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It is neat that one ability style is literally 'outsource my ninja work to contractors'.
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Jul 4, 2017 03:14
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 Rifts World Book 14: New West Part 9: "'No, No, No! Rhino-Buffalo riding is NOT an event!'"  Rodeos By Julius Rosenstein Yep, rodeos survived the apocalypse, and since everybody decided chaps and spurs were back in fashion, it was time to giddyup dem horsies. They're a form of entertainment and cowboy competition, and though alien creatures and D-Bees have added diversity to events, "cowboys are generally a conservative lot" and so events tend towards the traditional (and boring, is this Rifts or what?). Still, horse competitions previously not associated with rodeos have been added to the mix. Generally, events are either scored for speed (how quick you do it) or endurance (how long you can do it). Larger rodeos incorporate...  ... traveling shows. Yes, that surprisingly awful and traumatically bad section of Rifts World Book 1: Vampire Kingdoms will be making a reappearance. It also notes that the Buckaroo Bonanza Rodeo (of Rifts World Book 13: Lone Star) is probably the biggest rodeo. Now, the design rules (because we gotta have rodeo design rules) these are similiar to Palladium's usual organization rules, which first appeared in Ninjas & Superspies. They were then adapted to Traveling Shows in Rifts World Book 1: Vampire Kingdoms. Generally, Palladium breaks down organizations by their features and assigns them point values, and organizations get a number of points depending on their size. Now, the weird part is that this isn't a player-facing system, it's intended for GMs to use. Why would GMs have to worry about being limited by a point-buy system?   If only this section was about this and not dumb ol' horses and bulls. Odder still, this rodeo system also skips having the point-buy system and sometimes has entire categories without actual features to choose from. Maybe it's presumed that category is the same for all rodeos (that is, they all have parades and gunslinging competitions)? It's not clear. But let's bullet-point are what through these.
That's that. Now, rules. It usually costs 25-100 credits to enter an event. Winners of events usually get a ribbon and a bottle of bourbon (or sometimes fresh food, like pie or ham), and a modest cash reward of around 100-1000 credits. Riding contests are riding skill rolls where each creature has a Difficulty Factor (DF) and a Time Penalty (TP), which are just fancy acronyms for a base skill penalty (the DF) and a cumulative skill penalty that increases every second (the TP). So if you're riding a horse you get a penalty of (10 + 3d4)% and another -2% penalty for each second ridden. There are specific penalties for doing stunts as well, like jumping hurdles or riding bareback, and they all are randomized like this. Yep, you have to first roll for each penalty to see what you random penalty is, so if you're trying to ride bareback, that's one DF for the bucking horse and another DF for riding bareback, or three rolls to determine one outcome, then another roll every second you're on. As usual, these rules demonstrate the usual Palladium lack of awareness regarding odds. Let's take a cowboy, best cowboy you can be in Rifts, with a horsemanship skill of 98%. He gets on a bull, and we take the average DF of -20%, with -3% per second. He has a 78% chance of staying on that bull for one second, a 59% chance of two seconds, a 29% chance of four seconds, and an abysmal 4% for eight seconds. And that eight seconds is important, because that's the minimum qualifying time in real life for an American bull riding event. That's right, in Rifts, the odds are so bad that less than one in twenty times the best cowboy in the world will qualify for basic competence as a bull rider. Oh, and often real-life bull riding is bareback, so technically the odds should be even worse. gently caress's sake, people. We're talking clear percentages, not a curve or anything! Pick up a calculator and do the drat math when you write rules! There is no excuse for this. Well, who knows if these rules have ever actually been used anyway... Races are done through initiative rolls. Basically, you make three rolls. On the first roll, the highest initiative roll is considered to be in the lead, and each competitor is a number of horse-lengths behind the leader equal to their difference in rolls (so if the lead rolled a 18 and you roll a 13, you're five horse-lengths behind). Naturally, this is amazingly swingy. You take that lead roll and mark it down. Then, on the second roll, you mark where horses are in relation to that roll and adjust their horse-lengths accordingly, and same for the third. In addition, the rider has to roll horsemanship each time. If they fail, the horse automatically falls back 1d4 horse-lengths. Lastly, you get a +1 to initiative and a bonus half-length for every point of speed your horse as over its average. Swingy as gently caress, but these rules are at least useable. Roping contests involve a -2d4% penalty to simulate random calf orneriness. A penalty to what roll, you may ask? It doesn't say! Presumably you use roping. Yeah, that's right. We've got a use ropes situation coming on. Oh, and roping starts at 20%, so, uh, you better have at least eight to nine levels under you if you want a 50/50 shot at this.  Animal Wrestling Contests require an initiative roll. If you succeed, you automatically tackle the enemy. If you fail, you have to roll to attack normally and the animal gets a chance to dodge. If you fail, you take 1d6 S.D.C. damage and probably just quit. If you successfully tackle the animal, you make a roping roll... and if you succeed, you've done it. Of course, roping is just as dicey a skill as it ever is, so good luck... if there's a tie between two characters, the one with a higher Physical Prowess wins the tie. Yes, strength doesn't play a part - a tiny sprite is just as good at tackling animals as a frost giant might be. Probably better, because their physical prowess is higher! Shooting Contests is just you rolling aimed shots until you miss. But an aimed shot, unless it's a called one, pretty much never misses except on a 1? Or never if you're using revolvers. I mean, you'd think they could have just said "roll to strike and the higher roll wins", but instead we have a mechanic where people could conceivably just fire off ammo and nobody loses and everybody's a winner! And that's rodeos! The idea of having one as a backdrop to an adventure isn't too bad, but the whole thing is badly presented from start to finish, with consistently bad examples of not understanding basic odds. It's simple percentages, it shouldn't be hard, but Palladium (and in this case, Julius Rosenstein) flubbed the math pretty hard. And I've said that many, many times. But it may not be correct to say that they're bad at math. Like, "bad" is that mini-pecan pie I got at Wal-Mart that's 90% just sugar goo and not at all pecanny. I think I need to upgrade them to some other word, like awful or dire. What do you think? Next: Electro runs a circus.
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Jul 4, 2017 03:28
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I like that you can become a Trap Master Ninja and the prerequisites for it are not "a lot of bullshit".
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Jul 4, 2017 03:33
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Subjunctive posted:That sounds...disruptive. Do they give range stats for brass knuckles 
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Jul 4, 2017 03:35
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Hostile V posted:I like that you can become a Trap Master Ninja and the prerequisites for it are not "a lot of bullshit". A ninja who can not lay traps...is a very poor ninja.
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Jul 4, 2017 03:36
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Subjunctive posted:That sounds...disruptive. Do they give range stats for brass knuckles and swords and such? All weapons hit at Close range (about 5 feet). Weapons with Reach can also hit at Near range (about 6-15 feet), and non-Ranged weapons can be thrown at Near range at -2. Weapons with Ranged can hit at Far ('as far as you can see clearly') and can hit at Distant ('more than that but still visible') range at -2. So if any weapon becomes Ranged, you can throw it at basically anyone. Or the GM can choose to interpret it as 'you can hit people from 50 feet away somehow'. Either is acceptable.
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Jul 4, 2017 03:47
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Mr. Maltose posted:I think it means Ranged by way of using your other Ranged Style Techniques with a weapon, but on the other hand your sword hitting that motherfucker all the way over there is the kind of ninja bullshit that a style capstone should probably give you? Yeah, your way makes more sense but I like mine better.
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Jul 4, 2017 04:09
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We reviewed an old heartbreaker! It's called Legendary Lives. It has a straight up rape power. Like a "because of the implication" grade rape power. I think they thought it was charming and dashing. Otherwise it's ... fine I guess.
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Jul 4, 2017 05:55
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For the record, the special dance is an excellent bit.
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Jul 4, 2017 07:43
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The problem with Harvesters teaming up is that Harvesters are immortals.
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Jul 4, 2017 10:57
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So about Abandon all hope: I'm picturing pages upon pages of irrelevant backplot to a premise that should be described in a few paragraphs or even just "a malfunctioning prison ship being invaded by demons" Just how much paper is wasted on geopolitical stuff which none of the characters will live to see again?
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Jul 4, 2017 12:23
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look how could you know that your current plight is the fault of 'political correctness' unless the book told you?
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Jul 4, 2017 12:31
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Hahah, that's true. At what point do the denizens of hell bring up the 24th century's colony wars?
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Jul 4, 2017 12:33
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suggesting a goon thought criminal who was jailed for refusing to hand over their stockpile of precious antique japanese animes. should have or a veteran of the forgotten forum wars, doxxed and exiled by ungrateful sjws.
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Jul 4, 2017 12:37
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I also like the notion that world nations somehow survive a whole century of ABC wars before unifying. Also also I'm gonna need a 'and then John was a zombie' playthrough. By popular demand fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Jul 4, 2017 |
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Jul 4, 2017 12:48
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As ever, it'd be a decent premise (ship full of demons, PCs all subject to a malfunctioning automated prison warden that refuses to acknowledge the ship is in Hell and full of demons) if the huge backplot didn't instantly demonstrate that the writer has his hands down his pants the entire time. Anyone remember the huge fluff dump in the Starcraft manual that was pretty much exactly the same span of future history, and was wisely never referred to again by the game itself?
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Jul 4, 2017 13:04
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Night10194 posted:I cannot think of a project more bone-headed than trying to make anything actually scary or 'realistic' in d20.  and then of course Cease to Hope is also still reviewing Pathfinder's Horror Adventures. (I believe Heroes of Horror was marginally better at accomplishing its objective)
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Jul 4, 2017 13:04
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I wonder if that's his familiar or if he just can't get it to leave and has given up?
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Jul 4, 2017 13:19
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Loxbourne posted:As ever, it'd be a decent premise (ship full of demons, PCs all subject to a malfunctioning automated prison warden that refuses to acknowledge the ship is in Hell and full of demons) if the huge backplot didn't instantly demonstrate that the writer has his hands down his pants the entire time. Except for brood wars, where the earth government decides to stop by and check on the colonies. Or SC2 which is basically a stress test to see how much xelnaga based backstory and prophecy you can stomach before vomiting.
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Jul 4, 2017 14:32
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Loxbourne posted:As ever, it'd be a decent premise (ship full of demons, PCs all subject to a malfunctioning automated prison warden that refuses to acknowledge the ship is in Hell and full of demons) if the huge backplot didn't instantly demonstrate that the writer has his hands down his pants the entire time. And I'm guessing that there's going to be an awful lot of special attention called to doing horrible things to women.
