Demolish Decadence One Word at a Time - Tengoku Isles Summoner and Other Setting Info

THE WAY OF THE WORD

Demons always lie. Even in their command to kneel is the implicit lie that they are to be feared or worshiped. Every crack of whip and gaping yawp is a falsehood. This is the word of the priests allowed speech under the rule of the demons.

There are those who know better. In the shadows of lies, they hang on the scaffolding of truth. Inverting lies and weaving demonic narratives together to find gaps and therefore the precious hidden truth is the work of sages. These seek the words of God, buried beneath mountains of lies. The words are core to demon power, for without them there is no link between falsehood and reality.

The hidden truths are sussed out and written in Sutras, scrolls carefully scribed and hidden. Within each sutra is a single word. Within each word is the power of the toppled crumbling God. 

Thou. I. Mother. Give. Bark. Black. Fire. Ashes. Spit. Man. Hand. Hear. Sky. Old. Pull. Worm. Not.

Noxious unguents smeared beneath the nose to cloud the eyes with tears and burn away the sweet deceiving smell, the stump-legged sage burst through the bedroom door. The curse of childbirth draws cries of pain. With a glowing talisman in hand and old words on his lips, the spectre of pain is banished and a new child is born.

It is the hour of meeting evil spirits. At the daimo’s gathering a thrice hooded figure with charms around her neck slides the shoji shut behind her. Blindfolded, a glowing eye is visible on her forehead as she scans the attendees for the pestilence spirit plaguing the young girl upstairs.

CLASS- SUMMONER

The world is mired in lies and your are the torch that burns through the darkness. The SPIRIT EYE sees through deception, the SUTRAS are the keys to modifying creation, and TALISMAN provide power.

Shining brightly when open, the SPIRIT EYE reveals the vague and general presence of spooky action in an area. It is as accurate as a sense of smell.

In hidden scrolls, SUTRA provide access to the raw stuff of creation and its modification. These are the words of God and they are not spoken in vain. If you possess a sutra you can access the power associated with it. Means of Power Shape the World.

The works you perform require laborers, time, or TALISMAN to power them. For each slide you make in the sutra power, you must slide one of the power scales as well. When a talisman is used, there is a 50% chance it is expended for the day. To push your power to the limit you may make a power slide once for free, but suffer a consequence.

Means of Power - brackets indicate the power required to manifest the default effect.

Laborers [1]→2→5→10→100

Time now→[1min]→10min→1hr→1day→7days

Talisman [0],1,2,3,4,5,etc

Shape the World - brackets indicate the default effect

Thou* loyal→friendly→stranger→adversarial→enemy

I [undo]→cosmetic change→small mutation→large mutation→transform

Mother [comfort pain]→sustenance→provision→heal→restoration

Give [aid]→bane→curse→blessing→virtue

Bark silent→whisper→[indoor voice]→loud→deafening

Black* invisible→disguised→obscured→visible→true form

Fire [inferno]→pyre→bonfire→torch→light

Ashes create ghost→speak with dead→[identify corpse]→ward spirits→banish spirits

Spit acid→poison→[solvent]→glue→binding agent

Man revenant→undead servant→command dead→animate dead→[ease dying]

Hand [near/weak]→near/strong→two hands→far/weak→far/strong

Hear silence area→muffle sound→[extended hearing]→hear spirits→→→hear god

Sky* add/remove clouds→Gale→light rain→storm→call lightning

Old [reveal age]→-1day→-1month→-1year→-10yrs

Pull [mild attraction]→strong tug→pulled by oxen→irresistible/close→irresistible far

Worm [makedirty/clean]→rot→12 worms→1000 worms-100,000 worms

Not [pause action]→undo condition→undo action→freeze status→long pause

*The default effect is based on the target’s current condition.

Running the Game

This game has a simple premise. Emperor Zaro will arrive in 10 sessions. Maybe that’s 10 months, 10 weeks, 10 years in-game. Doesn’t matter much. The players need to be ready, because when he arrives he will host the Tournament of the Gods to see who will rule for the next hundred years. He has never lost.

Each character comes from a place of oppression and scarcity. Each class is built with a clear way to progress in strength and ability. There is strong reason to steal, fight, and scrap for every bit of advantage they can get to end the Age of Demons they have been suffering under.

