.
•	Thaumaturgy 
•	The domain of Thaumaturgy covers rituals and sympathetic magic, generally longer rites and castings that cannot be easily attempted in combat.  These rituals can cover virtually any sort of effect, from tracking down a lost item, summoning various minor beings for specific purposes (such as a tracking spirit or a spirit of intellect), binding a magical effect to a person, temporarily enspelling a location, and even most Evocation effects (albeit with far longer casting times).  Thaumaturgy typically requires various ritual items such as athames, wands, staves, altars, circles, and even sometimes sacrifices.
•	Having skill in Thaumaturgy is useful for Summoning, as the various symbols and the patience required to sustain oneself through thaumaturgical rituals can be used to overcome Summoned beings.
•	Summoning 
•	This sort of magic is seen as one of the more dangerous arts, as it revolves around the calling and summoning of various creatures to serve the caster.  Generally, the more powerful and esoteric the creature, the more elaborate the ritual and more esoteric the knowledge required to successfully summon the creature.  Be warned that successfully summoning a creature is only half the battle; the creature’s will must subsequently be bound to your own (unless you relish the idea of dangerous beasts going about without control).
•	The skill of casting one’s mind and energy across the lands and planes that Summoning requires is useful for Evocation practices as well, for through these Summon-finding journeys, the spellcaster finds various sources to tap for the raw energy required for Evocation.
•	Embedding 
•	There comes a time when a spellcaster feels that he needs far more power than he ordinarily has available, or he wishes to craft a minor magical fetish to perform magical rites so as to conserve his energies, or to focus his energy to a finer point than would ordinarily be possible.  Through this skill, the spellcaster learns to embed magical effects into physical objects such as rings, staves, clothing, and even landmarks such as geomantic circles and physical locations, and so forth to make them magical.
•	While all magical skills contribute to making one better at Embedding, the long rituals, magical symbols, and symbolic objects of Thaumaturgy contribute the most.  
•	While it is skill in other fields that contribute to skill in Embedding, having good skill in Embedding does not reciprocate much towards understanding and increased skill in the other magical fields.  
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Evocation, Thaumaturgy, Summoning, Embedding.
•	Monk
•	The esoteric martial artist and all that whatever, mostly inspired by Buddhist Shaolin monks, though not everyone must be overwhelmingly spiritual.  All practice kung fu to some extent to keep their bodies in condition for long meditation and other spiritual practices, though others train in the more esoteric skills more than others.
•	Mantras
•	Very spiritual side of monks, using chants from sutras to create special effects; generally takes a decent amount of time of chanting to build up to an effect, so not really combat things.  Each individual Mantra must be trained separately.  
•	The best Mantra chanters and teachers are found in the Mahajanapadas as well as Phayul.
•	Mantra of the Calmed Heart: remove fear, can try to stop combat.
•	Mantra of the Completed Soul: weak healing for others, shouldn’t out-do clerics who specialize on healing; monks can use healing meditations in combination with healing chants to heal themselves faster; also endow good kharma (manifests as a measure of good luck, like the bless spell on most MUDs).
•	Mantra of the Pure Word: attempt to draw out the poison and disease from someone.
•	Mantra of the Exorcised Being: keep away spiritual beings or banish them.
•	Tantras 
•	Special skills whereby the very spiritually focused monk uses his inner spiritual powers to generate powerful effects in this world.  Each individual Tantra must be trained separately.  
•	The best Tantric masters are to be found in Phayul.
•	Breath Yoga
•	Prerequisites: None
•	Effect: Can stop breathing (thus avoiding breathing in poisons and making do in air-less environments) and lower his pulse so low that it cannot be normally perceived, as well as help control pain.  Control over the breath is such a fundamental skill that many other tantric skills cannot be mastered without this ability.
•	Dakini
•	Prerequisites: Yidam (females) or Sexual Tantra (males)
•	Effects: A special language taught by dakini spirits.  Many terma (hidden tantric texts) are written in this language.  It cannot be taught from one human to another.  Knowing this language can make your mantras stronger.
•	Death Tantra:
•	Prerequisites: Meditation (need to think of another one)
•	Effects: You learn a meditation wherein you envision yourself dying, and are able to convince spiritual beings that you are dead and have moved on.  This can be very good for eliminating attachments to the self as well as refreshing the body entirely as though the character had physically died (like poison, weakness, other effects).
•	Fire Yoga
•	Prerequisites: Breath Yoga
•	Effects: The PC meditates on fiery power coming up through the chakras (pools of spiritual energy in the body), creating extreme amounts of body heat, letting you keep warm in the coldest weather, dry wet objects in minutes, and even cause objects and people to burst into flames.
•	Invisibility
•	Prerequisites: Breath Yoga
•	Effects: By silencing the “self” that projects itself onto other people’s consciousness, you can become virtually unnoticeable to others.  While at novice levels one must remain still, at the highest ability, one can become unnoticeable even while manipulating the environment.
•	Lightness Yoga
•	Prerequisites: Fire Yoga
•	Effects: You can make your body extraordinarily light, allowing you to jump great distances, levitate, or run across country with little to no effort.
•	Pure Vision
•	Prerequisites: Yidam Tantra
•	Effects: The PC learns to see manifest a “wisdom eye,” seeing the universe as the Yidam does, who can see anything and everything in the universe, vision whose clarity is often represented in a mandala.  This tantra can be attempted without a mandala at higher difficulty.  By using this tantra, one can see through illusions, see through walls or obstructions, see invisibile things or metaphysical qualities or see events happening miles away, and even see things happening on other worlds and planes.
•	Sexual Tantra:
•	Prerequisites: Yidam Tantra
•	Effects: Certain Tantric monks believe it is necessary to achieve enlightenment while in the physical body, and learn meditation techniques to become a Yidam spirit and engage in ritual sex with a consort of the opposite sex.  By satisfying the body’s every need, you can temporarily transcend the need for a body altogether and can more easily remove attachments of all sorts.
•	Sorcery Tantra
•	Prerequisites: (need to think of one)
•	Effects: These are secret tantric rituals which allow the practitioner to call wrathful dharmapalas to attack your foes.  Note that attempting to send a dharmapala against someone who is not a true foe of the Arhat’s faith is a difficult task which may backfire and unleash your own summoned dharmapala against you.
•	Subtle Self
•	Prerequisites: Breath Yoga
•	Effects: By learning to control the subtle self (the metaphysical counterpart to the physical gross body) you can change the nature of your physical body or even leave your body and travel about as a spirit.  One can manage to fit through a one inch opening, leave the body and travel about as a powerless spirit, travel physically through solid objects, or even leave your own body and animate a corpse or a living human.
•	Tulpa Creation
•	Prerequisites: Meditation (need to think of another one)
•	Effects: With hours of meditation, you can create things from pure mental energy.  You can create a small object from base materials (2 hours meditation), create a human who will perform simple actions and disappear within 6 minutes (4 hours meditation), create a human that can last 24 hours and perform complex actions including talking (6 hours meditation), or create a permanent real human with no self-conscious and can only follow orders though for each year there is some chance it may gain true consciousness (8 hours meditation).  A tulpa is a creature created through these meditations, and are sometimes created as servants or by tantric practitioners who cannot find a normal consort for sexual tantra.
