Rotes & Procedures

Sure, lots of wild martial-arts effects could be referred to as “the Neo.” That moment, though, when he holds up his hand and stops a hail of bullets in mid-air is especially iconic. And so, this phrase reflects the feat of stopping or deflecting a rain of incoming projectiles: arrows, bullets, thrown beer bottles, and so forth.

As with The Chi-Field Push, this technique uses Forces 2 as an invisible “shield” that disrupts the kinetic energy of incoming attacks. In this case, though, it doesn’t necessarily require chi, although that same feat could be used this way. As long as the caster rolls enough successes, the field stops or knocks aside any projectiles within the reach of the martial artist. Since this is defined as a martial-arts technique, the field extends only within her reach unless she’s using some thrown object to deflect a more distant attack.

As a rough guide, assume that one success will stop an arrow; two successes will stop a gun-blast; three successes will stop a rain of arrows or bullets; and five successes will stop anything that the character could reasonably be expected to stop with her martial arts.

Forces 2 could also let the martial artist deflect blasts of energy. That’s pretty vulgar, but it’s a classic staple of wild martial-arts legends.

Depending upon the mage and practice in question, this “deflection shield” could manifest as Wonder Woman-style bracers, Daredevil-style reflexes, or Wolverine-style attitude; it might be focused through spinning staves, blur-fast swordwork, silk sleeves (an old favorite in Chinese wuxtra films) or capes (an actual form of armor used by samurai), amazing perceptions, disruption fields, raw stupid luck, or any other instrument that seems appropriate for the character and her practice.

Because “the Neo” demands concentration, this field must either be re-cast each turn, or else maintained by spending one success per additional turn beyond the one in which the Effect is originally cast. Unless it uses chi, however, this field costs no Quintessence to maintain.

As the Combat section of Mage 20 points out, mages don’t tend to throw down hand-to-hand if they can avoid it. If nothing else, close-up violence is dangerous, with outcomes that are even less predictable than usual. Still, willworkers with a propensity for face-offs have a few tricks up their sleeves, including these (in)famous gambits: