Anto

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Char-anto.png Kanaguri Antoraki: Phoenix Elemental Martial Artist

Contents

Character

Description

Kanaguri Antoraki (Anto) is a youth just emerging into manhood (about 17). His dark hair is worn in a simple topknot with a colorful clasp which signals his noble heritage. Used to the cold of high altitudes, he prefers to dress lightly, in outfits which are either loose or bare around his arms, legs, and chest which also ease mobility for his training.

Anto is rather inexperienced in the world, having been isolated and exposed primarily to martial and mystical tutelage and tales of mighty warriors. He has a certain youthful charm and likability, but tends to be outspoken, brash, and overconfident in his physical abilities. He knows intellectually that humility and respect are a part of wisdom, but hasn't internalized that lesson into his behavior yet.

A native of Iron Mountain, Anto is a student of the Fivefold Way and its Five Essence Style of sorcerous martial arts. His preferred way of approaching the Fivefold Way is not by becoming a student of other fighting styles, but by facing them directly. Raised on tales of great warriors, he considers the duel to be the highest test of a warrior and seeks to prove himself worthy of the same greatness.

Background

Anto was born in Iron Mountain as the 4th son of Kannaguri Boshi, who himself is the heir to the head of the Kannaguri Clan. The Kannaguri are a landed warrior family which is a part of the nobility of Iron Mountain. As a fourth son, Anto has no traditional role to play for his family, and cannot expect a significant inheritance. The normal place of fourth sons is to take up arms and make a name for themselves in the military, and Anto was certainly encouraged to this by tales of his great ancestors and other warriors he could emulate. However, omens at his birth marked Anto for a diferent destiny.

Astrologers identified Anto at an early age as the center of portents which marked him with the potential for power, and a destiny to tip the balance in some great conflict. Further details were hazy, or at least not shared by those who could interpret them. Among those interpreting the omens were masters of The Way of Fivefold Essence who approached his family about their son's destiny and requested to be allowed to prepare him for it. Thus was Anto inducted into the Way at the start of his adolescence.

Anto is apprenticed to Master Koji of the Fivefold Way with whom he has traveled for several years. Following the traditions of the Way, Master Koji seeks knowledge of many and varied fighting styles, and has taken his student along on wanderings through many of the Twelve Kingdoms. Most recently he has come to The Butterfly Kingdom to learn from the Yellow Silk School of Master Long Shen. Koji's path is one of humility, and in deference to Long Shen's wishes he will spend most of his time as a common student, and thus have little time for his own teaching. He also feels his student shows the rashness of youthful inexperience and needs to learn humility from experience. Master Koji has thus sent his student to fend for himself for a time, though under the watchful eye of his old friend Xiao Fa.

Plot Hooks

Pre-Game

Destiny

Anto is destined to develop great power which may come as a surprise to him. Prophecy places him at the cusp of some conflict, though the details and timing are unclear, at least to him.

Dueling

As part of his tutelage, Anto will accept any opportunity or challenge to face a new opponent in single combat. He may be overconfident of his skills in some cases, but he will also accept defeat as part of the way of learning from others. He need not be suicidal or accept unreasonable terms in a duel, but he will not back down from a challenge by a superior foe. While it is not part of his formal vow, he is also always eager to face new and different types of foes for the sake of new experiences.

In-Game

Oaths/Duties/Psychlims

  • Oath to the Steadfast Heart Sect: Never flee when people who need my protection are in danger.
  • Psychlim: Responsibility to Free the Trapped and Bound (from Amikiri the Unbinder): This includes people, but also creatures of all kinds. Fish being caught in nets and songbirds in cages are troubling. A pervasive whim rather than an obsession - i.e. a thing to do not the only thing to do or the thing you must do all of every time it presents itself. But should be acted on at least occasionally.

Favors

  • 1 favor from the House of Gainful Protection in the Honeth Arcade
  • 1 favor from Brown Feet, a Forest Cat spirt from the Forest of Chin

Ties

  • Xiao Fa (Eon): A friend of Anto's master Koji. Koji has placed Anto in Pilgrim Xiao's care in the hopes he will help Anto learn humility, and perhaps for other reasons as well.
  • Li Merit (Drew): Anto found Merit in the midst of a rough mugging in a town in ?Kingdom? and aided him. Merit invited Anto and Koji to caravan with the Circus for a while, and they accepted.
  • Song Min Feng (Kate): Anto met Min Feng recently when she was exploring the Butterfly Court in the guise of a boy, and stopped to watch Anto in his martial arts practice. The two teenagers have become friends and have been exploring the court together.

Character Building

Concept

Cycle: Phoenix

Specialty: Elemental Martial Artist

In-Game Additions: Unbinder

Points

See Anto Character Build

Wish List

Stats

  • 12 Tao -> 4
  • 4 Wit -> 4
  • 10 Body -> 5

Schticks

  • Pick a Level 2 non-Wood
  • Upgrade Chain and Sickle's frequency to Level 3 (1/turn) and possibly Level 4 (1/action, always on).