•	Wind Voices
•	Prerequisites: Meditation (need to think of another one) 
•	Effects: By recognizing the illusory nature of differences between human minds, you can send and receive words or images to or from other minds, which can greatly aid teaching.  You can communicate with the one who taught you this skill, communicate with someone else who has this skill, and at higher levels, communicate with completely ordinary people.
•	Yidam Tantra
•	Prerequisites: Fire Yoga, Death Yoga
•	Effects: You meditate on Yidam (buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dharmapalas) who represent aspects of enlightenment you wish to attain.  You can perceive your master as a Yidam who can give advice, perceive oneself to be a yidam, and become the Yidam in all but physical form, giving bonuses to remove attachments and emulating the powers of certain Yidam.  Note: will have to make a list of Yidam for PC to emulate through the power of this tantra; look for various Buddhas and bodhisattva and dharmapala on Wikipedia or something.
•	Mudra
•	These are special hand positions used in meditation and spiritual rituals, each of which have certain symbolic meanings and can help generate beneficial effects stemming from the monk’s acceptance of the mudras’ power and meanings.  Some mudras require one or both hands, or to be assumed in certain positions, which may prevent the practitioner from doing certain actions, such as eating or fighting.  
•	The most learned of Mudra practitioners are to be found in the Mahajanapadas. 
•	Check out the following sites for pictures of the mudras: http://www.buddhanet.net/mudras.htm , http://www.exoticindiaart.com/mudras.htm , http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/mudra-japan.shtml 
•	Abhaya Mudra
•	Meaning: “No Fear” mudra, represents protection, peace, benevolence, and the dispelling of fear, usually made with the right hand raised to the shoulder’s height, with the palm facing outward, fingers upright and joined, with the left hand hanging down to the side.
•	Effect: You and those around you are protected from fear and attacking power of those near you is lessened in your presence.  
•	Bhumisparsa Mudra
•	Meaning: “Earth Touching” mudra, with the Arhat taking the earth as witness to his enlightenment.  Made by sitting in the lotus position, the right hand touching the ground with the fingertips over the right knee, with the left hand in the lap, palm up, sometimes holding a meditative aid object such as a begging bowl.
•	Effects: The earth serves as your witness and aide; while meditating, you can draw on the earth’s will to reinvigorate you faster.  The most powerful are said to be able to call upon earthquakes or raise mountains or otherwise manipulate the earth around them.
•	Dharmachakra Mudra
•	Meaning: “Wheel of the Sublime Law” mudra, assumed by the Arhat Shakyamuni when he preached his first sermon, representing the turning of the Wheel of Dharma and dispensing the Sublime Law.  The mudra is formed with two hands, the thumb and index fingers of both hands touching at their tips to make a circle (representing the Wheel of Dharma), with the three remaining fingers of the two hands remaining extended (the fingers of the right hand represent the hearers of teachings, solitary realizers, and Mahayana, while the fingers of the left represent the Arhat, Dharma, and Sangha).
•	Effects: While the mudra is maintained, the practitioner gains a great bonus to teaching and preaching the skills of the Sublime Law following monks and so forth.
•	Dhyana Mudra
•	Meaning: “Meditation” mudra.  This is the gesture of meditation, of the concentration of the Good Law and the Sangha.  The two hands are placed on the lap, right hand on top of left (the right representing nirvana over the left, samsara, thus a triumph of bliss and enlightenment over transitory existence), palms facing upwards, fingers fully stretched.  This mudra is taught to virtually all practitioners of meditation.
•	Effects: Assuming this mudra greatly aids concentrationg, healing, and meditation exercises.  
•	Varada Mudra
•	Meaning: “Welcome” mudra.  This mudra signifies offering, welcome, charity, giving, compassion, and sincerity, the showering of blessings onto those who seek the wisdom of the Dharma.  It is often made with the left hand pointed townward, palm facing outward, with the fingers outstretched and slightly curved.  It is often used in combination with the Abhaya mudra (in the right hand).
•	Effects: With this mudra assumed, the practitioner and his friends, so long as they refrain from acts of violence and so forth, are blessed with good luck and health (maybe a bless effect, accelerated healing, getting better loot).
•	Vajra Mudra
•	Meaning: This is the “Wisdom” mudra, formed by grasping ther aised forefinger of the clenched left hand with the clenched right hand, with the tip of the right forefinger curled around the tip of the left forefinger.  It is also known as the six elements mudra, representing the unity of the five worldly elements (earth, water, fire, air, metal) with spiritual consciousness.  
•	Effect: This is a particularly powerful mudra, often used by monks in meditation before using esoteric skills, as well as meditating before the Diamond World Mandala.  By assuming the Vajra mudra and maintaining it in meditation before practicing certain esoteric skills (such as tantras or chi kung), the practitioner gains a bonus towards doing the esoteric skill dependent on their skill in mudras and how long they’ve meditated with the mudra.
•	Karana Mudra 
•	Meaning: This mudra expels demons and removes obstacles such as sickness or negative thoughts.  It is made by raising the index and little finger and then folding the other fingers, pointing the index and little finger at a representation of the object to be expelled.
•	Effect: By assuming this mudra, the practitioner can more easily exorcise himself or others of sickness, disease, fear, confusion, anger, bloodlust, depression, and the like, as well as banishing demons and such supernatural beings.
•	Kung Fu
•	The martial arts, most often unarmed disciplines that the monks use as means for maintaining bodies and minds and defending themselves.  The best kung fu trainers are to be found in the land of Hanyu. 
•	http://www.shaolinchowka.com/shaolin-kung-fu-forms/index.html has lots of great images for things like weapons, hand positions, etc. and information.
•	Mundane
•	Basically what happens here is that there are “general” mundane moves that monks can do (arm moves, leg moves, body/head moves, non-direct, defense).  
•	If the character wishes, they can learn a Style (Ba Gua, Drunken Boxing, etc.) that they can then use, which has its own distinct stances and set of attacks (Ba Gua never uses fist, and rarely uses foot techniques, for example) and defenses (Ba Gua dodges and twists out of the way a lot as opposed to hard blocks) and any other special abilities and teachings of the style, such as greater ability to learn Chi Kung or other skills.
•	Combat move choices would be like Achaea/Imperian/other Iron Realms MUDs, where during each “tick” (unit of time in which a character can act; faster and more experienced characters have shorter time between tick resets), a character will be able to launch attacks and other maneuvers.
•	I may keep the Imperian model and let a character perform either: 4 punches, 2 kicks, 2 punches & 1 kick.  Body/head and indirect moves will be full-round (i.e. require full balance).  The various defenses will all be passive, though a character’s style, stance, and so forth will provide bonuses or penalties to certain defense levels.
•	Arm moves
•	Fist
•	Punch: ordinary knuckle punch.
•	Fast Jab: speed, not power.
•	Uppercut: potential knockout, close range.
•	Backfist: rotating force, long range.
•	Open Hand
•	Ridge Hand: good for hitting narrow areas like throat.
•	Palm strike: lower damage, but less prone to hurt oneself.
•	Fingers
•	Spearhand: accurate, decent damage, can hurt own fingers.
•	Fingertip strike: very accurate, very little damage unless you hit a vital point, can hurt own fingers.
•	Arm Strikes
•	Elbow: close range, good damage, but can hurt self/stun nerve.
