Attributes
Characters have 9 main attributes, split into three categories of Physical, Mental, and Social. Each of these categories has an attribute that represents raw power, finesse, and resistance.
| Attribute Categories | Power | Finesse | Resistance |
| Physical | Strength | Dexterity | Constitution |
| Mental | Intelligence | Wits | Resolve |
| Social | Charisma | Influence | Composure |
Each of these attributes is rated on a scale of 1-10. The vast majority of mortals have a 1 in each attribute, with only the particularly gifted gaining a 2. Mortals never have a 3 or higher, and it's unlikely they have a 2 in more than 3-4 stats.
Skills
Beyond Attributes, every character has a list of Skills, which are rated on the same scale, though it is possible - and quite likely - to have a 0 rating in many. They are more numerous than Attributes, but are more narrow in scope. They are as follows:
- Athletics: A measure of one's mastery over their own body, Athletics is used for physical feats of skill, whether it's lifting a collapsed wall off your comrades, running one hundred miles without tiring, or diving off a cliff to land, perfectly balanced, on a rope a hundred meters below.
- Craft: One's knowledge of the three schools of creation, Craft can be used to either create new things, or identify and appraise existing ones. Craft is rarely used without one of its specializations.
- Alchemy: Governs the creation of pills and elixirs, Alchemy is generally used for medicinal or poisonous goods.
- Artificing: The creation of any permanent, physical gear, Artificing is perhaps the school with the widest domain. Any weapons, armor, or other tools will likely fall under this.
- Formations: Formations refer to the usage of hanzi, or runes, to create permanent, immobile effects, such as security alarms or traps. It can also be used to create single-use, disposable items called Talismans.
- Defend: How well one can weather incoming attacks, Defend is split into two specializations. They are mechanically identical at the most basic, though Arts may require one use one or the other.
- Lore: a measure of one's general academic knowledge, Lore can be further specialized with several subcategories.
- Beasts
- Geography
- History
- Nobility
- Religion
- Spirits
- Melee Combat: One's ability with all manner of melee weaponry, this is primarily used when attacking, but also is used to defend oneself during a Clash. The specializations will be detailed in the Equipment section, under Weapons.
- Axes
- Brawling
- Hammers
- Knives
- Polearms
- Shields
- Spears
- Swords
- Perception: A character's awareness, both for the environment around them, as well as the mental state of those around them.
- Performance: One's skill with creating art and moving those that consume it.
- Act
- Dance
- Oratory
- Percussion
- String
- Wind
- Sing
- Ranged Combat: The ranged counterpart to Melee Combat.
- Bows
- Crossbows
- Firearms
- Thrown
- Socialize: One's ability to effectively interact with their peers, the three specializations represent different tacts one may use to pursue their goals.
- Inspire: The ability to speak honestly and openly, and persuade those that listen of one's sincerity.
- Manipulate: The ability to instead use the listener's own beliefs and biases to move them to the desired course of action, manipulation may or may not involve blatant dishonesty.
- Command: Mostly used to compel the obedience of those that serve the user, Command's most common use is on the battlefield to maintain control.
- Stealth: The skill that represents one's ability to keep both themselves and their activities undetected.
- Hide: When the user needs to physically conceal their own presence from observers.
- Larceny: Lockpicking, pickpocketing, and all other manners of burglary.
- Survival: Governs the ability to thrive in the wilderness, Survival is used anytime one interacts with the less civilized parts of the world.
Most Skills have subcategories called Specializations. A Specialization can never be a higher rating than the parent Skill.
In addition to this list, Cultivators also gain access to specialty Skills called Arts, which tend to be unique to the Cultivator.
Miscellaneous Stats
Level: Every character has a level from 1-10. Mortals always have a level of 1, and Cultivators increase in level based on their realm - a 1st-realm Cultivator is level 2, 2nd-realm is level 3, and so on up to 9th-realms at level 10.
Health: A derived statistic, characters have a Health pool equal to their Constitution^2 plus Resolve^2 plus Level^2, for a minimum of 3 (a mortal with 1 Constitution and Resolve) up to a maximum of 300 (a 9th-Realm with 10 Constitution and Resolve). Because Health represents both physical and mental strain, the effect of dropping to 0 is context-sensitive.
