Common Magic for a TL3 Wuxia Fantasy Campaign

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

Shenshou sound super cool and like the type of mechanic that would be really satisfying advancement for players.

You mentioned alchemy is a thing so just brainstorming supernatural materials that alchemy and magic could produce.
Ignoring elements with negative relationships with one another (which should absolutely matter) and assuming that the creation of these substances requires something like Create (cosmic: essential element, transformation only: normal to cosmic)
Air chi infused Metal: might be substantially lighter, which wouldn't matter too much for fencing weapons but for other weapons would substantially impact the leverage involved, potentially eliminating the offensive benefits of using a levered striking surface but making quick parries easier. Would make heavy armor less encumbering, which is highly desirable. Could also make a variety of low tech vehicles that proved too heavy for muscle power or for the materials of the time to hold up sufficiently viable to be used if you could procure enough of the metal, such as davinci's flying machine, or armored wagons.
Earth chi infused Metal: Makes a really soft clay like metal, great for artists and sculpting, potentially very useful but I'm not sure what for
Fire chi infused Metal: A metal that naturally burns at all times with a relatively cool fire. Flaming swords are an obvious one. This could also be used in battlements to thoroughly discourage the use of ladders.
Metal chi infused Metal: Classic essential metal: 3x as strong and mostly won't degrade.
Water chi infused Metal: Great for making high flexibility metals that allow plate armor over areas where there is often trade-off of defense vs. flexibility such as the abdomen or shoulders. Also, high flexibility metals could yield good springs and I'm not enough of a mechanic to foresee all the ramifications of that sort of thing.
Wood chi infused Metal: Metal that sort of "grows": give it water and sunlight and it'll make minor repairs to itself over time within reason. Highly prized by Xia for the reduced cost of maintenance, especially on armor which sees a beating and is expensive.

Not everything alchemists produce is good for society:
Fire Wine: Illegal everywhere, this infamous party drug of the rich is still produced by disreputable alchemists with a talent for fire-magic, who find they can fetch a very high price for it on the black market. The liquid is a dark brownish red, with the red color coming out strongly when light shines through it, and is perpetually on fire when exposed to air. It is actually a combination of condensed black tea and distilled rice-wine, infused with fire-chi (or fire magic). The fire-chi(/magic) enhances the stimulent qualities of the tea and the intensity of the alcohol, while reinforcing the individuals yang energies into dominance. A single shot of the alcohol acts as quadruple strength spirits (B439) and a strong stimulant (B440), while also giving the individual a yang dominant chi imbalance causing them to gain Impulsiveness (12), Lecherousness (12), a quirk level desire for easy pleasures, noticably hot and dry skin, -2 to HT rolls to resist disease, -3 to HT rolls to resist the effects of heat, and +2 to HT rolls to resist the effects of cold. If he already has those mental disadvantages the self control number gets two steps worse (anything worse than a 6 means he's completely incapable of resisting his impulses!). Make a HT-2 roll after 3d hours, and again for each hour thereafter, to shake off these chi-imbalance effects. The intoxication and stimulant effects wear off normally for those things. However, when the Yang imbalance fades it is replaced with a Yin imbalance "low" in which the individual gains Bully (12) largely expressed through a quirk level tendency to spiteful remarks, lecherousness (12), noticeably clammy skin, -2 to HT rolls to resist disease; -3 to HT rolls to resist the effects of cold, and +2 to HT rolls to resist the effects of heat. The Yin imbalance lasts as long as the Yang imbalance did.

All of this is going into my campaign bible. :-)

Originally Posted by dcarson

A chi master can infuse chi into metal and soften a gate enough to rip it open. They can also pull the chi out so a chi artist can mold metal and then reharden it when they have it shaped to what they want.

My thoughts exactly.


Edit: I wanted to start another thread entirely so I excised part of this.