Taijitu - tempest; salvaged edition
Oct 19, 2023 18:48:34 GMT -6
Post by ScrapyardDragon on Oct 19, 2023 18:48:34 GMT -6
There is a certain beauty in contradiction, the paradox born when the armies of chaos cross with the blessed order. In these moments however, there are ripples in the flow of fate, the flow of calamity and fortune. Most mortals never acknowledge this flow, and even among those that do, such as diviners and general fans of mysticism, fewer still are able to properly harness this flow, as it requires the proverbial yin and yang within them to be in perfect balance, separate and together at the same time with neither overtaking the other. When the conditions are right, and such an individual is positioned such that the flow of fate passes right through them, they can open their mind to the power of the cosmos to become Taijitu.
Of course, for every monk that spends years in meditation trying to attain this state, there's some lucky berk who happened to be in the exact correct position in the path of a particularly powerful portion of the flow that had his inner energies blown apart in just the right way for them to come back together in perfect balance without exploding. Certainly, the ones strong and wise enough to set something like that up intentionally aren't keen on sharing the how or why. Either way, for a brief moment as the Taijitu's exaltations blossoms their minds are opened to the nature of the wheel's neverending conflict, and it is from whatever they gleam from that brief glimpse combined with the roiling dualistic energies within them that they draw their power.
Static Powers
Knowledge of 10,000 things:
Begin Play with a bonus specialty "Multiplicity" in Forbidden Lore and two other skills, and you may go up to six dots in those three skills.
Life & Death:
You begin play with the channel energy feat. Whenever you spend Fortune to restore hitpoints (for yourself or another), double the hit points restored. Whenever you spend Calamity to directly inflict wounds, double the wounds inflicted.
Great Pole:
Begin play with a rank in two different magic schools, and whenever you would cause or be affected by a roll on the psychic phenomena table, treat the result as if it was reduced by twice your Extremes (to a minimum of 0 causing nothing to happen).
If you would cause or be affected by perils of the warp, treat it as if it was reduced by your Extremes (to a minimum of 0 causing nothing to happen).
Wuji:
If you would ever run out of either Fortune or Calamity, you lose all your remaining points of the other, and cannot regain Fortune or Calamity for the rest of the scene, at which point you regain one point of each.
Power Stat: Extremes
As a Taijitu further masters the power of the contradictory forces within them; so rise the heights they can reach. It isn't uncommon for Taijitu at high extremes to develop two-tone hair, heterochromia, or other asymmetrical mutations.
Resource Stats: Fortune & Calamity
A Taijitu has two resource stats; Fortune and Calamity. The maximum of either a Taijitu may have is equal to his Extremes plus her Level. Anything that would affect their maximum resource point total affects both.
A Taijitu regains a point of Fortune whenever she does something destructive or convince another to do so, and he regains a point of Calamity whenever they do something constructive or convince another to do so.
A Taijitu may not spend both Fortune and Calamity on the same action, nor may he spend a combined total of fortune and calamity during a round greater than her Extremes.
Tell: As a taijitu spends resource, the area around them seems to distort; the contrast between colors sharpens, shady spots grow icy cold while sunlight spots uncomfortably warm, background noise grows eerily quiet while whatever the observer focuses on becomes harshly loud, and more. Interestingly, if they spend more fortune than calamity the cooler aspects are more apparent, while higher amounts of calamity spent causes the harsher aspects to be more apparent.
Extremes | Power Gained
*Five Agents: You may spend resource points on characteristic tests, for a +1k0 bonus per point spent, as normal.
**Duality: Whenever you spend two or more points of Fortune or Calamity, you gain a point of the other. This may not take you over your cap for either.
***Eight Trigrams: You may spend a resource point to cast the spell Luck, using your Extremes in place of Divination for the Focus Power test. If you spend Fortune in this way, the floating dice gained may also be applied to rolls made by other characters in the scene. If you spend Calamity, they may instead be applied as a -1k0 penalty per die to rolls made by others in the scene. You may only cast unfettered this way, but it does not cause psychic phenomena.
****Heaven and Earth: You no longer need to eat, drink, sleep, or breath, and are immune to the ravages of the void. So long as you have resource points remaining, you have the flyer trait with a speed equal to your normal ground speed.
*****Utmost Extreme: You may now spend both Fortune & Calamity on the same skill or characteristic test. When doing so, each Fortune-Calamity pair provides a +1k1 bonus instead of +1k0, and only counts as one resource point for determing how many resource points you may spend in a round.
Taijitu Agent Assets
Agent of Rotting Overgrowth: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Botanopathy, however, you may purchase ranks in botanopathy as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. Whenever psychic phenomena is rolled (by you or someone else present in the scene), you may spend points of Fortune to lower the result by up to five points per Fortune spent, or Calamity to raise the result by up to five points per Calamity spent.
Agent of Cooling Infernos: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Pyrokinesis, however, you may purchase ranks in Pyrokinesis as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. Whenever damage would be rolled (by you or someone else present in the scene), you may spend points of Fortune to impose a -1k0 penalty per point spent, or Calamity to add +1k0 to the roll per Calamity spent.
Agent of Gentle Quakes: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Geokinesis, however, you may purchase ranks in Geokinesis as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You may spend a point of Fortune to increase the AP of a character within 10m by your extremes, or a point of Calamity to decrease it by the same amount for the rest of the scene. Only one character may be affected by this power at a time, using it again removes the previous instance.
Agent of Ephemeral Steel: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Ferrokinesis, however, you may purchase ranks in Ferrokinesis as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You may spend Fortune to increase a touched item's quality by one stage per point spent for the rest of the scene, or Calamity to lower it by the same amount.
