Nurarihyon, the Nightmarcher

[Peregine]

Nurarihyon | 滑瓢

--The Nightmarcher--

 

.:Standard Forme:.

Spoiler

 

.:True Forme:.

Spoiler

 

Personality: It is difficult to pinpoint Nurarihyon's personality; the most complete description is perhaps 'inhuman'. Instead of being motivated by survival, greed, love, hatred, passion or any number of emotions that might form the basis of a human being's psyche, Nurarihyon's base impulse seems to change moment by moment, a series of abstract goals and whims only connected by the thread of hedonism that exists in all of them. Nurarihyon seeks pleasure, most commonly through the misfortune or pain of others. It is the definition of capricious, seeking the perverse or sadistic as often as the inconsequential. Another of its most common traits is its vindictiveness; it responds to slights with extreme and often disproportionate retaliation, even if the slight is merely a figment of the demon's imagination. Much like its propensity for random desires, the list of the fickle spirit's triggers is equally mysterious. Something as simple as crossing its path may start a feud that lasts generations, while injuring it to within a thread of its life may pass without comment. If the Nuraihyon has a true goal, it is likely to defy the expectations that are placed upon it.

 

What can be observed about the demon's behaviour is that it loves the vices of life. Drink in excess, wild parties, debauchery and sodomism are common urges, often dominating the lives of those affected by the malignant spirit. Pranks and tricks are equally common, usually cruel or even seriously harmful parlor tricks without the need for what mortals would determine a punchline or conclusion. It cares nothing for the feelings of others or the consequences of its actions, always obsessing over the next act that will satisfy its endless thirst for amusement instead of thinking of the past. As its name would suggest, the Nurarihyon is most active at night. It feeds off the raucous emotions of the nightlife, craving expression and enjoyment as it changes shape to adopt a form most likely to succeed at its latest ploy. If it becomes particularly frustrated or enthused it begins to shift into its true form, unleashing acts of random cruelty and unspeakable perversion on unsuspecting people it finds. Those that have the great misfortune of meeting the Nurarihyon in its true form often live- and wish they had not.

 

 

Yōkai Element: Void/Dark

Yōkai Chakra: 8,000

Yōkai Chakra Regeneration: In order to regenerate Yokai Chakra, the user must emotionally or physically harm someone who bears them no ill will and their victim must know that they are responsible. Each instance requires 400 words and restores 2000 Yokai chakra.

 

Malicious Trickster (Passive Bonus): As a Setup Phase action, this character may replace all element tags of a single Ninjutsu or Elemental Genjutsu they use this turn with ‘Dark’. This ability may be used once per battle.

 

Statistics: [1400 Total]

Taijutsu: 0
Ninjutsu: 400
Genjutsu: 400
Defense: 0
Concentration: 400
Speed: -200
Accuracy: 0
Evasion: 400

 

Darkness

Instead of associating with an element of the natural world as many Yokai do, Nurarihyon is associated only with night. Darkness comes to its hosts with unnatural ease, even corrupting their other techniques into black parodies of their original nature.

Effect: As a free action in the Setup Phase, this character may replace all element tags of a single Ninjutsu or Elemental Genjutsu they use this turn with ‘Dark’. This skill may be used once per battle per rank this character possesses in the skill ‘Cloak of Nurarihyon’, divided by two (rounded down).

Requirements: Cloak of Nurarihyon; Rank 2

Cost: -3SP

 

Capricious

Nurarihyon’s emotions are in a constant state of flux and they are easily influenced by outside sources. If an enemy manages to afflict Nurarihyon’s Jinchuuriki’s mental state, the emotional bleed between host and demon will keep the gestalt afflicted for much longer than expected.

Effect: If this character is ‘Charmed’ and/or ‘Taunted’, the duration of these statuses are doubled. This may cause these statuses to break turn limits.

Requirements: Cloak of Nurarihyon; Rank 2

Cost: +1SP

 

Dispersion

Those that wish the Nightmarcher harm face a difficult task: killing a shadow with blades and chakra alone. Force slides off the Jinchuuriki as is if it never existed, dissipating harmlessly around them.