All characters also have
Ideals and
Intimacies. Ideals are their beliefs about how the world works, or should work, and Intimacies represent their important social relationships. There are no rules regarding how many a character might have, but each character should have at least one or two of each. Ideals have a rating of 1-5, based on how central to the character's worldview they are, while Intimacies have a rating of 1-5 based on how important the relationship is to them. Ideals and Intimacies mostly come into play when attempting to influence another's actions. While they have static ratings, the MC may only be able to use them to a limited degree if they are not fully understood. Thus, when a character's Ideals and Intimacies are listed, the accompanying rating is only as well as the MC understands it. Similarly, the MC may use their own Ideals and Intimacies when relevant, but better understanding themselves, and thus raising these ratings, is a long process of self-reflection.
Power is an extremely niche stat, used for determining the amount a character contributes when part of a Squad facing higher-level challenges. See 'Punching Above Weight' for more info.
Cultivators additionally have 2 more stats that mortals do not: Realm and Qi.
- Realm is an overall measurement of a Cultivator's progress, and is measured from 1-9. As Cultivators become more capable in every walk of life, not just their chosen disciplines, as they progress, they add their Realm stat to any dice pool they roll.
- Qiis a stat that represents the resource pool available to every Cultivator, and is used to power many of their superhuman abilities. A Cultivator's Qi pool starts with a single point of Qi. While most every Cultivator has unique Arts that are fueled by Qi, everyone has two basic abilities they can call upon as soon as they access their Qi for the first time.
- Boost: A Cultivator can expend Qi on a 1-to-1 basis to add additional dice to any dice pool they create, up to a limit of their Realm.
- Defend: A Cultivator can expend Qi on a 1-to-1 basis to negate any damage they take to their Health. This happens automatically if the damage taken would be incapacitating.
Challenges
Most challenges are handled simply by choosing a method to achieve the stated objective, determining which Attribute+Skill combination best fits the method, and using those two stats to form a dice pool of d10s (adding in Realm and any other miscellaneous bonuses) that are then rolled. Any result of 6 or higher counts as a Success, with 10s counting as two Successes.
A challenge will have a Target Number needed to overcome it, which will be the amount of Successes needed. A challenge may need all the Successes in a single roll, such as the roll to jump over a ravine, or a total number of Successes accumulated over multiple rolls, such as the rolls needed to craft a new piece of armor. The former is an Immediate Target Number, or ITN, and the latter is a Cumulative Target Number, or CTN. CTNs may or may not have a time limit, or maximum number of attempts allowed.
A Challenge will also have an associated 'level'. This is the level a character must be to attempt the Challenge with no complications. If a character wishes to attempt an overleveled Challenge with a CTN, they may need to spend extra time on it - for every level above the character a Challenge is, multiply the CTN by 4. A character automatically fails any Challenges more than 2 levels higher than them.
If the overleveled Challenge is one with an ITN, they may instead recruit assistance - see the 'Punching Above Weight' section for more details.
When two characters are at odds but have not come to blows, they are in a Social Conflict. Generally, these follow the same rules as a Challenge, with the person attempting to convince the other making rolls to represent their attempts. The CTN of the attempt is equal to the target's Composure + Resolve + Realm + the rating of any Ideals or Intimacies supporting their initial position. The persuader may make attempts with a dice pool composed of either their Charisma or Influence + Socialize + Relevant Specialization + Realm + any of their own Ideals, or any of the target's Ideals or Intimacies. As a general rule of thumb, if they are using the target's Ideals or Intimacies, the dice pool will use Influence and Manipulate, while using their own Ideals will use Charisma and Inspire, though this is not a strict rule.
Keep in mind that they can only utilize a target's Ideals or Intimacies as well as they understand them.
Some targets may not have unending patience to be pestered, and as such might have a CFN, or Cumulative Failure Number. If the amount of failures in a series of checks reaches the CFN before the amount of successes reaches the CTN, the attempt is a failure and may not be further pursued without a significant change in circumstance.