To do so they will visit many of the Isles of Heaven to find Headbands, secret Names of God, the hidden Sutras, and artifacts of great power. In addition to the ones implied in the monk class, here are a few more islands to get you started:

Islands

Towers of Tilmin

-Shockingly sheer cliffs, threatening to scrape the clouds. Inhabitants clog the caves. From far far away you can see a face carved in the rock. Those on the cliffs are oblivious.

-A wizard in the cliffs will tattoo you with a spell for a wage. They know Heat Water, Ice to Copper, Argue with Birds

-Goats rule these cliffs, in a manner of speaking. Cross them and you will be bonked to oblivion

-If you seek real trouble… the demon of the face is heard snoring through this passage. (the mouth)

-Around the edge of the face, a little higher up, is a crack that makes an easy climb to the top. The great Roc is there and is eager to discuss history for ancient things.

Naura Town and the River of Ghosts

-A once peaceful town, now lost to ghosts.

-It is well known that the old well will spit up old things for a bit of coin. This is the dare of the children in the area.

-A gang of orcs has made camp here, relying on the ghosts to keep their camp secret.

-If you seek real trouble… the Hart of the woods is said to linger here, pierced by an ancient sword.

-Deeper still in these haunted woods lies a tower with the one responsible for all this.

Barmora, City on Sand

-A shanty town constructed in the middle of a whirlpool at the bottom of the sea.

-Merchants here are desperate to trade with outsiders. They have coconuts, sea shells, clams, sand...

-The heavy crabs used for navigation are easy to find, hard to tame.

-If you seek real trouble… King Wyoden defends the bastards of King Wylon using a sutra not known.

-Just past the edge of the whirlpool, if you can get there, is a giant clam just beginning to yawn.

Kaiwala Junji

-Series of villages built in jungle trees above a dangerous river delta.

-Guides here sell trips up river in flying canoes, antivenom, cursed idols, and poultices.

-Traditionalists eschew the economy based on hunter trappers and prefer to provide for the people in the old ways. Some say the mystic conceals a Name.

-If you seek real trouble…Ancient ruins of the time of Xi can be found, for a price.

-Beneath the villages, under murky winding eddies and rip-tides, slumbers the Great Fish Ninamazu.

Demons

GLUTTON FAMILY

A beast furred and fat, it lolls back and forth before raising its immense form. Six foul horns sprout five more. The twisting bones obscure crossed bulging eyes.

Style - Rolls over victims, matting them into his rotting fur

Weakness - food shared generously

Wroth - eating in sight of another is punishable by death

Disdain - food made with skill and love. Anything beyond hardtack and gruel

Desire - crops for its bed, more imports than exports

Minions - scavengers with clothes stuffed with rags to make them look round, Madame Rotary leads them

Troth - To be sustained without food

HIGHLY VANITY

Layered in robes and hats, the true form of HIGHLY VANITY is obscured, but their arcane power is not.

Style - Ambush from within and sow confusion with disguise

Weakness - Well designed and coordinated outfits

Wroth - Immodesty begets scars, boils, rashes

Disdain - Fire and light which expose and illuminate

Desire - Isolate each, destroy individuality

Minions - each with wide black witch hat, obscuring their face, lead by a large black panther

Troth - She holds the Sutra of “I” and “Black” making her subtle and difficult to find, but bestows these powers as gifts on her servants

ONI TWONI

Two headed ogre in bright red skin. Oni Twoni’s laugh is heard only before great tragedy.

Style - Bicker and Argue, then attack all at once

Weakness - Harmony and teamwork

Wroth - Kindness is forbidden. Perpetrators are crushed to bone meal.

Disdain - Unity between the warring clans

Desire - Kill by war and division

Minions - Crows attend and inform Oni Twoni and whisper into ears on both heads

Troth - A great horde of weapons and artifacts collected from would be heroes

PESTILENCE (Cat Dragon glass-candles.blogspot.com)

An old woman covered in all manner of festering wounds and pus. Has a single, evil green eye. Everything near her either rots or catches one of her many plagues.

Style: Rot and Wither - Shoots an anime-esque plague beam. Those hit with it contract a random disease.

Weakness - Cleansing rituals and baths.

Wroth - Trying to aid or cure someone who is diseased.

Disdain - Medicine.

Desire - To gain power. To infect others. To brew the perfect disease.

Minions - Infected berserkers seeking death, led by the POXBORN CHAMPION.

