Ekikōton | 液鋼遁 | Liquid Steel Release

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Ekikōton | 液鋼遁 | Liquid Steel Release

 

 
 

Ninja who possess the power of the Ekikōton (ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ) are able to easily comprehend and manipulate its elemental components of Fire, Earth, and Water. The bloodline is found within the Aragane clan; this genetic mutation probably arose from extended exposure to steel while living for generations in the Country of Coal. The liquid aspect was dormant until the connection was discovered by Aragane Shiro while researching in Kiri. In essence, the bloodline enables its carriers to wield a water-like steel chakra which can form metallic structures with an interactive structure. In its dormant form, the steel retains its traditional, impervious shape and strength; however, if the right chakra signal is applied to the metal, its structure radically changes into a liquid format without the need for intense heating. Even from a young age a novice capable of transmuting a simple metal spoon back and forth between its liquid and solid states, and masters from the art can create metallic tidal waves which in an instant freeze to form monumental steel prisons. Elegant yet cold, the ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ is at the heart of the Aragane strength.

 

 

 

Formation 
 

 

Forgeborn

Description: Found within many members of the Aragane clan, the born users of Ekikōton able to easily shape, restructure, and utilize most metallic objects- especially steel. While this natural attribute makes them renowned metallurgists and blacksmiths, their bodies are not as inherently attuned to the more basic elements of their trademark ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ. While they may eventually gain the ability to utilize more base elements and beyond, it is not typical without extensive training.

Effect: The wielder receives the skill ‘Combinatorial Elements: ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ’ for 0 Skill Points. When purchased at character creation, the skill “Combinatorial: ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ” replaces their village bonus skill. When purchasing the skill “Ninjutsu Mastery; ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ”, characters with this skill may purchase 2 ranks for 1 Skill Point. 

Cost: -2

 

Atomic Fluidity

Description: While there have been a number of renowned Steel-type ninjutsu users scattered throughout the world, few have come to truly compare to the metal-forming prowess of those that possess the Ekikōton kekkei genkai. Metalwork comes naturally to them, and the very nature of ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ makes it stand out versus its metallic competitors.

Effect: ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shields created by this character take 5(x + y)% less damage from all sources, wherein X is equal to the number of ranks in this skill and Y is equal to the user's current Ninja Rank. Ranks in this skill may only be purchased once every 20 levels.

Total Ranks: 4

Cost: -1 (Ranks 1 and 2) | -2 (Ranks 3 and 4)

 

Durasteel

Description: The Ekikōton exists as more than just a natural ability to reshape dormant metals- it is also an artform. Where other metal-shapers would require years of training to temper a blade or curve a pauldron, the members of the Aragane can create strong, lasting pieces with the simplest of gestures.

Effect: Items, Barriers and Shields that are created by ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ techniques no longer have a maximum turn duration, but are destroyed at the end of combat. This character may not have more than 3 ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shields or Barrier active at a time.

Ranks: 1

Cost: -2

 

 

 
 

 

Manipulation

 

 

Metallic Dissolution

Description: While very sturdy to the unobservant eye, the ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ of the Aragane is actually very fragile if one knows exactly how to manipulate it. By applying the proper touch, the atomic structure of a beam of the strongest metal can fracture into countless pieces, releasing a large amount of the stored energy in the process. Properly trained Aragane shinobi know how to recapture this energy even in the midst of a battle, to recycle old constructs in anticipation of new situations.

Effect: During the user’s Setup Phase, at the cost of that phase, they may sacrifice one currently active ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ barrier or shield and increase the current and total health of another active ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ barrier or shield by the sacrificed shield or barrier’s current health. This skill may be only be used a number of times per battle equal to the skill taker's ninja rank plus 1. 

Cost: -1 SP

 

 

​Recombinant Structure

Description: Perhaps one of the greatest attributes of the Aragane clan's ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ is that it flows organically from structure to structure, giving it a very organic method of combat. The techniques of the ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ element are known to lend each other strength, building a strong but flexible support structure.

Effect: When using a ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ technique, increase the current and total health of one (1) of the user's previously active ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shields or Barriers by 30% of the used technique's base cost, to a maximum of 150% of the constructs original total health.