•	Forearm: close range, decent damage, less chance to hurt self.
•	Target Strikes
•	Body Blow: hit body to fatigue them.
•	Heart Punch: deal lots of pain by hitting sternum.
•	Throat Punch: hit throat to prevent breathing.
•	Leg moves
•	Kicking
•	Hip Kick: ordinary ball of foot or top of foot kick.
•	Snapkick: speed, not power.
•	Side Thrust Kick: powerful, long range, can shove person back.
•	Knee Kick: powerful, close range, but can hurt knee.
•	Shin Kick: fast, but can easily hurt self without training.
•	Roundhouse Kick: powerful, but slow recovery if fails.
•	Axe Kick: raised heel and bring it down on enemy, decent damage, better if enemy is prone.
•	Leaping
•	Flying Kick: very powerful, very risky, can fall if it misses.
•	Scissors Kick: flying kick to hit two people, very risky.
•	Crowd Run: leap up and run along faces and shoulders of group of enemies, dealing damage to them all, absurdly risky.
•	Sweeping 
•	Leg Sweep: knock enemy’s legs out from under them.
•	Broom Sweep Kick: leg sweep all adjacent enemies.
•	Target Strikes
•	Leg Strike: hit enemy’s legs to reduce their speed and kicking power, can also try to break enemy’s legs.
•	Throat Kick: hit throat to prevent breathing.
•	Body/Head moves
•	Body Check: hit with body, but risky to counterattack.
•	Headbutt: smash with head, but can hurt/stun self.
•	Biting: grab and tear with teeth.
•	Non-Direct (throws, grapples, etc.) 
•	Hip Throw: throw enemy over hip to stun and damage.
•	Shove: strength and trips to knockdown.
•	Grapple: enter close range wrestling match.
•	Joint Locks: prevent enemy from moving, can hyperextend to break.
•	Suffocate: choke them out.
•	Defenses 
•	Dodge: avoid enemy attack entirely, but happens less often and doesn’t always allow for good counterattack.
•	Hard Block: good for stopping enemy in his tracks, but not good for immediate counter attacks.
•	Soft Block: flow and re-direct enemy’s force, good to set up counter, but risk of enemy powering through you.
•	Accept: attempt to make blow deal less damage by tensing up muscles or redirecting attack to less damaging part of body, if you survive, best chance for counterattack.
•	Cotton Cage: using your loose clothing to capture enemy weapons if they strike you or just barely miss you.
•	Ba Gua Zhuang (Eight Trigrams Palm)
•	Skills needed: Open Hand, Dodging, Shin Kick, Leg Sweep.
•	Attacks: entirely palm strikes.
•	Defenses: Continuously moving around enemies and getting into their blind spots so they can’t attack you.  Comes down to being experts at dodging.
•	Abilities
•	Circle Step: By training techniques while constantly moving in circles, your footwork improves greatly, and you can even use circle-step footwork to momentarily get to the flanks or even behind a foe for a quick flurry of attacks to those hard to defend spots.
•	Treads: The legs act as heavy treads, so anything that is placed between them is thrashed apart, letting you deal damage against someone or something that tries attacking your legs or tries tripping you.
•	Zui Kuen (Drunken Boxing)
•	Skills needed: Dodging, Accept, any Arm and Leg moves.
•	Attacks: All variety of strikes come into play, but very little time to set up Non-Direct moves other than Shove.
•	Defenses: Constant stumbling and “looseness” of body makes one unpredictable and weaving away from blows; makes for very good Dodging and Accept, though Hard Blocks can’t be used very well.
•	Abilities
•	Drunken Stagger: You can swagger, stagger, and stumble about, neglecting to make attacks, instead avoiding attacks and concentrating on building up momentum to unleash into a sudden powerful attack (after which you will have to stagger more to build more momentum if you want to use this again).
•	Unknowable Stance: You can generate forceful attacks from unexpected positions to catch an enemy off-guard, being able to fight effectively even from the prone position or on precarious terrain.
•	Ying Jow Pai (Eagle Claw)
•	Skills needed: Spearhand, Fingertip, Kicking, Joint Locks, Hard Blocks, Accept.
•	Attacks: The style introduces a new Fingertip attack, the Eagle Claw.  The style focuses on the Eagle Claw and strengthening of the fingers to get very good at Eagle Claw and Fingertip and Spearhand blows, but if the fingers are damaged, this style’s special attacks are unusable.  The style also uses long kicks and fingertip strikes, making it a particularly long range fighting system, though the Eagle Claw hand position is also good for joint locks.
•	Defenses: Lots of body conditioning and external training leads this style to be very good at Hard Blocks and Accepting.
•	Abilities: 
•	Eagle Claw’s Grip: You use the Eagle Claw hand position to dig your fingers deeply into the enemy’s joints and tendons, damaging them a little bit as well as making their attacks slower and weaker because of their hampered movement.  You can also apply particularly punishing joint locks.
•	Predator Slays Prey: Instead of slashing with the Eagle Claw hand, you leave your Eagle Claw hand in the enemy and dig in deeply, dealing great levels of internal damage to a foe.
•	Wing Chun (Eternal Spring)
•	Skills needed: Dodging, Jab, Elbow, Forearm, Knee Kick.
•	Attacks: Mostly short range techniques such as short jabs, elbows, forearms, and knee strikes. 
•	Defenses: Getting in close to the foe to prevent the enemy from utilizing attacks at a range such as fully extended arms and legs as quickly as possible.  Less emphasis on blocking in general.
•	Abilities
•	Wooden Dummy: Due to training many hours on a wooden dummy, your reflexes let you unleash great flurries of blows on foes who are prone or standing still, or trapped from moving away from you (such as stomping on their feet to prevent them from running away).
•	Within Deadly Range: You can step very close to an enemy, nullifying the advantage of longer weapons (which are less accurate and deal less damage to you from this range), as well as being able to more effectively use your own short range kung fu attacks (like elbows and knees) and small weapons.
•	Tang Lang Kuen (Mantis Fist)
•	Skills needed: Soft Block, Dodging, Jab, Fingertip, Snapkick.
•	Attacks: The style introduces a new Fingertip attack, the Mantis Hand.  Attacks use whiplash motions of the hands using Mantis Hand, jab, and wrist attacks.
•	Defenses: Use of circular and whip-like arm motions to deflect attacks, followed up with precise attacks to vital spots such as eyes, face, and acupuncture points with Mantis Hand, especially in combination. Almost never meet force with force, always attempting to sweep an enemy’s attack away to respond with one’s own.  Therefore, much emphasis on Soft Blocks.
•	Abilities
•	Continuous Attacks: The Mantis style is fond of continuous blows, especially after making a soft block and redirecting an enemy into a more favorable position to strike repeatedly at vital points.
•	Two Claws: The mantis holds its claws up, ready to face on the world, with its famous fast and complex footwork which enables a practitioner of the Mantis style to effectively fight multiple foes with smaller penalties.
•	Hung Gar Kuen (Hung Family Fist)
•	Skills needed: Hard Blocks, Acceptance, Arm and Leg (kicking) moves.
•	Attacks: Equal use of hand and foot movements, with fewer of the risky maneuvers such as flying kicks and wild backfists.  There is a preference for simpler, more straight-forward attacks such as straight punches, palms, and low kicks.
