Way of the Crane:

• Rank 1: the courtier can call on (Air + School Rank) favors per adventure. The favors they can get depend on their school rank.
  
• Rank 2: the courtier spends five minutes talking to a target, they roll contested Awareness rolls, and if successful the courtier influences the target's emotions.
  
• Rank 3: the courtier may challenge someone's Honor before they roll to do something, up to (School Rank) times per day. To do that, they make a contested Honor roll with the opponent's Honor x 5 as TN, and non-Crane characters drop all dice that roll lower than the Crane's Honor.
  
• Rank 4: the courtier automatically succeeds at Etiquette, Manipulation, Heraldry, Oratory or Sincerity rolls with no raises. They must roll if they want raises and can't do this for contested rolls.
  
• Rank 5: the courtier automatically manipulates someone with less Willpower than them, characters with more Willpower must roll Willpower + Etiquette against the courtier's Willpower x 5 or also fall to it. Manipulated characters consider the courtier a true friend and ally unless the courtier grossly acts against them. For each day the target does not interact with the courtier, they get a Willpower TN 30 roll to shake off the effect, +5 to their roll per extra day.
  

• Rank 1: the bushi uses Honor instead of Earth to figure out their Wound Levels, fractions are rounded down.
  
• Rank 2: if the bushi uses Full Defense in a round, they automatically get the highest initiative next round. This overrides any other initiative ability.
  
• Rank 3: the bushi's own TN to be hit is increased by their enemy's armor bonus.
  
• Rank 4: the bushi may attack twice per turn.
  
• Rank 5: if the bushi faces an opponent whose school technique they have previously seen, they may spend Void Points equal to their opponent's School Rank so that they may not use any of their school techniques for a round.
  

• Rank 1: the acrobat can escape gags, ropes and other bindings with Agility + Acrobatics, TN depending on the complexity of the restraints. They can also slide and crawl through spaces too small for typical humans, but this involves bone dislocation and other painful stuff and deals 1 Wound rank every time this ability is used.
  
• Rank 2: the acrobat gains their School Rank x 3 as a bonus to their TN to be hit by missile attacks. This bonus only applies if the acrobat is aware of said attacks.
  
• Rank 3: if the acrobat selects Full Defense and chooses a target, they simply cannot be hit by any attack or spell used by the target. A skill roll is required, doesn't say the TN though.
  

• Rank 1: the dancer gets 1 Rank of Mizu-do for free, and their School Rank in Free Raises for Mizu-do.
  
• Rank 2: with a successful Agility + Dancing vs. Willpower roll, the dancer mesmerizes their audience. They are not helpless and will respond if attacked, but they'll generally ignore anything else going on that isn't the dancer.
  
• Rank 3: the dancer may make an additional Mizu-do defensive maneuver per round.
  

• Rank 1: by spending ten minutes working on an arrangement and with a TN 15 Intelligence + Ikebana roll, the artist can grant an individual (themselves or another) one additional die to roll and keep for any task, that must be immediately performed after the maya.
  
• Rank 2: with ten minutes and a TN 20 Intelligence + Ikebana roll, the artist can grant a single Free Raise for any one stated task that must be performed within the hour. It is not cumulative with itself and the artist cannot grant more than one Free Raise to an individual per hour, but it is cumulative with Free Raises from other sources like shugenja school benefits and so on.
  
• Rank 3: with five minutes of work and a TN 25 Intelligence + Ikebana roll, the artist can warp luck and probability: they can force the reroll of a single action performed by any individual in the artist's sight. This ability can be held for up to a full day after the initial arrangement.
  

• Rank 1: by talking to a character, the jester can leave them feeling distracted or carefree. The target either adds or subtracts one die from all social skill rolls for the jester's School Rank in hours. A character can only be affected by this once per hour.
  
• Rank 2: the jester can start a fight, without seeming to be at fault. They can do things like taunting an archer into leaving cover or making a shugenja charge into close combat. They must perform for two actions and then the target must succeed at a TN 15 Intelligence roll or charge the next individual, whether friend or foe. The jester can raise this TN with an Intelligence + Jester roll at TN 20, plus raises for each +5 increase to the target's save.
  
• Rank 3: anytime the jester is making a public performance, they may try to draw someone into their act: contested Intelligence roll, and if the jester wins the target loses the jester's School Rank in Honor points. The jester can't affect a target more than twice every six months.
  

• Rank 1: the musician creates an area 10 feet around them where spellcasting is more difficult (+10 to TN for any incoming or outgoing spells) Raises by the musician increase the penalty.
  
• Rank 2: with half an hour of playing, the musician may summon 1d10 animals from the area to perform simple tasks. They understand the musician through their music, and are all small animals like squirrels, dogs and hawks. The creatures obey for a full day.
  
• Rank 3: the musician may charm listeners with a contested Willpower roll. If the musician wins, the listener ceases all activity and focuses solely on the music. If attacked or otherwise roughly shaken, they are freed from the song's effect and cannot be affected for the next 24 hours.
  

• Rank 1: the actor can impersonate people. TN depends on how familiar they are with the target, from 10 for someone they've known all their lives and 25 for someone they've just met. Certain physical attributes cannot be mimicked (like a particularly high-pitched voice) and the actor needs a makeup kit and an appropriate outfit.
  
