Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest)

[PrimalShadow]

Social Skills

Art: Derived subskill of expression. Governs the ability to express oneself through the creation of external artistic pieces, such as paintings, sculpture or calligraphy.
Beast Handling- Governs skill at guiding and taming sub-sentient spirit beasts, as well as performing cooperative efforts with sapient ones, such as riding.
Empathy- Governs the ability to determine the intent and emotions of others in social situations
Intimidation- Governs to convince others through use of fear, threats and other forms of coercion
Music- Derived subskill of expression. Governs the ability to express oneself through music in all of its forms
Persuasion- Governs the ability to speak convincingly and honestly to others one to one.
Spirit Ken- Governs the ability to interact with and understand spirits with viewpoints and mindsets diverging from human norms
Socialize- Governs the ability to interact socially in group settings, such as making speeches or mingling at gatherings
Subterfuge- Governs the ability to perform various forms of social intrigue, such as bluffing, lying, and gathering information.
War- Governs the ability to lead and organize others in martial situations

Click to shrink...

Intimidation, Persuasion, and Socialize sound like they are a "split" skill. Does it really make sense to have Intimidation split for Persuasion for non-experts? Similarly, does it make sense to have group vs 1-1 conversations governed by different stats?

Coincidentally, there are currently 9 Social skills, compared to 6 Mental and 5 Physical skills. Reducing that first number by -2 puts it much more in line with the others...

When a attribute is ranked up or down by an effect, the number appended to it is adjusted based on the number range of the adjusted rank. For example
C10 attribute is ranked down to D, maximum for C is 20, maximum for D is 10. The ranked down attribute is therefore D5. If this would result in a fractional value, round down.

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Are you sure you want to do this? Renormalizing the number rank sounds like it would be a pretty big pain-in-the-butt to keep track of. Would it really be that much of a problem to just say that ranking up/down just decreases the rank, with no change to the number? (Upon ranking down, if the number is too high for the lowered rank, you would either cap the number at the lower rank's limit, or instead of decreasing the rank at all you decrease the number to zero. E.g. a rank of B10 would downgrade to C10, but B30 being downgraded would be either C19 or B0, whichever method you decide to go with.)

As cultivators gain skill and focus on these categories, they may sometimes be split into smaller more focused skills.

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Even if focuses stats train faster, doesn't this mean it is harder to level if things are split?

E.g. for us to train each of Art, Music, and Dance sounds harder than for someone else to just train Expression. Even if our training is easier due to having a +1 rank bonus (and therefore needing less XP to go up a rank) and due to focus, I'd expect that to not make up for having 3x as many things to train.

...not that there is anything wrong with that. I expect typical gameplay would be to drop down to 1-2 of the focus elements instead of grabbing everything. It is just a somewhat counterintuitive result, and I wanted to be sure that it was intended.

 

[yrsillar]

Intimidation, Persuasion, and Socialize sound like they are a "split" skill. Does it really make sense to have Intimidation split for Persuasion for non-experts? Similarly, does it make sense to have group vs 1-1 conversations governed by different stats?

Coincidentally, there are currently 9 Social skills, compared to 6 Mental and 5 Physical skills. Reducing that first number by -2 puts it much more in line with the others...


Are you sure you want to do this? Renormalizing the number rank sounds like it would be a pretty big pain-in-the-butt to keep track of. Would it really be that much of a problem to just say that ranking up/down just decreases the rank, with no change to the number? (Upon ranking down, if the number is too high for the lowered rank, you would either cap the number at the lower rank's limit, or instead of decreasing the rank at all you decrease the number to zero. E.g. a rank of B10 would downgrade to C10, but B30 being downgraded would be either C19 or B0, whichever method you decide to go with.)


Even if focuses stats train faster, doesn't this mean it is harder to level if things are split?

E.g. for us to train each of Art, Music, and Dance sounds harder than for someone else to just train Expression. Even if our training is easier due to having a +1 rank bonus (and therefore needing less XP to go up a rank) and due to focus, I'd expect that to not make up for having 3x as many things to train.

