The Paths Of Do

HTML by Will Franqui (wfranqui@nmsu.edu)

Note: Not all of this is playtested, some may need to be adjusted in some respects.

In many cases adjustments are made to difficulty numbers of .5 (a half) the Doists rank in Do, in all cases round up.

In developing this framework for Do I have rather butchered the River diagram of Fu Hsi, regarded as one of the oldest artifacts in Chinese culture (at least by my sources).

Do:
"The way produces one;
one produces two.
two produces three,
three produce all beings"
(the way produces one, Tao Te Ching)

These styles cultivate (respectively) original spirit, original vitality, original essence, original sense, and original energy. While a practitioner of Do may only practice one school of Do, each school is a valid path. [possible rules for developing 2nd (or more) styles of Do include:

• Letting the character develop any and all (not recommended).
• Letting the character abandon training and forget one style to learn another (very weak story wise).
• Letting the character learn new styles but if an old style is called upon before mastery is obtained then the benefit of the new training is lost (complex to run).
• Let the character learn new styles but add on the cost of all other levels learned to the experience cost (i.e. A character with water form Do 4 and metal form Do 3 wants to learn a new level in Do, for experience cost the current level is regarded as 4 + 3 = 7 [this is the method I like as it offers the greatest flexibility to players, keeping in mind that Do training is pretty hard to come by "You have became lost in the ways of the world. Live without harming another living creature for 4 seasons and you will be ready for the first steps in wood form Do"]), and only let the character have a total level of 5 in Do (very arbitrary). If you Do allow a character to have multiple forms of Do they should only start with one form].

The Forms:

Water Form Do:

"Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water."
(the most flexible thing in the world, Tao Te Ching)

All difficulty numbers in athletics are reduced by .5 the Doists level.

Internal Style: By focusing energy internally the Doist can release it in sudden bursts (reroll 10's on initiative).

External Style: By being in tune with the environment the Doist knows how best to move (the Doist can roll Dex + Do against a target number of 8 to cancel out dodge blunders).

Special Abilities (gained as per Book of Shadows):

Sparrow Flight: The Doist can jump vast distances landing on small spaces (Dex + Do difficulty 8).

Lightwalking: The Doist can move without leaving a trail (Dex + Do difficulty 8) Dragon stance: The Doist can preform feats of balance [balance on moving car etc] (Dex + Do difficulty 8).

Lung gom: "The art of lung gom in Tibet produces the ability to travel very rapidly across some of the inhospitable upland wastes of that county. The training consists of living in complete darkness and seclusion for 39 months of deep-breathing exercises... It is said that one of these skilled walkers covered a distance of over three hundred miles in about thirty hours" (Lyall Watson, Supernature) (Stamina + Do difficulty 8).

Fire Form Do:

"They know the world
without even going out the door.
They see the sky and its pattern
without even looking out the window."
(without even going out the door, Tao Te Ching)

Internal Style: By focusing awareness internally the Doist becomes aware of the cause of emotions and thoughts (Add .5 the Doists level to the difficulty of foes attempting mind/emotion manipulation).

External Style: The Doists awareness is spread out into the world, helping to intuitively understand the world (decrease difficulties of intuition by rolls by .5 the level in Do).

Special Abilities:

One with the World: Through tuning one's Do with the world the practitioner can identify those aspects that are not in harmony (Perception + Do target number 8 to identify objects/people/etc that are out of context with their surroundings [i.e. identify if a room has been searched through the furniture being rearranged]).

One with Nature: If left to themselves things in nature will occupy the place most fitting for them, by harmonizing with nature the Doist understands where those objects/creatures are found (Perception + Do difficulty 8 to locate natural parts of the environment [of course they must be present to be located]).

One with Others: By harmonizing with others the Doist comes to understand other people (By using Perception + Do difficulty 8 the Doist can determine features of group dynamics, who the leader is, tensions within the group, and if the group is complete of itself or is acting in relation to another group).