Effect: When this character blocks an attack, they gain a shield with 2x health, where x is equal to the character's Level. This shield is destroyed at the end of the Response Phase. 

Requirements: Cloak of Nurarihyon; Rank 2

Cost: -2SP

 

Metamorphosis

For a brief moment, Nurarihyon’s true form emerges inside the Jinchuuriki’s body. No longer a malevolent trickster, but a true demon of the night. Overwhelming cruelty and sadism infuse the Jinchuuriki’s next attack with unending malice and inhuman murderous intent.

Effect: This skill may be activated as a free action in the Main Phase. Your next attack this turn cannot be negated. This skill may be used x times per battle, where x is the ranks the user has in the skill ‘Cloak of Nurarihyon’, divided by four (rounded down).

Requirements: Cloak of Nurarihyon; Rank 4

Cost: -2SP

 

Hyakki Yagyō | Night Parade of One Hundred Demons | 百鬼夜行

Type: Genjutsu

Rank: Jonin

Cost: 250 Yokai Chakra

Effect: The target is Stunned for one turn. If this technique is successful, one skill that has usage limits defined by ‘Cloak of Nurarihyon’ may be used one additional time this battle. This technique may only grant additional uses to skills that have reached their usage limit. If multiple skills may be targeted by this effect, roll a dX to determine which skill is chosen. This technique may be used once per battle. 

Description: A decadent celebration of Nurarihyon’s power, the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons is a raucous festival where the Jinchuuriki creates a hundred illusions of their demon, cavorting and partying with one another. Although the Parade itself is not a threat, the compulsion for others to join or at least observe the inhuman festival is very strong. In addition, the spectacle makes the sealed demon more willing to lend its unique talents to battle.

 

Yōkai-Dama

Type: Ninjutsu [Void]

Rank: Sennin

Cost: 700 Yōkai Chakra + x Yōkai Chakra

Damage: 800 + 2x Damage

Effects: The damage from this technique receives no offensive modifiers and 1/2 defensive modifiers, no matter what source these modifiers come from. May only be used by Yōkai or Jinchuuriki under the effects of the Yōkai Cloak. Automatically critical against barriers and shields. Bonus damage from these criticals cannot be carried over to the targeted opponent in the case of the shield or barrier being broken. The value of x may not be larger than 300. Removes the current Terrain and prevents any Climate effects from being used for three (3) turns, regardless if it hits their target or not. Usable twice per battle.

Description: The Yōkai-Dama is the offensive manifestation of the Yōkai's own life energy chakra. Creating a large ball of chakra, the Yōkai will then direct the raw energy in a beam at its target with devastating effects. The beam has a cleaving effect rather than a kinetic effect, and all types of defenses seem to be less effective than normal.

 

Yōkai Jinchuuriki Core Skills:

Cloak of Nurarihyon

- All Ranks must be purchased in order.

- All advanced Chakra & Stamina regeneration skills/jutsu's are suspended.

- All celestial gates, activated bloodlines, or other abilities that take up a 'bloodline' spot are disabled, and cannot be activated while under "Cloak" effects.

- Summons, pets and clones may not be used by the player when the Cloak is activated. Clones dissipate, pets and summons fall under GM control and refuse to followed their owners commands.

- All costs in the skills below are paid in Yōkai Chakra.

 - While a Jinchuuriki is below 30% Health or 20% Chakra or Stamina they are considered to be in a "critical" state.

- While in the "critical" state and not in their Cloak form, a control roll is made at the end of the setup phase and is a roll of 1d10. A roll of a 7 or lower will result in a loss of control.

- A loss of control results in immediate activation of the highest level Cloak available to the player, along with a GM taking control of the rest of the player's turn. If the player does not have enough Yōkai Chakra to pay for the transformation, ignore this.

- While in the "critical" state and in their Cloak form, a player's normal turn roll is given a -2 negative.