Troth - To be enhanced, Nurgle-style.

Her Charred Skin and Ash Choked Lungs (Filth Pig @ theslopyard.blogspot.com)

Naked woman, profoundly burned, head cocked to the left, neck skin melted to shoulder, left forearm melted into stomach, patch work bits of clothing melted to her body.

Style - Projects an aura of extreme heat that burns anyone who approaches her alive, exhales bolts of superheated ash.

Weakness - Frozen weapons, being submerged in water or sand. 

Wroth - Severe drought, drastically increased temperatures, extreme risk of fire. 

Disdain - Rituals to bring rain, any means of artificial rain or irrigation. 

Desire - Seeking to calm a nearby active volcano and steal the spark of True Fire that it holds. 

Minions - Apprentice Pyromancers, led by Master of Fire burned and disfigured in the same manner as the demon.

Troth - The secret initiation rites to Pyromancy, nearly any fire-based spell that exists in setting. 

That Which Writhes and Devours (Filth Pig @ theslopyard.blogspot.com)

A length of moist, undulating intestine-like flesh, the size of a wagon, that feeds in on itself impossibly, seemingly without beginning or end. 

Style - Smashes or suffocates downed foes under its girth or absorbs foes through the front of its central orifice, slowly digesting them and excreting them from the rear of its central orifice. Victims of this facsimile of digestion continue to live and fight as normal, but soon develop and die of an aggressive wasting sickness.

Weakness - Salt 

Wroth - Kills living creatures and destroys structures through its oblivious and uncaring locomotion.

Disdain - A random object, piece of equipment, or trinket; something completely harmless. 

Desire - To return to dormancy in the unknowable realm from whence it came. 

Minions - Masses of flesh whose roiling surface produces bubbles filled with toxic gasses that throw anyone exposed to them into a hallucinogenic rage, led by a shimmering cloud of gas cycling through colors unknown to mortal minds. 

Troth - The Writhing Devourer offers nothing, but an unshakeable feeling that serving it is what you’re destined to do, what you’re meant for.

Tengoku Isles: The Way of the Name

THE WAY OF THE NAME 

Upon the land lay three heavy burdens hard to bear. In the eyes of the demons, these burdens undo the “evils” of Good Xi.

The first act of Zaro was to cull the land of excess and plenty, leaving only WANT. Basic tools required for work were taken and melted into the thrones each lieutenant sits upon. For this reason, the land’s production is limited. To survive, physical feats and martial techniques were developed by MONKS and spread to bypass the need for basic equipment.

To replace peace with fear, the dead and certain fearful demons HAUNT the once serene isles. Mysteries, taboos, and superstitions abound and darkness is anathema. To travel at night is to risk much. The day is only a bit safer. The wisdom of SAGES is often called upon to resolve the strange goings on via ritual or talisman.

Lastly, the presence of the capricious demons themselves weighs heavy on the isles. Their MISRULE is directed seemingly at random. This may take the form of taxation, travel restrictions, forced labor, pogroms, or acts of humiliation. It is SWORDSMEN whose blades attempt to balance the tally of atrocities in kind. 

CLASS - MONK

To rely on externalities is weakness. Pursuing the NAMES OF GOD, relying on INNER POWER, and unlocking the HIDDEN STYLES is the highest path.

Knowing a NAME OF GOD traps it in your mind and grants you great power. To learn a name, it must be spoken to you by a master monk or extracted from a skull which contains it. Walking on this path awakens the power of the inner self and grants great physical feats.

The INNER POWER is your chi and is spent to power the abilities learned from the Names of God. 1d6 chi is placed in your inventory when you meditate instead of resting and chi is expended to power your style. To replace a chi with an item is painful and causes 1 damage.

The inner power is channeled into HIDDEN  STYLES. These styles are learned from training with a master. In your training, you have gained providence (Templates A and B) and a syllable (Template C) from one of the below styles. To learn the Name (Template D) you must defeat the master who holds it.

Wind on Plains Style

A) Spend a Chi to sprint as fast as a falcon in flight for a round.

B) Determine the next day's weather and always react quickly when necessary.

C) Signature Move: Diving Claws Gain Speed. When attacking while sprinting, you may add the rounds spent sprinting to your attack and damage rolls

D) Divine Sign: Summon a mighty gale at will. It lasts for several hours and continues in the same direction. Cannot summon a gale when one is present. 

