Japanese Campaign Setting Help, please

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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Well, the way I designed the template was for it to be just a template that could make a spirit of anything. Not everything with the "spirit" type (ie, fey) is going to have the Spirit template, though a lot of the animal spirits are turning out to, since they have magic powers. Kappa probably won't have a sphere, and won't even have a human form. Usagi are seriously just big rabbits (small size) that walk around on their hind legs carrying an usu (pestle for making mochi). They do have a sphere, but that's because they're supposed to have some magic.

So, yes, there are Spirit People, and Spirits. Spirit People are everything from humanoid spirits of locations and objects to the ancestor spirits, people that are old, skilled, and died. Spirits are generally going to be magic animals and the asian equivalent of fey.
in other words:
Spirit Person: Ancestor Spirit, Bamboo Spirit, Mountain Spirit
Spirit: Kitsune, Tanuki, Usagi, Tsukuyogami (stuff that's been well treated for 100 years and achieved spiritual substance and sentience, like a paper lantern)

Most of that stuff is totally playable. The bamboo spirit and mountain spirits will almost never be in their normal forms, because it's hard to interact with trees and rocks, and the animal spirits are fine either way, because they can totally talk and interact with the human world while short and furry. Tsukuyogami aren't playable, generally speaking, because they (usually) don't have a human form. They're literally parasols and tea kettles with legs and eyes and shit. In fact, there are set kinds, so they'd get statted, not made with the Spirit template.
On the other hand, it should be totally possible to play an armour or sword spirit, with a human form, if desired. In fact a sword spirit that walks around in human form, wearing his old owner's armour and wielding his physical sword form would be a really cool character.
(there also needs to be a caveat that almost without exception, inanimate object spirits are a manifestation, not a transformation)

The issue with Okami would be the feed ability, it's not a huge issue, but... something needs to be figured out. Maybe they just are known for eating a lot and don't actually have a supernatural ability that makes them stronger for it.

Tengu and Usagi:

Tengu
Tiny Spirit
Hit Die
¼ d8
Init +1
Speed 10 ft., Fly 40 ft. (average) (30 ft, Fly 20 ft [average] in human form)
Armour Class (+2 size, +1 dex)
Base Attack/Grapple +0/-3
Attack Claws +1m (1d2+1)
Full Attack Claws +1m (1d2+1) or Katana +1m (1d10+1) in human form
Space/Reach 2 ½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks -
Special Qualities Humanoid Form, Low Light Vision
Saves Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities Str 10, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Skills Spot +2, Survival +2
Feats Insightful Strike
Honorable
CR 1/3

Tengu are protective, but potentially dangerous spirits of the mountains and forests. Their spirit form is that of a large crow, or raven, and these birds can occasionally be seen carrying swords in their talons. When a tengu takes human form, they usually disguise themselves as a priest of some form, usually a yamabushi.
The actual huamn form of a tengu is generally more variable than other youkai. They may take a standard form, which is that of a human with a beak, a more human form, a human with a large, almost phallic nose, or a more terrifying form, a humanoid body covered in black feathers, with full wings, raven head, and talons on their arms and legs. As youkai, it is technically possible for them to wield their katanas in bird form, but take the standard size penalties for a tiny creature using a medium sword (-4).
The art of Kendo is said to have been taught to man by the Tengu, and indeed the highest masters of the art are very old, powerful Tengu. Tengu are also associated with hauchiwa, magic fans made of feathers, capable of creating great gusts of wind, and cause a person's nose to grow or shrink.
In many areas, Tengu are placated or gifted with either kuhin-mochi () or okoze (fish) to avoid the wrath and trickery of the wardens of the forests and lakes they live from. Mackeral is also occasionally employed as a ward against Tengu, as they smell this fish quite strongly, and are not fond of it, but this merely makes them leave if they're not particularly intent on causing trouble, otherwise they are able to bare the smell. Kuhin-mochi and okoze are both foods that can be useful for discerning a Tengu in human form.

Tengu Sphere
Tengu are known for their ability to create things out of thin air, their martial prowess and their protection of holy shrines and people. Only powerful Tengu gain this sphere. Basic access is obtained at level 6, advanced at level 12, and expert at level 18.
Granted Ability: Combat school: Kendo. If the Tengu already has this feat, he instead gains another Combat Feat. For the purposes of Combat School: Kendo (and only that feat. This doesn't apply to any other feat granted by this sphere), his BAB is considered to be 3 higher for determining the feat's benefits.