•	Defenses: The use of rooted and powerful stances to make a strong fighter.  Most emphasis is on hard blocks and acceptance for defense. 
•	Abilities
•	Rooted Form: The stances and slower forms of Hung Gar render the practitioner extremely stable, lowering the chances of enemies successfully grappling, sweeping, tripping, or otherwise moving the practitioner against his will.  The mentality gained from this also greatly facilitates learning and mastering the Iron esoteric skills.
•	Strength of Stone: The practitioner of Hung Gar learns to channel all of his power into a single powerful blow (usually a fist or a palm) whose internal force can power through wood, stone, and even damage metal, which is always nice for getting through walls, closed doors, or enemy’s armour.
•	Tai Chi Kuen (Supreme Ultimate Fist) 
•	Skills needed: Soft Blocks, Arm (fist, open hand), Leg (kicking).
•	Attacks: Attacks are most often counter-attacks that occur after intercepting an enemy’s force and turning it against him in an often explosive and unexpected manner.
•	Defenses: Very internal style, uses flowing maneuvers emulating water to encourage the circulation of energy; huge emphasis on soft blocks.  
•	Abilities
•	Flow Like Water: The slow forms and posture-holding of Tai Chi give the practitioner great knowledge of their body, giving them a great degree of flexibility and the ability to move into just the right position to lessen the pain of a wound or even flow around a wound, avoiding it altogether.
•	Supreme Ultimate: The very name tai chi translates to this term.  In this case, it refers specifically to a meditative state wherein the practitioner can draw in and upon great reserves of qi to do things like lessen the pain of wounds, purge the body of poisons, and unlock prodigious fighting skills for a short time.  The qi circulation taught by this technique is greatly conducive to unlocking many of the more internal Chi Kung skills.
•	Shaolin Kuen (Young Forest Fist) 
•	Based on idea that one animal “beats” another, elements “overpower” one another.  Snake (Earth), Tiger (Fire), Crane (Metal), Leopard (Wood), Dragon (Water).  
•	Earth (Snake) stamps out Fire (Tiger).  Fire (Tiger) melts Metal (Crane).  Metal (Crane) chops Wood (Leopard).  Wood (Leopard) ruins Water (Dragon).  Water (Dragon) disturbs Earth (Snake).
•	Hei Hu Kuen (Tiger Fist)
•	Skills needed: Dodging, Open Hand, Fingertip.
•	Attacks: The attacks of this style are generally in a straight line to reach a foe faster and destroy them quickly.  A new Open Hand position is introduced, Tiger Claw, with the wrist is drawn back, fingers as wide as possible, fingertips held forward to deliver a blow while grasping and twisting
•	Defenses: The qualities of Yang fearlessness and aggressiveness are such in this style that defensive maneuvers are somewhat undeveloped in this style, but the few that do exist concentrate on hard blocks (often delivered with such force that a foe’s attacking limb may be injured or jarred).
•	Abilities 
•	Fierceness of the Tiger: Everything to the Tiger practitioner is an attack against the foe, with aggressiveness and fearlessness conquering doubt, lending to a resistance against fear.  In addition, even defensive maneuvers can harm a foe, with hard blocks being able to jar or harm a foe.
•	Tiger’s Rend: The practitioner plunges his Tiger Claw hand into a foe, grasping and twisting the enemy’s flesh, which can rip off flesh, leaving behind ragged and bleeding wounds.
•	Fei He Kuen (Crane Fist)
•	Skills needed: Arm (open hand, elbow, fingertip), Leg (kicking).
•	Attacks: Strikes involve all manner of full length kicks which are built off of high steps, and sweeping arm movements are conducive to elbows, and fingertip strikes, especially Crane’s Beak hand.
•	Defenses: The style emphasizes high steps and sweeping diversions and soft blocks for defense as well as fast footwork to dodge out of a foe’s way.
•	Emphasize high steps and sweeping diversions with the arms for defense, using high kicks, elbows, wrists, and fingertip (“crane’s beak” hand) for attacks.  
•	Abilities
•	Flustering Wings: The Crane style’s defensive abilities are famous, and much time is spent training great sweeps of the hands and arms to deflect an enemy’s blows as well as distracting motions to lure a foe to one side while the Crane attacks from another.
•	One Legged Stance: The practitioner draws back onto one leg, the hands held up either in the Crane’s Beak hand or swept back behind the body like great wings.  While dodging and lateral motion are all but impossible in this stance, training in this stance enables great soft blocking abilities as well as the ability to deliver a single, deadly blow with a kick or Crane’s Beak before having to reassume this stance if one desires.
•	Bao Kuen (Leopard Fist)
•	Skills needed: Dodging, Arm (elbow, fist, open hand), Leg (kicking), Grappling
•	Attacks: Relies on speed and outsmarting the foe, focusing on elbows, knees, low kicks, and leopard punches at close range with some training in grappling to get very close.  The style introduces a new Open Hand maneuver, Leopard’s Paw hand, which is described as a half opened fist.  Striking surface is ridge formed by folding fingers at first phalangal joint.  Secondary striking surface is palm.  Modified for grabbing and tearing. Also uses Palm strikes.
•	Defenses: Blocking is wasted; “Why block when you can hit?”  Hit and run techniques, which means blocks of any sort aren’t in this style.
•	Abilities
•	Speed of the Leopard: The power of the Leopard style is in speedy tactics to defeat a foe.  Against those who are hampered or simply slower enemies, you gain a greater bonus to fighting them than untrained people would.
•	Stalking Leopard: The techniques of the Leopard style are useful at night when blinding hand and foot movements are invisible.  In dark surroundings or against blind foes, you gain a great bonus to your fighting skills, particularly feinting.  Also useful on wet ground due to solid footwork.  
•	She Kuen (Snake Fist)
•	Skills needed: Fist, Fingertips, Soft Blocks.
•	Attacks: Fluidity of snakes lets them entwine a foe and strike from all manner of angles and with various strikes.  Snake style is based on whipping power which travels up spine to the fingers (especially knuckles), which requires a strong spine.  Breath is important as well.  Generally aims for weak points, especially eyes, groin, and joints for locations of whipping strikes. Mostly uses fist and fingertip strikes.
•	Defense: The undulating movement of the serpent inspires footwork that facilitates dodging, and to a lesser extent, soft blocks.
•	Abilities
•	Entwining Strike: The footwork of the snake style enables the practitioner to encircle a foe, attacking them from all directions as they do.  The greatest practitioners can extend their “coils” to attack even groups of enemies in this manner.
•	Whipping Strike: The power of the snake style is grounded in whipping power from the spine to the fingers to generate internal force.  This translates to dealing more damage with arm movements that involve great swinging and whipping such as backfists and ridge-hand, as well as fingertip strikes.
•	Lung Kuen (Dragon Fist)
•	Skills needed: Open Hand, Legs (kicking, leaping), Dodging.
•	Attacks: Typically attacks with winding low yang powerful and quick movements.  All manner of attacks are used, though palms, hammerfists, and low kicks tend to be favored to maintain the Dragon style’s footwork.
•	Defenses: Footwork has zig-zag motions that mimics the motions of the Chinese dragons, with long strides, using strength of legs to move in and out of opponent’s range of attack, thus emphasizing Dodges.
