- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You may be thinking of Haku. IIRC, he's the only character shown to be able to use hand seals one-handed.
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
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- Tags
- naruto rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard
Cariyaga
Handsome Gentleperson
- Location
- United States
Hm... One way Animated Shield Seals could work would be if they keyed into the seal-activator's chakra system (not directly, god, I'm not suicidal), determining the location of the user's tenketsu, and using that as a reference point from which to create a circular force barrier at a given distance from the user's body.
- Location
- USA
The point of the single grip shield is deflection of attacks, not full on blocking as I believe you are thinking. You maneuver the shield so that the rounded edge pushes the attack away from your body and there are quite a number of videos demonstrating this principle in action.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sure, but you can still do that with a scutum or a kite shield, and you can also block or shield bash with those. They are strictly better.
(Actually, perhaps not *strictly* better. With a single-point shield you could theoretically try to stop an attack from your opposite side, which is problematic with a shield that's strapped on. When I think through the body mechanics, however, I regard this as unlikely to work to a useful degree.)
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- Location
- In my Lair, on my Hoard
Well, as you mentioned later in your post, things like the DC for Inventor/Artificer/Ritualist are all dependent on PP. As are things like Power Stunting. And the Weaken effect. Oh, and the Variable effect (which should be a rather uncommon Effect to have on one's sheet - either you've got a blood-line that uses it, or happen to have thousands of jutsu under your belt like Hiruzen).
Changing the math for stuff like that would be a nightmare to balance. PP has already been subjected to math/tests from Green Ronin, M&M's game designers, so we can be assured its reasonably balanced. Ergo, keep PP and XP separate, to ensure that PP is used for stuff in-game, and XP is used for adding new things over time.
Basically, PP makes for easy math in-game/play. XP gives us the grind we want for training purposes.
Okay, you're pretty close actually. A few details you've got off, though. Also, the Deluxe Heroes Handbook clarifies this stuff more, and adds a few things that you can do, so let's go through it.
Correct.
Mostly correct.
You have the Skill used, the DC calculation, the Hour / PP, and failure stuff right.
The DHH also mentions that you should also make that Design Check in Secret so the player has no idea if they Designed it right or not. But you're all intelligent folks, and probably guessed that already.
The DHH also allows one to make this Design Check as a "routine check". For who haven't made an effort to learn M&M terminology, that's the same thing as "take 10, but it's one action rather than taking 10 actions to guarantee the 10".
The Routine Check is what allows a Hero to do things pretty casually in no-stress situations. Lots of stuff can turn into Routine Checks, and they can even be done in combat (but only on attack rolls vs Minions, unless you've got something like the Skill Mastery advantage). But now we're digressing.
Also of note is this interesting snippet from page 211 of the Deluxe Heroes Handbook about finagling with the Design's DC and Time:
Now, what this means is that you can try to "rush the job" at the expense of making the Design check harder. Granted, this also means you're increasing your likelihood of screwing up the Design, but hey, for a -5 penalty to the design check, you could cut design time in half!
However, there's also the rules-exploit that takes this rule to it's logical "inversion": If you increase the rank of design time, get a +5 circumstance bonus for each +1 time rank increase.
Or if it makes it easier to look at for you, lower the DC by -5 by taking +1 time rank increase to the design time (so instead of 4 hours / PP, you spend 8 hours / PP).
Also note that given the way the Ranks & Measures table works, and the word "each" in the rule description, you can further increase/decrease the DC of the design check by accepting a decrease/increase the Time Rank spent / PP cost on the design time.
This lets Inventors/Artificers/Ritualists hit above their usual weight-class... but is really, really slow. But if you've got months or years to kill with nothing to do but design, then you've got the time to kill on sextuple-checking your design work before thinking about construction.
Also, it's a rule-exploit worthy of Marked for Death.
Yeah, this is all correct. Note that much like with Design, you can make the Construction check as a Routine Check, and you can rush the job by taking penalties (or take it really, really slow and get a bonus - but that's a rules exploit).
Also note that Failures from the Design can propagate into Construction. And as we've seen in MfD... Sealing Failure is really bad.