Agent of Dry Tsunamis: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Hydromancy, however, you may purchase ranks in Hydromancy as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You may spend Fortune to increase the SD and Mental Defense of a character within 10m by 5 per point spent, or Calamity to decrease it by the same amount for the rest of the scene. Only one character may be affected by this power at a time, using it again removes the previous instance.
Of course, for every monk that spends years in meditation trying to attain this state, there's some lucky berk who happened to be in the exact correct position in the path of a particularly powerful portion of the flow that had his inner energies blown apart in just the right way for them to come back together in perfect balance without exploding. Certainly, the ones strong and wise enough to set something like that up intentionally aren't keen on sharing the how or why. Either way, for a brief moment as the Taijitu's exaltations blossoms their minds are opened to the nature of the wheel's neverending conflict, and it is from whatever they gleam from that brief glimpse combined with the roiling dualistic energies within them that they draw their power.
Static Powers
Knowledge of 10,000 things:
Begin Play with a bonus specialty "Multiplicity" in Forbidden Lore and two other skills, and you may go up to six dots in those three skills.
Life & Death:
You begin play with the channel energy feat. Whenever you spend Fortune to restore hitpoints (for yourself or another), double the hit points restored. Whenever you spend Calamity to directly inflict wounds, double the wounds inflicted.
Great Pole:
Begin play with a rank in two different magic schools, and whenever you would cause or be affected by a roll on the psychic phenomena table, treat the result as if it was reduced by twice your Extremes (to a minimum of 0 causing nothing to happen).
If you would cause or be affected by perils of the warp, treat it as if it was reduced by your Extremes (to a minimum of 0 causing nothing to happen).
Wuji:
If you would ever run out of either Fortune or Calamity, you lose all your remaining points of the other, and cannot regain Fortune or Calamity for the rest of the scene, at which point you regain one point of each.
Power Stat: Extremes
As a Taijitu further masters the power of the contradictory forces within them; so rise the heights they can reach. It isn't uncommon for Taijitu at high extremes to develop two-tone hair, heterochromia, or other asymmetrical mutations.
Resource Stats: Fortune & Calamity
A Taijitu has two resource stats; Fortune and Calamity. The maximum of either a Taijitu may have is equal to his Extremes plus her Level. Anything that would affect their maximum resource point total affects both.
A Taijitu regains a point of Fortune whenever she does something destructive or convince another to do so, and he regains a point of Calamity whenever they do something constructive or convince another to do so.
A Taijitu may not spend both Fortune and Calamity on the same action, nor may he spend a combined total of fortune and calamity during a round greater than her Extremes.
Tell: As a taijitu spends resource, the area around them seems to distort; the contrast between colors sharpens, shady spots grow icy cold while sunlight spots uncomfortably warm, background noise grows eerily quiet while whatever the observer focuses on becomes harshly loud, and more. Interestingly, if they spend more fortune than calamity the cooler aspects are more apparent, while higher amounts of calamity spent causes the harsher aspects to be more apparent.
Extremes | Power Gained
*Five Agents: You may spend resource points on characteristic tests, for a +1k0 bonus per point spent, as normal.
**Duality: Whenever you spend two or more points of Fortune or Calamity, you gain a point of the other. This may not take you over your cap for either.
***Eight Trigrams: You may spend a resource point to cast the spell Luck, using your Extremes in place of Divination for the Focus Power test. If you spend Fortune in this way, the floating dice gained may also be applied to rolls made by other characters in the scene. If you spend Calamity, they may instead be applied as a -1k0 penalty per die to rolls made by others in the scene. You may only cast unfettered this way, but it does not cause psychic phenomena.
****Heaven and Earth: You no longer need to eat, drink, sleep, or breath, and are immune to the ravages of the void. So long as you have resource points remaining, you have the flyer trait with a speed equal to your normal ground speed.
*****Utmost Extreme: You may now spend both Fortune & Calamity on the same skill or characteristic test. When doing so, each Fortune-Calamity pair provides a +1k1 bonus instead of +1k0, and only counts as one resource point for determing how many resource points you may spend in a round.
Taijitu Agent Assets
Agent of Rotting Overgrowth: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Botanopathy, however, you may purchase ranks in botanopathy as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. Whenever psychic phenomena is rolled (by you or someone else present in the scene), you may spend points of Fortune to lower the result by up to five points per Fortune spent, or Calamity to raise the result by up to five points per Calamity spent.
Agent of Cooling Infernos: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Pyrokinesis, however, you may purchase ranks in Pyrokinesis as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. Whenever damage would be rolled (by you or someone else present in the scene), you may spend points of Fortune to impose a -1k0 penalty per point spent, or Calamity to add +1k0 to the roll per Calamity spent.
Agent of Gentle Quakes: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Geokinesis, however, you may purchase ranks in Geokinesis as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You may spend a point of Fortune to increase the AP of a character within 10m by your extremes, or a point of Calamity to decrease it by the same amount for the rest of the scene. Only one character may be affected by this power at a time, using it again removes the previous instance.
Agent of Ephemeral Steel: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Ferrokinesis, however, you may purchase ranks in Ferrokinesis as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You may spend Fortune to increase a touched item's quality by one stage per point spent for the rest of the scene, or Calamity to lower it by the same amount.
Agent of Dry Tsunamis: one of your magic schools from Great Pole must be Hydromancy, however, you may purchase ranks in Hydromancy as if it appeared in any class progression you possess. You may spend Fortune to increase the SD and Mental Defense of a character within 10m by 5 per point spent, or Calamity to decrease it by the same amount for the rest of the scene. Only one character may be affected by this power at a time, using it again removes the previous instance.
