Martial Arts Balance Update

[Hymore246]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

This is a tracking issue for several up coming changes to the martial arts system. These are the following topics I want to address:

1. Standard balance check. Ensure no style is too strong or too weak.
2. Make sure all the styles are performing correctly. Some styles might need tweaked to keep their gameplay up to date.
3. Make use of the new "critical hit chance" and "block effectiveness" attributes in styles.
4. Counters are being removed and many styles need to be adjusted accordingly

To go into detail on the 4th point, when #44533 was merged, it made all counters have a move cost instead of being completely free. This makes sense since it takes effort to make the counter attack. The idea of counters being "free damage" is ok for JRGPs but not for CCDA. However, this lead counters potentially stun-locking players with heavy weapons (#45138) and even after the fix, counters were still bad because they usually didn't have any extra benefits on them. In most cases, it would be better to attack normally rather than having the game force you to make a normal attack by countering. I tried to fix the costs (#51339) but I later learned that counters as we know them are going away.

The new system Kevin has in mind for counters is to have a dodge or block mark the enemy that caused it with an "opening" debuff. If an attack is executed on that enemy next turn, the attack will be a counter technique. This idea is still in the planning phase but I feel it is important to start moving the styles this direction now due to balance. This is a big change. You can't just remove counters and call it a day. While some styles used a counter as filler damage, others used counters as setups for more powerful techniques. Not to mention a few styles are built completely around counters. This change will require rewrites of several styles to prevent them from becoming unusable. After this update, it should be a lot smoother to move the styles over to this new counter system when it is implemented.

Describe the solution you'd like

I will go through every style in the base game and MMA mod and detail their changes, if any.

All of this is a work in progress. Freeback is appreciated.

No Changes

These styles have no changes pending.

• Desert Wind
• Diamond Mind
• Hylian Swordsmanship
• Iron Heart
• Muay Thai
• Taekwondo
• Tiger Claw

Minor Changes

These styles are receiving minor updates. These styles should play roughly the same after their changes.

Bionic Combatives

• Removed Counter.
• Added "Binary Hardening" OnBlock buff. Requires Melee 4. Grants +3 Armor. Lasts 4 turns, stacks 3 times.
• Optimization now gives +15% damage and persists when switching styles.

Boxing

• Changed Cross Counter to a crit technique with weighting: 2 that requires Counter Chance.
• Replaced +2 Bash damage on Boxing Stance with +1 Accuracy.
• Increased Cross Counter damage to +50%.

Brawling

• Removed Hit Them Back (melee) and Hit Them Back (unarmed).
• Changed Enhanced Blocking skill requirement from Unarmed 7 to Unarmed 5.
• Changed Disarm (unarmed) skill requirement from Unarmed 8 to Unarmed 6.
• Changed Disarm (melee) skill requirement from Melee 8 to Melee 6.

Capoeira

• Sweep Kick now does +20% Bash damage.
• Capoeira Tempo is now an OnAttack buff that gives +5% damage. Lasts 1 turn, stacks 3 times.

Centipede Kung Fu

• Centipede Venom now gives +15% damage bonus.

Eskrma

• Replaced Puno Strike with Stunning Strike. Crit tech learned at Melee 3, -20% move cost, stun duration: 1

Fencing

• Fencing Riposte is now a melee crit ok technique which requires Parry to trigger.
• Added Counter Time onPause buff learned at Melee 4 that gives +2 Block Effectiveness.
• Added a second version of Compound Attack learned at Melee 4 that requires Counter Time instead of Remise.

Fior Di Battaglia

• Displace and Hook is now a normal melee tech with weighting: 2 and requires Defense Break to trigger.
• Stand Your Ground also gives +2 Blocking Effectiveness but only gives +1 block attempts. Tactical Retreated updated to mirror these changes.
• Tactical Retreat duration increase to 2 turns.
• High Round Strike bonus damage reduced from +20% to +10% and cannot trigger if Tactical Retreat is active.

Judo

• Removed Counter Throw.
• Throw technique is now marked crit ok.
• Added Perfect Position OnDodge buff that gives +30% bash damage for 1 turn.

Krav Maga

• Removed Counter.
• Added Strike Vitals OnBlock buff that gives +5% Critical Hit chance and lasts 1 turn.

Medieval Swordsmanship

• Mastercut is now an OnBlock buff that give +10% damage, -10% move cost and lasts 1 turn.

Niten Ichi-Ryu

• Falling Leaf now gives -5% damage per stack instead of -1 bash damage and -1 cut damage.

Pankration

• Arm Lock now has bash Armor Penetration equal to 100% of Strength.

Panzer Kunst

• Removed Ausstoß.
• Increase Dodging Skill bonus of Schatten Folgen to 15% of Perception.
• Herzschlag now has Armor Penetration equal to 100% of Perception.
• Einzug Rüstungen is learned at Unarmed 3 and lasts 3 turns.
• Added Seinerweisen Static buff learned at Unarmed 4. Gain bonus Electric damage equal to 50% of Perception.

