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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Erolki said:
It's essentially a less-severe extension of one of the principles that lead to fighting styles being so powerful - in a system where higher ranks in things cost more, if my attack pool is made up of x + y and your attack pool is made up of x alone, I can raise my total pool much more cheaply than you can.

As a simplified example, it costs 1275 XP to raise a skill to 50, while it only costs 930 XP to raise two separate skills to 30 - spending ~3/4 the XP and ending with a 10-point advantage.

Because of that, in the system change they've made it harder to just add skills together (see: the changes to fighting styles), but it still costs 315 XP to raise a skill from 60 to 65, and for that much XP you could probably learn a new secondary jutsu or something to boost your combat ability by that much (or more).

(this is also an advantage to weaponry or taijutsu people - it's usually easier to add a jutsu bonus on top of a mundane attack than it is to combine two jutsu effectively)
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Yeah, but I thought levellable buffs were removed?
 
Alright, that's pretty neat. Will be looking into those later.


What would people say is the biggest hole in our build right now, in terms of combat options? We seriously do not need any more area denial, I think that one has been thoroughly covered. Melee and Ranged single-target is fairly well covered. We've got all the basic elements between the kids and Kagome. Nothing in the "artillery" range, to my knowledge. No genjustu. Would be good to see if we can make seals with unconventional damage types (cold, dimensional warp, acid, etc.). Would also be good to get Noburi some biokinetic attack jutsu and poisons.
 
So, if ever we decide to do technique hacking, here's a suggestion: Make tactical jutsu.

Just get a jutsu which requires one level to cast, but is super expensive. For example: The Ultimate Defense.

Air Jutsu: The Ultimate Defense
Element: Air
Effect: 0
Duration: 1 month + 1050 Strain
Durability: 10 (defense has 10 stress boxes and a TN of 100 to damage) + 505 Strain
Casting Speed: Standard
AOE: 4 Zones + 100? Strain
Total Strain: 1655

Casting Cost: 331 CP

Description: A swirling maulstrom of air appears in a sphere around you, preventing any entry or exit, effectively isolating the caster and the nearest areas from the world for one month. Requires higher than S-ranked damage to begin to touch the defense.

Then teach that to a Wakahisa, or any chunnin, and boom -- instant bomb shelters.
 
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MadScientist said:
Alright, that's pretty neat. Will be looking into those later.


What would people say is the biggest hole in our build right now, in terms of combat options? We seriously do not need any more area denial, I think that one has been thoroughly covered. Melee and Ranged single-target is fairly well covered. We've got all the basic elements between the kids and Kagome. Nothing in the "artillery" range, to my knowledge. No genjustu. Would be good to see if we can make seals with unconventional damage types (cold, dimensional warp, acid, etc.). Would also be good to get Noburi some biokinetic attack jutsu and poisons.
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We don't have Raiton element since Mari-sensei's not here and Kagome's affinity is unknown.
 
Kagome's affinity is "unknown". But it's raiton. When we discussed the pangolin jutsu he got super excited about the raiton one in such a way as to make it obvious that he thought he could use it.

E: :ninja:
 
Radvic said:
So, if ever we decide to do technique hacking, here's a suggestion: Make tactical jutsu.

Just get a jutsu which requires one level to cast, but is super expensive. For example: The Ultimate Defense.

Air Jutsu: The Ultimate Defense
Element: Air
Effect: 0
Duration: 1 month + 1050 Strain
Durability: 10 (defense has 10 stress boxes and a TN of 100 to damage) + 505 Strain
Casting Speed: Standard
AOE: 4 Zones + 100? Strain
Total Strain: 1655

Casting Cost: 331 CP

Description: A swirling maulstrom of air appears in a sphere around you, preventing any entry or exit, effectively isolating the caster and the nearest areas from the world for one month. Requires higher than S-ranked damage to touch damage the defense.

Then teach that to a Wakahisa, or any chunnin, and boom -- instant bomb shelters.
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More like S-rank killers, as long as they didn't pack enough food and water for a month. Trading a random chunin for any of the Akatsuki seems like a very reasonable trade.
 
Alternatively, Just go for a buffer spell, for genin to cast on their team right before combat. Here's two examples

Air Jutsu: The cutting wind
Element: Air
Effect: +10 (+550 Strain)
Duration: 1 hour (+ 210 Strain)
Durability: N/A
Range: -1 (+20 Strain)
Casting Speed: Standard
AOE: 4 targets of your choice (+80 Strain)
Total Strain: 860 Strain

Casting Cost: 172 CP

Description: The jutsu enhances the motions of the targets, shooting a lethal trail of air out from their every move for the next hour. Used by a team prior to engaging in combat. While not impacting their ability to land hits, this guarentees every hit will be lethal.