Two characters may both be attempting to convince the other. In this case, they simply alternate making checks until one beats the CTN, or both meet the CFN.
A social conflict may be as short as a conversation, or take place over many weeks.
Combat
When combat breaks out, every combatant begins by rolling to determine their Initiative. The dice pool for this roll is Dexterity + Wits + Perception + Realm. After every combatant has determined their Successes with this roll, they are ordered from lowest to highest.
Because Initiative is both a measure of speed as well as the ability to read the intent of an opponent, starting with the lowest, each combatant declares their intent, with higher results able to change their decisions based on the intents of lower results. Generally, a character is able to take two actions per turn, one of which must be movement. Once all intents have been declared, starting at the highest Initiative, each action occurs in order. If an intended course of action is impossible by the time a character's turn occurs, their action is wasted.
Once all actions have been calculated, the round ends, and the next starts. Initiative is maintained throughout a single combat, though a character may spend their action to reroll and change if the result is greater than their initial attempt.
Range is determined in flexible 'bands' of Melee, Close, Medium, Far, and Distant. A character can usually move two range bands per action, or up to four bands per turn if they dedicate both actions to movement.
Contests
When two characters are opposing each other on the battlefield, they use a different method to determine success.
A character attempting to harm another does so with the Attack action. They form a dice pool using Melee or Ranged Combat + Dexterity + Realm + Relevant Specialization + Weapon Overwhelm. A Success is called a Hit, and 10s count as Critical Hits, rather than 2 normal Hits. Weapons or Arts might lower the number needed to Critically Hit.
Once the attacker totals how many Successes they have, the target has a chance to defend themselves. They form a dice pool using Defend + Dexterity + Realm + Relevant Specialization. A Success is called a Defend, and 10s count as Critical Defends, rather than two normal Defends. Once the target determines how many Defends they have, they may use them to negate the attacker's Hits on a 1-to-1 basis. Two Defends or a single Critical Defend can be used to negate a single Critical Hit, though a Critical Defend cannot negate two regular Hits, only one. Armor and Arts might lower the number needed to Critically Defend.
If a character is attacked more than once per round, remove one Defend from their total for each prior attacker.
A character wielding a shield gains extra Defends based on shield quality.
If the attacker has any excess Hits or Critical Hits after the target finishes defending, they deal damage based on the weapon's Damage + their Strength rating for each Hit. A weapon may also have Critical Damage, which is the damage dealt by Critical Hits.
If two characters both state intent to Attack each other, they instead are Clashing. Characters must be within the Melee range band to engage in a Clash. For this reason, a Clash wherein one of the participants is wielding a ranged weapon can only occur if the participants start within the same range band, both characters are using a ranged weapon or the melee character acts first and can close the gap before the ranged character attacks. When a Clash occurs, the results are calculated on the turn of the character with lower Initiative.
Unlike with Attack, in a Clash, both characters have a chance to deal damage to their opponent. Both characters form a dice pool using Melee/Ranged Combat + Dexterity + Realm + Relevant Specialization + Weapon Overwhelm. They then determine their total number of Hits in the manner detailed under Attacking. Then, starting with the character with higher Realm - or the character with higher Initiative if they have the same Realm - they alternate choosing to Strike or Parry with each Hit. If they Strike, they deal damage to their opponent in the manner detailed under Attacking. If they Parry, they negate one of their opponent's Hits. This carries on until both characters are out of Hits, or one is incapacitated. Critical Hits can be Parried by either another Critical Hit, or with two regular Hits, but a Critical Hit may not Parry two regular Hits, only one. Ranged weapons suffer a slight disadvantage during Clashes, and Critical Hits from them may be Parried with normal Hits.
A Character wielding a shield gains extra Parries based on shield quality.
If a character has been attacked by a third party in the round before they participate in a Clash, remove one Hit from their total for each prior attacker.
Arts are too broad and varied to codify, but often use the above forms of Contests as an outline, either substituting in different Attributes or Skills, such as allowing a Cultivator to launch attacks with the Performance skill, or otherwise bending the rules, such as allowing a Cultivator to block more than a single point of damage with a single point of Qi.