...not that there is anything wrong with that. I expect typical gameplay would be to drop down to 1-2 of the focus elements instead of grabbing everything. It is just a somewhat counterintuitive result, and I wanted to be sure that it was intended.

Click to shrink...

That is a good point, I thought about combining them, but I wasn't sure. Something to consider.

Normalizing the rank works best for balance, even if it is a little more annoying math wise. Erebeal and I have tested that

The idea is generally that you spend more and more of your time focusing on your split skills, which will generally line up with your Way for obvious reasons. This serves to illustrate the way that upper tier cultivators tend to be more obsessive within their niche, and might leave themselves gaps and blindspots in the things that lie outside it.

 

[Erebeal]

I wouldn't try to overcomplicate skill splitting honestly.

The basic issue is that generic skill lists have certain assumptions built into them. Different weapons have their own skills because the game is assuming that it is about stabbing people in large part. Your choice of weapon is assumed to be important.

In contrast, expression is just sort of there to signal that "hey, your character could maybe play music or something" but it's clearly a side skill. It's just a bit of flavor - not what the game is actually about.

We then complicated this by using our flute as a weapon, which kind of violates the assumptions that the skill list was created under. Really expression should have been deleted as soon as we got FVM, and we should have been given flute mastery instead like any other weapon.

(hmm, should formations be split up? I'd say definitely yes if we were playing a production cultivator... We could have wards and automata right now?)

 

[Varder]

yrs made a horrible mistake by posting new mechanics before the new chapter

and now is stuck in a perpetual cycle of change something - > people complain about something else

face your misdeeds sinner, for this is hell

 

[yrsillar]

Perhaps I have, but its already started now, so we're going to be doing some edits and expanding on what I've already posted

Spoiler: Base Attributes

Attributes are a measure of a characters basic abilities in the physical, mental, and social ability. The attributes used in this quest are as follows.
Physical Attributes

Strength-The characters raw physical power, in terms of physical force exerted. Used to determine how damaging physical attacks are in combat
Dexterity- The characters grace and ability to maneuver quickly. Used to determine the accuracy of physical attacks in combat, and characters ability to avoid attacks in return.
Stamina- The characters general healthiness and robustness. Used to determine the characters ability to withstand physical attacks

Mental attributes
Intelligence- The characters overall mental acumen and strength of mind. Used to determine the power of some spiritual attacks, and the ability to dispel the techniques of others
Wits- The measure of the characters mental reaction speed and ability to keep up in fast paced situations. Can be used to determine accuracy of spiritual attacks, and their ability to avoid them in turn.
Resolve- The characters ability to stand up to mental and spiritual punishment. Used to withstand spiritual attacks, and bolster ones own techniques against dispels

Social Attributes
Presence- The characters force of personality and personal magnetism. Used to determine the power of some spiritual attacks
Manipulation- The characters ability ability to talk others around and express themselves successfully. Used to determine the accuracy and ability to avoid some spiritual attacks
Composure- The characters ability to withstand social difficulties without embarassing themselves. Used to withstand some spiritual attacks

Cultivation Attributes
Qi: The characters pool of energy, from which the power of their techniques is drawn. It's base value is modified by other factors such as spirit beast upkeep.
Domain: The attribute measuring the potency of a characters Way, gained at the beginning of the third cultivation realm.

Spoiler: Skills

Skills form general catch all categories for various areas of ability. As cultivators gain skill and focus on these categories, they may sometimes be split into smaller more focused skills. When this occurs, typically the cultivators area of focus will receive a rank up from the baseline, while other categories from the former skill will receive one or more rank downs, depending on the cultivators narrative abilities. When an unfocused skill competes with a focused skill, the unfocused skill receives one rank down.

Ling Qi has split one category, Expression, into focused skills already at the start of this quest.

