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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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[X] Interlude: The Naras come to actual game night
Shiori quest, Shiori quest~

Also oh man, it's lovely to see Keiko coming out of her shell in this and last chapter, even if here it's mostly played for laughs.Speaking of nice touches last chapter:
Velorien said:
Tenten, of course, was wearing her standard uniform. It would have been ridiculous to expect anything else. However… did her hair seem slightly neater than the last couple of times Kei had seen her? And her fingernails more carefully trimmed?
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At first I thought this meant Tenten was just more low-key, or maybe wasn't as into Keiko. But then it turned out she didn't have the money to get a subtly-more-attractive training outfit anyway. Which is sad, but also means the chapter is totally consistent with my headcanon where Keiko's crush is totally mutual.

Also, jeez, what's she doing in a place like that? Like, a scrubby rando I can understand, but she's apparently "The" Tenten--surely Hidden Leaf can get her some nicer digs? That just seems like good weapon maintenance.
 
eaglejarl said:
...that the mods would most likely not approve of, since these characters are teenagers.

/me is a party pooper
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I'm pretty sure Kei, at least, is asexual (~80% on that), so this would be a "Mari Moment". Fair point on moderator unhappiness, though.

e: Mostly unrelatedly, do y'all think that Tenten might not mind writing as much? Although it's possible her language skills might suffer there, too.

e2: It occurs to me that this is such a Hazou thing to think about. "Oh, your ... friend doesn't like talking? Have you considered passing notes?"
 
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Cariyaga said:
e2: It occurs to me that this is such a Hazou thing to think about. "Oh, your ... friend doesn't like talking? Have you considered passing notes?"
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This does, of course, depend on Keiko ever so much as letting Tenten's name pass her lips in the company of anyone other than Mari-sensei who somehow knows everything.
 
MadScientist said:
Proposed tweaks for M&M:
  • Go PLU
  • Change the cost per rank of an effect to "cost per rank for rank one * the rank number"
  • Restrict effect availability based on whether the ninja has a jutsu for that.
So, for example, going from STR 0 to STR 1 would cost (2*1=2). Going from STR 4 to STR 5 would cost (2*5=10).

On the other hand, if you have a strength-boosting jutsu, then that would be an Enhanced Trait effect that starts again at rank one (2*1=2) while still adding onto the users total STR, making bonus-collecting be actually useful again. If a ninja has multiple strength boosting jutsu that they can use simultaneously then they're going to be a lot more cost effective than a ninja without access to shiny STR-boost jutsu who had to pay increasingly large amounts to increase their base STR.

Substition should be considered an Enhanced Trait: Dodge power, meaning that all ninja are going to find Dodge to be much cheaper to level than Toughness, (unless of course they have an armour jutsu - which would be a Protection effect (Protection is identical to "Enhanced Trait: Toughness")), meaning that most ninja will be glass cannons. The Defensive Roll advantage should be banned for this to work, because Defensive Roll is just another way of adding to Toughness that anyone would have access to, (and really, how are you going to "roll with the punches" against a lightning ninjutsu?).

With all that in mind, we might build a ninja like this:

200PP

Abilities (STR 1, STA 3, AGL 5, DEX 4, FGT 1, INT 0, AWE 1, PRE 0) @ 70PP
Defences (Dodge 5 [+15], Fortitude 1 [+4], Parry 3 [+4], Toughness 4 [+7], Will 5 [+6].) @ 7PP
Skills (Deception 4 [+4]. Stealth 4 [+9].) @ 10PP
Advantages () @ 0PP
Substitution (Enhanced Trait: Dodge 5.) @ 15PP
Fire Element (Array, max:
  • Fire Beam (Damage 6, area: line. Accurate 5 [+14].)
  • Dazzling Flames (Affliction 5 vs Will, impaired, disabled, visual unaware, area: visual perception, cumulative.)
.) @ 58PP

With a bit of tinkering, this lets us regain a sense of what numbers we're likely to be facing at a given level in exactly the same way that the old system did. It also lets the QMs apply a version of their XP curve to work out how many PP a given ninja will have.

EDIT: You could even have Basic Clone be another Enhanced Trait: Dodge effect ("I hit you." "Nuh-uh! You hit my clone!"), making Dodge even cheaper compared to Toughness.


On Sealing and Technique Hacking:

I actually advise that the QMs alter how M&M does "inventing/artificing" a little in regards to these.

Obviously, you're going to want to use Expertise: Sealing and Expertise: Technique Hacking skills, as well as Artificer: Sealing and Artificer: Technique Hacking advantages, with a complication that Bad Things sometimes happen during research. But, with the cost changes I've recommended above, that rather nerfs Sealing, since the sealmaster has to have an INT+Expertise: Sealing higher or equal to the seal they're trying to create in order to reliably create it using a routine check.

