Lets have fun with: Fantasy Martial Arts

[Formless]

The following can be applied to sci-fi as well, but I feel the problem is more pronounced in fantasy due to the differences between a firefight and a melee.

For the TL;DR crowd: How should a writer go about creating believable fantasy martial arts for non-human and superhuman characters that lend themselves to coherent action scenes without relying too heavily on magic?

The bigger, longer and uncut version:

There is something about fantasy combat that has always bugged me. In a lot of written fantasy I've read, you tend to get these really generic sounding if not outright vague descriptions of what is going on during a fight, leading to scenes that are unnecessarily hard to follow. Or you end up getting lots of time in a specific character's head as they muse on the fight, or the larger scale battle, or what have you to give you the impression of violence. Either way, the lack of details hurts the writing and yanks you out of the experience in a way that a movie or video game wouldn't. Additionally there is the patented Bullshido WankFu writing technique where distinct fighting styles are described as lovingly and poetically as possible... but its all a bunch of unintelligible pseudo-philosophical crap that leaves you just as confused as if the writer hadn't tried at all. EG: Jedi Lightsaber combat.

Related: shonen anime and comic book series that waste their ability to show fights visually by having them be 90% talking about their Kool powahz and ninjaah techniques which... just... look... ridiculous, to the point of being more magic and/or deus ex machina than actually beating people up.

Now, of course a lot of this could be the result of writers that just don't understand the dynamics of a fight very well, are ignorant of the techniques used in ancient and modern martial arts, or even just aren't very good writers in general. However, I don't think that can be all of it-- just how do you depict the fighting techniques of inhuman and superhuman creatures/characters? What would they be? You can't learn this stuff in a dojo because a dojo assumes you don't have angelic wings growing on your back, aren't half the size of a human with the musculature of a cat, and can't breath fire from phosphorus glands in your neck. A big part of fantasy is that not all the characters are humans as we know them, and sometimes the hero has to fight things eight times his size and three times his age, possible undead.

So here is the challenge I lay before you all, whether you are inclined to study real martial arts, medieval warfare, fight choreography (since fights in writing need to be interesting, after all), biology or other relevant sciences:

1) when inventing fantasy fighting styles intended to be used by or against non-human or superhuman creatures what principles of combat, physiology, and tactics should a writer (or fantasy nerd analyst ) consider?

2) try your hand at creating fighting styles for common fantasy creatures such as dwarves, gnomes, angels, giants, etc. that people can look at to see how #1 works in practice.

3) what dramatic elements of action scenes should be considered most important when actually putting all this into practice, remembering that stories can defy realism if they have to? (indeed, in reality fights can end in seconds even between professional fighters, but you rarely see this in fiction unless its supposed to prove a point)

Feel free to discuss unarmed combat, weapons based combat, fantasy combat set in modern settings (urban fantasy needs more love), and ranged weapons. However, much as I like to think that marksmanship is a martial art please try to keep discussions of modern weapons to personal weapons, not tanks and bombs. At a certain point the physiology of a species becomes moot due to technological change (I.E. an artillery duel is an artillery duel is an artillery duel even if the people manning the guns are gnomes). Likewise, the implications of magic spells are beyond the scope of this thread, and this thread is already close to me trying to drink a lake through a straw. Besides, as stated before I'm wary of Naruto type crap where the fighters are magicians in all but name.

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Some prompts/mini-RARs that might get people's creative/analytical minds going:

1) say you are a medieval knight who is sworn to serve in your lord's military. Simple enough. The catch: you come from a family of noble dwarves. As per the D&D 3.5 OGL, you have strength comparable to a human, but are about a about a third less tall (IIRC). Thus, you have an appropriate gait, reach, and draw pull if you were to try and use a bow. You do not have access to firearms, but you do have a loyal armorer who can outfit you with steel armor and weapons. Technology is about equivalent to the fifteenth century, save for that whole gunpowder part as mentioned. Among your Lord's enemies are goblin tribes, which are built approximately like chimpanzees if they were bipedal, conclaves of dark elves which are on average a head taller than humans, and certain human nations who are of course the biggest bastards of them all.

You are a practitioner of traditional dwarven combatives which accommodate the fact that half your enemies are taller than you and the other half are built like freaking chimps. What kinds of weaponry might you prefer? cavalry mounts? Tactics?

2) You are a cherub in an army dedicated to fighting the armies of the Nine Hells. Assume similar technology is available as with the dwarf. You are human save for the fact that you have wings and are capable of flight, and have hollow birdlike bones. The armies of the Nine Hells have gunpowder weaponry, and are composed primarily of Voodoo Zombies and the occasional demons (who are built like you but with bat wings). Biggest question I would have: just how do you protect those beautiful (and useful) wings of yours? Oh, and there is the general hollowness of your bones, too.