Pokken

• Removed -2 Accuracy from Mega Kick.
• Moxie persists when switching styles.

Scorpion Kung Fu

• Scorpion Venom now gives +15% damage bonus.

Setting Sun

• Fool's Strike changed to an OnBlock buff that increases damage by 20% for 3 turns.
• Feign Opening is now an OnDodge buff.
• Baffling Defense now lasts 2 turns.

Shii-Cho

• Flowing Water is now an OnBlock buff that gives -25% move cost for 1 turn.

Silat

• Changed OnMove buff to Silat Ambush. +5% critical hit chance for 1 turn.

Soujutsu

• Removed Push.
• Added +2 Block Effectiveness to Sojutsu Stance.
• Added Feint technique. Learned at Melee 4.

Stone Dragon

• Stone Bones duration increase to 3 turns.
• Stattered Stone duration decreased to 1 turn.
• Colossus Strike damage increased to +30%.

Tai Chi

• Grasp the Sparrow's Tail now is crit ok technique with -25% move cost and +20% bash damage, and requires by Repulse the Monkey to trigger.
• Cross Hands now has +2 Block Effectiveness instead of +1.0 Dodge.
• Repulse the Monkey is now an OnBlock buff.

Wing Chun

• Removed Receive and Counter.
• Increased Chi-Sao Sensitivity Dodging skill bonus to 25% of Perception.
• Increased Chain Punch duration to 2 turns.
• Increased Biu Ji duration to 3 turns.

Major Changes

These styles will receive significant updates that change they way the style is played.

Aikido

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 0
Aikido Stance	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Blocked damage reduced by 100% of Dexterirty, +1.0 Dodging skill, +2 Block effectiveness
Fluid Blocking	Unarmed 0	OnBlock Buff	-10% move cost, lasts 1 turn
Counter Throw (block)	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Crit ok tech	Requires Fluid Blocking, -70% move cost, Down duration: 1, Knockback distance: 1
Fluid Dodging	Unarmed 1	OnDodge Buff	-10% move cost, lasts 1 turn
Counter Throw (dodge)	Unarmed 1	Unarmed Crit ok tech	Requires Fluid Dodging, -70% move cost, Down duration: 1, Knockback distance: 1
Intermediate Aikido	Unarmed 2	Static Buff	Blocked damage reduced by 100% of Dexterirty, +1 Block attempts, +1 Dodge attempts, +1 Block effectiveness
Grab Break	Unarmed 3	Grab Break
Disarming Throw (block)	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit ok tech	Requires Fluid Blocking, -70% move cost, Disarms, Down duration: 1, Knockback distance: 1
Disarming Throw (dodge)	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit ok tech	Requires Fluid Dodging, -70% move cost, Disarms, Down duration: 1, Knockback distance: 1
Advanced Aikido	Unarmed 5	Static Buff	+1 Block attempts, +1 Dodge attempts, +1 Block effectiveness

Weapons: bionic claws, nail knuckles, pair of brass knuckles, pair of steel knuckles, tiger claws

As a counter focused martial art, Aikido needed a heavy rewrite. All four counters have been converted to crit ok techniques. New OnBlock and OnDodge buffs have been added that enable the former counter techniques. To simuate Aikido's quick and smooth throws, all techniques have -70% move cost and the new buffs each give -10% move cost. Even with these changes, Aikido is still weaker than it was previously since the counter were free damage. To compensate somewhat Aikido Stance also gives 1.0 Dodging skill bonus and +2 block effectiveness. Intermediate Aikido and Advanced Aikido also have +1 block effectiveness each. Aikido is still a niche, "stay away from me" style but I think these changes still let it do its job effectively.

Crane Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 3
Crane's Precision	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Dexterity determines bonus bash damage instead of Strength.
Crane Stance	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	+2.0 Dodging skill
Crane Wing	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Tech	Feint
Crane's Flight	Unarmed 1	OnDodge Buff	+1 Accuracy, +1.0 Dodging skill for 3 turns.
Crane Kick	Unarmed 2	Unarmed Crit ok Tech	Requires Crane's Flight, +25% bash damage, Knockdown duration: 1
Crane Flap	Unarmed 3	Unarmed Tech	Grab Break
Crane Strike	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit ok Tech	Requires Crane's Flight, +50% bash damage, Stun duration: 2
Crane's Grace	Unarmed 5	Static Buff	+2 Dodge attempts

Having to remove Crane Kung Fu's counter made me realize the style isn't working correctly. I stated that Crane is the "most offensive, defensive martial art" but Tai Chi has that title. It has as more defense and damage than Crane. So I decided to go back to the drawing board on Crane Kung Fu. The new Crane still focuses on Dexterity and is amazing at dodging with a gimmick that all of its techniques require the OnDodge buff to use. But the techniques you gain give you full control over an enemy with decent damage. The downside is not only do you need to wait for a dodge, the damage isn't so good that it can handle high armored enemies. Against end game enemies, neither of you will be able to touch each other as they fail to hit you and you fail to get through their armor. If a crit DOESN'T damage something, you will not be able to kill it.

