I understand the desire from the QMs to only release mechanics in a finished state, but it's an unsimulationist disadvantage for Hazō to not have access to Jiraiya's seals that only gets more pronounced as time progresses.
I strongly recommend releasing seals from the Hoard in a beta-state as they are completed and adjusting them as needed.
Idea: we spend FP to Declare that a certain seal was in Jiraiya's Hoard of Seals. Maybe 1FP for genin tier, 2FP for chunnin? The playerbase is strictly unable to Declare jonin seals, at all.
Example: "Hazou wants to research an AoE Attack Seal that sends out electric sparks throughout a zone. Kagome reminds Hazou that Jiraiya has a chunnin-tier Electric Zap seal that builds off of Jiraiya's genin-tier Electrify Seal, and that researching the Electric Zap seal might be worth learning, before Hazou tries to make the Electric AoE Seal. (-2FP)"
This would...
...Take some of the load off of the QMs' shoulders, with regard to all of the more minor/low grade/weaker seals that Jiraiya had. This frees the QMs to only be concerned about the Jonin-Tier seals.
...Abide by the established narrative that Jiraiya was an 50+ year old ninja, S-rank sealmaster, and had lots of seals (either of his own, or stolen from the corpses of other ninja/clans).
...Abide by the established narrative that "Jiraiya had little time to do research" by restricting the Declares away from Jonin-tier seals.
...Be balanced by fact that the QMs would have to approve the Declarations on a case-by-case basis, as they are brought up, and by the fact that it would cost FP.
To be fair, I think we've raised our Resolve by 20 since we've last felt Orochimaru's Aura? We seem to endure Tsunade's Aura just fine, lately, at least.
IIRC we actually succeeded a Resolve roll against his Aura once and mechanically he just kept applying it until we rolled badly enough, which was represented in story as Hazou instantly folding. So unless I'm misremembering or we've raised Hazou's Resolve so high that Oro can't Aura him, that won't matter.
Question: will Reo come out of his THing apprenticeship with some jutsu creations under his belt? Harumitsu learned at least one seal (Party Trick) under Hazou's tutelage, and Reo did ask for a full year, rather than six months.
Possible Answers:
Reo was able to work on several minor variations of his currently known jutsu, and these will be added into the Goketsu Vault upon his graduation.
Reo was only able to work on one minor variation of his currently known jutsu, and it will be added into the Goketsu Vault upon his graduation.
Reo was only able to work one project, but it is a noteworthy improvement that he's rather proud of. It will be added into the Goketsu Vault upon his graduation.
Reo was able to work on various projects, but none of them are mechanically distinct from the preexisting jutsu (One such example is that Reo's Napalm jutsu now has a variant that shoots out rainbow-colored Fire Chakra instead of its normal red).
Reo will not graduate his THing Apprenticeship with any completed projects under his belt.
Side Note: I've noticed that Mio didn't add any jutsu to the Goketsu Vault, despite a long length of time separating out the order and Kei's actions. Did Mio simply refuse the order? Possible answers include...
Mio added her jutsu to the Goketsu Vault, as ordered. Her jutsu are accessible to the Clan, and will be made known to the playerbase.
Mio added her jutsu to the Goketsu Vault, as ordered. Hazou-pilot plans on removing the jutsu from the Goketsu Vault once Mio leaves the Goketsu Clan, so it isn't going to be added to the requisite informational tab.
At playerbase direction, Hazou can make a copy of Mio's jutsu scrolls and then burn them, thus retaining a copy encoded into the Iron Nerve.
The playerbase may not attempt to munchkin this.
Mio refused the order, and did not add her jutsu to the Goketsu Vault.
The other Goketsu ninja seemed to quietly approve of this.
The other Goketsu ninja seemed indifferent to this.
It was one source of friction between Mio and the other Goketsu ninja.