3) You are a catperson living in an anime-esque world. The place is fairly modern, but your hometown has a bit of a crime problem which I will get to in a moment. As a catperson you have a more or less human physiology (no fur, but catlike skin patterns) except for the following facts: You have large fangs and jaws capable of both fitting a human arm inside and cracking the bones when you bite down. You also have a long, prehensile tail (this has fur).

About that crime problem. You live alongside ordinary humans and Mutant Freaks that range from talking animals, humans that can be detected with a Geiger counter, to tentacle demons. Yes, I went there . There has been a string of sexual assaults recently involving said demons and anal sex (so don't feel like you are immune just because you are a cat-man rather than a cat-girl), and reportedly the gang responsible has ordinary human members. Additionally though this string of rapes is unusually violent even for your town, the gang problem where you live is well known. In short, you feel the area where you live is dangerous enough you feel the need to learn how to defend yourself.

Assuming that you learn self defense from a fellow catperson, how do you expect your bite and prehensile tail might effect the curricula? How might they help you, how might the tail get in your way, how might they effect training methods, etc.? And if you are ever accosted by a tentacle demon, how might you fight one off?

Note: you can buy a gun, but this isn't the US and the laws are more strict. Think somewhere between Canada and Europe in terms of difficulty with obtaining a gun and license to carry. On the bright side, drive by shootings are unheard of here.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Fantasy is usually detached from reality to some degree, it's inherent in the meaning of the word, but it works best IMO when it's only semi- detached, or at least close enough nearby to visit without having to travel too light and jettison too much mental baggage on the way.

To that end, start by grasping the reality- actually fight, LARP or SCA or re- enactment (Although not with guns, which is actually very boring unless the guns are very big) or martial arts or something- something legitimate and socially acceptable of course, although this may be stretching a point for LARPers, don't go and start street brawls for the sake of the learning experience.

Study war, particularly the known lies and legends. People, even characters in something already made up, tell stories, they lie, they exaggerate- even in the middle of cold miserable reality there is fantasising, if not exactly Capital- F Fantasy. Although the official version of events may approach that. The very idea of chivalry is among the largest of these, and if you look at the likes of Froissart was at least partly recognised to be so at the time.

This is Swiftian territory, first order fantasy, mocking reality and the pretensions of the powerful. The greatest military fantasy of the lot is that things will actually go according to plan. If you can, amongst all of this lot, start to recognise why people fantasise, then you're doing it right.


Oh, and zoology documentaries, all of them you can find. Look at how things with a non- human body shape move and survive and fight.



Example One, the simplest part is the weaponry. Halberd, crossbow, backup dagger. Hafted weapon because, let's face it, dwarf arms what, twenty, twenty-two inch reach, elvish a shade over thirty? You're never going to outreach an elf, and with their muscle density chimpanzee-goblins are going to take a lot of killing.
You're also not going to catch them without help. Bouncy gobbos and snow- trotting elves are going to move a lot faster than little short stubby legs, which leaves the Roman solution- plough straight for their capitol or equivalent, the centre of their power, and force them to come to you and give battle, which I don't think is going to work on the gobbos and elves and may cause adverse comment when tried on the humans.
That or guerilla warfare, which, as a shortarse and a knight, natural disadvantage from both. Mounted crossbowman, that's the way to go, chase and shoot- halberd rather than lance because you're almost certainly going to get knocked off your horse at some point.
Lots of use of the point because big wide sweepy weapons work better when you have, guess what? Long arms and legs.

Example Two, you're fucked. Zero hope of survival or victory in a stand up fight. Protection? Forget it- get caught in a situation where you need it and you're dead anyway. Fight like a bird. Above the effective range of musket, and resort to missile fire- sling, crossbow, bag of rocks. Should be better in the air than a thing with bat wings, not many animal speed and endurance records have been set by bats after all. Fight the demons air to air, swoop and claw, shoot if you can. Land and die, fight toe to toe and die. Stay high and mobile.

Not an anime fan, so I'm not touching example three.

[Majin Gojira]

Before I begin, I'm going to say this: Writing action is hard. Not many writers can create an action scene that can string a reader along, especially with remaining close to details.

The gold standard I hold to, at least from a cinematic perspective, is Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. If you want to see a well written action scene, go there for a bit.

Just read the first one, though. Sequels vary greatly from what I hear.

Either way, the lack of details hurts the writing and yanks you out of the experience in a way that a movie or video game wouldn't.

To be honest, sometimes, too much detail can also hurt it. This sometimes happens in The Dresden Files, but it's pretty rare. It helps that the writer knows about combat. Codex Alera is better about it.

Related: shonen anime and comic book series that waste their ability to show fights visually by having them be 90% talking about their Kool powahz and ninjaah techniques which... just... look... ridiculous, to the point of being more magic and/or deus ex machina than actually beating people up.

