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"Oh it was terrible officer! A bunch of those men in uniforms started yelling and brandishing guns! They were threatening us and demanding money and...and favors. Someone even got killed! But these brave and terrifying souls stepped up to defend the poor innocents here! Those nasty bandit-types got exactly what they deserved!" Yulai continued to play the part of frightened innocent until the officer questioning her moved away.
Yulai had intended to resume her human form, but then thought better of such a thing. Only one person had seen her in combat, that woman accosted by the bandit she'd killed. Which meant that if that woman came back, or had informed authorities of her appearance, they'd be looking for a human woman with dark hair and saffron skin. But now she was white and black and furred, nothing like the woman who'd been here with blade in hand. The clothes were a problem, but they were intentionally patterned after a widespread popular style, and so the shinobi retained her Kitsune form and went to check on her bags and portable lab.
Vishkanya...those are the people that secrete poison from their skin, right?
I'm always up for some world-building. Not sure if there's any one area of specific interest, and I'd run everything I wrote up by you first since it's your world and all. EDIT: Actually, fleshing out the Erufu lands (more specifically the kitsune's place in it) sounds interesting and would provide me more insight into Yulai. The Ron Kingdom also sounds interesting since you've got next to nothing up about it so there'd be a lot to do.
Yulai froze as the deep voice came from a throat not its own, her invisible sword poised to strike a killing blow which never arrived. As the gem shattered and light enough to blind poured out from it, she raised her right arm's kimono sleeve to shield her from the assault on her senses, and when that proved insufficient she shifted into her true form, raising her vixen's brush-like tail to further shield her eyes. Still collected, she re-sheathed her weapon and hid it once more in her obi belt even as this was going on. People always wonder about hidden weapons. And perhaps she should resume human form before too many foreigners noticed. So many outside of the Erufu kingdom saw only the Kitsune's mischievous streak, and not their desire for good and heroism. Hopefully she wouldn't have to speak to the authorities for too long...or at all.
Just checking in. Been really busy last few days, didn't check the threads, but it seems like I didn't miss anything so all's well.
Yulai makes her way behind the man while still invisible, blade poised to strike him down if necessary. She stays out of sight, trusting to the strong words voiced by others to cow this ringleader...but not willing to put down her sword.
Yulai flicked her blade strongly, clearing it of most of its bloody harvest before telling the accosted woman to clear out quickly. Seeing that most, if not all of the remaining thugs are accounted for, she peers at the apparent boss, wondering what he might be looking for.
Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she decides to get closer, and fades from view again.
Howdy everybody. What's up?
Having found her mark, Yulai would not give him a chance to further accost the adjacent woman, much less to take her as a prize. He and his bandit friends would die a just death!
As the gunshot screamed its cry, Yulai stiffened hard for a moment as unwanted memories played in her mind. And then the moment was gone, replaced by anger. For five years, she'd hunted men like these, and she wasn't about to let anyone else's family be hurt like hers had been. Dropping her packs, Yulai felt for the wakizashi she'd hidden under her obi belt earlier and called upon the arts of the shinobi to hide from errant eyes, counting on the commotion and the crowd to cover her sudden vanishing.
Ki Pool: 3/4
Not a problem, thanks for the heads-up! And now that I've thought about it, I think I'm leaning towards Paizo's Honor system for play. Not because it's official or anything, but because it seems to be so focused on generating roleplay elements that mesh with the feel of the setting, and the kinds of story differences that necessarily arise out of differing cultures.
I'm good with either one, honestly. One could make the case that in your world, which is not Golarion, honor works somewhat differently than in Tian Xia. I don't think either one is particularly more or less difficult to keep track of really.
Given that I'm not a companion subscriber and have no more room in my house for books of any sort, I'm stuck waiting til the 25th to get my PDF copy. I've heard that the Kitsune racial feats are neat, but I also think they'll probably fit into the still unassigned feat slots I have in my planned progression later on, so I doubt I'll actually change anything about Yulai at this point. Maybe if there's a killer new martial arts style in there, but that'd probably wait until I could get the Unarmed Combat Mastery trick.
OK, so I actually did manage a multiclass build that gets Improved Vital Strike by level 13, the earliest I could manage it with Ninja/Fighter while still getting in most of the tricks I wanted. It eats up every feat slot I have except one, so "fun" feats are basically out the window with that build, but it manages a final tally of: 3d6+8 damage on each Vital Strike attack;
Generating concealment is Smoke Bombs, smokesticks, UMD for wands of obscuring mist, vanishing trick (depending on reading of invisibility), cloaks of displacement, Blur, etc. I have Blind-Fight and Shadow Strike to SA people within the concealment I create. The other build would be to stay straight Ninja, scrap the situational Moonlight Stalker plan, and get the Vital Strike feats later, relying on Sneak Attack to keep up til then. It manages similar damage numbers, but I lose the extra to-hit bonuses from weapon training and moonlight stalker and the extra two points of BAB (so 4 less to-hit than the other build. Final damage tally at level 13 is: 2d6+3 damage (+1d6 vital strike, 1 STR, +2 Devastating Strike)
So basically, the multiclass build can manage 7d6+10 at tops before weapon modifiers and whatnot, with a better chance to hit. Vital Strike damage is also not precision damage apparently, so I can deal more hurt earlier on things immune to SA. The straight ninja-murder build can spike damage higher with 9d6+3, +7 bleed, but does noticeably less on things immune to SA and/or things immune to bleed damage, and also has a lower attack bonus. On the other hand, against things that I can Sneak Attack, I'll have Invisible Blade in the second build for full-attack SA madness, 2 feat slots free, and another master trick/feat to choose.
Dotted gameplay thread...wait, starting once everyone has their stuff on the game site? I have to make a final decision on my stat and feat setup soon? Oh god, my choices will be set in stone, agh! Well, does anyone have a favorite method of sneak attacking? I picked the standard Improved Feint setup mostly because i'd done it before, but I hear there's more options out there now.
Well, the words I could think of to describe it at the time and all. Perhaps a more appropriate descriptor would be "rational-thinking holistic wellness guru?" Or too bombastic?
I posted my background in more complete form on the game site: Yulai's Backstory. The writing contained therein is...well, meh to be honest, but it says what it needs to say, if not in the most compact or perfectly readable form.
Yulai, the tricksy kistune ninja on a quest for vengeance and answers. I promise not to brood more than the minimal amount required for quests of vengeance! XD
Just noticed the new map and everything. Looks pretty sweet I must say, and a projected start right around the release of the Dragon Empires Primer sounds just about perfect...unless the stuff in there is so awesome it makes me want to change my character to use it, but that's not a problem really. |