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Yeah, this is wrong.
It's not "you can use it once".
The rules read:
Emphasis mine.
Basically, once you've got the Invention completed, you can use it for a single scene. Within that scene, you can use it as much as you want.
The Exception to that are Rituals: those are single-use, fire-and-done type things.
Mostly right.
First bullet point should be "Spend a hero-point to get an another one-scene use". Note that you can spend more HP to keep the invention around for successive scenes (again, 1 HP for each scene its used in except the first). This uses in successive scenes needs no further skill checks for Design or Construction.
The second bullet point is spot on. You basically pay for the power in it's entirety, either as a Device (Powers with the Removable Flaw), or as Equipment (as per the Advantage). My assumption is that the Team (Hazou especially) has purchased an entire array of explosives as Equipment - simply because Equipment is best meant to represent 'cheap, easily replaceable gear that is mundane enough to not be a Device'. Explosive Seals and the other mass-produced Seals the Team has fit the bill, because Hazou and Kagome are around to "provide upkeep".
The third bullet point is kinda right? But if you already have the Design right, and still have the Design specs somewhere on-hand in-character, you could just skip right to Construction. I mean, unless you're making changes to the Design or making a new Design, you should still be able to use the "old blueprint" without issue, you know?
But, you can actually spend a Hero Point to "have a particular previously constructed invention conveniently on-hand during an adventure". This results in looking like Batman with his "magic utility belt" by way of internal ret-con. Or simply that you'd been spending off-screen time doing maintenance on the invention, and are ret-conning it into "I just happened to have my old prototype with me!"
So, really, it's a matter of "spend a bunch of time remaking the Invention" or "pay a HP, and just have it on hand".
Pretty much? I mean, I believe I've covered the differences already but for the sake of those that are just skimming, I'll go over them again.
- Rituals use Expertise: Magic, just as Artificer does.
- The Design portion of the Ritual takes 4 Hours / PP
- The Performance portion takes 10 Minutes / PP
- The DC for Design and Performance are the same as with Inventing (only it's Ritual Performance, not Invention Construction, but that's semantics)
- The ritual is only good for One Scene. Sometimes this means "one-and-done", sometimes it means "the effects last a whole scene" - it really depends on the Power the Ritual is giving you for the scene, but more likely is dependent on the plots and the whims of the GM.
- Failure is the same as with Inventions
- You can jury-rig Rituals just like you can Inventions/Artifice
This actually reminds me: I completely forgot to mention Jury-Rigging!
Jury-Rigging is essentially what happens when you don't have the time to go through the design and construction process, and need to design an Invention right now! It's the "Macgyver Option" to hack together an invention in a few minutes and make it work for the scene you need it.
Here's the excerpt from page 212 of the Deluxe Heroes Handbook:
So, you basically spend an HP, and can then skip the Design step and go straight to Construction. The Construction DC becomes 15 + PP cost rather than 10 + PP cost. The time to construct goes from 4 Hours / PP to the insanely quick 1 Round / PP. It's a rough job, so you can't make it a Routine Check (unless you have the Skill Mastery advantage), and you can't take penalties to your skill check to speed it up further (this is the fastest you can work, and you're already cutting corners).
As is obvious, Jury-Rigging is a big risk. You have to spend an HP to make the attempt, and the chance of failure increases dramatically (because there's a +5 DC and you can't make it routine). But if you manage to beat the DC and last enough rounds to get it done, then you can pull off a Macgyver.
Yeah, but M&M "thingy creation" is good for dealing with "how do design and build prototypes" style situations. They're used not to be once, but for one scene. And they can be re-used with a HP, or with time spent on re-doing the Construction phase.
Also, if they get to be something the character uses often, then it's most likely they bought the inventions as Devices/Equipment.
As I mentioned earlier - it is most likely that after Kagome began teaching Hazou all about Seals (and Hazou bought and leveled his Expertise: Sealing skill, and purchased the advantage(s) needed to use them right) that all members of the Team simply gained a few ranks of the Equipment Advantage, and used the Advantage to represent the Seals they have on hand.