If you want a good animated fight scene, check out Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit. The fights are grounded in reality and look amazing.

1) when inventing fantasy fighting styles intended to be used by or against non-human or superhuman creatures what principles of combat, physiology, and tactics should a writer (or fantasy nerd analyst ) consider?

Depends on the weapons involved and the intelligence of the targets, a good place to start would be to look into pre gunpowder hunting techniques for various wild animals.

2) try your hand at creating fighting styles for common fantasy creatures such as dwarves, gnomes, angels, giants, etc. that people can look at to see how #1 works in practice.

I'm gonna skip this one, just because too many variables are involved to get a specific example.

3) what dramatic elements of action scenes should be considered most important when actually putting all this into practice, remembering that stories can defy realism if they have to? (indeed, in reality fights can end in seconds even between professional fighters, but you rarely see this in fiction unless its supposed to prove a point)

That entirely depends on the perspective chosen. Given most modern narratives are first person, then what the character can detect takes priority combined with what they are already aware of.

2) You are a cherub in an army dedicated to fighting the armies of the Nine Hells. Assume similar technology is available as with the dwarf. You are human save for the fact that you have wings and are capable of flight, and have hollow birdlike bones. The armies of the Nine Hells have gunpowder weaponry, and are composed primarily of Voodoo Zombies and the occasional demons (who are built like you but with bat wings). Biggest question I would have: just how do you protect those beautiful (and useful) wings of yours? Oh, and there is the general hollowness of your bones, too.

This scenario is implausible for two reasons:

1) Trying to think of appropriate physiology for an organism which would need various forms of magic just to exist without altering the organism to the point of unrecognizably. Hollow bones are not going to allow a humanoid to fly unless they're smaller than a hobbit.
2) Thinking a Cherub is in any way akin to an humanoid adult.

Angels are generally not just winged humanoids, man. Even if they look that way, they aren't just that.

3) You are a catperson living in an anime-esque world. The place is fairly modern, but your hometown has a bit of a crime problem which I will get to in a moment. As a catperson you have a more or less human physiology (no fur, but catlike skin patterns) except for the following facts: You have large fangs and jaws capable of both fitting a human arm inside and cracking the bones when you bite down. You also have a long, prehensile tail (this has fur).

[/quote]

Cats don't have prehensile tails. If anything, it's a monkey-man right now.

Strong jaws require strong jaw muscles and the musculature to support it. Just keep that in mind.

Without knowing how strong the tail is, I can't say how it could be used, but a biting-based fighting style...well, look at wolves.

They are going to lead with the head and bite down along with grapples. The death roll of a crocodile might come into play too. But given the bite's strength, it may in fact be breaking laws to use them in combat against unarmed humans.

In short, watch a lot of animals hunting. That's your best answer.

[Formless]

That or guerilla warfare, which, as a shortarse and a knight, natural disadvantage from both. Mounted crossbowman, that's the way to go, chase and shoot- halberd rather than lance because you're almost certainly going to get knocked off your horse at some point.

Ooh, see that's what I'm talking about. I never thought of using a halberd as an alternative to a lance in mounted combat.

Example Two, you're fucked. Zero hope of survival or victory in a stand up fight. Protection? Forget it- get caught in a situation where you need it and you're dead anyway. Fight like a bird. Above the effective range of musket, and resort to missile fire- sling, crossbow, bag of rocks. Should be better in the air than a thing with bat wings, not many animal speed and endurance records have been set by bats after all. Fight the demons air to air, swoop and claw, shoot if you can. Land and die, fight toe to toe and die. Stay high and mobile.

Would it matter if the cherub's bones were more human like (I.E. dense) or are those pretty feathered wings just that vulnerable to musket balls and sword stabs?

[Formless]

2) try your hand at creating fighting styles for common fantasy creatures such as dwarves, gnomes, angels, giants, etc. that people can look at to see how #1 works in practice.

I'm gonna skip this one, just because too many variables are involved to get a specific example.

Try using my examples as a template for what I think an example should look like. I'd like to invite people to create their own examples because I'd like to see what their research/analysis methodologies look like in practice. For instance, I wanted to write a superhero example, but unfortunately I'm not much of a comic book fan and just ended up drawing blanks.

Alternatively, you could post examples from books you think work well. What does the author of Tarzan get right?

This scenario is implausible for two reasons:

1) Trying to think of appropriate physiology for an organism which would need various forms of magic just to exist without altering the organism to the point of unrecognizably. Hollow bones are not going to allow a humanoid to fly unless they're smaller than a hobbit.
2) Thinking a Cherub is in any way akin to an humanoid adult.

Angels are generally not just winged humanoids, man. Even if they look that way, they aren't just that.

Dude... I'm not going to talk about the monstrosities that actually appear in the Bible. Those things are so alien they barely resemble biological lifeforms at all. I want to deal in fantasy creatures people will actually recognize. Duh.