•	Abilities
•	Claws of the Dragon: The Dragon practitioner steps forward in great zig-zag strides and delivers a powerful yang strike with either hand or foot low on the target, near their center of gravity, shoving them backwards and possibly dealing internal damage.
•	Dragon’s Flight: The Dragon style practitioner moves in zig-zag motions with long strides to continuously confound an enemy’s range of attack, enabling a Dragon style’s practitioner to move in quickly, make an attack, and retreat or continue through before an enemy can launch an adequate counter-attack.
•	Legendary Kung Fu (from Quintessential Monk, etc.)
•	Some of these may have to be moved to Chi Kung or removed entirely.
•	Breaking Point: can concentrate on an object to gain a far better chance to break it; 2 months, 300.
•	Wu Song Breaks His Manacles: can fight proficiently even when bound hand and/or foot; 1 month, 400.
•	Shaky Palm: exhale breath and qi output in specific patterns and match with vibrations in palm to cause victims to be nauseated and disoriented; 2 months, 700.
•	Everything’s a Weapon: extreme skills with any improvised weapons; 3 months, 500.
•	Tan Tui: “springy legs,” extreme jumping ability, 2 months, 500.
•	Kiss of the Dragon: knowledge of acupuncture to deliver massively bleeding blows with acupuncture needles, 4 months, 800.
•	18 Iron Lohan: hone qi to extremely high levels to imbue each strike with incredible internal power; 6 months, 1200.
•	Gecko Step: can move even up walls as though level ground; 6 months, 100.
•	Chestnut Fist: removing chestnuts from flames before they burst, build up extremely fast hand attacks; 4 months, 600.
•	Chun Kuo’s Chopsticks: fight effectively with chopsticks, deflecting blows and inflicting piercing strikes, 6 months, 600.
•	Eight Drunken Immortals: Greatly empower Drunken Boxing techniques and resistance to pain, 3 months, 800.
•	Mad Devil Staff: can make single, powerful attacks with staff to cleave through anything, ignoring foe’s armour, object hardness, etc., 2 months, 600.
•	No Shadow Kick: a kick so fast it casts no shadow, gain a bonus to attack enemies with lower initiative, faster kicks, 4 months, 600.
•	Waking Trance: trained to no longer sleep in normal sense, instead meditating for half the normal amount of time needed to sleep, and retain full command of most senses, especially hearing; 4 months, 500.
•	Clever Crane’s Wing: such skill with deflecting projectiles that one can even deflect magical projectiles and spell effects, 3 months, 800.
•	Whispers of Ancestors: mix of shamanic magic, drugs, meditation to contact ancestral spirits for advice; 6 months, 900.
•	Kung fu Weapons 
•	Utilizing the weapons of kung fu in much more fluid, speedy, and accurate blows than those without specialized training, as well as interspersing weapon attacks with kung fu unarmed attacks. 
•	Sword forms & weapons
•	Dao: use of the single dao sword, predominantly slashing.
•	Gao Wun Dai Dao: dao with nine rings on the back, can be used by the adept to catch weapons and adds weight to a swing; in the MUD, probably just call it “nine ringed dao.”
•	Dai Dao: a much heavier dao
•	Surng Nau Yip Dao: style of two dao wielded at once
•	Jian: slender double edged sword, slashing & thrusting
•	Surng Gim: style of two jian wielded at once
•	Short Blade forms & weapons 
•	Ngau Dao: tiger hook sword; in the MUD, just call it a “tiger hook sword,” classify as a slashing sword in MUD.
•	Surng ngau dao: style of paired tiger hook swords
•	Lim Dao: the sickle, i.e. Japanese kama
•	Pau Jung Dao: butterfly sword, often wielded in pairs or the two small put together as a single broad short blade; in MUD, just call it a “butterfly sword.”
•	Chahp Jai: single dagger
•	Surng chahp jai: style of paired daggers
•	Flexible Blunt Weapons forms & weapons (new weapon skill)
•	Tung Heun: cane ring, a wooden hoop
•	Jeh: umbrella; in MUD, just call it a “parasol” or “umbrella” or whatever, but in the description note whether it’s good for combat.
•	Gwai jurng: walking cane with crook at end; in MUD, “crooked walking cane” or the like.
•	Surng Gwai: style of paired tonfa
•	Gai Jit Bin: nine section staff, in MUD just use “nine section staff.”
•	Surng Jit Gwun: akin to Japanese nunchaku
•	Sahm Jit Gwun: three section staff, in MUD, just use “three section staff.”
•	Goong Seun Gwun: long staff with one third section connected by chain.
•	Wahng Tau Gwun: Chinese sitting bench, in MUD just use “sitting bench.”
•	Rigid Blunt forms & weapons
•	Jurng: oar, short staff; in MUD, just use “oar”, “short staff”, etc.
•	Surng Tau Gwun: double headed staff, typical quarterstaff; in MUD just use “quarterstaff” or “staff.”
•	Ba Gua Gun: eight trigram staff, long-staff; just use these names in MUD.
•	Scabbard Strike (fight effectively with sheathed weapon or just use scabbard)
•	Pole weapon forms & weapons 
•	Ying Churng: tassle spear; note that Chinese spears often have far more flexible and “bendy” hafts, allowing for more “shaft-whipping” moves and so forth, and are generally lighter than more rigid Japanese and European spears.
•	Surng tau ying churng: double headed tassle spear; longer version
•	She Gik: snake spear
•	Foo Tau Gik: tiger head halberd; axe head and snake point
•	Dahn Bin Gik: single headed halberd; snake point and crescent
•	Fong Tin Gik: Spearpoint and two crescents spear
•	Sahm Nga Cha: very broad trident
•	Jahm Mah Dao: “short kwan dao”
•	Gau Wun Dao: “nine ring kwan dao”
•	Dai Gun Dao: long kwan dao, standard length like naginata
•	Yue Nga Chun: staff with crescent blade on each end
•	Clever Monkey Spins Branch (technique adjust grip and range of pole weapons)
•	Chi Kung
•	Also called Esoteric Skills, either because they require specialized knowledge that is difficult to attain anywhere else, or because they require a form of spiritual awakening, or they can only come through far more time spent training and fighting than the ordinary person can begin to imagine.  Typically only come after great amount of training and are generally only taught to higher level students by the monks.
•	Chi Kung utilizes a monastic’s chi/qi as its energy.
•	To gain Chi Kung skills, one must seek out a master who will impart the training methods and aid in training, or somehow acquire the instructions/training methods in some other fashion (secret martial arts manuals are a common way to do this).  Then the character gets whatever tools are necessary for the training (if any) and keeps on training, spending XP at the end to solidify the training and learn the technique.  
•	Like kung fu, the best place to get training for Chi Kung is in Hanyu.
•	Meridian Vital Points 
•	Prerequisites: Fingertips, Intelligence.
•	Accurate fingertip maneuvers aimed at vital points and meridians to increase or inhibit certain flows of energy in the body; require very precise fingertip strikes and are very difficult to do when someone is wearing armour.  
•	Pain, Nausea, Stunning, Paralysis (first of specific limbs, then full body), Sickness (force body to release internal toxins), Blindness, Deafness, Death (the dim mak maneuver).