Mental Skills

Academics- Governs knowledge of history, mathematics, language and other mundane information.
Bureaucracy- Governs knowledge of procedure and forms within the Empires ministries and other organs of civil service
Craft- Governs ability to craft mundane items. Used in combination with formations for talisman crafting, and with medicine in pill making
Formations- Governs the creation of formation arrays. Used to identify and disable existing arrays as well as craft new ones. Skill rank indicates an ability to create basic arrays of lesser rank.
Medicine- Governs knowledge of anatomy, medical reagents, and ability to perform first aid and more advanced medical procedures
Politics- Governs knowledge and ability to navigate the webs of interpersonal influence within the imperial court and the clans of the empire

Physical Skills
Athletics- Governs contests of physical skill, such as running, swimming or climbing. Used primarily in opposed contests with peer cultivators
Dance- Derived Subskill of Expression, formed due to advanced focus. Governs the art of expression through physical motion and grace.
Perceptiveness- Governs the characters basic eye for detail and attentiveness
Stealth- Governs physical activities related to subterfuge and sneaking. Includes sneaking, sleight of hand and various other forms of subtle movement.
Survival- Governs the ability to track quarry in the wilderness as well as ability to identify natural dangers and harvest natural materials

Social Skills

Art: Derived subskill of expression. Governs the ability to express oneself through the creation of external artistic pieces, such as paintings, sculpture or calligraphy.
Beast Handling- Governs skill at guiding and taming sub-sentient spirit beasts, as well as performing cooperative efforts with sapient ones, such as riding.
Empathy- Governs the ability to determine the intent and emotions of others in social situations
Music- Derived subskill of expression. Governs the ability to express oneself through music in all of its forms
Speech- Governs the ability to to speak well and perform various social tasks
Spirit Ken- Governs the ability to interact with and understand spirits with viewpoints and mindsets diverging from human norms

War- Governs the ability to lead and organize others in martial situations

Changelog: Several social skills have been condensed into Speech, with the old skills now being the first tier derived skills if that is focused

Spoiler: Derived Attributes

Derived Attributes form the basis of most combat ability and challenges in this quest, barring direct tests of Base attributes. Derived attributes are formed by the averaging of either two attributes or an attribute and a skill. The Derived attributes used in this quest are as follows.

Health: Measured by the average of Stamina and Qi, determines how much injury a cultivator can withstand before being incapacitated. Injury will gradually penalize this attribute.

Speed: Measures the characters ability to quickly cover distances, created through the average of Strength and Dexterity

Initiative: Measures the characters reaction time, and the order in which they react. Determined by Wits and Dexterity

Combat Perception: measures the characters ability to pick up on details and keep track of multiple factors in combat, determined by Wits and Perceptiveness.

Social Perception: measures the characters ability to keep track of important factors in social situations. Determined by Manipulation and Empathy

Hit: The characters accuracy in combat, divided into physical and spiritual. Uses dexterity and an appropriate mastery for physical. Uses manipulation or wits plus mastery for spiritual

Penetration: How hard a characters attacks hit in combat, divided into physical and spiritual. Uses Strength and mastery for physical, and Intelligence or presence plus mastery for spiritual

Avoid: The characters ability to avoid attacks in combat, divided into physical and spiritual. Uses Dex and mastery for physical, and manipulation or wits for spiritual

Armor: The characters ability to withstand attacks in combat, divided into physical and spiritual. Uses Stamina and mastery for physical and Resolve or Composure plus mastery for spiritual.

In combat the author will compare the combatants derived attributes, then taking into account the effects of techniques, environmental factors and plans, and determine outcomes in an organic fashion arising from this. Please remember that the system's primary function is to give readers who prefer a a crunchier view a point of comparison between the protagonist and any opponents in a combat, as well as provide a concrete measure of growth for the simulation aspects. It does not exist to determine exact outcomes through pure math.

Having an avoid higher than an enemies armor does not guarantee that they will always miss, but it does make it more likely, and the greater the discrepancy in ranks, the more likely those misses become, but there are no exact percentages or dice rolls involved.

Spoiler: Masteries

Masteries are skills solely related to combat and combat related activities. They use the same ranks and xp values as skills. Similarly they are organized into broad categories, which may split into more focused ones with training.