Requirements: Durasteel

Cost: -2

 

 

Flexile Cloak

Description: In addition to the mastery of ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ ability to reinforce its sister techniques, members of the Aragane clan have found a method of augmenting their own flesh using the excess chakra found within ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ formation techniques. When using ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ techniques, the users progressively build a skin-tight, reactive hardening, armoring.

Effect: Once per battle per rank during their Setup Phase, as a Standard Action, the skill-taker may generate a ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shield whose health value is equal to three (3) times the skill-taker's level; this Shield is treated as though it were created by a ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ technique for the purposes of any modifying abilities and lasts a base of 4 turns. After activating this skill, the user may not take Setup Phase action for a number of turns equal to their current rank in Flexile Cloak. Only one Flexile Cloak Shield may be active at a time.

Ranks: 3

Restrictions: Only one rank may be taken every 20 levels.

Cost: -1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Combinatorial; ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ

Description: A unique kind of steel used by members of the Aragane Clan. It is similar to normal metals, except that its atomic structure is much more flexible and capable of rapid and efficient recombination. ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ is both highly durable and hindering, as the liquid substance can quickly freeze on an enemy and weigh down their movements.

Effect: ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shields, Barriers, and Clones are created with an additional 10% total health; furthermore, being hit by ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ damage incurs a -3% chance-to-dodge for that target, cumulative across the battle (maximum of -15%). This penalty can only be triggered once per turn. The user may apply the effects of a Subtle Elements skill required to purchase this skill.

Requirements: Subtle Elements; Fɪʀᴇ, ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ, and ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ.

Cost: -2 SP.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Hardcore Skittlez

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Old Version.

 

Changes made: 

 

Forgeborn - This now grants the 2 for 1 standard Ninjutsu Mastery bonus for other elemental bloodlines.

 

Atomic Fluidity - This now allows you to apply defense modifiers to Liquid Steel shields rather than providing an altered Ninjutsu Mastery mechanic. This is due to the fact that Shields are largely chance base currently given their reliance on the dodge mechanic and do not typically last long enough to make them worthwhile. Most opponents at equal level will bypass a shield's HP in one strike without any problems whatsoever.

 

Durasteel - No Change

 

Metallic Dissolution - This formerly allowed you to break down a liquid steel object and regain chakra equal to a percentage of its remaining health. This had a few problems with it: First being that you would almost never break down a barrier/shield once it has been applied, given that a liquid steel barrier/shield lasts for the duration of combat. And, now that Clones have an actual health mechanic, a high defense build could go chakra positive by sacrificing clones to the skill's old mechanics before they expired naturally. The new form more accurately fits the theme of the bloodline and removes this potentially abusive interaction.

 

Recombinant Structure - After playtesting and running some numbers, 10% here was just too low. Increased to 20%.

 

Flexile Cloak - Still good, no change.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Hardcore Skittlez

[Kouta]

1. Atomic Fluidity needs to cap at 75%. Clones cant have 100% mods, neither can Shields. Any attack that breaks a shield and hits you can only be modified by 25% of YOUR defense stat (gotta avoid double dipping). This is also -2 minimum per rank. Thats a big ability bro.

2. Recombinant Structure needs to say "increase the current and total health of all your active ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ " Both to stop you from buffing your opponent's stuff, but also to avoid abuse with clones firing three liquid steel in one turn and getting all kind of stupid health boosts. Also, after you increase a shield/barrier's total health with all these skills, do they look at the new number as the new total health? Because that seems a bit useless as a cap if the total health just keeps going up..

Aside from that, this feels okay. I'm extremely hesitant about the interaction here at higher levels, but it deserves the playtesting.

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Changes:

 

Atomic Fluidity -- Entirely new effect! This should be more balanced than before, and is something that we haven't quite yet seen. Not sure if the numbers are too high, so willing to tweak them down.

 

Durasteel -- With the new effects, I felt like infinite shields/barriers lasting all battle could be bonkers. I added a maximum of 3 active shields or barriers at a time. 2 might be a better number here, but I think 3 sounds fair.

 

Flexile Cloak -- Increased from 2x to 3x level, because 240 at level 120 is... kind of pitiful. Especially given that this would take up slots in Durasteel's maximum allotment.