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Jul 4, 2017 15:48
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Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition: Combo Breaker So, skills. There's a wide array of skills you can use, and it's important to note that they will always be combined together in a pool of Skill 1 + Skill 2. The game gives common combos, but the book instricts the GM to let players pick a pair of skills that fit their description best. If one method works better than other, just alter the difficulty of the roll up or donw. Consequences for failure are drawn from the skill that is most sensical or unique to the situation, and can be negotiated with the GM. You only need levels in one of the two skills in your combo to roll without penalties, and a skill can combo with itself if there is no second skill that makes any sense. If you have no levels in either skill, you roll one d10 but you can only succeed on a 10, though that does count as 2 successes as normal. Also of note - if you use the same skill combo more than twice in a row outside of an Extended Check, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to the next use of that particular combo this scene. This is because your ninja gets bored and/or the enemy starts to see through your tactics. Switch things up! Athletics is commonly used for running, jumping and climbing. You might roll Athletics+Might for lifting stuff, Athletics+Perform to put on a show of acrobatic tumbling, or Athletics+Speed to dodge attacks. When you fail on Athletics rolls, maybe you didn't do what you wanted...or maybe you got exhausted, taking -1 Athletics until you can eat and rest, or maybe you take 1 damage (of either type), or maybe you get Pain 1 as a condition. On a critical failure, you definitely don't do what you intended, though, and also you need to pick one: You're injured and cannot combine any skill with Athletics until you get a medic to heal you, or you can't try that particular feat again until conditions change somehow. Common Boosts for Athletics might be that you get a free Sprint or Find Cover action, your opponent is so shocked by how stylish you are that they get -2 Initiative, or you gain momentum for attacks, dodges or movement. Crafts is making things. Art, smithing, repair, anything. You might roll Crafts+Deception to make physical disguises, Crafts+Fighting to make weapons or Crafts+Perform to do calligraphy impressively. Failing will cost you time or materials - whichever you have less of. If you have plenty of both or none of both, what you get is a complete item but with a hidden flaw, selecting from a list of 'one of its important properties is reduced by 1', 'one Quality just doesn't work' or 'failing while using this item is always a Critical Failure'. When you get a critical failure on Crafts, you use up all the available time and materials, and the result is either completely useless or it has a fatal flaw and will be destroyed when someone fails a check while using it. Common Boosts on Crafts might be making two items instead of one, giving the item you make the Master-Crafted quality, or making a really pretty object worth five times more than normal. Deception is for lies. You might roll Deception+Discipline to play dead or unconscious, Deception+Empathy to detect lies, or Deception+Perform to convincingly pretend to be another person. Failure usually doesn't mean your lie is obvious, but instead tha tthe target is suspicious of your true intentions. Alternatively, you might suffer other consequences, such as the target interpreting your lie in the most inconvenient way, you leaving a clue behind that will incriminate you after some time, or you having told different lies to two different people who, if they compare notes, will catch you out. On a critical failure, the target clearly suspects your true motive, and you must choose - either you're directly caught lying in front of others, or you reveal too much of the truth as part of your lie. Common Boosts on Deception include a coincidence happening that backs up your lie with apparent evidence, suspicion being transferred to one of your opponents, or your target trusting you in the future. Discipline is patience and willpower. You might roll Discipline+Empathy to resist fear, Discipline+Fortitude to resist pain in silence, or Discipline+Stealth to remain utterly motionless in a difficult hiding place. Failure usually means you give up on what you were trying to do for the check and must try something else. Alternatively, you can keep trying, but at a cost - you might procrastinate for a day in favor of fun, unable to retry unless caught or a day passes, whichever comes first. You might get cumulative -1 penalties to social or Stealth checks for the scene due to constant whining. You might take mental damage from becoming overemotional. On a critical failure, you must give up on your method immediately, and choose either to fall asleep or lose 1 ki. Common Boosts on Discipline include eliminating Pain conditions, letting you apply a streak bonus to any check, not just another Discipline combo, or your display of total control impressing foes and friends alike. Empathy is understanding others. You might roll Empathy+Holistics to treat mental damage, Empathy+Perception to read someone's emotional state, or Empathy+Persuade to negotiate with someone from a place of understanding. Failure usually means you don't understand the target's emotions, but could mean you do but at consequences - a negative reaction due to your carelessness, an awkward reveal of your own feelings, or the target's feelings changing without you noticing, say. On a critical failure, you sense nothing and must choose either to get into a loud, emotional argument with the target or become too sympathetic and take a penalty to any contest with them until their emotional state changes. Common Boosts on Empathy include being able to read a room or organization to see who's really in charge, learning who or what the target most cares about or predicting the target's next action (and thus getting a bonus on any check to counter it). Fighting is the skill of close combat, armed or unarmed. You might roll Fighting+Deception to make a Feint, Fighting+Knowledge to analyze a fighting style, or Fighting+Stealth to make a sneak attack while hidden. Failure usually means you miss, but could also mean you deal damage but suffer a consequence, such as being disarmed, suffering a free counterattack or revealing a weakness (and so giving all enemies a bonus against you). On a critical failure, you miss and must choose either to become open to attacks (and take -1 to all defenses for the Round) or become too defensive (reducing all damage you take by 1 for the Round but becoming unable to attack at all). Common Boosts on Fighting include dealing bonus damage, identifying the target's clan or master by their fighting style, or getting a streak bonus against the target. Fortitude is the skill of endurance. You might roll Fortitude+Athletics to avoid exhaustion after extended activity, Fortitude+Holistics to heal yourself, or Fortitude+Survival to resist hostile environments. Failure usually means you can't finish the job in time or at all, but alternatively it can mean you can but choose to take damage, lose consciousness temporarily, or become sore for the next day and get -1 to all Fortitude checks. On a critical failure, you take damage and must choose either to fall unconscious or get sick and take a penalty until you get rest and medical attention. Common Boosts on Fortitude include getting a seond wind, impressing foes and friends with your physique, or getting the job down in half time or absorbing a failure consequence from someone else helping out. Holistics is the skill of medicine and poison. You might roll Holistics+Crafts to make useful elixirs, Holistics+Fighting to apply poisons in battle or Holistics+Knowledge to identify wounds and disease. Failure usually means you don't improve the target's state and can't try again for a day. Alternatively, you can succeed but you might expend materials that must now be replaced, knock the target out by accident or cause an infection that increases healing check difficulties on the target. On a critical failure, you can't try to affect the target again for another day and must choose - you used up rare materials uselessly, or your treatment did the opposite of what you wanted. Common Boosts on Holistics include healing multiple targets, making poison that deals extra damage or healing both physical and mental damage at once. Intimidation is the skill of making and using fear. You might roll Intimidation+Might to physically bully someone, Intimidation+Persuade to interrogate someone or Intimidation+Survival to stare down wild beasts. Failure usually means the target isn't impressed and you can't try again until circumstances change, but maybe you succeed at a cost - you might go too far and lose approval from your clan or squadmates, you might lose control and take mental damage, or you might scare everyone and get -1 on all non-Intimidation social checks for the scene. On a critical failure, the target's not impressed, and either you are psyched out and get a penalty against that target until they critically fail, or you get the Embarrassed 1 condition. Common Boosts on Intimidation include scaring additional targets, the target giving up all the information they know to appease you or causing the target to be psyched out or embarrassed. Intuition is the skill of instinct and investigation. You might roll Intuition+Crafts to make something work by hitting it, Intuition+Empathy to win games of chance or Intuition+Marksman to wildly attack an invisible foe. Failure usually means you act on a wrong instinct. Alternatively, you don't gently caress up but pay a cost - what you were doing has unfortuante side effects, you're filled with doub and get a penalty to Intuition checks until you manage to do something stylish enough to counter that, or fate strikes back against you and a later check gets increased difficulty. On a critical failure, you get -2 to initiative, and the GM can increase any one check's difficulty due to fate planting a doom on you. Common Boosts on Intuition include learning what the target will do and why, making you seem very lucky indeed to others, or finding the most efficient method of doing what you wanted. Knowledge is, well, knowledge. You might roll Knowledge+Crafts to identify rare and unique items, Knowledge+Discipline to recall subtle details of the past or things you've read, or Knowledge+Travel to plan a long trip and know what dangers will lie ahead. Failure usually means you don't know anything useful...but you might at a cost, such as what you know being partially false, you needing some specific stimulus such as alcohol or a particular sound or visual to remember, or you need a library and time to get what you wanted to know. On a critical failure, you know nothing useful and you also either become obsessed, getting -1 on checks until you get a Boost that brings the info to mind, or you can't combo Knowledge with anything again until you spend a scene resting. Common Boosts on Knowledge include extra damage against a foe by analyzing their style, pulling out very, very useful info indeed, or getting a streak bonus due to extensive study. Marksman is ranged combat. You might roll Marksman+Athletics to throw things, Marksman+Crafts to make ranged weapons or Marksman+Perception to pick out a vulnerable spot. Failure usually means you miss, or you might hit but suffer a consequence - a nearby foe could attack you for free, or you might not be able to make any more ranged attacks until you change position, or your weapon might be damaged and gain the Fragile quality. On a critical failure, you miss and most choose - either you hit an ally or you're out of ammo now and need to recover it. Boosts on Marksman commonly let you hit someone behind your target for half damage, cause Injured conditions or make your attack impossible to catch or deflect. Might is physical strength. You might roll Might+Fighting to grapple or throw people, Might+Fortitude to do manual labor or Might+Travel to carry loads for long distances. Failure usually means you can't move what you wanted to, or you can but at a cost - you knock yourself out afterwards, or you damage the object or render it unusable, or you are trapped and can't move or defend yourself until the pressure lets up. Common Boosts on Might include extra damage in grapples, lifting more than you normally can, or a straek bonus from leverage. Perception is noticing details and nuances. You might roll Perception+Discipline to make a thorough search, Perception+Intuition to hunt for clues or detect danger, or Perception+Survival to notice environmental hazards. Failure usually means you miss something important or pay a cost - lost time, finding danger the hard way or making yourself too obvious to foes. On a critical failure, you get random irrelevant information and either the Confused 1 condition or -2 to Initiative in the next battle or you trigger the most dangerous hazard in the area. Common Boosts on Perception include finding the easiest way to do something, getting +2 Intiative or spotting a weakness for a streak bonus. Perform is putting on a show for an audience. You might roll Perform+Crafts to play an instrument, Perform+Intimidation to scare a crowd or Perform+Persuade to give a public speech. Failure is whatever's least convenient - the audience gets mad or leaves, you ruin the show at a crucial moment or you get the wrong kind of attention. On a critical failure, you get Embarrassed 1 and take one damage of either kind. Common Boosts on Perform include the audience loving you, stunning someone with your beauty and causing -2 Initiative, or doing the show in half the time or negating a partner's failure. Persuade is convincing people subtly. You might roll PErsuade+Deception to seduce someone, Persuade+Intimidation to lead impressionable mobs, or Persuade+Knowledge to debate with compelling arguments. Failure usually means you don't influence the target, or do so at a cost - a powerful foe notices you, or the target becomes obsessed with you, or you must offer an equal concession. On a critical failure, you can't use Persuade on the target again until you get a Style Boost, and you must choose - either the target notices what you want and does the opposite, or you offer a concession but gain nothing in return. Common Boosts on Persuade include swaying neutral listeners, utterly convincing the target to the extent that they'll try to convince others, or making such a powerful appeal that counterarguments have increased difficulty. Speed is all quickness and reflexes. You might roll Speed+Fighting for quick jab or a parry, Speed+Stealth to move between hiding spots unnoticed, or Speed+Travel to get somewhere fast. Failure usually means you're too slow to do what you wanted, or you push yourself at a cost - you can't use any defense but Brace for a round, or you get -1 to physical checks for the rest of the scene, or you leave an opening that gives a different foe a free attack. On a critical failure, you hesitate and get -2 Initiative, and must choose either to take damage or become immobile for a Round. Common Boosts on Speed include a free Retreat action, a streak bonus or getting whatever you were doing done in record time. Stealth is sneaking. You might roll Stealth+Athletics to creep across rooftops undetected, or Stealth+Deception to distract a guard, or Stealth+Intuition to find a quick hiding spot. Failure could mean you're spotted, or you might just get consequences - people know someone's sneaking so difficulties increase, you are sen but escape, or you're not seen but your approach is blocked. On a critical failure, you're spotted, and either you must escape without getting the job done or you do the job but get captured. Common Boosts on Stealth include hiding someone else or countering their failure, discovering a new approach with less security, overhearing important secrets or leaving evidence implicating someone else. Survival is...wilderness survival and dealing with nature. You might roll Survival+Holistics to milk poisons or antitoxins from animals and plants, Survival+Marksman to hunt animals for meat, or Survival+Perception to find and follow tracks. Failure usually causes the Deprived 1 condition or damage from hunger and exposure, or might let you avoid harm at a cost, such as losing a valuable object, getting a penalty to checks until you find shelter due to heat or frostbite, or drawing unwanted animal or enemy attention. On a critical failure, you take damage and either more damage or you get lost and gain the Confused 1 condition as well as losing time. Common Boosts on Survival include learning about threats or useful flora and fauna in the area, finding or making excellent shelter, or befriending a local critter. Travel is the skill of planning and going on journeys. You might roll Travel+Intuition to find your way without a map, Travel+Stealth to avoid attention on a journey, or Travel+Survival to cross the wilderness safely. Failure costs time, generally, but if you have plenty of time it might draw unwanted attention, have someone help you out but then demand a favor in return, or you might become exhausted and need to stop the journey earlier than planned. On a critical failure, you arrive in the wrong place and must choose - either the place is very dangerous or you're going to need to get something before you can get on your way again, such as papers, a map or travel fares. Common Boosts on Travel include learning about new destinations or news happening where you're going, getting comfortable accomodations that give a bonus to the journey, or getting where you're going in half the time or compensating for someone else's failure. As I noted, damage can be physical or mental - you have two health tracks. The first is Health, for physical damage. You have (Fortitude+5) Health, max 10. The second is Psyche, for mental damage. You have (Discipline+5) Psyche, max 10. When you pass between major scenes or a day passes in-game, you heal up to (Fortitude+Discipline+1)/2 damage, divided between the tracks as you choose. You can also get this healing if you spend a Scene pursuing your elemental Temperament (you remember, the first chargen step) to blow off steam. Ki is contained by all things, in two types. Yin (the negativen ature of the universe) and Yang (the positive). Both are required. You start with 3 ki, divided up by your choices in the Element, Tragedy and Clan sections. You gain more ki only by rising in Rank. You can have betwen 0 and 5 of each type of ki. Basic jutsu cost 1 ki of the right type, Median jutsu cost 2 of the right type, and Advanced jutsu cost 4 of the right type. After a rest or between scenes, you return to your 'resting' ki - that is, your default loadout. Any other ki must be drawn from the environment before you can use it. Molding local ki outside of combat is easy - you do the breathing and focusing motions and there's a very obvious display of energy swirling around you. Once molded, this ki remains useable for about 30 minutes before returning to its natural state and dropping you back to your resting ki. In battle, however, it's harder and more costly. Most environments also contain a limited amount of ki, with a chart determining how often the local ki can be tapped into before it becomes depleted. A local ki line will increase that, but an area with no nearby ki lines at all decreases it. If your personal elemental aligns iwth that of the environment, however, you can tap into it twice per scene even if there are no taps left. Very handy. So what do you spend ki on? Well, if you fail a jutsu activation check, you can spend a ki of the correct type to succeed anyway. You can spend 1 ki (type doesn't matter) once per round in place of a Dynamic Action. You can spend a ki to ignore the target's Armor for one check or halve damage from one incoming attack. You can give ki to other ninja by touching them. You can also spend ki to gain Dynamic Actions, one for one. Characters begin at rank 1. They rise in rank every 50 XP. Higher ranks give +1 Intimidation per step above lower ranks. Rank 1 is Emerald Star - a full ninja at chargen, capable of one free Dynamic Action per round and with 3 dice to roll each round to see if they get more. Rank 2 is Ruby Star. You get +1 ki of your choice, 2 free Dynamic Actions per round and 3 dice to roll for more. Rank 3 is Emerald Moon. +1 ki, 2 Dynamic Actions and 4 dice. Rank 4 is Ruby Moon. +1 ki, 3 Dynamic Actions, 4 dice. The final rank is Shadow Eye. +1 ki, 4 Dynamic Actions, 4 dice. Oh yeah, and there's a few derived statistics. Your Initiative is a static number - (Intuition+Speed+3). You can raise or lower it in battle with Dynamic Actions or other abilities, though. Your Strength is your raw power for lifting or pushing or breaking, and it's (Athletics+Might), but you can make a roll to do things beyond that base number. Your Movement is how many feet you can go in a single Round, and that's (Athletics+Speed+5). Average XP gain per session is 3, but can be up to 5. You get 1 XP for just showing up, 1 XP if any of your Triggers were used in the session (for good or bad), 1 XP if you took charge of something in the session (often selected by group vote), 1 XP if you did something [i[really[/i] cool or clever, and 1 XP if your character learned something - even if it's as simple as 'don't underestimate guards' or 'don't backstab that guy again because he's scary.' At the end of a major arc, you get between 1 and 5 additional XP, depending on how dangerous it was, how effective your plans were and how well it turned out. XP costs are pretty high for stuff, though. It costs 6 to raise a skill a level, or 10 to hit level 5. Specialtis at least only cost 3. For 5 XP you can raise a Gift's bonus by 1 (to a max of +2) or how much Karma a Trigger produces (but only once per Trigger). A new Technique costs 10 XP, and raising one you already have costs 7. You can gain a new ally for 5 XP, gain a new Rival for 3 XP, or enhance an Ally with a +1 bonus with 3 XP (up to twice per Ally). You can also spend 3 XP to make a Rival into an Ally, but the GM can veto that. New jutsu cost between 7 and 20 XP depending on how advanced they are, and more if you don't have any jutsu of that Way already. Next time: So what exactly are jutsu, anyway?