1st Shield of Faith
3rd Aid
5th Bestow Curse
7th Divine Power
9th Mark of Justice
11th Major Creation
13th Control Weather
15th Iron Body
17th Soul Bind (usually used with shide, “zigzag paper tassels”, fans, or feathers)
19th Wish (wealth and magic item only for free, spend for raise the dead and increase power of item only)

Tengu as Player Characters
Tengu adventurers often travel with priests and yamabushi, serving as guardians and protectors. They may join a party found in the mountains if the whim takes them. They have +2 Dex, +2 Wis, and -2 Cha, as they are agile and wise, but can be somewhat abrasive in social situations. They receive a +2 racial bonus on Spot and Survival, and have the feat Insightful Strike.

Usagi
Small Spirit
Hit Die
½ d8
Init +1
Speed 30 Ft.
Armour Class (+1 Dex, )
Base Attack/Grapple +0/-5
Attack Usu -1m (1d8-1)
Full Attack Usu -1 (1d8-1)
Space/Reach 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks -
Special Qualities Low Light Vision, Moon Sphere
Saves Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Skills Craft (alchemy) +3, Craft (Cooking) +3, Jump +2, Hide +2
Feats
Honorable
CR 1/4

Usagi are literally large, anthropomorphic rabbits that are said to live on the moon and make mochi. As spirits, they tend towards a slight mischievousness, enjoying playing tricks on people, but often leaving behind bundles of mochi as a gift to those they trick. They are commonly seen carrying their usu, large pestles shaped like mallets used for making mochi (greatclub), and a jug of sake.

Moon Sphere
Usagi are, at their basic, spirits of the moon and rice. They have a kinship to Inari spirits, and the Goddess Spirit Inari, and will frequently carry messages to or from either. The light of the moon, which Usagi can borrow for a short time, excels at revealing true forms and highlighting falsehoods.
Granted Ability: Radiate light as a torch at will. This light aids revelation of illusions and shapechanging. The dc for anyone to discern an illusion or see through a magical disguise within the range of this light is lowered by an amount equal to the Usagi's HD.

1st Goodberry (uses pieces of Mochi instead of berries)
3rd Zone of Truth
5th Plant Growth
7th Air Walk
9th Sending
11th Moon Path (FRCS)
13th True Seeing
15th Screen
17th Moonfire
19th Mage's Disjunction

Creature as Player Characters
Usagi Adventurers pack up their usu and mortars, and usually advance as spell casters of some sort. They have +2 Dex, +2 Con, and -2 Str, they're agile and have great stamina, but lack strength. They have a +2 racial bonus to Craft (Alchemy) and Craft (Cooking) Checks, and use their Dex modifier when jumping.
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Post by Danchild »

Don't forget Chinese influences on Japanese culture. Okinawan martial arts are based heavily on Chinese traditions. Kempo is based on Kun Dao Silat, Aikido on Ba Gua Jang. Then these is the Japanese influence on the Chinese, Indonesian and Korean Cultures for example.

This could set you up for a number of island states that trade and war with one another. Coastal mariners would be common, but few would have the skills or experience for deep sea voyages.

You may even get the occasional Gaijin or Kukujin trader from far abroad, further complicating the political dynamics of warring states.

For spirit creatures, you could easily rename/reskin/reflavour a lot of D&D fey such as Nymphs or Shadar Kai, Elementals such as Wierds, Incorporal undead and some of the shapechangers like Areana.
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Post by Prak »

Yeah, I was convinced early on to set up an Asian mish mash world, and have been thinking of making several major areas, each based on a different culture, so there's Japan-Island, China-Continent, a korea analog(or two), Tibet, and even some Russian/Siberian/Ainu area.

