- Art by Tumo Mere
- Combat DPS Character
Some fight with weapons. And others? They BECOME the weapon. The Damenga Profession is about using one’s body as a weapon. Be it knees or fists.
Since combat is so integral to the RPG experience, it was a foregone conclusion that martial arts would come up. Back in August of 2018, I started looking into various indigenous styles that came from Africa. One of the first ones I found when I started researching was Dambe. An ancient sport that focuses on striking with a “sword” and “shield”. The perfect base for a Swordsfall profession!
The “Sword” however is just the lead hand wrapped in rope. Once upon a time, they would even dip it in resin and glass!
The “Shield” is the open hand and is used for blocking, and grabbing.
The goal is simple, get the opponent to the ground. Either on the back, hands, and knees or knocked the fuck out.
The Damenga Profession borrows heavily from Dambe. Retaining the Sword and Shield of the hands and infusing it with magical abilities. It’s a way of merging fighting arts and magical arts. For those who love martial characters, the Damenga is your pick.
Tumo, as always, is on point with this piece of art! For the Damenga Profession, I wanted the character to read as someone who could fight you with their whole body. You can see from the key art that they have some elaborate looking armor on their legs and forearms.
This is not only for the Damenga’s protection but to enhance their damage as well. Think of this as a bit of their combat outfit. When they train and spar, however, they leave the armor at home. So when you see the shin plates on a Damenga…you know things are about to get serious.
The Art
Of course the art is dope af, but the concept for this character type is just incredible. I would very much love to play as a damenga using my whole body as a weapon.