Dragon Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 1
Dragon's Knowledge	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Intelligence determines bonus Accuracy instead of Dexterity. Intelligence determines bonus bash damage instead of Strength
Dragon Claw	Unarmed 0	Unarmed ok Tech	+20% bash damage
Dragon Wing	Unarmed 1	OnDodge Buff	+10% bash damage, lasts 3 turns
Dragon's Vortex	Unarmed 2	OnBlock Buff	+10% bash damage, lasts 3 turns
Dragon Power	Unarmed 3	OnPause Buff	+2 Block effectiveness, +1.0 Dodging Skill, Blocked damage reduced by 100% of Intelligence. Lasts 2 turns.
Dragon Tail	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit Tech	+40% bash damage, down duration: 1
Dragon Strike	Unarmed 5	Unarmed Crit Tech	+50% bash damage, stun duration: 1, requires downed oppenent

Dragon Kung Fu had a lot of problems. I did my best during the rebalance but think I made the style too complicated and everyone ignored it. Now without the counters, it needs completely rewritten. The updated Dragon Kung Fu retains its focus on Intelligence. Instead of focusing on multiple setups, Dragon Kung Fu only has one. Dragon Strike required a Downed opponent and Dragon Tail will set that up. Dragon Wing and Dragon's Vortext are simple OnBlock and OnDodge buffs that give you bonus damage for a short time. The other new addition is the OnPause buff, Dragon Power which exists solely to make gaining Dragon Wing and Dragon's Vortex easier. The style doesn't have any direct group defense but you should be able to fight 2-3 enemies at once if you are skilled enough. I feel the style is much cleaner now and should be to everyone's liking.

Karate

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 2
Karate Stance	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	+2 Accuracy
Roundhouse Kick	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Tech	+20% Bash damage
Backfist Strike	Unarmed 1	Unarmed Tech	Rapid
Karate Kata	Unarmed 3	OnHit Unarmed and Melee Buff	+1 Dodge attempts, +1 Block attempts, blocked damage reduced by 50% of Strength, -10% move cost. Lasts 2 turns.
Knifehand Strike	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit Tech	+40% Bash damage, Stun duration: 1
Staff Strike	Melee 3	Melee Crit Tech	+10% damage, Knockdown duration: 1

Weapon Categories: Quarterstaves

I had been meaning to add staves as a style weapon to Karate for a while. I wanted to during the rebalance but the damage formulas made it difficult to use unarmed techniques while armed. In the end, I ignored changes involving that and did something else instead. The style weapons work with both buffs but the style only has a single weapon technique. I didn't want to bloat the style with too many techniques and risk overshadowing Bojutsu (#50010) by accident. Lastly, the style is still straight forward and easy to use with a new gimmick in Karate Kata. I know that people are going to ignore the unarmed side and only use weapons with Karate. But, you don't start out using a staff in Karate exclusively, you do unarmed training first. That's why you need Unarmed 3 to use Karate Kata. This way, you WILL have to put that staff down to learn Unarmed to get the most out of this style. As a result, this is a decent style that can carry you from beginning to end game by using it unarmed first and then with a good staff later on.

Leopard Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Leopard's Strategy	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Dexterity determines bonus bash damage instead of Strength
Leopard's Ambush	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Gain Critical Hit chance equal to Dexterity
Leopard Swipe	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Tech	Rapid
Leopard Claw	Unarmed 1	Unarmed Crit Tech	+30% bash damage, -20% move cost
Leopard's Agility	Unarmed 2	OnCrit Buff	+1.0 Dodge skill. Lasts 2 turns
Leopard Fist	Unarmed 3	Unarmed Crit Tech	50% move cost, Stun duration: 1
Leopard Paw	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Tech	Feint
Leopard Pounce	Unarmed 5	Unarmed Crit Tech	Requires Leopard's Agility, +100% bash damage, Knockback distance: 1, knockback spread: 1, Stun duration: 2

Of all the styles I rebalanced, this is the one that always stuck out to me as being subpar and not fulfilling its purpose. In real life, Leopard Kung Fu is the speed version of Tiger Kung Fu. All offense using speed and little defense. I rebalanced the style with a "stalking cat" sort of theme but even that didn't pan out. Moving twice for 25% damage is bad. At best, you can start fights with it but doing in combat is not worth it at all. The new Leopard Kung Fu is a speed martial art that focuses on getting as many critical hits as possible. Dexterity boosts both damage and critical hit chance. You have three crit techniques to work with and they all do a variety of things. One requires you to crit once first before triggering but its the strongest attack in the style.