IIRC we actually succeeded a Resolve roll against his Aura once and mechanically he just kept applying it until we rolled badly enough, which was represented in story as Hazou instantly folding. So unless I'm misremembering or we've raised Hazou's Resolve so high that Oro can't Aura him, that won't matter.
@eaglejarl@Velorien@Paperclipped Doesn't look like SC XP was calc'd for Kei or Hazou the past few chapters. Would you like the players to calc it or will you take care of it?
Not quite, from what I can tell. The rules only explicitly state that TYS is added to the Intimidation stat. It does say that TYS may be subtracted from other rolls, but it is left purposely vague about what stats.
Intimidation, as a stat, itself, is explicitly stated as a social attack, and not a social defense. I suspect that there may be Stunts out there that allow Intimidation to serve as a buff towards other stats (such as Presence), but that's just a suspicion.
Thousand-Yard Stare, or TYS, points represent trauma from the witnessing of terrible things that can never be forgotten. When someone has borne witness to terrible events, it becomes more difficult to frighten them in the future, and more difficult for them to form deep emotional bonds. Mechanically, this means that TYS points are added by default to a character's Intimidation skill, and may at QM discretion penalize other social skills.
How quickly can the five seal barrier be toggled on and off? Could maybe do compare-and-contrast analysis between 5SB, runic drag, existing scalpel / caligraphy boost, etc. to develop a specialized barrel-reinforcement seal which simultaneously redirects internal stresses into making the bullet go even faster, and slows down lateral movement without stopping it outright to serve as the equivalent of a gyrostabilized tripod mount plus emergency parachute. If the new effect only stays fully active for a few milliseconds at a time, starting when the trigger is pulled and ending shortly after projectile is expected to have left the barrel, that might open up many more possibilities for the chakra equivalent of waste heat dissipation.
All in all, I am extraordinarily skeptical that we can ever make sealtech rifles work. But I saw a few immediately questionable things here that I might as well point out.
Are you planning on making the barrels out of rock? They'd be much too heavy for a person to carry around. But maybe they could be placed in a storage seal.
ES can't be used on metal. Not quickly enough to "iterate on barrel design"
No, I mean, if the seals were already in place as part of a preassembled item, and linked via MARS or something, would 5SB-based stabilization startup or shutdown introduce enough delay to significantly impact the target's, or wielder's, ability to dodge?
Idea: we spend FP to Declare that a certain seal was in Jiraiya's Hoard of Seals. Maybe 1FP for genin tier, 2FP for chunnin? The playerbase is strictly unable to Declare jonin seals, at all.
Example: "Hazou wants to research an AoE Attack Seal that sends out electric sparks throughout a zone. Kagome reminds Hazou that Jiraiya has a chunnin-tier Electric Zap seal that builds off of Jiraiya's genin-tier Electrify Seal, and that researching the Electric Zap seal might be worth learning, before Hazou tries to make the Electric AoE Seal. (-2FP)"
This would...
...Take some of the load off of the QMs' shoulders, with regard to all of the more minor/low grade/weaker seals that Jiraiya had. This frees the QMs to only be concerned about the Jonin-Tier seals.
...Abide by the established narrative that Jiraiya was an 50+ year old ninja, S-rank sealmaster, and had lots of seals (either of his own, or stolen from the corpses of other ninja/clans).
...Abide by the established narrative that "Jiraiya had little time to do research" by restricting the Declares away from Jonin-tier seals.
...Be balanced by fact that the QMs would have to approve the Declarations on a case-by-case basis, as they are brought up, and by the fact that it would cost FP.
No, I mean, if the seals were already in place as part of a preassembled item, and linked via MARS or something, would 5SB-based stabilization startup or shutdown introduce enough delay to significantly impact the target's, or wielder's, ability to dodge?
As in, you aim without 5SB activated, lock it down with a MARS, and then fire?
I'd say yes. Very much yes. Especially with how fast ninja can move. MARS has slightly unpredictable activation times. So doing that while you're leading a target would be extremely difficult.
As in, you aim without 5SB activated, lock it down with a MARS, and then fire?
