Martial Skill

The Martial Skill is a Major Skill  and the prime domain of the Warrior and Soldier, utilizing a Fighters skill with a Melee weapon to deal great amounts of damage. The Martial Skill contains basic damage dealing abilities as well as abilities to blunt enemy weapons and severely damage enemies' armor. There are 32 Abilities in the Martial Skill tree at the moment, with each ability requiring a certain Skill Level.

Strike
The most basic Martial Ability, Strike is gained naturally as one's skill in the Martial Skill improves. As more and more levels in Strike are achieved, damage will improve and the Warrior will be take increasing advantage for each of their Strike attacks.

Abilities
Pommel Strike

In combat, an enemy will focus upon your blade, not your hilt so a quick strike with the Pommel becomes an effective and surprising tactic. This is one of the only abilities that deals damage with a minor action. This action does require a Pommeled Weapon, ie: one with a hilt.

Heavy Strike
By putting more force into a strike, a Warrior may deal more damage than with a normal strike. The downside to this is that all Heavy Strikes take a minor disadvantage to attack their target.

Weapon Sundering
By striking an enemies weapon, rather than the enemy himself, a skilled warrior can sunder an opponents weapon, dulling and misshpaing it so it deals less damage. A highly skilled warrior can render an enemies weapon to near uselessness with high levels of this ability. A sundered weapon must be repaired by a skilled blacksmith before it becomes useful in combat again. A weapon may only be sundered once, but this only goes into effect if the weapon was indeed sundered (meaning you won't lose the chance to sunder an enemies weapon on a miss).

Armor Sundering
Instead of striking at an enemy directly, the Armor Sundering ability instead intentionally strikes an enemies armor. This ability will not deal any damage to an enemies health, but instead will deal a relatively high amount of damage to an enemies armor. Unlike the ability of Weapon Sundering, armor may be repeatedly sundered until destroyed, but armor can also be repaired far easier by Blacksmiths as well as Adventurers.

Defensive Strike
The skilled warrior knows how to position their strikes in order to give them a better position for the next round of combat. However, the strike must connect in order for the warrior to gain the defensive bonus meaning that a defensive strike which misses will grant no Defense bonus for the round.

A successful Defensive Strike will grant a bonus of 1 Defense for the Round. A Successful Aegis Strike will grant a bonus of 2 Defense for the Round, and a successful Bastion Strike will grant a bonus of 3 Defense for the Round.

Jump Strike
The Jump Strike is an advanced warrior's technique, depending on the surprise of an enemy unsuspecting of a warrior flying through the air at them. In reality, the warrior does not fly, but rather leap, being able to move several squares, gaining standard advantage with the attack agains the enemy. This attack also has a chance of knocking the target prone, with Jumping Strike having a chance of 14-20 and Leaping Strike having a chance of 10-20.

Charge
By charging at an enemy and attacking, a warrior will gain a minor advantage to his attacks. Each ability of Charge does something a bit different, but all require that a character move at least 3 squares in a straight line before attacking. Each of the Charge abilities uses a characters Standard and Move action as well.

A Lesser Charge costs 0 Stamina, but will only deal basic melee damage. A Greater Charge allows for a warrior to use the ability Strike or a basic attack. A Toppling Charge grants the same benefits as a Greater Charge, but adds a chance for the target to be knocked prone (10-20). A Bull Rush Charge grants the same benefits as a Greater Charge, but adds the chance for the target to be pushed one square and knocked prone (5-20).

Cleave
The Almighty Cleave. An ability that every warrior aspires to learn, Cleaving is the art of hitting one enemy and having the attack slice or smash into the enemy next to their target as well. However, this ability is limited in that the enemies must be adjacent both to each other and to the user of the ability; thus, the enemies must be in a line. The user attacks the first enemy in the line, and if they successfully hit, they also damage the next enemy (if using the 2-Body Cleave) or the next two enemies (If using the 3-Body Cleave).

Pushing Strike
With a bit of fancy bladework, a skilled warrior can attack and force his enemy backwords. This push does not invoke opppurtunity attacks. Advancing Strike has a chance to Push the enemy 1 square (8 to 20) while Pushing Strike has a chance ot Push the enemy 1 square (4 to 20).

Distracting Strike
By attacking in a certain way, the skilled fighter can distract his opponent so that he may move away without taking an oppurtunity attack. The fighter need not actually hit with this ability to be able to move away unharmed. The first ability only allows one square of unimpeded movement while the second ability allows for two squares of unimpeded movement away from the targeted enemy.

Offensive Stance
A Warrior of the Martial Skill has two Stances available to him. Like all Stances, only one may be active at a time, and it will last the entire encounter, or until the warrior drops out of the stance (Free Action) or changes stances (Minor Action).

The Offensive Stance increases a warriors ability to attack while lowering their defenses and ability to dodge attacks, ultimately making them a berserking fighter that is virtually unable to avoid enemy assaults. The Lesser Offensive Stance grants a +1 bonus to all attacks versus Defense, but also grants a -1 to Defense, making it easier for them to be hit. The Greater Offensive Stance grants a +2 bonus to all attacks versus Defense, but grants a -2 to Defense, while the Master Offensive Stance grants a +4 bonus to all attacks versus Defense, but grants a -5 to Defense.

Defensive Stance
A Warrior of the Martial Skill has two Stances available to him. Like all Stances, only one may be active at a time, and it will last the entire encounter, or until the warrior drops out of the stance (Free Action) or changes stances (Minor Action).

The Defensive Stance increases a warriors ability to dodge and defend against attacks while lowering their ability to attack enemies. This stance is perfect for a tanking Warrior who needs to draw enemies to them and avoid at least some of the damage they would be receiving. The Lesser Defensive Stance grants a +1 to Defense while granting a -1 to Attacks versus Defense, the Greater Defensive Stance grants a +2 to Defense while granting a -2 to Attacks versus Defense, and the Master Defensive Stance grants a +4 to Defense while granting a -5 to Attacks versus Defense.