Shaolin
Shaolins are warriors who decided to focus on fight without weapons. On the
first sight this may seem unwise, but the reality is quite different. The fact
is that shaolins learn special fighting styles, either offensive or defensive,
which allow them to perform even better than fighters with best weapons or
armors. Only drawback is that those styles have fixed parameters, so shaolins
suffer from the lack of versatility as they cannot exchange their weapons
and/or armors to be better prepared for particular fight. Another disadvantage
of fighting styles is that one cannot wear equipment which hinders movement,
like armors, and they need to have free hands, so they cannot take advantage
of lots of magically enhanced equipment. This is best noticed with items which
provides resistance against various types of attacks. Most powerful such items
usually cannot be worn while using styles. Also, shaolins have the weakest body
constitution from all warriors, so when they cannot tak advantage of their
skills, they are more or less useless.
Shaolins are also remarkable for their ability to cast spells. Otherwise unseen
among warriors, but shaolins over time developed tight connection to magical
forces, and many of their more advanced skills use magic more or less directly.
Shaolins have inherent resistance to magical damage, equivalent
to a -5 bonus to saving spell. This bonus is applied after all other effects,
possibly beyond maximum saving cap.
Stat Bonuses
Strength | Above average (+1) |
Inteligence | Very low (-3) |
Wisdom | Above average (+1) |
Dexterity | Very high (+3) |
Constitution | Above average (+1) |
Charisma | Low (-2) |
Base Skills
Rank Skills
Rank 1
fire storm
endure
sun blow
vitality
battle spirit
enhanced guard
meridian control
fight in agony
essence link
Rank 2
ancient mastership
deep reserves
blood corruption
trip opponent
moon strike
sun link
enhanced quickness
cold blood
chakra feedback
wraith dance
purifying meditation
Rank 3
appearance of the unseen
sight of ages
steelfinger
thunderbolt
metabolic control
enhanced vitality
ignore wounds
partial dodge
battle instinct
whispering silence
Rank 4
fire blast
repair true
storm attack
enhanced trip
chakra control
celerity
shadow dance
battle song
evasion
dance of chaos
griffin claw
sinister dance
cleansing meditation
Rank 5
stun
fortitude
hammer of shamballa
arctic blizzard
selfpreserve instinct
combat concentrating
dragon claw
thrusting finger
Legendary Skills
Chakra Defense branch builds on shaolin\'s ability to use her inner energy, chakra,
to augment her defensive abilities. While she first learns how to utilize her
chakra for defense while advancing normal levels, she doesn\'t really expand in this
direction very much. Until now, it is. With skills based on Chakra Defense
the shaolin can withstand much more damage much more safely. And not just physical
beating but she can utilize her chakra to also protect herself from spells and
all forms of elemental damage.
With defensive movements the shaolin takes her already-impressive ability to avoid
attacks and cranks it up to eleven. Or, rather, somewhere around fifteen, out of ten.
She learns how to deflect, at least partially, specific types of melee attacks. She can
also learn two new defensive styles, each specialized against specific weapon types.
In the ancient times, a dragon was considered an embodiment of power. And so it
happened that shaolins who decided to focus the study of their art in the direction
of increasing their attack power called those skills Dragon Power. The skills in
Dragon Power branch focus shaolin\'s inner energy, chakra, for offensive means. They
learn to move their chakra around to create a temporary outbursts of various shapes
to hit their enemies and also trigger a lingering effect on themselves that helps
them to focus further chakra manipulations. And when they manage to accumulate enough
of those lingering effects, they can explosively release them in a devastating
outburst of energy.
Shaolins always had some affinity towards the element of fire, starting with mastering
the fireball spell and later with fire storm fighting style. Some shaolins dedicated
their studies to deeper understanding of this affinity. And behold, they discovered
the art of Firewalking. This is a set of skills, spells and fighting styles that
pretty much turn a shaolin into walking incarnation of fire element. She not only
turns her fists and feet into balls of fire during combat but her attacks also
unleash powerful fire spells. She also accumulates a powerful fire charge with her
skills that she can unleash in a powerful burning inferno. At the same time, her
mastery of fire gives her unparalleled resistance to fire, eventually to the level
when she simply rises from her own ashes if she is burned to death, just like
a legendary phoenix.