Hand to Hand: Triad
By Brett Hegr

This martial art form is far different from the Eastern combat style of the same name. It was brought to RiftsR Earth by a human D-Bee soldier named Nathan Hager. Claiming to be a soldier trained by and cloned from a man known only as Armageddon, he roamed North America in search of a way back to his home world. Eventually, he did return. But before he did, he befriended a renowned Cyber-Knighttm named Damion Kurvas. Damion fought at Nathan's side for several months, as they had similar personalities and beliefs. During that time Nathan taught Damion the prinicples of Triad. As a result of this, Damion has begun instructing many Cyber-Knightstm in the combat style, and it has slowly spread across the continent.

A practitioner of Triad is first trained to react quickly to danger. Once the natural defensive instincts have been honed, he then concentrates on striking quickly and efficiently. Once these two concepts have been adequately mastered, the warrior then learns to turn attacks against him to his advantage. Thus, a beginning student of the combat form will tend to take more defensive actions. Once he becomes more skilled, he will get much more agressive and start using more grappling attacks.

Triad is excellent for dispatching enemies. The developers of the combat style had great physical strength. As a result, Triad lacks damage bonuses. Their constant warring with enemies affected the form such that there are few bonuses to pull punches. There are also few holds and other non-offensive actions. This art form has the benefit of a wide variety of bonuses. Students are taught a little bit of everything, but focus on speed in attacking and defense. Experienced combatants make good use of the body throw/slam (they prefer to slam) by following up with the firing of a weapon or a stomp. Since the enemy is already down he can't really defend. They are also known to use their automatic body throw to send one opponent flying into another. Combatants also use forearms, leap attacks, and the crescent kick much more than in other martial art forms. Masters make extensive use of the lethal speed striking ability, gained at the 15th level.

Skill Cost: Equivalent to Hand to Hand: Karate, Jujutsu, or Commando. It costs one more "other" skill than Hand to Hand: Martial Arts, but also costs one extra secondary skill. Not suggested for any genre besides Rifts, but it counts as five secondary skills or one skill from the Physical skill program and one secondary skill if used.
Skill Requirements: At least two Physical skills (any kind).
Attribute Requirements: P.P. of 10
Techniques Known at First Level: Automatic parry, dodge, pull punch, roll with punch/fall/impact, break fall, disarm, and entangle. Attacks include punch (1d4 damage), knee (1d6 damage), snap kick (1d6 damage, a low and fast kick), stomp (2d4 damage, effective only against enemies lying on the ground), backhand (1d6 damage), head butt (1d6 damage), elbow and forearm strikes (1d6 damage), body block/tackle (1d6 damage), and body throw/slam (1d6 damage plus knockdown).

Bonuses: +3d6 S.D.C., +1d4 to M.E., +2 to P.S., and +1d6 to Spd.

LEVEL ADVANCEMENT BONUSES
Level 1: Three attacks per melee, +1 to perception, +1 vs horror factor, +2 to parry, +2 to dodge, and +1 to maintain balance.
Level 2: +1 on initiative, +1 to pull punch, +2 to roll with punch/fall/impact, +1 to break fall, +1 to disarm, and +1 to entangle.
Level 3: Kick attack (2d4 damage), +1 attack per melee, +1 to strike, and +1 to grapple.
Level 4: +1 on initiative, +2 to parry, and +2 to dodge.
Level 5: Automatic dodge, hard punch (1d6 damage), and +1 to strike.
Level 6: +1 to perception, +1 vs horror factor, +2 to roll with punch/fall/impact, +1 to break fall, and +1 to maintain balance.
Level 7: Crescent kick (2d4+2 damage), tripping/leg hook and backward sweep (no damage, cause knockdown), and +1 attack per melee.
Level 8: Critical strike on an unmodified roll of 18 to 20 and +2 to strike.
Level 9: Power hard punch, power kick, power knee, power head butt, and power forearm (double damage plus P.S. bonus, uses two attacks), and knockout/stun on an unmodified roll of 18 to 20.
Level 10: Power stomp (3d6 damage, uses two attacks), critical strike from behind (triple damage) and +1 to grapple.
Level 11: Automatic body throw/slam, +1 to strike, and +2 to grapple.
Level 12: Critical body throw/slam (2d6 damage plus P.S. bonus, victim loses initiative and two attacks, and uses two attacks) and +1 attack per melee.
Level 13: Hard punch (2d4 damage), kick attack (2d6 damage), and combination dodge/strike (uses up one attack, halve bonuses for both).
Level 14: Death blow (takes two attacks), leap attack, jump kick, and +2 to strike.
Level 15: Speed striking - A special attack where the Triad master can repeatedly strike a target up to five times with one melee attack! The first four attacks must be non-power attacks and must only take up one melee action to perform normally. The master must roll a strike that hits to begin, and then must roll successful strikes to continue the assault. A failed strike means no more speed strikes can be done. The fifth attack can be a power attack, but still takes up two melee attacks. The only problems with this is that the attacker cannot defend himself in any way during the attack, he cannot combine this with a death blow, no weapons can be held in the hands, and his bonuses to strike and damage are halved! Plus, the defender gets to roll to parry or dodge until he succeeds - if and when he does, the flurry of attacks ends. Still, this is a devastating ability (especially when used from behind) and this is why masters are so feared.

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