But anyway, I'm not trying to eliminate magic entirely from the discussion. Spellcasting specifically is too complicated a subject for this thread because it lacks a real life frame of reference. The writer has to supply that himself, which is also why its easy to abuse by a weak writer.

Cats don't have prehensile tails. If anything, it's a monkey-man right now.

Heh. Well, to be honest? That's my impression of furries. It doesn't matter if you slap a few traits from other animals onto the frame of a bipedal ape: in the end, its still a bipedal ape. It just looks funny and/or creepy now.

But yeah, I figured that the easiest tail to put onto a human body plan was the same kind of tail our primate ancestors had. Making it into a cat tail seems like a relatively minor matter of cosmetics (bushy fur, color patterns, behavior, etc.).

Without knowing how strong the tail is, I can't say how it could be used,

Lets say... actually, shit, I don't know how you rate the strength of a tail.

Strong enough to wrap around and lift one of my eight pound barbells? Maybe? But even without strength certainly it might have an effect on training/self defense technique, such as effecting the cat-person's balance, making it harder to sneak up from behind, being a liability if someone tries to grab it or if you fall on it, etc.?

[Majin Gojira]

Try using my examples as a template for what I think an example should look like. I'd like to invite people to create their own examples because I'd like to see what their research/analysis methodologies look like in practice. For instance, I wanted to write a superhero example, but unfortunately I'm not much of a comic book fan and just ended up drawing blanks.

Visual combat is quite different from doing so in literate form.

One of the best martial arts comics in recent years, Immortal Iron Fist has many great examples of well paced combat.

Here are some highlights from that series featuring mystically empowered "Immortal Weapons".

Tarzan is in the public domain, there's no reason why you can't just plop down and burn through it. It's not that long and reads quickly.

Really, it opens not with some idllic scene or 20 minutes with Jerks we see so much today. No, with Tarzan, the first chapter amounts to "HOLY SHIT MUTINY!"

And it doesn't stop. You can bang through it in an afternoon and not even realize it.

Also, I mentioned Moribito so I should mention that Mediablasters has the first half of the series up on Youtube.

Dude... I'm not going to talk about the monstrosities that actually appear in the Bible. Those things are so alien they barely resemble biological lifeforms at all. I want to deal in fantasy creatures people will actually recognize. Duh.

Word choice is very important in an action scene as it is in setting something up

But yeah, I figured that the easiest tail to put onto a human body plan was the same kind of tail our primate ancestors had. Making it into a cat tail seems like a relatively minor matter of cosmetics (bushy fur, color patterns, behavior, etc.).

Also, most tail having cat people also have claws or hardened nails to some degree.

Lets say... actually, shit, I don't know how you rate the strength of a tail.

Average in pounds or percentage based on arm strength.

Strong enough to wrap around and lift one of my eight pound barbells? Maybe? But even without strength certainly it might have an effect on training/self defense technique, such as effecting the cat-person's balance, making it harder to sneak up from behind, being a liability if someone tries to grab it or if you fall on it, etc.?

It might only come out in balance, then, but otherwise it would end up wrapped around their waist as a belt.

[Alyrium Denryle]

1) when inventing fantasy fighting styles intended to be used by or against non-human or superhuman creatures what principles of combat, physiology, and tactics should a writer (or fantasy nerd analyst ) consider?

Well, there are a few things:

Reach, physical strength, leverage, footwork/agility, extra appendages, and the ability to take punishment. More on this in the examples

2) try your hand at creating fighting styles for common fantasy creatures such as dwarves, gnomes, angels, giants, etc. that people can look at to see how #1 works in practice.

Alright, lets take at one of my favorite things. Lizard People.

Lizard people we will assume are taller than human, have a flexible and muscular tail, and are otherwise about as agile as a person, but can take more punishment and are a bit stronger. Here, you are probably looking at something that uses a lot of footwork. Not necessarily jumps, but lunges, and passing steps. They have the reach and leverage to use polearms like halberds and poleaxes with lethal proficiency, and that tail allows them to sidestep and trip opponents

3) what dramatic elements of action scenes should be considered most important when actually putting all this into practice, remembering that stories can defy realism if they have to? (indeed, in reality fights can end in seconds even between professional fighters, but you rarely see this in fiction unless its supposed to prove a point)

Remember who you are dealing with. What sort of characters. If you are talking about a soldier or fightmaster, they fight like a game of speed chess. Attack, parry, riposte, describe the footwork, but do not dwell too much about what is going on in the character's head outside how he or she assesses a situation and selects targets. Fights SHOULD end in seconds, but you can take a paragraph or two dealing with a one on one fight.

If you are talking about amateurs, there will be hesitation, abortive planning. Things that WILL get them killed if they are going against someone above their league.

