Quest Mechanics
Quest Mechanics
Base Mechanics:
Nearly all mechanics revolve around dice rolls. Most use d10s, with a 7+ counting as a success, and total successes for an action determining the outcome. In general, an action will have skills associated with it, each skill level providing an additional d10 roll.
Skills:
Skills represent your ability in certain fields. They have both Current levels and Max levels. Current levels are what add d10 rolls, while Max levels are the highest a skill can reach before it can no longer improve. Max levels are based on Stats. Skills are limited in their maximum level by their associated Stats. Each skill has two associated stats. The maximum level is equal to the average of these two stats. There are also Subskills associated with each Skill. These represent narrowed proficiency in a field, and have only one associated Stat. This allows for subskills to, in general, reach a higher level than their broader counterpart. When performing an action that has a Subskill associated, you add both the Skill level, and the Subskill level, to the total dice rolled.
Stats:
There are 6 Primary Stats. These are Strength, Agility, Stamina, Wits, Wisdom, and Will. Stats have a Current and Max level, representing the character's current abilities, and their current potential for growth. The Max level increases as you advance through the stages of cultivation. In addition to the 6 Primary Stats, there is a final Stat: Talent. Talent represents one's natural inclination for Cultivation, as well as the ability to invent new Arts and Techniques, or expand upon existing ones. Talent is very hard to improve, requiring successful breakthroughs and frequent experimentation. Increasing the Max of Talent is even harder, as few methods are known to improve latent talent.
Cultivation Ranks ( CR ):
There are two basic cultivation ranks, which represent the power of an individual. The first is Major, which is analogous to the various cultivation stages of Wuxia/Xianxia novels, I.E. Foundation Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, etc. Each Major rank is a large hurdle, and marks a large qualitative increase in power and potential. In addition, within each Major rank are a series of sub-ranks, known as Minor Ranks. These are smaller steps along the path of Cultivation, and provide small increases in power. Each Major Rank requires a total of 5 Minor Ranks to be reached before the next Major Rank is earned.
Leveling Up:
Whether it be Skills, Stats, or Rank, each level up requires XP, earned from associated actions. It takes 100 + level^2 XP to level up a skill, stat, art, technique, rank, etc. Having higher cultivation makes learning and retention easier, which is represented in the equation for advancement.
Base Skills:
Melee - Stamina, Strength
Ranged - Agility, Strength
Melee ( Spiritual ) - Strength, Will
Ranged ( Spiritual ) - Agility, Wisdom
Avoidance- Agility, Wits
Stealth- Agility, Wits
Resilience - Stamina, Will
Perception - Wisdom, Wits
Social - Wisdom, Wits
Craft- Wits, Will
Labor- Strength, Stamina
Skills:
Skills represent your ability in certain fields. They have both Current levels and Max levels. Current levels are what add d10 rolls, while Max levels are the highest a skill can reach before it can no longer improve. Max levels are based on Stats. Skills are limited in their maximum level by their associated Stats. Each skill has two associated stats. The maximum level is equal to the average of these two stats. There are also Subskills associated with each Skill. These represent narrowed proficiency in a field, and have only one associated Stat. This allows for subskills to, in general, reach a higher level than their broader counterpart. When performing an action that has a Subskill associated, you add both the Skill level, and the Subskill level, to the total dice rolled.
Stats:
There are 6 Primary Stats. These are Strength, Agility, Stamina, Wits, Wisdom, and Will. Stats have a Current and Max level, representing the character's current abilities, and their current potential for growth. The Max level increases as you advance through the stages of cultivation. In addition to the 6 Primary Stats, there is a final Stat: Talent. Talent represents one's natural inclination for Cultivation, as well as the ability to invent new Arts and Techniques, or expand upon existing ones. Talent is very hard to improve, requiring successful breakthroughs and frequent experimentation. Increasing the Max of Talent is even harder, as few methods are known to improve latent talent.
Cultivation Ranks ( CR ):
There are two basic cultivation ranks, which represent the power of an individual. The first is Major, which is analogous to the various cultivation stages of Wuxia/Xianxia novels, I.E. Foundation Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, etc. Each Major rank is a large hurdle, and marks a large qualitative increase in power and potential. In addition, within each Major rank are a series of sub-ranks, known as Minor Ranks. These are smaller steps along the path of Cultivation, and provide small increases in power. Each Major Rank requires a total of 5 Minor Ranks to be reached before the next Major Rank is earned.