 

Combinatorial; Liquid Steel -- The durability effect used nomenclature that wasn't current. Cleaned that part up to be more current, but am open to alternate wordings.

[Cellar Door]

Forgeborn; This is quite a bit larger than the average elemental bloodline. I don't think the 2 for 1 should be included so cheaply in it.

Atomic Fluidity; 3% and 3%, -2 per rank.

Flexile Cloak; This should have a cool-down. The user cannot use skills or techniques in the Setup Phase for 2-3 turns following the activation of this skill, etc.

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Forgeborn: Made this -2.

 

Atomic Fluidity: Removed the barrier portion, dropped the shield portion to 5%. 40% on the top end may be a bit much, but 3% is too low to even be worth taking at lower levels. This would be a skill that you would not take until you were at least jonin, and that's not quite acceptable. Alternatively, I could drop the rank part, and make this 9x%, totaling at 36, but it'd still be high enough to be worthwhile at lower ranks.

 

Flexile Cloak: Done, it now prevents Setup Phase action for a number of turns equal to the user's rank in the skill. 

[Hardcore Skittlez]

bump?

[Hardcore Skittlez]

still here.

[wolfnin]

Atomic Fluidity

 

So the thought that comes to mind for this is that this is a damage reduction on it's own. Because the way I'm reading and going through the math for this is, while you're reducing the damage the shield takes, it's also reducing the damage of the technique if it where to break the shield. 

 

EX: 

 

700 Dmg technique hits a 400 shield. With this BL you'd normally take 300 left over. However, since the reduction occurs you'd really be taking 20 damage before defenses. 

 

So if you use shields a lot it acts as a sort of extra damage reduction (I can't use words right now). So, I think 40% might be a bit too much at the higher end, however dropping the numbers too low would make this useless or (as you said) only taken at higher levels, which that is trying to be avoided. 

 

 

So I'm thinking  drop the percentage to perhaps 4(x+y)%? Sadly, it's not a number ending with a 0 but 32% at max rank is a bit more comfortable. With this, low levels is still decent since you'd be getting 8% reduction.  Alternatively, each rank could cost -2 and keep it at 40%? I like the idea, I just think 40% at higher rank is just a bit too much. 

[Peregine]

I'm not sure I agree. As currently written, the skill gives damage reduction like so: 

 

0 - R1/Genin - 10%

20 - R2/Genin - 15%

40 - R3/Chuunin - 25%

60 - R4/Jonin - 35%

100 - R4/Sennin-  40%

 

I don't think this is too extreme, but for 4SP it's a very powerful skill. Most of the power comes from the last two ranks in the skill considering Rank Advancement timings, so what about each rank costing 1/1/2/2 respectively?

 

Otherwise Wolf's proposal of dropping 5 to 4 sounds good for 1SP per rank.

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Changed to -1 -1 -2 -2!

[Peregine]

Approved.

[cntrstrk14]

Why are the words 'ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ' all look so fucked up? Are you using a special font on purpose for this keyword? It looks really weird, maybe it's just my PC? Screenshot to show you what it looks like to me, please confirm if this is correct.



Forgeborn
This seems okay. You're basically paying to get a specific element and 2:1 cost on mastery, which is pretty standard for Bloodlines that focus on specific elements.

Atomic Fluidity
At Sennin rank this makes it a maximum of 40% damage reduction. For the current pricing of 1, 1, 2, 2, that seems acceptable. Approved.

Durasteel
Seems fine, specifically since there is the limitation of three. Do you mean for it to be 3 barriers or shields or do you mean for it to be 3 -techniques- that make barriers or shields? For instance, some shield jutsu can target multiple allys. Syaoran has one that makes up to six shields. With this skill you would not be able to make multiple shields like that in a technique, so you might want to adjust the wording? Up to you, you can forgo that option for the simpler balance if you like.