Location of the School: The island of Phon, which is entirely made up of low, flat beaches and a great central plain. There, the palm trees wave and the waves splash on pearly-white beaches. The waves often wash far inland, threatening the nomads of the isle - the locals have had to learn from the wind, to move with speed and agility. The school itself drifts on the winds, held aloft by … by the East Wind and cables anchored beneath the plains.

Master of the Style: It is said the East Wind itself is the master of the Wind on Plains style, but this is not true. High above the plains in the great kite school, Master Kaze places his ear to the conch shell to hear whispers from each of the great winds in turn. It is from their plots and their cooperations with one another that Master Kaze and the master’s before him have learned the secret of this style.

Broad Oxen Style

A) Spend a Chi to ram through terrain, doors, a crowd, a person etc.

B) When performing manual labor, you count as [template] workers.

C) Signature Move: Cleaving Hoof - stomp the ground, opening a fissure the size of [1 chi - dog size, 2 chi - man size, 3 chi - cow size, 4 chi - hut size]

D) Place your feet and flex your glutes. Neither foot moves relative to your body or to the object it is placed on for as long as you stay put 

Location: By the strength of the ox, the isle of Tawa has been heaped upon itself to form a magnificent tower. Great bones of the earth are excavated and erected. Marble slabs stand vertically, drawing contemplation on the power of humanity Emperor Zaro, should we all work together obey unquestioningly. In the great Square Cuts the students of the Broad Oxen Style practice their craft.

Master: Ushi, master of the Broad Oxen style has not been seen in years. It is said that he has left Tawa as the monument built by his students cannot be improved upon, but this is not true. Only a handful know that he uses the sacred art to anchor the Sky Chain. 

Obscuring Wave Style

A) Spend a Chi to walk on water. You cannot drown, but will instead awaken floating in the water after falling unconscious.

B) You can always find a fish or other inhabitant of a body of water. 

C) Signature Move: Meld with a body of water and become formless. You can step out of a connected body of water later.

D) For 1 **chi** or 4, summon either a fishing barrel, or the galleon sized war vessel *Fortune of the Seas*.

Location: Deepsea fishermen speak tales of blue clad ninja appearing out the the mist, swimming from beyond the reach of sight to climb aboard unweary vessels. When victim vessels are found, usually no one is left alive. All have been killed with barrels, nets, oars or the like.

Master: Sailor and fishermen alike refuse to speak more of the ninja than to scare tea house regulars with tales of the dead.

Billowing Flame Style

A) Otherwise, you breathe fine in smoke and are adept at concealing within it.

B) Warming Hands - place your hands on something living and heal 1 damage per chi spent. 

C) for 1 chi you may start a fire with a snap. 1 additional chi increases its size from (hand -> campfire -> bonfire -> house fire)

D) You can speak the language of fire. The larger they are, the greedier. 

Location: Among the acid clouds and sizzling vents of Mt Chichioya walk singed monks, oblivious to the toxic gas and heat. Their presence is known by the demons, but even they are repelled by the maisma.

Master: An ancient skeleton rests where the heat threatens to kill, her dessicated form now immune. Master Yogan spends her days in communion with the great fire beneath the mountain.

River of Heaven Style

A) While gazing intently in someone's eyes and they into yours, you may spend a chi to charm them. 2 in 6 chance to be charmed in return.

B) Once per night you may read the stars for omens and portents. Ask a single question and read the stars for an answer.

C) Eyes of the Gods - when you win a staring contest, you gain plus [templates] to hit them and armor against them if you fight shortly afterwards.

D) Spend a chi to learn the immediate outcome of a course of action. 

Location: A hanging ziggurat in the sky is home to Emperor Zaro’s tengu secret agents. Birds black of their feather and dead in their eyes. The Name central to the style long since captured by Zaro and used to spy on his subjects.

Master: The giant crow, Karasu, traps the Name behind its beady eyes. Folk tale tells of this bird providing prophecies for those who offer a favor.

Turtle on Rock Style

A) Plant your feet and squat low. You have a 2 in 6 chance of taking no damage from the next non superlative source. Improved by [templates] and by adding chi.

B) You have a remarkable ability to arrive somewhere before anyone thinks you should have been able to get there. If the timing is high stakes, spend a chi.