Leveling Up:
Whether it be Skills, Stats, or Rank, each level up requires XP, earned from associated actions. It takes 100 + level^2 XP to level up a skill, stat, art, technique, rank, etc. Having higher cultivation makes learning and retention easier, which is represented in the equation for advancement.
Base Skills:
Melee - Stamina, Strength
Ranged - Agility, Strength
Melee ( Spiritual ) - Strength, Will
Ranged ( Spiritual ) - Agility, Wisdom
Avoidance- Agility, Wits
Stealth- Agility, Wits
Resilience - Stamina, Will
Perception - Wisdom, Wits
Social - Wisdom, Wits
Craft- Wits, Will
Labor- Strength, Stamina
Cultivation Methods, Arts, Techniques, and Resources:
Cultivation Methods ( CM ) :
In order to advance in Rank, you have to practice a specific Cultivation Method. These generally improve the max of a stats on a breakthrough, and sometimes provide skill bonuses or other extra dice rolls, which remain as long as the Rank isn't retrained. Ranks earned can be re-trained in a different Cultivation Method ( CM ). This is most commonly used when a better CM is discovered. However, doing so comes at a cost. All bonuses from the lost Rank are completely removed. In addition, all XP earned is cut in half, AND the required XP to recover the Rank is equal to the XP cost of earning a new Rank, rather than the original XP required when it was first earned. This makes retraining harder the farther you advance, though the resources available at higher levels will likely make the breakthrough much easier than it originally was.
Techniques and Arts:
Arts are a genre or form of Qi usage. Training in an Art provides both passive bonuses, and Techniques, which are essentially abilities. Techniques have a number of uses per encounter, as well as cooldowns, with their use usually providing bonuses to skill rolls, though some can heal, or buff other statistics. Arts and Techniques function much like Skills, with associated Stats limiting their Max level.
Think of Arts like the 13 Step Spear Form, which might give 13 different Techniques, and passive bonuses to the Spear skill and related dice rolls. Techniques and Arts vary widely in Stat usage, and nearly every combination exists, the key is finding them, with better/rarer combos being more illusive and costly to obtain.
A character has a number of Art and Technique slots based on their CR, limiting the number of active Arts and Techniques you can have ready at one time. A character has 1 Art slot for each Major Rank, and 1 Technique slot for each Minor Rank. IE, a Cultivator at the Second Minor Realm of the 3rd Major Realm would have 3 Art slots, and 12 Technique slots, for the 3 Major Ranks and 12 Minor ranks earned. Different Arts and Techniques have different slot costs, with stronger ones having higher costs in general. Slots thematically represent Meridians, which must be attuned to the Art for use. You can re-tune to a different Technique or Art, but can only be done during a full Cultivation Action ( See below ).
Resources and Cultivation Sites ( CS ):
One of the most vital parts of a cultivator's life, Resources and Cultivation Sites improve the XP gain of skills, stats, and cultivation by using said resources, or training at the sites. These are usually extra XP dice rolls for resources, or flat multipliers for sites. The most basic resource are Spirit Stones. These are used in base cultivation, and provide more XP dice towards their next CR. Using too many resources leads to potential damage and lost XP, most commonly with overuse of Spirit Stones. The Resilience skill helps mitigate this possibility. Other resources, such as medicine, tend to only work for certain Ranks, and have a maximum number of uses before becoming dangerous to a cultivator. The specific risks and quantity vary based on the material, but for Spirit Stones, each stone requires a Resilience test, the total being the total number of stones used. If the total successes from your Resilience roll do not meet the total required, then all XP for that session is lost, and you take damage equal to x^2, where x is the number of failures above your success roll.
In order to advance in Rank, you have to practice a specific Cultivation Method. These generally improve the max of a stats on a breakthrough, and sometimes provide skill bonuses or other extra dice rolls, which remain as long as the Rank isn't retrained. Ranks earned can be re-trained in a different Cultivation Method ( CM ). This is most commonly used when a better CM is discovered. However, doing so comes at a cost. All bonuses from the lost Rank are completely removed. In addition, all XP earned is cut in half, AND the required XP to recover the Rank is equal to the XP cost of earning a new Rank, rather than the original XP required when it was first earned. This makes retraining harder the farther you advance, though the resources available at higher levels will likely make the breakthrough much easier than it originally was.