Then, have each genin take one level of this jutsu, and boom -- everyone on the team just got loads stronger.

Alternatively, if you care about having people stay alive:

Air Jutsu: Redirecting Spirits
Element: Air
Effect: +10 (+550 Strain)
Duration: 1 hour (+210 Strain)
Durability: 8 (+324 Strain)
Range: -1 (+20 Strain)
Casting Speed: Standard
AOE: 4 targets of your choice (+80 Strain)
Total Strain: 1184

Casting Cost: 237 CP

Description: This jutsu products a swirling barrier of protection around each of the targets. Reduces 10 stress from each physical attack they receive. Requires a TN of 80 to damage the armor.

Then have each genin-chunnin learn it, and suddenly you don't need to have a team die when they get in combat (unless their enemies have the cutting wind or something similar).
 
MadScientist said:
Yes. That's another thing. We need to ask for all of Arikada's seals. It shouldn't even consume QM spoons, because they already made them up.
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*looks shifty*

faflec said:
We don't have Raiton element since Mari-sensei's not here and Kagome's affinity is unknown.
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*cough*Jiraiya*cough*

Radvic said:
~yet more complete breaking of the universe~
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The QMs talked about limiting the duration of jutsu and I am pretty sure we agreed to do it, but I now have this sinking feeling that we didn't actually put it in the document -- or, at the very least, not in the latest release. Am I right, @Radvic?
 
@eaglejarl I note that the info post at the start of this thread is still pointing to the old character sheets and such. Could you please update it with the new rules doc and character sheets to make them easy to find? Thanks!
 
eaglejarl said:
The QMs talked about limiting the duration of jutsu and I am pretty sure we agreed to do it, but I now have this sinking feeling that we didn't actually put it in the document -- or, at the very least, not in the latest release. Am I right, @Radvic?
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Jutsu and seals automatically come with a "the QMs decide if this is even possible" caution. Particularly when allowing movement up or down the time scale, which I do believe the document says is always at QM discretion.
 
eaglejarl said:
The QMs talked about limiting the duration of jutsu and I am pretty sure we agreed to do it, but I now have this sinking feeling that we didn't actually put it in the document -- or, at the very least, not in the latest release. Am I right, @Radvic?
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It's limited more than it was the last time I checked (the time ladder is larger than it used to be, making things maybe 3-4x as expensive?). It's just really hard to make it possible for some things to be relatively long term and others not. Obviously none of this should matter for the near future, so doesn't need to be addressed now, but here's a few suggestions:

1 -- Transition jutsu to stunts. This will make it so each jutsu can have an individual XP cost, which can make it so these massively impactful jutsu require a bunch of XP, rather than 1 XP to learn
2 -- Put hard caps on each of the abilities. These sorts of jutsu come from finding the areas which jutsu building wasn't optimized for. Just make it so jutsu *only* work in the area you optimized it (e.g. effects limited to +4, durations limited to a Minute, Range limited to 2).
3 -- Put a cap on the maximum stress of a jutsu, or make it require the caster to have a skill higher than the CP it costs to cast it or something.
4 -- Making it so jutsu cannot remain active when the user is dead or asleep would limit the months+ stuff pretty well.
5 -- Make it so stresses are multiplicatively combined rather than additively combined (though this would make the math hard and mess with existing jutsu)
 
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Rejoice, for a provisional list of character Aspects for Team Uplift has been decided upon. A few are missing as they are still under discussion.

Hazō

High Concept: Creative Idealist
Invoke when: Hazō has an unorthodox idea or gives an impassioned speech.
Earn Fate Points when: Hazō values idealism over practicality or isn't taken seriously due to the apparent naivety of his beliefs.

Trouble: Open Mouth Insert Foot
Invoke when: Hazō's painful sincerity melts a cynic's heart.
Earn Fate Points when: Hazō's mouth runs ahead of his brain and he says the wrong thing at the worst time.

Lists and Plans
Invoke when: Hazō and his allies are moving in accordance with a plan Hazō has made in advance.
Earn Fate Points when: Hazō overlooked a key detail and his plan falls apart.

Promising Sealing Student
Invoke when: Hazō comes up with a novel seal design or use for an existing one, improves in his abilities, or comes to a breakthrough in his research.
Earn Fate Points when: Hazō is stuck with his studies, or invests time and effort that could have been useful elsewhere into an idea only to find it completely ineffective/already made.

(Formerly) Marked for Death
Invoke when: The paranoia and alertness of having lived as a missing-nin allow Hazō to display the sort of paranoid alertness and desperate improvisation only veteran ninja develop.
Earn Fate Points when: Hazō overreacts and shocks those around him.

