Bull

So then I stabbed the guy, figuring that’s what he got! Only problem is, he laughed. Laughed, pulled the sword out, and started smacking me with my own blade!

About

Public Knowledge

Over one thousand years ago, a brutal bandit king known as the Bull rose in the northern Scalewood. At the time, those remote hills were a lawless wasteland of the Outer Wards dominated by a powerful crystal of EarthFire. Harnessing that crystal through bloody rituals, the bandit king manufactured storms that forced merchants and travelers into the arms of his waiting followers.

Growing fat and rich, he took students. He taught them both his techniques and his rapacious appetites, and the Scalewood knew no peace.

After nearly a century of this depravity, the King stepped in and smote down the bandit king. He and his followers were scattered and ground to dust.

A few bandits survived, scattering to the farthest reaches of the Outer Wards. Persecuted criminals, they faded from history.

Then, in 4901, a new Path appeared in the Kingdom. Towering warriors, strong and hard-headed as oxen, these men claimed no Path and manipulated no elements. Instead, they boasted impossible fortitude and an unparalleled ability to regenerate right before your eyes!

What they lacked in polish they found in raw might. Yet these Bulls balanced two faces: the raging animal and the cultivator. Balanced between the feral and the refined, they strode into the Kingdom to shake the mountains with their deeds.

Could these Bulls really be the descendants of a reviled bandit king?! Maybe its better to keep these towering monks at arm’s length…

Application

The Bulls accept any student that reaches their dojo. Of course, their dojo is hidden in the far ranges of the Outer Wards! All around are ferocious monsters and terrible storms!

Most students of the Path instead learn from a traveling Bull, but the school refuses to recognize a student as legitimate until they complete that dangerous pilgrimage.

Path History

What the historians say is generally true. However, they omit the most important part.

For King Riku did not kill the bandit king. He broke the bandit king’s fortress and destroyed his fortunes, yes, but let the bandit king flee with his men.

They retreated to the farthest, darkest corner of the northern woods; there, they began to plot their revenge. The Path that the bandit king had devised now drove them like maddened beasts.

Sensing their hatred, a powerful spirit descended upon them by night and cast a spell.

Like beasts you howl

Then like beasts you shall live

Until your rage cools to reason

The bandit king and his men were then transformed into woodland creatures for a thousand years and a day. They lived lifetime after lifetime as beast and bird, ignorant to their higher nature.

Finally, the spell broke, and the bandit king’s men awoke. Their long slumber had tempered their rage, and they found the desire for vengeance long cooled. Instead, the long lifetimes of reincarnation enhanced their understanding of their own bodies.

Settling once more in their long abandoned monastery, the former bandits turned their lives towards monastic meditation. However, when they took students, those students found the rage waiting.

For each new Bull must complete the same durance: to confront and master one’s own rage.

Blood and Aura

This Path emphasizes the strength of one’s own body. Instead of manipulating the world through elemental power, the Bull distills the elements into internal force.

What does Blood look like?

Foes often describe the Bulls as “dense” – blows that would sever a lesser man’s arm instead leave only cut a Bull. Worse, this damage only seems to fuel the Bull’s offensive force! Even wounds that would be openly fatal to a normal man, such as a spear through the stomach, give this Path worryingly little pause.

When you use Blood instead of Charge, consider the pure force behind this power. When you break a Condition in record speed, laugh off the injury or shred the restraint by simply flexing.

When you play a Bull, you express your Arts through brawn and muscle. Leave the artful displays of elemental elegance to the Tranquil Serpents and punch the elements into shape!

Power

As a mighty Bull, you leap to face every challenge head-on

• Primary element: Earth
• Secondary: Fire
• Bane: Air

Blood

The Bull combines elemental and physical power into a seamless package.