The spirit template was aimed to allow application to any animal and make a character that can be played at level one. You should even be able to play the spirits of a lot of natural objects, like trees, rocks, ponds, etc. Though I just realized that I forgot to put in anything for liquid and gas form "objects". About the only things that would give you trouble as starting characters are particularly old and large objects. You can play anything from a pebble to small boulder, but a mountain is right out. Metal object HD may need a revision, since that sword spirit wouldn't be a starting character (it'd likely have anywhere from 2 to 4 HD)

also, I went back and did some editing, putting more explanation into the template.
Last edited by Prak on Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Mask_De_H »

With what Catharz said: Oni/bakemono/daibakemono aren't straight up spirits, they're monstrous humanoids and would make a solid Orc expy if you really want people to play Lum/Suika.

Zones:

City - Human/Nekomata
Village - Kitsune/Inari
Forest - Tanuki/Bakemono
Mountain - Tengu/Oni
Sky - Usagi/Raijuu
River - Kappa/Joro-gumo
Sea - Ningyo/Linxia
Weather - Yuki-Onna/Okami

Raijuu and Okami can trade places, as can Bakemono, Kitsune, Oni, and Nekomata. Humans are everywhere pretty much all the time, and Yuki-onna are found in the mountains mostly too.
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K wrote:That being said, the usefulness of airships for society is still transporting cargo because it's an option that doesn't require a powerful wizard to show up for work on time instead of blowing the day in his harem of extraplanar sex demons/angels.
Chamomile wrote: See, it's because K's belief in leaving generation of individual monsters to GMs makes him Chaotic, whereas Frank's belief in the easier usability of monsters pre-generated by game designers makes him Lawful, and clearly these philosophies are so irreconcilable as to be best represented as fundamentally opposed metaphysical forces.
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Post by Prak »

yeah, I was really doubting that idea as soon as I started trying to implement it.

You're actually probably quite right. In real folk lore, oni and bakemono are considered to be spirits, because everything is. In the actual game world, they would probably just be monstrous humanoids, and a number of the animal spirits should really be Magical Beasts.

Went and did some more work on the Spirit Template so that a location spirit is actually a playable first level character, it just means that you're "young" in stories and legend. Given that Locations will generally have more powerful object or creature spirits that would be perfectly willing to defend the geography from harm in them, Location spirits are actually quite viable adventurers.
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Post by Mask_De_H »

This is already a nice little add on into 3.5, and the Spirit template kicks the ever loving shit out of the Hengeyoukai in OA. Basically, you could have Named weapons as Major magic items under the BoG, figure out which period you want to throw the game in, and have a workable bolt-on patch right now.
FrankTrollman wrote: Halfling women, as I'm sure you are aware, combine all the "fun" parts of pedophilia without any of the disturbing, illegal, or immoral parts.
K wrote:That being said, the usefulness of airships for society is still transporting cargo because it's an option that doesn't require a powerful wizard to show up for work on time instead of blowing the day in his harem of extraplanar sex demons/angels.
Chamomile wrote: See, it's because K's belief in leaving generation of individual monsters to GMs makes him Chaotic, whereas Frank's belief in the easier usability of monsters pre-generated by game designers makes him Lawful, and clearly these philosophies are so irreconcilable as to be best represented as fundamentally opposed metaphysical forces.
Whipstitch wrote:You're on a mad quest, dude. I'd sooner bet on Zeus getting bored and letting Sisyphus put down the fucking rock.
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Post by Prak »

cool.

I'm still working on making a full world, and started a thread in IMOI for it, but good to know I've got something workable as a start.

question: I could have sworn there was some japanese myth about the people of japan being descended from dragons, am I on crack or what?

also, if people could give me the gist of some other asian creation of people myths, especially the chinese (as far as the people were created, anyway, I found the philosophical creation thing), mongolians, koreans, russians, etc.

I've got the Ainu literally descended from bears, and the Hindis dreamt into being by Brahma, but I need to figure out how other people came to be.
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

[*]IIRC the people of Japan are descended from the sun.
[*]Giving a combat feat out with a sphere is straight-up overpowered. If there's no way for a non-tengu to take the tengu sphere it might be fine, but flying guys with two bonus combat feats sets a pretty high bar.
Danchild wrote:Aikido on Ba Gua Jang
Only in the most abstract and oblique sense. Aikido is a direct descendant of judo. There is an overall west-to-east transfer of knowledge in Asian martial arts (as with religions), where kung fu has its basis in yoga. It's also likely that later aikidoka such as Tohei Koichi who served in the army learned something from their stays in Manchuria, and the origins of judo are almost certainly in China. However, despite philosophical similarities, saying that aikido is based on ba gua zhang is basically wrong.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

even with them not getting the sphere until 6th level? What if they don't get Expert (naturally, I mean. There shouldn't be anything stopping them from using a class to upgrade if they only naturally go up to advanced)?

and yeah, I honestly have no problem with non-tengu taking the tengu sphere, it just means they're studying tengu-do, basically.
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Post by Maxus »

Just specify they get the one bonus feat, be it Kendo Focus or some alternate (should they have taken Kendo Focus earlier).

