No martial controller?

[Yakk]

Epic tier martial is "I have insane levels of skill due to my dedication and talent in my craft".

But the insane levels are "I am a demigod, or on par with one".

The dragon runs at the wrestling master. The wrestling master shoves his foot into the ground, grabs the attacking limb, the entire dragon pivots around him. The dragon's limb ends up crossing another and the legs are in the air, and if the dragon has to twist itself around to avoid getting two of its limbs being torn off.

That dragon is *pinned*. It might be able to physically roll over, but doing so would be fatal as it would be minus two limbs that the human will use the dragon's bulk to rip off. They are already straining and pulling against each other; if the dragon tightens those muscles, everything will tear.

The dragon can still tear with the other two claws and bite at the wresting master. And it *could* decide "I lose two limbs, bleed out, but I stand up first" (congrats! 0 HP), it probably won't tho.

Any move that a martial character does can be reframed as "the foe must do this or be reduced to 0 HP". Push a gargantuan dragon with an attack? The dragon gets to choose: 0 HP, or be pushed 1 square. Go ahead, take your time, you have 0.25 seconds to decide.

(Note: as a short cut, decree that nobody ever picks 0 HP.)

Sword play is about "I am trying to kill you". Epic martial characters, on every swing, are throwing blows that could even kill a god. Their foes avoid dying usually; but the martial character is so good they can force the defender into worse and worse positions every time it avoids death.