C) Withdrawal - spend a chi to withdraw from your current situation. Awkward conversations and dangerous fights are equally subject to this ability, although it is hard to withdraw when a spear is flying toward your face. Reappear once the situation has changed.

D) You learn the language of things which speak too slowly to be typically understood: giant tortoise, trees, some stones may even grant you audience. It takes a week to have a conversation with such an entity.

Location: The Vast Shell, Sheru, has remained afloat for as long as anyone can remember. In fact some of the fishermen that make their home on her back have lived there for generations. Sheru swims the warm currents eating the detritus kicked up by the Earth Shaker Oonamazu.

Master: Practitioners of the Turtle on Rock Style seek out the largest predators on the islands, some daring to tempt the great Rocs which survey the open ocean. Being attacked by a fearsome predator and surviving is an honor and a blessing from the mighty beast. Some say Sheru is the master of the Turtle on Rock Style, and it is true.

The Isles of Heaven and her Swordsmen

 Tengoku Islands, the isles of heaven.

770 islands are ruled by the Demon King, Emperor Zaro. 7 more are said to have been lost in the cataclysm which destroyed Good Xi and ushered in the reign of Zaro. The demon and his lords’ consumption place a nearly unbearable burden on the cities, fishing villages, and pastoral tribes under their thumb.

Ninety nine years ago, the warriors of the land waged war on the lords of Emperor Zaro. The demonic lieutenants fell and heroes once again arose in the land, ready for their fateful moments on the world stage. Diverse skills and arts of war and fighting they employed. This time one would hold the key to victory over the Demon King.

He arrived by lightning. Each noble warrior fell by his hand. All brutalized on the bare stone brow of the mother mountain, Amten. One after the other, they were thrown headless like a goat from the lofty peak and dashed on the rocks below.

Emperor Zaro came down the mountain, eleven new skulls in his collection, and punished those who dared to send a champion against him. Villages were razed, fighting schools were plunged beneath the pitious wave. His rule was enforced by a new batch of demonic lieutenants.

Two hundred years ago, three hundred years ago, the story repeated itself much the same, but they say the heroes were greater then. This time, however, is auspicious. This tournament will mark seven times one hundred years since that which bound evil was destroyed and the reign of Zaro began. This time they say one will hold the key to victory over the Demon King.

WAY OF THE SWORD - To master the sword is to master yourself, to master yourself is to master the world.

Attack rolls exist to see if you can hit someone with your sword. In your case, there is no question. If your swordsmanship is greater than theirs, if they’re close enough, you can hit them. If your swordsmanship is lesser and life is vain in your eyes, you can try anyway. Your skill in swordsmanship can be determined by looking at your headbands. If relative skill is still unclear, determine it by a staring contest.

A giant with a spiked club may have no skill in swordsmanship, but can likely kick your ass. A dragon may well be very skilled in swordsmanship, they wield five swords per hand.

IMMORTAL TECHNIQUES - Swordsmanship allows mastery of the greatest weapons and abilities invented by Ur-Kind. When man struggled to find purchase in the world, the first tool crafted was the sword. This was a terrible age as those with the first tool spread bloody death wantonly. It was mastery of the immortal techniques that allowed those with purity of purpose and discipline to order the chaos and bring civilization forth out of bloodshed. Thus wrote the sages.

The Immortal Techniques are the brush strokes of the gods inked with blood. Traditionally, they start from an aggressive stance with a sheathed sword, however some swordsmen advance beyond this in their skill. Techniques are designed to end a fight immediately and decisively. They cannot be performed at less than complete conviction. They are not tools for children or the faint of heart. When a technique is used, its headband must be wet by the blood or kiss of an enemy before using it again.

HEADBANDS - A technique is not understood until it is written. The strokes of the master, not merely the words, embue the script with meaning. The proof of the mastery is affirmed after each showing. The headband is dipped in the blood of the slain or wet with the kiss of the defeated enemy as validation.

The Immortal Techniques are written by great sword masters on long thin strips of cotton called HEADBANDS which are worn by those who follow the way of the sword. A headband may be worn when a technique is mastered. This is done by training or by seeing the technique used before acquiring it. A headband takes an inventory slot and allows the use of its technique.

When swordsmen meet for a practice bout, often headbands are on the line. When they clash at risk of death, the winner takes all. Any techniques seen by the victor can be worn and used immediately, otherwise they must be studied and practiced and rewritten by the victor to be useful. It is an insult to the victor to lose a bout without using your best technique.

