Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 12:37:23 -0600 (CST) From: Brian Zumalt Subject: Blackhand (BlackArt) Well the secrets of the Black Hand will be out soon, so I thought would post some Black Hand Arts, Knowledges and Rituals a friend of mine and I created...enjoy and tell me what you think, just rememeber it is are creation. Thanx Sejin. (it is fairly long) The Black Art that follows is the Copyright (C) of Jeff Bussey and TWF (SEJIN) The Black Art The Black Art , perhaps the most arcane and deadliest form of Martial Arts, was developed by Jalan-Aajav, Seraph of the Black Hand. The art employs a style of fighting that combines blinding speed and amazing force, as well as abilities that appear to b e, and quite possibly are super natural. The Black Art is used exclusively by the higher echelon in the Black Hand, and the punishment for the reveling the secrets, rivals that of the punishment ordained by Tremere for revealing the secrets of Thaumatur gy. Nearly impossible to defend against, even for the greatest of Martial Artists, the only ones who are capable of overcoming the art, are the ones who practice it. The warriors within the Black Hand receive a +1 bonus to defend against the art; the Do minions receive a +2 bonus; and the Seraphs receive a +4. Special Maneuver: Blind Man's Bluff This highly deceptive maneuver is employed in complete darkness or blindness, and allows the Martial Artist to strike from such overtly weird angles and positions that an opponent using Blind Fighting will not be able to correctly ascertain her location on her first attack, and will suffer a +2 to her attack difficulty number for the rest of her attack. Special Maneuver: The Blinding Strike Also known as Demon Speed by the rare few who have confronted the Black Art and survived long enough to pass along their story. This method of attack is done with such amazing speed, the Martial Artist receives a +4 Bonus to her Initiative roll. In ad dition her attack difficulty number is reduced by two because of the targets complete lack of awareness to the strike. The opponent may only roll his Dexterity when attempting to dodge this attack, at a difficulty of 8. Special Maneuver: Death Touch The damage done with this devastating blow does not only allow for Strength +2, but is aggravated damage as well. The difficulty, however, is a +2 to the normal attack difficulty number. Special Maneuver: The Defiant Stand This maneuver employs the willpower of the Martial Artist to enable her to black out all pain, and even resist death, giving her one more health level than normal. Special Maneuver: Dema'te Dema'te, translated from the ancient Sabbat language, means "Double Strike." This amazing form of attack enables the Martial Artist to strike twice before her opponent can make her initial attack. The difficulty for this attack is a +2 to the normal di fficulty number. Special Maneuver: Pressure Point Though vampires are technically dead they still require blood coursing through their veins, and to their mind in order to function and survive. This highly ancient art can be used to make an opponent blackout or go into serious convulsions by simply app lying a small amount of pressure to certain areas of the body. Though be warned, as the elders of the Black Hand would tell you, the pressure points may be different on certain individuals. Some Vampires organs are placed in different locations, and oth ers vascular system follows a different path. However, these are the exceptions that prove the rule. Upon attack she may strike out with a +2 to the normal attack difficulty number. Special Maneuver: Bone The Bone is very similar to the Death Touch, in that it is a devastating blow that gives the user a Strength of +2. However, it is used to strike out at specific bone structure of the body, and when successful renders that portion of the body useless, u ntil it has had time to heal. The difficulty for such an attack is a +2 to the normal attack difficulty number. Special Maneuver: The Dragon's Claw This form of attack enables the Martial Artist to strike with such force and speed, that his hands are not restrained by his opponents skin. Thus allowing him to strike as if he were employing talons. The most deadly form of this attack is ripping the targets throat from his neck, causing extreme damage, Strength +2, in addition to losing 3 points of blood per round. Special Maneuver: Silent Death This, perhaps the most arcane of this arcane form of Martial Arts, not only places the Martial Artist in a Cloak of Darkness, and a Shroud of Silence, but enable her to attack without betraying her true position. To employ the silence, the Martial Arti st must have a Dexterity and Stealth rating of no less than 5, as well as a Celerity rating of at least 1. In addition, this maneuver can only be preformed for two rounds. Only those with sight - enhancing powers are even allowed a chance of locating th e Martial Artist, and they must pass a Perception and Alertness or Blind Fighting roll, with