Quick Notes on the Kuei-Jin
The Five Dharmas
Dharma Characteristics Virtue Weakness Devil-Tiger fire, the number 2, red, South P'o violent;
lacking in subtletyResplendent Crane water, the number 1, yellow, North Hun merciless/ intolerant Song of the Shadow
(Bone Flowers)metal, the number 4, black, West Yin uncaring Thousand Whispers
(Rootless Trees)earth, the number 0, white, Center Balance difficult to maintain;
too much balance?Thrashing Dragon wood, the number 3, green, East Yang shameless, bad self-esteem Effects of Chi Balance
If there is a difference of 2 or greater in your permanent Chi virtues, then you are considered attuned to the higher one. For example, if you have Yang 5 and Yin 3, you are attuned to Yang. If you're not attuned to Yin or Yang, then you are balanced.
- Yin Weakness: vulnerable to wooden stakes (same as Kindred)
- Balance Weakness: if you have 2 more temporary points of Yang chi than Yin chi, or vice versa, then every use of chi has the potential for "a bad reaction"
- Yang Weakness: you can be "staked" with metal (it must be at least 1 foot long.)
If the permanent difference is 3 or greater, you are permanently imbalanced, and in danger of all sorts of nasty side effects, including an automatic derangement.
If you have more Yin or Yang chi than your permanent level, or no Yin or Yang chi, then you are temporarily imbalanced. If you botch while spending chi, all of the extra chi will explode, causing aggravated damage. (You may attempt to soak the damage.)
Effects of Soul Balance
If your Hun or P'o is 3 or more points higher than its opposite, then you have a permanent soul imbalance. If you have a P'o imbalance, the P'o may call for a shadow soul roll once per night, whenever it chooses. If you have a Hun imbalance, you may not spend Willpower for extra successes.
Hunger
If you have 5 or fewer Chi points in your body, then you are hungry and must roll for fire soul whenever you encounter an obvious Chi source. If you have 2 or fewer Chi points, you are ravenous and the P'o needs only 1 success to send you into frenzy.
If you have a Yang imbalance, you are ravenous at 5 or fewer Chi points, and uncontrollable at 2 and below. When uncontrollable, you seek Chi before all else, and automatically enter fire soul unless you spend Willpower to prevent it.
Getting Up
You must spend 1 point of Chi to animate yourself in the evening.
- If you spend Yin, you will be awake for 10 nights, but lose 1 die for all Social Rolls, unless you're interacting with people who find the aura of death attractive.
- If you spend Yang, you can only stay alert for 1 night, but your social rolls remain normal.
Using Yin and Yang Chi
Using Yin Chi
- Resist Fire Nature (a.k.a. frenzy)
Resisted roll vs. P'o; whichever side gets 2 successes first wins.- Ghostsight (must spend 1 pt. Yin)
- See Yin World creatures (ghosts)
Concentrate for 3 turns, then roll Perception + Occult vs. (Wall difficulty + 2)- Scan for weaknesses
Concentrate for 3 turns, then roll Yin + Medicine (for living beings) or Crafts (for objects) vs. difficulty 8
You may attack with 1 extra level of damage for each success- Detect illness or damage
Roll Perception + Medicine/ CraftsUsing Yang Chi
- Resist Wave Nature (a.k.a. Rötschreck, the irrational fear of fire and sunlight)
Resisted roll vs. P'o; whichever side gets 2 successes first wins.- Healing
Giving someone 1 pt. of Yang Chi heals 1 Health Level- Lifesight (must spend 1 pt. Yang)
- See Yang World creatures (spirits and spirit-walking werewolves)
Concentrate for 3 turns, then roll Perception + Occult vs. (Wall difficulty + 2)- Read aura flare
Roll Perception + Empathy, difficulty 9, to detect the flare of emotion given off when 2 people meet
Using this power against other Kuei-Jin is very rude.
- Find mortal passion
Roll Perception + Yang, difficulty 9, to "home in" on mortals feeling a particular emotion
Range = 20 feet * Perception ratingUsing Hun and P'o
Using Hun
- Harness Demon Art
Roll Hun vs. difficulty of P'o level after a Demon Art has been evoked to prevent takeover of shadow self- Resist shadow nature
Roll Hun to avoid P'o takeover.- Temper the P'o
After shadow nature takes over, roll Hun vs. difficulty 9 to remain aware.
If you remain aware, you may spend Willpower to influence your shadow self, or to speak 1 lucid sentence.- Empathy maximum
You can never have an Empathy level greater than your Hun score.- Sharpened Senses
Concentrate for 1 turn, then roll Hun vs. difficulty 6 to effectively double power of all senses.- Spirit Speech
Roll Hun vs. difficulty of local Wall to talk to a spirit (you have to detect it first, somehow or other.)Using P'o
- Berserk Rage
Roll P'o vs. (Hun + 3) to trigger fire nature: no wound penalties and use Demon Chi- Demon Chi
Roll P'o vs. (Hun + 3) to use-- more than 4 successes put you in fire nature
Spend Demon Chi for extra actions, damage successes, or strength successes
Roll P'o (difficulty 6) on awakening to regain- Demon Arts maximum
You may not have a Demon Art at a higher level than your Hun score.- Fangs
Spend 1 pt. Demon Chi for fangs, 2 for a fanged maw (Strength + 2 aggravated damage)- Resist mind control
Roll P'o (difficulty 9) to resist magical mind control-- success triggers shadow nature checkHome - Self-Reference - SCA - RPGs - Writing