SWORDSMAN - THE WAY OF THE SWORD

What’s a goon to a goblin? No mere swinger of swords can claim to be a swordsman. You have devoted a lifetime to your SWORDSMANSHIP. You have mastered an IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE whose merit and place in history is described in your HEADBAND for all to see.

One with greater SWORDSMANSHIP can always strike someone of lesser skill. No attack roll is needed. This applies to immortal techniques as well. 

IMMORTAL TECHNIQUES are the brush strokes of the gods inked with blood. If a technique is seen by a swordsman, then they may use it if they acquire and wear the linked headband. When a technique is used, the headband must be wet by the blood or the kiss of an enemy before it is used again.

HEADBANDS describe each of the immortal techniques a swordsman knows and by looking at them swordsmen can tell who has the greater skill. They are often acquired by killing their owner. A swordsman may add [headbands] to any check involving their sword. Each takes an inventory slot.

The techniques (several adapted from Attnam):

1. Shadows Playing Tricks 

In battle or under immediate danger your senses focus to a fine point. Under these conditions you can see as an eagle with thermal vision, hear as a dog with an ear piece, feel as though with whiskers etc.

Worn by an imp in the employment of the demon Decay To Forest.

2. 36 Chambers of Defense 

Swing your sword in immaculate defense. Roll your weapon damage + [headbands]. Damage from the next attack in swordreach is reduced by this amount. You can use this preemptively or as a reaction if you have not performed a maneuver. A swordsman has a chance to bypass this defense if they’ve seen the move before.

A warrior known as Old Dirty Bastard has kept this technique hidden for the last twenty odd years, but rumor of its use has crept up recently.

3. 37th Chamber 

Your blade moves with such speed you can deflect bullets or anything slower. As a maneuver, roll your weapon damage. Damage from the next ranged attack passing through swordreach is reduced by this amount. It is deflected back at the attacker if the damage is reduced to zero.

In the possession of the Wizard of Sekigahara. This technique has saved her life on numerous occasions.

4. IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE OF TENNO XI

If you are the target of a spell that has a physical manifestation (fireball, rpg, poison cloud), you may attempt to deflect it back at the caster. Roll your weapon damage, if your sum is greater than that of the spell, it is deflected.

Used by Good Xi to banish the last sorceress queen and usher in relative peace. All other techniques bear its namesake for this reason.

5. WESTERN ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE ANNIHILATES GOOD 

If your enemy has not seen you use the Wutang Sword technique, you may add [headband] d6 to your next damage roll against them. If they have heard a first hand account, you may add [headband] to your next damage roll.

The unofficial ranking amongst the sages who study the immortal techniques indicates the Wutang Sword Technique is amongst the best.

6. EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHT CUTS

Split weapon + [headband] damage among creatures in melee range in any way you want. A swordsman who has seen this technique can exempt themselves from this damage.

The Oniborn ronin, Bu Lu created this technique to take advantage of his unique anatomy. He laments that he has never had to land all 808 cuts.

7. CUT FROM AGES PAST BROUGHT FORWARD

If your enemy has not seen this technique used before this battle, you may make an attack against them from range. If they have, you must make an attack roll to hit them regardless of your swordsmanship. This may hit up to [headband] targets in a line.

The demon Ender Dest is one of the oldest of Emperor Zaro’s lieutenants. Records of his use of this technique date back centuries, always with disastrous outcomes for the martial heroes who challenged him.

8. NAME TWO SWORDS HOLD TWO SWORDS

You stash [headband] weapons Elsewhere, where they remain in stasis until you will one of them to appear in your hand.

Records indicate that this technique was used frequently during the preparatory period before the last tournament, but the trail ends with an account of the death of Hands Alight, the pupil of the technique’s originator.

9. THE UNKNOWABLE STYLE FLOWS FROM WITHIN

Skip a turn to clear your mind and begin to strike from within without form or precedent. For the encounter, increase your weapon damage along this scale [headband] times. If your enemy has seen you use this technique increase it once.

1d4 -> 1d6 -> 1d8 -> 1d10 -> 2d6 -> 2d8 -> 2d10 -> 3d8 -> 3d10 -> 4d10

Become unpredictable, strike from your subconscious mind, let your moves flow out of your individual essence. Even the most masterful opponent will fall from a strike that has no history or reference. The moves created from your own individual unique essence may surprise even you.