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Jul 4, 2017 16:00
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Cythereal posted:And I'm guessing that there's going to be an awful lot of special attention called to doing horrible things to women. I'm not going to take that bet, there's probably going to be lines about repopulating the ship, or demons prefer to target women or something like this.
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Jul 4, 2017 18:24
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And those are the reasons why a quick hack freely available online is often superior to actual published product. I'm seriously waiting to see how the authors keep heaping on stuff that should have been purged by a competent editor.
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Jul 4, 2017 18:34
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I kinda like the Skill+Skill method for stunts and checks. I think I might actually pick up silly ninja game for anime ninja adventures some time.
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Jul 4, 2017 18:38
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Horrible Lurkbeast posted:So about Abandon all hope: Cythereal posted:And I'm guessing that there's going to be an awful lot of special attention called to doing horrible things to women.
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Jul 4, 2017 18:59
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LISA: The Heartbreaking RPG
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Jul 4, 2017 20:08
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Night10194 posted:I kinda like the Skill+Skill method for stunts and checks. I think I might actually pick up silly ninja game for anime ninja adventures some time. Got two potential players in this thread alone, just saying.
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Jul 4, 2017 20:14
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Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition: Stupid Ninja Powers Every jutsu is attuned to either Yin or Yang. Yang jutsu usually involve growth, buffs or healing, while Yin are usually debuffs, mental in nature or harmful. They are both equally powerful, just different, and activating a jutsu is a roll of either Yin or Yang and a skill. You must have a minimum level of the appropriate type of ki to use a jutsu - so if your resting ki won't do that, you're going to have to Mold Ki to get more, probably. Basic jutsu take only 1 ki as minimum, while Median take 2 and Advanced take 4. Difficulties also work differently for jutsu. If your jutsu is non-opposed, you never need more than one success for something to happen. However, if you do not achieve a minimum number of successes (2 for Basic, 3 for Median, 4 for Advanced), you also suffer a Backfire effect based on the type of jutsu used. Opposed jutsu also work this way, but can also fail to do anything useful if the opposition beats your check. You don't get a Backfire if you hit the minimum successes but still fail to affect the target. Likewise, all jutsu have a Training which determines what the benefits are when you get a Boost during jutsu activation. Note that the value of your Yin and Yang for all purposes are calculated at the instant you use the power, rather than relying on your resting ki values. As a note, by default jutsu and backfire effects last until the scene ends. All jutsu also have an Element. If your Element (from step 1 in chargen) matches the Element of the jutsu, you get +1 to activating it. A small but nice bonus. Likewise, elements full a cycle of destruction. Wood parts Earth, Earth dams Water, Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood. When two jutsu are used against each other - one to attack, say, and the other to defend - the one that destroys the other gets +2 to the activation check, and the one that is destroyed halves its effectiveness. (Obviously if the elements don't interact in the cycle, no bonuses or penalties happen on either side.) Jutsu that affect the user or the environment cannot be resisted - they just happen. However, a jutsu targeting a person can be resisted. Most people have no particular resistance. The average villager or citizen has no mastery of ki and so they do not get to roll any resistance at all. However, other ninja or NPCs with special ki training are able to resist. A resistance check is always the same check as the attacker's, but using the opposite jutsu - so a Yin+Stealth jutsu would be resisted by Yang+Stealth. Also, if the jutsu is Advanced, resisting it costs 1 ki of either type. The most fundamental jutsu that every ninja has access to are the Elemental Jutsu. The Way of Earth is an Earth-elemental jutsu, teaching how to bolster strength and endurance. When you get a Boost while activating Way of Earth jutsu, you get +1 Armor against your choice of mental or physical damage for the rest of the scene, stacking normally. The Backfire, however, is a cumulative -1 penalty to all rolls to defend or resist attacks. Basic Jutsu Muddied Steps (Yang+Deception): You make a decently wide area of earth into mud, forcing an Athletics+Speed check to remain standing in it when transformed or when anyone tries to move in it. Those that fail get Slowed 1. Open the Earth (Yin+Might): You create a hole or opening in stone, which can be fairly wide and very deep. Stone Fists (Yin+Fortitude): You wrap stone around your fists. You get +1 Fighting and can Block with your fists without any penalties for several Rounds. Stone Like Clay (Yin+Crafts): You treat stone, rock and non-metallic earth as if it were soft clay for the rest of the scene, regardless of how hard it is. Everyone else continues to treat it like it normally does. Stone Lung (Yang+Survival): You shove dirt into the target's lungs. For a number of Turns, they get -1 to all physical actions due to breathing problems - and with a Boost, also the Deprived 1 condition. Median Jutsu Earthen Slumber (Yang+Holistics): You lie on the earth and gain its power, healing damage of either type based on your Yang instantly. Pillars of Stone (Yang+Crafts): You make a number of tall stone pillars which you can use to cause knockdown or knockback in combat with a +1 bonus, or which you can use to rise quickly on for a +1 bonus to Dodge. Spitting Earth (Yang+Marksman): You must have Muddied Steps. You can fire off blasts of earth and stone, attacking at +1 and dealing 2 damage. With a Boost, you can instead choose to deal half damage to a larger number of targets at once. Stone Skin (Yin+Fortitude): You surround your body with sand and rock, giving +2 Armor against physical damage and +1 Health for the duration of the Battle. Stoney Face (Yin+Intimidation): You make your face ike stone, gaining +1 to social attacks and defenses for the Scene, or +2 with a Boost. Advanced Jutsu Earth Flow (Yin+Travel): You can walk through stone and earth at normal speed, though you cannot run. You must be moving to pass through earth - if you stop for any reason, you are immediately shunted out. Quake (Yang+Might): You must have Pillars of Stone. You can make a localized earthquake for several rounds, forcing a Dodge check at -2 to avoid knockdown and damage. Quicksand (Yin+Deception): You must have Muddied Steps. You make a fairly large area into quicksand for the scene. Anyone in the area when it goes off can try to Dodge out of the way. Anyone caught in it sinks 1 foot per Round and can't make Move actions. If they can't leave the quicksand before they are totally covered, they will eventually die of suffocation. Stone Form (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Stone Skin. You turn into a person made of rocks. For the rest of the Battle, you get +3 Armor against physical damage, +2 Health and +1 damage to your unarmed attacks. Terracotta Soldier (Yang+Crafts): You summon a squad of four stone soldiers, which use half your dicepool for Attacks and Defnese, get 1 Action, Armor 2 and 20 Health, but have no Psyche or Dynamic Actions. With a Boost, you instead get six soldiers, for +1 to attack and +5 Health to the squad. They crumble when the Battle ends. The Way of Fire is a Fire-elemental jutsu, teaching control over the raw, dangerous power of flame, both to harm and defend. On a Boost while activating its jutsu, you may choose to ignite the point of contact in flames that deal +1 physical damage on impact and every Round afterwards until they are put out. On a Backfire, however, something you don't want on fire is on fire or you take the damage as well as the enemy. On a critical failure, you get Burned 1. Basic Jutsu Bright Star (Yang+Persuade): You glow really, really bright, penalizing attacks against you for the round (except for Grapples) and illuminating everything in Near range. On a Boost, this lasts for an entire scene or Battle. Extinguishing Seal (Yin+Intuition): You immediately extinguish any ongoing fires nearby. If you use this to Deflect fire damage, success completely nullifies the attack. Fire Punch (Yang+Might): Your hands are on fire for a number of strikes, dealing +1 damage wiht them. Flame Arrow (Yang+Marksman): You shoot a fire blast that deals 2 damage on a hit. On a Boost, the target also is now Burned 1. Flame Wall (Yang+Intimidation): You create a wall of fire for several Rounds. It has no substance, but is quite wide and anyone passing through it takes damage and then has to make a Fortitude check to avoid taking even more damage and Burned 1. Median Jutsu Cauterize (Yin+Holistics): With a touch, you can heal 1 Health and remove any Bleeding conditions from the target. On a Boost, you can affect several targets based on your Yang. Dulled Spirit (Yin+Empathy): You reduce someone's passions, giving them a penalty based on your Yin to resisting the next mental attack they suffer. Face in the Fire (Yin+Empathy): You may make your face appear in any fire within several miles, allowing you to see and communicate with those near it. Fire-Proof (Yin+Fortitude): You must have Extinguishing Seal. You reduce any Burned conditions you have taken this scene by 1 and reduce damage you would take from fire attacks or flames nearby based on your Yang for the rest of the Scene or Battle. Red Mantle (Yang+Crafts): You must have Bright Star. You surround yourself with fire, getting +1 Fighting and +2 Intimidation for the rest of the Battle. Advanced Jutsu Burst Defense (Yin+Fortitude): Your skin sends out waves of heat when struck for the next several hits. If someone successfully deals damage to you within Close range, they also take 2 damage. Fire-Breather (Yang+Discipline): You spit a blast of fire at a number of targets based on your Yang that are all in the same direction. They may Dodge normally, and if they fail, they take 2 damage and get Burned 1. Fire Form (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Red Mantle. You turn into a person made of fire for several Rounds, getting +2 Fighting, +2 Persuade and +2 Initiative, as well as +1 damage in close combat. Any Boost on an attack also creates a Burned 1 condition on top of the normal Boost effect. Ride the Flame (Yang+Travel): You must have Face in the Fire. You can jump into a fire and pop out of any other fire within several miles, leaving the smell of burnt flesh behind. On a Boost, you can take someone with you. Rise From the AShes (Yang+Holistics): You revert any object destroyed by fire to its original form within a number of minutes based on your Yang. This cannot affect living things, but will work on anything inanimate, even an entire house. The Way of Metal is a Metal-elemental jutsu, focusing on weapons, armor and precise use of metals. On a Boost while activating its jutsu, you get +1 to all use of metal weapons and tools. On a Backfire, however, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to using metal weapons and -1 to Block or Brace against metal weapons for the rest of the Scene or Battle. Basic Jutsu Blade Dance (Yang+Athletics): You get +2 Perform outside combat. If used in combat, anyone trying to hit you gets -1 to do so for several Rounds. Hover Disk (Yang+Crafts): You mold available metals into a floating disc that moves at twice your normal speed and can lift up to 500 pounds. This lasts for one scene or Journey. The Metal Within (Yin+Fortitude): You can integrate metal objects into your body - knives in your arms, spikes in your knuckles, coins in your gut. You use this once to put them in and once to take them out. Mold Metal (Yin+Crafts): You can mold metal as if it was clay for the rest of the scene. It remains metallic for everyone else. Sharpen Blade (Yang+Fighting): You improve a blade. While using it, you get +1 Fighting and +1 damage for several strikes. No one else can get this bonus. Median Jutsu Cage (Yang+Crafts): You summon a metal cage around a target, who can Dodge at -1. The cage has Durability 5. On a Boost, you can encage multiple targets. Iron Mind (Yin+Discipline): You steel your mind, gaining +2 to Resistance checks in social combat. Melting Touch (Yin+Knowledge): You must have Mold Metal. You instantly smolder an amount of metal based on your Yin with a touch. In combat, you may use this as a special Block at -2 to melt an enemy's weapon. Mend Bones (Yin+Holistics): You use metal to reinforce or fix bones, reducing all of the target's physical Conditions by 1. This can only be used once per scene. Tough as Nails (Yang+Fortitude): You must have The Metal Within. You harden your skin and give your eyes and hair a metallic sheen. For the rest of the scene or Battle, you have +1 Armor and can Block weapons while unarmed without penalty. Advanced Jutsu Total War (Yang+Knowledge): You summon an animated blade that obeys you for one Battle. It deals 3 damage and is Sharp. It uses your base dicepool for melee attacks and acts at your Initiative minus 1. Magnetic Pull (Yang+Fortitude): Any metal in an area based on your Yang is attracted to you, allowing you to pick up weapons at a distance or draw items in. You can also pull on large, stationary metal to move towards it, even if you can't move. A living target such as someone in a suit of armor can make a Fortitude+Discipline check to resist your pull but are otherwise affected normally. This check can also be made to avoid being disarmed. Magnetic Repulsion (Yin+Discipline): You deal +1 damage with metal weapons due to pushing them faster and get +2 on checks to do Knockback to armored foes. Attackers wielding metal weapons get -2 to hit you. Metal Form (Yin+Fortitude): You must have Tough as Nails. You turn into a metal person, getting +3 Armor against physical damage and +2 unarmed damage for the rest of the Battle. Wall of Blades (Yang+Crafts): You summon a large wall of blades. Anyone touching it takes 2 damage. On a Boost, the blades also gain the Sharp quality (and so can cause Bleeding). The Way of Water is a Water-elemental jutsu, focusing on total mastery over water. On a Boost while activating its jutsu, you get +2 to your next Defense, either physical or mental. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to Movement and Defense checks. Basic Jutsu Liquid Breath (Yang+Fortitude): You don't need to breathe while underwater for the rest of the scene. Roar of the Shore (Yin+Perception): You confuse the target with ocean sounds. They are defeaned and take -1 to Discipline and Perception checks. On a Boost, they also take 1 mental damage. Summon Water (Yin+Crafts): You conjure several gallons of water, either as a puddle or into a vessel. Water Walking (Yin+Athletics): You can stand on or walk on water without falling in and without penalty, regardless of how choppy it is, for the rest of the scene. Wind at the Back (Yang+Travel): You get +2 to a check during the River or Mountain stages of a Journey over water, as you call on currents and winds. Median Jutsu The Ink Blurs (Yin+Perception): You must have Roar of the Shore. You alter the target's perceptions and make their vision blur. They are effectively blinded and get -2 to all checks, including combat checks, for the rest of the scene or Battle. The Jagged Edge (Yang+Crafts): You freeze nearby water into a spear or kunai of ice. This can be used as a normal weapon, but it has -1 to Blocks and shatters on its fifth successful hit or Block. Also, Boosts while using it cause Slowed 1. Like Water (Yin+Intuition): You move like water and have a cushion of water to buffer damage. You get +2 to Block, Brace, Dodge or Find Cover for the rest of the Battle. Pull of the Deep (Yin+Perception): You increase humidity in a wide area, making mists that cling to everyone but you. Anyone in the area moves as if through water and gets -1 to any Action that requires a Move action for the rest of the scene or Battle. Soothing Waters (Yin+Holistics): With a touch, you can heal either type of damage, based on your Yin. With a Boost, you can affect multiple people. Advanced Jutsu Call to Water (Yang+Might): You must have Summon Water. You redirect a body of water and draw it towards you. You can redirect rivers, make corridors in lakes or oceans, or even tear water out of living beings. If used on a living target you can see, this deals 2 physical damage as the water is stripped from them. The Hidden Mist (Yang+Discipline): You must have Wind at the Back. You make a thick fog all around, obscuring everyone but your vision. Within it, everyone else can only see a little bit in front of them and get -3 to ranged attacks, but +1 to Find Cover. Read the Flow (Yin+Perception): You can read the flow of moods, sensing the temperament and mood of everyone in the room and getting +2 to all social checks, including social combat, for the scene. Tidal Wave (Yang+Might): You must have Summon Water. You summon a huge wall of water that knocks down everythin in its path. Anyone hit by it takes 3 damage, knockdown and is knocked back quite a ways. Water Form (Yin+Fortitude): You must have Like Water. You turn into a puddle, moving at half Movement on land and triple Movement in water. You are immune to all physical damage, but mental damage or illusions. The Way of Wood is a Wood-elemental jutsu, focusing on connection to life and frowth. On a Boost while activating its jutsu, you get +2 to checks to use wooden objects. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to Might and Athletics checks. Basic Jutsu Harvest (Yang+Crafts): You make a fruit-bearing tree instantly produce a meal's worth of food. On a Boost, you can feed multiple people. Hidden Door (Yin+Travel): You bend and move a wooden structure, creating an opening in the wood large enough for a person. Instant Growth (Yang+Crafts): You grow a plant instantly in any shape you like - ladder rungs, branches to catch you, furniture, whatever. Tree Hopping (Yang+Athletics): You move at triple Movement when jumping across wooden structures - living or not. Unfolding Gift (Yang+Knowledge): When you first meet someone, you can use this to create an elaborate origami figure to give as a gift. This gives you a bonus to Persuade against them for the rest of the scene, and with a Boost, also gives them Convinced 1. Median Jutsu Hiding Place (Yang+Holistics): You meld into a tree large enough to fit your body. While there, you heal 1 mental and 1 physical damage every 10 minutes. Immaculate Bridge (Yang+Crafts): You create a wooden bridge that can extend quite far and can hold up to 1000 pounds of weight. Wall of Wood (Yang+Might): You summon a wall of thick wood that is decently tall and wide. It is difficulty 3 to break through, or 4 on a Boost. Weapon Craft (Yang+Craft): You reach into a tree and pull out any completely wooden weapon you like. You get +1 to attack and damage with it. Wooden Visage (Yin+Deception): You harden your face to project a single emotion of your choice rather than what you are actually feeling. Any attempt to sway you socially is at -2. Advanced Jutsu Bend like the Willow (Yin+Athletics): You get +3 to Defense checks in both physical and social combat for several Rounds. Forest Walk (Yang+Travel): You must have Tree Hopping. You can step into a tree and emerge from any other tree in several hundred feet - or any tree in the same forest or jungle, without care for distance. Maze of Trees (Yin+Deception): You infuse your ki into a jungle or large forested area, making an illusion of impassability. Anyone entering the area gets -3 to checks to navigate or travel through it, and anyone starting combat in the area gets -2 to all combat checks. Regrowth (Yang+Knowledge): With only a few seeds or cuttings, you can grow vegetation in a wide area. The plants last for several days, but will then wither and die unless enough water and light is around to maintain them. If someone is in the area when the plants start to grow, they get -2 to actions or -4 Movement for several Rounds, until the growth stops. Wood Form (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Hiding lace. You become a wooden person, with tentacular vines and thick bark. You get +2 Armor and +1 Health for the rest of the scene or Battle, and get +2 to Initiate Grab, Disarm and Catch actions. After that are the General Jutsu, which everyone can learn but which are not direct elemental manipulation. The Way of Beasts is an Earth-elemental jutsu, all about controlling and dealing with animals. On a Boost while activing its jutsu, you get a cumulative +1 to Initiative and Fighting by tapping into your animal side. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to all social checks due to your animal nature. Basic Jutsu Bloodhound (Yang+Perception): You get +1 Percpetion for smell and taste-related checks and can pick up scents in a wide area. With a Boost, this are extends out to half a mile. Calming Presence (Yin+Empathy): You calm an angry animal and get +1 Persuade in further interactions with it. Eagle Eye (Yang+Perception): You can see perfect details out to several hundred feet and get +1 to Perception checks. (Based on the others, I suspect it's vision-specific.) On a boost, the range is instead half a mile. Favor (Yin+Persuade): You can give an animal an order with a number of steps. The animal will obey until the task is done, but will not do anything that would kill it or go against its nature. Sonic Hearing (Yin+Perception):L You enhance your hearing, able to pick up sounds perfectly for a wide area. You get +1 Perception to hearing checks. On a Boost, the range extends to half a mile. Median Jutsu Animal Stance (Yang+Might): You meditate on a specific animal style and get either +1 Health or +1 Psyche, and +2 to a related skill to the chosen animal. These last for several rounds. Beast Form (Yang+Fortitude): You choose an animal when you learn this. You transform into that animal, gaining its natural abilities and weaknesses. You can take this multiple times for different animals. Control Beast (Yin+Intimidation): You must have Favor. You seize control of an animal's body for the scene and may direct its actions with a Quick Action. This does not work on ninja dogs of the Pack of the Black Moon. Night Eyes (Yin+Perception): You reduce all darkness-based penalties by 2 and your eyes glow, giving +1 Intimidation for the scene. Tunneler (Yang+Crafts): You get mole-like digging claws, allowing you to tunnel through earth and stone at a rate based on your Yang. If you use these in combat, your unarmed attacks deal +1 damage and can block weapons without penalty. Advanced Jutsu Animal Warrior (Yang+Persuade): You make an animal grow into a bigger, enraged, deadlier animal with a touch, giving them +3 Health, +2 Fighting and +1 damage on their attacks. They will not attack you, but will attack anyone else nearby. This lasts for several Rounds. Stampede (Yang+Discipline): You must have Control Beast. All animals nearby go nuts, attacking and destroying anything in their way. Anyone within Far range of you must make Defense checks to avoid damage. Steed (Yang+Persuade): You summon a mount out of nowhere. When using it on a Journey, you get bonus dice to split among Journey stages as you like. Swarm Form (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Beast Form. Instead of turning into one animal, you now turn into a swarm of the chosen type, allowing you to spread yourself over a wide area. You can't be killed unless the entire swarm is. You also get +2 Intimidation. Wild Ward (Yin+Intimidation): Animals cannot approach within Far range of you. Ninja dogs get to resist with Discipline+Fortitude, but no other animals do. The Way of Movement is a Fire-elemental jutsu, all about moving quickly and getting past obstacles. On a Boost during activation, you get cumulative +2 Movement and +1 Initiative. On a Backfire, you cumulative -2 Movement and -1 Initiative. Basic Jutsu Air's Embrace (Yin+Travel): You negate all falling damage, regardless of height. Lightfoot (Yin+Speed): You become weightless, able to jump twice as far as normal and leaving no tracks. You can even stand on swordtips or (if you don't move) on water, and you get +1 Stealth. Surface Running (Yang+Speed): You can run on walls or ceilings for the rest of the scene. On a Boost, you can even move on water, though if it's choppy you may have to make Speed+Travel checks not to fall over. Tiger's Leap (Yang+Might): For a single jump, you jump much farther based on your Yang. Unmoving Stance (Yin+Discipline): You automatically succeed against Knockback and Knockdown effects for several Rounds. Median Jutsu Float (Yang+Travel): You must have Air's Embrace. You can now hover for the scene. You are immune to falling damage and can float about ten to fifty feet off the ground at half Movement. If you get a Boost, it's normal Movement. Lightning Fists (Yang+Fighting): You can make 3 Attacks against one foe in melee with a single check. Each is defended separately, and you can't use this with large or Unwieldy weapons. Rotation Defense (Yin+Speed): You spin really fast for several rounds. Ranged attacks on you get a penalty based on your Yin. If you stop to attack, the jutsu ends. Speed's Gift (Yin+Intuition): You must have Umoving Stance. As long as you do not move, you can give your total Movement to someone else as a bonus. Swift Soul (Yang+Travel): You may add Speed to any Defense check. If Speed is already part of the check, you may double it instead. This lasts for several checks. Advanced Jutsu 10,000 Fists (Yang+Speed): You must have Lighting Fists. You blur around the field, making a number of additional attacks this Round. All targets must be in Near range, and all attacks occur on your Initiative. Intangibility (Yin+Fortitude): You hold your breath. While your breath is held, you can pass through solid objects. The jutsu ends when you stop holding your breath. Lightning Speed (Yang+Speed): You may add your Yang to Movement and Initiative for the rest of the Battle. Using Interruptions only takes 1 Dynamic ACtion for you and you get no penalty when using Quick Actions. Also, you get a number of bonus dice to spend as you like on Actions and/or Defenses. Teleportation (Yang+Travel): You can inscribe kanji on things, people or places. If one of these symbols is within several miles, you may use this jutsu to teleport to the symbol. On a Boost, you can teleport one more time per scene without a check. (The game notes that putting the mark on your kunai, throwing them and teleporting around the battlefield explicitly works.) Upward (Yang+Travel): You must have Float. You can now fly at any height, and you move very fast while doing so, based on your Yang. The Way of Survival is a Wood-elemental jutsu based on handling the wilderness and living in it. On a Boost during activation, you heal 1 mental damage. If you Boost three times in the same scene, you may instead hcoose to reduce any Condition by 1. On a Backfire, the next threat to the group will only target you, and you get -2 to Resistance or Defense against it. Basic Jutsu Danger Sense (Yang+Intuition): You are immune to surprise attacks for the scene and get +2 Initiative in the first Round of Battle. Escape Technique (Yin+Speed): You are released from all bindings and/or cages. This is only usable on yourself. Foraging Technique (Yang+Survival): You get +3 Survival for finding food and clean water. Trackless Movement (Yin+Stealth): You leave no footprints and cause no disturbances as you move. You also get +2 Speed vs traps. Weather Tracking (Yin+Intuition): You sense weather patterns for the next few days and get +1 Survival for living in the wilderness for that period. This cannot predict weather-changing magic of any kind. Median Jutsu Camouflage (Yin+Deception): You get a decent Stealth bonus while you remain in a single area. The jutsu ends if you leave. Instant Break (Yin+Marksman): You can break any object within Near range that you can see. Handheld items shatter, while larger items take 3 damage that ignores Armor. The Perfect Tool (Yang+Crafts): You summon the perfect tool for a job. While using it, you get +2 to the corresponding skill. Realm of Warning (Yin+Empathy): You make an invisible field in a wide area around you that alerts you when anyone or anything leaves or enters it, giving you a mental image of what that thing or person was. This lasts for the scene. Summon Shelter (Yang+Crafts): You summon a small, unfurnished wooden shack that can accomodate several people comfortably. Advanced Jutsu The Ground Speaks (Yang+Perception): You kneel and speak to the earth, getting a sense