• You do not have Charge
• You do not have Aura
• Instead, you have Blood

Blood has the following special rules

• You spend Blood when damaged instead of Aura
  • When reduced to 0 Blood, you suffer Wounds from damage as usual
  • When you suffer a Wound, regain all Blood
• You spend Blood instead of Charge to power your abilities
  • Blood does not count as Charge for elemental reactivity; treat your effective Charge as zero for any effect that would reference it
  • Effects that would grant Charge instead have no effect on you

Syphon

When you deal melee damage to a foe, syphon 1 Blood

• On a Flourish, you may choose to spend your reward to Syphon an additional Blood for total of 2

Regeneration

Your Blood regenerates swiftly.

• You regain 1 Blood per hour, even within the same Scene
• Ignore any effects that cause you to lose this regeneration
• At Circle 3, additionally:
  • Regain 1 Blood per 10 minutes instead
  • Degrade all Conditions you are suffering by 1d6 per hour
  • Degrading Conditions is involuntary; you may not choose to preserve Conditions for their Bloodbinding bonuses
• At Circle 4, additionally:
  • As an Action, you may spend up to C Blood
  • Choose a target Condition and instantly degrade its Severity by Xd10 Prowess, where X is the amount of Blood spent

Rage

You gain the ability to inflict a special Condition upon yourself: Rage.

• You choose to generate Rage at the start of your turn
• If you generate Rage, assign it to a Chakra (any element) as a Condition with Severity Cd4
• Rage breaks the associated Ki for that element
• You gain a Bloodbinding bonus for each Rage (below)

Like any Condition, rage remains until the severity degrades to 0.

Manifesting rage

In combat, Rage usually manifests through screams and blows. Outside of combat, Rage manifests as a short temper or internalized frustrations.

However, you are still responsible for your conduct in game and should seek to incorporate appropriate levels of anger for the situation. Bulls are short-tempered but not suicidal.

Bloodbinding

You turn your pain into power.

• Generate one Bloodbinding bonus for each:
  • Condition currently suffered, including Wounds and Rage
  • Blood assigned to Bloodbinding

When you assign Blood to a Bloodbinding, reduce your Blood total by 1.

Bloodbindings expire when:

• You release the Blood assigned to this binding
  • The Blood remains spent until you regenerate it (either through Regeneration or a Scene change)
• The Condition associated with the binding expires
  • You must continue to heal Conditions and may not preserve them for their binding bonuses

At Circle 3, additionally:

• When afflicted by a Restraint, you ignore all negative effects of the Restraints as long as you have at least 1 Blood active
• Gain a Bloodbinding bonus as usual
• If your Blood drops to zero, you may become bound by the Restraints

Bloodbinding list

You may choose each option only once.

Circle 2:

• The Placid Bull: Add +C to your Water Defense
• Trapkicker: You always trigger Traps; however, the trap must Challenge against your appropriate defense at -C to have any effect
• Furious steps: Gain +1 Speed
• Flattening: You destroy the impediments of Difficult Terrain. Reduce the Difficult Terrain’s Difficulty by C at the start of each round when you are present in that zone
• Masochism: Gain +1 Blood

Circle 3:

• Brutality: Boost Earth
• Cunning: Boost Fire
• Ardent: Gain 1 Armor

Circle 4:

• Compassion: Grant an ally 1 Armor. You choose an ally within Prowess meters at time of binding; this effect persists regardless of distance until your Condition ends
• Resonance: Grant an ally 1 Aura
• Recovery: When you take this Condition, all allies regain 3d4 Aura; this has no further effect

Peace

We are more than the beast within. Those who see only the raging bull underestimate us

At dawn of each day, you generate C-1 Peace. You may spend this Peace to grant one ally within your current zone a Bonus Ki to a single non-combat, non-offensive Challenge

Additionally, you have expert control over your emotions.

• Attempts to Assess you take a C Penalty
• The Intimidate Action has no effect on you. Treat all attempts as automatic failures.