In M&M, counting ammunition isn't a problem. It's actually a Complication that the GM can give (see the Equipment section's "Under The Hood: Ammo, Batteries, and Charges" side-bar about this).
Virtually all of Team Uplift's explosive ordinance falls under the umbrella of "Equipment" rather than "Invention", meaning that upkeep tends to happen "off-screen" with Hazou and Kagome in order to re-stock on supplies.
Of course, one can always create a homebrew advantage that plays on the Invention rules:
SEALCRAFTER (Skill Advantage) Use Expertise: Sealing to create temporary Seal inventions and prototypes.
-- The Advantage would work exactly as Artificer does. Only, the Construction Time is on the order of minutes, similar to Rituals.
Kind of a rough idea here, and I'm not entirely sure on how much the time / PP cost ought to be. See, Inventions and Artifice have Construction be built on a 4 hour time scale: Time Rank 11. Rituals are Performed at 10 minute scale, so Time Rank 7. Jury-Rigging is a single round, so Time Rank 0.
Meh, I'll look into it later once I take a look at how long making some seals are supposed to take, and how much they cost in terms of PP.
This way, you would spend anywhere from minutes to hours to weeks to months to design a Seal, depending on how simple or complicated you want to make the Seal, and you own personal skill/ability to take penalties or spend extra time reducing the DC for the check to viable levels.
Once you've got the Prototype perfected though, you can either pay the HP to have it on hand every now and then, or you can pay to have it as a Device or Equipment that you'll always have on hand.
The cost is that you have to use Extra Effort.
Extra Effort can only be used once a round, and each use gives the user the Fatigued Condition. Fatigued isn't so bad... but getting hit by the Fatigued condition when you're already Fatigued? The Condtion worsens to Exhausted, and that's a pretty big hinderance. And if you suffer from Fatigue again when you're already Exhausted? You become Incapacitated.
This is why HP are a really valuable resource - you can spend a Hero Point to Recover from a Dazed, Fatigued, or Stunned Condition instantly, no action required. This lets you pull off a Power Stunt by using Extra Effort and immediately spending an HP to Recover the Fatigued condition.
And as to the fact that you can Power Stunt for a completely new power... okay, well technically yes, but on page 190 of the Deluxe Heroes Handbook, there's a toolbar called "Under The Hood: Alternate Effects" that talks about arrays, and the rules/advice/logic in the last paragraph would also apply to Power Stunts:
There's also page 207 of the same book, with a side-bar on "Creative Uses of Descriptors" that says:
I think it's pretty clear here how that works.
Also, Thank you @Briefvoice for explaining how the Power Stunt rules can be used in play, and the comment about how Power Stuntings need to be explainable within the narrative. That's the right approach.
Also, I know that the term "Array" is an artifact of M&M 2e, and doesn't actually exist in 3e as a term, but honestly, it's just a convenient way to talk about "struct I use to call Powers with Alternate Effects". Anyways.
Essentially, all Arrays need Descriptors and Themes. In Marked for Death, the most common Arrays are going to be surrounding Jutsu (naturally).
Let's suppose that all Jutsu are either Independent powers (or Advantages/skills/whatever), or they're part of an Array. Those that fall into the Array are typically going to be sharing some common Descriptors. These Descriptors will be things like "X Elemental Release Jutsu" or "Neutral Ninjutsu" or "Hyuuga Clan Gentle Fist Techniques" or even "Leaf Style Strong Fist Taijutsu Techniques".
This means that all Powers and Alternate Effects will share these Descriptors. And when you Power Stunt to gain a temporary Alternate Effect in that Array... that Power Stunt should share similar Descriptors that would allow the player to justify the Stunt.
For example, Noburi has a Water Release Jutsu array, in which he has Water Whip (single-target Blast, 2pp/rank) and Hozuki's Mantle (Continuous Ablative Impervious Force-Field, 2PP/rank). Perhaps Noburi is being swarmed by enemy ninja, and decides that he absolutely cannot take the time to attack them one by one. So, Noburi's player decides that he will make a Power Stunt on his Water Release Jutsu array, playing off his Water Whip and saying "Noburi's hands flicker through the Water Whip seals, sending a strand of water whipping about in a furious frenzy as he attempts to lash out at everyone and everything near him." Noburi's player declares this Power Stunt gives Noburi a Burst Area Damage (2 PP / rank), and he has enough points in his array to make that attack the same rank as his Water Whip.