Lizard Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 0
Lizard's Cunning	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	+2 Accuracy, +2 Block effectiveness
Lizard's Haven	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	+2 Accuracy, +2 Block effectiveness. +2.0 Dodge skill. Must be near a wall
Lizard Strike	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Tech	Rapid
Lizard Tail	Unarmed 1	Unarmed Crit Ok Tech	+20% damage
Lizard's Perch	Unarmed 2	OnPause Buff	+10% Bash damage. Lasts 4 turns. Must be near a wall
Lizard's Leap	Unarmed 3	OnMove Buff	+1.0 Dodge skill. Lasts 2 turns
Grab Break	Unarmed 3	Grab Break
Lizard Wall Dive	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit Tech	+150% damage. Knockback distance: 1, knockback spread: 1. Stun duration: 2. Must be near a wall
Lizard's Venom	Unarmed 5	OnPause Buff	+15% Bash damage. Lasts 4 turns.

I am proud that I made Lizard Kung Fu into a working style with the rebalance but it needs to be improved to make up for its gimmick. In the new version, walls are still important but you are not helpless without one. Without a wall, you will be missing half your buffs and your best technique. Your buffs are a good combination of offense and defense with a decent duration, allowing you to camp next to a wall for a good while before needing to refresh them. Lastly, Lizard Wall Dive has knockback, so you need to decide if it is worth leaving you wall to pursue and finish off your foe or wait for them to come back to you. That and Lizard's Leap will keep you from standing in one spot forever.

Ninjutsu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 3
Ninjutsu Stance	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Attacks are Quiet (generates no noise), movement is stealthy (generates 50% base noise)
Sneak Attack	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Cannot have Loss of Surprise, +25% critical hit chance
Loss of Surprise	Unarmed 0	OnAttack Buff	Lasts 3 turns. Persists when swithcing styles.
Momentum Shift	Unarmed 2	OnMove Buff	+1.0 Dodge skill, Accuracy increased by 20% of Dexterity for 2 turns
Swift Strike	Melee 2	Melee & Unarmed Normal Tech	80% move cost
Swift Strike (crit)	Melee 2	Melee & Unarmed Crit Tech	Requires Loss of Surprise, 80% move cost
Escape Plan	Melee 3	OnKill Buff	+2 Dodge attempts, +10 speed. Lasts 3 turns. Persists when switching styles.
Assassinate	Melee 5	Melee Crit Tech	Cannot have Loss of Surprise, +30% damage, Stun duration: 1 turn
Ninjutsu Takedown	Unarmed 5	Unarmed Crit Tech	Cannot have Loss of Surprise, +100% bash damage, Knockdown duration: 2 turns, Stun duration: 2 turns

No matter how you look at it, Ninjutsu was overperforming. This is mainly due to the large damage bonuses on Sneak Attack and Assassinate with strong weapons (big weapons ALWAY cause this problem) so changing them were the key fixing the style. In truth, Sneak Attack should be affecting Critical Hit chance and not damage. I wasn't able to modify it during the reblance due to how complicated the critical hit formula was (seriously, go look at Character::crit_chance and tell me it isn't confusing) but now I can fix that problem. Aside from reducing Assassinate's damage, I also changed Asssassinate and Ninjutsu Takedown to use the newly created "Forbidden Buffs" attribute to prevent them from triggering outside of your first attack. The style is built on "alpha striking" an enemy, finishing them off, then backing off to repeat. Lastly, I updated Swift Strike by spliting it into a normal and a crit version with the crit requiring Loss of Surprise. This means that if you crit on your "alpha strike" it WILL be Assassinate/Ninjutsu Takedown and instead of Swift Strike by accident.

Snake Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Snake's Sight	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Perception determines bonus Accuracy instead of Dexterity. Perception determines bonus bash damage instead of Strength
Snake Snap	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Tech	Rapid
Snake's Coil	Unarmed 1	OnPause Buff	+1 Accuracy, +1 Block Effectiveness, +5% critical hit chance. Lasts 4 turns, sticks 3 times
Snake Bite	Unarmed 2	OnHit Buff	Gain armor penetration equal to 25% of Perception. Lasts 2 turns, stacks 4 times.
Snake Fang	Unarmed 3	OnCrit Buff	Gain armor penetration equal to 100% of Perception. Lasts 1 turn
Snake Slide	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Tech	Feint
Snake Slither	Unarmed 4	Grab Break
Snake Strike	Unarmed 5	Unarmed Crit Tech	Requires Snake's Coil, +50% bash damage, gain Armor Penetration equal to +100% of Perception

I liked the way Snake Kung Fu played. Waiting to attack with a strong, precise strike is true to the CDDA world and snakes in general. However, the style was under performing badly due to armor penetration being worse than raw damage. It doesn't help the some enemies have A LOT of armor. To fix this, I updated to style to have twice the penetration. Furthermore, I moved the armor penetration away from Snake's Coil and replaced that effect with a stacking critical hit chance boost and block effectiveness. The style should perform better with these upgrades.