of the land for several miles around. This gives +3 to any checks to make strategies and allows you to ignore any traps in that area. Guardians (Yin+Persuade): You must have Realm of Warning. Once Realm of Warning is active, you can use this to summon a number of perimeter guardians, each with 3 Health and 1 Armor, and 4 dice to attack and defend. With a Boost, they have 6 dice instead. Resist the Elements (Yin+Survival): For the scene, you are immune to all natural disasters, including wildfires, tornados and earthquakes, along with all environmental penalties. You also get +2 to Defense or Resistance against Elemental jutsu for the scene. Safe Travels (Yin+Travel): You give bonus dice to another person's Journey, split among checks however they wish. You cannot go along on the journey if you use this. Second Wind (Yang+Discipline): You heal a good amount of damage of either type, up to half the amount you've taken, total. The Way of the Unseen is a Water-elemental jutsu based around avoiding detection and using illusions. On a Boost while activating its jutsu, you make a distraction that gives foes -2 Perception to notice you. On a Backfire, you get -2 to all Stealth or Perception-based actions for the scene. Basic Jutsu Blank Face (Yin+Perform): You remove all emotion from your face, causing all social attacks on you to be made at -2. Unarmed Position (Yin+Deception): You render any small, handheld object invisible while it is concealed on your person. On a Boost, the object can be up to a sword in size. If you pull the object out, the jutsu ends. The Unheard (Yin+Stealth): You cancel all sound in a small area around you. With a Boost, you can instead make a number of individuals quiet rather than an area. The Unnoticed (Yin+Stealth): As long as you are not moving, you cannot be seen by any means. You get +2 Stealth while moving, but the jutsu ends if you go above walking speed. With a Boost, you can run or sprint without ending the jutsu. The Unscented (Yin+Stealth): You remove all traces of your presence, including scent. All attempts to track you by scent automatically fail. Median Jutsu Artful Exit (Yin+Empathy): You must have Blank Face. As long as you aren't in physical combat, you may exit any social situation without backlash, and others will rationalize your departure as socially acceptable. Easily Forgotten Method (Yin+Deception): You must have The Unnoticed. You cause anyone who recently had a brief encounter with you to forget you. After a conversation that did not involve or end in combat, they forget who you were and what you were talking about. On a Boost, this affects multiple targets. Illusory Object (Yang+Deception): You touch an object and make it invisible, replacing it with an illusion of itself. This illusion cannot move in any way, even if the object had moving parts. You (or anyone aware of it) can take or move the invisible object, but the lllusion remains in place for the rest of the scene. Invisible Blade (Yang+Crafts): You pull an invisible weapon out of thin air. It functions exactly as a normal weapon, but it gives +1 to attack and anyone trying to Block it does so at -1, because it's invisible. Reflection Defense (Yang+Deception): You make a mirror image of yourself that is so close to you that you look blurred. You get +2 to Dodge or Find Cover. If you use this with Deflect Attack, you Defend at +3 instead of the normal bonus. Advanced Jutsu 10,000 Masks (Yin+Empathy): You must have Easily Forgotten Method. You make yourself appear as someone who belongs in whatever setting you're in when you use this. With a Boost, you can choose to become a specific person. Element's Embrace (Yin+Survival): You can meld into an element (chosen when you learn this) and can breathe normally in it. You move at a quarter of your normal speed within the element, but can't move through other elements or attack from within the element. Invisibility (Yin+Stealth): You must have both The Unnoticed and The Unscented. You are totally undetectable by sight, sound or smell for the scene. You can move at any speed you like, but the jutsu ends when you interact with another person in any way. No Exit (Yin+Deception): You cause a structure to become impossible to perceive. You can use this on a specific door or gate to make them appear as walls, or an entire building to make it impossible to notice from the outside. Only the strcture, though, not anyone inside it. The jutsu does not end if someone leaves, though. Ultimate Deception (Yang+Deception): You must have Reflection Defense. You become invisible (per Invisibility) for one Round, leaving a perfect illusion of yourself behind, which you may direct with a thought. It is ephemeral and can neither take nor deal damage. You can move and act normally regardless of what it does, and while you become visible after one Round, the copy sticks around for the rest of the scene. The Way of the Warrior is a Metal-element jutsu built around making your entire body and ki into weapons. On a Boost during activation, you get +2 damage when spending a Dynamic Action to boost damage on your next attack rather than +1. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative Broken (Perception) 1 condition for the Scene. A Boost during the scene may reduce this. Basic Jutsu Fighter's Focus (Yin+Perception): You choose a target. For the rest of the Battle, you get +1 to attack and defenses against that target. On a Boost, you also get +1 damage against them. Precise Eye (Yin+Marksman): You immediately make a Marksman attack at +2. Sturdy Fist (Yang+Fighting): You immediately make a Fighting attack at +2. Summon Weapon (Yang+Discipline): You bond with a weapon. As long as it has a path to your hand, you can draw it to your hand from anywhere in sight as a free action. If someone else holds it, they can resist with Fortitude+Might. On a Boost, you can call it from several miles away. War Face (Yin+Discipline): For the rest of the scenem you get +2 Armor against mental damage, or +3 with a Boost. Median Jutsu Cannon Punch (Yang+Fighting): Your punches explode for a number of blows, dealing +1 damage and deal Knockback, and giving a bonus to your Strength. Deflect Missiles (Yin+Perception): You can swat arrows and thrown weapons out of the air several times. For each one, you roll a normal Block, but stop the attack with only one net success. On a Boost, you can even do this against firearms. Strength Boost (Yang+Might): For the rest of the Scene, your Strength is doubled and your melee attacks do +1 damage. On a Boost, Strength is tripled. Thrown Barrage (Yang+Marksman): You quickly draw and hurl handfuls of small blades. You can hit a number of Distant targets for 1 damage each, or throw them all at a single target for full damage. On a Boost, you can do full damage to a number of nearby targets. Weapon Morph (Yang+Crafts): You must have Summon Weapon. You may add or remove a number of weapon Qualities from any object until the Battle ends. On a Boost, the weapon also does +1 damage. Advanced Jutsu Battle Fury (Yang+Fortitude): You must have War Face. For the rest of the Battle, you get +1 Armor and don't stop fighting at 0 Health. You can take a decent amount of additional damage, but will collapse when the Battle ends. If you take more than that, you may choose either to collapse immediately or to keep going but die when the Battle ends. Energy from the Blade (Yang+Fighting): You must have Cannon Punch. You shoot a ki blast at a Distant target with all the Qualities of your melee weapon. On a Boost, you can also hit a second target on the line of attack for full damage. Fighter's Trance (Yin+Discipline): You get +4 Initiative and ignore all environmental penalties, including poor visibility, for the rest of the Battle. You also get a Boost on only 2 additional successes when making combat checks. Flying Weapon (Yang+Discipline): You make a flying weapon that harasses your target for several rounds, attacking at +2 on your Turn. If the target attacks you, the weapon also gives you +2 to Block on top of any other defenses you use. On a Boost, you animate a number of weapons at once. Pain Conversion (Yin+Fortitude): Any Pain conditions you have immediately end and become Yang ki. If you have no pain currently, you can instead take 1 physical damage to get 3 Yang. Next time: Clan-Specific Jutsu
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Jul 4, 2017 20:42
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 §2.4 Physical Forms Denizens of the castle no longer really adhere to the… regular laws of biology. Form is inherently mutable and changing, and everyone in Oubliette changes over time. §2.4.1 Age Physical age is mutable, and people can seemingly age and regress and age again. Someone who’s a thousand years old can look like a teenager, while someone who’s only thirty can look like an octogenarian. Physical age is strongly based on mental state and personality of the individual, and has nothing to do with time. §2.4.2 Strange Races Castle Oubliette is by its very nature home of the strange, eldritch, arcane, cryptic and mystic. Huge portions of the population are made up of races and species alien to normal human experience. Some of them are familiar: Goblins, elves, ogres, they are still remembered in some way in living memory, but noone of the World of Life remembers the Koom, the Preen, the Mongers and Hornfolk and Grist. It’s a bit of a shock for newcomers. Most people who’ve been in Oubliette for a while stop caring though. Most people don’t judgy by physical form overmuch, unless whatever it is is strange enough you can’t tell if it’s friend or foe, or even sentient. §2.4.3 Mutations Mutations among the populace of Oubliette are nearly universal, with inhabitants shifting and changing over time, deviating from their base stock far more than mere genetics would allow. Most mutations are a strange fusion of adaptation and training, bodies becoming better suited to whatever the being in question does. Bare-knuckle brawlers develop armored knuckles, professional politicians possess literally hypnotic voices, teamsters and manual laborers have inhumanly developed muscles specific to their job. §2.4.4 Unique Beings Oubliette is also home to singular entities, members of no species or race, not the product of mutation, but purely unique things. Most generally fit into some role in the Castle, finding a niche and getting along as best they can.  §2.5 Time and Space Time is like a ball of string, and space like a giant ever expanding sponge. Time and space, cause and effect are decidedly unnatural in Oubliette, though on the micro level it generally isn’t as apparent. §2.5.1 Two Streams of Time The World of the Forgotten and the World of Life are linked in time, but not in any linear or logical fashion. Imagine two strings, balled up and tangled together: While both can be followed from end to end they touch is very different places along their length. Events in the World of Life do not linearly link up with events in the World of the Forgotten. Beings from the far future of the World of Life arrive in the distant murky past of the Forgotten. People who all were pulled to Oubliette at the same time can arrive centuries apart and totally out of order. A single event in the World of Life can propagate and affect Oubliette for millennia. §2.5.2 Timekeeping Time is not meaningless in the Castle itself though: It progresses linearly much like in the World of Life and is counted in much the same way. While seasons don’t really exist, years are still counted as 365 days. Days themselves are based on the movement of the sun, and match close enough to Earthly 24 hour days to be workable. Clocks still must be routinely tuned though, as the sun seems to vary in its rate randomly over time making days and years only a rough approximation of true time. AD/CE and BC/BCE don’t matter either, as there is a general lack of any sort of commonly agreed upon “base” for the calendar. Most people simply refer to Years Ago or Years From Now, counting back or forward from the present. There is a fixed Year Zero, used in the Old Reckoning calendar which is approximately 23,600 years from Oubliette’s “Present” but this method is mainly used by scholars for histories and academic texts. Some cultures mark time differently though Gloomhome uses a star-based calendar, denizens who live underground often track time by meals, and some goblin towns all live by a single, probably broken, timepiece regardless of its accuracy or consistency.  §2.5.3 Other Worlds Too Oh, by the way: The World of Life technically incorporates an entire multiverse and alternate dimensions. Not everything in Oubliette came from our familiar Earth. Alternate Earths, or alternate dimensions, alien worlds and times, universes with completely alien laws of physics as well. For many of Oubliette’s residents the Castle is the only thing they have in common. §2.5.4 Structure of the City Castle Oubliette itself has two notable physical features that are present throughout the city. The first is that new arrivals are “sorted” throughout the city, appearing in the districts and regions that would best suite them. While occasionally there are mix-ups and misplacements the majority of beings in Oubliette consistently find themselves placed in the most hospitable environment the city has to offer. The second is that the city is slowly growing over time. It’s known that the Castle wasn’t always the current size, which covers hundreds of miles, but seemingly grew from a smaller “original” building. Whether this building came from the World of Life or was always in existence is a debated topic. §2.5.5 Death & Worse You can’t die in Oubliette. While the exact rules for reincarnating are covered later, when you die your body remains where it is, but after a while your re-appear somewhere in the city in a brand new body just like your old one at time of death, minus wounds, starvation, etc. No-one has ever permanently died in Oubliette, at least not with definite confirmation. People disappear of course, but often they show up again eventually, and any permanent disappearances are either just rumor or have some other explanation. As a side effect, death is not the worst thing possible anymore. Much more feared is anything short of it. Being trapped to slowly starve into madness, being tortured forever knowing that death is no escape, being crippled enough you don’t die, but can no longer kill yourself… And that wraps up section 2! Next time Section 3, Denizens of Oubliette and a lot more interesting stuff. THe first two chapters are a bit dry because it’s an introductory bit, but now we’re getting into details and fun things, in this case Castes, Races, and Factions!