But let them get the Expert Access. There's a big mental difference between 3/day and 'at-will'.
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

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Post by Prak »

so...

Granted Ability: Taking the Tengu sphere grants the bonus feat Combat school: Kendo. If you already has this feat, you instead gains a single other Combat Feat. For the purposes of Combat School: Kendo (and only that feat. This doesn't apply to any other feat granted by this sphere), his BAB is considered to be 3 higher for determining the feat's benefits.


or what?
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

I just assumed that they would all get basic access, and if they took appropriate class levels then they could get better access like anyone else.

If you want something that scales better than a sphere, you could always use something more like ToM shadow magic, where an ability is 1/day when you first gain it, then 3/day when you gain the next ability (or level), and then finally at will.

For example, a 1st level tanuki might get ventriloquism once per day. At 2nd level she'd be able to use it thrice per day, and at third level she'd get entice gift once per day. At fourth level she'd be able to use ventriloquism at will and entice gift thrice per day, and at fifth level she'd gain her first use of arcane sight. This avoids the issue of 'broken expert access' inherent to very high level powers like at will wish, among other things. It also makes access to a single 'sphere' at least twice as good at it normally is.
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Post by Prak »

hm... for some reason I seriously didn't even consider just letting them take levels in a sphere using class to improve their access...

It could even just be a simple prestige class that's like four or five levels, that is a sort of "empowered spirit," giving a couple sphere picks, and some more spirit abilities. Something like:

Daikami
Prerequisites
Type: Must have the spirit subtype (and I'd just use Fey as a creature type, and make sure everything that's supposed to be a spirit has the spirit subtype tagging an appropriate creature type)
Base Will Save: +4

D6 HD
3/4 BAB
Good Ref and Will
4+Int Skill points


Level Special
1 Sphere, Immortality
2 Rebuke Mortals
3 .
4 .
5 Sphere

Sphere At 1st and 5th level, the Daikami gains access to a new sphere, or increased access to a sphere it already possesses.
Immortality The Daikami ages, but cannot die from old age, and ceases to show signs of aging. They still accumulate ability bonuses from aging, but cease to accumulate ability penalties for aging.
Rebuke Mortal The Daikami rebukes mortals (living creatures without the spirit subtype or fey, outsider or elemental types) as an evil cleric of their character level -3 rebukes undead.

and then another couple abilities at third and fourth.


And of course there'd be other sphere granting classes, elemental classes and a warlock class at least would be more than appropriate, I would think.
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Post by Maxus »

Double post
Last edited by Maxus on Tue Jul 06, 2010 4:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Maxus »

I think he meant, they get a 'favored class' bonus which gives sphere access.

So a tengu samurai gets access to his sphere at levels 6, 12, and 18. Possibly a monk would, too?

I think that would be the next step: Deciding classes to recommend for the setting

Short list: Samurai, Monk, Barbarian, Ninja, Rogues, Fighters(?)

Need: Priest class (likely cleric), casting class (wizards are very much Western. Maybe some sort of sage variant of a wizard?)

And, of course, humans would get the favored class benefit of "Raised by Tanukis/Kitsune/Nekomata" where they pick up the favored class of that critter and maybe some sort of sphere for it.

Also would be cool: Some weapon/equipment. I've taken to giving Katanas a block of 1d10 x3. Why? It encourages samurai to use them, and it's not as crazy as a scythe. Iron was rare in feudal Japan, so that covers the Exotic Weapon requirement--a steel sword spoke of Wealth in that time.