You are a practitioner of traditional dwarven combatives which accommodate the fact that half your enemies are taller than you and the other half are built like freaking chimps. What kinds of weaponry might you prefer? cavalry mounts? Tactics?

You have inferior reach, but are strong for your size and cannot be easily toppled due to a low center of gravity. However, you also dont have good leverage. Shield walls if in a group, use of mass weapons like dane axes or flails if alone. SHort legs, so economy of movement is important, because you are not fast.

[Zixinus]

However, I don't think that can be all of it-- just how do you depict the fighting techniques of inhuman and superhuman creatures/characters?

You basically boil it down to two ways:

Either have a (regular) human describe it in awe-filled tones (or similar) or have the superhuman itself describe it as something normal.

Strong jaws require strong jaw muscles and the musculature to support it. Just keep that in mind.

To add to this, consider that in human evolution, jaw strength has DECREASED to closer we got to homo-sapiens. There is a reason for this. Jaws are great for some animals (such as dogs or wolves, who are head-first by stature) but for humans a strong jaw simply isn't that useful.

1) when inventing fantasy fighting styles intended to be used by or against non-human or superhuman creatures what principles of combat, physiology, and tactics should a writer (or fantasy nerd analyst ) consider?

Combat, ideally, should be about exploiting their weaknesses and defending from their strengths.

I'd just like to add one thing, that I often see a lot in fantasy: spears (or similar weapons) and bows are the ideal way to kill a larger target (say, a bus-size dragon). Axes, swords, etc. are all inferior because they are weapons designed against humans (more of less).

Tactics depend on who's fighitng who and what.

Weapons depend on both what is available and how human the target is (as well as how it is composed).

A well-armoured target, say, a clockwork man clad in steel (or wrought iron) plates covering most of it will have difficulty to be put down by a sword or arrow. Warhammers that are designed (at least the later ones anyway) to transmit shock or have a small spike to penetrate it (preferably on a weaker spot, like joints) are not the worst choice.

2) try your hand at creating fighting styles for common fantasy creatures such as dwarves, gnomes, angels, giants, etc. that people can look at to see how #1 works in practice.

Fighting styles will depend essentially on what they are used to fighting against and what tools they have.

RARS:

1. This boils down to fighting differently against different opponents.

Dwarves have one advantage over humans is that they have a lower centre of gravity, thus harder to knock down (at least, fantasy dwarves do).

A wall of various pole weapons would be appropriate against dark elves and humans, if you can make it work (that is, if the enemy's tactics allow you to exploit this). This means disciplined lines however, or the whole thing falls apart.

Goblins have to be fought differently. You have to organise it more along the idea of a hunting trip than that of a proper battle. In their home-ground, I assume goblins have the advantage of using the trees to their advantage?

That is something you have to prepare for then. Fighting in a forest can be difficult. Large shields and moving shield walls such as the famous Roman shield-turtle can have advantages.
Dealing with cavalry will be a bitch though.

Overall, I can't really top or add much to ECR's idea.

2. You can't really armor "yourself" up. Even if your body can work for flight well, you can't weight down the wings by protection (except perhaps one or two key joints with rounded light metal). Even your main body can't be waited down by much. You'll be lucky to be able to just dress warm, especially if you want to go high enough to avoid being shot (though, leather can be a bit useful, as it is insulating and if treated properly can offer some protection). Any metal you dress yourself has to be very light: I think only reinforced copper here or there can work, maybe.

I basically agree with ECR's idea, with just the following additions:

- Stealth missions are ideal against the zombies. This means night bombing and avoiding being seen until you can attack. On the ground you are just a very fragile human with a large target profile.
- You should drop things of flammable nature. Firebombs essentially. If your enemy uses gunpowder, you should focus on their gunpowder warehouses for obvious reasons.
- In air against demons, a deflecting shield sounds like a good idea as well as having someone watch your back. Attacks will be an instant's nature of hit-or-miss. Swords or similarly large weapons are too unwieldy when combined in trying to maintain balance in the air, so probably short weapons (long dagger, kukris, etc) or long weapons (spears especially). Long weapons are probably going to be difficult to brace for (remember Newton's law of conversation of momentum).
Jousts come to mind with this.
- If large highs are involved, any damage to the wings is probably going to be lethal, so falling and surviving fights on the ground are irrelevant. If your wings are pierced or damaged, you will die from the fall.


Essentially, you would be creating a form of air-force: you have bombers and those defending the bombers. You may have lighter defenders, with shield and a short sword (or small axes even) and heavier defenders that put their entire body's weight and energy into the tip of their spear.

Of course, this form of warfare entirely hinges on the idea that you can effectively bomb the enemy army or that it is worthwhile to do so. If you cannot, there is no way you can fight against a land-based, gunpowder-using army with such troops alone.

