Kindred of the East FAQ list

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KINDRED OF THE EAST Frequently Asked Koans

Q: Where are the Gaki and the Bushi? A: "Gaki" is now a loose descriptive term for any Japanese Kuei-jin, much as "penangallan" can represent any Cathayan who's mastered the Flesh Shintai. The Bushi are actually the Kuei-jin of House Bishamon. If it helps, think of the Bushi clan from Dark Alliance: Vancouver as the western Kindred perception of what the Bishamon would be like if they really were a clan. Q: Okay, then, how do I convert my Gaki or Bushi to Kuei-jin stats? A: Dharma: This is a toughie. I'd recommend picking a Dharma of your choice, starting it at 1, then increasing Dharma by one for every (real-world) year you've been playing your character, or six months if the Storyteller feels that the character displays exceptional enlightenment or has been very well roleplayed. Storytellers: If your player whines, bitches and moans about your ruling on this matter, then the character's probably not very enlightened. Attributes, Abilities, Backgrounds: Generally, the same. You may trade in dots in Status and Generation for an equal amount of dots in Kuei-jin Backgrounds. You may convert Brawl to Martial Arts, if you wish. Remember, though, that you can't use Martial Arts when gripped with fire or wave soul. Disciplines: Take the dots you have in Disciplines and reassign them to Kuei-jin Disciplines as you like. Dominate or Presence typically converts to the Obligation Discipline, while Celerity becomes Black Wind or Yang Prana. Storytellers might want to whack one dot for every four that the character possesses, to reflect the fact that Kuei-jin Disciplines cost more experience points than the Disciplines of the west. Virtues: Self-Control converts to Yin; Courage converts to Yang; Conscience converts to Hun; [(P'o equals 10 - Hun), minus an additional point for every dot of Humanity above 5, to a minimum of 3]. Willpower remains identical, so long as it is no more than five points above the Hun. If, for some godawful reason, your character uses Sabbat Virtues, then use Conviction for Hun, Instincts for Yin, and Morale for Yang. Q: How much does a new Kuei-jin Discipline cost? A: 10 experience points, same as a Kindred Discipline. Q: What about new Abilities?

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A: 3 experience points, just as with the other WoD critters. Q: Even Martial Arts? A: Uh-huh. You catch on quick, grasshopper. Q: This temporary imbalance thing sucks. If I don't raise my Chi Virtues, I can only take in six Chi points without risking imbalance. A: True . . . but imbalance factors in only if you have to make a roll or use your Chi in some other risky way. Using Chi for healing or animating yourself nightly, for instance, is perfectly safe no matter how imbalanced you are. So, for a lot of feats, you can effectively have 20 Chi available. Besides, the system is designed to nudge you gently toward raising those Virtues. Q: If I'm at a low Dharma, I can spend only one Chi per turn. But a lot of the powers cost multiple Chi to activate. A: Right. That just means you have to spend more than one turn evoking the power. If you want to activate a power that costs four Chi, but you're only at Dharma 2, you have to spend four combat turns channeling the Chi. Kind of like those scenes in anime or martial-arts flicks, where the villain slowly begins to unleash his World-Cutting Eight Thousand Demon Killing attack, and his eyes glow more and more brightly, and his body blazes and roils with ever-increasing amounts of energy, and the hero realizes that he's got only seconds before Everything Falls to Hell, and . . . Well, that's the idea. BTW, that's the same deal for Kuei-jin without the Equilibrium Discipline who have to spend Yin and Yang Chi on a power such as the Yellow Emperor permutation of Jade Servant of the August Personage.* They're perfectly entitled to do so, but must spend Yin and Yang on successive turns. * Damnation, that's a mouthful. Maybe I should stick with "The Beckoning" or "Psychic Projection". Q: So, with Goblin Scorch, I can breathe 15 or 18 dice of aggravated damage on someone? A: Technically, yes . . . if you want to spend the turns evoking the power, and if you have that much Chi of one type in your body to begin with. Hope you don't botch that attack roll, or that 15 dice'll explode in your mouth faster than you can say "Hibachi." Or maybe a spirit will express, in no uncertain terms, its irritation at the fact that you just atomized the Chi-scape withing a quarter-mile or so. At any rate, few Dharmas look kindly on acts of overt hubris, and 15-dice flame-spitting is a fiarly blatant display of ego. Q: What's the use of Black Wind 1? I can already spend Demon Chi to get the same effect.