A Cultivator's progression is exponential, despite their stats increasing in a linear fashion. This is because representing this growth purely numerically results in dice pools in the thousands. Instead, the numbers stay linear, while the exponential growth is represented by an increasing amount of lower-level characters needed to match them. When engaging in combat, lower-level characters may form Squads in order to participate in battles normally beyond them. A Squad uses the stats of the Leader, with the rest simply assisting them.
In order to calculate what a given Squad may challenge, every character has a 'Power' based on their Level:
Level | Power |
1 | 1 |
2 | 4 |
3 | 16 |
4 | 64 |
5 | 256 |
6 | 1024 |
7 | 4096 |
8 | 16,384 |
9 | 65,536 |
10 | 262,144 |
As you can see, each level increases a character's Power by x4. A Squad must have a combined total Power equal to a character they intend to fight or Challenge they intend to attempt. If they do not match this amount, they automatically fail any attempts before rolls are made. A character may only contribute their Power to a Squad when within 2 Levels of them - a Level 1 mortal contributes nothing to fighting a Level 4 Cultivator, no matter how many they are.
If a Squad represents a combined Power of more than 4x their target, be it another character or a Challenge, they automatically succeed.
A Squad's total Power is only calculated at the start of combat, and their Health pool represents their overall cohesion - bringing a Squad to 0 HP may or may not incapacitate any individual member, but renders them unable to function as a group well enough to further threaten higher-level characters.
Progression
Advancing as a Cultivator is measured by the sum total of one's Attributes, Skills, Arts, Qi Pool, and Meridians, and so these are the way that a character progresses. Each of the listed requires a certain amount of experience to increase, which increases as they do. Additionally, everytime any experience is gained for anything, the same amount of experience is added to the Cultivator's Experience Total stat. It is this stat that determines whether a Cultivator is able to attempt to Break Through to the next Realm.
Every training period can be filled with two attempts to train. The same stat cannot be trained twice in the same training period.
- Attributes: Training an Attribute is a simple dice pool formed of the Attribute in question. Every Success contributes 10 experience towards progression. The amount of experience needed to increase an Attribute is (current Attribute^2) x 10. If the Attribute is a higher rating than your Level, multiply the amount of experience needed by the difference. An Attribute cannot be raised more than two above your level.
- Skills: Training a Skill is easier than an Attribute. Training Skills uses a dice pool of Intelligence + Skill, and every Success contributes 5 experience towards progression. The amount of experience needed to increase a Skill is (current Skill (minimum 1)^2) x 5. If the Skill is a higher rating than your Level, multiply the amount of experience needed by the difference. A Skill cannot be raised more than two above your level.
- Specializations: A Specialization can be included in Skill training, adding its current rating to the used dice pool, and any gained experience is split between the two. The amount of experience needed to increase a Specialization is (current Specialization (minimum 1)^2) x 5. If the Specialization is a higher rating than your Level, multiply the amount of experience needed by the difference. A Specialization cannot be raised higher than the parent Skill.
- Arts: The way a Art is trained is unique to it, and so no general rule exists.
- Qi Pool: One's Qi pool is trained via breathing and circulation exercises, which expand and reinforce the dantian, a spiritual organ that acts as a Cultivator's Qi reservoir. Increasing Qi is done with a dice pool of Intelligence + Realm. Each Success gains 1 experience, and the amount of experience needed for a point of Qi is equal to your current maximum.
- Clearing Meridians: Meridians are the veins to the dantian's heart, acting as channels through which Qi may flow. Mechanically, they function as one's 'loadout slots' for Arts, as every Art requires a number of cleared Meridians. Meridians have both a location and elemental attunement - the location is permanent, while the element is changeable by attending in a location of the appropriate element. The location determines the type of Arts a Meridian may be used for - arms are for offensive and projection-based Arts, legs are for movement, head is for sensory Arts, heart is for area of effect Arts, lungs are for constructs, and the spine is for physical enhancements. Clearing a Meridian uses an Intelligence + Realm dice pool, and each Success provides 3 experience. Fully clearing a Meridian requires 15 experience. Clearing more Merdians than Level^2 increases the difficulty by doubling the amount of experience needed for each soft cap exceeded.