 

In the first stage of Nurarihyon's power, the user gains a semi-translucent grey chakra shroud around their body. The shroud ripples and distorts randomly, making their form indistinct at first glance. The user cannot control the movement of their shroud, which seems to act on its own accord to deceive those that see it.

Rank 1: The user gains 25% of their demon's stats, stacked upon their own. Stat addition may surpass 1.5x for the stat it is effecting, but cannot go beyond 1.5x of the highest stat the character has. All stats are rounded up. Every turn this is active, when they pay their activation or upkeep cost, the user must make a control roll on 1d10. On the result of a 1-2, the GM or a staff member will gain control of the character for the rest of the turn. A GM may give negatives to rolls in times of great emotional trauma.

Requirement: Combined Chakra and Stamina higher than 250; Level 10

Chakra Cost: The chakra costs of this rank are based on the highest Cloak rank the user owns.

Rank 1: 1000 Chakra Activation, 1000 Chakra Upkeep

Rank 2: 850 Chakra Activation, 850 Chakra Upkeep

Rank 3: 700 Chakra Activation, 700 Chakra Upkeep

Rank 4: 550 Chakra Activation, 550 Chakra Upkeep

Skill Points: -1 SP

 

In the second stage of Nurarihyon's power, the user's form begins to change. Skin melting like wax, body shifting into the opposite gender, changing colour at will as their features switch places or blur together in a nightmarish tapestry. Although only illusions brought forth by the Nightmarcher's overflowing power, the effect underneath the demon's grey shroud is profoundly disturbing.

Rank 2: The user gains 50% of their demon's stats, stacked upon their own. Stat addition may surpass 1.5x for the stat it is effecting, but cannot go beyond 1.5x of the highest stat the character has. All stats are rounded up. Every turn this is active, when they pay their activation or upkeep cost, the user must make a control roll on 1d10. On the result of a 1-4, the GM or a staff member will gain control of the character for the rest of the turn. A GM may give negatives to rolls in times of great emotional trauma.

Requirement: Combined Chakra and Stamina higher than 700; Level 30

Chakra Cost: The chakra costs of this rank are based on the highest Cloak rank the user owns.

Rank 2: 1000 Chakra Activation, 1000 Chakra Upkeep

Rank 3: 850 Chakra Activation, 850 Chakra Upkeep

Rank 4: 700 Chakra Activation, 700 Chakra Upkeep

Skill Points: -2 SP

 

In their penultimate form, Nurarihyon's Jinchuuriki begins to take on aspects of the demon's appearance. The back of their head begins to expand and their skin becomes wrinkled and saggy, albeit only when the Jinchuuriki is not shifted into an alternate form. Instead of a gross physical change, the greatest indicator of the Jinchuuriki's continued ascension is a thickening of their shroud and a pervasive air of cruelty that spills across the battlefield. For those particularly sensitive to emotions, Nurarihyon's near-complete manifestation is enough to create severe anxiety.

Rank 3: The user gains 75% of their demon's stats, stacked upon their own. Stat addition may surpass 1.5x for the stat it is effecting, but cannot go beyond 1.5x of the highest stat the character has. All stats are rounded up. The character gains access to their Yōkai's Jounin level technique. Every turn this is active, when they pay their activation or upkeep cost, the user must make a control roll on 1d10. On the result of a 1-6, the GM or a staff member will gain control of the character for the rest of the turn. A GM may give negatives to rolls in times of great emotional trauma.

Requirement: Combined Chakra and Stamina higher than 1100; Level 50

Chakra Cost: The chakra costs of this rank are based on the highest Cloak rank the user owns.

Rank 3: 1000 Chakra Activation, 1000 Chakra Upkeep

Rank 4: 850 Chakra Activation, 850 Chakra Upkeep

Skill Points: -2 SP

 

In its completely released state, Nurarihyon's Jinchuuriki takes on the demon's standard form; an old, wizened crone of a man with an engorged head and a perpetual smirk of sadistic glee. The aura of wrongness and perversion of the natural order grows to its full strength, sapping the courage and morale of those that stand against the fully-manifested demon. Most terrifying of all, when glimpsed out of the corner of one's eye Nurarihyon appears as it truly is; a fanged, winged abomination of the night. The illusion vanishes when viewed directly, paradoxically only increasing the foe's dread. For the Nightmarcher is ever present, waiting for its next trick.

