The character is trained in Modern Army Combatives, the modern military style of hand-to-hand combat that blends a number of fighting styles such as Muay Thai to provide a soldier with an all-round means of unarmed self-defense and defense with short weapons (Brawl and Weaponry Skills).

Each dot of this Fighting Style is the prerequisite for the next higher dot; one cannot purchase “Atemi Attack” until one has purchased “Tactician’s Sense”, for example.

• Tactician’s Sense: The character gauges the body language of combatants in his proximity. In game terms, he can make a Reflexive Wits + Composure perception roll and gauge the Initiative modes of all combatants before a fight starts.

•• Atemi Attack: The human body has a variety of pressure points, any of which can cause an opponent great pain. The trained fighter knows where to strike for maximum effect. When striking with a Brawl or Weaponry attack, the character may ignore up to 1 point of the enemy’s Armor protection per dot in this Fighting Style.

••• Forearm Choke: The character applies pressure to an enemy’s carotid artery in an attempt to knock him out. The character must successfully achieve a Grapple attack. The character may apply the choke hold from the following turn. The hostile may attempt to free himself on his next action with Strength + Brawl, his dice pool penalized by the character’s Strength + 1.

This maneuver is designed to render the foe unconscious. The foe may resist each turn at a cumulative –1 dice pool penalty. When your character has sustained the choke hold for a number of turns equal to the hostile’s Stamina, the hostile is rendered unconscious, and sustains a single point of bashing damage. The Forearm Choke is useless against creatures that do not need to breathe.

•••• Bullring: The character is trained in fighting off multiple opponents simultaneously. His Defense is applied in full to each and every simultaneous hand-to-hand attack in a single turn.

••••• Lethal Strike: The soldier’s hands become deadly weapons when the character spends a Willpower point. A successful Brawl strike delivered in a turn in which he spends Willpower delivers lethal, rather than bashing, damage.
Drawback: Because the lethal attack takes place in that turn, the character cannot spend Willpower to boost his attack dice pool.