Judo

Judo is an Olympic sport. People all over the world study this martial art. The quintessence of modern gendai budo, it retains a strong sense of tradition while adopting cutting edge training methods. While there are kata that teach strikes and wristlocks, judo’s signature technique is the throw. Few martial artists can throw someone as powerfully as a judo expert. Some submission holds are also allowed in competition, but explosive takedowns are perhaps judo’s most distinctive feature. A judo match is a brief, intense affair. The regulation judo uniform is gi (the classic Japanese martial arts outfit) that’s been reinforced to stand up to strong gripping. Judo fighters (or judoka) are skilled at using gi to choke and throw opponents – a skill that often transfers to other clothes. Judo actually invented the gi along with the colored belt ranking system that’s used in karate and dozens of other modern martial arts.

Special Maneuvers: Judo employs the following alternate Throwing Fighting Style maneuvers. The • and •••• dot maneuvers remain unchanged.

Ukemi (Receiving •): Your character knows how to fall properly and get up quickly. He may stand up from a prone position (but not both) once per turn as a reflexive action, and is considered to have one point of armor against bashing damage caused by falls – but not other sources. Nage-waza (Throwing Techniques ••): Your character may use a grappling overpower to render an opponent prone without falling prone herself – but if she chooses to fall prone, she may simultaneously damage her opponent while rendering her prone. Furthermore, she excels at gripping clothing. If the opponent wears anything heavier than a t-shirt on his upper body she gains a +1 equipment bonus to perform each of the above maneuvers. If the opponent wears a gi (a karate or judo-style uniform), this increases to +2. Sutemi-waza (Sacrifice Techniques •••): Your character uses her own bodyweight to drive her opponent to the ground, falling prone along with him. If she uses an all-out attack (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 157) you may add her Athletics skill to a roll instead of the usual +2 to render her opponent prone while using the nage-waza option that allows her to simultaneously damage an opponent and render her prone, while falling prone herself. Tokui-waza (Favorite Technique •••••): Through constant practice and competition, your character had made one throw into a specialty. It’s not easy to apply it every time, but when the opportunity appears, few people can resist her technique. If her opponent scores zero successes to establish a hold, escape one or use an overpowering maneuver and the character secures a hold herself, she creates an opening for the technique.

Kokyu-ho (Breath Power •••••): Your character’s throws are so strong that he can either throw someone double the usual distance with his shihonage, or inflict lethal damage with it. Drawback: Spend one Willpower point per attack. Note that this Willpower expenditure does not add three dice to the attack.