Attempting to use them as ground troops will only result in a massacre. If their enemy would not use gunpowder, it might be a different story, but any advantage of having wings is negated when your enemy can fire a wall of lead in your delicate-winged way.

3.
You are essentially an ape-fighter. The increased power of your jaw is not that useful: you need to grapple someone to get into in-fighting to use it. Your head is a very vulnerable area, so trying to attack head-first makes you very exposed.

The tail is a mixed bag, as it relies on what you assume what you can do with it. Animals rarely use their tails in fights (except scorpions obviously). Cats never (I have seen several cats with cut-off tails that otherwise function fairly normally). At best, I think you can make a sort of a tail-dagger on it. The Iskaii in the old Albion game had this (although you had only two characters that could use it and one of them was a spellcaster).

May I suggest some modifications to the cat-person model?

- You have cat-ears, not regular ears. They are much larger than human ears, react to intense emotions or moods (ie, it gets flat down when you are scared or angry) and moves to your will as well. It has much better hearing than puny human ears and you can pinpoint sounds very accurately.
- You are a bit more fragile, especially in regards of bone structure.
However, you are much, much more agile and your body becomes automatically much lighter. You have a much harder time gaining and keeping both fat and large excess muscle mass, although this does depend on your lifestlye (ie, it is almost impossible for you to look like Mr.Universe or Daniel Lamber.
Your body is easily as flexible as that of a gymnastist's. With the right movement, you can also fall down on larger heights without injury (for similar reasons as a cat). However, your endurance is also lesser and have to rest more when walking long distances (this too can be mitigated somewhat by specialized shoes or boots). In regards of action, you are automatically exposed to using explosive strength.
- You have a remarkable sense of balance and movement.
- Your wrists and ankles are also able to be moved in angles that even a gymnasist can't, having a joint similar to that of gibbons (a variation of the ball-and-socket joint).
- Your tail is very flexible and helps tremendously with your balance. However, it is not as dexterous as your hand. You have to concentrate to, for example, pick up light objects. Otherwise, similar to your ears, it reacts to strong emotions and moods.
In regards of combat, you can "whip" it a little, although by itself it hasn't much more power than slapping purely by your wrist or elbow. Wrapping it around someone's arm is a no-no. Like with real cats, you can't support your entire body on your tail alone.
- You have modified fingernails. Instead of just regular fingernails, you have modified claws that extend out of your fingernail. Like with cats, they can be extended on will or by reflex (strong anger or high aggressiveness can cause them to extend by reflex). However, they only have a tip and no sharp "blade" (the "blade" is actually broken two-ways on your finger). The back of your fingernail is much, much thicker and go further back into the finger. Compared to regular human nails, it is somewhat ugly but can be painted away.
The tip extends a little more then the end of your finger when extended (exact distance varies with finger-size and age). The point may become "dull" (and pointing back towards the finger) if allowed to excessively grow and you'll have an urge to claw at things for the older layers to come off (the sensation is similar to an inch). If cared for in the right way, it can function both handily as a climbing aid and can cut exposed skin or clothes.
- You eyes are much more adapt at registering light and adapting to different light levels. You can also very rarely need to blink. However, you see less colours and see actually a bit worse in daylight levels (this can be mitigated by sunglasses and special contact lenses).
- For the sake of fun, you can purr or at least mimic the cat purring sound more accurately, loudly and longer.
- Finally, your reflexes and speed is heightened, especially in response to adrenaline. You are more high-strung and nervous as a result and have a harder time relaxing (breath exercises do help). Like actual predators, your attention can easily be grasped by sudden movements on your peripheral vision or by sudden noises

(for a bit of balance, women have longer tails and greater reflex-endurance while men have a bit longer claws and greater reserves of raw explosive strength, also the size and mass differences are halved or roundabouts, which is fairly similar to how catboys are portrayed)

With such body, combat should be based more on agility than raw strength. You should learn to dodge or redirect punches and kicks rather than blocking them outright. Wing Tsun, a martial art developed by a woman (partly) is a good choice. Attacks should focus on critical areas rather than boxer-stlye tearing of endurance.

Claws can be turned into very unpleasant surprise, especially if unexpected. A tail-dagger or tail-whip (which can look like a harmless decoration) can also be useful in the right moment. Otherwise, I should learn to get my tail to get flat against my back. It would probably a bit counter-productive in regards of law to do so, but learning the locations of mayor arteries may be useful.

However, if taught self-defence, I expect "my" agility and awareness to be primary things taught first by anyone that wants to teach more in self-defences than just fighting. Good eyes and ears can protect more than guns, as it is always better to avoid unwanted trouble than handle it. Running and climbing away from trouble can also help.