The general categories of offensive masteries are as follows, and are mostly, I feel self explanatory.

Archery
Axes
Blunt
Polearms
Projection- Governs attacks using projected energy(Lightning bolts and fireballs)
Misc.- Governs weapons which do not fall into any other category
Swords
Knives
Unarmed

The defensive masteries are as follows
Dodge-Ability to evade physical attacks
Fortitude- Ability to endure physical attacks

Fade-Ability to evade spiritual attacks
Resilience- Ability to endure spiritual attacks

Spoiler: The ranking system

All attributes, skills, masteries and other factors in this quest are measured using a letter rank system. The rank system is comparative, using the protagonist as a a baseline and comparing others to them. The ranks are as follows.

Ranks
UUU-Insurmountable for current cultivation level
UU
U-Overwhelming for current cultivation level
SSS
SS
S-Cap at current cultivation
A
B
C- Roughly average ability at current cultivation
D
E
F
G
H-Negligble

These letter ranks are then modified by numbers applied by passive bonuses and penalties. The number appending a rank may be increased or decreased by modifiers, and have the maximums detailed below.
F, G, H, E, D: 10
C: 20
B: 30
A: 40
SSS, SS, S: 60
UUU, UU, U: 120

This means that a highest number which can be added to a F rank Ability is 9. If an ability would add one to a F9 ability, it would roll over to D. If one were to instead subtract one from a D rank ability, it would be reduced to F9


Arts and other effects which give bonuses to attributes do not modify derived attributes unless the base attribute is pushed up a full letter rank.

The operation to average ranks and determine derived attributes is as follows, if you have an Archery of C and a Dex of A, your Hit with a bow would be determined as follows
A->B B<-C
Hit B

If you instead have A and D…
A->B C<-D
B->C15 (the halfway point) C15<-C
Hit C15

When a attribute is ranked up or down by an effect, the number appended to it is adjusted based on the number range of the adjusted rank. For example
D10 attribute is ranked down to F, maximum for C is 20, maximum for F is 10. The ranked down attribute is therefore F5. If this would result in a fractional value, round down.

Changelog: Added two lower ranks, G and H to give more resolution to the lower end of the scale, adjusting the max numbers a bit to flow better

Spoiler: Cultivation differences and Multiattacker bonuses

Differing cultivation gives penalties or bonuses to an opponent's statistics in comparison to the protagonist. Each level of cultivation beneath yours inflicts a -10 to all derived attributes in comparison to yours, each one above grants a +10. A difference in cultivation realm increases or decreases their statistics a full rank in comparison to yours in addition to the above penalty. This penalty also applies to base attributes when they are being tested against you.

Example: A cultivator of the Mid Yellow realm with a B10 Hit, has only a E5 rank Hit when up against Ling Qi. (1 rank down and -10 for two stage difference) Similarly a cultivator who has just stepped into the Cyan realm with a A rank Hit has SS20 when contesting Ling Qi.(1 rank up and +70 for a seven stage difference)

In a fight with multiple combatants, each opponent attacking a single target receives stacking bonus of 5 to hit and penetration per individual. To contribute to the multiattacker bonus and individual must be capable of meaningfully targeting the other combatant. This number may be modified by arts, but may never be reduced below 5 per individual. Combatants of two or more realms below do not receive this bonus or contribute to bonus for others, unless modified by arts. In the case of multiple combatants on each side, the numbers are compared, and the bonus divided accordingly
Example: A green 1 cultivator is fighting 6 yellow cultivators. The yellow cultivators receive a bonus of 30 to hit and penetration. If 3 red cultivators are added to the 6 yellows, the bonus does not change.
If 2 yellow cultivators battle 6 reds, the red cultivators receive only a bonus of 15 against each. If there are instead 7 red cultivators, three receive a bonus of 15 and four receive a bonus of 20

Spoiler: Combat and Challenge Chat

In a combat you will be given simplified statblocks displaying the derived attributes of the combatants. When determining outcomes in combat, the order goes as follows. Base Statistics-> Apply appropriate cultivation penalties and bonuses-> Apply misc. factors(Environmental issues, bonuses for plans etc. this is my eyes only)-> Apply Multiattacker bonuses

Please keep in mind that these are a guideline, but when weighing your plans for a combat, keep the following in mind.

