Saturday, October 15, 2016

Power Fist

The act of fighting "unarmed" has several interesting features and complexities. Exotic morphologies allow numerous and different limbs to be utilized in unusual ways. Strength enhancing augs can make any morph have a punch like a truck - but Synthmorphs' inherently hardened shells give them a slight advantage in terms of the damage they can do. While Eelware or Shock Gloves offers some incapacitating or "less-lethal" benefit to fighting hand-to-hand, if one wants to have a more powerful "punch", the nominal ideal way is to sleeve into a synth and utilize the Pneumatic Limbs (p. 311 EP) to greatly increase the base power of a fist. However, technical solutions always exist - and through careful engineering based on long history of science-fiction, even biomorphs can wield the power of a pneumatic limb in the palm of their hand.

Power Fist: A high-power unarmed weapon which uses the same technology as the Pneumatic Limbs augmentation. It's favored by a few martial artists and sportsmen, or some particularly aggressive or vindictive security forces. It takes the form of a massive gauntlet with a strike-plate hooked to some high-pressure pneumatic cylinders. When an impact is made with the gauntlet, the cylinders release concentrating a lot of force into a small space. The gauntlets are so hefty that most users only wear one at a time, and their bulk grants a -10 penalty to all tests using the gloved hand, but offer an additional 1/3 AV to that arm. Scoring an excellent success with the Power Fist also forces the target to make a SOM x3 test or be knocked down, as if they had taken a wound. [Moderate]
AP -4 2d10+DB DV

Due to it's nature, the Power Fist does not enhance a Synthmorph equipped with Pneumatic Limbs already. And while potent, the added bulk is awkward, hard to conceal sometimes, and bound to attract some attention - not everyone wanders the streets bearing a Power Fist. It is up to GM discretion if a Power Fist can benefit from the bonuses for fighting using two melee weapons (since it is not traditionally paired), but if two gauntlets are worn it is encouraged to apply additional situational penalties for the doubled loss of dexterity.

A common fighting style in certain Venusian circles uses the Power Fist in the off hand, and long-bladed swords, usually monofilament, in the primary hand. The power fist is used to block, parry or even attempt to break the enemy's weapon, while the sword hand is free for strikes on a vulnerable foe.

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