Possibly: A feat involving ancestor worship and ancestors actually coming to help you (Maybe like an Unseen Servant you can see/hear and make offering to in exchange for hanging around and being useful, doing things like offering expertise on a subject or scouting ahead.)
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

Maxus wrote:I think he meant, they get a 'favored class' bonus which gives sphere access.

So a tengu samurai gets access to his sphere at levels 6, 12, and 18. Possibly a monk would, too?
No, that's bastardly because it just about forces spirit people to play their favored classes. I meant that a tanuki monk might like to take a level or four of the game's equivalent of Conduit or True Fiend.

If nothing else, Pom Poko is evidence that tanuki who neglect their magical abilities to be better warriors have more limited magical powers and yet are better warriors (and vice-versa).

[Edit] As far as caster classes go, wizards are totally in character... as priests.

Also: do you see the problem of feats which grant spheres ...which grant feats? [/Edit]
Last edited by CatharzGodfoot on Tue Jul 06, 2010 4:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Maxus wrote:I think he meant, they get a 'favored class' bonus which gives sphere access.
ok, I'm lost, what kind of favoured class bonus?
So a tengu samurai gets access to his sphere at levels 6, 12, and 18. Possibly a monk would, too?
actually, the way I'd intended it to work is that a Tengu anything gets his sphere, but if that's what you meant as a favoured class bonus... that could work. It encourages the classic Tengu Swordsman image, and I like that.
I think that would be the next step: Deciding classes to recommend for the setting


Short list: Samurai, Monk, Barbarian, Ninja, Rogues, Fighters(?)

Need: Priest class (likely cleric), casting class (wizards are very much Western. Maybe some sort of sage variant?).
I definitely want some manner of warlock, because it could fit very well with only minor flavour changes.

Right now, most barbarians will come from the southern half of the Korea analogue island, because of the fluff I wrote for it, but at the same time there's no reason we couldn't have badger spirits and people trained by them with levels in barbarian, and the Russia analogue is seriously descended from bears, so that works... Hell, the northern half of the Korea analogue is descended from a Tiger, so... yeah, plenty of room for barbarians as a mechanic, if not a culture, which is something I was concerned about.

I definitely want some kind of performing class, hell, maybe just a renamed jester, there is some cultural place for it, at least in the Japan analogue, with noh theatre. It would be a good class for tanuki and some oni.
And, of course, humans would get the favored class benefit of "Raised by Tanukis/Kitsune/Nekomata" where they pick up the favored class of that critter and maybe some sort of sphere for it.
quite possible. I guess it would just be a different way of making favoured enemy matter in tome.
CatharzGodfoot wrote:
Maxus wrote:I think he meant, they get a 'favored class' bonus which gives sphere access.

So a tengu samurai gets access to his sphere at levels 6, 12, and 18. Possibly a monk would, too?
No, that's bastardly because it just about forces spirit people to play their favored classes. I meant that a tanuki monk might like to take a level or four of the game's equivalent of Conduit or True Fiend.

If nothing else, Pom Poko is evidence that tanuki who neglect their magical abilities to be better warriors have more limited magical powers and yet are better warriors (and vice-versa).
Ok, that makes sense too. So at least the Daikami PrC, and possibly some kind of True Spirit and Conduit of the Spirit Realms kind of classes.
[Edit] As far as caster classes go, wizards are totally in character... as priests.
I can sort of see that... especially with ofuda and scrolls and shit.
Also: do you see the problem of feats which grant spheres ...which grant feats? [/Edit]
yeah. I was thinking more that Humans could use a background "Raised by spirits" that gives them the appropriate class, and maybe the sphere.

edit: Here's the compiling thread. It has some setting fluff, a write up for the Japanese analogue human civilization, and the very start of an equipment section.
Last edited by Prak on Tue Jul 06, 2010 6:32 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Post by Prak »

some work on Xiaonwu:

