Country of Origin: Eisen/Vendel
Salon: Kirk (Large)
Founded: Unknown, but possibly some time in the 7th century A.V.
Sanctioned: 1644
Revoked: 1671

Description: The Eisenfaust School is currently taught out of a private salon in Vendel operated by the School’s Master, Linnae Knute. It teaches the use of a broadsword in conjunction with an off-hand Panzerhand or, in a pinch, an iron glove. The student is trained to deflect or grab incoming attacks with his Panzerhand and exploit the openings left in his opponent’s stance with his broadsword (which is a Heavy Weapon). This School of fighting is very defensive, teaching its students to wait for their opponent to make a mistake before attacking: “whether or not you ever take the offensive is of little consequence if in so doing you leave an opening through which your opponent kills you.”

Eisenfaust is very good at exploiting mistakes made by an opponent. Gradually, the opponent grows impatient or angry and makes a mistake. As soon as he slips up, the student of Eisenfaust is on top of him, raining down fearsome broadsword blows.

The flaw in the Eisenfaust style is the rigidity instilled in the training. While there are over seventy individual moves that students learn, there are certain rules they learn to follow when changing from one move to the next. They learn not to use certain moves in succession because of the awkwardness involved. This leaves a small but predictable gap that a knowledgeable opponent can force his way through.

Basic Curriculum: Heavy Weapon, Panzerhand
Knacks: Beat (Heavy Weapon), Bind (Panzerhand), Disarm (Panzerhand), Exploit Weakness (Eisenfaust), Sunder (Panzerhand)

New Swordsman Knack: Sunder. When making an attack, you can choose to strike at an enemy’s weapon, hoping to break it and leave your opponent defenseless. To make this attack, you roll Finesse + Sunder, taking two Raises to target the enemy’s weapon. If your hit is successful, roll damage as normal; this damage is not applied to the opponent, but compared against the following chart to see if the opponent’s weapon breaks:

Type of Weapon	TN to Sunder
Dagger, Knife, Main Gauche	20
Fencing Weapon	25
Heavy Weapon	30
Firearm, Polearm	35
Buckler, Shield	40

Game Masters should use their discretion in applying the Sunder Knack to other kinds of weapons. These Target Numbers can be adjusted by the following modifiers:

Weapon Quality	TN Adjustment
Inferior Weapon or Shield	-5
Quality Weapon or Shield	+5
Dracheneisen Weapon	+10
Djinn or Sidhe Weapon	+15

Revised Swordsman Knack: Beat. When attacking an enemy, you can declare a Beat. You roll Brawn + Beat, and must roll a number of Raises equal to your enemy’s Brawn in order for your Beat to be successful. If you are successful, he cannot avoid the attack using any Active Defense. The Raises taken on this roll add Unkept Dice to your damage roll as usual.

Apprentice: Learning the Eisenfaust style allows a Duelist to use a broadsword in one hand and negates the off-hand penalty when using a Panzerhand. When his opponent fails to hit his Passive Defense, he gains a free Raise to his next attack against that opponent for every five points they missed him by, rounding down. These Raises must be used against that opponent by the end of the Round, or they are lost. In addition, if that same opponent attacks the Duelist again before he uses the Raises, they are lost as the window of opportunity closes.

Journeyman: Journeymen have learned to find every opportunity to break an opponent’s weapon using their Sunder Knack. Whenever the Journeyman makes a successful Active Defense using Parry (Panzerhand), he may attempt to use his Sunder Knack on the weapon he just parried without spending an Action. He does not need to make two Raises to attack the opponent’s weapon.

Master: Eisenfaust Masters have learned the art of patience. He may Hold an Action in order to wait for an opening. Each Phase he Holds the Action grants one additional Unkept Die (+1k0) of damage if and when that Action is used to attack (remembering the rules for rolling more than ten dice; see page 180 of the Player’s Guide). He may not gain more unkept dice of damage through this technique than his Rank in Resolve. The Master may only hold one Action die in this manner per Round, and while it is being held he may only Actively Defend with his other Action dice.