So: my advice is to let the sealmaster make multiple design checks. The seal keeps any ranks that the sealing checks have covered. Once the sealmaster can no longer increase the seal's effect rank by one over the course of a single design check, the sealmaster has hit a wall at their current skill level.

(And decrease construction time from 4hrs per PP to 1min per 10PP because drawing seals is fast.)

For TH, make only a single design check, with the DC being the cost of getting the jutsu to level 5 (15 for a "one point per rank" jutsu, 30 for a "two points per rank" jutsu, etc.). Not completely satisfied with that scaling, but we can work on it. And then when research is complete, the hacker gets the jutsu at level 1 for free.
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Using this idea, I'm going to try building our characters, to get an idea of how many points they might cost. I'm going to be using the following benchmarks:

Abilities - 0 is human average, 4 is highly gifted, 7 is peak human, 8+ is reserved for bloodline wielders and other chakra bullshit.

Skill bonuses - +0 is an untrained/barely trained layman, +5 is pretty good, +10 is a civilian-level expert, higher than 10 is someone with not just expertise but special advantages (access to hidden knowledge, access to brilliant teachers, the spark of genius, ridiculous training regimes and work ethic, bloodline bullshit, ninja reaction speeds for physical skills).

Defence bonuses / effect ranks - I would expect most ninja to have very a high total Dodge bonus (AGL + Dodge + Substitution + Clone) and a fairly low total Toughness bonus (STA + Toughness) because of the different number of contributory traits that the cost can be split between. For a chunin, I sort of expect around +15 to Dodge, and about half that to other unaugmented defences. Effect ranks of attacks are likely to be around the 5 to 10 range for chunin. Perhaps leaning more towards 10.

So I'm going to go do some building now, of what I think Gouketsu+Akane might look like. Can a QM please tag my rules suggestion as such in the informational bookmarks so they're easier to find later?
 
Veedrac said:
Hazō needs to calm his urge to constantly course-correct other people's relationships. Sometimes waiting to be asked is the best thing to do.
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It's all about the presentation: Shikamaru gets a personal assistant who plans out his romantic outings, so why shouldn't Keiko have someone helping her out? Our new clan has to keep up appearances after all.

And who does all of the important planning for Keiko in the first place? It's perfectly in character for Hazou to want to help Keiko optimize her political and romantic endeavors, even if the end result is bound to be adorkable yet heartfelt.

This is how Hazou (and by extension, Mari) and Shiori end up in a mock-proxy rom-com war between each other using Shikamaru and Keiko as self-aware yet still helpless pawns.

Meanwhile Mari cackles maniacally while Jiraiya and Shikaku commiserate over hard liquor.

The first step is to get Shikamaru to stop sobbing on the floor in his room in the fetal position though...

[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
 
MadScientist said:
Using this idea, I'm going to try building our characters, to get an idea of how many points they might cost. I'm going to be using the following benchmarks:

Abilities - 0 is human average, 4 is highly gifted, 7 is peak human, 8+ is reserved for bloodline wielders and other chakra bullshit.

Skill bonuses - +0 is an untrained/barely trained layman, +5 is pretty good, +10 is a civilian-level expert, higher than 10 is someone with not just expertise but special advantages (access to hidden knowledge, access to brilliant teachers, the spark of genius, ridiculous training regimes and work ethic, bloodline bullshit, ninja reaction speeds for physical skills).

Defence bonuses / effect ranks - I would expect most ninja to have very a high total Dodge bonus (AGL + Dodge + Substitution + Clone) and a fairly low total Toughness bonus (STA + Toughness) because of the different number of contributory traits that the cost can be split between. For a chunin, I sort of expect around +15 to Dodge, and about half that to other unaugmented defences. Effect ranks of attacks are likely to be around the 5 to 10 range for chunin. Perhaps leaning more towards 10.

So I'm going to go do some building now, of what I think Gouketsu+Akane might look like. Can a QM please tag my rules suggestion as such in the informational bookmarks so they're easier to find later?
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Be sure to check probabilities as well, if you could?

e: That is to say, I'd rather keep probabilities approximately the same as the old system.
 
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[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
 
Dictator4Hire said:
It's all about the presentation: Shikamaru gets a personal assistant who plans out his romantic outings, so why shouldn't Keiko have someone helping her out? Our new clan has to keep up appearances after all.

And who does all of the important planning for Keiko in the first place? It's perfectly in character for Hazou to want to help Keiko optimize her political and romantic endeavors, even if the end result is bound to be adorkable yet heartfelt.

This is how Hazou (and by extension, Mari) and Shiori end up in a mock-proxy rom-com war between each other using Shikamaru and Keiko as self-aware yet still helpless pawns.

