OCTOBER MONSTERS FOR RIGHTEOUS BLOOD, RUTHLESS BLADES II

In the spirit of October I am converting monster entries from Strange Tales of Songling for Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades. These are supernatural creatures inspired by Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. I will be doing a few monsters each post and not including every monster as Jeremy and I have been developing certain creatures for an intended expansion. 

Before getting into new monsters though I want to provide some abilities for contending with monsters, which requires discussing monster types in the game. This will be a much more rudimentary method than the one Jeremy and I were working on for Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades. It will basically just be converting some of the demon hunter abilities into Signature Abilities so players have ways to fight demons and ghosts. 

In the expansion we were working on we created a number of creature categories. Here I am just going to establish categories that are useful for Strange Tales of Songling (since my goal this month is to provide monster conversions for RBRB from that rulebook). The categories are Creatures, Jiangshi, Ghosts and Demons (Spirited Beasts). Most creatures are susceptible to normal attacks or have clear immunities described in their entries. Demons and Ghosts are generally immune to normal attacks and even to Signature Abilities (as a general rule if a Signature Ability looks like it should affect a demon or ghost allow it). The GM should also be flexible with characters who took the Daoist Priest/Nun or Buddhist Monk/Nun Occupation. 

I am converting a number of Demon Hunter powers. In some cases I am combining two or more abilities into a single SA. Characters who take these will have an easier time contending with the supernatural. Note some of these were more involved in the Strange Tales version. For example there were Max Wound requirements for them to work on certain ghosts, but implementing this for RBRB seemed too fraught. But gamesters should feel free to examine the powers they are based on to form their own conclusions. These are just four to start. I may do more during the course of this month. 

JIANGSHI MAGIC
Characteristics: Magical Arts, External Arts 

Prerequisite: Magical Arts

You know how to command and control hopping vampires (Jiangshi) with the use of a bell or talisman. You can use Magical Arts TN 8 to make a talisman in ten minutes, which requires ink and the blood of a chicken (monks who are forbidden from harming animals can use their own blood). On a Success the Talisman stops Jiangshi from moving when placed on their foreheads (placement of the Talisman requires an External Arts roll). One the paper talisman is in place, you can then command the Jiangshi to move by ringing a bell (roll Magical Arts against its Wits every hour). 

BLOOD AGAINST THE DEMONS 

Prerequisite: Magical Arts

Characteristics: External Arts and Magical Arts 

You slice the palm of your hand and strike a demon or ghost with it, causing them to burn. This overcomes any immunities such creatures may have against your attacks. The blood can also be used to coat weapons allowing other peoples' mundane attacks and to affect them. 

GHOST AND DEMON MASTER 

Characteristics: Command, Magical Arts

Prerequisite: Magical Arts

You can harm and expel ghosts or demons with a bellowing command and mudra gesture. This can be used to command ghosts and demons out of the area for an hour (roll Command against their Evade). You can also use it to harm a ghost that is within 10 feet doing 1d10 damage (again roll Command against their Evade).

TALISMANS

Characteristics: Magical Arts

Prerequisite: Magical Arts

You can craft paper talismans that will ward an area against evil creatures. This takes two houss and a successful TN 8 Magical Arts roll. On a success the talisman its power lasts for 2 hours once you activate it (this can be increased by investing more hours in its making). Any evil creature who tries to pass by the talisman must pass a 3d10 Wits test (roll 3d10 against its Wits).