This is the first of a series of Hero adaptions of several famous movie martial artists. I'd like to point out that these are meant as "cinematic" adaptions, representing the actor's screen persona, not his actual "real" world abilites. So, for example, stating that a character's DEX is too high, or two low because of actions seen in real life is a meaningless arguement to me, I based my numbers off of what I saw them do in their films, not how that actually are.

This also means that Jackie Chan (for example) will have a few powers that let him do the impossible. Why? Because that's what his screen characters do. Finally, I'd like to thank Sensei Jeff Mueller for his assistance, input and film collection.

Bruce Lee

"Boards don't hit back."

Designers Notes:
Bruce Lee was born Lee Jun Fan in San Francisco, Chinatown on November 27, 1940. He returned to Hong Kong at the age of three months. It was there, at the age of 13, that he received his only formal instruction in the martial arts; 5 years of training in Wing Chun Kung Fu (or gong fu) by Master Yip Man.

At the age of 18, Bruce returned to America, attending school in Seattle. It was here that he began to teach others the martial arts. Eventually, Bruce married Linda Emery, and moved to Oakland, where he opened his first official school. It was during this time that Bruce began to feel trapped by the limitations of Wing Chun and began to develop his own style, called Jeet Kune Do, aka "the way of the intercepting fist". Eventually, Bruce decided that one could not teach Jeet Kune Do in any form of regimented manner, and began to focus on the film industry.

After making a series of highly successful movies (see below), Bruce Lee died suddenly on July 20, 1973, at the age of 33. He did not live to see the premiere of what is possible the most popular martial arts movie ever made: Enter the Dragon. Lee is buried in Seattle, Washington.

Bruce only made five major movies in his far too short career. They are: Chinese Connection, Fists of Fury, Game of Death, Return of the Dragon (aka The Way of the Dragon), and his most famous picture: Enter the Dragon. This write-up uses Enter the Dragon as it's primary basis.

Description:
Bruce wasn't very tall, standing about 5' 5" or so. He worked out constantly, and by the time of Enter the Dragon had a very muscular, well defined build. Bruce kept his hair shoulder length, and dressed in wore either traditional or Western dress, depending on the situation.

Powers Notes:
Needless to say, Bruce is (was) a premier martial artist, probably the best in the world in the early 70's. His martial arts are a mixture of the maneuvers The Ultimate Martial Artist gives for Jeet Kune Do, mixed with some Kung Fu. Several of the maneuvers, such as the Flying Kick were selected as representative of Bruce's screen actions, and not indicative as to something he might have really used in a serious fight.

The martial arts multipower gives a mixture of real and cinematic combat "stunts" that Bruce was known to demonstrate. Note that Hand Attack "STR does not add" is my preferred way to build attacks of this nature, rather than using the confusing system given in UMA. His other skills are taken from scenes shown in Enter the Dragon, additional skills are possible depending upon time period and setting.

Bruce's fighting style is typically one of Block/Counterstrike. He often Sweeps his strikes as well. In a situation where he is significantly faster than his foes (such as The Chinese Connection), he will perform continuous high damage strikes, disabling as many opponents as possible in as short a time as possible. It should be noted that Bruce's defenses aren't all that high. His primary defense is not getting hit.

Bruce doesn't have any really unusual martial arts 'powers'. His screen characters were rather mundane in that regard (no flying around on wires for Bruce). Everything he did on screen he did himself, with no gadgets to aid him (or so he said). Naturally, GMs who want a more "superpowered" Bruce should feel free to pump his PD, ED and movement abilities.

Disadvantages Notes:
As is usual for screen action heroes, Bruce usually has a close acquaintance (usually female) that provides some of the motivation for the mayhem that follows (usually through said character's injury or death).

If wounded (blood is drawn) Bruce will usually pause, brush his fingers against the wound, taste the blood and wig out, pounding his attacker into the ground. Usually the pause and wig out part is a Presence Attack.

In just about every movie, Bruce's character is hunted (directly or not) by someone. In the films set in 1930's China this was the Japanese (a common villain in HK movies) or the police, or a rival school.

As with almost all movie action heroes, Bruce suffers from an over developed case of vengeance. In Enter the Dragon, he is driven to destroy the evil Dr. Han due to Han's indirect involvement in the death of Bruce's sister. Bruce is also a bit of a show off, pausing to intimidate his opponents with an impressive flexing of his muscles, or a demonstration of his prowess with the nunchaka or something similar.

He's also shown a tendency to make a fool out of a foe, such as the incident with Parker on the boat in Enter the Dragon, or his fight with Bob Wall in the same movie.