Flickering is a specialized martial art designed to
complement the Scabbard Attunement. Indeed, without
Scabbard Flickering is useless, unless the user
happens to know of another method of picking weapons
out of the air...
Flickering (Precision)
No Default; Prerequisite: Scabbard
For the purposes of this skill, assume that an
'untrained' user of Scabbard may instantly cause a
weapon to appear in his or her dominant hand (usually
the left hand for celestials/Children of the Grigori,
of course), but cannot perform more unusual feats.
Also, the default assumption is that use of Scabbard
will instantly dampen a weapon's kinetic energy.
Training in this skill will help overcome these
limitations. Also, a successful roll against this
skill will reduce an opponent's Dodge skill by (CD/2,
round up) for one turn: the user must be actually
attacking the designated opponent with a weapon for
this bonus to take effect.
The effective skill level of Flickering may never
exceed whatever weapon/combat skill the user happens
to be using at the time: in multiple attack situations
(combination knife strike / knee to the groin, for
example), use the lower combat skill level to
determine effective skill at Flickering.
Feats available with Flickering:
Sleight of Hand (Flickering/1, no minus): the user may
materialize a stored weapon somewhere else than his or
her dominant hand (the user must still be touching the
weapon, and gravity retains its vote). Usually, this
is used to give an off hand a weapon, or have a punch
or kick acquire brass knuckles / spikes just before
impact.
Phasing (Flickering/2, -2 to skill): at this point,
the user may cause the item to cycle in and out of
reality. This can do fairly nasty things to corporeal
targets: the net result is the same as, say, a
vibroknife. The amount of cycling is dependent on
skill: a fighter with Flickering/6 can make a knife
Phase at a much higher rate than one with
Flickering/2. Add [(Flickering divided by 2, rounded
down)+1] to the Power of any (hand weapon) corporeal
attack.
Zen and the Art of Infinite Ammunition (Flickering/3,
-3 to skill): Laurence wasn't particularly pleased to
see someone work out this trick, but he had to admit
that it had its uses. The user prepares by acquiring
a number of identical firearms (4 to 6 are the usual
number) and storing them normally. Then, while in
combat the user will summon one, fire a shot,
immediately switch to the next firearm, fire, switch,
and so forth. The benefits of these are threefold.
First, cycling weapons this way virtually eliminates
recoil: just enough is retained to advance a gun's
chamber, if desired. This will provide a general +1
to Accuracy. Second, anyone attempting to count shots
will receive a very nasty surprise.
Third, of course, is that it just looks neat.
Channeling (Flickering/3, -5 to skill): the user may
switch weapons from one hand to the other, effectively
instantly. This ability is especially useful for
feints or sudden attacks, justifying the minus of
(Flickering level/2, rounded down) to an opponent's
Dodge (cumulative with Dodge penalties from regular
Flickering use).
Ghost Blade (Flickering/4, -6 to skill): at this
level, the user has begun to learn how to blink out a
weapon just enough to pass through objects, but not
enough to lose its momentum. With a successful roll,
use of Ghost Blade will permit the user to bypass an
obstacle in order to attack someone directly. The
attack must be a swinging attack, and the Power of the
strike is reduced by (Flickering Skill - 6) x 2.
Disarm (Flickering/5, -6 to skill): the user may
attempt to phase out an enemy's weapon. The user must
be in physical contact with the item to be phased
('physical contact' meaning bare skin) and make both a
successful skill roll (the lower of Flickering or
Fighting) and win a Contest of Strength with her
opponent. Attempting to Disarm any kind of artifact
weapon requires a Contest of Wills, instead, with a -1
for the highest level of the weapon.
Yes, this technique will allow a user to Disarm a
weapon that is currently imbedded in his flesh ... but
it will not prevent damage.
Ghost Dance (Flickering/6, -8 to skill): this feat is
much like Disarm, except that it works preemptively
(more or less). The user may phase out attacks at the
moment of impact: this will reduce any damage done to
one Body Hit from unavoidable bruising. Only physical
attacks done by a weapon are subject to Ghost
Dance, and the user must have perceived the attack in
order to use this feat. In other words, surprise
attacks - or attacks from the rear/side - will do full
damage, unless the user makes a Perception roll, with
the usual penalties. Multiple uses of Ghost Dance may
be attempted per turn (with a maximum number of uses
equal to the user's Agility).
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