Tiger Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Tiger's Strength	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Strength determines bonus Accuracy instead of Dexterity.
Grab Break	Unarmed 0	Grab Break
Tiger Takedown	Unarmed 1	Unarmed Normal Tech	+25% bash damage, Down duration: 1
Tiger Fury	Unarmed 2	OnHit Buff	+1 Accuracy, +5% damage for 3 turns, stacks 3 times.
Tiger Palm	Unarmed 3	Unarmed Crit Ok Tech	+25% bash damage, Armor Penetration equal to 100% of Strength
Tiger Claw	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit Tech	+25% bash damage, Stun duration: 1
Tiger Rampage	Unarmed 5	Unarmed Crit Tech	+25% bash damage, AoE: Wide

Tiger Kung Fu is the "glass cannon" of the unarmed martial art styles. It should do the high damage but have no defense. Sadly, it hasn't been living up to that name. Part of the reason is because you had to "ramp up" the damage using Tiger Fury while other styles just started with more damage. While this is happening, you are getting hit and hurt waiting for Tiger Kung Fu to become good enough to fight with. If you can fully stack the Tiger Fury, you become dangerous but it was too much of a risk to do so. To fix this, all Tiger Kung Fu techniques now have a +25% damage bonus and Tiger Fury's damage bonus was reduced to 3 turns at +5% per stack. You get the same amount of damage overall but you have access to more damage sooner. I also added an Accuracy bonus to Tiger's Fury to offset any to-hit penalties you might get for taking damage while fighting. A new crit ok technique was added that gives the Armor Penetration bonus that the old OnCrit buff granted. In order to deal with groups better, Tiger Rampage is now a crit tech Wide AoE attack. These changes should help put the "cannon" back into the "glass cannon" that is supposed to be Tiger Kung Fu. Lastly, I made a small concession on the "glass" part by giving the style a Grab Break with the idea that holding down an angry tiger is really hard to do.

Toad Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Arm Block	Unarmed 3
Toad's Iron Skin	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Gain Bash, Cut, and Stab Armor equal to 100% of Strength
Iron Skin Dissipation	Unarmed 0	OnMove Buff	Lose Bash, Cut, and Stab Armor equal to 20% of Strength for 5 turns, stacks 5 times. Persists when switching styles.
Toad Smack	Unarmed 1	Unarmed Crit Ok Tech	+25% bash damage
Toad's Venom	Unarmed 2	OnGetHit Buff	+15% Bash damage, Lasts 3 turns, stacks 3 times
Toad's Tongue	Unarmed 3	Unarmed Crit Ok Tech	Requires Toad's Venom, 50% move cost, Down duration: 2
Toad Smash	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Crit Tech	+40% bash damage, Stun duration: 1
Toad's Meditation	Unarmed 5	OnPause Buff	Gain Bash, Cut, and Stab Armor equal to 50% of Strength. Lasts 3 turns.

Losing the counters was bad, but I think Toad Kung Fu needed a fresh coat of pain in general. The style has always been a gimmicky martial art that people use for five minutes before moving on to something else. Having armor all the time IS strong but the style was lacking. The first thing you will notice about the new version is that the armor from the Static and OnPause buffs scale with Strength. This alone makes the style much more desireable. Pump up Strength to make yourself (nearly) invicible! Toad Smack and Toad Smash are your go-to techniques for damage. Nothing special but decent. Toad's Venom now gives +15% bash damage bonus and stacks 3 times which makes it useful in group combat if you block or get hit. Toad's Tongue was reworked to requiring Toad's Venom to trigger. It's meant to be used to "punish" your opponent for touching you. It lacks damage but you can use Toad's Tongue to get some breathing room by forcing the opponent to the ground quickly. This makes it more valuable in group combat by taking an enemy out of the fight for a few turns with a quick attack.

Viper Kung Fu

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Viper's Patience	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	+1 Accuracy, +5% critical hit chance.
Viper's Venom	Unarmed 2	OnCrit Buff	+15% Bash damage, Lasts 4 turns.
Viper's Rattle	Unarmed 2	OnHit Buff	+1 Accuracy, +1.0 Dodging skill. Lasts 3 turns, stacks 2 times
Viper Fist	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Tech	Rapid
Viper Hiss	Unarmed 2	Unarmed Tech	Feint
Viper Bite	Unarmed 2	Unarmed Crit Tech	+33% bash damage, Stun duration: 2
Viper Tail	Unarmed 2	Unarmed Tech	Requires a stunned target, +50% bash damage, weighting: 4
Viper Strike	Unarmed 2	Unarmed Tech	Requires a stunned target, +200% bash damage, weighting: 4

Viper Kung Fu had the same issue as Dragon Kung Fu, it needed a dodge to start its offense. And while I thought the three-hit combo was kinda cool, it was difficult to get it to work in practice. The new Viper Kung Fu is the "bully" of the unarmed combat styles. It attacks repeatedly, looking for a critical hit to stun the target and then unleashing really strong techniques once they are helpless. The downside to the style is all your defense comes from attacking so you need to make sure you are getting hits in and not being surrounded by foes.