Rank 4: The user gains 100% of their demon's stats, stacked upon their own. Stat addition may surpass 1.5x for the stat it is effecting, but cannot go beyond 1.5x of the highest stat the character has. All stats are rounded up. The character gains access to their Yōkai's Jounin and Sennin level techniques. Every turn this is active, when they pay their activation or upkeep cost, the user must make a control roll on 1d10. On the result of a 1-9, the GM or a staff member will gain control of the character for the rest of the turn. A GM may give negatives to rolls in times of great emotional trauma.

Requirement: Combined Chakra and Stamina higher than 1700; Level 75

Chakra Cost: 1000 Chakra Activation, 1000 Chakra Upkeep

Skill Points: -3 SP

Edited April 22, 2019 by Peregine

[Peregine]

So, this is a resubmission of a Yokai intended for Celes' PC Hayate. Bob isn't up to doing it anymore (IRL wise and because he's no longer staff) and I have his permission to take over from him in making a Dark element Yokai for this purpose.

 

Dark is super powerful to give as a passive bonus, so I've restricted it to one use per rank the Jinchuuriki has in their demon. Maximum 4 uses of Dark per battle, and that's only at high levels. Likewise, the skills are all designed around a trickster motif; one turn nothing happens and then the next moment everything explodes in your face. The Jonin technique gives you a little more wiggle room for your skills to go off, but costs you a Main Phase. Celes has been waiting for a long time for this to happen through various iterations and attempts, so if we could move this along relatively quickly that would be very much appreciated.

[Cellar Door]

Alright! Let's do this.

 

Yokai Chakra Regeneration: Good. This is a pretty unavoidable impediment and could make for good RP, especially if the player can only regenerate on his teammates or other PC's. It's a good concept. I'm not sure if it's particularly accurate to folklore or anything. It doesn't really matter if it is or not, but I got curious and wiki'd the yokai this is based off of.

 

Moment of Malice: Does this ability adhere to the rule within the Dark type skill about how Dark attacks cannot be used successfully, or would this bypass that? Fair warning, both of the answers are probably unsatisfactory. If you can bypass that rule for free, you can do 8 dark attacks in 8 turns. That's a big deal. If it does, you get 4 dark attacks before you need to even start spending JP on dark stuff. Most fights, you'll never need an actual dark-element attack, since 8 turns is a long time. I assume techniques affected in this way lose other elements that they might have otherwise have? It implies that.

 

Capricious: This isn't worth +2. If Feebleminded doubles all of the effects caused by genjutsu and is worth +2, then Capricious is +1.

 

Dispersion: This is probably okay, but only with the caveat that it can't be used in conjunction with Ward/Parry/Defend/etc. That synergy would be extremely oppressive. I'd say something like "This skill may not be activated anytime the user would have a 100% chance to block." or something of that nature.

 

Void: I... I don't think this is very strong. Is there something I'm missing about it? I see the benefit of not paying health and using yokai instead, but paying 100% of the cost in yokai chakra for 10% of the damage in health is kind of a weird trade off. As it is, I would app this at -1 instead of -2 by itself.

Enfeeble: So... let me clarify here. You mean that you have to hit them with that attack and then after they're hit by it that effect comes into play, right? It doesn't just dunk their ability to dodge with no counterplay at all? If it does, this is denied. If it works as I believe it works though, then you'll need to make this effect share stacks/battle limits with Opening, since it's basically the same thing, but much more versatile.