Should Noburi later purchase this same power as a permanent Alternate Effect, he would be putting it in his Water Release Jutsu Array, and maybe name it "Water Release: Water Whip Frenzy!" or something.
I just did in the Noburi Power Stunt example.
Okay, so actually, 1 Skill Rank in M&M costs half (1/2) a PP. So, 1 PP pays for 2 skill ranks.
But my point was to basically say (as I said earlier) that the extra step lets us make XP an exponential cost things, but let PP remain for ease of book-keeping and in-game play when we're dealing with things like Power Stunting, Weakens, Variables, and Inventing and all those other goodies.
It's just my way of keeping that artifact from the old MfD system without messing with M&M's game-play too much.
Dude, I love your example with Batman and your explanation, but...
Why the hell doesn't Hazou just stunt for Interpose? It would be much faster, and more certain to save Keiko. Only issue being that Hazou would essentially have to take the hit for Keiko and make a Toughness resist himself... but Hazou's more tanky than Keiko is, and would probably survive with little more than a Bruise (ie. -1 Penalty to Further Resistance Checks vs Damage - but I like the 2e Term of Bruised because it's a helluva lot shorter to write).
And if you Stunt off his entire Fighting Ability, (and not just his Parry Defense), he would also lose his Fighting score to any attacks he makes at Close Range, because the stunt would mean his Fighting would be 0 whenever he's got the Reaction Deflect AE active.
Raxner
The most dangerous man in an empty room
- Location
- Israel
Remind me, please--who is Shikigami?
- Location
- Yes.
He's the reason we went missing-nin. He basically wanted to start his own Hidden Village and faked documents saying we were being sent on a suicide mission, leading us all to go missing-nin. And then he died, because Mist/Leaf invaded his budding village.
Raxner
The most dangerous man in an empty room
- Location
- Israel
Oh right, that guy. Only, if I recall aright, Mari-sensei later 'fessed up that she also had a big part in hatching the Found Hidden Swamp idea.
- Location
- Yes.
She was the brains behind it, yes; Shikigami was still the one with the vision, though. Mari-sensei basically did all the legwork with regards to finding viable allies and making speeches, etc..
- Location
- In my Lair, on my Hoard
[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
Raxner
The most dangerous man in an empty room
- Location
- Israel
Thanks for the brush-up.
- Location
- Yes.
Of course, some of this information was given to us by Mari-sensei and I must point out that we must assume she isn't lying for the information to be true.
Raxner
The most dangerous man in an empty room
- Location
- Israel
Yes, of course. And that she hasn't been lupchanzed or already killed and used as a facemask by Orochimaru, etc, etc.
[X] Interlude: Noburi gets into a drinking contest with Lee
- Location
- Yes.
True, but that goes without saying.
[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
- Location
- Nova Scotia
[X] Interlude: Hana and Ami React to Clan Goketsu
[X] Interlude: The Death of Shikigami
[X] Interlude: The Death of Shikigami
- Location
- Yes.
And how much of her grooming him to lead is her trying to make up for her failure in saving him?
Raxner
The most dangerous man in an empty room
- Location
- Israel
Just his spleen. And possibly certain sections of his lungs.
- Location
- London
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
[X] Interlude: Keiko and Shikamaru's next outing follows the itinerary set out by Keiko's new self-proclaimed "temporary" personal assistant, Hazou Goketsu
Is there a Patreon for this quest in particular, or just EJ and Velo's personal ones? Also, do you (a) produce other content, and (b) have a Patreon to support it, @OliWhail ?
Is there a Patreon for this quest in particular, or just EJ and Velo's personal ones? Also, do you (a) produce other content, and (b) have a Patreon to support it, @OliWhail ?
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Just personal ones, I'm afraid.