Moving with the World: By moving in tune with the world the Doist Does not stand out from the background (Dexterity + Do difficulty 8, the number of successes add to the difficulty of observers noticing the Doist, used in addition to stealth).

Wood Form Do:

"The Way is unimpeded harmony; its potential may never be fully exploited"
(The way is unimpeded harmony, Tao Te Ching)

Because of the lack of prejudice the Doist's difficulties in culture are reduced by .5 the level in Do.

Internal Style: By directing Do internally the practitioner sheds those features that cause others not to accept them (reduce etiquette difficulties by .5 the level in Do).

External Style: By directing their Do outwards those around the Doist feel more secure (adjust difficulty numbers for groups that the Doist is a part of by .5 level in Do in situations involving group loyalty [i.e. npc's fleeing, protester's giving up blockading a police station to demand the release of an innocent person]).

Special Abilities:

Bring Peace: The Doist can quell tensions by exerting Do to establish a mood of harmony (Charisma + Do difficulty 8, 1 success to calm a mildly annoyed person, 5+ to pacify a raging mob).

Peace of Summer: Such is the serenity of the Doist that people wish to befriend the practitioner (Charisma + Do difficulty 8 to cause people to befriend and help the Doist [won't work on actively angry people {see Bring Peace above}, if the Doist subsequently snubs/ignores/abuses the trust of the target of this ability they will become very alienated, if a character takes this ability they should have to act out employing the ability, suggested 1 success will make the postal employee predisposed to help sought out where a mysterious package came from, 5+ successes will cause the Progenitor clone planted in the group want to change sides], once someone is the Doists friend they will remain favorably disposed unless circumstances significantly change).

Friend of Animals: The Doist radiates such peace that wild animals will not attack (Charisma + Do difficulty 8, 1 success to stop the dog from barking, 5+ for the leopard to share it's kill with you).

Harmonize the Light: By meditating on the estrangement between two people present the Doist can cause the to understand each other and reconcile (Manipulation + Do target number 8).

Metal Form Do:

"Skilled warriors of old were subtle, mysteriously powerful, so deep they were unknowable."
(skilled warriors of old, Tao Te Ching).

Earth Form Do:

"... There is no way for rhinos to gore them;
there is no way for tigers to claw them;
there is no way for weapons to get at them.
Why? Because they have no dying ground"
(from life into death, Tao Te Ching).

Internal Style: By maintaining purity of mind the Doist is strengthened against having others wills enacted upon them (Reroll 10s on willpower resistance checks).

External Style: By maintaining purity of body the Doist allows no place for damage to take place (Reroll 10s on soaks).

Special Abilities:

Mastery of Self: Such is the Doists energy and self control that pain is less significant (for 1 scene the Doist can ignore the pain effects of [number of successes of Stamina + Do difficultly 8] injury levels [start counting where the dice penalties begin]).

Mountain Stance: Such is the internal energy of the Doist that they cannot be moved against their will (Stamina + Do difficulty 8, 1 success they can be pick up by a normal human, 5+ successes will derail a train [though the character still takes damage]).

Stun Attacker: Such is the energy of the Doist that anyone who attempts violence upon the person on the Doist is left stunned (anyone attacking the Doist in hand to hand is subject to a roll of (Doists) Stamina + Do difficulty 8 which they resist against with willpower (difficulty 8), any net successes on the Doists part leaves the attacker unable to act for a number of actions equal to successes, cannot be used a a target more than once per a scene [but hey, how likely would most people be to try attacking again?]).

Becoming One with the Goal: The Doist focuses his/her whole being on the goal they are attempting to achieve, in this state the Doist can ignore distractions up to a level equal to (Intelligence + Do difficulty 8) until the goal is achieved. Of course also in this state the Doist suffers a penalty (equal to the benefit gained) on any attempts to notice anything not directly relating to the task.

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