a difficulty of 8. The number of successes required is 1/2 the number of dice rolled +1. For example: a kindred rolling 10d would need 6 successes. Special Maneuver: The Phantom's Deception This deceptive maneuver, similar to the Blind Man's Bluff, is employed in normal lighting situations and causes the Martial Artist to appear to be where he is not, thus increasing his opponents attack difficulty number by 2. Special Maneuver: Jalan's Revenge This maneuver was perfected by Jalan-Aajav, the founder of the Black Art. It was designed for use when fighting without a weapon, against an armed opponent, but Jalan reveled in the ironies of using an opponents own weapon against her, and employed the art as often as circumstances allowed. To perform this maneuver, the Martial Artist must have a Dexterity and Martial Arts skill of no less than 5, as well as a Celerity rating of at least two. The Martial Artist rolls her Dexterity and Martial Artist d ice pool against the attack of her opponent. If she equals or exceeds their number of successes she is successful, and they must roll their damage against themselves. Since they were not expecting to be struck, they can only roll half oftheir soak dice pool. This attack is limited to melee weapons (Quarterstaff, knife, Jo-staff, nunchaku, etc.) Special Maneuver: Focus The Focus is deadly maneuver, however, one must wait 2 rounds examining their opponent for their weakness. During these two rounds they are only able to defend with their Dexterity. After which one may attack with a - -4 to the normal attack difficulty n umber, as well as gain a +3 to her strength doing damage to the opponents weakened area. Special Maneuver: The Eye Of The Serpent Jalan Aajav's defense solution to the Blinding Strike, the Eye of the Serpent allows the user to enter a semi-trance in which she is able to see her opponents movements in slow motion. It gives her a +4 to defend, however, her slowed vision becomes an i mpairment when attacking and causes her to suffer a -2d if she decides to attack. Those using the Blinding Strike receive no initiative bonus and their difficulty is normal. It is rumored that some masters are able to employ both the Eye of the Serpent and the Blinding Strike together, but this has not been substantiated. Special Maneuver: Constrictor Not a very popular move within the folds of the Black Hand because it is seen as an act of cowardice or mercy, the Constrictor is a hold that employs the targets own strength against her, using very little of the Martial Artists own Strength (1pt). To b e successful the user must first grapple her target (Dex + Brawl Diff:6). To escape this hold , the target must roll her Dexterity with a difficulty of 8, against the Strength of the Martial Artist. This is the proper way to escape the hold. Most v ictims, however, will attempt to overpower the Martial Artist and try to escape on brute strength alone. In this situation, the victim must roll her Str (and any appropriate ability) with a difficulty of 8, needing as many successes as she has pts in St rength (+ ability) to break free. For example: if a kindred uses a Strength of 4 + a Potence of 2, in her attempt to break free, then she would need 6 successes. In this way, the victim is battling against her own Strength. The Black Art of Thaumaturgy & Black Ritual: Scorpion's Sting This ancient maneuver also employs an ancient ritual. The ritual has a similar name "The Scorpion's Bond." For the most part the Scorpion's Bond did not even exist, except for ancient rumors and bits and pieces of vague information written in the dark est books of Hell. No, it did not exists until Balus-Kane, a Dark Thaumaturgist for the Black Hand, unearthed the scroll it was written upon. The scroll was written in the blood of Tremere from the Camarilla, but the creator is still unknown. Upon read ing the scroll Balus-Kane knew the ritual immediately and the scroll became brittle, and fell to ashes. Even now only a few Dark Thaumaturgist within the Hand know the ritual, and perform it still on even fewer. The ritual allows one to bond another to them. However, the ritual is dangerous and only the sturdiest of the Hand can survive. The Dark Thaumaturgist who performs the ritual must make an Intelligence + Occult roll against a difficulty of 8, and must have at least 5 success, as well as have a 4 in Medical knowledge. The ritual requires a rare Asian scorpion. The scorpion's tail must be clipped off, and then the scorpion's underbelly must be sliced open with its own stinger. A small blade, (usually that of a razor blade or something similar), is then inserted in th e belly of the scorpion. The blade must rest in the belly of the scorpion, for several days, while a Dark Chant is repeated over the scorpion each day. Once this is done the blade is removed, and laid on a silken cloth to dry. Then the recipient of the blade must be prepared. The individual is laid upon an alter, and her chest is slit open by a silver dagger. The heart is ripped from her body and the small