• Rank 2: the actor may cause a fear effect that affects all creatures in a 30 feet radius around them if they don't make a TN 20 Willpower roll. Those affected flee for (School Rank x 2) rounds. The artist does not have to roll for this effect, but if they want to increase the TN, radius or exclude certain targets they must make the roll and risk failure with no effect. The actor can try to use this ability (School Rank) times per day.
  
• Rank 3: the actor can physically change form to that of an animal. The form cannot exceed the mass of a heavy warhorse and no items change with the artist.
  

• Rank 1: the artist can create small paper animals. These creatures follow their creator's commands. They're still made of paper, but can do things like spinning webs (for a spider) or bark a faint warning (for a dog) They can verbally communicate with their creator and can be used as scouts. The artist may also create fantastic animals. They are under their creator's mental control for as long as they are under their sight, and last a number of minutes equal to their School Rank.
  
• Rank 2: the artist is now able to make their creations real for a limited time. Regardless of the paper's size, the object becomes the proper size and material. They always feel somewhat paper-like and cannot be mistaken for the real thing, however. They are average quality, not larger than a rowboat, and last for (School Rank) hours.
  
• Rank 3: the artist can now create real, flesh and blood animals. They can be up to the size of a heavy warhorse but have no special abilities, even if they are fantastic in nature (so a ki-rin would look like a ki-rin but not be able to fly or use spell-like abilities) They can communicate with their creator, but are not intelligent and cannot read or understand complex orders. They last (School Rank) hours.
  

• Rank 1: the artist can create semipermanent calligraphic glyphs with various effects. We get two examples: confusion glyphs that force a TN 15 Intelligence save on anyone that look at it or become confused for (6 - their Intelligence) turns, and protection glyphs that must be inscribed on the forehead of the individual to be protected and add 5 to their TN to be hit, as well as an extra day of resistance to Shadowlands Taint for each School Rank. The players and GM are encouraged to come up with more glyphs.
  
• Rank 2: the artist can make a painting of someone they're familiar with by using special implements (brushes with their hair and so on) With a successful TN 25 Intelligence + Painting roll, the painting is connected to the person and the artist can talk to them over a great distance by meditating on the painting. It takes 1d10 days to finish the painting, and raises can allow things like seeing through the person's eyes or contacting them over extreme distances, even into the Shadowlands.
  
• Rank 3: the artist can create a mural of a place (Intelligence + School Rank roll at TN 30, can take several weeks) and attempt to actually step through the painting to the place it depicts. Every time this ability is used there is a 25% chance of ruining the painting. Only the painter can attempt this journey.
  

• Rank 1: the poet can create a minor mirage based on their poetry, like an image of a forest with a poem about woods. The illusions have no auditory components and cannot create the image of a specific person, but they can be used to camouflage ambush parties or make a spell effect look more spectacular. Disbelieving the illusion requires a Willpower + Perception roll against a TN of 20 and creating the poem can take from ten minutes to an hour depending on the mirage.
  
• Rank 2: the poet can send short messages in haiku or waka form, which the listeners receives as whispers in their ear. They may in turn compose a poem in the same style and send it back to the poet. This maya requires no skill roll if the target is in the poet's sight. If not, the poet needs an item of the target and must roll Intelligence + Poetry against a TN set by the distance, from TN 15 for up to 1 mile to TN 25 for up to 10 miles. The poet can send and receive messages up to (School Rank) times per day.
  
• Rank 3: the poet can inspire people to great deeds. Anyone that sits and listens to their recitation (up to a maximum of [School Rank x 2] people) before going into combat receives +10 to all their attack rolls and +10 to their TN to be hit for (poet's School Rank x 2) rounds.
  

• Rank 1: the storyteller can make an Intelligence + Storytelling roll against TN 20 to identify a notable item, understanding its importance in history and whatever abilities it may have. Obscure items raise the TN. A failed roll can cause a misunderstanding.
  
• Rank 2: the storyteller can cause such belief in their stories that they partly become true. They choose a myth and narrate it in such a way that the target sees a connection between the myth and their own life. This makes GM-determined beneficial or detrimental effects happen for a period of time: for instance, if the storyteller narrates a horror story of an oni that eats feet and steals the heart of people to take to the Shadowlands, the target will start smelling strange odors, feeling noises at night, and eventually coming to believe that they are being attacked by the oni (a product of their own imagination) The storyteller rolls against the target's Void; they lose all Void Points on the attempt whether is successful or not and cannot attempt to use this ability until (6 - Void) days later.
  
• Rank 3: the storyteller can bring characters of myth to life, in semi-sentient physical form. Of course, the characters aren't the real thing, just constructs brought about by the storyteller's own chi. They have no intelligence of their own and only have the knowledge and abilities myth assigns them. A construct of Osano-Wo can fight and defend the storyteller, but not woo women or cast spells because that isn't part of Osano-Wo's myth. (Trying to get a Matsu mail order bride probably doesn't count. ) A storyteller can only have one such character active and it requires their full concentration, and if the character is destroyed the storyteller is automatically Down. Typical constructs require an Intelligence + Storytelling roll at TN 20, with more obscure characters raising the TN, and the last person that tried to summon the Kami was driven mad and torn to pieces so like do not. None of the character's Rings are going to be higher than the storyteller's School Rank.
  

Traveller fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Aug 27, 2016

AmiYumi fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Aug 28, 2016

Prism fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Aug 28, 2016

Adnachiel fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Aug 28, 2016