Mariner Combat (sage ability)
Mariner Combat is an authority-status sage ability in the study of Physical Balance, providing the ability to move more efficiently and fight more effectively when partly submerged in water. Even a little water depth can significantly affect a combatant’s mobility, altering the speed of movement, the stability of a stance, and the force behind each strike. The deeper a person wades, the more resistance they face, slowing footwork, making sudden direction changes difficult, and reducing the force of blows. At knee-depth, movement is hindered but manageable; at waist-depth, progress slows considerably, while chest-deep water forces a fighter into nearly half-speed movement. In neck-high water, footing is all but lost, and fighting is reduced to awkward lunges and grapples, often requiring active effort just to stay afloat.
Contents
Characters with this ability have learned to shift their weight subtly, using the water’s buoyancy to aid movement rather than hinder it. Instead of forcing through the resistance, they angle their legs and arms to slip through more efficiently, keeping a low center of gravity when possible or adopting a looser, more fluid stance when forced into deeper water. In combat, their strikes are shorter and more controlled, wasting no motion against the drag of the surrounding liquid.
| Water Depth | AP Cost per Hex |
|---|---|
| ankle-deep | 2 |
| knee-deep | 3 |
| waist-deep | 4 |
| chest-deep | 5 |
| neck deep | 7 |
Through a combination of practiced footwork, awareness of water’s force, and finely tuned balance, those who possess this ability move through flooded terrain, rivers, and shorelines with less delay than their untrained counterparts. While still affected by the depth, they suffer less from its penalties, maintaining greater mobility and control where others would falter.
Penalties to Movement
Travelling from one hex to the next requires additional action points (AP), with movement becoming progressively more difficult as depth increases. A trained practitioner of Mariner Combat reduces this movement cost by one AP at all depths, representing their ability to minimise drag. Thus they have a greater advantage when fighting in water, encouraging them to choose these conditions for defense against those not so skilled.
Combat Bonus
A character with Mariner Combat gains a +1 to hit bonus against opponents who are standing in waist-deep water or deeper. This does not stem from the trained fighter being inherently more skilled in landing blows, but rather from the opponent’s compromised ability to defend themselves effectively. An untrained fighter in deep water struggles to react with the same precision they would on solid ground, making them an easier target for someone accustomed to such conditions.
This advantage does not apply when facing another individual who also possesses the Mariner Combat ability, as both fighters are equally adept at mitigating the hindrances of water.
See also,
Combat
Underwater Combat (sage ability)