 

Metamorphosis: Hmmmmmmm. Not all RPJ are negation techniques. Shunshin, barriers... things like that. So there is counterplay here. I can live with that as a cap stone ability. Alternatively, if you'd rather there not be big swaths of RPJ that get around this effect, you can also say that techniques that respond to the affected attack have an additional +x% to fail. As it is, doing this once per battle... I can live with. It might need to share stacks and limits with Vulnerable though, but I'd like to hear what others think.

Hyakki Yagyō: Unfortunately, this kind of ability is pretty easy to abuse. In fact, I do something very similar with my gnome bard in Pathfinder, it gave him like +10 spells a day at level 1. What I mean here is that this doubles your battle usage. But say you take Guts Pose along with it. That's triple the usage and gets you a lot of mileage out of Guts Pose. It's a good synergy. I'm not sure if it's better than just saying using Strategist to get a second critical hit. I don't know. Let's discuss your thoughts on what I've said a little bit and see if there isn't a good middle-ground here. (Because I do like things like this, synergy should exist in games. But 6 usages of Enfeeble and 3 of Metamorphosis is pretty bonkers.

[Peregine]

Chakra Regeneration: As a GM I'd encourage the Jinchuuriki to regenerate only off PCs, but I'm not sure if it's wise to require it. If other people feel strongly about it I'll change it~

 

Moment of Malice: Since it converts the technique to [Dark], it applies all effects including the cooldown. Most ninja can't get Dark before Lv80 without help (Shamans, Elementalists, Wise, etc) I wanted to make it accessible to lower-level ninja. You say 4 turns, but that requires a Lv4 Cloak which is locked behind Lv75. For most of the Jinchuuriki's life, they have much less. Because of how the Cloak is set up, it's roughly 1 use per ninja rank until you max the cloak out. It does save you a bunch of JP on techniques, but mostly people will want to use this on nukes and nukes are fairly low-jp techs. I'm not averse to changing it, but Tier 4 was the only request that Celes made. For now, I've edited the wording to make the loss of normal elemental tags more obvious. 

 

Capricious: Knocked down to +1.

 

Dispersion: Added a line to prevent chaining auto-blocks.

 

Void: Lowered to -1. It's 100% cost post-reduction, but otherwise it works as you thought.

Enfeeble: Yes. Activating the skill adds a rider to the Jinchuuriki's next attack, which needs to hit to apply Enfeeble's effect. I don't see how it stacks with Opening though? It flips Acc and Con and only when the enemy is working out their to-hit %. It doesn't change their Con or Eva in their response phase. Mechanically it works more like Blind/Receptive than anything else.

 

Metamorphosis: Nah, I think I'm ok with this being an anti-negation ability. Smart users will stick it on something that does extra to constructs and work it with Opening, that kind of thing. Raise the skill ceiling a little lol. I'm happy to have it share stacks with Vulnerable if necessary.

Hyakki Yagyō: Guts Pose only applies to techniques, so you'd need to use it to refresh Hyakki Yagyō and burn a second main phase to get the extra uses of the skills, but I see your point. My automatic reaction is to let each Hyakki Yagyō only give an extra use to one skill, but everyone would just choose Meta or Enfeeble and get the same result, basically. Hmm. Maybe if you gave the enemy a way to negate the effect? That could get wonky in team battles though.

[Cellar Door]

Regen: Oh no no, I didn't mean it needed to be a requirement. Just that the RP would be neat if they were trapped out in the wilderness on a mission or something and had to be mean to their team. It's fine as a regen mechanism.

Enfeeble: It's more like Opening because switching someone's dodge bonus to their bad one usually means that you're putting them at their minimum chance to dodge. It only takes 400-500 stat reduction if you're both about equal in acc and eva to minimize their chance to dodge. Concentration needs like 800 by the same principle. I envision this getting used in a way very similar to Opening by way of player agency. Because the player is calculating a method to try and win, this will get combo'd with vulnerable to land kill shots.

 

Hyakki Yago: You could make it an attack that's when it is successful it recharges one of the abilities by +1 at random or something like that. Might make it a little less effective, but it also is a "free" attack. I'd say make it so it can only recharges skills that have had usages depleted so its effect doesn't ever fizzle on your side, but otherwise that would be kind of neat to me. It'd either reign in the skills by making the user use only one to ensure it recharges or it would add an element of randomness to them.

