Further Modifying Full Defense

The following overrides the previous treatise on what may be done in full defense:

• Full Defense Posture: You adopt a defensive stance. Your TN is increased by 10, you may move up to half your regular movement and you must make 3 raises on any skill you attempt to use. This includes spell casting and attacking, so you must have at least a void of 3 or a skill of 3 to be able to attack, cast a spell, or perform any other skill from this posture. The TN bonus only applies to a number of opponents = to your insight rank. You may use the Defense Skill in this posture without making the 3 raises.
• Full Attack Posture: If you want to use the defense skill in the full attack posture, you must make 3 raises (basically, subtract 15 from the roll and use that for your base TN). This reflects the difficulties of changing gears - committing to an attack and then hastily trying to recover your balance and defend yourself - doable, but difficult.

Not that this is a combat posture, much like Full Attack and Attack. It does not require the use of the defense skill. The defense skill is listed below, and this supersedes the rules published in 3rd edition, 3rd edition revised, and any other version or errata.

Defense (Agility):

Emphases available: Armed, Unarmed

This skill is critical for all those who engage in combat, and allows for evasive maneuvering, dodging and deflecting blows, either with a weapon or without one. In the Attack Posture or the Full Defense posture, you may make a Defense/Agility roll. This total will substitute for your Reflexes x5 base TN. It applies to as many opponents as your insight rank, any more use your base TN. You may select which opponents use your Defense based TN, but you must be aware of them attacking you to select them (well, duh). You may make raises on the roll to use your TN vs. more targets; you may use your TN against a maximum of Insight+Defense in targets. Each raise effectively reduces your Defense Roll by 5. If you are in the Full Defense posture, these raises allow you to use the +10 TN against the same number of opponents as your defense skill. If your roll is lower than your base TN from Reflexes, then you waited your turn, and you just use your normal TN.

Example: Toku Sakuraba is Rank 2, Ref 3, Agil 3, Defense 4. He is wearing light armor. His normal TN is 25 (15 from Reflexes, 5 from armor, 5 from a Toku Bushi technique). He is attacked by three thugs and decides to use his defense skill. He makes one raise to be able to use the new TN against all three thugs. He rolls 7k3 and gets a 31 minus 5 for the raise, giving him a base TN of 26. With his bonuses, he has a TN of 36. If he was in the Full Defense posture, his TN would be 46.

Mastery Abilities:

• Rank 3: In the first round of a skirmish, you may declare Full Defense posture out of initiative order. This occurs after any initiative changes, and is your posture declaration for the turn. If you choose to use the defense skill in this posture, you may roll before any actions occur. Additionally, you add your Defense Skill to your TN to be hit in the Attack or Full Defense postures.
• Rank 5: You may declare Full Defense posture in any round of a skirmish with all benefits and restrictions of the Rank 3 mastery ability. You add your Defense Skill to your TN to be hit even in the Full Attack Posture.
• Rank 7: You add twice your Defense Skill to your TN to be Hit in the Attack or Full Defense postures (replacing the Rank 3 benefit). Additionally, you add your defense skill to your initiative any time you are in the Full Defense posture.
• Rank 10: You add twice your Defense Skill to your TN to be Hit in the Full Attack posture (replacing the Rank 5 benefit). Additionally, you no longer need to make three raises to perform a complex action in the Full Defense posture, and you may move your full movement (you still need those raises to make an attack or cast a spell, however).