Arts

Circle 2

Brutal blood

• Boon
• Requires: None
• Effect: Spend Blood to generate Pierce
  • Each Blood spent generates C Pierce for one effect

Crimson Resilience

• Chakra (Earth)
• Requires: None
• Effect:
  • Spend Blood to generate Armor, 1:1, to a max of C
  • You may trigger this after an effect Challenges you; choose after learning the Result

Despoil

• Boon
• Requires: None
• Effect:
  • You may destroy consumable items in your current zone for free once per round
  • The item must be of your Circle or less; no Challenge is required
  • You choose to execute this at any time during your turn

Tongue of the Earth

• Boon
• Requires: None
• Effect: You may speak the language of any terrestrial animal (mammals, reptiles)

Stillness

• Chakra (Fire)
• Requires: None
• Effect:
  • While completely motionless, gain Invisibility
  • Motionless here means to take no Move or Action; you must not interact with either friend or foe for the entire duration of a round
  • At the end of the round, after environmental effects, you gain the effect
  • Invisibility lasts for C rounds after you interact, Move, or take an Action

Practical Camper

• Boon
• Requires: None
• Effect: When you roll Camp, take the higher of your Earth standard value or your Challenge

Circle 3

Girded Flesh

• Chakra (Earth or Fire)
• Requires: Brutal Blood, Crimson Resilience
• Effect:
  • For each Chakra you slot with this effect, gain 1 Blood
  • You may slot this up to C times across the two elements

Crimson Reservoir

• Chakra (Air/Water/Light/Dark)
• Requires: Brutal Blood, Crimson Resilience
• Effect:
  • Each time you spend Blood to gain a bonus, add 1 to this reservoir
  • Max of 2C
  • You may choose to add this bonus to any Challenge in the matching element
  • After the Challenge, reset the bonus to zero and take 1 damage

Shattering Strength

• Boon
• Requires: Despoil
• Effect:
  • When you Attack any non-metal object of a lower Circle, treat your Result as an automatic Flourish
  • For metal of a lower Circle, spend 1 Blood for an auto-Success and 3 for an auto-Flourish

Aspect of the Bull

• Boon
• Requires: Despoil, Shattering Strength
• Effect:
  • Gain towering bull horns when you take this boon
  • At the start of your turn, you may spend 2 Blood to Stampede
  • Then Move up to twice your normal Speed, automatically destroying any objects (even metal) of less than your Circle in the zones you pass through
  • You may Challenge Earth against barriers of your Circle; on a success you deal C damage and move through it
  • You may Attack or Throw (your choice) every foe that you move through during your movement

Protector’s Pride

• Chakra (Earth)
• Requires: Stillness
• Effect:
  • When you Syphon, you may forsake your Blood income
  • Instead, one ally in this zone gains Armor C until the start of your next turn

Prosperity of the Guarded Field

• Boon
• Requires: Practical camper
• Effect:
  • While the Bull is in your stable, your Hearth gains C earth defense

Circle 4

Whirlwind

• Boon
• Requires: None
• Effect:
  • Spend 2 Blood to attack up to C targets within your current zone
  • You may spend additional Blood to add targets, 1:1, with no upper limit
  • Then make an Attack against all selected foes

Furious hurl

• Boon
• Requires: None
• Effect:
  • Gain the Range core on any weapon you weild
  • The attack automatically destroys any objects less than your Circle in the path of the attack
  • These attacks still trigger Syphon
  • Your weapons automatically return after you hurl it

The scent of blood

• Chakra (Fire)
• Requires: Stillness
• Effect:
  • You have Blindsight, Shadesight, Spiritsight, Shadetouch and Spirittouch against any creature that has been bled or damaged
  • If the target can bleed, any blood is sufficient - even a single droplet
  • If the target has taken 1 or more Damage, consider them blooded for this (even if they cannot bleed)

Beyond rage, peace

• Boon
• Requires: Prosperity of the Guarded Field
• Effect:
  • Your allies share a fragment of your regenerative prowess
  • Allies degrade Conditions by 1d6 per day while traveling with you
  • This is in addition to any other healing effects

Where there was storm, I remain

• Boon
• Requires: Beyond rage, peace
• Effect:
  • Spend 1 Blood to choose either your Earth or Fire defense (your choice)
  • The cost increases by 1 each time you use this within a Scene
  • Substitute the chosen defense for the defense of another element
  • You must choose before you see the Result

Cultivation