Meanwhile Mari cackles maniacally while Jiraiya and Shikaku commiserate over hard liquor.

The first step is to get Shikamaru to stop sobbing on the floor in his room in the fetal position though...

[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
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Don't think I don't see what you're doing. You're attempting to steer the narrative in directions it wouldn't otherwise go by offering writing prompts which are too fun for the QMs to turn down. It is munchkinry par excellence.

Edit: Looks like I have additional motivation to get this system stuff sorted out. I have plenty more ideas for romantic and/or romantic comedy updates, but there's only so much that can realistically take place before the Chūnin Exams.
 
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Thaaat took a while. But It's looking much better than previous iterations, so fine. Have a Hazou, I'm going out to get lunch.

Abilities (STR 5, STA 3, AGL 3, DEX 0, FGT 3, INT 4, AWE 2, PRE 0.) @ 92PP
Defences (Dodge 6 [+19], Fortitude 4 [+7], Parry 6 [+9], Toughness 4 [+13], Will 4 [+6].) @ 72PP
Skills (Close Combat: Unarmed/Gauntlets 7 [+18]. Deception 6 [+6]. Expertise: Sealing 3 [+7]. Insight 4 [+6]. Persuasion 3 [+3]. Technology 2 [+7].) @ 37PP
Advantages (Artificer: Sealing. Attractive 2. Benefit: Noble. Benefit: Hokage's Son. Accurate Attack. Defensive Attack. Improved Critical: Unarmed/Gauntlets 4 [16-20]. Takedown. Uncanny Dodge.) @ 20PP
Substitution (Enhanced Trait: Dodge 5.) @ 15PP
Clone (Enhanced Trait: Dodge 5.) @ 15PP
Pangolin Training Jutsu (Protection 5.) @ 15PP
Roki (Close Combat: Unarmed/Gauntlets 8.) @ 18PP
Gauntlets (Damage 5 [+10], STR-based, removable.) @ 12PP
Neutral Ninjutsu (Array, max 15:
  • Henge (Morph 2: humanoids.)
  • Ghost Scales (Protection 3 [add +3 to Toughness while active], continuous.)
  • Pantorkrator's Hammer (Speed 2, linked to... Enhanced Trait: STR 3 [+8].)
.) @ 17PP
Earth Ninjutsu (Array, max 21:
  • Living Roots (Senses: ranged touch, penetrates concealment, medium: the ground, linked to... Enhanced Trait: Perception 8 [+10].)
  • Multiple Earth Wall (Create stone shapes 3, ranged, continuous, limited: walls.)
  • Hiding Like a Mole (Burrowing 4, continuous.)
  • Pangolin Earth Armour (Protection 4 [add +4 to Toughness while active], continuous.)
  • Earth Clone (Summon 2, continuous, multiple minions, horde.)
  • Tunnel Excavation (Burrowing 4, permanent, affects others.)
.) @ 26PP

Offences
  • Punching with all bonuses: Attack +18, Effect 13
  • Crushing with MEW: Attack +0, Effect 3
Defences
  • Total Dodge: +19
  • Fortitude: +7
  • Parry: +9
  • Toughness with all bonuses: +20
  • Will: +6
  • Can hide underground
  • Can hide behind Toughness 3 walls
 
[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu

Velorien said:
Edit: Looks like I have additional motivation to get this system stuff sorted out. I have plenty more ideas for romantic and/or romantic comedy updates, but there's only so much that can realistically take place before the Chūnin Exams.
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Hazou: "Boy, that time loop that let us train to Jounin level and resolve all our romantic issues sure was useful, wasn't it, gang?"

The Rookie Fifteen/Goketsu Polycule: "Sure was, Hazou!"
 
Voting is closed.
Adhoc vote count started by eaglejarl on Oct 21, 2017 at 12:14 PM, finished with 72 posts and 21 votes.
  • 29
    [X] Interlude: The Naras come to actual game night
    [X] Orochimaru sends a housewarming gift to Clan Goketsu
    [x] Orchimaru finds out Jiraiya got married
    [X] Interlude: Hana and Ami react to Clan Goketsu
    [X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
    [X] Interlude: The Death of Shikigami
    [x] Action Plan: Standup Comedy
    [X] Interlude: The Village Hidden in the Mountain and cultural mishaps upon exploring the new world, aka why is everybody proposing to me?
    [x] omake: crossover with randomly-rolled setting
    [X] Chosen for the Grave part 2
    [X] Marked for Dates - Keiko Gaiden - Chapter 2 - Sigh Another Day
    [X] More indirect Shiori and Keiko sparring
    [X] Hazou and Akane sparring date
    [X] Excerpts from Maito Gai's Guide to Attaining the Spirit of Youth
    [x] Interlude: Hana, Ami and Orochimaru react to Clan Goketsu
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