Country of Origin: Avalon
Salon: Luthon (Small)
Founded: 1556
Sanctioned (Duelist’s Guild): 1672

Description: The Edwards School was created by Thom Edwards, younger brother of Jacob Edwards (who helped develop the Donovan Swordsman School). It never sat well with Thom that his brother gave Geoffrey Donovan credit for the School they developed together. Thom swallowed his bitterness and watched as Geoffrey reaped the praise and rewards for developing the School: praise and rewards that Thom felt belonged to his family. Meanwhile, Thom developed his own School, mimicking Donovan in its choice of a smallsword and buckler, and passed it on to his descendants until one of them might have a chance to challenge Donovan directly. When the Duelist’s Guild was formed in 1672, Thom’s great-great-grandson James finally saw his chance; what better way to challenge Donovan’s supremacy in Avalon than joining a Guild that might place their Schools in head-to-head competition?

The Edwards School relies on forcing an opponent off-balance and taking advantage of his mistakes. The Duelist typically engages in a steady stream of vitriolic banter intended to rattle his opponent and make him even more prone to missteps. If that fails, he can always trip up an opponent, bash him on the head to leave him stunned, or Feint him out of his shorts: there is more than one way to skin a cat…or a Donovan Swordsman.

Founded in petulance and bitterness, instruction in Edwards tends to give a student a chip on his shoulder. He can be overly aggressive, trying to force an opponent into making mistakes. An opponent who keeps his head and does not fall for the Duelist’s tricks can cause frustration, leading to desperation and a sloppiness that could spell disaster.

Basic Curriculum: Buckler, Fencing
Knacks: Corps-á-Corps, Exploit Weakness (Edwards), Feint (Fencing), Pommel Strike (Fencing), Razor (Fencing)

New Swordsman Knack: Razor. You have studied basic anatomy and mastered the art of blade control to take full advantage of your studies. As a result, when you strike with a weapon, you inflict precise, extremely painful wounds. For every Rank you have in this Knack, you may add one to your Damage Rolls with an appropriate weapon.

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: Like their Donovan counterparts, students of Edwards practice extensively with a smallsword and buckler in tandem and focus on catching an opponent off guard. Learning the Edwards School negates the off-hand penalty when using a buckler, and grants one free Raise when using the Feint (Fencing) Knack.

Journeyman: In developing his School, Thom Edwards blatantly stole the Donovan Twist and adapted it to be a part of his curriculum. When performing a Corps-á-Corps attack, the Journeyman scrapes the edge of his blade along the opponent’s thigh, calf, or instep. This increases the damage from the Corps-á-Corps attack to 1k2, plus one additional Unkept Die (+1k0) for every five by which the Attack Roll exceeded the opponent’s Passive Defense.

For example, if a Journeyman with a Brawn of two rolls a 37 to hit an opponent with a TN to be hit of 20, the Corps-á-Corps attack has a total Damage Rating of 6k2: 3k2 for the attack, plus three Unkept Dice (+3k0) for exceeding the opponent’s Passive Defense. The opponent is also knocked prone, as usual.

Master: A Master of Edwards knows that while forcing an opponent to zig when he should have zagged is fine, sometimes a wild, deadly strike is called for. When using Attack (Fencing) as his Attack Knack, the Master may choose to withhold any number of the Unkept Dice his Finesse add to the Attack Roll and instead add them to the Damage Roll if the attack is successful.

For example, an Edwards Master has a Finesse of 4, a Brawn of 3, and a Rank of 4 in the Attack (Fencing) Knack. Ordinarily, he would roll 8k4 for his Attack Roll, inflicting 5k2 damage if successful. If he chooses to set aside three dice from his Finesse, he would instead make a 5k4 attack with an 8k2 Damage Rating.