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Jul 4, 2017 20:54
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Rifts World Book 14: New West Part 10: "Characters with the disguise skill and who roll under their skill at -15% will notice that the hair is actually a toupee (the accident that gave Roddy his powers removed the hair from his head for good. He cannot regrow it)."  Though not named in this book, this species will get a name later on: "Fingertooth Carpetbagger". Medicine Shows & Other Travelling Shows Let's just get this part out of the way. Rifts World Book 14: New West posted:A medicine show can be one or two people selling things out of a covered or hard-sided wagon, or a group of people and wagons (nomads like gypsies), but rarely number more than 24 people total. Rifts World Book 14: New West posted:The Stats for Doctor Geller can be used as a template to develop other traveling "Traders" and "Snake-oil Salesmen." ... Also see Gypsies in Rifts® Triax & The NGR. Yep, need any sort of ne'er-do-well traveler or con artist? Well, we already wrote rules for gypsies, you can use those! Dr. Geller's Carnival of Wonders We're directed to Rifts World Book 1: Vampire Kingdoms for more on building your own traveling shows. This traveling show is actually a rather large one that supports its people well and has its own defense crew, but also has a seedy criminal underbelly. So, they travel between Pecos Empire, Los Alamo, Lone Star, Fort El Dorado, Whykin, Kingsdale, and spends winters at Crossroads. Essentially, all places they actually visit are detailed in other books and not in Rifts World Book 14: New West. They're from Rifts World Book 10: Juicer Uprising or Rifts World Book 13: Lone Star. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDTwO0TlwOU They make a lot more money from gaming and betting booths than actual acts. Despite just saying that, it claims "most of the carnival people are basically honest (more or less)", except for a few working for "Remarkable Roddy" who apparently participate in more straightforward crimes. The carnival itself is run by Dr. Thadius Geller (not a real doctor), who is a filmflam artist who believes that the enjoyment he brings to communities outweighs a bit of "petty larceny". A few years ago, the show nearly closed down when Dr. Geller's love and star act "the Great Miranda" died in a freak accident. Dr. Geller picked up alcohol on the rebound, causing a number of members to quit, but he was approached by an acrobat named "the Remarkable Roddy" who invested in the show and helped Geller get off the wagon. In return, Roddy was made a headliner... and also got to use the circus as a cover for his criminal activities.  Seems trustworthy. Doctor T. Geller Born in "one of the small feudal kingdoms of West Virginia", Geller left with a series of adventurers, and used his gift of gab due to a lack of a gift of gunfire. He eventually got into business when his adventuring party broke up, but only really stayed afloat until he fell in love with Miranda and the carnival (in that order) during a show, and so he bought out the carnival she worked for so he could pursue her love. That's... a little creepy, Dr. Geller. Conveniently, she returned his love and the carnival prospered until her death... and then nearly fell apart until Geller got Roddy's support. While his attributes are the usual unrollable Rifts nonsense - nothing exceptional , but the only roll that's negative was Speed. He's a 10th level "Trader" (not an actual class) and is, randomly, a skilled computer programmer. He's your standard mustachioed well-meaning circus owner, and the book really wants to emphasize he's a nice guy even though he's clearly a small-"c" con artist.  The Remarkable Roddy Roderick Warington III is from a 20th-century equivalent Earth, as it turns out, but with superheroes and supervillains. A spoiled rich kid, he killed a woman in a drunk driving accident. He wasn't too bothered, expecting to get bailed out, but about the same time his father was arrested for undetailed financial shenanigans. His bailout never came and he ended up in prison for manslaughter. Eager for any way out, he volunteered for scientific experiments. However, when he was being experimented on, a supervillain broke in to steal science stuff. When a superhero showed up and a fight broke out, he was accidentally exposed to Generic Power and managed to break out and escape. Then there was a mysterious new villain named Lightning Rod that showed up that was... totally just fuckin' Roddy. When superheroes started cornering Roddy after a crime spree, he went to a "criminal scientist" to try and get some weapons to fight superheroes with. However, they were interrupted by... a generic superhero!... and Roddy crashed into a prototype dimensional teleporter, destroying it as he was transported to Rifts Earth. He quickly found out that the new world he was in was pretty dangerous, but he still had the purloined gems he'd stolen to pay off the scientist with. And when he came across the failing carnival, he saw opportunity, and used them to invest in the show, because apparently rare gems are still a big deal in this post-post-apocalypse hellzone. He uses the carnival as a cover for theft, smuggling, and the occasional assassination, using his powers to fry anybody who gets wise or doesn't give him his cut. Dr. Geller is generally unaware of the extent of his criminal activities. Roddy pretty much just wants to live large and doesn't care who he murders to do it. Roddy is a Heroes Unlimited character converted to Rifts, and the writeup at least gives cliff notes on his powers. His attributes are refreshingly, shockingly average (it's all literally 9s, 10s, and 11s). He's a "8th level supervillain" (really just a Experiment class from Heroes Unlimited), and can shoot lightning, manipulate kinetic energy, fly, and blend in with his surroundings. However, he has no hair, making him look like Electro well before Electro became a generic glowing bald guy in various media. Well, Roddy wears a toupee, even though he does flips all the time. Maybe he glues it on. Oh, and he's an excellent singer. He's actually only a middling acrobat, using his powers to fake it when necessary. Ironically, he doesn't wear armor often, despite having no way to stop a Wilk's laser shot short of diving for (mega-damage) cover. We get some short notes on a gang of pickpockets that serve as his immediate henches. No, he doesn't get any art. Next: Cowboy Skills.
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Jul 4, 2017 22:39
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Alien Rope Burn posted:
This guy's whole nose to mouth situation is amazing.
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Jul 4, 2017 23:25
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Cassa posted:Hahah, that's true. At what point do the denizens of hell bring up the 24th century's colony wars? I could perfectly well imagine one of Hell's circles being nothing but demons that really want to tell you about their half-baked political philosophies/analyses. Forever. And ever. Like an eternity of being trapped with that one relative that you can't tell to gently caress off because it's Christmas dinner, even though he's obliquely suggesting that black people are inferior, or the Vietnamese had the Vietnam War coming, or something. "I'm out of ammo and there are still more of them trying to tell me why fascism isn't actually a bad political philosophy!"
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Jul 5, 2017 01:11
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Midjack posted:This guy's whole nose to mouth situation is amazing. Yeah, I love Ramon Perez, but a lot of his early art can have some... exaggerated proportions on faces.
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Jul 5, 2017 01:19
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PurpleXVI posted:I could perfectly well imagine one of Hell's circles being nothing but demons that really want to tell you about their half-baked political philosophies/analyses. Forever. And ever. Like an eternity of being trapped with that one relative that you can't tell to gently caress off because it's Christmas dinner, even though he's obliquely suggesting that black people are inferior, or the Vietnamese had the Vietnam War coming, or something. LOL if you haven't put skill points in staring blankly ahead. 
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Jul 5, 2017 01:20
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Though not named in this book, this species will get a name later on: "Fingertooth Carpetbagger". Imagine my surprise when I Googled this and found that you weren't joking.
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Jul 5, 2017 01:42
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Alien Rope Burn posted:
I think I just realized that these guys are the Predators that don't go on hunts.
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Jul 5, 2017 01:44
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Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition: Esoteric Total Bullshit The Way of Balancing Scales is an Earth-elemental jutsu used by the Wardens of Eqiulibrium, designed to emphasize contrast and harmony over flashy performance. On a Boost, you can convert 1 ki from Yin to Yang of vice versa. On a Backfire, if you have more of one type of ki, you lose ki until you have equal amounts of both. If thery were equal, you take 1 damage, either mental or physical. Basic Jutsu Balanced Mind (Yin+Discipline): You eliminate a number of levels of mental Conditions, capped by Intuition. You can try this only once per session. Harmonic Flow (Yin+Survival): For the rest of the Scene, the local environment is treated as if a ki line was present - not just for you, but everyone. On a Boost, you also reset the number of taps allowed in the area. Ki Conversion (Yin or Yang+Discipline): You pick one type of chi and roll that one. You can convert a number of points of that type into an equal amount of the other. Many Tongues (Yin+Knowledge): For the rest of the scene, you hear what others intend to say, regardless of language, and they hear the same from you. You can still lie or be lied to, but not misunderstand or be misunderstood. Penetrating Senses (Yin+Perception: You can see through several feet of solid material for as long as you concentrate. This lets you see what's inside pockets or boxes, or hear through walls. The only material this cannot penetrate is gold. Median Jutsu Drain Ki (Yin+Discipline): You must have Ki Conversion. Your unarmed attacks steal the target's ki for several attacks. The target loses one ki (type of your choice) and you gain it. Mind's Eye (Yin+Intuition): For the rest of the scene, you see with ki rather than eyes, ignoring all penalties for poor visibility or blindness, and you can also see through any Basic jutsu that obscures or makes someone invisible. On a Boost, you can also see through Median jutsu. Perceive Ki (Yang+Perception): You must have Penetrating Senses. You choose a target you can see and learn their birth Element, their curren ki levels and any active jutsu they have. You get +2 to any attempt to detect or track the target, but you cannot recover Yang while this jutsu is active. See Price (Yin+Intuition): You must have Perceive Ki. You ask someone to do something and activate this, learning what the minimum bribe is to get them to agree. You get +2 Persuasion against them if you offer the bribe, and the bribe is usually a favor or something the target desires rather than money. The price may not be something you are able to offer. Tainted Ki (Yang+Holistics): You must have Ki Conversion. With a touch, you may disrupt the target's energy flow. If you hit, this lasts for several Rounds. While it is active, the target must use the opposite type of ki to activate jutsu from normal, and any jutsu they use causes a Backfire automatically. Advanced Jutsu Deactivate Jutsu (Yin+Discipline): You touch the wielder or target of a jutsu, automatically and immediately ending it if you beat the original jutsu's roll. Destroy Ki (Yang+Might): You must have Drain Ki. Your unarmed attacks now disrupt the target for a number of attacks, making them lose 1 ki of each type and causing Pain 1 if you hit. If the target has no more ki to lose, your attacks do +2 damage instead. Harmonic Resonance (Yin+Empathy): You must have Harmonic Flow. For the rest of the scene, when you use an Action to resonate, until your next Turn all allies (including you) get an extra Boost on any successful check, and spending one die from the Karma pool adds two dice instead of one. Poison Ki (Yin+Holistics): You must have Tainted Ki. Your ki becomes disruptive and harmful for several attacks. When you hit, you poison the target's ki. For the rest of the Battle, they take damage when they activate jutsu - 1 for Basic, 2 for Median and 3 for Advanced. Reflect Jutsu (Yang+Discipline): You may use a Dynamic Action to send the opponent's jutsu back at them by activating this, avoiding the effect entirely. The attacker is hit instead, even needing to defend against their original roll. If you fail, you still suffer half the effect. (I think? The bit about failure causing half the effect is unclear.) The Way of Caring Hands is a Wood-element jutsu used by the Bamboo Herbalists, designed to improve health and understanding of the body. On a Boost, you may lower a Condition rating by 1 for yourself or a target in Near range. On a Backfire, a Condition of the GM's choice increases by 1 for you or the target of your healing. Basic Jutsu Diagnostics (Yin+Holistics): You understand any diseases, injuries or mental ailments affecting the target and get +1 Holistics to treat them. Healing Trance (Yin+Discipline): You regain 1 Health per hour spent in a trance. On a Boost, all of your bodily functions stop during the trance, including breathing, bleeding and digestion. Pure Touch (Yin+Holistics): With a touch, you end any mundane Poison conditions and can Support checks against magical poisons. On a Boost, you automatically purge magical poisons as well. Quick Needle Technique (Yang+Fortitude): You pluck and harden a number of strands of your own hair, turning them into ki-charged needles. Each may be thrown as a Quick, Ranged weapon, or may be used during acupuncture as tool worth +1 Holistics. On a Boost, the needles are also Piercing. Soothing Touch (Yang+Empathy): You heal a target of any Pain or Broken conditions and give a +1 bonus to their next check. On a Boost, they also heal 1 mental damage. Median Jutsu Confusion Touch (Yin+Fighting): You must have Pure Touch. You may strike a chakra point to disrupt ki flow and muscle control, making attempts to use muscles activate the wrong muscles. For a number of Rounds, the target only gains dice from the lowest skill in a skill combo. On a Boost, the target's failures are automatically critical failures. Death Trance (Yin+Fortitude): You must have Healing Trance. You set the trance's duration, up to several days. You are aware of your surroundings while in a trance, but cannot end it early unless you are hurt while in the trance. During hte trance, you need no food, air or water and appear to be a corpse. On a Boost, you can send a willing ally into the trance instead. Heal Wound (Yang+Holistics): You must have Diagnostics. You project ki into your hands, healing a target quite well and allowing you to Support their Fortitude checks with Holistics. On a Boost, you can heal yourself with this. Paralysis Needles (Yin+Marksman): You must have Quick Needle Technique. You strike pressre points on the target, either at range or in melee, and render them immobile. The target may use Defenses against this attack, but they lose their next few Turns if they get hit due to paralysis. On a lost Turn, they can make a Discipline+Fortitude check to break free of the paralysis. On a Boost, the paralysis lasts the entire scene. Weakening Touch (Yin+Holistics): You must have Pure Touch. You cool the target's Yang, draining their strength. For the rest of the Battle, their Strength is halved, their attacks do -1 damage and they get -2 Might. On a Boost, the damage penalty is -2 instead. Advanced Jutsu Corpse Puppet (Yin+Perform): Via acupuncture and ki, you animate a fresh corpse for one scene. It uses your actions and skills, and you can see through its eyes. You can speak through the corpse, but it requires a Deception+Persuade check to sound natural. Lasting Life Technique (Yang+Holistics): You must have Pure Touch and Heal Wound. You channel ki into a recently dead body that is physically intact, restoring it to life. The target must have died within the last few Rounds, and awakens with 1 Health and 1 Psyche. On a Boost, you can affect a corpse that has