•	Purging Disease, Poison, removing effects of Vital Point Attacks
•	Temporary adrenaline rush to enhance strength and speed, but weakened for a time afterwards.
•	Training method: training numerous fingertip, two fingertip, and spearhand strikes on enemies and on wooden mannequins that have the various meridians drawn on them, as well as studying anatomy charts.
•	Iron Hand, Arm, Leg, Foot
•	Prerequisites: Fist, Open Hand, Arm Strikes, or Kicking 5, Hard Blocks 5, Willpower 5.
•	Strongly enhances resistance to the parts on the arm or leg in general, making them less prone to damage.  The parts, when used to attack (with fist, palm, elbow/forearm, knee/shin, foot) deal extra damage and have a chance of sundering a foe’s armor, breaking bones, dealing internal damage, and so forth. 
•	If one has the Iron Arm skill, small chance to sunder a weapon they block with their arms. Likewise with Iron Leg for shin blocks.
•	The Iron body parts eventually turn into Golden (all prerequisites at 7), then Cosmos (all prerequisites at 10).
•	While merely having the ability in the first place grants extra damage, a full round action (and some chi) may be used to deal a single, more powerful blow.
•	Training method: using the desired Iron part of the body to attack various hard objects, such as wood and stone, as well as plunging the body parts into hot and cold objects (such as buckets of icy cold water and braziers full of heated sand and coal).
•	Iron Shirt
•	Prerequisites: Acceptance 5, Constitution 5, Willpower 5.
•	Blows to the body don’t hurt as much; chance to sunder weapons that hit the body.  Works best against bludgeoning, next against slashing, then piercing attacks.  Enhance body check attacks.
•	Transforms into Golden Vest (prerequisites 7), and finally, Golden Bell (prerequisites 10).
•	While merely having the ability in the first place grants a decent amount of damage reduction, a meditation ritual may be undertaken to enhance the damage reduction by a greater amount for a time.
•	Training method: getting struck repeatedly along the torso by bags full of sand, rocks, and eventually getting hit by large wooden mallets and sleeping with large rocks on the abdomen on back, as well as sleeping and training while wearing heavy leather armour.
•	Iron Head
•	Prerequisites: Headbutt 5, Constitution 5, Willpower 5.
•	Reduces damage to the head and neck, and enhances headbutt damage.  Chance of sundering weapons that hit the head.  Eventually graduates into Steel Head (all prerequisites 7) and Golden Head (all prerequisites 10).
•	While merely having the ability in the first place grants extra damage, a full round action (and some chi) may be used to deal a single, more powerful blow.
•	Training method: headstands to strengthen the neck (without using the hands), as well as smashing the head against wooden pillars and sandbags. 
•	Iron Mouth 
•	Prerequisites: Biting 5, Willpower 5
•	Reduce damage to mouth, enhance biting damage.
•	Training Method: lifting objects with teeth and mouth, such as rocks and tablets with full tea sets on them and carrying them around without using the arms.
•	Nerve Armour
•	Prerequisites: Accept 5, Meridian Vital Points.
•	Toughens and raises resistance of vital areas of the body such as the inside of the thighs and arms, the genitals, nose, and so forth.  
•	Greatly reduces the effectiveness of vital point attacks, such as Meridian attacks, precision based damage like backstabs and silent kill damage, and most fingertip attacks such as those covered under One Finger Zen.
•	Eventually turns into Steel Nerve Armour (prerequisites 7), and Golden Nerve Armour (prerequisites 10).
•	While merely having the ability in the first place grants a decent amount of damage reduction and defense against precision damage and meridian effects, a meditation ritual may be undertaken to enhance the damage reduction and defense against precision damage and meridian effects by a greater amount for a time.
•	Training method: getting someone (or yourself) to hit you repeatedly in various vital points and surviving the attacks. 
•	One Finger Zen
•	Prerequisites: Fingertips 5, Tiger, Eagle Claw, or Mantis Kung Fu 5.
•	Fingertip attacks and meridian techniques are greatly enhanced, as well as fingertip striking techniques, such as Tiger, Eagle Claw, and Mantis.
•	Training method: Using the finger and jabbing it at candles and paper lanterns at close range until you can extinguish candles and cause holes to appear in the paper lanterns without touching them, doing fingertip push-ups and fingertip-stands.
•	Pure Breath 
•	Prerequisites: Constitution 5, Willpower 5.
•	Can go on without air for quite some time, thus taking away much danger from throat strikes, suffocation attempts, etc.
•	Training method: spending long bouts of meditation holding your breath, meditating underwater, and other air-deprived spaces. 
•	Healing Meditation
•	Prerequisites: Willpower 3.
•	Enter a state of deep meditation to rest and heal oneself.
•	Training method: meditation in chi-rich environments before learning how to cultivate the healing energies within your body, as well as studying mandalas and anatomy diagrams to see how healing energy can flow through the body.  
•	Fa Jing 
•	Prerequisites: Fist, Open Hand, Fingertip, or Kicking 10, Willpower 8.
•	Proper posture, movement, breathing, and internal qi to send a blast of qi over a short distance; a ranged qi attack, also known as “Ring the Golden Bell,” as mastery of this wondrous skill is said to have been attained after one can cause a great bell of gold in the Yong Heng Ssu to ring from a distance.  Through the power of inner qi does one defeat an enemy, not strength, enabling one to defeat a foe without ever touching them or being defeated by armour.
•	The greatest masters can learn a technique named Shou Lung Fist which enables them to utilize pinpoint meridian attacks in combination with the Fa Jing technique; instead of merely inflicting damage at a range, they can use the special maneuvers they know of Meridians.  This requires knowledge of Meridians and Fingertips.
•	Training method: Candle and lantern practice like One Finger Zen, but far more intensive, eventually graduating to wood objects, bells, and even other people (though holding back in training).
•	Stand Upon Clouds 
•	Prerequisites: Willpower 5, Agility 5, Leaping 8, Kicking 8.
•	With breathing and qi manipulation techniques, can make oneself incredibly light, allowing incredible acrobatics, leaping insane distances, lessening damage from falls, and not setting off pressure activated traps on the floor.
•	Training method: leaping, stretching, and training stances with very heavy weights tied to oneself, as well as meditating to cultivate qi and walking on nails and eggshells. 
•	Sensory Control
•	Prerequisites: Willpower 5.
•	The character can shut off his five senses, reactivate them if lost or damaged in battle, or even enhance his senses for a short time. 
•	Shutting off certain senses can actually be beneficial in certain situations, such as shutting off one’s sense of touch in the hands to handle a particularly hot object, one’s eyes to avoid a gaze attack from a gorgon, ears from a banshee’s wail, tongue to eat a dangerous object, nose for a ghoul’s carrion stench. 
•	Enhancing senses is very beneficial; enhancing touch to feel the wind around you and maybe avoid an ambush, sight to notice small and precise details, ears to hear someone sneaking up on you, tongue to detect ingested poisons and be able to spit them out, nose for tracking someone or something when other senses fail.
•	Training methods: long bouts of meditation followed by testing the senses such as counting the leaves on a tree, listening to bells from a long distance, tasting very subtle foods, wearing clothes of varying roughness and smoothness as well as handling objects of varying roughness and smoothness, smelling very subtle scents. 