A tentacle-monster would be tough to beat if I am unarmed, especially if they are nearby humans to aid it. I can safely assume that it would lure me into a trap of some sort, as it has been keeping at this rather than being a an opportunity rapist. If it is a land octopus of some sort with a external or augmented skeleton, I would wager that water or being dragged underwater is involved.

But actual tentacles? A bit tricky. Biting would be useful as is cutting it apart with claws or other edged weaponry. Tentacles are noted to have a strong pull but not push. How I can use that to my advantage however, I do not know. Perhaps surprise it by suddenly lounging towards it instead of trying to brake away. Trying to scrounge up some details on octopus wrestling may help (which at one time was a sport), although I have doubts whether it may help.

[Formless]

May I suggest some modifications to the cat-person model?

Uhh... some of them are good, but others... well, I wanted to invoke more the anime-style catgirl than the internet concept of a furry, which some of your proposals (like the proposal about joints) seem to cross. This is in part for the sake of simplicity-- internet furries have much bigger differences in their anatomy. For one thing, claws especially seem hard to imagine on a human hand. I know because I've seen cat skeletons, and their paws look nothing like a human hand. At all.

The ones I like are:

Cat ears and eyes. I forgot about that one, it should have been there in the first place especially since the mini-RAR dealt with self defense.

The agility and balance aspects.

The reflexes part.

Besides the anime archetype, I wanted to invoke the image of Big cats. Hence the jaws.

[Zixinus]

The nature documentaries I saw involve cats using their claws first, jaws second. Sure, the lion bites, but it uses its claws to grab hold of the prey.

In humans, the head contains the most dense area of sensitive locations. I am not even sure what the second is (stomach perhaps?). So, a strong jaw is simply prohibitive and there is little way around that.

What I had in mind was taking various traits of a cat (that I know) and transferring them to a human, not necessarily the anime image of a catgirl or catboy (which may vary with the anime itself anyway). I did aim to have a result of something that would be similar though.

As for the claw-thing, I mostly imagine it being pretty pathetic compared to "proper" predators, much like how our jaw strength (and strength in general) is puny compared to other apes. It is enough to cut something at your fingertips, but not to stab something or truly rend something. Trying to use it to, say, cut meat (or even properly skin an animal) would be very frustrating at best and torturous task at worst. I added the "thicker fingernail back and extends further in your finger" bit to allow it to have greater support (and leverage), rather than have it hang just by skin.

I haven't seen a cat's skeleton, but I do understand that there is a massive difference. That is obvious just by the fact that cats are quadrupeds and humans are bipedal. What's more, they have padded feat. Rear and front are fairly similar. Ours is anything but. I kept that in account

So, writing the above, I tried to imagine something that can still be called a "claw" yet still allow functional human hands. Otherwise, you could have one or the other and I opted for weak claws. As such, they are barely more than an especially strong and sharp (pseudo-) fake-fingernails. You could probably make something similar with the right materials and skill for regular humans.

Of course, I am still ignoring the actual muscles and whatnot that move the claw in cats and how that would modify the finger itself, but I just opt to allow that to be left as an irrelevant detail.

[Rogue 9]

There is something about fantasy combat that has always bugged me. In a lot of written fantasy I've read, you tend to get these really generic sounding if not outright vague descriptions of what is going on during a fight, leading to scenes that are unnecessarily hard to follow. Or you end up getting lots of time in a specific character's head as they muse on the fight, or the larger scale battle, or what have you to give you the impression of violence. Either way, the lack of details hurts the writing and yanks you out of the experience in a way that a movie or video game wouldn't.

I don't have time to get into the rest of the question right now, but I've written a few fantasy action scenes myself (though they involve humans or close enough) and have been told by readers that they're good, and I strive to not do what you complain of here.

I practice Renaissance-era martial arts, which I find is a great resource when writing this sort of thing. Even if an author doesn't have that sort of experience, I find it really helps to get someone willing to put up with being your lab rat/sparring partner and (slowly, with care not to actually hurt anybody) going through the motions that you intend to write, to make sure that you haven't written something that the human body actually can't physically do - which is a great trap to the author who seeks to write combat scenes in detail without being sure of exactly what he's doing.

But I think a lot of the reason fantasy combat tends to be written in the way you describe is because it's supposed to go on for some time, when in reality most fights, even between skilled martial artists, last a few seconds. I think my record single combat was four and a half minutes with rapier, and it would have been excruciatingly boring to write and read in detail, because most of that time was circling around looking for openings. If you read the examples of my work I linked at the top, you'll note they're very short - that sort of description wouldn't do for a long fight, simply because it would get repetitive.

[Formless]

The nature documentaries I saw involve cats using their claws first, jaws second. Sure, the lion bites, but it uses its claws to grab hold of the prey.

In humans, the head contains the most dense area of sensitive locations. I am not even sure what the second is (stomach perhaps?). So, a strong jaw is simply prohibitive and there is little way around that.