I'd say yes. Very much yes. Especially with how fast ninja can move. MARS has slightly unpredictable activation times. So doing that while you're leading a target would be extremely difficult.
I wonder if we could speed up the substrate TH project by offering a variety of Earthshaped materials to work with. Like, it's not a problem for us if the substrate jutsu requires you first disassemble a MEW for parts that you've aligned in a well-ordered contiguous block of substance, and that might be a lot easier to work with for the hacking.
I'm thinking we make a sample of a variety of different substances we can easily source with ES and then offer to provide more if any of them make a good base for his work on the jutsu. Then he won't have to make the jutsu, idk, also purify the MEW granite he sourced along with adding the chakra conduits.
Prospective Sasha Build Short to Mid to Long Term
Okay, let's talk!
So we know that all Academy students get 1,000xp to assign to their various stats. We've also been told that Academy students are allowed to buy stunts, but that the learning/xp-accrual stunts (such as the Pangolin Conditioning Jutsu, ACE, and the Yanamaka Stability Jutsu) don't retroactively earn XP for the 1,000xp that Academy Students receive.
That said, this is my suggestion for Sasha's Starting Build.
Stats
20
Alertness
Athletics
Napalm Shot
10
Chakra
Resolve
Physique
Substitution
And also Pangolin Conditioning Jutsu at level 1
Stunts
Yamanaka Stability Jutsu
50xp
Rocket Jump
10xp
We're going to have Sasha graduate from the Academy, having learned the Pangolin Conditioning Jutsu, Y.S.J., and the Rocket Jump stunt. This will maximize her growth with Pangolin/Yamanaka XP and make buying Physique and Resolve as discounted as possible.
Since we've invented RRBs, buying the RJ stunt seems like a no-brainer. It'll be a massive boost to her early-game survivability (+9 to "all Physical rolls," but the most important of which right now is Athletics).
Now, onto the build, itself.
Sasha has said that she wants to be a ninjutsu specialist, and Napalm Shot is a pretty nifty ranged ninjutsu that continues to do damage after a single hit. It should also relatively cheap to cast, if the bog-standard Fire Bullet is anything to go by. It's the sort of jutsu that'll serve as a decent starter ninjutsu capstone, and can be phased out later on by something more advanced.
For the next little while, though, Sasha's going to be using the hell out of Hazou's Goo Bomb Seals (which roll at a 60). So we're going to focus on having Alertness as a capstone stat, with the goal of "roll soon, trap threats with seals!" It worked for us during the Chunnin Exams, and we're trying to emulate that success here.
30
Alertness
20
Athletics
Napalm Shot
10
Chakra
Resolve
Physique
Substitution
From here, Sasha has enough pyramid support to raise a level 10-stat to a level 20-slot. I recommend raising Physique, to get that sweet, sweet HP.
30
Alertness
20
Athletics
Napalm Shot
Physique
10
Chakra
Resolve
Substitution
From here, we now have enough pyramid support to raise a 20-stat to a level 30-slot.
I recommend Athletics, to improve Sasha's ability to dodge attacks (which is important for a squishy, fresh genin).
30
Alertness
Athletics
20
Napalm Shot
Physique
10
Chakra
Resolve
Substitution
Now, we need to raise another 10-stat before we can raise anything else. We simply don't have the pyramid support for anything else.
I recommend Flame Aura. It's a good low-pyramid Flame Element buff and it can be used with Napalm Shot (much in the same way that Hozoki's Mantle can be used with Water Whip for Noburi).
30
Alertness
Athletics
20
Napalm Shot
Physique
10
Chakra
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
From here, we have enough pyramid support to raise a 10-stat into a 20-slot.
I recommend Resolve, since it gives Sasha another Mental stress box (more HP for Mental Attacks, basically).
30
Alertness
Athletics
20
Napalm Shot
Physique
Resolve
10
Chakra
Substitution
Flame Aura
And now Sasha needs two more level 10 stats before she can raise anything to level 20.