1. The difference between two higher ranks is greater than the difference between two lower ranks(AvsB is a greater difference than CvsD)
2. Two attributes with the same rank but different modifiers are competitive, even if the higher modifier has the advantage
3. A difference of one or two ranks is a strong advantage, but not a guarantee. ( A Hit will not strike Avoid B 100% of the time, but it is more likely than not)

The following are a few other specific notes on combat modifiers.

Standard Modifying Conditions
There are many factors environmental and otherwise, which can affect the statistics of combatants. Some of the most common will be described below. Arts may modify negate or enhance these in various ways. It is to be stressed that this is not a comprehensive list, and I will not be making one. This is to give players some insight on the degree to which the environment may effect battles, and my thought processes on the matter.

Blinded: -10 to Hit and Avoid
Deafened: -10 to Hit and Avoid
Blinded and Deafened: -25 to Hit and Avoid
Low Light: -5 to Hit and Avoid
Total Darkness: -10 to Hit and Avoid
Underwater Combat: -10 to Speed, Hit and Avoid
Deep Underwater Combat: -20 to speed, -15 to Hit and Avoid
High Ground: +5 to ranged Hit
High Winds: -10 to projectile Hit
Storm Winds: -20 to projectile Hit, -10 to all other Hit, and Perception
Extreme Winds: -40 to Projectile Hit, -20 to other Hit and Perception, -10 to Speed
Unsure: -5 to Avoid
Unaware: -10 to Avoid
Unready: -20 to Avoid
¼ cover: +10 Avoid
½ cover: +20 Avoid
¾ cover: +30 Avoid
Grappled: Immobilized, -20 to Avoid and Hit

Stealth and Perception in combat:
The goal of entering stealth in combat is to gain advantage in combat over your foes. In order to attempt to enter stealth in battle, you must either have access to terrain or environmental features which can cut off, temporarily an enemies line of sight, or an art which allows you to do so regardless. When entering stealth, you initiate a skill challenge vs. all enemies Combat Perception. Targets with perception one or more ranks below your stealth total are considered Unaware. Targets within one rank of, but not above your stealth total are considered Unsure.

The Unready condition is only applicable if a target is totally unaware of your presence(I.E they have not sensed you at all at any point in the scene) Unready targets are also considered Unaware for the purposes of bonuses. Unready targets cannot use Responses against the first attack made against them by the hidden party.

In a combat with multiple enemies, one enemy losing the unaware or unsure condition does not strip you of it against others, although it may result in penalties to stealth, depending on the situation.

Spoiler: Arts and Techniques

Arts provide a character with passive bonuses to various derived statistics or even attributes, as well as techniques, which grant the character specific capabilities. Techniques do not use numbers within their descriptions, but instead describe a specific action that the character can take in combat which effects themselves, the environment, enemies or allies. Sometimes they affect several or all of those things.

There are two factors which measure the strength of a technique. The first is the Potency of the Art it belongs to. An arts potency is the level of cultivation an art requires for mastery of its current level. The second factor in a techniques power is its rank. Techniques are ranked on the same scale as attributes and skills. A technqiues rank represents both how costly it is, and how difficult it is to dispel, as well as the general potency of its effects.

Qi costs are compared to the characters Available Qi to determine how tiring they are to use. The closer the techniques rank is to the users available qi, the more draining it is. Talismans may reduce specific qi costs, which does not reduce the other factors connected to the techniques rank.