blade is inserted into the beating heart. The heart is then replaced in the body. The vampire who is the recipient of this ritual must have a Strength of at least 4, and roll their Stamina and Fortitude if they have this discipline, with a difficulty of 8 and must have at least 4 success. The blade rests in the heart for six months, and then is taken out in the same manner it was placed, the vampire must roll once more to survive. The blade is then laid once again upon the silken cloth, for the blood to dry. The blade is usually placed into the boot, but may be used in other ways. However, the sting is most usually meant to be a blinding kick into the mid-section. Which gives the user a +3 to their strength, however, the difficulty is a also +3 to her atta ck difficulty number. When the blade penetrates the skin and touches the victims blood the victim feels immense burning pain in their mid-section, that is not from the kick. The victim is then possibly blood bound to the vampire. The victim is allowed to make a Willpower roll with a difficulty of 8 and must have at least 7 success. If the roll fails she is bound, and all other blood ties are broken. No one knows if the ritual is permanent, and if they do they are not telling. All that is known is t hat many Camarilla vampires throughout the centuries have been bound in this way, and disappear to never be seen again. It is believed by some that this ritual is one of the reasons the rumor of the Sabbat removing bonds exists. Black Ritual: Cobra (The Serpent's Smile) This odd and strange poison and maneuver was developed by Traque, a follower of Jalan-Aajav. The Cobra, which is also called the Serpent's Smile by many of the Black Hand, is an insidious poison that was developed from the venom of snakes, and is though t to contain other highly toxic poisons and diseases, but the true nature of the Cobra still remains unknown. It is rumored that the loss of a number of Sabbat to a disease several decades ago had something to do with the experimentation of the poison Co bra. Over a long period of time, ( the exact extent of time is unknown ), the poison can be ingested in small amounts, to the point where the taker becomes immune. However, only rare few have been able to successfully survive the ingestion of Cobra. On ce one has become immune to the affects of the Cobra the poison remains in their body unless there blood pool is depleted. With this vile poison flowing through the body one can bring up a small amount of blood and spit it into their opponents eyes, poss ibly blinding them forever. Worse yet is the bite, when an opponent is bitten a small amount of blood can be brought forth and sent into the opponents blood stream. The poison causes a terrible agony throughout the body for several hours, and may also cause convulsions. Those who are unfortunate enough to have more than a small amount sent into their blood stream may die. It is known that the poison causes the heart to shrivel up, but how this causes complete death is unknown, so it remains a myste ry as to how the poison truly kills. Rumors have manifested and say that the Cobra is also part of an arcane magic or ritual, whatever the case may be Cobra is one of the most deadliest forms of attack. The Black Knowledge Black Knowledge: The Silent Hand This secret form of communication was developed by the Seraphim of the Black Hand to allow them to interact with each other, without allowing the Sabbat elders to know of their thoughts and feelings. The Silence employs hand signals, body posture and fa cial expressions to communicate amongst themselves. Black Knowledge: The Black Art of Healing Since the epidemic of the 1950's the Sabbat have been very wary of disease. The majority of Sabbat found with a disease are quarantined, and those with a disease that affects vampires are burned at the stake. While the general population of the Sabbat are wary of disease they still believe themselves to be immune. The Black Hand believe otherwise. They practice an ancient form of meditation that increases the healing rate 4 times that of the normal healing without spending blood points, and they reg ularly take an unknown herb that supposably wards off disease. In order for one to perform the Black Meditation they must have a the Meditation talent and a Willpower of 6. During each hour of meditation, the character rolls a Meditation against a diffi culty of 9. Dice from the character's dice pool are subtracted if there are any distractions during that time. If the Meditation is interrupted and concentration is lost before the hour is up, no benefits are gained. The herb that is used to ward off disease must be found and prepared properly, and being that the herb is rare a character must have a 4 in the talent of Herbalism. Black Knowledge: The Cloak of Darkness The ancient form of stealth used by the Sabbat works to the effect of an Obfuscate rating 1. However, a player character must have first obtained a Stealth rating of 5 before being able to employ this ability.