Techniques and Arts:
Arts are a genre or form of Qi usage. Training in an Art provides both passive bonuses, and Techniques, which are essentially abilities. Techniques have a number of uses per encounter, as well as cooldowns, with their use usually providing bonuses to skill rolls, though some can heal, or buff other statistics. Arts and Techniques function much like Skills, with associated Stats limiting their Max level.
Think of Arts like the 13 Step Spear Form, which might give 13 different Techniques, and passive bonuses to the Spear skill and related dice rolls. Techniques and Arts vary widely in Stat usage, and nearly every combination exists, the key is finding them, with better/rarer combos being more illusive and costly to obtain.
A character has a number of Art and Technique slots based on their CR, limiting the number of active Arts and Techniques you can have ready at one time. A character has 1 Art slot for each Major Rank, and 1 Technique slot for each Minor Rank. IE, a Cultivator at the Second Minor Realm of the 3rd Major Realm would have 3 Art slots, and 12 Technique slots, for the 3 Major Ranks and 12 Minor ranks earned. Different Arts and Techniques have different slot costs, with stronger ones having higher costs in general. Slots thematically represent Meridians, which must be attuned to the Art for use. You can re-tune to a different Technique or Art, but can only be done during a full Cultivation Action ( See below ).
Resources and Cultivation Sites ( CS ):
One of the most vital parts of a cultivator's life, Resources and Cultivation Sites improve the XP gain of skills, stats, and cultivation by using said resources, or training at the sites. These are usually extra XP dice rolls for resources, or flat multipliers for sites. The most basic resource are Spirit Stones. These are used in base cultivation, and provide more XP dice towards their next CR. Using too many resources leads to potential damage and lost XP, most commonly with overuse of Spirit Stones. The Resilience skill helps mitigate this possibility. Other resources, such as medicine, tend to only work for certain Ranks, and have a maximum number of uses before becoming dangerous to a cultivator. The specific risks and quantity vary based on the material, but for Spirit Stones, each stone requires a Resilience test, the total being the total number of stones used. If the total successes from your Resilience roll do not meet the total required, then all XP for that session is lost, and you take damage equal to x^2, where x is the number of failures above your success roll.
Combat Stats:
There are three basic combat stats. Armor, Damage, and HP.
Armor:
Armor reduces all damage taken in a round, up to a certain max. Armor has two types, Spiritual, and Physical, and only work against that type of damage. Armor also has a maximum number of damage mitigated in an encounter, called Durability. Characters have a base armor equal to their Major Rank, and a Durability equal to their Resilience plus Toughness or Strong Willed ( two Subskills of Resilience ), for Physical and Spiritual, respectively. Separate Armor bonuses work independently, with the highest Armor rating being targeted first, until its durability is turned to zero, or the damage exceeds its rating, which causes the excess damage to flow over to the next Armor bonus, repeating until there is no armor, in which case, it deals HP damage or causes some sort of debuff, or all damage has been mitigated.
Damage:
Damage comes in two types, like armor, being Physical or Spiritual. It can also have elemental types, which have situational damage modifiers and penalties based on environment and the target in question. Damage also has an Armor Penetration level, which reduces the max Armor that can be applied to the damage. If an attack has 3 AP, and a target has armor 4, it counts as only having armor 1, reducing the damage of the attack by 1, and dealing 1 durability to the armor. This means AP can be blocked if the enemy armor remains higher than the total damage plus the attack's AP, so it isn't all powerful. Damage is equal to the number of successful attack rolls in a turn. Powerful weapons and talismans don't increase base damage, but add extra dice rolls. This keeps damage from snowballing, due to more powerful characters having higher damage, combined with more hit chances with higher skills, turning damage multiplicative.
Health:
Health is equal to 5 + a characters Resilience skill, and can be increased both temporarily and permanently by certain resources, techniques, arts, and cultivation methods. Permanent increases are rare, and should be treasured.
Armor:
Armor reduces all damage taken in a round, up to a certain max. Armor has two types, Spiritual, and Physical, and only work against that type of damage. Armor also has a maximum number of damage mitigated in an encounter, called Durability. Characters have a base armor equal to their Major Rank, and a Durability equal to their Resilience plus Toughness or Strong Willed ( two Subskills of Resilience ), for Physical and Spiritual, respectively. Separate Armor bonuses work independently, with the highest Armor rating being targeted first, until its durability is turned to zero, or the damage exceeds its rating, which causes the excess damage to flow over to the next Armor bonus, repeating until there is no armor, in which case, it deals HP damage or causes some sort of debuff, or all damage has been mitigated.