•	Frog Leaps on Lilypad 
•	Prerequisites: Willpower 4, Agility 4, Leaping 6, Kicking 6.
•	You can move across extremely light surfaces and even relatively calm water without falling through.  You can try moving through fast or choppy currents with a much higher difficulty.  You are still subject to normal contact affects that occur for moving across liquids with such special effects (such as running across a pool of acid).
•	Training methods: walking on progressively less sturdy objects, moving from stone to wood to stretched cloth, and even absurd objects such as eggshells, and finally water.
•	Ghost Steps 
•	Prerequisites: Willpower 5, Agility 5.
•	Your footsteps echo strangely and no longer betray your location.  
•	Training method: you learn to break your ordinary step and learn a new stepping rhythm and breathing techniques, and walk across various objects, such as grass, dry leaves, water puddles, and even walking on large metal floors while wearing metal shoes, and wearing bells tied to one’s legs. 
•	Relevant Equipment 
•	Weapons
•	See Kung Fu Weapons above
•	Heavy Weapons (much heavier versions of ordinary weapons that are used in training to build up strength and endurance, generally higher damage dealing weapons as well; after a time spent using heavier weapons, if switching to ordinary, lighter weapons, attack speeds of those weapons are greatly increased) 
•	Finger Razors (metal claws over fingertips, sometimes used by practitioners of the Eagle Claw style, aid finger-based attacks damage)
•	Flying Guillotine (chain, basket, decapitate)
•	Iron Staff (much sturdier metal staff, heavier and more damaging)
•	Prayer Beads (sometimes used to whip or choke foes)
•	Snake Weapons (spear, sword, knife; the undulating blade can make enemy misjudge distance for dodging and blocking, plus it works like a flamberge blade to leave jagged slashing and piercing wounds)
•	Armour & Shields 
•	Studded Bracers (heavy leather and steel, give more protection for blocks using the arms and deflecting projectiles)
•	Wheel Blade Shield (metal shield with edges along the rim as well as claw towards the hand end of the shield)
•	Equipment 
•	Acupuncture Kit (needles, charts, vials, herbs)
•	Jow (kung fu medicine, rub on bruises and sore muscles to relieve tension and stiffness, aids healing over time)
•	Padded Boxing Gloves (reduce impact of unarmed blows, but greatly inhibit finger motion; no somatic spells or special hand positions)
•	Leather Wraps (soft, boiled leather strips for hands or feet, often going up to the elbow or knee; on a particularly good blow using a hand, elbow, knee, or foot strike with a body-part wearing leather wraps, straps slice into enemy’s skin and cause bleeding)
•	Animal Fat (rubbed over skin or armour to better slip out of restrained or being grappled, though very smelly)
•	Tear-Away Robes (robes held together with specially thin thread to tear away with hard tug, easy to escape grapple attacks, etc.)
•	Flowing River Robes (extremely long sleeves and folds to greatly aid Cotton Cage techniques)
•	Weighed Uniform (useful for endurance training as well as deflecting lesser blows thanks to thin metal plates)
•	Summary of Skills to advance: 
•	Mantras: Mantra of the Calmed Heart, Mantra of the Completed Soul, Mantra of the Pure Word, Mantra of the Exorcised Being.
•	Tantras: Breath Yoga, Dakini, Death Tantra, Fire Yoga, Invisibility, Lightness Yoga, Pure Vision, Sexual Tantra, SOrcery Tantra, Subtle Self, Tulpa Creation, Wind Voices, Yidam Tantra.
•	Mudras: Abhaya Mudra, Bhumisparsa Mudra, Dharmachakra Mudra, Dhyana Mudra, Varada Mudra, Karana Mudra.
•	Kung Fu: Fist, Open Hand, Fingers, Arm Strikes, Arm Target Strikes, Kicking, Leaping, Sweeping, Leg Target Strikes, Body/Head moves, Non-Direct moves, Dodge, Hard Block, Soft Block, Accept, Cotton Cage, Ba Gua Zhuang (Circle Step, Treads), Zui Kuen (Drunken Stagger, Unknowable Stance), Ying Jow Pai (Eagle Claw's Grip, Predator Slays Prey), Wing Chun (Wooden Dummy, Within Deadly Range), Tang Lang Kuen (Continuous Attacks, Two Claws), Hung Gar Kuen (Rooted Form, Strength of Stone), Tai Chu Kuen (Flow Like Water, Supreme Ultimate), Shaolin Hei Hu Kuen (Fierceness of the Tiger, Tiger's Rend), Fei He Kuen (Flustering Wings, One Legged Stance), Bao Kuen (Speed of the Leopard, Stalking Leopard), She Kuen (Entwining Strike, Whipping Strike), Lung Kuen (Claws of the Dragon, Dragon's Flight), Kung fu weapons (swords, short blades, flexible blunt weapons, rigid blunt weapons, pole weapons).
•	Chi Kung: Meridian Vital Points, Iron Hand, Iron Foot, Iron Shirt, Iron Head, Iron Mouth, Nerve Armour, One Finger Zen, Pure Breath, Healing Meditation, Fa Jing, Stand Upon Clouds, Sensory Control, Frog Leaps on Lilypad, Ghost Steps
•	Ninja 
•	Silent Kill: attacking from surprise and attack so they can’t cry for help or raise an alarm, also making it so people might not tell person is dead at a glance.
•	Ninja Alchemy: special poisons, potions, salves, etc. used by ninja.
•	Shinobi: stealth and “stealing in,” mobility such as climbing and sneaking.
•	Shichi ho de: “seven ways of going,” using common disguises; traveling actor, wandering priest, mountain priest, Buddhist monk, traveling entertainer, farmer, merchant.
•	Goton no Jutsu: “five escaping techniques” to aid retreat after a successful assassination, can hide even while under direct observation.
•	Tobi Ashi: “flying step” to arrive at destinations far faster than expected as well as the “side-ways step” so enemies can’t tell what direction you’re traveling.
•	Kuji-Kiri: hand signs to create special effects for a short time.
•	Rin: enhance physical strength.
•	Kyo: invisibility
•	Toh: can walk on water.
•	Sha: minor amount of healing.
•	Kai: completely refresh ninja, removing fatigue, hunger, thirst, environmental conditions such as heat and cold.
•	Jin: detect deliberate falsehoods and aids in resisting feint attacks.
•	Retsu: psychic whiplash, can knock someone back and stun them.
•	Zai: extreme healing of damage for self and removes virtually all negative conditions such as ability damage, fatigue, blindness, deafness, poison, etc.
•	Zen: can see through all darkness, notice secret doors, illusions, true form of shapeshifted objects and creatures.
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Silent Kill, Ninja Alchemy, Shinobi, Shichi ho de, Goton no Jutsu, Tobi Ashi, Kuji-Kiri (Rin, Kyo, Toh, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen).
•	Rogue 
•	Stealth: hide, move silently.
•	Acquisition: pickpocketing, palming.
•	Underworld: contacts, fencing, black market.
•	Poisons: use, identification, creation, and countering of poisons.
•	Dirty Fighting: flanking, sneak attack, backstabs.
•	Summary of Skills to advance: Stealth, Acquisition, Underworld, Poisons, Dirty Fighting.