Skills

See skills page on points spreadsheet.

Schticks

Destiny

Represented by Anto's first schtick of any given level. Purchased as full cost with unknown effects. May optionally purchase additional schticks if desired to represent high-power low-frequency effects at low levels as manifestations of power beyond Anto's control.

Balance

Anto's style of Elemental Martial Arts balances all five elements. His Schticks must stay in balance, defined as follows:

  • Schticks contribue points to a total for each element:
    • Each Elemental Schtick contributes a number of points to its element equal to its Power x Frequency.
    • Non-Elemental Schticks are ignored for balance.
    • Schticks associated with multiple elements contribute fractional points to each.
  • In balance calculations, Anto's total level can be applied as a "fudge factor", allowing more flexibility as he gains in power.
  • There are 3 possible states of balance:
    • Perfect Balance: if the lowest and highest of Anto's elemental values are different by the fudge factor or less. Perfect balance is important where the GMs decide it is.
    • Normal: Not perfectly balanced, but not dangerously unbalanced. The degree of imbalance is defined as the difference between the lowest and highest elemental values, minus the fudge factor. It is possible to maintain a high degree of imbalance safely if certain rules are followed (see below).
    • Unbalanced: Anto becomes unbalanced if he gains power (a new schtick, in a way which doesn't follow the rule below. Being unbalanced is probably bad, as defined by the GMs. Getting out of this state probably involves achieving perfect balance, possibly among other things.
  • Purchase Rule: To avoid becoming unbalanced, new Schticks can only be bought for the Element with the lowest total.
    • If multiple elements are tied, or within the fudge factor, any can be treated as lowest.

Overall Intent

General intent for Anto's future Schticks and combat style:

  • Keep Reflex as primary stat for Speed. Schticks use Tao stats to supplement or replace use of Physical stats in combat.
  • Balance use of all three Tao stats. Yang for attack/effect, Yin for defense/mobility, Chi as a pool to spend to power Schticks.
  • Attack forms mutate over time:
    • Start with Kusarigama, to obtain a reasonable damage multiplier.
    • Unarmed strikes replace it when Schticks make the multiplier equivalent. Another schtick makes the two equivalent for use with other specialized schticks.
    • Ranged elemental attacks of various sorts become available at higher levels (associated with purchasing more Tao and Skills).
  • Elemental effects are mostly about combat, but with some more general-purpose effects relating to creating/manipulating/moving various elements in the environment.

Future Ideas

General Possibilities:

  • Buffs and combat effects
  • Element manipulation at range
  • Elementally-themed non-combat effets
  • Learning from other styles (distilling techniques)

Elemental Associations:

  • Wood/Tree: flexibility, life/healing
  • Fire: damage at range, speed
  • Earth: solidity, stillness, soaking damage
  • Metal: hardness (armor), sharpness (damage multiplier, armor piercing), weapons
  • Water: motion, dodging, cold (ice), weather

Specific Ideas:

  • Minor movement/manipulation (telekinesis) of pre-existing elemental materials.
  • Ranged elemental (fire) burst.
  • Turn to water to flow through cracks.
  • Turn to water as a one-time "big" dodge.
  • I'm being watched over by my master's representatives (summon help)?
  • Destiny
  • Kusarigama/Unarmed equivalence (P3/F6)
  • Increaed unarmed multiplier
  • Ranged Elemental Attack forms
  • Yang rather than Str for Damage
  • Bursts of power when most needed (e.g. Aang's Avatar State)

Proposed Schticks

  • Friend of Iron
    • Element: Metal
    • Description: The student's meditations align his inner essence with the essence of Metal, and exhorts the spirit of the Metal not to harm him.
    • Effect: +1 die to dodge metal weapons (including arrows with metal heads)
    • Cost/Level: 6/1
      • Power: 1 (+1 die specific)
      • Frequency: 6 (always on)
      • Source: 1
      • Concept: 1
    • Approved: Yes
  • Flickering Flame Strike
    • Element: Fire
    • Description: The student charges himself with the essence of fire and strikes with the speed and unpredictability of a crackling flame.
    • Effect: 1/turn, split for 3 attacks (or melee only)
    • Cost/Level: 12/2
      • Power: 3 or 2 (3 for 3-way split, -1 melee only)
      • Frequency: 6 (always on) or 4 (1/turn)
      • Source: 1
      • Concept: 1
    • Comments: Two possible versions considered above.
    • Approved: Yes
  • Flowing River Advance
    • Element: Water
    • Description: The student becomes impossibly swift and flexible like flowing water, and
    • Effect: roll Yin, and gain N x successes in extra movement
    • Cost/Level:
      • Power: N+1
      • Frequency: ? (need to select based on power)
      • Source: 1
      • Concept: 1
    • Comments:
    • Approved: Yes