du Ponte School

The school opened in secrecy by the master of espionage Marie du Ponte is an eccentric one, to be certain. Specializing in the practical methods of the crossbow, the school only admits worthy Porte sorcerers to its ranks. Their secretly forged crossbow bolts are engineered for the specific purpose of blooding and use with Porte.

The du Ponte archer knows not to stand, point and shoot as is commonly taught, for then your enemy knows how you will attack. Instead they are taught to visualize aiming before they raise their bow, often having a ready target in mind by the time the machine is nocked.

The weakness of the du Ponte style is in its indirectness. Often hesitant to shoot at the most obvious target, the du Ponte bowman will loose his chance of attack and be stricken down by a more ambitious opponent.

Country of Origin: Montaigne

Guild Sanctioned: No. Instead, du Ponte students gain a free rank in either one of their Swordsman Knacks or the Reload (Crossbow) advanced knack.

Basic Curriculum: Crossbow, Dirty Fighting

Swordsman Knacks: Arc (Crossbow), Feint (Crossbow), Pommel Strike (Crossbow), Exploit Weakness (Crossbow) [See below]

Apprentice: An apprentice is charged to aim while reloading. Any Action Die spent reloading may also be spent aiming, providing an unkept die of damage to the next attack against the declared target. This may only be used once an attack (thus, the bowman can't spend six actions reloading and gain six unkept dice), and only applies to the declared target. Students of du Ponte may also blood a number of crossbow bolts equal to their mastery level that do not count against their maximum.

Journeyman: As a Journeyman, a du Ponte student is taught to open a portal directly into a target that they have just stricken with a blooded bolt, ripping through both space and flesh. If a Dramatic Wound is inflicted with a blooded bolt, the sorcerer may spend a Drama Die as his next action to make a 2k2 bare-handed attack using his Bring knack. This also retrieves the bolt.

Master: A Master of du Ponte has mastered the ability to walk to his bolts. When using the Walk knack, the act of opening the portal to one of his bolts (usually just fired) is reduced to one action. Also, the master may spend an Action Die to reduce the number of rounds left of Portal Sickness by one.

Exploit Weakness (Crossbow): The user of a crossbow has spent many an hour studying the careful art both of his technique and others. As such one becomes adept at noticing the quick tensing of the hand before the bolt is released. Coupled with the student's own knowledge of when he himself would let-loose the bolt they gain the ability to almost second guess another Crossbowman. This knack grants a Free Raise, per rank, to each Active Defence Roll made against an Attack (Crossbow) in that round. You must be aware of the attack.

(Thanks to Simon Wray of Revenant's 7th Sea Site for this knack)

Last updated: April 1, 2004
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