Zui Quan

Name	Level Available	Type	Effect
Zui Quan Stance	Unarmed 0	Static Buff	Dodge skill increased by 20% of Intelligence.
Drunk Fist	Unarmed 0	Unarmed Crit ok Tech	+25% Bash damage
Drunken Dodging	Unarmed 1	OnDodge Buff	Gain +20% damage. Lasts 2 turn, stacks 4 times.
Drunk Feint	Unarmed 2	Unarmed Tech	Feint
Drunken Stumble	Unarmed 3	OnMove Buff	+2 Dodge attempts. Lasts 3 turns.
Grab Break	Unarmed 4	Unarmed Tech	Grab Break
Advanced Zui Quan	Unarmed 5	Static Buff	+1 Dodge attemps, Accuracy increased by 20% of Intelligence.

Just like Aikido, Zui Quan needed some serious changes to make up for the lose of its counters. The old version of Zui Quan worked by spreading damage across multiple attackers for free by risking themselves against a group. While Crane Kung Fu favors dodging to setup techniques to control a single enemy, the new Zui Quan uses rapid dodging to improve its damage output. Drunk Fist is an all purpose attack technique for the style. Drunken Dodging now improve damage on every successful dodge. Zui Quan Stance and Adanced Zui Quan's bonuses were raised to 20% as well.

New Attribute: Forbidden Buffs

This new attribute is the reverse of the Required Buffs attribute. If a listed buff is active on the player, a buff or technique with this attribute will CANNOT trigger. There are two version of this attribute: Forbidden Buff Any which prevents activation if ANY of the buffs are present and Forbidden Buff All which prevents activation if ALL the listed buffs are present.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Once again all of these are works in progress. Feeback is appreciated. There will mostly likely be changes as I playtest and implemented the updates.

PR Tracking List

• Add Forbidden Buffs attribute (Added Forbidden Buffs attribute to martial arts #51950)
• Minor updates to multiple martial arts styles (Martial Arts Balance Update: Minor Changes #52036)
• Remove "tec_counter" from weapons and techniques.json (Removed tec_counter technique #52078)
• Aikido (Martial Arts Balance Update: Aikido #52102)
• Crane Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Crane Kung Fu #52167)
• Dragon Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Dragon Kung Fu #52177)
• Karate (Martial Arts Balance Update: Karate #52305)
• Leopard Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Leopard Kung Fu #52315)
• Lizard Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Lizard Kung Fu #52355)
• Ninjutsu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Ninjutsu #52390)
• Snake Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Snake Kung Fu #52414)
• Tiger Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Tiger Kung Fu #52500)
• Toad Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Toad Kung Fu #52538)
• Viper Kung Fu (Martial Arts Balance Update: Viper Kung Fu #52552)
• Zui Quan (Martial Art Balance Update: Zui Quan #52661)

[rubenpd]

About Aikido weapons, there are some more fist weapons, You might want to evalute if they are worth adding, namely "impact knuckles", "pair of scrap knuckles", not sure about "pair of nail knuckles", "skewer knuckles" and "punch dagger"

[estebandellasilva]

Just Curious, as i am not exactly sure how this system iss implemented, but wouldn't it be possible for certain martial arts to have a higher chance to hit a Weakpoint (in Armor)? -> while it does not more Dmg exactly it could do more Dmg consistantly.

This way you could also balance martial arts which use Intelligence or Perception better( you know where to hit them, or you see where to hit them)

[Hymore246]

About Aikido weapons, there are some more fist weapons, You might want to evalute if they are worth adding, namely "impact knuckles", "pair of scrap knuckles", not sure about "pair of nail knuckles", "skewer knuckles" and "punch dagger"

The rule is that if you can "wear" the weapon that you are holding in your hand, it is valid for Aikido/Judo. This is because you can just grab someone while "holding" the weapon. So yes to brass knuckles and no to punch dagger. Impact Knuckles and the like don't need to be added since you can now wear them to add directly to unarmed damage. I plan on updating the damage formulas and making some unarmed weapon wearable at a later date and fixing this part of the style weapon system.

Just Curious, as i am not exactly sure how this system iss implemented, but wouldn't it be possible for certain martial arts to have a higher chance to hit a Weakpoint (in Armor)? -> while it does not more Dmg exactly it could do more Dmg consistantly.

This way you could also balance martial arts which use Intelligence or Perception better( you know where to hit them, or you see where to hit them)

I think I saw Kevin talking about this on Discord but the answer is no due to it being a random system on top of a random system. If it ends up being necessary to melee combat to have weakpoints, I'll try to find a way to make it work but that is for a later date.

[Termineitor244]

Brawling

* Removed Hit Them Back (melee) and Hit Them Back (unarmed).