I recommend Empathy and Fire Lash.
Empathy is a good primary Social Attack Stat (especially if we can get Sasha to buy FiF), and Fire Lash is a good secondary attack stat (which provides for a good same-zone attack stat).
30
Alertness
Athletics
20
Napalm Shot
Physique
Resolve
10
Chakra
Substitution
Flame Aura
Fire Lash
Empathy
From there, we have enough pyramid support to raise a level 10-stat into a level 20-slot.
I recommend Chakra, since Sasha already has 2 jutsu under her belt, and will have even more, later on.
30
Alertness
Athletics
20
Napalm Shot
Physique
Resolve
Chakra
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Fire Lash
Empathy
And now we have enough pyramid support to raise a 20-stat to a 30-slot.
I recommend Napalm Shot, since it's Sasha's primary attack stat.
30
Alertness
Athletics
Napalm Shot
20
Physique
Resolve
Chakra
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Fire Lash
Empathy
And now we have enough pyramid support to raise a 30-stat into a 40-slot.
I recommend Alertness, so that Sasha can take advantage of Early Build Goo Bomb Supremacy (gotta emulate the Chunnin Exams).
40
Alertness
30
Athletics
Napalm Shot
20
Physique
Resolve
Chakra
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Fire Lash
Empathy
And that's Sasha's short-term build! ^.^
Now let's look at Sasha's mid-term build!
We've got Sasha set up with a pretty good build! But now she now she needs to raise a stat to level 10 before she can raise another 20!
I recommend Deceit, since it's a pretty good Defensive Social Stat, and covers what Empathy can't!
40
Alertness
30
Athletics
Napalm Shot
20
Physique
Resolve
Chakra
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Fire Lash
Empathy
Deceit
And now we have enough pyramid support to raise a 10-stat to a 20-slot!
While any of them would work, I recommend we raise Fire Lash. It's going to be Sasha's secondary attack stat, so we'll raise it to 20.
40
Alertness
30
Athletics
Napalm Shot
20
Physique
Resolve
Chakra
Fire Lash
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
And now we can raise a 20-stat to a 30-slot, so let's raise Physique to 30, in preparation for Physique 40 (which is when Sasha will unlock her next Physical stress box).
40
Alertness
30
Athletics
Napalm Shot
Physique
20
Resolve
Chakra
Fire Lash
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
And now we have enough pyramid support to raise a 30-stat to level 40, so let's raise Athletics to improve Sasha's dodging abilities!
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
20
Resolve
Chakra
Fire Lash
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
Now, before we can raise a 10-stat to a level 20-slot, we need to first raise a stat to level 10.
Let's raise Presence to level 10. It's a good secondary social attack stat, and helps provide Sasha with a broader social defense --covering what Empathy and Deceit cannot.
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
20
Resolve
Chakra
Fire Lash
10
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
Presence
From here, we'll move Substitution to level 20, since the most optimal level for Sub is (1/2) Athletics.
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
20
Resolve
Chakra
Fire Lash
Substitution
10
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
Presence
Okay, now that Substitution is level 20 (granting a +10 to Athletcs), let's go ahead and buy the Combo Stunt for RRBs and Substitution. While somewhat constrained by action economy and chakra, it would still give Sasha a combined total of +19 to her Athletics roll.
Yamanaka Stability Jutsu
50xp
Rocket Jump
10xp
(Athletics Combination Stunt) Rocket Substitution
100xp
And from here, we'll raise Fire Lash to 30, since we're planning on it being her new capstone attack.
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
Fire Lash
20
Resolve
Chakra
Substitution
10
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
Presence
And now we need to raise another stat to level 10.
I suggest trapmaking, since it's always a useful skill to have (along with its associated stunts), but it could be replaced by any stat (such as stealth, for example).
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
Fire Lash
20
Resolve
Chakra
Substitution
10
Flame Aura
Empathy
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
And now we can raise a new level 20-stat, so let's raise Flame Aura to level 20.