Dispelling uses the dispelling technique together with the casters intelligence or presence, plus any additional bonuses.
Resisting a dispel similarly uses the technique being targeted together with your resolve or composure, plus bonuses.

techniques do have several other common features

Durations
Immediate- Effect lasts only for a single action
Short- Effect lasts through a few actions
Long- Effect lingers for a significant fraction of the scene
Scene- Effect lasts for the length of a combat/scenario
Persistent- Effect lasts as long as actively maintained

Ranges
Adjacent: ~5 meters
Near: ~10 meters
Very Close: ~40 meters
Close: ~100 meters
Far: ~200 meters
Very Far: ~400 meters
Distant: <400 meters

Action Speed
Response-Can be performed in response to another characters action, regardless of initiative
Instant- May be performed at the same time as a normal or another instant action(max 2 per character action)
Normal-Baseline

EG: Techniques are now qualitative in nature.

Spoiler: Domain Weapons

Domain weapons are special weapons used to train and express a cultivators domain. Each cultivation Weapon has unqiue abilities, and Ling Qi's is found below in the equipment tab. However, there is a standard formula for determining the Hit and Penetration of Offensive Domain Weapons.
The weapons Hit is determined by averaging together two attributes, which are unique to the weapon and can be found in its description. The Weapons Penetration is calculated based on the lower of those two attributes. These are then modified based on the Characters domain rank

Rank 0= 4 ranks down
Rank 1= 2 ranks down
Rank 2= 1 rank down
Rank 3&up= No ranks down

These special derived attributes are then modified further, receiving a bonus equal to 5x the number of meridians the cultivator has aligned to the weapons element and any special properties of the weapon itself or related arts.

Offensive Domain weapons have Avoid and Armor equal to their users ranked down as on the table above. Domain weapons do not have separate physical and spiritual defensive attributes, and use the higher of the users two scores to determine theirs. Offensive domain weapons receive half of the meridian bonus to their defensive attributes. All incoming damage from non domain sources to a domain weapon is ranked down once.

Defensive Domain Weapons work in the reverse, with their defensive attributes using the first formula and their offensive statistics using the second.
Domain weapons do not count as additional combatants for determining multiattacker bonuses until domain rank 3.
Domain weapons also receive bonus of 20 to health at rank one and an additional 20 at rank 3

Alright, so this is the gist of the non-cultivation part of the system

Please keep in mind, if all you care about is the narrative, you can ignore 90% of this for most purposes. The vast majority of this is to give plan makers some somewhat concrete data when making battle plans. I will not at any time be making turn by turn and action by action calculations beyond quick and easy things that can be done in my head.

 

[A/N]

...holy crap. I haven't been keeping up but I thought the new system was meant to simplify things!

Well if it works for glorious QM that's all that matters.

 

[Alectai]

It's utterly unnecessary to care about the system, because it exists to give a ballpark estimate of someone's abilities at a given moment of time, not something that needs to be closely tracked and whatnot.

It exists to basically give people who really like working out tactics and crunch a snapshot of what a rival's abilities are compared to your own.

 

[Jensaarai]

I can actually understand this system, whereas the previous one just seemed like dice porn.

 

[Khepri14]

Hmmm.... This explains a lot, thanks. Not that I'll ever really use it, but it's definitely nice to know. Appreciate it, @yrs.

Also...

High Ground: +5 to ranged Hit

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: :V

 

[sstabeler]

I think it would probably help if you think of it as LQ's stats are listed from the perspective of an Early Green Cultivator- there isn't a change in the underlying stat when you go up a stage, it's just that the scale is updated to be a contest agianst a higher-stage opponent than before. Therefore, from our perspective, a Late Yellow breaking through is irrelevant to their stats contesting us, because we already saw their stats contesting an Early Green cultivator (us)

 

[George]

I think it would probably help if you think of it as LQ's stats are listed from the perspective of an Early Green Cultivator- there isn't a change in the underlying stat when you go up a stage, it's just that the scale is updated to be a contest agianst a higher-stage opponent than before. Therefore, from our perspective, a Late Yellow breaking through is irrelevant to their stats contesting us, because we already saw their stats contesting an Early Green cultivator (us)

Click to shrink...

