168 lines
8.0 KiB
Plaintext
168 lines
8.0 KiB
Plaintext
Hee-yo!:
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Shouts and other uses of Ki.
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By: Paul W. Will
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In my AD&D campaign, recently augmentded by the ORIENTAL
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ADVENTURES BOOK (OAB), I have begun to hear a growing
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diatribe regarding what the players insists is and
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oriental-occidental character imbalance. The heart of their
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greivances seems to be the Ki (or Chi) based abilities of the
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oriental character classes.
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These abilities manifest themselves in a variety of
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ways, some of which I (and my player group) find near inhuman
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in scope. Such as the Sohei's Berzerk which does not simply
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give benefit of either an additional attack per round OR a +1
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to hit on all normal attacks (as does any Berzerker from the
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Monster Manual). INstead the berzerkergang grants the sohei:
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one additional attack per round, +1 AC bonus, +3" movement
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rate, +1 to hit, +1 on damage, and the ability to deflect
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normal missiles...all of these for one turn each day! This,
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complains my player group, is not only borderline on
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unbelievable, but also highly unbalancing to the game in
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favor of the oriental character.
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Granted the oriental lifestyles, beliefs, and legendaria
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are radically different from those of the westen nam, but
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when dealing with both oriental and occidental cultures
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whithin one game it is important to avoid alienating the fans
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of either group.
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In an attempt to unigy my own campaign, whilst
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acknowledging the importance of such purely eastern
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beliefs/skills as Ki, I developed the system presented in
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this article. To arrive at this system I disected and
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delineated all of the powers set forth in the OAB, and added
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those whid I had become aware of through several years of
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study of oriental cultures.
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The rood of my system is in the accumulation of Ki
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points. Every oriental characer starts out at first level
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with one Ki point (modified as will be shown later). The
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character will gaain one additional Ki point for each of
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his/her levels of experience upon gaining each new level (ie.
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a first level samurai has one Ki point, upon gaining second
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level he adds two more points to this; totalling three
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points...once he attains third level he adds three more
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points to the score to a total of six points).
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The number of points gained by an oriental character is
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varied based on the score of his/her prime requisite, or the
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character's wisdom is the characer's class has no prime
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requisite. This modifacation is illustrated in the tavel
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below.
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Prime Requisite Ki Point
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or Wisdom Modifier
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8- ........................... -3
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9-12 ......................... -2
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13-15 ........................ -1
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16-17 ........................ 0
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18-19 ........................ +1
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20+ .......................... +2
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In the previous example it the samurai had a wisdom (the
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samurai class has no prime requisite) of 12 the modifier
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would be -2, so, at first level he would have 1 + (-2) = -1
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Ki points. At second level the two points he would normally
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get are effectively negated by the -2 penalty, and his Ki
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points (-1 + 2 + (-2) = -1) would remain at negative one.
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At third level he would gain one Ki point (-1 + 3 + (-2) = 0)
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nominally, which would bring him to zero Ki. Upon gaining
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fourth level he would add two more points ( 0 + 4 + (-2) = 2)
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to a total of two Ki points. Fifth level would make his Ki
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total (2 + 5 + (-2) = 5) five.
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Each time a character makes use of a Ki power, it will
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cost the character a numver of Ki points equal to his/her
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level (use the greater level if multi-classed).
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The chart following this paragraph shows in columns from
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left to right; the character's level, the total unmodified Ki
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points possible, the minimum and maximum points that a human
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character might have at these levels, and the number of uses
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that the character may put his/her Ki to each day if he/she
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had the minimum/normal/maximum Ki points for these levels
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(these last figures are derived from dividing the Ki points
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by the character's Ki points by his/her level...rounded
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down).
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Level Normal Min/Max Uses/day
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points points
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1 +1 -2/+2 0/1/2
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2 +3 -3/+5 0/1/2
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3 +6 -3/+9 0/2/3
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4 +10 -2/+14 0/2/3
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5 +15 0/+20 0/3/4
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6 +21 +3/+27 0/3/4
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7 +28 +7/+35 1/4/5
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8 +36 +12/+44 1/4/5
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9 +45 +18/+54 2/5/6
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10 +55 +25/+65 2/5/6
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11 +66 +33/+77 3/6/7
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12 +78 +42/+90 3/6/7
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13 +91 +52/+104 4/7/8
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14 +105 +63/+119 4/7/8
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15 +120 +75/+135 5/8/9
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16 +136 +88/+152 5/8/9
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17 +153 +102/+170 6/9/10
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18 +171 +117/+189 6/9/10
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19 +190 +133/+209 7/10/11
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20 +210 +150/+230 7/10/11
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21 +231 +168/+252 8/11/12
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22 +253 +187/+285 8/11/12
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23 +276 +207/+299 9/12/13
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24 +300 +228/+324 9/12/13
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25 +325 +250/+350 10/13/14
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Finally I redefined most of the Ki in such a way as to
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vary the duration and effects by level. Each of the
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descriptions area followed by a list of teh oriental classes
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that can use the particular Ki power.
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Battle Cure Duration: 5 rounds +1 round/level
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Battle Cure allows the user to temporarilly ignore one hir
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point of damage for each level of experience that the user
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possesses. When the duration is up the user loses the
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temporary hit points. The barrle cure is usable by Sohei and
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Samurai only.
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Battle Strike Duration: 5 rounds +1 round/level
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This Ki power allows the character a +1 on damage rolls for
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every three levels of experience. Usable by Bushi, Kensai,
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Ninja, Samurai, and Sohei.
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Lightning Strike Duration: 2 rounds +1 round/level
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A +1 is gained on initiative for each five levels of
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experience. Used by Ninja, Sohei, Wu-jen, and Yakuza.
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Protection from Evil/Good Duration: 5 rounds +1 round/level
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As per the clerical spell of the same name. Usable by any
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Oriental character class.
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Spell Protection Duration: 1 round +1 round/level
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Grants the user a +1 on all magic saves foer each four levels
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of experience. Usable by Sukenja and Sohei.
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Spirit Armor Duration: 5 rounds +1 round/level
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Allows the user a one place bonus on AC for each four levels
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of experience. Used bby Bushi, NInja, Wohei, and Yakuza.
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Strength Duration: 5 rounds +1 round/level
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As per the Magic-user spell of the same name. Bushi, Kensai,
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and Samurai may use this power.
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Weapon Spirit Duration: one strike per level
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This power allows a +1 to hit per four levels of experience.
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Bushi, Kensai, Ninja, Samurai, and Sohei may use this
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power.
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Wind Foot Duration: 4 rounds/level
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Wind Foor allows the character to add 2" + 1"/three levels to
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lhis/her movement rate. This movement bonus may be used in
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any mode including swimming, moving silently, and climbing.
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It is usable by Ninja, Sohei, and Yakuza.
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To make use of any of these avilities the character must
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spend 5 segments (30 seconds) meditating for each of the
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powers he/she intends to use. The powers do not maifest
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themselves until the meditations are ended, so if a character
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wished to make use of three of his powers simultaniously he
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would meditate for one and one-half rounds (15 segments) and
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all of the powers would begin their effects at the end of
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that time.
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This set of rules sill serve to vary Ki strength,
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powers, effects, and uses per day, from character to
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character, and class to class. It hws worked well in my own
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campaign, and I hopw you enjoy it in yours.
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