[Peregine]

Enfeeble: This doesn't do anything to the opponent's chance to dodge or to their stats in the response phase. The effect specifies acc and con, and it only affects their to-hit calculations. It gimps their chance to hit, or forces them into a secondary combat style.

 

Hyakki Yagyō: Edited heavily, because heck yeah RNG. It's now Genjutsu instead of a nin/gen hybrid, inflicts stunned, and if it hits you get a refresh on a skill that has been expended. The closest comparison I can make is the Groovitron from Ratchet and Clank  

[Cellar Door]

Okay! 

I can now totally understand your confusion on Enfeeble, since I was reading it wrong like a doof. I think it's okay now.

And for the technique, you can probably reduce the cost to 250-300. Paying 350 for just that ability seems excessive with the RNG element added, you know what I mean?

[Peregine]

Knocked the tech down to 250, which is 200 Yokai Chakra for +1 skill usage per battle if it hits. 

 

Thanks for the feedback, KC

[Cellar Door]

Approved

[Azure]

I really enjoy the concept of how this plays out and think the synergy of this yokai is really well done! That said, there is only one thing that I feel needs adjustment.

 

The Dark Element: Normally yokai get one free element/archetype up to tier 1 combo.  You're using that space for elemental archetype and that's fine.  You've played around with dark so that it's accessible at earlier levels and at its top levels can get you 4 dark attacks, potentially 5 with the jutsu which sounds like it's nearing up their for regular dark usage at high levels but I think overall it's decently balanced, but still stretches further than a passive skills should.  Primarily because it's dark.  Passive bonuses traditionally fall in the 1 SP to a stretchy 1SP.  This is at least a 2SP effect IMO.

 

Ordinarily, Dark would cost -5 but due to the passive skill and restrictions I'd call it balanced if you slapped a 1SP tag on that passive bonus and added a hindering in there.

 

TLDR; Occasional dark should cost 2SP, right now you've paid for 1SP worth.

[Peregine]

Instead of making the passive cost SP (which I'm not really sure how to do, since it's passive), would removing the free skill be an acceptable compromise? 

 

Also, you can't use the technique to extend your Dark usage. Because it's a passive and not a skill, it falls outside the technique's scope. 

[Azure]

How I would do it would be putting a (-1) next to the passive skill ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  Removing the free skill would work and by removing it do you mean paying for it?

 

Eh, the wording of the technique suggests any skill that hits max usage that has its usages based on the cloak, not to the activated/triggered ones.

[Peregine]

What I mean is that a passive skill can be used even when you're not in the Cloak. Who should pay for the skill in that case? Instead of adding a cost to a passive effect, I'd prefer to increase the cost of the first rank of the cloak (if the user pays). If the Yokai is to pay, a hindering isn't a fair trade because that Hindering will only come into effect when the Cloak is on, which can be avoided while still getting full use out of the passive. It also brings up the question of 'is a passive effect a skill' because I had assumed it wasn't. 

 

By removing, I mean waiving the right to a free skill that all Yokai have. It's by far the least synergistic and most 'tacked-on' element of the Yokai, but a free skill is a free skill. 

[Yurane]

This already has Elemental Archetype as a free element, I'm not exactly sure why being able to turn anything dark is it's passive. It's not really even comparable with the other Yokai, like Nekomata's 4% chance to dodge [physical only], Gakiyume's 5% damage [but only on enemies suffering from fear statuses], Baku's "you wake up from sleep on 3 or lower instead of 4"... or any of the other active Yokai, honestly.

 

I do think it deserves a passive like any of the others, but this isn't really a passive effect, it's an obviously active one.

 

Dark is definitely not going to be free anyway, just because a player wanted a tier 4 element doesn't mean their Yokai is going to get it for nothing.

