Night Wind (3.5e Martial Discipline)

Summary::A hybrid school combining the powers of Desert Wind and Shadow Hand, allowing the practitioner to execute cold and shadow-based maneuvers based on existing Desert Wind maneuvers

The Ancestral School of Night Wind
Formed of two disciplines that would naturally oppose each other, Night Wind reflects the power of the desert night. Many of the Night Wind school maneuvers are mirrors of existing maneuvers from Desert Wind or Shadow Hand, invoking the cold energies of the desert night, or the deadly reflections of daylight.

Difference between Ancestral Schools and Disciplines
The ancestral school is a variant of one of the existing disciplines, but behaves in many ways as a discipline proper. By definition, "ancestral schools" act like the different styles of a same martial art (such as Shotokan Karate, Shitō-ryū Karate, Gōjū-ryū Karate, etc.), teaching the basics of the primary discipline; however, unlike the different styles of martial arts, ancestral schools teach an entire new set of maneuvers (not merely variants of maneuvers). Maneuvers thought by ancestral schools share some traits of their parent discipline (or disciplines, as some ancestral schools are hybrids of two different disciplines), but each school has a specific trait that makes it distinctive. Some ancestral schools specialize in one aspect of the discipline, others offer an alternative approach to the key aspects of the discipline, and others require specific traits (such as racial or class features) to execute the maneuvers.

In game terms, ancestral schools offer a completely new set of maneuvers and stances. Due to their connection to a discipline (or disciplines, in certain occasions), maneuvers of the ancestral school qualify as maneuvers of the primary discipline. To gain maneuvers from ancestral schools, the character must choose the corresponding ancestral school feat. "Ancestral school" feats work as Martial Study feats, granting a free maneuver from the ancestral school, a benefit appropriate to the school, and grants the ability to choose maneuvers and stances from the ancestral school whenever the character has access to maneuvers from its primary discipline. A character may also learn maneuvers and stances from ancestral schools by means of the Martial Study and Martial Stance feats, but this doesn't allow the ability to learn additional maneuvers as the "ancestral school" feats allow; being based off primary disciplines, gaining one of these maneuvers through the Martial Study feat grants the primary discipline's key skill as a class skill, instead of offering its own.

Because ancestral schools are not fully developed disciplines, they lack a legacy weapon (though that doesn't mean a character can't found a legacy weapon based off them), and lack a signature tactical feat. Items granting maneuvers from ancestral schools are largely unknown; the DM is free to determine if magic items from their primary disciplines can be reworked to offer maneuvers from their ancestral schools, if desired.

Maneuvers of the Night Wind Ancestral School

 * To see the full, expanded description of every maneuver, click here.