For Players
Your Character
Circle
Cultivation is the act of spiritual refinement to draw out incredible power.
At the beginning of your journey, you are in the second Circle of Cultivation. This is the Circle of Students, where characters have only just unlocked the secrets of refinement by stepping onto a Path.
Over time, as you refine your spirit and overcome your weaknesses, you will ascend to further Circles.
Path
- Focus, shaping of one’s own soul
- Mixture of a martial art, a philosophy, and an alchemy
Grace
- Cultivated professions created across the Kingdom and now spread by the Teacher program
Speed
Speed determines how many spaces you can move during encounters.
Your base speed is:
- 4 + Prowess + Drive
Elements
You have access to four elements at character creation: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire.
- Each has 2 Ki
- You will gain access to Light and Dark at Circle 3
- Ki strength will be d6 (Bane), d8 (normal), or d10 (strong)
You will cultivate (level) to increase the strength of each.
If you have a Path, then you will also have a Bane element. Bane elements are difficult to cultivate. You must overcome your weaknesses here to fully cultivate!
Charge
Charge is the latent elemental energy that you draw and store in your body. Think of it as equivalent to MP in your favorite JRPG.
- You have 1 Charge in each element that you have access to by default
- Each element stores Charge separately
- One element’s Charge may only be used for that element
When exhausted, you require a few minutes to recover.
- Charge recovers in between Scenes
Each non-Bane element starts with one Charge; you will increase this value through cultivation.
Attributes
You have four Attributes; one for each concrete element.
Always add this numerical bonus to Challenges in the matching element.
- Air: Insight
- Water: Charm
- Earth: Prowess
- Fire: Drive
At start of play (C2.1), each Attribute has a value of 1
Reputation
Starting reputation is d6
Expressing attributes
You should decide how your character expresses each attribute.
Insight might represent:
- Formal training in academia
- A patient, attentive mindset that requires no book learning
- An instinctive sense of spatial and mental relations
Charm might represent:
- Overwhelming beauty and poise
- Fine manners and impeccable tastes
- A keen sense of humor that sets all at ease
Prowess might represent:
- A dedicated bodybuilder who pushes his limits every day
- A reclusive hunter strengthened by the wilderness
- Being so incredibly dumb that nothing can stop you (dattebayo)
Drive might represent:
- An indomitable spirit against all odds
- Brash, confident intellectual rigor
- Contemplation and a quiet strength
Chakra
Chakra are reservoirs of spiritual power spread throughout the body. While all folk have latent chakra, you unlock the power inherent in each one through cultivation to empower your weapons and arts.
Each Chakra is a slot in which you equip items, Arts, or Conditions.
Some examples of potential uses:
- Empower a weapon or accessory
- Override default rules with a Boon
- Such as using Fire for social engagements by dispensing lavish works of art
- Provide a flat bonus to a set of tasks
- Such as +5 to chases
- If multiple bonuses would apply, take the highest
- Provide new abilities or techniques
- Such as Spiritsight or Ki Reading
Chakra effects are mandatory while synced. If you have the Chakra equipped, you must use the effect when applicable, even if doing so would disadvantage you.
Elemental Defenses
You track your Defense by element. Use the Standard value for that element. Remember to add your Attribute to each!
Since standard values are half of the die, at Circle 2:
- Bane -> 2d6 -> 6 + 1
- Normal -> 2d8 -> 8 + 1
- Primary -> 2d10 -> 10 + 1
These values will go up by 3/4/5 per Circle automatically. Additionally, you will want to choose defensive Arts and equipment to sync to your Chakra.
Boons
Boons are your permanent, global effects. Boons are always active and do not require Chakra.
When you accept a Boon, you alter your spirit. You may not deactivate a Boon once taken, even if it would prove detrimental.
- For example, if a Boon grants you spirit sight and a foe has an ability that injures those who see it, you may not choose to ignore the Boon and thus the effect.