Ogre Mages

Ogre Mages perform esoteric feats through martial arts. Ogre magic is also known as Giant magic, Dance magic, or Drum magic. <ref>Ogre magic
Alternately known as giant magic, dance magic, or drum magic, Ogre magic is inspired by the Ogre Magi; it is, in an abstract sense, practice as martial art. The exact output of the practice depends on the source that is tapped, and can be something like elementalism, binding, lesser summons or the like. The magi links the result to action and to consequence, with, for example, a sword swing eliciting a linked practice, or a storm of confusion swelling around them and growing more intense as they take more damage. In a game sense, combos, patterns, and successive hits matter. - Pact Dice: The Practice - Wbow Version</ref>

Methodology

Ogre Magic is a conflict and protection oriented school. They tend to use rhythmic movements to tap into other magical sources, such as elementalism, binding, or summonings. The key thing ogre magi must focus on is chaining attacks. <ref>So the key to an ogre practitioner is rhythm, sequence, and combination attacks or combination effects. There's a lot of the 'bender' style combat in there, but it's not limited to earth, air, fire, water, etc.

So you have a set of qualifiers, setup, stances, and executions... Things that are how you use the element or how you use the effect in question.

Attack form examples:

• ____ Flare - Shoot a bolt of ____ as a ranged attack in place of an ordinary attack. Can't be used again in the same round or round following. Area of effect and intensity escalate the later in the attack sequence the flare is used. One of the basic spells a new ogre mage learns (More on ___ in a second)
  
• Flying ____ - Move a distance, make a melee strike, then fly a short distance afterward. Distance moved escalates the later in the combo the flying attack is used. ____ spreads through the area around the impact in a cloud, with cloud growing in size the later in the combo the attack is used.
  
• Palm of _____ - Make an unarmed attack, apply effect of ____ on foe. Knock foe back more and intensify effect of ____ the later in the combo this is used.
  
• Falling ____ - Strike a foe, bonus effect and effect duration if the foe is on the ground, unable to move, or under the effect of two or more ____ effects that aren't the one used in conjunction with this attack.
  
• Open Hand of ___ - Used in place of an attack, instead of attacking, hold position and stand ready. If attacked in melee, attack the attacker first. If performed, carries over combo from prior turn(s) to next turn. Applies ____ effect to foe (which may hamper or affect their ability to attack, and factors into their roll). Alternately, can use and declare it's for use against a ranged attack. If used in this manner, stops one ranged attack (bullet, arrow, etc) but lose access to the linked ____ until that foe is defeated or an hour passes. That dust spirit or blossom oni isn't about to be used carelessly.
  
  

Finishers - abilities can stack up three times (ie. used as the fourth attack in a series)- finishers are usable if and when the combo limit is maxxed out. Most practitioners maintain and practice with only a couple.

• Circle of Raging ____ - Every foe who could hear you shout and who is in line of sight is pushed back. Clears away and weakens ongoing, unwanted effects of practice and others in the area (illusions, barriers) and may alter the battlefield with the effect of ____.
  
• ____ Devil's Ambush - Disappear, appear behind a foe, use one attack at full strength with that foe suffering a massive penalty to defend themselves, with the linked ____.
  
  

Stances - usually only one is available. Modify how combat is approached.

• Tide of ____ - Abilities without areas of effect become area of effect, with ability to hit multiple foes (shockwaves, rushes of dust). Abilities with area of effect gain greater area of effect. Escalates with each hit delivered, de-escalates with each hit taken. No upper limit, but requires an attack action to enter the stance, and stance ends if the practitioner moves more than ten feet (or is moved) and doesn't attack as part of that.
  
• Embrace of ___ - Grants defensive or utility effect of _. Can only use elements related to _.
  
• Stepping on ____ - Can move a short distance before and after each attack - if the attack would let the practitioner move, add to the distance.
  
  

Elements - the ____ stuff. Practitioners and practitioner families generally have areas they focus on. One family might dwell on steel, chains, blades, etc. Another might do blades, red hot metal, fire. Another could do glass, crystal, ice. Another might do silence, deafness, echoes. Familiars often contribute to this, either complimentary or something else in the bag of tricks. They generally play off of each other in some way.

• Sparks - Produces energy as part of the move or art. Burns foes. Defensive/utility benefit - Following a round where they didn't miss or get hurt, they can attack one additional time.
  
• Lightning - Produces arcs of electricity. Damages machines, may chain to hit an additional foe. Utility/defense: Move faster and evade more easily.
  
• Pain - Inflicts temporary pain. Utility: suffer pain, gain overall performance enhancement.
  
  

You can tweak it some, if you want something less martial focused - different families are going to have a general style, with individual practitioners expanding or working within that style, and gaining some tweaks via. implement and familiar. Families jealously guard the knowledge they have - the scrolls that teach a specific maneuver, for example.
They don't generally have a ~huge~ variety of things they know, but

Example practitioners:
Mhi Asam - Snake Ogre Dancer - Mhi's family style favors daggers and a flurry of attacks, with a lot of attacks delivered. Attack forms might include a spinning whirl of blades that strikes everyone she could reach, a lesser version of the ambush attack listed above that lets her move near-instantly to a target's location, and a double attack. Her elements are snake (extending reach or her fluidity of movement), poison fang (nicks that poison the enemy on attack/if they try and fail to hit her) and constriction (suffocation effect binds the air in a foe's lungs and the lungs of those nearby, binding breaks if they/she moves away). Her favored stance prolongs durations of effects and makes combos four-stage instead of three-stage (taking longer to reach max, but more effect once they do). Her finishing move is to sheathe her blade and seem to disappear, as the foe is shunted partially into the spirit world - for every effect on a foe, the hallucination/shunt is more powerful. Used perfectly, the foe is devoured by a colossal snake in the spirit world. Less perfect and they may be left unharmed but exhausted. Her family doesn't have a lot of power (puissance) so she relies a lot on the fact that the practitioner effects of what she does are subtle enough that she can get away with using them without throwing up a barrier to mask what she's doing from the public.

Thomas Black - Shadow Dancer (Ogre Mage) - Thomas's family uses the rhythm and pattern of ogre magic, but largely abstains from martial techniques. Blending oni magic and curse magic with the shadow arts, Thomas uses bolts, blasts, and elemental effects, but each is heavily restricted by prerequisites. Rather than having to get in close and deliver hits, Thomas weaves together effects, setting the enemy up and keeping them under the barrage of this and that. The 'Plunge into _' technique is most effective if the foe is already suffering from two or more curses or status effects, and knocks them to the ground. The '_ Eruption' technique causes a spike of congealed ___ to rise from beneath, most effective if the foe is lying on the ground, and knocks them airborne, etc. The ___ Flare attack is his filler if no attack fits or if he needs something to get started off, and his black cat familiar is a living curse that trips enemies up so everything's just a little more likely to land, but he can have it become something similar to a flare, to serve as emergency filler at the cost of no longer granting its ambient effect for the remainder of the combat. Differentiated from a strict elementalist in the focus on patterns and sequences, and the fact that instead of one strong cast he tends to have a series of minor effects that batter, debilitate and build to a crescendo. Uses ____ effects like mute, blind, doom, and regret, inflicting status and emotion effects or (for doom) hampering opponents' karma. His finishing move is a heavily telegraphed technique with a long wind-up that destroys his enemy's karma.

Hopefully that serves as inspiration. - Wildbow on Reddit.</ref>

Notable Ogre Magi

• Duchamp brother people<ref>“We follow traditions and practices handed down through our family. Given to us by the ogre shamans of the cold mountains.” - Duress 12.8</ref>

References

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