Chi Abilities are pretty much fine, and 20 points doesn't dig too far into the rest of the budget. Chi Skills, however, are simultaneously a huge point dump (44 at least, when you count in Chi Talent), and many are nearly unusable due to low skill levels. Part of the problem is needless breadth; a 15-point Talent and 7 barely usable skills is far worse than a 5-point Talent and 5 consistently-useful skills. Further, many skills are based in IQ, Will, or Per, which are pathetically average. In addition, several of the skills are simply not very interesting or useful, leading to an unnecessarily bloated skill list.
My idea is to split the 15-point Chi Talent into three 5-point talents instead, encouraging specialization in a narrow group of actually usable (Skill-14+) chi skills. This will require paring down the list to only 15 Chi Skills from 20, and then splitting them into thematic groups. To start, let's go through the Chi Skills.
Autohypnosis
Cut
This skill only starts at 12, and it's out of combat only. The bonus to lengthy tasks is pointless, as the template lacks any suitable skills. +2 to Will for one hour is okay, but pretty boring. Ignoring movement and dodge penalties is useful, but you're rolling against 8, which is a losing bet. As a result, this skill is cut.
Blind Fighting
Cut
Only starts at 10, which is pretty crap, and penalties could easily make it worse, depending on the environment. It's also annoying in that you'll be rolling, probably more than once, every single turn. It's probably easier (and cheaper) to make some custom Scanning Sense as a Chi Ability instead, so this one's cut too.
Body Control
Maybe
Starts at 12, not too useful. Can be used to flush a poison, but requires you to know what poison it is, which a Martial Artist cannot do on their own, and takes too long; DF poisons act in seconds, not hours. The useful part of this skill is that it substitutes for HT. This is useful, but boring, so it's a maybe for now.
Breaking Blow
Maybe
Starts at 11, and there are the steep penalties for using it without 10+ seconds of prep, so it won't be seeing use in combat. Then, because of the penalties for attacking metal and stone, it's not particularly effective out of combat. It's possible to simulate this by adding the Armor Divisor enhancement to the unarmed attack, with similar cost, so this is a maybe at best.
Breath Control
Keep
At 13, it'll succeed most of the time, and the uses are both valuable, especially if Extra Effort in Combat is in play. This one can stay.
Esoteric Medicine (Chi)
Maybe
Starts at 11, which is a bit low. It can be used to cure magical afflictions such as petrification given a day (and, usually, steep penalties). I allow it to resuscitate victims of drowning, heart attacks, etc as well. It's pretty niche, and the skill level isn't very high, so it's a maybe.
Flying Leap
No
Starts at 11, has a pre-req, and only (sometimes) works after 32 seconds of warmup. Take Super Jump instead.
Immovable Stance
Keep
A DX-skill, so it starts at 17, which is actually usable. It allows you to reliably resist knockback, the Push skill, etc. This is one of a few skills that work with almost no investment, so it's definitely staying.
Invisibility Art
Keep
It's not offered as a starting option, but it'd be at 10 for 2 points. Obviously the Hypnotism pre-req is being waved, as it's not on the Martial Artist template, and not useful in DF. Stealth is much cheaper, but this can be used in combat, and often succeed so long as a nageteppo is used beforehand. It doesn't take much improvement to make this formidable, as most enemies will have Per below 12.
Kiai
Keep
Starts at 13, which is higher than most fodder enemies' Will, so it's useful off the bat, and only gets better with further investment.
Light Walk
Keep
Another DX-skill, so it's at 17, easily high enough to be useful. While the more interesting use of walking across tree branches/thin ice is very situational, it's worth noting that it can avoid tripping pressure-plate traps. It's also consistently useful for boosting Stealth, so this is staying in.
Mental Strength
Maybe
Starts at 14. This is interesting in that it lets you cheaply boost effective Will, which boosts Invisibility Art, Kiai, and Power Blow, as well as resistance to mind control and the like. That said, it's pretty boring, and you could just... buy Will instead?
Mind Block
Cut
Just buy Mind Shield or Will instead, to cut down on needless rolling.
Parry Missile Weapons
Keep
Starts at 17, giving a parry of 11, which is probably worse than dodge. However, this is still useful below 1/3 HP, which is usually only one or two hits for a lightly-armoured Martial Artist, plus it's pretty iconic.
Power Blow
Maybe
Starts at 12, or 15 with Mental Strength. The former is too low to use without extended concentration, while the latter might see use in combat with a 2-3 second warm-up time. Out of combat, it's reliably useful to bash down doors and the like. Given that this doesn't boost innate attack damage, though, unarmed Martial Artists will skip it.
Pressure Points
Maybe
Starts at 11, which isn't reliable against even fodder in DF. The penalty to already-pathetic Karate and need to penetrate DR make this skill very questionable. That said, crippling a limb for 5d seconds (aka the rest of that enemy's life) is very useful. The physiology modifiers are being ignored because they are generally ignored in DF.
Pressure Secrets
Cut
Can't be bought to start because of the Pressure Points pre-req, and even then, starts at 10. Doubling damage would be good, but the bit about triple damage if you hit vitals is confusing, given that Lethal Strike already does that at the same penalty to Karate and doesn't require another skill roll (unless it lets you multiply damage by 9?). Anyway, this skill is obsolete with the innate attacks I've made available, so it's cut.