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
Fire Lash
20
Resolve
Chakra
Substitution
Flame Aura
10
Empathy
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
And now we need two more level 10-stats before we can raise another 20-stat.
I recommend both Medknow and Mednin. This will allow Sasha to take advantage of the Orochimaru Notes for free pyramid support, later on.
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
Fire Lash
20
Resolve
Chakra
Substitution
Flame Aura
10
Empathy
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Now let's raise that Empathy (primary Social Attack, possible FiF buff) to level 20!
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
Fire Lash
20
Resolve
Chakra
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
And now let's raise Chakra to level 30! We're going to have her learn some more jutsu post-50-capstone, so this sets Sasha up for success now.
40
Alertness
Athletics
30
Napalm Shot
Physique
Fire Lash
Chakra
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
And now Sasha has enough pyramid support to raise another 40-stat (and enough chakra to cast it a decent number of times), let's raise Fire Lash as her new primary attack stat!
40
Alertness
Athletics
Fire Lash
30
Physique
Napalm Shot
Chakra
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
And now we have enough pyramid support to raise a 40-stat to level 50!
While there's an argument to be made about any of her 40s, I recommend that we raise Alertness to take advantage of Goo Bomb Seals, in addition to all our other seals (such as strobelight debuffs, MARS attack seals, etc).
50
Alertness
40
Athletics
Fire Lash
30
Physique
Napalm Shot
Chakra
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
And now we have Sasha's midterm build! It's a solid build with some nice supports!
Now let's look at Sasha's longterm build!
First thing's first, I recommend that Sasha pick up Wind Element for some mobility options!
With her current pyramid, Sasha can learn Vac Step (which is a good escape jutsu), Cloak of the Wind God (Athletics buff to replace Flame Aura), Echolocation (Alertness buff), and Whisper on the Breeze (which I'm assuming is a 10-stunt) which has great utility in social situations, but could be swapped out for something else.
CotWG's RW boosts won't benefit Sasha, but the fact that it's a 3x Multi-taggable Supplemental Athletics Boost puts it way above Flame Aura or Basan's Glide, and it also allows for free-turn movement.
50
Alertness
40
Athletics
Fire Lash
30
Physique
Napalm Shot
Chakra
CotWG
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Vac Step
Echolocation
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Whisper on Breeze
And from there, we'll want to add CotWG to Sasha's Athletics combo stunt.
This will allow her to add up to +37 to her Athletics stat (9 (RRBs) + 13 (Sub) + 15 (CotWG)), assuming that Sasha dumps all 3 of her multitags into a single Athletics roll.
And now let's raise Physique to 40 for that extra Physical Stress Box!
50
Alertness
40
Athletics
Fire Lash
Physique
30
Napalm Shot
Chakra
CotWG
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Vac Step
Echolocation
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Whisper on Breeze
And from there, we raise Athletics to 50.
50
Alertness
Athletics
40
Fire Lash
Physique
30
Napalm Shot
Chakra
CotWG
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Empathy
Vac Step
Echolocation
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Whisper on Breeze
Empathy to 30, as her primary social stat.
50
Alertness
Athletics
40
Fire Lash
Physique
30
Napalm Shot
Chakra
CotWG
Empathy
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Vac Step
Echolocation
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Whisper on Breeze
And then Empathy to 40, to further raise her primary social stat.
50
Alertness
Athletics
40
Fire Lash
Physique
Empathy
30
Napalm Shot
Chakra
CotWG
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Vac Step
Echolocation
10
Deceit
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Whisper on Breeze
And from there, we have the pyramid support to raise Deceit from level 10, all the way to level 30.
50
Alertness
Athletics
40
Fire Lash
Physique
Empathy
30
Napalm Shot
Chakra
CotWG
Deceit
20
Resolve
Substitution
Flame Aura
Vac Step
Echolocation
10
Presence
Trapmaking
Mednin
Medknow
Whisper on Breeze
And then we need to learn some more things at 10, before we can raise anything else.