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A: Yeah, but you have to make a roll (and risk a botch and P'o takeover) to do so. Black Wind 1 allows you to channel Demon Chi automatically. Q: Are constructs created by Eightfold Yin Mantle permanent? A: They slowly corrode when touched by sunlight (in one turn per point of creating Kuei-jin's permanent Yin). Q: So Sault was really evil? A: Of course not. He was a vampire saint unjustly martyred by those bastard Tremere. Just ask the Salubri. They'll tell you. Q: What happens when a soul "temporarily returns to the Yomi World"? A: If you have Wraith: The Oblivion, you can treat the expereince as similar to a Harrowing. Otherwise, Storytellers are free to inflict a Derangement on the hapless character, or even force the player to spend accumulated experience on buying up the Kuei-jin's P'o rating. Q: What's to stop a player from going up to Dharma 8 or 9 in a month or so? A: For starters, the "Age" limitation is there for a reason. No character can pass Dharma 5 until he's been undead for a minimum of 100 years. That's minimum. Aside from that, it typically takes decades or centuries to progress along a Dharmic path. Once characters cross Dharma 3 or so, each new step along the way should constitute a chronicle in itself. Q: Even though Kindred can't learn or use Kuei-jin Disciplines, couldn't a Caitiff make a new Discipline, or a Tremere create a Thaumaturgy Path, to duplicate Discipline [x]? A: In theory, yes. In theory, you are also permitted to beat your game to death with a stick. For a little more fun, you might try playing your character as if she has absolutely no knowledge of the Disciplines and abilities of the Kuei-jin (or Kindred, if your character is from the east); pretend that you don't even know what your adversaries are capable of doing. Heck, you might even try attacking indirectly, with influence, politics, and well-maneuvered dupes. It works for the elders, doesn't it? Q: How come only people from Asia can become Kuei-jin? A: The Kuei-jin "experience" is a long-standing part of the cultural paradigm. Regardless of the veracity of the stories about the Wan Xian, the beliefs of the supernatural

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community in Asia shaped the Kuei-jin into their present fashion. This underlying belief doesn't exist in other countries, and thus, nobody there becomes Kuei-jin. Besides, you can always Rise after becoming a wraith, so what do you care? In game terms, this means that almost all Kuei-jin characters should come from Asiatic cultures, and should be at least partially of Asiatic descent, with a modicum of belief in the supernatural and superstitions of the east. White boys don't cut it, even if they did grow up in Beijing -- they aren't from the blood of the Middle Kingdom, and their families do not carry the burdens of the east's supernatural world. Q: Can Kuei-jin soak aggravated damage? A: Only with armor, or with special Disciplines which grant the ability to soak aggravated damage. In particular, the Demon Armor application of Demon Shintai, as well as the Bone Armor power of Bone Obedience (from Bone Shintai, surprisingly), give limited protection. Jade Shintai 5 effectively grants armor, and may give additional soak dice against specific types of attack. The Eightfold Mantles from Yin and Yang Prana add soak dice against some attack types, including fire; additionally, Yang imbalance will protect against fire to some degree, and Equilibrium 3 allows a Kuei-jin to temporarily imbalance her Chi. Q: Can two Yang-imbalanced Kuei-jin mate and produce offspring? A: Yes. Such offspring are still dhampyr (see p. 220). Q: When a Kuei-jin suffers enough damage to go past the Incapacitated Health Level, she normally dies if out of Chi. Does Demon Chi count? A: No; Demon Chi is not "animating" Chi, and as such, will not prevent a Kuei-jin from experiencing Final Death once out of Health Levels.

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