* Changed Enhanced Blocking skill requirement from Unarmed 7 to Unarmed 5.

The disarm technique would be left alone at levels 8 of unarmed and melee, I suggest changing it to level 7 or adding/changing something to be in level 6 to make a connection.

Soujutsu

* Removed Push.

I think Sōjutsu could use a grab break bonus (Since the style is kind of bland right now).

I'm still reading the changes (I have to read from karate onwards) but the rest of the styles look fine or pretty good now, I specially like the changes to dragon kung fu, I always wanted to use it in a character but it felt too complicated, but now... I think the dragon is rising again!

But Aikido... Well, I have to wait to the PR with the changes and feel them in game to talk about it.

[Rabidweasel]

I like the sound of most of these changes, just a few thoughts; most of these are on the styles which you've put down as no change or minimal change as it's harder to evaluate the larger reworks:

Are "counter turned regular attack" techniques going to retain their increased speed, where they had them before? This is particularly relevant for Fior since Displace and Hook will proc a lot but only does 50% damage.

You've said that medieval swordsmanship isn't going to be changed even though that style uses the old counter system so presumably it's going to retain the old counter attack until the new system is implemented, even though the others are going to be removed?

With it now being possible to directly add crit chance through a buff, would you consider reworking fencing so that it doesn't have two different accuracy buffs? Especially since the style is already slightly biased in favour of dexterity characters due to the dex-to-block buff, this always felt a bit superfluous, and the parry buff works perfectly fine in flavour terms as a crit buff.

Without the counter attack sojutsu looks even more boring than it was before, I'm not sure what else could be added though since techniques aren't really compatiable with polearms. You could add some kind of on hit buff but I'm not sure what would be appropriate. A grab break would be excellent but seems like a bit of a no brainer.

Eskrima still suffers a bit from the same problem which plagued the old medieval swordsmanship; puno strike is a crit technique, but often does very low damage due to the damage type restrictions. It's also disproportionately stronger with bash weapons than it is with blades, which doesn't really make sense (hitting with the hilt of a machete should hurt the same as hitting with the handle of a baton, surely?) It also feels particularly bad when this procs and uses up your combination strike; if nothing else, consider forbidding puno strike from proccing when eskrima combination is active.

Silat might also benefit from having its accuracy buff changed to a crit buff, given how much the style enjoys getting crits. Also this is more of a personal flavour thing but I never really liked how the on move evasion buff just gives you an extra dodge attempt, since unless you're being totally swarmed you can't really benefit from this buff, and in that situation it's often hard to move in the first place! Some other buff (dodge skill?) would feel more helpful, silat is one of the few arts with an on move buff which I regularly ignore.

Adding staffs to karate sounds great and it will be good to have another style which is both unarmed and armed, similar to ninjutsu (which I'm looking forward to trying out in a context where it's not clearly overpowered and where hit-and-run is actually encouraged and necessary)

[Hymore246]

Are "counter turned regular attack" techniques going to retain their increased speed, where they had them before? This is particularly relevant for Fior since Displace and Hook will proc a lot but only does 50% damage.

Yes. Unless I noted otherwise, the old counters retain all their old properties as non-counter techniques.

You've said that medieval swordsmanship isn't going to be changed even though that style uses the old counter system so presumably it's going to retain the old counter attack until the new system is implemented, even though the others are going to be removed?

#51462 rewrote the style. It doesn't have an old style counter anymore.

With it now being possible to directly add crit chance through a buff, would you consider reworking fencing so that it doesn't have two different accuracy buffs? Especially since the style is already slightly biased in favour of dexterity characters due to the dex-to-block buff, this always felt a bit superfluous, and the parry buff works perfectly fine in flavour terms as a crit buff.

Maybe. Weapon styles are tricky to balance and it does pretty well already with the changes I've made. I'll keep crit chance in mind if it seems like it needs buffed.

Without the counter attack sojutsu looks even more boring than it was before, I'm not sure what else could be added though since techniques aren't really compatiable with polearms. You could add some kind of on hit buff but I'm not sure what would be appropriate. A grab break would be excellent but seems like a bit of a no brainer.

I don't think Sojutsu teaches how to break grabs. I could add a feint since I know that works with reach weapons (Brawling can trigger it.) I'll give the style another look to see if there is anything I can do but as a reach-weapon style, it is hard to design for.

Eskrima still suffers a bit from the same problem which plagued the old medieval swordsmanship; puno strike is a crit technique, but often does very low damage due to the damage type restrictions. It's also disproportionately stronger with bash weapons than it is with blades, which doesn't really make sense (hitting with the hilt of a machete should hurt the same as hitting with the handle of a baton, surely?) It also feels particularly bad when this procs and uses up your combination strike; if nothing else, consider forbidding puno strike from proccing when eskrima combination is active.

You are correct about that. MS got a rewrite since people really didn't like how the counter were control with no damage. I might just remove puno and replace it with a generic stun. Even that might make people happy.