Push
Keep
17 because it's a DX skill, which gives 3d-1. On average that's 9.5, doubled to 19 that's enough to reliably shove most foes.
Throwing Art
Keep
Starts at 17, which is as high as the template's primary combat skill. Shuriken and knives aren't great, even with +2/die, but they're light, while axes and maces do reasonable damage but are heavy. Still, this skill is very useful to start, and only gets better.
Zen Archery
Cut
The template doesn't even have the option of taking a bow, so I'm not even sure why this is listed. Regardless, given the ranges you see in DF, and the penalties without warm-up time, it'd be out anyway.
Results:
This leaves us with the following 8 skills:
Breath Control-13
Immovable Stance-17
Invisibility Art-10
Kiai-13
Light Walk-17
Parry Missile Weapons-17
Push-17
Throwing Art-17
From the maybes I add in 2 more:
Power Blow-12
Pressure Points-11
This reduces Chi Talent to 10 points, and I can move the resulting 10 into advantages, which can easily be spent on more mundane advantages, another level of Chi Talent, or boosting one of the lower skills by 3 ranks. Because the number of skills to choose from has been reduced by half, I'd reduce the number of skills taken down to 5, saving another 4 points which will probably go into their primary combat skill.
I'm pretty happy with this, but it's not perfect. 3 of the skills (Invisibility Art, Power Blow, and Pressure Points) are all below what I'd consider "reliable", but it shouldn't take many points to get there.
Template Changes:
Reduce Chi Talent 2 [30] to Chi Talent 2 [20].
Increase 20 points in Chi Abilities or Advantages to 30 points.
Reduce seven Chi Skills at 2 points each to five Chi Skills.
4 points leftover.
Kiai
Keep
Starts at 13, which is higher than most fodder enemies' Will, so it's useful off the bat, and only gets better with further investment.
Light Walk
Keep
Another DX-skill, so it's at 17, easily high enough to be useful. While the more interesting use of walking across tree branches/thin ice is very situational, it's worth noting that it can avoid tripping pressure-plate traps. It's also consistently useful for boosting Stealth, so this is staying in.
Mental Strength
Maybe
Starts at 14. This is interesting in that it lets you cheaply boost effective Will, which boosts Invisibility Art, Kiai, and Power Blow, as well as resistance to mind control and the like. That said, it's pretty boring, and you could just... buy Will instead?
Mind Block
Cut
Just buy Mind Shield or Will instead, to cut down on needless rolling.
Parry Missile Weapons
Keep
Starts at 17, giving a parry of 11, which is probably worse than dodge. However, this is still useful below 1/3 HP, which is usually only one or two hits for a lightly-armoured Martial Artist, plus it's pretty iconic.
Power Blow
Maybe
Starts at 12, or 15 with Mental Strength. The former is too low to use without extended concentration, while the latter might see use in combat with a 2-3 second warm-up time. Out of combat, it's reliably useful to bash down doors and the like. Given that this doesn't boost innate attack damage, though, unarmed Martial Artists will skip it.
Pressure Points
Maybe
Starts at 11, which isn't reliable against even fodder in DF. The penalty to already-pathetic Karate and need to penetrate DR make this skill very questionable. That said, crippling a limb for 5d seconds (aka the rest of that enemy's life) is very useful. The physiology modifiers are being ignored because they are generally ignored in DF.
Pressure Secrets
Cut
Can't be bought to start because of the Pressure Points pre-req, and even then, starts at 10. Doubling damage would be good, but the bit about triple damage if you hit vitals is confusing, given that Lethal Strike already does that at the same penalty to Karate and doesn't require another skill roll (unless it lets you multiply damage by 9?). Anyway, this skill is obsolete with the innate attacks I've made available, so it's cut.
Push
Keep
17 because it's a DX skill, which gives 3d-1. On average that's 9.5, doubled to 19 that's enough to reliably shove most foes.
Throwing Art
Keep
Starts at 17, which is as high as the template's primary combat skill. Shuriken and knives aren't great, even with +2/die, but they're light, while axes and maces do reasonable damage but are heavy. Still, this skill is very useful to start, and only gets better.
Zen Archery
Cut
The template doesn't even have the option of taking a bow, so I'm not even sure why this is listed. Regardless, given the ranges you see in DF, and the penalties without warm-up time, it'd be out anyway.
Results:
This leaves us with the following 8 skills:
Breath Control-13
Immovable Stance-17
Invisibility Art-10
Kiai-13
Light Walk-17
Parry Missile Weapons-17
Push-17
Throwing Art-17
From the maybes I add in 2 more:
Power Blow-12
Pressure Points-11
This reduces Chi Talent to 10 points, and I can move the resulting 10 into advantages, which can easily be spent on more mundane advantages, another level of Chi Talent, or boosting one of the lower skills by 3 ranks. Because the number of skills to choose from has been reduced by half, I'd reduce the number of skills taken down to 5, saving another 4 points which will probably go into their primary combat skill.
I'm pretty happy with this, but it's not perfect. 3 of the skills (Invisibility Art, Power Blow, and Pressure Points) are all below what I'd consider "reliable", but it shouldn't take many points to get there.
Template Changes:
Reduce Chi Talent 2 [30] to Chi Talent 2 [20].
Increase 20 points in Chi Abilities or Advantages to 30 points.
Reduce seven Chi Skills at 2 points each to five Chi Skills.
4 points leftover.
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