Metallic Dissolution
This one is a bit more complicated than at first glance. First off, it kind of negates the negative of the previous skill since it allows you to combine shields and make 'room' for more than three. Secondly, your limitation says that each liquid steel shield or barrier may only have its health increased once like this, but that doesn't actually limit the player since it just means you need to flow the shields in a particular order. For instance, a ninja as Shields A and B active at the start of their turn. In their Setup Phase they meld Shield A into Shield B. Shield B is not bigger. In their Main Phase they use an attack and create Shield C. On their next turn they meld Shield B into Shield C, and then make Shield D in their Main Phase. On the next turn they meld Shield C into Shield D, etc. etc. Instead, it might be better to give a limitation per battle in which you can use this instead of trying to limit it per Shield / Barrier.

​Recombinant Structure
If Durasteel was a requirement for this I would approve it (though I brought up an issue in Durasteel that might change that), but since you could theoretically have 100 tiny shields this could get out of hand quick. I would suggest either A.) limiting the number of Shields or Barriers this can effect in a turn or B.) split the bonus health that each Shield or Barrier gets evenly between them rather than a flat amount.

Flexile Cloak
This seems fine, and I like the flavor of it.

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Text: Liquid Steel has always had funky formatting on the word itself. It's something that's been there since Arachanox's original iteration of the bloodline, and I kind of keep it around for the sake of nostalgia.

 

Durasteel: Will keep this at 3 Shields/Barriers in general as the bloodline was revamped around the idea of having a limited number of active constructs. I can play with this again in the future if I find myself using large, multi-person barriers... but I feel like balancing around that right now diminishes the power of the bloodline for a relatively fringe set of technique effects due to their possible interactions with other portions of this bloodline.

 

Metallic Dissolution: I dislike putting a limitation on this because it strikes out against the vision I have for dancing Barrier Health around as a playstyle, but your point on balance is too valid no matter how I look at it. I thought about putting a cooldown on it(can only be used once every x turns, etc), but that seemed like it would probably be more hindering in the long run. Went ahead and stacked a rank + 1 use limit on it, letting it total 5 uses at Sennin.

 

Recombinant Structure: Durasteel added as a requirement. 

[cntrstrk14]

​Recombinant Structure

Okay, so let's talk numbers now that we have the direction nailed. At 20% and 3 constructs that is +60% of the cost into effects. Granted, it is a 1:1 shield health and cost ratio, it is still rather good. I would like to keep this under 50% if possible, so I am thinking we adjust this to 15% instead of 20%.

 

Also, a point of clarity that we should cover- If the Liquid Steel jutsu in question creates a Barrier, does the newly created Barrier also get this bonus? I want to say no (I was balancing the above numbers based on a now), but we don't have rules to strictly cover the 'resolution' of self inflicted effects, so the timing doesn't have a strict ruling and we should clearly state if it effects itself or not. Here is my attempt on the wording...

 

When using a ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ technique, increase the current and total health of all the skilltaker's previously active ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shields or Barriers by 20% of the used technique's base cost, to a maximum of 150% of the constructs original total health.

[Hardcore Skittlez]

You're correct, the answer is "No". It's not intended that the effect double dip onto itself.
 
The problem I see with moving from 20% to 15% is that 10% was just unnoticeable. 15% is obviously not 10%, but I don't know if it's far enough away from the 10% mark to actually make a difference. I get that 60% cost redudancy is probably too good, but I think there might be a better way to tackle both issues at once here. I had built this under the working assumption that the character would most commonly have no more than 1-2 shields/barriers active at a time, as my experience tells me that they get plowed through pretty dang easily. What if I made the change so that it instead read as follows, major changes in red: 
 

 

When using a ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ technique, increase the current and total health of one (1) of the user's previously active ʟɪqᴜɪᴅ sᴛᴇᴇʟ Shields or Barriers by 30% of the used technique's base cost, to a maximum of 150% of the constructs original total health.

 

This makes it feel much more impactful without being held back by the possibility of redundancy. The comparative total value is lower, but I would rather this be noticeable all the time rather than requiring 3 Main Phases to set up in a meaningful way.

[cntrstrk14]

I like that new wording, I think it can work.

[Hardcore Skittlez]

Changed!

[cntrstrk14]

Metallic Dissolution: Just has a small typo in the last line. The effect seems much better now that it has a hard cap of uses.
 
Recombinant Structure: This seems fine with the change the the above.
 

Approved

[Peregine]

Approved.