Hellenic Pankration: Martial Arts System

Hellenic Pankration

Martial Arts System

This book provides a modular in-depth martial arts system, and several variants, to be used in Pankration and Pygmachia, which were brutal, crippling, and lethal unarmed martial arts competitions in the Hellenic (and surrounding) world.

In a fantastic setting, with magical healing, such blood-sports could flourish.

I have created the system in this book by trying to gather the best of all worlds, based upon various unarmed combat systems that I have written and tested over the last decade, and provide several variants to satisfy different needs.

While the system is based upon Pankration and Pygmachia, it can easily be used to represent just about any other martial arts.

This book is a work of fiction for D&D5e, inspired by history and mythology. While they fascinate me and I speak of many such things in this book, I am not an authority on either. Grain of salt.

Contents:

• Introductions to Pankration and Pygmachia, along with general outline of the rules of combat.
• In-depth modular martial arts system, that can easily be modified to your needs of different martial arts, from pugilism to wrestling.
• 3 Alternate lighter systems, and 1 single roll system.
• Simple fluff tables to determine the part of body that delivers the attack, and the part of the body that is the target of it.
• 6 Pankratiast inspired feats.
• 11 Pankration martial maneuvers, that may be gained through trainers or tournament victories.
• Simple core rules for Pankration tournaments which take into account the size of the settlement.
• One new non-magical item; the Cestus, and 8 magical items based upon it.
• 8 Base Combatant sheets, that may be easily modified by adding Pankration maneuvers.