Damage:
Damage comes in two types, like armor, being Physical or Spiritual. It can also have elemental types, which have situational damage modifiers and penalties based on environment and the target in question. Damage also has an Armor Penetration level, which reduces the max Armor that can be applied to the damage. If an attack has 3 AP, and a target has armor 4, it counts as only having armor 1, reducing the damage of the attack by 1, and dealing 1 durability to the armor. This means AP can be blocked if the enemy armor remains higher than the total damage plus the attack's AP, so it isn't all powerful. Damage is equal to the number of successful attack rolls in a turn. Powerful weapons and talismans don't increase base damage, but add extra dice rolls. This keeps damage from snowballing, due to more powerful characters having higher damage, combined with more hit chances with higher skills, turning damage multiplicative.
Health:
Health is equal to 5 + a characters Resilience skill, and can be increased both temporarily and permanently by certain resources, techniques, arts, and cultivation methods. Permanent increases are rare, and should be treasured.
Turns and Actions:
Turns:
Turns are a representation of the passage of time. Each Turn lasts a whole week. During each Turn, players vote on a series of actions to take, as well as what, if any, resources they wish to use.
Actions:
During each Turn, you can perform 3 Actions. These include Training, Cultivating, Exploring, Laboring, Hunting, Research, Crafting, and Event. Exploring reveals Cultivation Sites and potential Encounters, and relies on Stealth and Perception skills. Laboring earns resources by performing a specific type of craft or labor, with the rewards being based on a skill roll, with other social and situational modifiers. Hunting involves seeking out weak prey to kill. Hunting will generally avoid actual combat encounters, and focus on weaker enemies for small amounts of XP and resources. Research reveals new Arts and Techniques, either from personal experimentation, social bartering, or archival perusal. Crafting involves the creation of items, either for personal use, or profit. Lastly, Events involve interacting with important plot hooks, such as exploring a discovered Site, participating in a Tournament, etc.
Depending on certain conditions, there may be minor additions to Actions. These often involve seeking out social interactions while performing the chosen Action, but may include other types of Events, depending on various conditions, and of course, QM fiat. If the players wish to improve social relations, it is wise to include peers when performing Actions. They can even improve the results of Actions, such as training with a partner, having a tutor explain the nuances of cultivation, or having a skilled scout assist in Exploration. Of course, to be able to gain the most benefits, there must be mutual benefit, or a certain level of relationship with the individual, otherwise you face being seen as someone who uses others for their own gain, rather than mutual cooperation. Also, people have their own schedules, so not everyone will be available every Turn, though having a closer relationship improves their willingness to alter their schedule for you.
Training Action:
Earns 2d6 XP per Major Level for chosen skill, art, or techniques, as well as the same amount for one associated Stat.
Cultivation Action:
Earns 1d6 per Major Level + 1d6 XP per rank of talent.
You get an additional 1d6 per Major Level when using a Spirit Stone. You can use more than one Spirit Stone, each giving a flat 1d6 XP, but are subject to Resilience tests, whose failure removes all XP, and causes damage. See Resources and Cultivation Sites above for specifics.
Hunt Action:
Earns 1d6 XP, as Training would provide, plus resources, the total depending on a roll of the trained skill, plus any related skill or sub skill.
Laboring Action:
Same as Hunt, but usually earns more resources, to make up for the fact the XP gains are in mostly non-combat skills.
Exploring Action:
Rolls Perception against the difficulty of the selected region. Failure results may result in a dangerous encounter. On a failure, a dice determines whether a dangerous encounter occurs, followed by a Stealth check to determine if you manage to avoid detection. These combat encounters, while rewarding, will be of higher difficulty, and capable of fully killing the player, if a truly dangerous region is being explored.
Research Action:
Depending on the chosen area of Research, a Social or Talent roll will be performed, with higher amounts of success determining the quality of discovered Techniques and Arts. Generally, Research is either done in association with a peer ( using Social ), alone ( using Talent ), or at an Archive ( using a base dice roll based on how good the Archive is. )
Crafting Action:
Rolls a Craft check along with a chosen Blueprint. The total successes are added to an ongoing total, which has a threshold before the item is completed. The more actions taken to craft an item, the more likely it will be of reduced quality, or be ruined utterly. The total successes required vary per item, as well as the number of actions before deterioration begins.
Turns are a representation of the passage of time. Each Turn lasts a whole week. During each Turn, players vote on a series of actions to take, as well as what, if any, resources they wish to use.