- Breaking Through: Breaking through is the term for advancing Realms. Each Realm has an increasing amount of experience needed to attempt to break through, though this is not necessarily the only requirement. After the experience requirement is met, one must spend both actions in a training period attempting to break through, using a dice pool of Intelligence + Resolve + Realm. The CTN of this attempt is Level^2, and so multiple attempts over a long period may need to be made. This represents one long, uninterrupted attempt, and all current Successes are lost if any other actions are taken. The amount of experience required to attempt a break through is equal to your Level^2 x 100.
Every form of training may be augmented with gear and locations, as well as assisted by other characters, providing additional miscellaneous bonuses to the attempt.
Finally, every time a Art, Skill, or Attribute contributes to a dice pool outside of dedicated training, add 1 experience to each stat used for every Success.
Equipment
Mundane weapons have stats that are varied based on the school of weapon, which are represented in the Melee/Ranged Combat Specializations. Within these categories, some weapons may be Light or Heavy. Every weapon has an Accuracy, an Overwhelm, a Damage, and a Critical Multiplier stat, plus some may have miscellaneous other abilities. Accuracy is the number a weapon Crits on, Overwhelm is an amount of extra dice a weapon adds to the user's Attack rolls, Damage is how much damage (+ Strength) is dealt on a Hit, and Critical Multiplier is a multiplier to the Damage stat that Critical Hits deal.
Each individual weapon has a Quality Rating, from 0-10, that increases the Overwhelm and Damage rating from the base statblock.
| Accuracy | Overwhelm | Damage | Critical Mult. | Misc. |
Light Axe | 10 | 2 | 3 | ×3 | |
Heavy Axe | 10 | 3 | 5 | ×3 | |
Brawling | 9+ | 1 | 2 | ×2 | Can't be disarmed |
Light Hammer | 10 | 3 | 4 | ×2 | |
Heavy Hammer | 10 | 4 | 7 | ×1 | |
Knife | 8+ | 0 | 1 | ×4 | Throwable (Close) |
Polearm | 9+ | 2 | 6 | ×2 | |
Shield | 10 | 1 | 2 | ×1 | Parrying |
Light Spear | 9+ | 2 | 3 | ×2 | Throwable (Medium) |
Heavy Spear | 9+ | 3 | 4 | ×2 | Throwable (Close) |
Light Sword | 8+ | 2 | 3 | ×3 | |
Heavy Sword | 9+ | 3 | 5 | ×2 | |
Light Bow | 9+ | 2 | 3 | ×2 | Far |
Heavy Bow | 9+ | 3 | 5 | ×2 | Distant |
Light Crossbow | 8+ | 2 | 3 | ×2 | Medium, No-Strength |
Heavy Crossbow | 8+ | 3 | 4 | ×2 | Far, No-Strength |
Thrown | 8+ | 0 | 1 | ×3 | Medium |
Firearm | 10+ | 4 | 6 | ×1 | Far, No-Strength |
- Throwable: A typically melee weapon that can be used to make a ranged attack at up to the listed range. If not made to return in some manner, lost after use.
- Parrying: Provides an additional amount of Defends when attacked and Parries when Clashing, equal to the Quality Rating of the weapon.
- No-Strength: This weapon does not add Strength to the Damage stat, but instead the weapon's Quality Rating.
Armor provides defense in two ways - with Protection lowering the number needed to Critically Defend, as well as providing an amount of Damage Reduction, which removes a flat amount of damage from each strike the wearer takes. Armor can be Light, Medium, or Heavy. Armor's Quality Rating, from 0-10 increases the DR.
Heavy armor provides both superior Protection and DR, but reduces the amount of range bands one can move with a single action to 1.
| Protection | DR |
Light | 8+ | 2 |
Medium | 9+ | 4 |
Heavy | 8+ | 4 |