been dead for a few hours. Morph Ingredients (Yang+Holistics): You may alter an ingredient into any other ingredient of lesser value. When used with Alchemy, you may raise or lower the Difficulty to resist a potion by 2. If you do not have Alchemy, you instead get +3 Holistics for one check. Regeneration Technique (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Healing Trance. For the rest of the Battle, you heal 1 damage (of either type) at the start of each Round. On a Boost, you heal 2 damage (of either type or one of both) instead. Transfer Ailments (Yin+Discipline): You must have Heal Wound. With a touch, you may transfer any damage, Conditions or jutsu effects between yourself and the target - either from them onto you or vice versa. The victim may resist with Yang+Fortitude. The Way of Ebony Clutches is a Water-element jutsu used by the Grasping Shadows, focusing on control over shadow. A Boost on activation gives you +2 to your next Stealth check. A Backfire causes a -1 cumulative penalty to Stealth for the scene. Basic Jutsu Dark Eyes (Yin+Perception): You may see in any kind of darkness, even magically imposed darkness. If you are blinded, the penalties are reduced to partial blindness as you can sense the shadows around you. Master of Night (Yin+Survival): You create a shadow that eclipses the sky and sends a wide area into darkness, as if it were night, for the rest of the scene. Anyone in the area besides you gets -2 to Perception checks. Also, the darkness gives +1 to activating other Ebony Clutches jutsu. On a Boost, you may also cause Sensory Loss 1 in a number of people in the area. Puppetry (Yang+Perform): You use shadows to put on a show that entrances onlookers, giving +2 to impress an audience, or distracts them, giving -1 to Initiative checks. Shadow Cloak (Yin+Stealth): You coat yourself in shadow, getting +2 Stealth and making it impossible to identify you by sight. With a Boost, you can also extend this to several other people. Shadow Pocket (Yin+Knowledge): You create a pocket in the realm of shadows where you can put a single object no more than half your size. You can store only one object at time. With a Boost, you can store an object as large as you are. Median Jutsu Blinding Darkness (Yin+Perception): You must have Shadow Cloak. You create a deep darkness over a small area. Anyone in the darkness is considered blind and has -3 to all checks until they leave it. Shadow Fist Attack (Yang+Might): You must have Puppetry. You create a barrage of shadow fists against a foe. They have +2 to attacks (ranged or unarmed) and deal 2 damage. They act independently of you and make several attacks before fading away. Shadow Overwhelming (Yang+Intimidation): You must have Puppetry. You make the shadows around you move menacingly for several Rounds. Anyone that sees you and the shadows must make a Discipline+Empathy check to resist gaining the Afraid condition. Shadow's Tentacle (Yang+Crafts): You must have Puppetry. You create a number of whip-like shadow tentacles, which act independently of you and obey orders that you can give as a Quick Action. Each can attack a target with half your unarmed dicepool, dealing 1 damage. They can lift up to 200 pounds and carry objects for you. The tentacles last for one scene or Battle. Solid Shadow (Yang+Discipline): You solidify the target's shadow into an extension of their body. Attacks that hit the shadow damage the target, so they have -2 to all Defense checks for several Rounds. Advanced Jutsu Enter the Shadow Realm (Yang+Travel): You create a portal to the world of shadows for several Rounds. Anyone can enter it in that itme. If you use this to exit the shadow realm, you may appear anywhere in the world you have been before that is currently in darkness. This allows you to bypass the River, Forge and Mountain aspects of a Journey. Grasping Shadows (Yin+Might): You drag the target into the realm of shadows. They resist with Might+Speed, but if they lose, they are kept in the shadow realm for one day. After that, they are popped out at a random place up to a mile away. With a Boost, you can follow them into the shadow realm. Shadow Double (Yin+Persuade): You must have Solid Shadow. Your shadow separates from you and acts on its own for a scene. It can't attack and is immune to damage, and you perfectly share its vision and hearing. For the duration, you are also immune to any Ebony Clutches jutsu that would affect your shadow, because you don't have one. Shadow's Jump (Yang+Travel): While this is active, you may teleport through shadows, using a Move action to teleport to any shadow you can see. Unmoving Shadow (Yin+Persuade): You make the target's shadow unmovable, semi-paralyizing them for several Rounds. They cannot move from their position and get -2 to all actions and defenses for the duration. The Way of Great Serpents is a Wood-elemental jutsu used by the Recoiling Serpents, focusing on snakes and poisons. On a Boost, you may instantly reduce someone's Poison condition by 1. On a Backfire, you suffer a cumulative level of Slowed, which can be reduced with a Boost during the scene. Basic Jutsu Acid Spit (Yang+Holistics): Your spit momentarily becomes poisonous and can dissolve metal. You may spit at a Near for for damage, or lick a weapon to give it +1 damage for several attacks. On a critical failure with a licked weapon, however, the toxin destroys it. Hypnotic Eyes (Yin+Persuade): Your eyes become reptilian and fascinating. For the rest of the scene, you may use Yin+Persuade against any attack you are able to see coming. On a Boost, you may immobilize the attacker, reducing their Movement to 0 for the round. Long Tongue (Yang+Fortitude): Your tongue becomes thick and serpentine, extending several yards. For the rest of the Scene you may use it to attack, block or grab Near things as if it were a hand. Sip of Venom (Yin+Holistics): You can identify the ingredients and potential uses of any substance by taste, and get +2 Holistics to try and recreate any tasted poison for the scene. On a Boost, you also detect anyone nearby who has recently been in contact with the substance or its ingredients. Swallow (Yin+Fortitude): Your jaw unhinges, and you may swallow and later throw up any item no more than half your size. You choose whether to digest it or not but cannot recover Yin while it's inside you. On a Boost, you can swallow something up to your own size. Median Jutsu Adaptation Technique (Yin+Survival): You slide to the ground and take on the terrain's coloration, gaining +1 Stealth and ignoring terrain hazards and obstacles for the scene. Serpent's Scales (Yin+Fortitude): Your skin becomes slick scales, giving +1 Armor and +2 to resist Grapples for the rest of the Battle. On a Boost, you get +2 Armor instead. Shed Skin (Yang+Fortitude): Your outer skin layer disintegrates, taking tattoos, cuts and bruises with it. You heal 3 physical damage, and on a Boost, also 2 mental damage. Snake Surprise (Yang+Discipline): You may activate this while grabbing or being grabbed. Poisonous snakes slither out of your pockets and clothes, causing Afraid in the grappled foe and damaging them each Round until the Grab is broken. Venom Strike (Yang+Holistics): You must have Sip of Venom. Your fingertips sprout poisonous fangs. Your unarmed strikes deal +1 damage and cause +1 Poison for the rest of the Battle, and you get +1 Athletics for climbing checks. Advanced Jutsu Nagah Form (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Shed Skin. Your legs fuse and elongate into a serpentine form for the scene. You get +2 Movement, or +4 on water or unbroken ground such as grass, sand or snow. If you coil around a foe as a Grab, you may still use weapons of any size and Defenses against other attacks. On a Boost, you may constrict a coiled for for 2 damage. Poison Body Technique (Yin+Holistics): You must have ACid Spit and Venom Strike. You undergo a painful ritual that makes you toxic for several days. You get Deprived 2 and take 3 physical damage, neither of which can be healed by any means while the jutsu is active. Any contact with your skin or bodily fluids removes the ability to heal physical damage for several days and makes the victim have to make a Fortitude+Holistics check each day or take 1 physical damage and Pain 1 that won't go away until the poison's run its course. Shed Body (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Shed Skin and Swallow. You grow a new body in your stomach, which bursts out of your mouth and sloughs off your old body over the course of 1 Round. All physical and mental damage is healed and any lost limbs are restored. Your old skin can be used to give a +1 to making masks and disguises. Up the Sleeves (Yang+Fighting): You must have Snake Surprise. Snakes pop out of your sleeves to attack a Near foe, who gets -1 to Defense against the attack. If the snakes hit, they deal damage and Grab the foe for several Rounds, dealing 1 damage per Round. You may use grappling moves via the snakes as a Quick Action from up to Far range. Venomous Spew (Yang+Fortitude): You must have Swallow. You vomit a spray of poison and acid on a Near target, dealing damage and causing a Poison condition. This ignores armor, and the only possible defense is Find Cover. On a Boost, your spray can also hit another Near target at full effect. The Way of Heaven's Judgement is a Metal-elemental jutsu used by the Will of Iron, focusing on understanding justice and law. On a Boost, you get +1 damage against an active criminal. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative Confused 1 condition and can't determine guilt while Confused. Basic Jutsu Deception Proof (Yang+Perception): For the rest of the scene, you automatically know if the target's statements are true or false. This will not reveal the actual truth or detect lies of omission. Detect Disturbance (Yin+Empathy): You sense and are drawn to injustice - usually the nearest crime or tragedy, but more significant events can overwhelm nearer but more mild ones. On a Boost, you get a feeling of the kind of disturbance and you can select which to track if there's more than one. Hunt the Guilty (Yin+Intuition): You attune to a criminal case, getting +1 to any check to find clues, track perpetrators or convince others to help resolve the case. This lasts until the case is solved, you choose a new crime or you stop believing the event was a crime in the first place. Righteous Objection (Yang+Intimidation): You shout at a crime or unjust act in process, treating your roll as an Opposed check against the action. On a Boost, you instantly stop the action instead. The target must be able to hear you. Sense the Guilty (Yin+Empathy): You look at someone and get feelings and images of the crime they feel most guilty about - though they must feel guilty about it. On a Boost, the images are clear enough for you to know details about the circumstances. Median Jutsu Blind Justice (Yin+Intuition): You must have Sense the Guilty. You perceive foes through ki rather than sight. For the rest of the Battle, you ignore penalties from darkness or blindness. On a Boost, you also get +1 Perception with a non-visual sense. Eye for an Eye (Yang+Empathy): You glow with an aura of vengeance. For the rest of the Battle, when you take physical damage or conditions, the attacker takes the same if they are within Near range. On a Boost, the aura can hit Distant foes. Instant Justice (Yin+Empathy): You must have Hunt the Guilty. You must witness a crime or unrighteous act in progress to activate this. Once you do, a number of perpetrators will fall victim to the same crime within days. On a Boost, within hours. Mark of Guilt (Yin+Intimidation): You must have Sense the Guilty. You touch someone, tattooing their face with the crime they feel most guilty about. This fades after several days or when they perform an act of reparation. While the mark is visible, they get -1 to social checks for minor crimes such as lying or theft, or -2 for more serious crimes. Part the Mystery (Yin+Intuition): You must have Sense the Guilty. You get a prophetic vision about clues to a mystery, learning your choice of who did the crime, how the crime was done or why it was done. On a Boost, you know two of the three. As a note, visions are not acceptable evidence in most Imperial courts. Advanced Jutsu Avenging Spirits (Yin+Persuade): You must have Instant Justice. You name a specific crime to avenge, calling on angry ghosts. Only you and the perpetrators can see them, and they cause Dazed 1 in perpetrators, as well as Afraid 1 on those who roll a critical failure. If you die while this jutsu is active, you become a ghost that can harm only the perpetrators. Untl you end this jutsu, you cannot recover ki or Mold Ki. Dark Mark (Yin+Intimidation): You must have Instant Justice. You brand a guilty target with a magic sign. Until they atone for their guilt somehow, all of their failures are critical failures and any jutsu use causes a Backfire unless they use a Boost to counteract that. Divulgence (Yang+Intimidation): You must have Deception Proof. You may ask a number of yes-or-no questions, and the target must answer them completely. On a Boost you may instead ask a single complex question. Judgement Blade (Yin+Empathy): You must have Eye for an Eye and Instant Justice. You attune a weapon to a wronged victim. The weapon can no longer harm anyone uninvolved with the crime, but deals normal damage to complicit people and +1 damage to those directly responsible. Damage caused by the weapon ignores Armor, and any conditions it causes are 1 step higher than normal. YHou may not recover ki until you end this jutsu and return the weapon to normal. Mark of Atonement (Yin+Empathy): You must have Mark of Guilt. You create a magical symbol on the target, telling everyone what the target must do to atone for the crime they feel most guilty about. If that is done, the mark and the guilt both disappear. However, if they do the same crime again, they take 3 phyiscal damage. Each time the Mark triggers after that, it does 3 more damage than the last time. The Way of the Immaculate Show is a Fire-elemental jutsu used bythe Blazing Dancers, focusing on performance and acrobatics. n a Boost during a performance or while telling a story, you can create an illusion for everyone to see and be impressed by. On a Backfire, you get -2 Initiative and half of any audience leaves, unhappy. Basic Jutsu Conjuring HandS (Yin+Stealth): You can make small objects in reach vanish or reappear. Anything unattended that you could reach and grasp in a closed fist disappears without you touching it. As a Quick Action, you may summon the item into your hand. Until the item reappears, you may not recover Yin. Hypnotic Voice (Yin+Perform): Your voice transfixes and audience until violence or loud noise saps them out of it. This cannot be used during Battle. Anyone who wants to do anything but listen to you talk must make a difficulty 2 Discipline+Speed check to do so. On a Boost, difficulty 3. The Perfect Show (Yang+Perform): For the rest of the scene, you get +2 Perform before an audience and everyone knows you are captivating and alluring. The Poet's Ear (Yin+Knowledge): You may reproduce or mimic any song, poem, music or dance perfectly - and overheard conversations count as a song or poem. Trick Shots (Yang+Marksman): Your thrown attacks bounce strangely, getting +1 to hit, ignoring cover penalties and moving along indirect paths. They also return to your hand. This lasts for several attacks. Median Jutsu The Beautiful Dance (Yang+Speed): You move super quickly, getting +1 Dynamic Action per Round for several Rounds. Flashing Exit (Yang+Stealth): You vanish in a puff of smoke, noise and lights. You are nowhere at all until the start of your next turn, when you reappear somewhere within (Movement*2) yards, hidden if you want to be. Juggling Hands (Yang+Marksman): You sprout illusionary arms, each juggling dozens of objects. You may equip a number of one-handed weapons and twice that many random small objects. Each time you use one, melee or thrown, you get +2 and then lose it from your list of juggled items. Once all weapons or items have been used, the jutsu ends. Phantom Switch (Yin+Perform): You must have Conjuring Hands. As long as no one can see you, you teleport to anywhere nearby that no one else can see. You may use pretty much anything to slip out of sight - dive under a bsket, slip around a corner, whatever. Star of the Show (Yang+Perform): You must have The Perfect Show. You begin to glow brightly, drawing in attention. Normal audience members are dumbstruck. For the rest of the scene, you illuminate a fairly wide area and may Block any attack against you or anyone else with Yang+Perform. If you take damage, the jutsu ends. Advanced Jutsu Dazzling Display (Yang+Intimidation): You must have Star of the Show. You emit explosive bursts of light when struck. When you first activate this, all Close foes are Confused 1 unless they make a Fortitude+Perception check. For the rest of the Battle, so is anyone who deals physical damage to you unless they take -2 on the attack by shielding their eyes. Destroyer's Dance (Yang+Perform): You must have The Beautiful Dance. Primal energy flwows through you, sending you into a trance and coating you in fire, which gives +2 Armor against all damage and which deals +2 damage to anyone touching or touched by you. You also get +2 to physical attacks and Defense checks. This all lasts for several Rounds. Shattering Song (Yin+Perform): You must have Hypnotic Voice. Your voice resonates with destrictive ki. Against a single target, this is an attack that deals double damage to nonliving targets. If projected at an area, it can be heard for several miles and panics animals whose trainers do not make a difficulty 3 check to control them. On a Boost, you straight up destroy inanimate objects instead of dealing damage to them. Thundering Drums (Yang+Fortitude): Nonexistent drums pound in time with your movements. When you or an ally describes how their actions are done to the beat, they get +1 and, if the action was an attack, deal +1 mental damage. While the drums play, any die used from the Karma pool generates an additional die. The drums last until the scene ends, the Karma pool is empty or someone else uses a jutsu that makes sound or silence to counter this. Understudy (Yang+Perception): You must have The Poet's Ear. For the rest of the scene, you can perfectly mimic the target's voice and mannerisms and may use the target's skill in place of your own if you've seen them use it. You may also attempt to use any jutsu you've seen them use, but always use your Perception in place of the normal skill. You get +2 to any attempt to disguise yourself as the target. The Way of Inked Skin is a Fire-elemental jutsu used by the Virtuous Body Gardeners to manipulate tattoos. Also, just knowing it lets you assimilate small inanimate objects onto your skin as tattoos via a five minute ritual. On a Boost during activation, you may withdraw any of these items to your hand as a free action, as per Withdraw Weapon. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative -1 Speed. Basic Jutsu Artful Defense (Yin+Speed): You convert a weapon striking you into a tatoo. This negates any damage from the attack and...well, turns the weapon into a tattoo. However, this doesn't work on unarmed attacks or magic weapons. Ink Touch (Yang+Crafts): You create a temporary tattoo of your design on the target. On a Boost, it is permanent if you want it to be. Pain Killer (Yin+Fortitude): You activate spiral tattoos on your chakras, reducing any Pain condition by 1 per Round for several Rounds. If you have no Pain conditions, you instead get +1 Health for the scene. Tiger's Claw (Yang+Fortitude): You get tiger stripe tattoos on your hands that can be transformed into claws. Your unarmed attacks deal +1 damage and cause Pain 1 for several attacks. Withdraw Weapon (Yang+Fighting): You instantly draw a weapon or tool from your tattoos, returning it to tattoo form when you're done using it, unless you threw it. You may have up to (Fortitude) wieldable weapon tats at once, and as many shuriken tats as you want. You may use this Reflexively, and you suffer no penalty to drawing and attacking on the same Action. Median Jutsu Animal Friend (Yang+Persuade): You cause a tattoo to turn into a small animal that can do a task with several steps. It is not combat-ready, but can give +1 Armor for a single hit if it jumps in the way to shield you. Emotion Brand (Yin+Empathy): You must have Ink Touch. The tattoo made by Ink Touch can be made to reach to the target's scalp and alter their emotions, giving - 2 to resist your choice of Persuade, Intimidation or Deception for several rounds. Follow the Ink (Yin+Intuition): If faced with multiple options, you can activate this to ask the GM several yes-or-no questions. You can use this only once per situation. Needles of Agony (Yin+Discipline): You must have Ink Touch. You move the tattoo from Ink Touch to the target's pain centers and turn the ink into needles. The victim resists with Fortitude, and if they fail they get Pain 3. They may only suffer one Pain from this at any time, but it stacks with Pain from other sources. Shuriken Explosion (Yang+Marksman): You must have Withdraw Weapon. The kanji for shuriken is tattooed all over you. When you activate this, they turn into actual shuriken and spray an area around you, forcing anyone in the area to Defend or take 2 damage. Advanced Jutsu Complete Control (Yang+Discipline): You must have Ink Touch. You spread the ink from Ink Touch over the target's limbs, giving you control of their body for several Rounds. Y ou can make them do anything you want, including attack their allies. Each command uses an Action, and the target can resist with Strength. On a Boost, they get -2 to resisting. Extra Arm Technique (Yang+Fortitude): You take 1 damage to make your tattoos sprout as an extra pair of arms. You get +2 to Crafts and halve the time needed for Crafts checks. In combat, you get +2 to Block and +1 Dynamic Action per Round. On a Boost, all effects are doubled. Loyal Servant (Yang+Intimidation): You must have Animal Friend. You summon a creature from your tattoos, an animal or mythical beast. It has 5 Health and 2 Armor, acts independently at your Initiative minus 2, and any checks it makes use your skills at -2. Mask of Fear (Yin+Crafts): Your facial tattoos swirl and alter your appearance, giving you +3 Intimidation for the scene. You may choose to scare a number of enemies in Near range without a check. Trapped in Skin (Yin+Fortitude): You must have Artful Defense. With a touch, you can turn someone into a tattoo for several days, but you cannot regain Yin while they're one of your tats. The victim gets Deprived 1 after 3 days and again after the 5th day. The Way of Kept Lore is a Water-elemental jutsu used by the Living Chronicle to store and record information. On a Boost during activation, you get a cumulative automatic success on your next Knowledge check. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to Intuition checks. Basic Jutsu Instant Reading (Yang+Speed): You may touch a book or scroll to instantly absorb its contents. You lose the information after several days unless you use Preserve the Words. The Long View (Yin+Knowledge): You add the better of Yin or Knowledge to your Initiative, dropping by 1 each Round. On a Boost, you get +2 to the Initiative bonus. Preserve the Words (Yin+Knowledge): You take a piece of information you have overheard, read or otherwise observed and turn it into a tatoo on your skin. You get +3 Knowledge regarding that information, reducing by 1 per hour. Reading the Eyes (Yang+Perception): You get +2 Empathy to detect lies from the target for the scene. Setting the Words Loose (Yang+Crafts): You take a tattoo from your body and place the information contained in it into a book or scroll. This is the only way you may remove your tattoos. Any Confused or Dazed condition you have is reduced by 1. Median Jutsu Information Consumption (Yin+Knowledge): You must have Refusal of Bedlam. The target must sit in a ritual circle for half an hour, at which point you may reach into their mind and pluck out a number of memories or pieces of information. They resist with Discipline+Fortitude, but forget anything you remove if they fail. They also get Dazed 2 no matter what. Refusal of Bedlam (Yin+Discipline): You automatically succeed at any Discipline checks about concentration for several Rounds. You also get 1 Armor against mental damage for the Battle. Rewriting History (Yin+Intuition): You may make a check and reroll any failed dice once. You may spend a Yin to use this Reflexively. Work Smarter (Yang+Discipline): You may replace any physical skill in a skill combo with Knowledge a number of times. On a Boost, you instead add Knowledge as a bonus to the combo. Worthy Borrower (Yang+Knowledge): You may transfer any amount of ki to anyone you can see. Advanced Jutsu Granting Power (Yang+Knowledge): You must have Worthy Borrower. You may transfer knowledge of any jutsu you know to anyone you can see for several Rounds. On a Boost, the target also gets +1 to activate the transferred jutsu. Information Overload (Yang+Discipline): You must have Setting the Words Loose. You force information into the target's brain, causing mental damage. They must be in Close or Grapple range. Perceive Weakness (Yin+Perception): You get +(Intuition) to physical attacks, dropping by 1 per Round. Perfect Stillness (Yin+Stealth): As long as you don't move, neither can your target. Neither of you can move, take ACtions or even Defend. After the victim is relased, they get Slowed 1. Mind Removing Technique (Yin+Knowledge): You must have Information Consumption. After using that, you may activate this so that the victim is left without memory of the past few days. On a Boost, this is instead weeks. The Way of Spun Threads is a Metal-elemental jutsu used by the Hidden Strands of Fate to control thread. If you don't have a spool, you may spend 1 ki of any type to imbue a set of clothing or ball of thread. On a Boost on attack or defense, you can attach a string to whatever you touched. On a Backfire, you get a cumulative -1 penalty to all Spun Threads jutsu until you spend an Action to untangle the threads. Basic Jutsu Attached (Yang+Deception): Any item you have touched during the scene gets a string attached to it. You may manipulate, yank or otherwise affect it with Strength via the string. Invisible Threads (Yin+Stealth): Your strings are totally invisible. If you use them to attack, targets get -1 to Defend. Skilled Strands (Yang+Intuition): You can manipulate your strings to perform skills at Near or Far range at -2. On a Boost, you get +1 to rolls. You cannot use this for combat. Spider's Scry (Yin+Perception): You can listen to conversations within Near range of your strings as long as the string is within several miles of you. Thread Web (Yang+Crafts): You summon a web of string, which must have trees, walls or other surfaces to hang from, and which has a decent amount of Health. Median Jutsu Battle Strands (Yang+Discipline): You must have Skilled Strands. You may wield melee weapons with your strings, allowing you to use Fighting at Far range for the Battle. Blast of Webbing (Yin+Marksman): You shoot balls of sticky string at the target. If they hit, the victim loses Movement. If it's reduced to 0, they lose their Standard Action for the Round. They get +2 Movement back each Round. On a Boost, they are also Slowed 1. Strumming the Chords (Yang+Speed): You may alter your voice or mimic someone else's. You can make it more menacing to get +1 Intimdiation. This lasts for the scene. Pulling Strings (Yang+Persuade): The target gets the Convinced condition at a decent level. Thread Whip (Yang+Crafts): You make a whip out of several strands, which can be wielded like a normal whip but also causes cumulative Pain 1 when it hits to a cap of Pain 3. Advanced Jutsu Becoming the Mask (Yang+Crafts): You cure a cloth mask in blood and milk, then apply it to your face to make it appear as if it were another person's. This also alters your body to conform to how they appear, giving +2 to related checks. This is more than an illusion - it's physical and requires no concentration to maintain. Master of Puppets (Yang+Might): You must have Battle Strands. You attach your strings to the target and control them with an Opposed Strength check that you get +2 to. If you win, you control the target's Standard Action. On a Boost, you also control 1 Dynamic Action. This lasts for several Rounds. Razor String (Yang+Crafts): Your threads do +2 physical damage for the rest of Battle. If you fall below Yang 4, this drops to +1 damage. Spider's Charm (Yin+Fortitude): You turn drops of your blood into strings. These blood threads are indestructible and give +2 to all activation checks for the scene. Wardrobe Change (Yang+Crafts): You reconstruct your clothing instantly into a new outffit. You can turn it into Armor against physical damage for several Rounds, and the visual transformation lasts for the Battle or scene. The Way of Twin Beasts is an Earth-elemental jutsu used by the Pack of the Black Moon, allowing them to tap deeply into their ninja dogs. On a Boost during activation, your jutsu affects your dog for free, with no extra ki cost. On a Backfire, you and your dog get a cumulative -1 to Initiative and Twin Beasts jutsu checks. Basic Jutsu The Hunt Begins (Yang+Perception): You borrow your dog's senses, getting +3 Survival (Tracking) for the scene. In the High Grass (Yin+Perceptuon): You get +2 Stealth for the scene. On a Boost, you also do +1 damage on your first attack in an ambush. Licked Wounds (Yang+Empathy): Your dog loves you, and you get a Holistics bonus to your next roll to treat a patient. Prodigious Howl (Yang+Intimidation): You howl, audible for several miles, in a code known to the clan. On a Boost, anyone in Close range must make a Discipline+Empathy check or take 1 mental damage. Yellow Mark (Yin+Marksman): Your dog pees on the target. Any of the target's attempts to avoid your tracking automatically fail, and you always know where they are if you're within a few miles of them. On a Boost, tey are also Embarrassed 1. Removing the mark requires a long, very soapy bath. Median Jutsu Animal Within (Yang+Might): You must have Prodigious Howl. You grow pointy ears, fangs and claws. For the Battle, you deal +1 damage in close comnat and get +2 Speed for several Rounds. A Boost on your attacks also causes Bleeding 1. Canine Form (Yang+Fortitude): You turn into a copy of your ninja dog, losing thumbs and the ability to speak. You use your dog's stats in place of your own, but get +2 Athletics while in dog form. Linked Souls (Yin+Empathy): You must have The Hunt Begins. You and your dog share senses and thoughts for the rest of the scene as long as you're within several miles of each other. Meet In the Middle (Yang+Fighting): You and your dog coordinate three attacks in a single Action. You roll one activation check for the first two, which are Defended against normally. If both hit, you roll a second check with +3 Fighting, which deals +2 damage if it hits. If either of the first two attacks miss, the third is not rolled. Puppy Eyes (Yin+Empathy): You get +2 Persuade for several checks. Advanced Jutsu Backed into a Corner (Yin+Survival): You must have Animal Within. If you have been dealt damage, you may choose not to attack for the rest of the Round. At the start of the next Round, you automatically act first, regardless of Initiative, and heal half the total dmaage dealt to you in previous Rounds. This healed damage is also added as a bonus to the damage dealt by your first attack in the new Round. Beast Barrage (Yang+Athletics): You must have Meet in the Middle. You and your dog attack a single target, vanishing and reappearing from all angles. You may make a number of melee attacks against the target, who gets -2 to all Defense checks. On a Boost, you can spend Dynamic Actions to add +2 attacks per Dynamic Action spent. Human Form (Yang+Crafts): Your ninja dog turns into a copy of you for the scene, though it still can't speak. It is otherwise identical to you, using your skills. You get an Action at -2 Initiative, taken by your dog. On a Boost, you also get +1 Dynamic Die for the Battle that can be used by either you or the dog. Repress the Beast (Yin+Discipline): You hit everyone nearby with anti-aggressive energy. Targets must resist with Discipline+speed or get -3 Initiative and -1 Fighting for the scene. Stare Down (Yin+Empathy): You force the target to attack only you for several Rounds. You get +2 Armor for that time against their attacks. Your dog may attack without penalty for the duration. (I don't know why it notes that.) Next time: So what are the actual rules of this game?
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Jul 5, 2017 02:06
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MightyMatilda posted:Imagine my surprise when I Googled this and found that you weren't joking. Sometimes snark is as easy as stating a basic fact. 
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Jul 5, 2017 02:14
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He looks like the unholy offspring of Conrad Poohs and Leon the replicant.
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Jul 5, 2017 02:20
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Bieeardo posted:He looks like the unholy offspring of Conrad Poohs and Leon the replicant.
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Jul 5, 2017 02:27
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