Pantheon 
•	See the El Mundo documents

Creatures 

Vital Statistics 
•	Ability Scores
•	Start at 3 (the absolute “healthy” human minimum) and go up, usually to 18.  From 19 onto 24 is holy-crap.  Anything above is probably epic or divine.  Race/homeland might influence this.
•	Strength: immediately usable physical power.
•	Agility: speed, dexterity.
•	Constitution: how long you can physically last, sustain wounds, poison, etc.
•	Perception: five senses, noticing things, also reading people.
•	Intelligence: learning and making sense of information.
•	Willpower: power of personality and will, resisting mental influences, influencing others.
•	Combat
•	Initiative: determines order of combat.
•	Melee attack rolls: hand to hand, melee, agility for attacks, strength for damage.
•	Ranged attack rolls: thrown, shot, agility for attacks, strength for damage (though ranged attacks might not always be able to deliver one’s full strength bonus such as for smaller weapons, and bows will have a limit on how much strength you can ‘channel’ through the bow, depending on its maximum pull; mechanical weapons such as crossbows won’t convey a strength bonus at all).
•	Defense: avoiding damage through various means.
•	Dodging (getting out of way entirely) 
•	Blocking (parrying, shields, armour) 
•	See above fighting skills for more defenses; these are just the default for an untrained.
•	Health: determined by constitution and willpower; hit points.
•	Fatigue: how long you can last before tiring, initially ratio of two thirds constitution, one third willpower (some abilities and age might let you shift the ratio a bit).
•	Body 
•	Head (eyes, ears, neck, mouth, nose, hair)
•	Torso (upper torso, lower torso, groin, back)
•	Arms (shoulder, upper arm, lower arm, hands, fingers) 
•	Legs (thigh, lower leg, foot, toes)
•	Equipment 
•	Carrying Capacity (determined by strength, carrying lots drains fatigue) 
•	Slots (as Body)
•	

Features
•	Limb based damage system
•	Head, Torso, Arm, Hand, Foot, Leg
•	As certain parts of the body take damage, they gradually become less effective at tasks involving those parts of the body.
•	Eventually, parts of the body can be disabled or even destroyed, such as through called shots, random combat, etc.  
•	Disabled hands can’t grasp, disabled arms can’t grasp or do much of anything, disabled feet and legs mean a subject can’t run or move effectively unless they drag themselves away with their arms or try flopping away.
•	If the Head is disabled, the subject is knocked out.  If the Torso is disabled, the subject probably suffers some form of internal damage such as internal bleeding, suffocation, or extreme fatigue.  If the Head or Torso takes enough damage to be “destroyed,” then the subject typically dies.
•	In combat, untrained subjects will probably on default be aiming at their enemy’s torso or head.  Subjects with training (warrior training, martial artist training, etc.) will probably be able to set a default of where they are trying to aim (so they can focus more on someone’s arms, for example) or make attacks that specifically target certain parts (such as a monk’s Throat Punch).
•	Classless system
•	When you are making a character, there will be no class selection, only things like name, password, race, email if you want, etc.  The system will work much like LegendsMUD does, in that to learn a skill, you must either somehow develop it yourself or find a teacher willing to impart upon you a skill.  
•	If “guilds” exist, they will not be “classes” and so forth, but more “a group of people who just so happen to train this set of skills.”  The archetypes above simply reflect who is “most likely” to have a certain set of skills; you’ll probably find someone skilled in Esoteric Martial Arts in a Shaolin monastery than you will at some bar known for its black market dealers.
•	Skills 
•	Skills will probably be ranked from 1-10 in general, with skill levels above 10 probably entering into the epic range and being nearly impossible to develop.  Certain skills will have as prerequisites other skills (such as having to be good at punching to gain the Iron Fist ability).
•	Some skills, everyone should have some sort of very basic deal, though obviously, real training benefits everyone.  Characters shouldn’t gain skills just because it appears on some chart.  In order to first gain an apprentice’s level of a skill, they will have to go out and find someone who knows a skill or try to develop it on their own (very difficult in most cases).  
•	Then they will have to do any tasks their teacher sets out before them (sometimes nothing, other times a fee in money, or being forced to submit to a training regimen or quest of some sort), pay some XP, and gain the apprenticeship level rank of the skill.  
•	To get better at a skill will require actively using the skill, though spending XP on a skill to make it better works too (though it should be expensive enough to put the idea into people’s heads that improving-through-use is a good idea).  Furthermore, having certain conditions met might make the XP cost of training a skill cheaper or more expensive, such as having a skillful (or unskillful) teacher, proper tools in the area with which to train (such as training Iron Palm with a great iron bell in the courtyard of a monastery) and the like.
•	Some skills also affect other skills (such as Iron Fist affecting all fist based attacks), so super-skill-specialists sometimes miss out on some things. 
•	Regarding spellcasters, each spell group (Evocation, Thaumaturgy, Summoning, Embedding and further specializations within each group) will be its own skill that can be increased with XP and through use, which generally covers all spells within that domain that a spellcaster can use.  If a spellcaster wishes, they can spend XP on particular spells to make themselves even better at manipulating that spell (making a “signature” spell).
•	I kind of want there to be a lot of skills available for everyone, far more than anyone could possibly think of learning, mostly to encourage specialization and everyone trying out their own skills, different combinations, and so forth.
•	Whether or not players will be able to teach skills, I don’t know.  If players can teach skills, then it might lower the aspect of having to travel far and wide to find a suitable teacher of strange skills and so forth.  Perhaps only after having level 11 or higher in a skill will a player be able to teach that skill; after all, they’re adventuring PCs, whereas NPCs are generally spending far more time teaching and sitting around and developing these teaching methods.
•	Certain races, homelands, and so forth will influence how much skills cost, how easy they are to learn, and so forth.  Once certain skills are chosen, that “beginning” sets a form of precedent for the rest of the character’s skills that they will learn in the future, influencing the costs of future skills.  For instance, learning Magic skills early on will make learning Fighting skills much more expensive in the future, etc.
•	Magic 
•	There will be certain means by which a character has magical talent; either through it being Internal and inborn through whatever circumstance, the power being granted by another being through a pact or whatever, and finally scholarly research of the warp and weft of magic to learn the art of its manipulation. 
•	Magic items will probably be relatively rare, forcing characters to rely on one another and their own skills to avoid damage and for healing purposes after battles.  This also makes magical items far more valuable, and the more “paltry” magical items will probably not exist or their effects will be able to be duplicated through natural skills (such as herbal remedies and potions of cure light wounds).
•	Mundane objects will have varying degrees of masterwork, such as the system of mundane enhancements (expensive as they may be) in Black Company.  
•	Equipment
•	None of this “rent” crap.  Just log on and off and keep your stuff.
•	Slots: Head (eyes, hair, ears, nose, mouth), Torso (upper, waist, back), Arm (shoulder, arm, hand, fingers), Legs (thigh, lower leg, foot).
•	Maybe items can be made such that they can be “worn” through extra straps and buckles, such as a bandolier of knives, or those absurd number of straps and buckles seen in Konsekai Swordwaltzer, with the dude who had the gun-weapon and the bladed chain.  
•	A container system, such as backpacks, satchels, belts, belt-pouches, etc.
•	A scabbard system for weapons, definitely.
•	
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