Silat might also benefit from having its accuracy buff changed to a crit buff, given how much the style enjoys getting crits. Also this is more of a personal flavour thing but I never really liked how the on move evasion buff just gives you an extra dodge attempt, since unless you're being totally swarmed you can't really benefit from this buff, and in that situation it's often hard to move in the first place! Some other buff (dodge skill?) would feel more helpful, silat is one of the few arts with an on move buff which I regularly ignore.

I thought about give Silat bonus critical chance but even a small bonus might make it too power due to the weapons. I can see your point on the dodge attempt thought. I'll give it some thought.

[Rabidweasel]

Thanks for the clarifications, I look forward to seeing this get implemented.

#51462 rewrote the style. It doesn't have an old style counter anymore.

Master cut is an "old style" block counter attack used by the reworked style. It's just a faster-than-normal attack.

[Hymore246]

Ah, you are correct. I thought he changed that when he went to try 3. Or maybe I am thinking of a different style. I'll fix that somehow.

[Termineitor244]

Iron Skin Dissipation should persist when you change martial arts.

Apart from that, just some questions about weapons, the tiger and bionic claws were removed as unarmed weapons, but some styles could still make use of them (As Aikido and Judo does), what styles you think would make sense? The tiger, dragon and leopard (With their "claw" attacks) would make thematically sense, but I'm not sure how those techniques would look like in real life.

Karate could use the (already implemented) weapon category of quarterstaves, since the main weapons are already in that category.

And... Since there are some knuckles (unarmed weapons) with piercing damage, and there are mutations (Long fingernails, claws, etc.) that increase your cutting/stabbing unarmed damage, shouldn't some techniques increase other types of damage (rather than just bash) as well if appropriate? The increased damage would not be much, but it would fit and boost a little those kind of weapons/mutations.

[Hymore246]

Iron Skin Dissipation should persist when you change martial arts.

Apart from that, just some questions about weapons, the tiger and bionic claws were removed as unarmed weapons, but some styles could still make use of them (As Aikido and Judo does), what styles you think would make sense? The tiger, dragon and leopard (With their "claw" attacks) would make thematically sense, but I'm not sure how those techniques would look like in real life.

Karate could use the (already implemented) weapon category of quarterstaves, since the main weapons are already in that category.

And... Since there are some knuckles (unarmed weapons) with piercing damage, and there are mutations (Long fingernails, claws, etc.) that increase your cutting/stabbing unarmed damage, shouldn't some techniques increase other types of damage (rather than just bash) as well if appropriate? The increased damage would not be much, but it would fit and boost a little those kind of weapons/mutations.

• Iron Skin Dissipation does persist. I just forgot to update that part.
• I'll use the staff category for karate.
• The claws can't be unarmed weapons because you must slash to use them. You couldn't do any of Boxing's attacks for example. Even in the styles you mentioned, they are still traditional punch attacks that couldn't be used with claws.
• I've considered it, but I don't think it makes sense for technique damage. It is debatable but people don't train with cutting/stabbing in mind for unarmed combat styles. However, some buffs will boost all damage such as the Five Venoms' Venom buffs.

[Termineitor244]

Fair enough!

[Hymore246]

Updated based on feedback:

• Brawling - Both Disarms changed to require Melee/Unarmed 6.
• Eskrima - Replaced Puno strike with Stunning Strike learned at Melee 3. Crit tech, -20% move cost, Stun duration: 1
• Medieval Swordsmanship - Mastercut is now an OnBlock buff. +10% damage, -10% move cost, lasts 1 turn.
• Silat - OnMove buff is now Silat Ambush. +5% crit chance, lasts 1 turn.
• Sojutsu - Added +2 Block Effectiveness to Sojutsu Stance and added Feint technique learned at Melee 4.

[GGgatherer]

Wing Chun

Removed Receive and Counter.

We can only try dodging once per turn anyway, was it so OP it needed removal?

[Hymore246]

Wing Chun

Removed Receive and Counter.

We can only try dodging once per turn anyway, was it so OP it needed removal?

No. All block and dodge counters are being removed from the martial art system. Since it was a counter with no additional effects, this made it a worse normal attack that you could not control. Other parts of the style were buffed to deal with the loss of Receive and Counter.

[Hymore246]

This issue is now resolved with the merging of all relevant PRs. While no martial art in the base game or MMA mod uses block or dodge counter anymore, the code that allows them to function still remains in the game. I left the code there in the off chance it the new counter system would need it in the future. If unneeded, it can be removed at any time. #45158 and #46671 can be closed since counters no longer exist. Lastly, I have updated the CDDA martial arts wiki pages with all the changes I have made.

Thank you all for your feedback and support. Now get out there and beat some zed with your Karate quarterstaff!

[kevingranade]

This issue has been mentioned on Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/tips-tricks-and-newb-questions-reborn/16870/3039