Nation of Origin: Montaigne
Salon: Charouse (Tiny)
Founded: 1667

Description: This Fighting Style, created in secrecy at the order of L’Empereur Léon Alexandre du Montaigne XIV by his Master of Espionage Marie du Ponte, is an unusual one, to be certain. Specializing in the practical methods of the crossbow, the School only admits worthy Porté Sorcerers to its ranks. Their secretly forged crossbow bolts are engineered for the specific purpose of Blooding and use with Porte.

A du Ponte crossbowman knows not to stand, point, and shoot as is commonly taught, for then your enemy knows how, when, and where you will attack. Instead they are taught to visualize aiming before they raise their weapon, often having a ready target in mind by the time the bolt 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 crossbowman may lose his chance to attack and be struck down by a more ambitious opponent.

All credit for du Ponte belongs to Dana DeVries, who developed the original fighting style.

Basic Curriculum: Crossbow, Dirty Fighting
Knacks: Arc (Crossbow), Exploit Weakness (du Ponte), Feint (Crossbow), Pommel Strike (Crossbow), Reload (Crossbow)

New Swordsman Knack: Reload. By making a roll of Finesse + Reload vs. a TN of 5, you may contribute one Action towards reloading your weapon, plus one additional Action for each Raise you took on the roll. If you fail to meet your Target Number on this roll, your Action does not contribute towards reloading your weapon, but any other progress made towards reloading your weapon is not lost. This is the same as the Reload Knack found in the Crossbow Skill, but it is considered a Basic Knack for students of the du Ponte Fighting Style.

Revised Swordsman Knack: Feint. When attacking an enemy, you can declare a Feint. You roll Wits + Feint, and must roll a number of Raises equal to your enemy’s Wits in order for your Feint 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: A student of du Ponte is trained to aim while reloading. Once per attack, an Action spent reloading may also be used to select a target and calculate the best angle to fire, giving the du Ponte crossbowman a free Raise for damage on his next attack. This should increase his crossbow’s Damage Rating to 3k3 for that attack. (The Apprentice may take additional Raises for damage, or for any other purpose, on his Attack Roll as usual.) In addition, Apprentices may have two Blooded crossbow bolts that only count as one object for purposes of determining the number of Blooded items a Porté Sorcerer may have.

The du Ponte fighting style would never be submitted to the Duelist’s Guild for sanction, and would not even be considered by the Swordsman’s Guild. As a result, the du Ponte Apprentice receives a two-point discount on the Commission Advantage to reflect his honorary rank in the Montaigne army. This discount is in addition to the two-point discount a character receives for being Montaigne.

Journeyman: As a Journeyman, a du Ponte crossbowman is taught to open a Portal directly into a target that they have just struck with a Blooded bolt, ripping through both space and flesh. If a Dramatic Wound is inflicted with a Blooded bolt, the sorcerer may spend his next Action to make a 2k2 bare-handed Attack using his Bring Knack. No Attack Roll is necessary; this attack is automatically successful, and also retrieves the bolt. Journeymen may have three Blooded crossbow bolts that only count as one object for purposes of determining the number of Blooded objects a Porté Sorcerer may have.

Master: A Master of du Ponte has perfected the ability to Walk to his Blooded bolts. When using his Walk Knack to do so, the act of opening a Portal to one of his bolts (usually the one just fired) only requires one Action. In addition, the Master may spend Action Dice to reduce the number of Rounds of Portal Sickness he suffers by one Round per Action spent. Masters may have four Blooded crossbow bolts that only count as one object for purposes of determining the number of Blooded objects a Porté Sorcerer may have.