Edited August 3, 2018 by Yurane

[Peregine]

Ok. I've moved Dark off the Passive and as Azure suggested, made it cost 1SP. Elemental Archetype has been removed. To pay for the extra cost I've removed Void, which was nice flavour but I can't imagine it seeing a huge amount of play.

 

For its Passive, I've given it the ability to attack on the first turn. I know that's a knee jerk for a lot of reasons, but I don't believe it's too strong to be a passive. As soon as the Jinchuuriki attacks, everyone else can attack as well. All it does is stop the buff/clone/summon turn that everyone trades. Compared to other passives it's also much weaker over time; other passives give a continuous benefit, while this is once and done. The Jinchuuriki won't always want to attack immediately anyway, in which case it goes to waste completely.

[cntrstrk14]

Regeneration: Love it. Approved.

 

Passive: While I agree that this isn't as strong as it might appear at first, I do believe it is much stronger than any other passive on a yokai. Compare to +2% chance to crit on (Needle King) or -5% Evasion when hit with a melee attack (Corrosion). This allows you to always attack first, which is a big deal.

 

Moment of Malice: -1 SP for a 1-4 time use of Dark Jutsu... doesn't sit right with me at all. We clearly state the rules for access to elements in the Yokai Creation rules...

 

Quote

- Yōkai get one free element (Your choosing, may be a base element or a combination of two base elements) to start with. If you choose a combination element you do not get access to the base elements. Any additional elements require skills. If a Yokai wants to start with a Combinatorial above Tier 1 they will have to pay SP for it (Tier 2; -2 SP | Tier 3; -3 SP | Tier 4; -5 SP). 

 

So straight access to Dark would be -5 SP. This is not 20% as good as normal access to Dark. Sure, at lower ranks they get 1-2 uses. But at Sennin rank end game this is 4 uses of Dark. Since you can't use Dark two turns in a row anyways that is effectively "8 turns" of normal Dark usage. That is about how long a cloak can last. This is, to me, almost effectively Dark Release at the high end.

 

There is also the bonus of this just applying to any jutsu, not giving access to Dark Jutsu. Not having to spend JP to learn Dark Jutsu you can only use in Yokai Form seems like a pretty large boon as well.

 

I stopped reviewing here since I feel the above discussion may swing things a lot and should be settled first.

[Peregine]

Bumping plus Edits Made (and restoring data loss from downtime): 

 

Dark element has been split across a skill and the passive. So now you get three Dark usages per battle at max rank, up to four if you use the Yokai's Jonin tech to extend your limits. Enfeeble has been removed and the cost of getting Dark has been increased to -3.

[cntrstrk14]

The passive on this is still really good, but we've taking a massive step down from what it was before. This coupled with the first skill allows for 3 Dark attacks in a battle. This is acceptable to me, but I want to point out that some other skills may suffer because the passive is a step above normal passive range. 

 

 

Capricious: Cool

 

Dispersion: This last sentence is very important. That said, I think this is the type of skill that will just... never do anything. The need to declare it beforehand and not being able to combine it with guaranteed blocks makes it a lot less useful. I've seen a lot of designs that follow this pattern in the past and they end up just not being useful. I would consider what the goal is here. If it is flavor, maybe we could look at other "negation" style effects. Maybe something like while the cloak is up every time you successfully block you get a shield for x health, where x is based on their level? Something like that which plays with blocks but isn't so "all or nothing".

 

Metamorphosis: "Number of ranks in the cloak, divided by 4" .... so once? Am I missing something? This is really insanely good, but if it is once per battle I think it's a good capstone.

[Peregine]

Meta is supposed to be once per battle, yeah. You can potentially get a second use out if it with the Yokai's technique though. 

 

Dispersion's flavour is something I want to keep, so I've switched to the shield mechanic Tony suggested. At this point I've set is at 2(level) = Shield HP, which may or may not be broken. I don't use shields or barriers much, so I don't feel too confident balancing them.

[Azure]

I think this is in a good place now.  Great work!

 

approved.

[cntrstrk14]

Approved

[Peregine]

This Yokai went to Sarutobi Hayate.