The Hokage is My New Dad
Invoke when: Hazō leverages his new position as a member of the Gōketsu clan or tries to get Jiraiya to help him.
Earn Fate Points when: Hazō's connection to Jiraiya does more harm than good, from people wishing to hurt Jiraiya's reputation through him to getting roped into the deadly game of ninja politics.

Noburi

High Concept: Barrel Boy
Invoke when: Noburi's support turns the tide in a difficult situation or allows his allies to do something special.
Earn Fate Points when: Others' expectations or needs force him into a support role against his own preferences.

Trouble: Star of the Show
Invoke when: Noburi refuses to lose while there are people watching.
Earn Fate Points when: Noburi tries too hard to show off or bites off more than he can chew.

Zone of Friendship
Invoke when: Noburi's relative sanity and easygoing manner help him build rapport and make good first impressions.
Earn Fate Points when: Noburi's casual behavior prevents others from taking him seriously as a leader or romantic partner.

Prank King
Invoke when: Noburi is not just trying to beat an opponent, but to humiliate them and teach them a lesson. Also for for seeing someone else's trick coming.
Earn Fate Points when: Noburi feels compelled to get the last dig in rather than finish something cleanly.

The Hokage is My New Dad
Invoke when: Noburi leverages his new position as a member of the Gōketsu clan or tries to get Jiraiya to help him.
Earn Fate Points when: Noburi's connection to Jiraiya does more harm than good, from people wishing to hurt Jiraiya's reputation through him to getting roped into the deadly game of ninja politics.

I Will Be the Next Tsunade
Invoke when: Noburi uses medicine or medical ninjutsu in a way that is meaningful to him.
Earn Fate Points when: Noburi's desire to prove his talent at medicine clouds his judgement.

Keiko

High Concept: Brittle Ice Queen
Invoke when: Keiko's precision, critical eye and insight are needed to assess the situation or correct plans presented.
Earn Fate Points when: Keiko struggles with her self-confidence, or is uncertain how to handle her emotions and relationships with others.

Just Follow the Plan
Invoke when: Keiko goes into battle with a plan she has optimized, knowing exactly what to do, how to do it, and where it can go wrong.
Earn Fate Points when: Keiko is unable to form a plan of her own or show leadership due to the limitations of her bloodline.

Pangolin Summoner
Invoke when: Keiko leverages her social status as Pangolin Summoner or her general knowledge of the Seventh Path and its inhabitants (especially the Pangolin Clan).
Earn Fate Points when: She makes mistakes when dealing with summons despite said knowledge, or her summoner status makes her new enemies.

Budding Romance
Invoke when: Keiko is working with Tenten, has gotten aid from her, or is inspired to fight for her new romance.
Earn Fate Points when: Keiko's feelings for Tenten put her in conflict with other obligations, she must throw herself into danger to help Tenten, or she receives scorn for her homosexuality.

Betrothed to Shadows
Invoke when: Keiko's status with the Nara clan helps her out of a jam or provides a useful resource.
Earn Fate Points when: Keiko owes some obligation or is caught up in trouble because of her new relationship with the Nara clan.

Akane

High Concept: YOUTHFUL Taijutsu Star
Invoke when: Akane relies on raw enthusiasm to overcome a challenge or an opponent.
Earn Fate Points when: Akane relies on raw enthusiasm where a more subtle approach is needed.

Trouble: Little Miss Sunshine
Invoke when: Akane's relentlessly positive attitude uplifts or inspires others.
Earn Fate Points when: Akane's relentlessly positive attitude makes her seem deceitful or delusional to others.

Civilian-born Ninja
Invoke when: Akane knows something of what life as a non-ninja is like and uses that to her advantage.
Earn Fate Points when: Akane is cut out of education, good opportunities, or just treated as less because she doesn't have a ninja clan backing her up. Or when lack of a clan upbringing means she's ignorant of some key fact.

The Spirit of Youth is All You Need
Invoke when: Akane's empathy, patience and directness allow her to resolve a tricky situation or support someone in a time of need.
Earn Fate Points when: Akane's concern for others causes her to try to solve problems she can't and/or ignore her own emotional needs.

Equals at Last
Invoke when: Akane acts to support Hazō or is supported by him.
Earn Fate Points when: Akane faces problems as a result of Hazō's choices (or lack of them).
 
Radvic said:
Put a cap on the maximum stress of a jutsu, or make it require the caster to have a skill higher than the CP it costs to cast it or something.
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OliWhail said:
...huh. This especially (or a variation on it) seems like it might form the basis of a nice fix
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A cap might work, but there's potentially awkward interactions with jutsu like Shadow Clone which are specifically known for their large chakra cost (or, more generally, anything with a large cost compared to how easy it is to learn/use).
 
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