Actions:
During each Turn, you can perform 3 Actions. These include Training, Cultivating, Exploring, Laboring, Hunting, Research, Crafting, and Event. Exploring reveals Cultivation Sites and potential Encounters, and relies on Stealth and Perception skills. Laboring earns resources by performing a specific type of craft or labor, with the rewards being based on a skill roll, with other social and situational modifiers. Hunting involves seeking out weak prey to kill. Hunting will generally avoid actual combat encounters, and focus on weaker enemies for small amounts of XP and resources. Research reveals new Arts and Techniques, either from personal experimentation, social bartering, or archival perusal. Crafting involves the creation of items, either for personal use, or profit. Lastly, Events involve interacting with important plot hooks, such as exploring a discovered Site, participating in a Tournament, etc.
Depending on certain conditions, there may be minor additions to Actions. These often involve seeking out social interactions while performing the chosen Action, but may include other types of Events, depending on various conditions, and of course, QM fiat. If the players wish to improve social relations, it is wise to include peers when performing Actions. They can even improve the results of Actions, such as training with a partner, having a tutor explain the nuances of cultivation, or having a skilled scout assist in Exploration. Of course, to be able to gain the most benefits, there must be mutual benefit, or a certain level of relationship with the individual, otherwise you face being seen as someone who uses others for their own gain, rather than mutual cooperation. Also, people have their own schedules, so not everyone will be available every Turn, though having a closer relationship improves their willingness to alter their schedule for you.
Training Action:
Earns 2d6 XP per Major Level for chosen skill, art, or techniques, as well as the same amount for one associated Stat.
Cultivation Action:
Earns 1d6 per Major Level + 1d6 XP per rank of talent.
You get an additional 1d6 per Major Level when using a Spirit Stone. You can use more than one Spirit Stone, each giving a flat 1d6 XP, but are subject to Resilience tests, whose failure removes all XP, and causes damage. See Resources and Cultivation Sites above for specifics.
Hunt Action:
Earns 1d6 XP, as Training would provide, plus resources, the total depending on a roll of the trained skill, plus any related skill or sub skill.
Laboring Action:
Same as Hunt, but usually earns more resources, to make up for the fact the XP gains are in mostly non-combat skills.
Exploring Action:
Rolls Perception against the difficulty of the selected region. Failure results may result in a dangerous encounter. On a failure, a dice determines whether a dangerous encounter occurs, followed by a Stealth check to determine if you manage to avoid detection. These combat encounters, while rewarding, will be of higher difficulty, and capable of fully killing the player, if a truly dangerous region is being explored.
Research Action:
Depending on the chosen area of Research, a Social or Talent roll will be performed, with higher amounts of success determining the quality of discovered Techniques and Arts. Generally, Research is either done in association with a peer ( using Social ), alone ( using Talent ), or at an Archive ( using a base dice roll based on how good the Archive is. )
Crafting Action:
Rolls a Craft check along with a chosen Blueprint. The total successes are added to an ongoing total, which has a threshold before the item is completed. The more actions taken to craft an item, the more likely it will be of reduced quality, or be ruined utterly. The total successes required vary per item, as well as the number of actions before deterioration begins.
Items:
Items include a wide gambit of equipment and consumables, from Pills to Talismans, Weapons to Formations. Items have a required cultivation rank to use, though some allow for reduced ability when used by lower ranking wielders. Most items are consumable, having a single effect after use. These can be used both in and out of combat, though some take time to come into effect. Mechanics-wise, during a combat round, a character can only use one consumable per round, whether it be consuming pill, using a talisman, or activating a formation.
In general, a Craft level of at least twice the total Minor Rank of a resource is required to work with it, as well as the crafter or an assistant having two more Minor Ranks than the resource in question, though they must still be within the same Major Rank ( some Subskills and materials remove this requirement ). Some rarer resources require a higher skill level to work with, but will be more powerful than items of a similar Cultivation Rank, allowing for more powerful items that remain usable at lower levels.
In general, a Craft level of at least twice the total Minor Rank of a resource is required to work with it, as well as the crafter or an assistant having two more Minor Ranks than the resource in question, though they must still be within the same Major Rank ( some Subskills and materials remove this requirement ). Some rarer resources require a higher skill level to work with, but will be more powerful than items of a similar Cultivation Rank, allowing for more powerful items that remain usable at lower levels.
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