The problem there is that it's a change from the narrative. Previously, breaking through to Early Green immediately made you noticeably stronger. It's not most of the strength difference between an established Green 1 cultivator and an established Yellow 3 cultivator, but it's definitely some of it and was an important consideration.

 

[Alectai]

The problem there is that it's a change from the narrative. Previously, breaking through to Early Green immediately made you noticeably stronger.

Click to shrink...

Uh, not it didn't, only in the form of the autosuccesses, which are modeled by the relative scores being tweaked.

Just breaking through mostly only impacted small, passive stuff.

 

[George]

Uh, not it didn't, only in the form of the autosuccesses, which are modeled by the relative scores being tweaked.

Just breaking through mostly only impacted small, passive stuff.

Click to shrink...

I'm talking about autosuccesses, yes. Those are not modeled by the current system, otherwise we'd see e.g. an extra +10 from a Realm breakthrough rather than only the normal stage increase.

E: Right now, from the stat blocks we will be shown, if we see the before and after of a stage breakthrough, it's impossible to tell whether it was also a realm breakthrough. I don't think that's consistent with the previous narrative and system.

 

[Tarro]

I don't know if this can be formatted well, but can the derived subskills of a skill be made more obviously noticeable when compared to their non-derived relatives?

Something like this maybe:

Mental Skills

Academics- Governs knowledge of history, mathematics, language and other mundane information.
Bureaucracy- Governs knowledge of procedure and forms within the Empires ministries and other organs of civil service
Craft- Governs ability to craft mundane items. Used in combination with formations for talisman crafting, and with medicine in pill making
Formations- Governs the creation of formation arrays. Used to identify and disable existing arrays as well as craft new ones. Skill rank indicates an ability to create basic arrays of lesser rank.
Medicine- Governs knowledge of anatomy, medical reagents, and ability to perform first aid and more advanced medical procedures
Politics- Governs knowledge and ability to navigate the webs of interpersonal influence within the imperial court and the clans of the empire

Physical Skills

Athletics- Governs contests of physical skill, such as running, swimming or climbing. Used primarily in opposed contests with peer cultivators
Perceptiveness- Governs the characters basic eye for detail and attentiveness
Stealth- Governs physical activities related to subterfuge and sneaking. Includes sneaking, sleight of hand and various other forms of subtle movement.
Survival- Governs the ability to track quarry in the wilderness as well as ability to identify natural dangers and harvest natural materials
[MAX] Expression- Governs the ability to display the intent and emotions of oneself. Gained applicability to physical skills due to advanced focus

Derived subskills:​

Dance- Derived Subskill of Expression, formed due to advanced focus. Governs the art of expression through physical motion and grace.​

Social Skills


Beast Handling- Governs skill at guiding and taming sub-sentient spirit beasts, as well as performing cooperative efforts with sapient ones, such as riding.
Empathy- Governs the ability to determine the intent and emotions of others in social situations
[MAX] Expression- Governs the ability to display the intent and emotions of oneself

Derived subskills:​

Art- Derived subskill of expression. Governs the ability to express oneself through the creation of external artistic pieces, such as paintings, sculpture or calligraphy.
Music- Derived subskill of expression. Governs the ability to express oneself through music in all of its forms​

Speech- Governs the ability to to speak well and perform various social tasks
Spirit Ken- Governs the ability to interact with and understand spirits with viewpoints and mindsets diverging from human norms

War- Governs the ability to lead and organize others in martial situations


In an opponent's skill set it might look like this for Sun Liling during the chase in Week 32:

[MAX] Survival- Governs the ability to track quarry in the wilderness as well as ability to identify natural dangers and harvest natural materials

Derived Subskills:​

Hunting- Derived subskill of survival. Governs the ability to track, trap, and chase prey.​

 

[yrsillar]

I'm talking about autosuccesses, yes. Those are not modeled by the current system, otherwise we'd see e.g. an extra +10 from a Realm breakthrough rather than only the normal stage increase.