However, I think that this is far enough for Long Term builds...
At some point, we would also want Sasha to learn Phoenix Rebirth, but that's a restricted Tower Jutsu. Asuma only gave it to Akane because he thought that she'd be making jonin soon enough (rip), and we don't know Naruto's attitude towards ninjutsu opsec yet, so I haven't accounted for it in this build, but will change the build accordingly.
Collaboration is possible and probably even necessary for some of what we want to do. We have collaborated before. We will likely collaborate again.
We also have a historic tendency to fold like a wet napkin under the pressure of his Jonin aura. We can make whatever plans and commitments we want, all of that goes out the window as soon as Oro engages in whatever degree of social combat he feels is necessary to get everything he wants.
Talking with Orochimaru amicably is as dangerous a mission as exploring his basement, or a seal failure, or a hypothetical cave of moderate-to-major peril, and should be treated as such. Any situation that potentially removes the word 'amicable' from that previous description is flat out an S class mission.
Not quite, from what I can tell. The rules only explicitly state that TYS is added to the Intimidation stat. It does say that TYS may be subtracted from other rolls, but it is left purposely vague about what stats.
Intimidation, as a stat, itself, is explicitly stated as a social attack, and not a social defense. I suspect that there may be Stunts out there that allow Intimidation to serve as a buff towards other stats (such as Presence), but that's just a suspicion
Usually, TYS is added to defending against Intimidation (hence the whole "When someone has borne witness to terrible events, it becomes more difficult to frighten them in the future" thing). The QMs are not doing that for Hazō, who has Forged in Fire. But technically rules as written…
The user has seen some of the worst humanity has to offer and come out with a drive to make things better.
Instead of applying to Intimidation, Thousand Yard Stare applies to Rapport and Empathy.
As written, it just stops applying to Intimidation attacks. No reason for it to not apply to resisting that skull any more. Doesn't really make sense narratively with what Forged in Fire is anyway.
Usually, TYS is added to defending against Intimidation. The QMs are not doing that for Hazō, who has Forged in Fire. But technically rules as written…
Echoing what @Inferno Vulpix and @redzonejoe said:
My understanding of apprenticeship in the MFD world is that it implies full subordination and subservience. We would become an extension of Orochimaru, forwarding his objectives and plans and not our own (except to whatever degree those align). Note how Kabuto calls him master, comes and goes at his beck and call, etc. This is incredibly different from some kind of tutoring arrangement like we had with Asuma for clan head training.
I'd expect becoming Orochimaru's apprentice would require formally relinquishing our clan head position (even if there isn't a conflict of interest issue, we wouldn't have time for both responsibilities) as well as shattering a number of our personal relationships (Kagome, Kei, Mari) who would find it hard to ever trust us, and vaporising all of our social clout in Leaf. I don't know if Hazou even has the capability to do it; as currently characterised he's too squeamish/sensible to actually carry out the various vivisections and atrocities that Oro would require him to do: he barely kept it together for Noda's vivisection and she was a willing volunteer.
Apprenticeship really feels like a non-starter to me.
Also remember that the one time that we acted in a similar capacity was when Orochimaru essentially dissected a woman alive in front of us from KEI, and it was an incredibly horrible and awful thing to witness for Hazo, me, and probably many other players. We would be doing that A LOT. Like a ton of times if we were his apprentince.
Also remember that the one time that we acted in a similar capacity was when Orochimaru essentially dissected a woman alive in front of us from KEI, and it was an incredibly horrible and awful thing to witness for Hazo, me, and probably many other players. We would be doing that A LOT. Like a ton of times if we were his apprentince.
Also remember that the one time that we acted in a similar capacity was when Orochimaru essentially dissected a woman alive in front of us from KEI, and it was an incredibly horrible and awful thing to witness for Hazo, me, and probably many other players. We would be doing that A LOT. Like a ton of times if we were his apprentince.
