Well, here is my idea:
My character grew up in a rural part of the country with her father. Her father is a traveling monk whom is seeking divine forgiveness on his own behalf. His pride caused the death of her mother, for he saw himself as a divine healer of sorts and refused to seek professional medical help for the woman whom had pneumonia. As further self-inflicted punishment of sorts, he took his young daughter and has taken it upon himself to teach her not to make the same prideful mistake he did. He taught her in the way grew up as a warrior monk that specialized in a strange, exotic mix of Capoeria and Tae Kwon Do.
As such, she grew up rather humble and learned to ponder her words, but perceptive. She and her father stayed out in the wilderness as well as in Inns so that she gained an appreciation for nature and life in general. She is headstrong however, and clutches tightly to the three pillars of her martial art: Never use weapon longer than your forearm. Never let your pride override your judgment. There are no rules in combat.
The martial art, dubbed Han Eria, is reactionary. It borrows the traditional Capoeria idea that one's body must always be in motion, and that an attack should never be seen coming. The Tae Kwon Do aspect adds in a power that isn't commonly found in Capoeria: power in the latter is created with outside momentum (swinging the body). With this style, the user is able to turn a simple looking kick into a bone breaking battering ram. This is a highly lethal style, but also incredibly dangerous for the user. On their own, Capoeria can cripple or even kill its practitioners with wrong landings or misjudgments in momentum swing. Tae Kwon Do can also injure or cripple the user when used with uncontrolled power or wrong techniques. Together, this is a recipe for disaster, so training must start at an early age to adapt the body and mold the mind into an always aware/always analyzing point. The rigorous mental and physical demands (high DEX, high INT needed, with DEX replacing STR stat for damage calculations if that is ok), are also needed for the right amount of weight of responsibility.
Also, using a sword of any type will disqualify a user from using this martial art until it is removed from the user's inventory. Seeing as dodging and avoiding attacks are paramount to slugging it out with an enemy, VIT is limited to 15 MAX points. STR stat is useful in adding health as well as counts for damage, but not to the same extent as VIT (4 STR= 1 VIT worth of Health) and DEX ( 2 STR=1 DEX worth of damage). Due to the trade off of health vs extra damage, this martial art can easily become a double edged sword should the user bite off more than they can chew. They have the skills to take on multiple opponents (Capoeria was created for avoidance and attack/feints from many, many angles, all from the same base stance), but a healthy dose of LUK seems to be required, regardless if facing one opponent or four. But it is best not to leave them alone for very long.
For weapons, users can usually hide a few throwing knives or small bolas for that extra ranger. Smoke bombs, pepper bombs and various powders are often used as well. Metal thread has been seen, but is not as widely used. One user (my character) usually bandages her hands and hides a pair of specially made leather open fingered gloves fitted with flexible, heavy duty metal wiring along the palms, back of the hand and knuckle ridges. The gloves are rather heavy, and she has shin/foot coverings done in the same manner.
Thoughts?