E: Right now, from the stat blocks we will be shown, if we see the before and after of a stage breakthrough, it's impossible to tell whether it was also a realm breakthrough. I don't think that's consistent with the previous narrative and system.

Click to shrink...

This is modeled in everyone below you getting a rank down when contesting you.

So Late yellow Ling Qi fights a guy. He has a Hit of C
Next week she breaks through to green and fights him again. His Hit is now only a D AND gets the stage penalty tacked on.

 

[George]

This is modeled in everyone below you getting a rank down when contesting you.

So Late yellow Ling Qi fights a guy. He has a Hit of C
Next week she breaks through to green and fights him again. His Hit is now only a D AND gets the stage penalty tacked on.

Click to shrink...

My understanding before was that when you break through you also lose a rank as your stats are adjusted to the next realm; is that not the case?
If it's not, then yes breaking through to a new realm has a dramatic effect that's more in line with the narrative than the previous mechanics and I apologize for my misunderstanding.

 

[Varder]

Calm down. The realm breakthrough influence was interesting to ponder and speculate and pick apart, but as it turns out, keeping consistent sheets of the main cast was never the idea, so it's generally irrelevant.

System's good to immediately see where LQ's own skills stand among her peers and it's good to take in the relative strength of combatants with a glance. Everything else happens behind the scenes for everyone who's not planning on making their own Cultivation Plans for arts and stuff can ignore it.

Unless there's a lot more people who enjoy making plans than I expect then system (or at least how it's applied) should satisfy almost everyone.

 

[yrsillar]

Honestly, I'm probably not going to be modeling that. The system will almost certainly end of reworked again by the time you guys are reaching cyan.

 

[Alectai]

Yeah, just...

It's not meant to be a crunchy, rigorous system that tracks everyone else. Just us--and when we come into conflict with others, we get to see how they compare to us. For that purpose, it's fine.

I just want to keep following the adventure of our friends T_T

 

[George]

Honestly, I'm probably not going to be modeling that. The system will almost certainly end of reworked again by the time you guys are reaching cyan.

Click to shrink...

Yeah fair enough; I was a little concerned about having to fight a Cyan 1 at some point within the scope of this system, but I'll put it out of my mind.
I do think it's a strong, clear system that gives us clear and exciting cultivation goals during Green!

 

[lemon10]

I'm just a tad bit curious about what rank our domain weapon is under the new system seeing as the equipment sheet hasn't been updated yet (and probably won't be updated till the next quest starts). Is it rank 3 or rank 2?

 

[zinay]

I like it, simple enough to understand while allowing us to know what various bonuses actually do.

 

[Erebeal]

My understanding before was that when you break through you also lose a rank as your stats are adjusted to the next realm; is that not the case?
If it's not, then yes breaking through to a new realm has a dramatic effect that's more in line with the narrative than the previous mechanics and I apologize for my misunderstanding.

Click to shrink...

The scale is based around us.

Everyone else is described on our scale.

This means that, for example, a good late yellow would have stats fairly close to ours (see e.g. Xiulan). In late yellow they would be running into cultivation penalties against us. Once they breakthrough, they still have the same stats that are fairly close to ours, but now no longer suffer the cultivation penalties.

 

[George]

The scale is based around us.

Everyone else is described on our scale.

This means that, for example, a good late yellow would have stats fairly close to ours (see e.g. Xiulan). In late yellow they would be running into cultivation penalties against us. Once they breakthrough, they still have the same stats that are fairly close to ours, but now no longer suffer the cultivation penalties.

Click to shrink...

Right so in that case, in absolute terms, they're becoming considerably more powerful than they were before and I was mistaken about what happens at breakthrough. My bad.

 

[Alectai]

I'm just a tad bit curious about what rank our domain weapon is under the new system seeing as the equipment sheet hasn't been updated yet (and probably won't be updated till the next quest starts). Is it rank 3 or rank 2?

Click to shrink...

our Domain Weapon is top class for a Green, so it'll be whatever the highest rank is. It's just that it won't stay Top Class after we move into Cyan or so.