Troll Martial Arts
By Mephisto
Trolls are legendary in their ferocity, so it should come as no surprise that their martial art is equally foul and merciless. They will seldom teach this art to other giants and never teach it to any of the smaller races. The only way a human or elf will see Trolls using their martial arts in action is to be on the receiving end of it. Not an enviable position for any individual to be in. Troll Natural Combat
Entrance Requirements: None
Alignment Restrictions: None, although the Rend attack will never be done by a good character; just too evil an attack.
Skill Cost: 7 Years (5 As a Secondary)

Although called natural combat its a learned martial art. Rather it focuses on the natural abilities of the troll and serves to maximize it for combat purposes. The size, strength, agility, and claws of the troll are all key ingredients. The bad temperament is just a bonus.

The Troll will lash out violently to start, with a variety of quick kicks and punches to overwhelm the foe. Then they will grab the opponent and either knee them or elbow them, or if they are in a particularly nasty mood, many will try to dismember their foe limb from limb!

Training is available wherever a small group of trolls reside. Since trolls tend to be solitary creatures, there are thankfully few that are versed in this fighting art. But more trolls are becoming familiar with this style of fighting, and many are deadly in its application.

Damage Note: The damage listing that follows is for the Troll only. For Ogres the dice number doesn't change but instead they become 1D4s rather than 1D6s (example: the Kick attack for an ogre does 3D4 damage, the duo-claw strike does 4D4 damage, etc). Giants do Troll damage but keep in mind that the claw attacks are replaced with punch strikes.
O.C.C. Note: Any Troll or Ogre can gain this martial art by first upgrading to Hand to Hand: Martial Arts then exchanging two O.C.C. related skills to gain Troll Natural Combat. Giants need to exchange three O.C.C. related skills. This martial art is only available to Men of Arms O.C.C.s, even for Trolls and Ogres.
Character Bonuses
+3 to P.S.
+2 to P.P.
+4 to P.E.
+20 to S.D.C.
Combat Skills
Attacks Per Melee: 4
Escape Moves: Roll With Punch/Fall/Impact
Basic Defenses: Dodge, Parry, Auto Parry
Advanced Defenses: Power Block/Parry, Combination Parry/Attack (or Grab), Circular Parry
Hand Attacks: Claw Hand (does 2D6 damage instead of 2D4), Duo-Claw Strike (4D6 damage but character loses the automatic parry until their next melee action), Power Claw (4D6 damage counts as one attack but -4 strike).
Foot Attacks: Kick Attack (3D6 damage), Snap Kick (2D6 damage), Roundhouse (6D6 damage), Axe Kick (4D6 damage), Wheel Kick (4D6 damage), Stomp (does 2D6 damage; effective only against victims who are smaller than three feet tall), Knee (3D6 damage)
Jumping Foot Attacks: Jump Kick (2D4 x 10 damage; 2 attacks), Flying Jump Kick (2D6 x 10 damage; three attacks. Done at -4 to strike)
Special Attacks: Crush/Squeeze, Choke, Grab (simply the ability to grab onto the opponent. Another grab roll may be made for the other hand. This is usually used in combination with a hand, knee, or rend attack), Rend (Special! This is when the Troll has used both of his hands to grab a part of his opponent and tries to either tear an arm off, a leg, etc. The attacker and defender (and any helpful friends of the defender) both roll a 1D20 and add in their P.S. attribute. If the defender wins the contest nothing happens and combat continues. If the attacker wins the defender takes 1D6 damage. If the attacker does three successful rend attacks in a row there is a 30% chance plus 5% chance per successful Rend attack of dismembering the victim! Having the arm ripped out of the socket is a terrible experience; suffers 2D6 damage direct to hit points, a save versus pain at +4, and will lose one hit point per melee action from blood loss! The loss of both arms doubles the penalties. The loss of a leg has similar penalties except the save versus pain is at -7, but movement and combat are impossible and the character suffers 3D6 damage direct to hit points and suffers two hit points per melee action from blood loss. Penalties doubled if both legs are dismembered. Of course, decapitation is a death blow. 'Nuff said there.)
Holds/Locks: None
Weapon Skills: None
Special Katas: None
Modifiers to Attack: KO/Stun, Death Blow
Skills Included in Training
Martial Art Powers: Select Two Body Hardening
Physical Skills: Wrestling and one of choice, except not Acrobatics or Gymnastics
Training Skills: None.
Languages: None
Level Advancement Bonuses
1st Critical Strike Natural 20 or from behind, +2 to strike
2nd +2 to damage, +2 grab
3rd +1 strike, +1 Initiative
4th +1 attack, +1 parry
5th +1 Damage, Select One Additional Martial Art Power
6th +1 Dodge, +2 damage
7th Critical Strike Natural 19 or 20, +1 Grab
8th +1 Attack, +1 Initiative
9th +2 Strike, +1 parry
10th +2 damage
11th +2 to Strike, +1 to Damage
12th +1 Initiative, Select One Additional Martial Art Power
13th +1 Attack, Critical Strike Natural 18-20, +2 grab
14th +2 parry and dodge, +1 Strike
15th Death Blow Natural 20
Why study Troll Natural Combat?
The application of an art as brutal as this one can serve many advantages. Certainly the spectacle of seeing someone ripped limb from limb has a certain intimidation value. The attacks are meant to be decisive and devastating; perfect for a Troll. It doesn't handle multiple attackers as well and the lack of grappling skills is a loss in certain situations, but the sheer brutality of the fighting style more than compensates for those deficiencies.