What I had in mind was taking various traits of a cat (that I know) and transferring them to a human, not necessarily the anime image of a catgirl or catboy (which may vary with the anime itself anyway). I did aim to have a result of something that would be similar though.

As for the claw-thing, I mostly imagine it being pretty pathetic compared to "proper" predators, much like how our jaw strength (and strength in general) is puny compared to other apes. It is enough to cut something at your fingertips, but not to stab something or truly rend something. Trying to use it to, say, cut meat (or even properly skin an animal) would be very frustrating at best and torturous task at worst. I added the "thicker fingernail back and extends further in your finger" bit to allow it to have greater support (and leverage), rather than have it hang just by skin.

I haven't seen a cat's skeleton, but I do understand that there is a massive difference. That is obvious just by the fact that cats are quadrupeds and humans are bipedal. What's more, they have padded feat. Rear and front are fairly similar. Ours is anything but. I kept that in account.

So, writing the above, I tried to imagine something that can still be called a "claw" yet still allow functional human hands. Otherwise, you could have one or the other and I opted for weak claws. As such, they are barely more than an especially strong and sharp (pseudo-) fake-fingernails. You could probably make something similar with the right materials and skill for regular humans.

Of course, I am still ignoring the actual muscles and whatnot that move the claw in cats and how that would modify the finger itself, but I just opt to allow that to be left as an irrelevant detail.

I see what you are saying, but I guess my problem with it is that, well, the best way to break someone's fingers is to bend them backwards past their intended range of motion. Cat claws actually extend from the second knuckle, IIRC, whereas a claw extending from the tips of the human finger with hook shape and everything would not have such adaptations. At least, not if you want them to be capable of using human tools. On the other hand... we don't need them. Cats use their claws to grab hold of their prey-- that's why the claws are hook shaped. But a human hand can already wrap its fingers around a target and grab hold of it, grapple it. So I didn't think it was as important when writing the scenario to give our cat people claws as to give them jaws (and presumably a more carnivorous appetite ).

[Formless]

But I think a lot of the reason fantasy combat tends to be written in the way you describe is because it's supposed to go on for some time, when in reality most fights, even between skilled martial artists, last a few seconds. I think my record single combat was four and a half minutes with rapier, and it would have been excruciatingly boring to write and read in detail, because most of that time was circling around looking for openings. If you read the examples of my work I linked at the top, you'll note they're very short - that sort of description wouldn't do for a long fight, simply because it would get repetitive.

Ah, good point. I suppose to mitigate this it would be a good idea to get a grip on what the purpose or goal of a particular action scene is, and to cut them shorter than a theatrical/cinematic fight if there is no reason to make them last that long?

[Formless]

I was in a hurry before when I responded to Zixinus post the first time, so here are some clarifications on the three mini-RARs that were brought to my attention:

1) Goblins are supposed to be bipeds, not actually apes per say. So something more like some of humanity's ancestors from loooooooong past (like Homo Habilis). Thus, they do not necessarily live a tree-bound existence. They do however have very long arms for their stature, and very damn strong muscles as per the chimpanzee comparisons. And heck, having them live in the forests would make them occasional allies of the elven conclaves.

2) The army is not solely composed of Cherubs. Human(oids [you can throw in some elves if you want]) form the ground armies. Of course, the enemy army is made up of tireless (and rotting) zombies kept on demonic leash and armed with gunpowder weaponry, so have fun with that.

3) tentacle demons are reportedly "like a squid erupting out of a human torso". Not many people have seen one, as it its a rare (and feared) mutation (some would say.... perversion. Ha!). The victims from the most recent crimes survived, but are allowed privacy as a matter of common sense. There are rumors of corpses and random body parts being fished out of the bay of a nearby city, but its probably unrelated.

[Zixinus]

I see what you are saying, but I guess my problem with it is that, well, the best way to break someone's fingers is to bend them backwards past their intended range of motion. Cat claws actually extend from the second knuckle, IIRC, whereas a claw extending from the tips of the human finger with hook shape and everything would not have such adaptations. At least, not if you want them to be capable of using human tools. On the other hand... we don't need them. Cats use their claws to grab hold of their prey-- that's why the claws are hook shaped. But a human hand can already wrap its fingers around a target and grab hold of it, grapple it. So I didn't think it was as important when writing the scenario to give our cat people claws as to give them jaws (and presumably a more carnivorous appetite ).

Evolutionary, yes.

However, we are talking about cat-people here anyway. And cats need claws. I am certain that most anime catgirl/boys are shown to be able to claw things. So, some form of claws are needed.

[Formless]

They have them... but only in comedy scenes.

[HMS Sophia]

They have them... but only in comedy scenes.

Outlaw star has a cat-girl.. ish thing that has claws and uses them to fight. and her name is.. um... Aisha clan-clan, that's it