Quest Mechanics

Although the sequel will move to a more narrative reduced dice system, the first quest ran on a variant of the Storyteller dice system developed by White Wolf.

Character Statistics
Characters have attributes and skills, which have a number of dots ranging from one onward. Each dot represents one dice the character rolls in tests involving the relevant attribute or skill. Skill rolls typically add an attribute to the skill check to determine the characters total dice pool.

Note that 5 dots is the cap for mortals and 1st Realm cultivators in any given attribute or skill. Assuming the cultivator in question has no bonus that uncaps a statistic, each realm increases the cap by 1. E.g. A 2nd Realm cultivator has a cap of 6 in any given attribute or skill.

Health
The health track is used to determine how damaged a character is. There are three types of damage. When a character's health is reduced to three or less clear tracks, the character begins to receive stacking penalties to all actions.
 * 1) Bashing, which is essentially nonlethal damage, heals quickly.
 * 2) Lethal, which is what it sounds like, is difficult to recover from.
 * 3) Aggravated, which is 'special' damage, is especially difficult to recover from.

If a character's entire health track is full of damage, the character becomes incapacitated and is unable to act. This represents the sturdy nature of cultivators in general, as in the normal Storyteller system such damage would indicate that a character was dead.

Specialties
Specialties are areas of a skill where a character is especially skilled. In tests involving the character's specialty, the character may get an extra dice (Specialty 1) or get an extra success (Specialty 2).

Speed
Speed is the number of yards adjusted to meters that a character can cover in the space of a single turn assuming no obstructions. The length of a turn can be variable so it can also be understood as the ground a character can cover in a single clash. The character can cover twice that distance in a clash if they do not take any other actions.

Conflict
All conflicts are resolved by rolling various numbers of d10's. 7 or higher on a roll is a success.

Tests
If the conflict is a Test, the cultivator must roll a number of successes greater than the Test's target number. A cultivator may utilize their cultivation level in such Tests if they have a relevant Art that allows them to do so. If applicable, the cultivator adds a number of successes equivalent to their Stage number to the number of successes they rolled for a higher total success number.

For example, a cultivator at stage 3 may add 3 successes to their rolled successes when calculating whether they passed the Test.

Clash
If the conflict is a Clash, the cultivator must roll a number of successes greater than the opposing cultivator's number of successes.

The cultivator with the higher cultivation level may add the difference in Stage numbers multiplied by the Realm difference + 1 as successes to their rolled successes.

For example, a cultivator at stage 7 - so an Early 3rd Realm - fighting a cultivator at Stage 5 - a Mid 2nd Realm - may add successes equivalent to 2 Stage Difference multiplied by the sum of 1 Realm Difference and 1. That is, they add 4 successes to their rolled successes.

Damage vs. Qi
In general, Qi can be expended in place of health to block damage. Various Arts' techniques may allow better or different damage or qi blocking. Generally, the type from weakest to strongest is normal, semi-perfect, and perfect. To defend against better types of damage, a cultivator will need the appropriate, equivalent or greater, defense. However, armor always applies to every type of damage unless damage has armor piercing quality.

Combat
Generally, combat is resolved by rounds wherein every participant may choose to use 1 main action, 1 move action, 1 instant action, and 1 response. The order of when participants may use their main action depends on the initiative of the participants involved. Actions frequently involve Clashes but certain Arts' techniques may require Tests instead. A round finishes when everyone has used their actions.

On an attack action, the greater your successes dwarfs the defender's, the more damage is dealt up to a Damage Value cap number. Armor value is a flat decrease in damage, but its durability will decrease as it blocks attacks. The defender can choose to use an instant or response techniques in order to mitigate the damage or depend on normal qi blocking.

A participant who is targeted by multiple opponents will suffer stacking multi-attacker penalties to their defense on each consecutive attack.

Cultivation
Talent for cultivation can range anywhere from 1 - 9 for a given cultivator. The talent number serves as the target for a character to roll under for any given die in order to succeed. The total number of successes are added to the progress of the chosen cultivation target - base cultivation like physical or spiritual, qi cultivation, meridian cultivation, or various Arts - toward a target success number that represents the next level. The number of dice rolled is based on Talent+Tutors+Environment+Tools, with different tutors, environments, and cultivation aids giving different bonuses.

For example, Ling Qi's talent is 6. Every rolled die that is under 6 (i.e. 1-5) counts as a success. The number of successes is tallied and added to the current progress in whatever is being cultivated.

Base Cultivation
For more information on progress in this area, see Path of the Immortal.

Qi Cultivation
A cultivator's base qi pool may be expanded by focusing cultivation time on it. In order to gain more qi, a cultivator must cultivate a number of successes equal to the amount of qi the cultivator will be increasing to. For example, to go from 6 to 7 qi requires 7 successes.

Unlike other cultivation types, qi cultivation does not require a spirit stone.

Meridian Cultivation
Meridian cultivation is slightly different in that it is a very strict pass or fail in terms of opening the meridian in question. The number of successes must exceed the target number of successes required to open it. Failure to do so will leave the meridian closed and may injure the cultivator in question, requiring recovery time, depending on how far the successes rolled were from the target number. However, there are certain pills that will mitigate the effects of failure, and repeated close failures will drop the target number required.

5 successes is required to open the first meridian. Each meridian after that requires 1 more total success so the second meridian requires 6 successes. Meridians granted by bonuses, such as from breakthroughs, do not increase the success requirement, and Arts may adjust the required meridian successes by, for example, requiring 1 less success to open it.

Resources
Generally, a cultivator may choose to consume resources in order to gain more dice when cultivating. These may include spirit stones, cultivation sites, pills or training with another.

Spirit Stones
Spirit stones are congealed qi that is mined from the world. They can be used as cultivation aids and also function as currency.

The amount and quality of spirit stones that a cultivator may use depends on their cultivation level. You may choose to 'consume' a number of stones whose quality or type are that of your Realm equivalent to the number of Stages you have achieved in that Realm. You may also consume a number of stones whose quality is that of the preceding Realm equivalent to the number of Stages in the preceding Realm. Spirit stones whose quality is that of two or more Realms below your own are ineffective for cultivation.

If your cultivation level is unequal, the higher cultivation level determines the max number of same-Realm stones that you may use to cultivate, but the lower cultivation level determines the max number of stones in total that you may consume.

For example, a 3rd Realm cultivator with a cultivation level of Green 2 / Bronze 1 may use 2 green stones but can only use 4 spirit stones - which is equivalent to the sum of the 3 Stages in 2nd and 1 Stage in 3rd Realm - in total. Therefore, the cultivator may choose to use up to 2 green stones with the remainder being filled out with yellow stones.