10. NOTORIOUS BLADE OF IL GON

At 1 [headband] you may cut immaterial spirits.

At 2 [headbands] you may give the appearance of cutting until close inspection.

At 3 [headbands] you can attack a possessing spirit without harming the host. 

At 4 [headbands] you may cut souls without harming the body.

Used to slay the nether-monk Neon Ninja whose last words were, “But you just look like an afro headed coward! Come to think of it, I can't even take a warrior with such stupid hair seriously!”

11. STYLE OF REAL MASTERS OF CUTTING

You can cut materials harder than your sword. Ignore any hardness, damage reduction, or resistances of materials you cut.

At 1 [headband], you can cut wood as easily as flesh. 

At 2 [headbands], you may cut through stone with ease. 

At 3 [headbands], you may cut metal. Adamantine splits like wood. 

At 4 [headbands], you may attempt to destroy artifacts, magical materials, or enchanted items.

Held by a well respected stone mason in the City of Shale. Hadowaku has used this technique for half a century and has had a hand in constructing many impressive structures in the city.

12. RAPID EXPLANATION OF SWORDSMANSHIP

Skipping a turn in preparation, you can perform [headbands] bonus attacks on your next turn. If you forgo all but one of those attacks, you may unsheathe your weapon, attack and sheathe it again so fast all creatures fail to notice you even moved. If a swordsman has seen this technique before, they may notice you as the cutter and you are limited to two attacks against them.

Tutor Duanweg, as she is called, is notoriously willing to accept challengers if they will pay her tab.

13. AN EYE FOR SWORDSMANSHIP

When you see a single technique used by a swordsman with you as the target, you count as having seen all their techniques.

Miyamoto, known the greatest swordsman born between ages. Despite being born early century after the last tournament, he has made a reputation for excellence in his style and analysis of opponents.

More, courtesy of discord friends!

1. Garzhnov, the Undying Blade (Sylvanas_iii)

The greatest troll swordsman ever to live, Garzhnov fights with sword in one hand and bladelike claws in the other. Frequently expects foes to underestimate his wits due to his trollish nature. Often takes students, who can practice their blows on him.

Secret technique: Reckless Cleave. Allows you to attack about 5 feet beyond your normal reach and gain +1 attack per round, though all attacks must be against different targets. This technique also leaves you wide open to the attacks of anything that happens to survive.

2. Blind Don's Percipient Counter (Random)

Learned from a beggar who claims to have once been the master thief, rake, duellist and revolutionary Don Schiavona. Allows the practitioner to make blocks and parries regardless of whether they are conscious of their attacker's presence, or indeed conscious at all. Street children make a game of throwing things at Blind Don and watching him swat their pebbles out of the air with his walking stick in between snores.

3. Hans Duelle's Twofold Stroke (Shifty)

The philosopher-prince Hans Duelle perfected a style of quantum swordfighting that revolves around freeing the self from commitment, flowing with the winds of fate. It takes deep meditation to achieve the necessary focus, but the results are undeniable - every strike finds its mark.

You can choose to lose initiative. If you do, you can make an attack roll before choosing what to do this round. If you attack, use the roll you just made for the first one; if you don't like the roll, do something else.

4. Azerath the Drunkard's Ten-Cup Dodge (Fifth)

Azerath is known for her faultless swordswomanship, but even more so for her legendary proficiency in drinking contests. It is far more likely to encounter her in a tavern or bar than in a contest of blades or on the field of battle, and she takes advantage of this. This secret technique can be utilized in the instant before a blow lands to remind the universe that, wouldn't it be more likely that she's at a bar instead? That would be more consistent with her narrative. The universe agrees, and the practitioner is no longer where they were, as in fact they never had been there, but are instead ten cups deep and drunkenly explaining the duel to an uninterested barman.

5. Moota’s Wind Treachery (The FirstGokun)

Named for the well-fed and well-spoken vizier of the third prince. The practitioner cuts the air from beneath their feet, allowing them to jump thrice without touching the ground.

6. Havma’s Cutting Quill (The FirstGokun)

Named for the strategist-slash-warrior-poet who burned Point Prefect to the ground. The practitioner can write messages with a weapon and blood as easily as with quill and ink, on canvases of paper, stone, or flesh.