Template: Jiangshi
Jiangshi are the risen dead. When the P'ai, the lesser soul, of a person persists past death, when the superior soul leaves, and preserves a corpse, it can then animate the corpse.
Most of the time, Jiangshi are identical to a "normal" person, preserved as fresh as the day they died, but other times, when they stalk the night and hunt their prey, their mouth is filled with serrated fangs, their hands sprout long claws, and their bodies are suffused with a phosphorescent green glow.
Jiangshi can only arise from the unburied dead, as burial hinders them behind coffin lids and earth, trapping them where they cannot harm anyone.
Any human who has died a violent death, by suicide, hanging, drowning, or smothering; or died suddenly, prohibiting proper burial procedures, could rise as a jiangshi.
Creating a Jiangshi
Jiangshi is a template that can be applied to any human ("the corpse") whose corpse lies for more than a day before burial procedures are begun. Even once burial procedures have begun, if the body is not interred within a week, the body may rise. It is believed that an animal leaping over a corpse can likewise cause this transformation.
Size and Type: When the corpse rises, it gains the Undead type and the dark minded and unliving subtypes, any racial hit die the human may have had for one reason or another is increased to d12s. Otherwise, do not refigure stats based on type. The creature, once rising, may, if it chooses, advance solely through racial hit dice, but has little reason to.
Speed: A jiangshi with 10 or more HD learns to fly, gaining a flight speed of twice it's land speed with Good Maneuverability.
Attack: The jiangshi has a bite attack which deals 1d8 damage and two claw attacks that deal 1d6 damage. Should the jiangshi be larger or smaller than medium size for whatever reason, the damage of their claws and bite adjust as appropriate, always dealing damage as if they were one category larger than they are, according to the table on page 296 in the monster manual.
Special Attacks: The jiangshi gain the following special attack:
Drain Blood: The Jiangshi can drain blood from a helpless or pinned target, usually through a wound, dealing 1d4 constitution drain each round
the victim remains helpless or the pin is maintained. Each round the jiangshi drains con, it gains 5 temporary hit points.
Special Qualities: The jiangshi gains the following special qualities:
Alternate Form: Most of the time, a jiangshi is indistinguishable from a normal human. However, it may, at night, take a monstrous form at will. In this form, they gain access to all above mentioned attacks, their strength is increased by an amount equal to their HD, and it radiates a ghastly green light as a torch. Particularly powerful jiangshi, those with 10 HD or more, are covered in long white hair, and can take the form of a dire wolf. It takes on the dire wolf's speed, natural armour, special attacks and qualities, ability scores, and racial skill bonuses, in all other ways, the wolf form is the same as the jiangshi's normal alternate form.
Jiangshi weaknesses: Jiangshi are sensitive to loud noises, taking double damage from sonic attacks, and taking 2d10 damage every 1d4 rounds they are in a thunderstorm from the sound of thunder, this damage is considered sonic, but is not doubled by the previously mentioned vulnerability. Garlic causes an effect identical to the antipathy spell with a radius of 5 ft/4 oz of garlic. Salt has a corrosive effect on jiangshi, salt touched by or touching a jiangshi acts as an equal amount of acid, dealing the same amount of damage that amount of acid would deal (1d4 for 1 flasks worth, 20d6 for immersion, etc.). Jiangshi are "unclean" and brooms make surprising viable weapons in the hands of brave, if desperate, souls, and, when used to strike a jiangshi, strike as +1 quarterstaves, with no non-proficiency or improvised weapon penalty, however, this damage can never destroy the jiangshi, only drive the jiangshi back to it's resting place. A solid, uninterrupted line of iron filings, rice or red peas creates an impenetrable barrier to a jiangshi. While they were never buried, Jiangshi must rest for at least 8 hours each day in a coffin, if they don't, they are exhausted until they can properly rest.
Damage Reduction: A jiangshi that has 10 or more HD gains DR 20/magic. This damage reduction is also overcome by fire, salt, and sonic damage. Finally, lead fired as a projectile sufficiently fast can also bypass this damage reduction, but must be fired from a weapon which deals more than one damage die.
Abilities: Jiangshi gain the following modifications to their ability scores: +6 strength, +4 dexterity
Skills: Jiangshi have a +10 bonus to act in character as humans and a +2 racial bonus to move silently checks.
CR: up to 9 HD: +3; 10 HD or more: +4
ECL: When a jiangshi is used as a player character, it has 4 HD (in addition to class or other HD the character has) and is equivalent to 4 Levels of barbarian (the character does not gain barbarian class features, only HD, saves, BAB and skills)


Chinese vampire, basically, but I want to avoid that term, so let me know if I slipped anywhere above, and if the CR and ECL seem right.
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